1. Problems in the New Century (举例法说明文)

Write an expository essay on the problems man will be faced with in the new century.

In the new century, human beings will be filled with hope and live more advanced life. What used to be depicted in science fictions can be the reality of the near future. However, man will also have to confront with some problems that will curtail(剥夺)human beings of their existence.

First of all, pollution of all forms such as land pollution, noise pollution, air pollution and water pollution are worsening with each passing day. People complain all over the world that it is becoming harder to breathe and water is turning undrinkable. Also forests are being felled at a very fast rate. The pollutions are getting so terrible that in some countries we can’t find clean and clear rivers and white clouds in the sky! When the children draw a picture of their surroundings, they paint the green trees in gray, the red sun in gray, everything in gray, and they can’t find a pure environment except in the books.

Additionally, the explosion of population in some parts of the world is manifesting its terrible results. Human beings wil1 have outgrown the earth’s resources, and people will run a high risk of starvation and diseases resulting from overcrowding. In due course, man would be forced out of the earth if the present trend were not reversed.

What is more, in the past century we had many disastrous wars. But there is still potential that the atomic bomb will be used by some politicians in order to keep regional hegemony. If it should happen, the exp1osion could easily lead to the destruction of civilization.

More seriously, the depersonalization of human relationships and the weakening of spiritual values are aggravating due to the stress caused by the busy schedules and the extreme pursuit of money. This will further contribute to man’s isolation and loneliness.

Apparently, with all these problems facing human beings, it seems to be overwhelmingly urgent to conquer them one by one because we have only one earth and it is our home. In the new century, we must try our best to heal the world and make it a better place for you, for me and for the children who will come to this world.

2. The expenses of college students are high （举例法说明文）

According to one of my teachers who graduated from university in 1983, his college expenses were only about 20 yuans per month, covering everything, such as food, and daily necessities. About twenty years later, the expenses of college students are dizzily/staggeringly high and growing more so every year. The basic average cost per student at public universities is now estimated at 15,000 yuans or more, including all the expenses for food, tuition, accommodations, bills for communications and fare for transportation, and other fees. The public universities having the benefits of receiving government investment in higher education are charging students high, to say nothing of the private universities which run on their own capacity.

Take myself as an example. At the beginning of this term, I was charged more than 6,500 yuans for the tuition of the academic year, plus 300 yuans per month for my dormitory accommodation, 500 yuans for the expenses on food, clothes and trivial items, 50 yuans for my mobile phone, etc. Every year, the expenditure totals as much as 20,000 yuans, which has eaten into almost half of my parents’ annual incomes.

Because going to college is so expensive today, many students have to drop out and go to

work early, while others take part-time jobs to earn some money in order to lighten their parents’ financial burden. I am really keen on the experience in attending the universities and I have acquired a lot of knowledge since I came to this university. I am grateful to my parents who work hard and live thriftily to support me. Because of this, I am not only very careful in spending money, but also studying hard to live up to my parents’ expectation. Someday, I can say to them that every penny they have spent on my study is worthwhile and will be paid off.

3. Effects of China’s single-child policy （因果法说明文）

Huge population is one of the main problems in China. Since the 1970’s the Chinese government adopted a policy of family planning---- single-child policy---- as a basic state policy to solve this problem. Until now, this birth control policy is still implanted in our country and both positive and negative effects have been harvested.

With the adoption of the family planning policy, the rate of population growth has been successfully controlled. This has already brought about some satisfactory results in China. For one thing, people’s living standard has been greatly improved with our country becoming more and more prosperous, and our national economy developed steadily. Furthermore, with decreasing population, the problem of shortage of water in parts of China is solved gradually. In addition, with the low rate of birth, it goes with less energy consumption, which will benefit the overall development of our economy. Moreover, this policy has greatly reduced the financial burdens of the parents who have otherwise had more children, enabling them to focus their resources on the single child’s well-being and education.

However, the implementing of this policy also brings about some problems. First of all, as there is only one child in a family, the child becomes “little emperor” or “little empress” of the family, surrounded by parents and grandparents. The spoiled child can get whatever he likes and discards whatever he dislikes. This phenomenon is more popular in large cities will do great harm to the children themselves. They don’t cherish what they have got because they can easily get whatever they would like to. Worse still, in the future when they grow up, they might feel very difficult to adjust to the society or cope with the adversity. Some people also show great concern that when the single children get married, the couple have to take care of 4 old people.

While admitting that single-child policy does bring some negative effects on the single child, we must take it for granted that it has benefited and will continue to benefit the country. Therefore, we should carry it one and at the same time adopt some measures to avoid the adverse consequences the policy may produce.

4. Proposals to Alleviate Poverty in Remote Areas in China （列举法说明文）

The achievement of progress, prosperity and development for all the people in the world is a theme raised by UN. Alleviating poverty has been one of our government’s top priorities for the past decades. And poverty in remote areas in China is virtually a great obstacle for the Chinese to get common progress; thus, it is urgent for us to help the people there to shake off poverty the

sooner the better. For this aim, the government has already sent technicians and experts to poverty-stricken areas to help boost local agricultural production and teach the locals new techniques. The Ministry of Labour has also trained many rural labourers through different programs. But all these are not enough. Several other ways out have been proposed as follows.

First of all, the government should encourage a small part of the people in the remote areas to get wealthy ahead of others by equipping them with relevant funds and agricultural technology. These “better-offs” can not only set a good example but also give confidence to the poorer in their efforts to get rid of poverty. When all the people get rich, the general level of living standard can be greatly improved. And with their living standard improved, they can attach greater importance to environmental protection and are willing to input considerable amount of money to educate their children. Only in this way is a sustainable development guaranteed.

Secondly, we must call upon people in all walks of life throughout the country, especially those citizens of affluence in coastal areas to help those struggling below poverty line in poor remote regions out. We must realize that only after all Chinese people live a comfortable life can we be peacefully enjoying material prosperity in life. Helps can come in various forms----donating money to the poor family and books to school drop-outs, college graduates volunteering to work in the most needed regions, bringing knowledge to them, etc.

The last but not the least, the government should raise the rate of tax levied on those very rich. This can shorten the gap between the poor and the rich as well as benefit the country’s revenues whose better part is in turn allocated to the poor remote areas.

Admittedly, it is never easy to cast off the shadow of poverty in the remote areas completely in short run. But everyone of us should go all out to help those in poverty, we are confident that our country will be more powerful and prosperous in the process of alleviating poverty. (422words)

5. Living Together Is Not Wise （议论文）

There is a tendency among college students that a young boy and a young girl rent a house off campus and live together before being formally married. According to an official census, during the years between 2000 and 2003, the number of college students living together in Beijing alone has almost increased five times. While parents and teachers show deep concern and worries about it, a questionnaire suggests that a considerable number of students themselves don’t strongly object to it. Despite their attitude, I, as a college student myself, don’t think it healthy for college students to live together because it not only has caused some safety problems but also contributed to the moral corruption of our society.

It is true that living together can help one to relieve loneliness and pressure experienced by college students, especially for the students whose families are far away from colleges. But is it wise to use the way of 1iving together to achieve the aim when other effective ways remain open to us? Living together, an informal way of married life, is one of few things vital to one’s lifetime

happiness. We can’t afford to try again and again like other things.

One may argue that these student couples mean to be serious and plan to get married after graduation. By testing their relationship, they can avoid problems after marriage. I don’t think this argument holds water. Just opposite. Living together can actual1y spoil a good relation between two people who intend to marry eventually, for it, most often than not, can develop into weakness rather than strength, doubt rather than trust. A follow-up study shows that few premarital couples living together end in marriage.

It must be pointed out that college boys and girls live together not so much because of their desire to relieve loneliness as of the influence of movies with a lots of sex in them. In this respect, to have a sound judgment and a correct moral attitude is very important.

6．Can Men Wear Makeup? (议论文)

要点提示：

1） 引入段：从广告导入主题：男人开始化装。

2） 男人开始化装的原因：留下好印象；老人不愿显老；化妆品行业有利可图。

3） 负面影响：反传统；女人味儿。

4） 结论：男人化装将成趋势。

Two handsome young Korean men walk past each other in the sunlight. Their shoulders lightly brush, and they turn their heads for a closer inspection. “Wow, he's got great skin,” murmurs one, while the other casually informs him, “It's just that I've changed skin lotion.” The scene is from a television advertisement hawking what is called a “color lotion for men.” Actually, it's a liquid foundation designed, as the ad says, to "cover the imperfections." Now adequate evidence indicates that more and more men wear make-up, especially in parts of Asia, with South Korea in the leading place. Its popularity, it seems to us, is inevitably natural seen from several aspects.

First of all, some people believe that one’s skin weighs heavily when it comes to be interviewed for a job. During the interview, the first impression is so critical that it may decide whether a job applicant can get the opening or not, and thus determine his lifelong happiness. To become a successful salesperson, one must be attractive to the customers. A slight touch-up of one’s appearance increases men’s marketability in the intense competitive society. This is particularly true to those without a good looking. Furthermore, in our society, men don’t want to look shabby when they grow older. Although the elderly are supposed to be respected, men now find that they need to appear younger in this highly competitive world. This is because everyone concedes that a smooth face without wrinkles, a head of black, shiny hair, rosy cheeks----all these are associated with vigor and vitality. Another important factor for men’s wearing cosmetics is that the industry is always a highly profitable and rich one. The manufacturers have been dreaming of opening up this sector which has exclusively belonged to women for long.

However, other people are worried about and frown on the idea. Their dissatisfaction can be justified. For many centuries, our deeply-rooted culture stipulates men to be masculine. Powdering, applying lotion and lipsticks, trimming eyebrows, and so on, are all girly stuff. Female is always regarded as a secondary gender, less important and more vulnerable in family, society and politics. Almost no man wants to become the weak sex in the society, except lunatics or freaks. Besides, effeminate men may be mistaken as homosexual gay, which is against human nature and in some parts of the world is regarded as immoral.

So the barrier for men wearing cosmetics seems to originate from our tradition. But this iceberg is beginning to thaw. Now the hair dye is widely accepted, and more and more young people are the pioneers of using make-up, dressing in skirts, wearing long hair. We have every reason to believe that once the psychological barrier is broken through, men’s cosmetics may be well on the way to being popular. (470 words)

7．Migrant Workers－ Constructors of Our Cities（议论文）

Nowadays more and more migrant workers or peasant workers have poured into the cities. This trend has merits and demerits for the economic development of present China. Please write an essay and give a comprehensive analysis of the impacts migrant workers have had and will have on various aspects of people’s life, in urban areas as well as in rural areas.

要点提示：民工对社会的影响，正面的 (建设城市；改善自身生活)和负面的影响（不利城市就业；给城市带来社会压力等）。

With the reform and opening-up policy being implemented, our national economy is developing rapidly and the living standard of average Chinese people is ameliorated step by step, especially in big cities. However, in some rural areas, the living standard of some peasants is rather low. Due to the scarcity of arable land, the surplus laborers have to go out of the poor rural areas and flood into some cosmopolises to make a living, or earn as a prodigious amount of money as they could, so as to realize their dream of becoming wealthy. With more and more migrant workers like these streaming into the cities, there is an ambivalent feeling towards them.

No one denies the important contribution that rural workers have made to the economic development of present China. They have done most of dirty, dangerous and underpaid jobs in heavy industries, construction sites and other fields that city residents are unwilling to enter into. Meanwhile, some rural workers with higher education certification do their best in high-technology areas. Therefore, they have become an indispensable part of urban life to a point where the machine of a city cannot operate without those cogs, however small and unnoticed.

Furthermore, these migrant workers earn money with their own hand. With this money, they can pay for their children’s education, improve their living condition, and sometimes support their helpless parents back at home. This serves as a means to narrow the gap between urban and rural life.

However, there are some people who maintain that rural people should stay at their hometown. Those people complain that migrant workers have threatened to take the already scarce urban jobs, while many more rural ones are waiting for a chance to compete for employment. Those with anti-migrant attitude also blame them for the sharp rise in the crime rate in the cities. For example, we sometimes see thieves from the countryside who slip their hands into others’ bags. Also because the shelters where the workers dwell are dirty and stink, they have defaced the city’s image in some way. Besides, with the floating population increasing, the extra consumption of electricity, water, and other resources like public facilities adds to the city’s already heavy burden.

Despite the problems posed by migrants, I think, one thing is certain: a grand, prosperous edifice of our country is based on the work of millions of migrant workers and peasant workers. We need them and should give them more preferential conditions. At the same time, to educate

them to conform to the basic moral values and to observe the laws becomes urgent. Once their consciousness enhanced, they can bring us a better city life.

8. Electronic Dictionaries or Traditional Paper Ones? （对比比较说明文）

Some students like to use electronic dictionaries in their study of English. Others think the traditional paper dictionaries are more advantageous. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each kind, and explain which one you prefer to use.

要点提示： 1）电子词典的优缺点（分量轻，便于携带；可以提供其他功能，但例句少，

且要电源）。

2）传统词典的优缺点（不方便携带；但容量大，例句多）。

3）结论：二者兼用，取其长处。

Nowadays more and more electronic gadgets emerge, among which various kinds of electronic dictionary is not the least uncommon. Rarely can you find a student who does not have an E-dictionary tucked somewhere in his schoolbag. They are popular with students partly because they are small and light-weighted compared with the traditional paper dictionaries and partly because students cannot only look up a word for the meaning but also hear its pronunciation. A useful tool for students it is also a good companion for a person constantly on the go/move. A multi-functional E-dictionary is simply a must because it serves the owner in many other ways, such as keeping name cards, being used as a calculator, and even playing games on it.

However, still other people hold that the traditional paper dictionaries are more advantageous in some circumstances. Although the letters are usually very tiny and thus in need of a good eyesight for this kind of dictionaries, the explanation of a word, plus its usage and collocation, are nonetheless more detailed，and more illustrations are provided. While it is true that the paper dictionary is heavy and awkward to carry along, an E-dictionary can run out of power or battery at any time.

In spite of their similar functions, the electronic and paper dictionaries are in striking contrast with each other both in physical looking and their contents. However, there is no such thing as good one or bad one. As far as I am concerned, I always pocket an E-dictionary wherever I go. On bus or on the roads you can see me referring to it now and then. But at home I always turn to my heavy but voluminous paper dictionary from which I can not only get the meaning of a new word, but also all its origin, usage and collocation with phrases or sentences going with them.

9. Living with grandparents，out of date? （议论文）

Write an essay on the following topic with no less than 300 words:

要点提示：三代人住在一起过时了吗？

1） 传统的大家庭带给每一代人的好处；

2） 现在的趋势却是大家庭的解体；

3）你的看法。

For thousands of years, Chinese people have valued the large family with three, four, or even

five generations living under the same roof. In this way of life, the older generation can enjoy a happy and easy late life with their children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren growing up beside them and keeping them from being lonely. At the same time they help to take care of the household and younger ones, while allowing the sons or daughters to concentrate on their career and to make a name for themselves, and ultimately for the family. When they are quite old and in need of support, their sons and grandsons, in turn, can look after them until their last day. Another important role the older generation plays is that they pass on good virtues, offer advice and impart experience to the younger generations. As a Chinese saying goes, “An elderly in a house, a treasure in stock”.

However, as the society advances and people enjoy a more comfortable life, the big families are disappearing/disintegrating . Along with the growth of so-called “empty nestles”, which means the young birds have flown away and only the old are left alone, young parents are living with their own nuclear families. It goes without saying that the collapse of big families and prevalence of smaller ones are the result of our times.

It is a time when people think highly of individual freedom and happiness. Young people like to have a space all alone to themselves. Even the elderly people would like to live separately from their children to enjoy a quieter and more peaceful life, taking the view that having reared many children, they have no obligations to nurture the third generation. Likewise, young parents, living in their own house, have their own way to educate their child, free from the worry that the grandpa or grandma would spoil their grandson. At weekend or on holidays they would make a point of visiting their parents, bringing the child along. After a happy reunion of the family now and then, every member cannot wait for the next one. This arrangement not only shuns the unavoidable conflicts between generations but also becomes a sweet memory.

With the progress of the society, problems of old age and childcare have been socialized gradually. Senior citizens can live together and be taken good care of by specialized nurses. Childcare center also provides good service for small children. All these free the young people from unnecessary burden and thus they can work well and make greater contributions to the society in the end.

Therefore, I have every reason to believe that this trend of families in reduced size is agreeable to our times. To create a brighter future, we should do our best to build our society into one in which every member lives healthily and harmoniously. (474 words)

10. Job Discrimination against Women in China (举例法说明文)

In our society, a lot of women are discriminated in getting employed. They cannot compete with men for a good job, or cannot get appropriately promoted. Give your views on this phenomenon. 要点提示

1) 引言段：当前就业中存在着歧视妇女的现象。

2) 雇佣女性的单位歧视妇女，不愿雇佣，或者尽量少雇佣，原因是她们以后要休产假；老

板认为她们不如男性雇员事业心强等。

3) 有些单位虽有女工，但与男工不能同工同酬，提升的机会也多给男性。

4) 结论：当前针对性别歧视，政府、社会与个人都应积极应对。

Nowadays, more and more women have walked out of kitchen and become career women

instead of housewives. With the increase in the employment ratio of women in society, some subtle forms of job discrimination do exist.

To begin with, quite a lot of companies, if employing women at all, intentionally control the number of female employees when they advertise for staff in the newspaper. Therefore, it is rather difficult for women, even with a master degree, to get well-paid jobs. Some enterprises definitely refuse female applicants, either to avoid their maternity leaves stipulated by our government when they give birth to a child, or because of the employers’ prejudice against women. Some bosses think women are inferior to men in professional skill and spirit of enterprise. They argue that before marriage, women pay their attention to fashionable dresses and various cosmetics, and after marriage, their minds dwell on nothing but the comforts of life, baby-care and housework. Consequently, they hire very limited number of female employees or do not recruit any at all.

Some companies do employ women staff, but inequality is always there like an inerasable speck. Even when men and women are in the same position doing the same job, it is no easy task for a woman to be promoted or get equal pay. The employers take the biased attitude toward female employees, and usually think that a man is more capable than a woman. Sometimes they fire a woman without any good reason. Worse still, some women even complain about their supervisor’s sexual harassment during work time. If they do not succumb to their superior’s demand, their career may suffer.

In China, there is a saying “Women hold half of the sky”. But women are not given enough respect they deserve in their career as it is now. Since men and women are together playing the same important role in our whole society, our government, as well as the society, should take efficient measures to provide the same job opportunities to women. And the women themselves should enhance their work ethic and awareness of self-reliance and self-protection. In this way, more and more women can be motivated to work well at their favourite job and promoted to their desirable positions. Only in this way, can our society be called an equal, open and just one for everyone.