2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. :V%XEN)
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Obviously, the earliest teachers we have in our lives in most cases are our parents, and they are generally the most involved in the development and education of their children. Yet neither are all parents good teachers nor are those good parents the best teachers. +U%U3tAvs
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First of all, not all parents are good teachers. As normal individuals, some parents more or less have bad habits. Even though parents almost instinctively devote themselves to cultivating their offspring, the outcome might turn out to be disappointment, for all children tend to unconsciously or subconsciously copy every thing from their parents. Another deficiency of parents as teachers is the fact that most parents are lack of common senses of education. All too often we observe some parents tend to pursue their cherished but failed dream by forcing their children to develop in a prearranged direction. Ironically, if their children did not follow the instructions, the children would be regarded as disobedient or allegedly rebellious. In fact, it is parents rather than their children that virtually disobey common senses. 6tE<`"P!
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Moreover, some parents are qualified as good teachers, but not all of them are the best ones. When children are in the preliminary school, it is not surprising that parents are capable of teaching their children almost every subject even better than professional teachers in the school. But the situation will not last long. We live in a world where knowledge is accumulated by multiplying and at the same time becomes more and more specialized. Therefore, to be a professional in a certain field today takes much longer time than ever before. No parent is able to be professional in all fields, though they might be experts in one or more fields. Wise parents often release rather than charge their children as early as possible. They are aware of the possibility outside the family. (
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Parents may, nevertheless, help their children much more than do good teachers. Most parts of children education are virtually beyond teachers' reaches. It is parents that supplement. Psychology studies have shown us that parents' love sometimes has astonishingly magic power to their children. Albert Einstein's mother and Forest Gump's mother are both good examples. On the other hand, parents might do their children harm more than do bad teachers as well. The natures of those children whose parents have divorced are often severely distorted. In a word, it is rather superficial to simply say that parents are the best teachers. v;9VX
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4. It has been said, "Not everything that is learned is contained in books." Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why? H-Uy~Ry*T
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Both experiences and books are very essential resources, and both of them have relevant merits. T5eXcI0t
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Experiences are the most direct resources we ever have. Almost our every basic skill came from experiences, such as walking, articulating, reading even thinking. Without experiences, some natural born abilities even might lose. Studies have shown that a baby who was robbed by animals into forest for 12 years lost his ability to talk in human language. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that each and every skill develops by experiences, and that's why people always say practice makes perfect. D3LW 49
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Books are valuable when knowledge is beyond the scope of our experiences. Perhaps the most obvious examples are those fluent writers. They write various stories, the scopes of which are far beyond any individual's experiences. Take Joyce Carol Oates for example, her productivity has been prodigious, accumulating in less than two decades to nearly thirty titles, including novels, collections of short stories and verse, plays and literary criticism. Although some of them appear to come from her own direct observations, her dreams, and her fears, much more is clearly from the experiences of others. Her fictive world remains strikingly akin to that real one reflected in the daily newspapers, the television news and talk shows, and the popular magazines of our day. |( e `V
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Yet either experiences or books may give us wrong information. Our direct observations always are subject to our beliefs, hopes, fears, expectations, and our bias, which might make observations unreliable. People vary in their powers of observation, and the reliability of our observations is no better than the reliability of our memories, which as we know can be deceptive. Information printed in papers sometimes is unreliable either, it may be misprinted, or even deliberately distorted. For example, Definitions such as Marxism, Capitalism, Zionism are totally different in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Current English between the original edition and the sanctioned Russian edition. ndk V(#wQS
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In conclusion, both sources are important. Sometimes one is more important than the other in accordance with specific circumstances. For example, when we make a general survey about a certain subject, we may prefer rich references in library. On the other hand, if we want to know more specific details, we had better refer to experiences such as results of carefully designed experiments. '"
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7. How do movies or television influence people's behavior? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer. V~+{douq
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The impact that modern mass media such as movies or televisions has had on our daily life, and society in general, is undeniable. No doubt it will become even greater as the scope of mass media continues to grow, and as the relevant technologies become more and more sophisticated, and so fascinating that virtually nobody will be able to escape. Already, it can be seen how western movies are exercising influence on our youth generation: they grow long-hair regardless of their sex, commonly part of which are dyed in gold; they wear jeans in each and every season, usually knees of which are deliberately tattered; boys are fond of earrings or other odd pendants; and girls are keen on Marlboros and weird coarse languages. :^DuB_
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The major means that mass media influence the public is by creating topics of discussion in the society. Mass media offers people (the consumers) issues to talk and think about. Titanic had brought a worldwide uproar by its extolling and of fascinating immortal love; Prime Color and Wag the dog met the national debate on right and duty of the president of the United States. Antiwar movies such as Tears of the Sun and All Quiet On The Western Front among numerous others have been raising the question that is any war really to uphold justice or is it really worthy that an individual makes sacrifices to his country and at the same time ignores his own family or his personal values? =N
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Mass media also shapes our understanding of what is important and what is not important (to know). The "important" issues are to be found on the first pages of the newspaper (/in the beginning of a television program). The "not important" stories are the ones that are not being told at all. The "not very important" stories are probably very short and hidden in the last pages. In fact censorships present all mass media including its distributing means such as the Internet. By prearranging public issue, the mass media makes decisions for us. Even though there are critical thinking individuals in any society, they are definite minority; the public in whole in deed lack skills of critical thinking, and therefore they are often led by the media. ~n#rATbxf
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In brief, mass media, by offering topics and affecting the ways in which we discuss “the important issues”, has a strong influence on our perception of the truth, of the world or of the structure of our society, we have to admit that it has a role in our lives as a source of information, experiences, entertainment, amusement and relaxation. 5 N(/K. ^
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8. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television has destroyed communication among friends and family. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. vcsi @!
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While television has been somewhat harmful in its effects, it has hardly "destroyed" communication among friends and family, although for some people, the assertion that television has destroyed communication among friends and family seems true. ^'=J'Q
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Television, invented in last century, with its wide availability, increasingly prosperous programs, becomes one of the most powerful means of communication in the history, and is more and more difficult to ignore. Television is as much a part of our lives as are our meals, work, or school; studies consistently show that the average American child spends almost as much time watching television as does she in school. We all have only 24 hours a day and it is clear that the more time one spends on watching television, the less time one does with his or her family and friends. Hence we see the passage in the newspaper or magazine titled "Television took my husband away from me." 3&kHAXzM
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Tempting as such claim might be, it is hardly true. It is not television took her husband away from her, but the increasing pressures of modern life did it. We have no definite evidence to say people nowadays endure more pressures than did their counterparts in the past, but it is absolutely true that people nowadays undergo great pressures that come from various directions, including work, school, economy, and so forth. Investigations show that people who earn more than 50, 000 yuan annually spend at least 60 hours on work per week, much more than those who earn 20,000 yuan annually. Today a bachelor degree may no longer guarantee a well paid job, more and more companies post their want ads claiming that applicants must have at least master degrees, which take two or three years longer. T ~UKWAKX}
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In a word, people nowadays have very little time for anything; television is merely among many other factors that affect communication, and is definitely not the main cause of degradation. It seems that the more one is educated, the more one is aware of the deleterious effects that excessive television causes, and either deliberately avoid it or actually do not enjoy it. On the other hand, there really are many people addictive to television. But the fact is, were television not existent, surely these people would have found other escapes, such as alcohol or gambling, for example. In other words, people always find a way to do what they want to do. Therefore, I do not agree that television has destroyed communication among friends and family. AD4KoT&
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