Oral Workshop: Argument

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Oral Workshop Argument
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Lesson 1
Does Television Play a Positive or Negative Role
in the Modern Society?
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Arguments
1. Television in now playing a very important
part in our lives. 2. Television is not only a
convenient source of entertainment, but also a
comparatively cheap one. 3. Television keeps one
informed about current events, allows one to
follow the latest developments in science and
politics and offers an endless series of pro
grammes which are both instructive and
entertaining. 4. A lot of television programmes
introduce people to things they never thought
of before and have never heard of
before. 5. Television series have done a great
job in popularizing many literary master-
pieces. 6. Television has been good company to
those who do not work, like house- wives,
lonely old people, etc. 7. With television people
are still free to enjoy other civilized
pleasures, or even more. 8. There is a
considerable variety of programmes on television.
The viewer is always free to choose whatever
he wants to see.
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Arguments
9. Television provides enormous possibilities for
education, like school programmes via
closed-circuit television. 10. Television
provides special broadcasts for those in TV
University, or Open University. It also
offers specialized subjects like language
teaching, sewing, cooking, painting,
cosmetics, etc. 11. Television does the job of
education in the broadest sense. Instructive
programmes achieve their goal through
entertaining the viewers. 12. Television provides
an outlet for creative talents. 13. People all
around the world are no longer distant and
isolated from each other. The most distant
countries and the strangest customs are brought
right into ones sitting-room. 14. Compared
with the radio, everything on television is more
lifelike, vivid, and real. 15. Television
may be a vital factor in holding a family
together where there are, for example,
economic problems and husband and wife seem at
breaking point.
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Counter-arguments
1. Television is a great time-waster. 2. People
who dont watch television are happier than those
who watch it because television goes with
the kind of life which leaves the viewer nothing
to spare, nothing left. 3. Television makes
the viewer completely passive because everything
is presented to him without any effort on
his part. 4. The very danger of watching
television lies in the fact that the viewer takes
no initiative. He makes no choice and
exercises no judgment. 5. Television passes on to
children the corrupting values of a corrupt
society. 6. Television is to blame for the fact
that children take longer to learn to read
these days and barely see the point at all of
acquiring the skill. 7. Television takes up too
much of our time. We no longer have enough time
for hobbies, entertaining activities, and
other outside amusement like theatres,
cinemas, sports, etc. 8. Unfortunately all our
free time is now regulated by television. 9.
People rush home gulp their food, which is often
as simple as sandwich and a glass of beer,
and start watching the TV programmes.
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Counter-arguments
10. The monster, i.e. television, demands
absolute silence and attention. No one
dares to open his mouth during a programme. 11.
People have grown addicted to television, often
neglecting the necessary and more important
things like meals, sleep and even work. 12. A lot
of parents use television as a pacifier for their
children. They put their children in front
of the set and dont care whether the children
are exposed to rubbishy commercials or
spectacles of violence as long as the children
are quiet. 13. Most of the television programmes
are bad and they do not keep pace with the
high demand of viewers and do not maintain high
quality. 14. The wide coverage of television
programmes has reduced society to the condition
in pre-literate communities we are utterly
dependent on the most primitive media of
communication pictures and spoken words. 15.
What the viewer receives from television is
nothing but second-hand experience. He is
completely cut off from the real world. 16. The
more that viewer watches television, the lazier
he becomes. He is glued to the set instead
of going out. 17. Television prevents people from
communicating with each other. It has done a
lot of harm to the relationship between family
members.
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Lesson 2
Are Pets Good for Mankind?
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Arguments
1. The great virtue of pets is that they can keep
us company. 2. An animal in the family helps to
keep us human. 3. A pet is kept as a companion
that makes us feel happy. Its suggested
that pets should be sent to astronauts in a
spacecraft to help reduce the loneliness of
space flights. 4. Besides providing mere
companionship, pets invite us to love and be
loved. 5. Often a cat or a dog can comfort us at
times when human words dont help. 6. Pets
give us a sense of being important and needed
because they depend on us for a home, food
and drink. 7. Pets are of particular importance
to children in this Plastic Age when most of
us live in large cities. 8. A pet in a family
keeps people in touch with the more natural,
animal world.
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Arguments
9. Watching the everyday activities of a pet
helps a child to under- stand nature and
cope with problems. 10. Learning to care for a
pet helps a child to grow up into a loving
adult who feels responsible towards those
dependent on him. 11. Animals can communicate
with each other in their particular way.
They communicate with human beings, too, f or
they are quick to sense anger and
sorrow. 12. People keep pets for emotional rather
than economic reasons. 13. A pet dog brings its
master (owner) a sense of confidence, for he
can see in the dog that faithfulness does exist
and he does have something to
trust. 14. Sterilization of pets in utterly
cruel. If there is a large number of pets,
then the more, the merrier.
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Counter-arguments
1. Keeping pets is just a waste of time and
resources. 2. Pets are humanized by those who
keep pets. Owing to their need for a home,
for food and drink, pets are tamed and
idealized by their owners. 3. Pets and children
often fight over care and love in the
family. 4. People nowadays are so crazy about
pets that they even neglect caring for their
own children. 5. A campaign should be launched
against the overpopulation of pets. 6. The
growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene
problems that cannot be solved.
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Counter-arguments
7. The earth will no longer be a world of human
beings and animals but a world of animals
only if we dont take measures to stop the
increase of pets. 8. Pet dogs and cats of
both sexes should be sterilized because the
animals themselves are in danger of becoming
the first victims for the simple reason that
their owners dont have enough time for too many
of them. 9. As a matter of fact those keep pets
dont always treat their pets with
kindness. They sometimes abandon their pets when
they go away on holiday and are unable to
take the pets along with them. 10. Its a shame
that many animals eat much better food than we
human beings do. 11. Its really against
nature to cage birds, chain dogs and keep cats
within the house. 12. Pets are animals.
They should be seen in their natural habitat
rather than in the homes of human beings.
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Lesson 3
Should the Brain Drain Be Stopped by
Restrictions?
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Arguments
1. Our government should try every way to stop
the brain drain for the survival of our
country. 2. Many of those who go overseas are
college graduates on whom the country has
spent a large sum of money. Why should we educate
people for other countries? 3. China now faces a
keen shortage of qualified personnel but one
batch of gifted people after another have
gone abroad. To change this grim situation it is
impe- rative to stop any further outflow of
talent through stricter restrictions. 4. Most
people go abroad to seek their fortunes. In order
to make money for them- selves, a few even
take up indecent jobs. We must stop such kinds
of people from going abroad. 5. Some people
do not want to contribute to the construction of
our country and say that they will come back
when China becomes a rich and powerful country.
Restrictions for these unpatriotic people
should be even stricter. 6. It is true that some
people go abroad to learn advanced science and
technology, but what about those who major
in Chinese folk songs and dances or those who
major in subjects for which China has the best
teachers and the most materials?
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Arguments
7. Many Chinese students, no matter what their
majors were in colleges and universities
here, turn to business courses in the United
States because that makes it easier for them
to find a job in the US after graduation. This
shows that they do not plan to come back.
Should we not stop people like them from
going abroad? 8. Many of the things students
learn in foreign countries cannot be applied in
China. Therefore, we should not waste time and
energy sending people abroad to
study. 9. Many young people go abroad at such an
early age that they hardly under- stand their
own culture and are easily influenced by Western
ideas. That is why stricter restriction
should be put on young people going
overseas. 10. The 5-year-service-system for
college graduates is necessary and sensible.
This is the least a college graduate should do
for the country. 11. The 5-year-service-system is
good not only for the country but also for the
individuals because graduates fresh from
college can hardly do their research well.
A few years of work experience will help them
realize their own weak- nesses and make them
more eager to learn.
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Counter-arguments
1. The brain drain should not be stopped by
restrictions because they can only prevent people
from going abroad, but can never make them serve
the needs of our countrys construction
whole-heartedly. 2. Restrictions are useless, for
in China there are always ways to get around
restrictions and many people have already found
ways to do so. 3. Backward management should be
changed in order to bring peoples initiative
into full play. 4. Unfair distribution systems
should be got rid of to make sure that people who
have made the most contribution are duly
rewarded. 5. Intellectuals living and working
conditions should be improved. Only in this way
will people be willing, rather than forced, to
stay in our country. 6. To those who have stayed
in foreign countries beyond their time limit, we
should give more trust and understanding rather
than label them as unpatriotic or dismiss them
from their former jobs. Only in this way can we
attract those who have already gone abroad. 7.
The 5-year-service-system is unreasonable because
a person learns best when he is young and free
from family duties.
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Counter-arguments
8. What occurs as a consequence of the
5-year-service-system is that many high school
graduates refuse to go to college because they do
not want to be bound by these regulations. 9.
People are required to pay a large sum of money
is they dont want to fulfill the 5-year-service
obligation. This hurts the feelings of many who
actually want to come back after their studies
abroad and forces them to remain overseas long
enough to earn their money back. 10. For many
people their desire to go abroad becomes even
stronger when there are restrictions, for people
are always tempted to do what is forbidden. 11.
Chinas irrational employment and personnel
system should be changed so that people who do
return from abroad can use the skills and
knowledge they have acquired abroad. 12. People
abroad often suffer from loneliness and
homesickness and long to come back, but certain
rules and regulations have frightened them away.
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Lesson 4
Does Criticism Do More Harm Than Good to
People?
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Arguments
1. One will improve only with criticism because
generally speaking, one knows ones good
qualities better than ones bad. 2. Criticism
helps people to know their negative qualities
better and will add to their self-knowledge. 3. Ve
ry often criticism is more useful than
compliments because those criticized can improve
and will not make the same mistakes in the
future. 4. Being criticized means to be judged.
Such judgment implies a demand that we should
change. If others do not demand change, we may
feel the need to demand it of ourselves. 5. Critic
ism works effectively when it focuses on the task
that is being done. 6. One should not take a
negative attitude towards criticism, for such an
attitude will kept one from knowing what others
really think of one. 7. In our childhood we all
got a great deal of criticism and, as a result,
learning how to handle criticism is not new to
us. 8. Criticism to us is like medicine to the
sick. 9. Only those who care for us will offer us
criticism in order to stop us from
erring. 10. Even though some criticism comes from
unfriendly intentions, still it can be taken as a
warning.
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Counter-arguments
1. Criticism does more harm than good to ones
confidence and dignity. 2. In real life people
tend to hold a protective web around themselves
in defense against criticism, for criticism is
usually very hurtful. 3. Criticism makes people
lose confidence and become very negative about
themselves. 4. Some people of ill will use their
ostensible concern for the growth of others as an
excuse to criticize and attack them. 5. It is not
uncommon for many sensible people to withhold
their criticism for fear of being disliked or
considered unfair, or for fear of hurting another
person. 6. Criticism, with few exceptions,
discredits us, what we have done, or what we plan
to do. 7. Criticism is authoritarian because it
sets unreasonable demands on those criticized. 8.
Criticism should focus on the problem, if there
should be any. Very often it is the person who
gets picked on. 9. Criticism throws people into
frustration rather than urge them to improve. 10.
Frequent criticism makes people completely
baffled about how to behave and do things
properly. 11. Criticism is not as useful as
compliments. Compliments encourage people and
offer them a hopeful prospect of themselves and
their lives, but criticism does the opposite.
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Lesson 5
Is It Good for Students to Have Part-time Jobs?
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Arguments
1. Its good for students to have part-time jobs
because this helps cultivate independence among
young people. 2. Part-time jobs in business can
foster a sense of competition, which is important
for students in the future. 3. After-school work
enhances a young persons social development. 4.
Being able to earn their own money gives students
a feeling that theyve become adults and,
therefore, makes them feel more mature. 5.
Part-time jobs make students more confident in
themselves because through the work they can
realize their own value and prove that they are
capable people. 6. Part-time job experience gives
students an insight into what work is about and
prepares them psychologically for their future
jobs. 7. After-school work teaches students how
hard it is to earn money and helps develop
thriftiness in our younger generation. 8.
Part-time jobs can help students apply their
knowledge in practice, and, in return, their
experience will make them know better what they
have learned in classes and books. 9. Part-time
jobs give students a feeling of achievement
through contributing to national
construction. 10. Part-time jobs can make
students lives more colorful and are good for
their personal development. 11. Students
part-time jobs contribute a lot, in one way or
another, to our socialist construction. 12.
Students who have part-time jobs can relieve, to
some extent, the economic burdens of their
parents. 13. With the money earned, students can
buy many of the books they like.
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Counter-arguments
1. Its not good for students to do part-time
jobs because they will become money-oriented. 2.
Many students who have part-time jobs have shown
a decline in their studies. 3. Part-time jobs do
not help develop a sense of thriftiness among
young people because many students spend the
money on high-priced items, luxuries that their
parents can hardly afford. 4. Part-time jobs
often distract students attention from their
studies, and some students even play truant. 5.
The main task of students is to study hard and
learn what is needed for the development of our
nation. Social experience can be gained later
after they finish their studies. 6. Since
students are in their formative years, part-time
jobs may expose them to social ills at an age
when they can not differentiate good from bad. 7.
Some students become juvenile delinquents because
they come under the influence of bad people
through part-time jobs. 8. Through students who
have part-time jobs may relieve their parents
economic burdens, their early contact with
society adds greatly to the worries of their
parents. 9. Though some after-school work can
help students practice what they learn in
classes, many of the jobs require nothing of the
students knowledge. 10. Some students have
become drop-outs because through part-time jobs
theyve found that the more education you have,
the less money you make. 11. After the chaotic
10-year-long Culture Revolution, China now has a
shortage of 60 million engineers. The problem of
drop-outs only makes the situation worse.
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Lesson 6
Is Euthanasia Humane?
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Arguments
1. Euthanasia is humane because it helps to
hasten the death of terminally ill patients. 2.
Death, as natural as birth, is sometimes a hard
process that requires assistance, and euthanasia
is part of such assistance. 3. Death is a normal
and natural stage of life, so people have the
right to die. 4. It is unnecessary to maintain
life artificially beyond the point when people
will never regain consciousness. 5. Extending an
incurably ill patients life means the same as
aggravating his pain. 6. Efforts should not be
made to perpetuate what has become a meaningless
existence. 7. Euthanasia can bring mental and
physical release to the patient and his family
when he is terminally ill and has no prospect of
recovering. 8. Mercy killing is motivated by
nothing but love and sympathy for the dying
patient. 9. Most of the terminally ill patients
themselves want to die with dignity and peace
instead of agony and degradation. Euthanasia is
the only satisfactory way out. 10. The majority
of people brought to trial for mercy killing are
usually found innocent in the end.
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Counter-arguments
1. It is inhumane to perform euthanasia no matter
how painless the process is. 2. Anyone who
voluntarily, knowingly or premeditatedly takes
the life of another, even one minute prior to
death, is a killer. 3. Euthanasia is a criminal
offense because it involves the killing of a
person. 4. Legalized euthanasia will invite abuse
of human life because any form of murder may be
conveniently dubbed mercy killing by
unscrupulous people. 5. Euthanasia raises many
moral issues since it implies that active
measures are taken to terminate human life. 6.
Doctors and nurses should do everything they can
to save dying patients instead of hastening their
death by active measures. 7. Nothing can be more
brutal than taking away human life. 8. The
instinct for self-preservation is the strongest
human beings possess. It is untrue that any
patient himself should want to die. 9. Doctors
and nurses involved in euthanasia have
discredited their profession, for euthanasia is a
violation of the fundamental medical principle to
save human life.
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Lesson 7
Do Examinations Do More Harm Than Good?
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Arguments
1. Exams are primitive methods of testing the
students knowledge and ability. They do more
harm than good to the students, the teachers,
education itself and the whole society. 2. Many
exams are not scientifically designed, but are
subjective assessments by some anonymous
examiners. 3. Exams do more harm than good, for
students often spend so much time revising for
examinations than they cant find enough time for
new work. 4. Examinations do not motivate the
student to read widely, but restrict his
reading. 5. Exams often cause anxiety, for
students will not get good jobs without good
marks. Many students suffer from bad health, and
some even commit suicide because of psychological
pressure. 6. Since exams test a students memory
rather than his ability and aptitude, they never
train him to think for himself. 7. It is unfair
to judge students by the results of exams because
they can hardly perform well under great pressure
or after a sleepless night. 8. Exams lower
teaching standards, too. Since a teachers work
is often judged by the exam results of his
students, he often teaches them exam techniques
rather than knowledge. 9. The exam system leads
to the duck-stuffing lecturing method. 10. The
examination system often produces people with
good marks but poor abilities, for many
successful examinees are well trained in exam
techniques rather than well educated. 11. The
standard of education cannot be improved so long
as the examination system exists.
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Counter-arguments
1. Exams are a well-tried system which offers the
best and quickest way of assessing a
candidate. 2. Exams help us find people with real
abilities, for the students can not possibly do
well relying merely on memory and exam
techniques. 3. If students work steadily all the
time, they need not spend so much time preparing
for exams and will not have to suffer from
psychological pressure. 4. Many students hate
exams, but admit that without exams, they
wouldnt do any work at all. 5. Exams provide a
clear standard by which the students can assess
themselves from time to time. 6. Teachers want
exams because they indicate clearly what teachers
should do. 7. Exams help employers in their
selection of employees. Though teachers can write
reports about their students for employers, they
are often subjective and biased. 8. Exams are
constantly being improved. There is a lot of
research into objective testing techniques to
eliminate human error, and computers are already
widely used to mark specially devised tests. 9.
Pernicious aspects of the system, such as
duck-stuffing, are not the fault of examinations,
but of teachers. 10. The exam system may not be
perfect, but its the best we have it may be
painful, but so are many things in life.
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Lesson 8
Should We Diet in Order to Keep Fit?
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Arguments
1. Being overweight is bad for ones health
because it leads to heart disease, high blood
pressure, etc. 2. Medical science has proved that
animal fats and an excessive amount of sugar are
harmful to ones health. 3. Fat people suffer
psychologically and physically. 4. It is hard for
fat men and women to get ready-made clothes. 5.
Fat people and women are unattractive to look
at. 6. Fat people get tired easily. 7. Fat people
should put themselves on a diet because they eat
more than they really need. 8. Dieting is
associated with sensible and rational living. 9.
Dieting leads to longevity. 10. Dieting enable
people to enjoy life more. 11. Obese people are
often objects of ridicule owing to their abnormal
figures.
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Counter-arguments
1. Dieting does more harm than good to ones
health for the simple reason that a dieter suffer
constantly from malnutrition. 2. Dieters lead a
miserable life because they are forever hungry
and, at the same time, they have to go through
the torture of watching others enjoy their three
meals a day. 3. Dieters do not enjoy life fully.
They miss one of the most important things in
good food. 4. Many people diet not because they
really want to live a healthy life, but because
they are vain. 5. Many dieters are merely fashion
followers. They will undertake gaining weight if
being fat becomes fashionable one day. 6. What
dieters are interested in is nothing but the
battle against spreading hips, protruding
tummies, double chins, etc. 7. Dieters may lose
some weight. Once they stop, however, they gain
weight again, which is more harmful to ones
health. 8. Those on a diet are simply senseless.
They try to keep their good figures at the
expense of their health.
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Lesson 9
Is It a Good Idea to Control Population
Growth in the World?
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Arguments
1. The rapid rise in world population is creating
problems for all countries on earth because there
simply arent enough resources. 2. Both rich and
poor countries of the world should take united
action to deal with the population explosion.
Otherwise, there will be more people fighting for
less land and fewer resources, and the future
will bring poverty, misery and war to us all. 3.
Population increase in developing countries has
wiped out the material benefits that they have
achieved. 4. Statistics show that where the
population rate is high, peoples living
standards are low. This means, peoples living
conditions cannot improve unless there is a
reduction in the increased rate of population. 5.
In modern times, a family with few children, or
even with no children at all, is still a happy
family. 6. With fewer children in a family,
parents spend less time on household chores and
concentrate more on their own interests, and
their children enjoy better material and
educational opportunities than those in bigger
families. 7. The most pressing problem created by
the rapid increase in population is a shortage of
food. At present a large proportion of the
existing population is not getting enough of the
right kind of food (e.g. people in India,
Ethiopia, etc.). 8. Overpopulation creates a
shortage of schools, teachers, hospitals and
doctors. 9. Overpopulation causes problems in
housing and employment, especially in cities. 10.
Just imagine how much better life would be if the
world population were cut by half!
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Counter-arguments
1. More children, more happiness. This is
especially true for elderly people who all love
children. 2. People in agricultural areas need
more children to help them with the work in the
fields. 3. Whether to have children or not in a
private matter and nobody should interfere with
it. 4. It is unfair to blame all the problems on
the increase in population. It is those greedy
manufacturers and businessmen in developed
countries that make the heaviest demands on the
worlds resources and cause the most
pollution. 5. If population control were a must,
it should be carried out in developed countries
as well because a baby born in the U.S. will use
in his lifetime 30 times more of the worlds
resources than a baby born in India. 6. Children
are the most important thing in life. With fewer
children around, life will be dull, meaningless
and unhappy. It is incredible for a couple to
have no child at all. 7. Children in a family
give the parents a sense of responsibility and
pride. They are very important to the stability
of a family. 8. Population control does greater
harm than we realize. For instant, if the one
child policy is still in practice in 100 years,
people then will have little idea of kinship
ties, for most of them will have no brothers,
sisters, uncles, aunts, or cousins. 9. With the
governments family planning policy in operation
we now have a generation of only child
families most of them are arrogant, selfish, and
spoilt. 10. A big family offers children a chance
to learn how to cope with and care for other
people. 11. Children in big families have the
chance to compete with each other, in terms of
their manners at home, their study at school,
their performance at their place of work, etc.
Older children usually have a great influence on
the younger.
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Lesson 10
Should Students Only Learn from Books?
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Arguments
1. Only books can provide people with the
knowledge that makes them educated. 2. The
criticism that what students learn today is not
adapted to present-day society is utterly wrong
because education can never be seen only in terms
of how useful the subjects are when students
leave school. We ought to evaluate education in
terms of how much the students enjoy those
subjects and how much they mean to those
students. 3. Instead of being trained to be
utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do
things for their own sake, for getting
satisfaction out of them rather than for what is
achieved at the end. 4. Those with a good command
of the knowledge provided in books can adapt
themselves better to their future life than those
without. 5. Those who stress only practical
skills and techniques and ignore the function of
books are short-sighted. 6. Only by urging
students to read more, write more and do more
exercises can education be improved. 7. Being
practical, many children leave school and start
earning money at an early age. Because of this,
quite a large number of children join the ranks
of the illiterate in the country. 8. Without the
knowledge provided in books, there is no point in
talking about training qualified personnel and
fostering versatile talents.
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Counter-arguments
1. Education is a gradual extension of oneself.
It does not only take place in echool buildings.
It is a life-long experience. 2. Students should
be taught how to live and how to get on with one
another. This is more important than reading and
writing. 3. Writing, reading and arithmetic dont
really matter. What matter is that students
should learn to understand the world? 4. Students
are so overburdened with class-work and homework
that many of them do not enjoy good health. 5.
Instead of offering students book-learning only,
we should encourage them to get to know society
so that they will be more adaptable to real
life. 6. Many students are spoilt by our
present-day educational system. They may be top
students at school, but they are at a loss as to
how to deal with practical matters. 7. Education
is but a failure if it only produces people who
are unable to put theory into practice. 8. We
should put right the tendency of stressing only
students academic achievement and ignoring their
moral and physical education. 9. Students, in
their formative years, should have a chance to
broaden their outlook rather than feel compelled
to work towards passing an exam.
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Lesson 11
Dose Parental Permissiveness Affect Childrens
Development?
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Arguments
1. The excessive permissiveness of present-day
parents is doing more harm than good to children
and society as well. 2. Children should develop
the habit of working and living independently
and, meanwhile, practice the virtue of being
filial to their parents. 3. If one lets the child
do whatever he wants to, he will ruin the child
for life. 4. We have to admit the fact that we
now have got a generation of spoilt,
self-centered brats with no respect for their
elders. 5. The spread of juvenile delinquency in
our age is largely due to parental
permissiveness. 6. Children who have a surfeit of
happiness in their childhood often emerge like
stodgy puddings and fail to make a success of
life. 7. The fact that young people nowadays are
self-centered, indifferent and inconsiderate of
others is largely the outcome of parental
permissiveness in their childhood. 8. Parental
authority in a family helps a child to develop
his character healthily. 9. It is ridiculous
that, instead of showing due respect to their
parents, children in China today enjoy extreme
piety from their parents. 10. Parents should
exercise strict discipline over their children
because, the more permissive the parents are, the
more rebellious against their parents the
children will become. 11. Lavish care and
excessive permissiveness will only give rise to
hedonism among the younger generation.
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Counter-arguments
1. More care for children is not the same as
permissiveness to them. 2. The truth is that
parents nowadays do not take enough care of their
children and often neglect their development
because the parents are only interested in their
careers. 3. Parents are not at all permissive to
their children. Violence often takes place in
families in which children are abused. 4. Only a
relaxed family atmosphere can help the physical
and psychological growth of children. 5. To let
children do what they like contributions to their
independence and competence in their adult
lives. 6. It is unfair to blame parents for the
spread of juvenile delinquency. There are a lot
of other causes involved. 7. Many cases show that
children leave home and become members of street
gangs just because they can not bear
authoritarian control over them by their
parents. 8. Strict discipline does not always
work in terms of developing childrens personal
qualities. Too much pressure on children leads to
rebellion and other extreme actions. 9. Parents
are not justified in using violence to keep
discipline and maintain their authority over the
children. 10. Children are human beings, too.
they need to be protected instead of being
frequently scolded or physically abused.
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Lesson 12
Is It Necessary to Develop Tourism?
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42
Arguments
1. It is necessary to develop the tourist trade,
for it contributes a lot to increasing
understanding between nations. 2. As the saying
goes, Seeing is believing. Only a trip to an
unfamiliar land can help us understand the people
and culture there. 3. Since tourism helps
increase understanding between people, it will
finally wipe out prejudice against other nations,
and make the world a more peaceful one. 4.
Tourism contributes significantly to many
countries GNP (Gross National Product). The
economy of some nations is based on the tourist
industry. 5. Tourism helps develop a nations
commerce because tourists are most likely to buy
souvenirs wherever they go. 6. Tourism provides
jobs for many people and helps solve or ease the
social problem of unemployment. 7. Tourism also
helps promote the catering trade. 8. Tourism
helps improve the transportation system of a
nation. 9. Tourism helps accelerate a citys
construction and its embellishment. 10. Contact
with tourists from afar widens the horizon of the
local people. 11. The tourist trade gives people
a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the
world and the wonders of mankind. 12. Tourism
will help people learn about different cultures
of the world. 13. Travel can widen ones horizon
and make one more open-minded.
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Counter-arguments
1. Tourism cannot increase understanding between
nations because tourists are often trapped in big
hotels and only gaze at the natives from a
distance. 2. Tourism does not wipe out prejudice,
but leads to the persistence of national
stereotypes because when traveling, you notice
only characteristics which confirm your
preconceptions. 3. It is true that foreign
friends can make people understand stereotypes
are absurd and harmful, but the tourist trade
prevents people from making foreign friends. 4.
Since tourists do not have time to mix with the
local people, they cannot have a full view of the
local culture. 5. Tourism makes some parts of the
world too crowded a place to live in. 6. Tourism
creates pollution and has destroyed many
beautiful scenic spots. 7. Tourists cannot have a
full enjoyment of the beautiful scenery because
the places they visit are restricted by
organizers. 8. As the saying goes, Travel makes
a wise man better, but a fool worse. 9. Contact
with and assimilation of other cultures will
reduce the uniqueness of ones own culture and
make the world less colorful than before.
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Lesson 13
Work to Live or Live to Work?
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45
Arguments
1. Some people live to work. They want to have a
fulfilling profession. 2. Work that is worth
doing gives mental satisfaction to the doer. 3.
One should always enjoy what one does even if the
salary is low. 4. One will feel tense if he is in
the wrong job. 5. Doing well in the right job
helps to improve ones relationship with ones
colleagues and family members. 6. Whatever one
does is a creative experience, like cooking,
sewing, and other do-it-yourself activities. 7.
We shouldnt regard work merely as a breadwinning
process. We should take a wider perspective on
work. 8. People work for the sake of success,
position and control in society. 9. Working gives
women a sense of independence away from the
family. 10. Work fulfils human beings and they
should not be prey to base impulses. 11. To work
is a human need and a unique human characteristic.
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Counter-arguments
1. Some people work to live. To live is to
survive. It is a fundamental human need. 2. Work
is a means to an end. It is a breadwinning
process. 3. One is happy if his job enables him
to earn enough to live well. 4. The person who
works to live has a very strong sense of
responsibility for his family and himself as
well. 5. The purpose of working is to live
satisfactorily. 6. Work should not rule ones
life. As soon as one arrives home from work, he
should forget about the office. 7. Work is
drudgery. People work so that they will enjoy
their leisure or whatever comes after it. 8. For
most people, work has very little value at
all. 9. Nowadays, we do things which are either
totally futile and useless or have very little
justification. 10. For most of us the only reason
for working is that we need to keep ourselves
alive, to pay for somewhere to live, to pay to
feed our children. 11. A lot of people have found
that working has become a dispiriting experience.
So work can never be the goal of life. 12. To
work is to earn money, and money can buy
happiness. 13. Making money is gratifying and
exciting. Peoples lives are actually geared
towards this because the amount of money one
earns symbolizes his position in society. 14.
People are vain. They dont admit the fact that
they work hard in order to enjoy life.
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Lesson 14
Does the younger Generation Know Best?
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48
Arguments
1. The young are better educated and more
broad-minded. 2. The young enjoy a lot more
things than the old they have money to spend
they are less dependent on their parent they
grow up more quickly and they enjoy more
freedom. 3. The young do not blindly accept the
ideals of their elders. 4. The old assume they
know best, but it is only a mater of
experience. 5. The young question the values and
assumptions of the older generation and they are
right. 6. The young reject conformity, in dress
drab grey suits and convict haircut. 7. The young
enjoy more freedom and have a stronger sense of
responsibility. 8. The old tend to settle
differences by conventional politics and
violence. 9. The old are unhappy and guilt-ridden
in their personal lives. 10. The old do not have
noble ambitions and only strive for material
possessions. 11. The old are unable to keep away
from the ratrace, in which they have lost touch
with the most important things in life. 12. The
old can learn from the young. Young people are
more devoted to their friends. 13. The young know
how to enjoy work and leisure and not to be
inhibited. 14. The young live in the present
rather than in the past or future.
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Counter-arguments
1. The young do not assume their responsibility
they evade it. 2. The young have too much money
and they are spoiled. 3. The young are not
interested in important questions. 4. The young
are only interested in themselves. 5. The young
are concerned only with making money and getting
ahead. 6. The young seek material possessions
like clothing, cars, etc. They do not wish to
work for them. 7. The young should feel grateful
to the older generations, who have created a good
life for them. 8. The older generation brought
about peace and freedom which the young enjoy
today. 9. The old provide the young with a good
education and money to spend. 10. The older
generation fought in the two world wars. They
faced real problems, but the young have an easier
life. 11. The young are shallow and cling to
passing fashions trendy clothes, pop music,
etc. 12. The way many young people dress is in
very bad taste. They grow long hair, and they are
dirty, scruffy, and lazy. 13. Young people have
too much freedom and have no sense of
morality. 14. The older generation is too kind
and soft with the young. A tougher policy is
needed and might work wonders. 15. The young are
unadventurous and they lack noble ideals. 16.
Young peoples outlook on the world is very bleak
and they are skeptical of everything. 17. Young
people are unstable. They are cocksure.
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Lesson 15
Should Smoking Be Prohibited?
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51
Arguments
1. Smoking should be prohibited, for the World
Health Organization points out that diseases
linked to smoking kill at least 2,500,000 people
each year. 2. Scientific research had shown that
the risk of developing lung cancer increases with
the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the
duration of the smoking habit and it diminishes
with the cessation of smoking. 3. Smoking not
only leads to lung cancer but many other diseases
such as heart attacks, sore throat, headache,
chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema,
etc 4. Smoking is not only harmful to the smoker
himself (herself), but also results in the deaths
of non-smokers. Statistics show that passive
smoking is causing 3,000 to 5,000 lung cancer
deaths a year among American non-smokers. 5. An
American scientist estimated that smokers who
average a package a day for 20 years will lose
about eight years of their lives. 6. Smoking
makes the indoor environment far more polluted
than outdoor environment. 7. Pregnant women who
smoke run the risk of having deformed babies
8. Smoking is an expensive habit, for a smoker
who consumes 10 cigarettes a day will have to
spend at least 40 yuan a month 9. Smoking has a
bad impact on the psyche of the smokers. On the
one hand, smokers realize the bad effects of
smoking and are persuaded from time to time to
give up smoking. On the other hand, many of them
can hardly resist the temptation to smoke. Hence
they often lose confidence in themselves
. 10. Children exposed to parental cigarette
smoking are put at a higher risk of developing
lung diseases later in their lives. 11. In the
countryside, some smokers share the same pipe,
which is even more unhealthy. 12. Smoking not
only pollutes the air but also makes the streets
dirty, for some smokers flick the ash off their
cigarettes and throw cigarette ends
everywhere. 13. Smoking speeds up the process of
aging and helps cause wrinkles on peoples faces.
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Counter-arguments
1. Smoking should not be prohibited, for
cigarettes give a vast number of people a good
deal of pleasure a lot of the time. 2. Nicotine
can produce a tranquilizing effect during high
emotions and shock situations, and, therefore,
helps to calm people down. 3. Smoking counteracts
the decrease in efficiency that typically occurs
in boring, monotonous situations. 4. Smokers can
improve their performance in complex situations
while smoking. 5. Smokers help increase the
revenue of our country. 6. Smoking kills no more
people than epidemics or traffic accidents. 7.
Most non-smokers spend a lot of money on snacks,
a habit costing as much as smoking if not
more. 8. Many girls admire handsome boys with a
cigarette on their lip, because they believe
smoking is a sign of maturity in men. 9. Girls
who smoke appear cool and capable. 10. If smoking
is eliminated, a lot of people in the tobacco
industry will be out of jobs, and that will
create many social problems. 11. Smoking may not
always lead to death. Winston Churchill was a
chain-smoker but enjoyed a long life. 12. Facts
have shown that if a chain-smoker suddenly quits
smoking, hes more likely to have lung cancer
than those who keep the habit. 13. Everybody has
the right to keep his or her habit. Smokers are
no exception.
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Lesson 16
Is Money the Most Important Thing in Life?
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54
Arguments
1. Everything in modern society is based on
money. As the saying goes, money makes the mare
go. 2. Parents object to their daughters
marriages unless their future sons-in-law have
jobs with good prospects. 3. Many young people
marry for money rather than for love. 4. Some
people in Shanghai would even trade their
self-esteem for money. 5. Materialism influences
education, too. Students acquire knowledge not
for its own sake, but for a bigger wage
packet. 6. Students choose business courses
rather than liberal arts for the sake of earning
big money in the future. 7. Very few people want
to be teachers because teaching is not a
lucrative profession. 8. More emphasis is put on
material life than on spiritual life in modern
society. People do anything in their power to
earn money to buy their houses, furniture, cars,
etc. 9. People are trained to be acquisitive from
an early age and are not considered successful
unless they make good money. 10. People spend
most of their lives struggling frantically to
keep up with the Joneses 11. Wealthy nations
often deprive their poorer neighbors of talented
people by offering them bigger salaries. 12. Finan
cial rewards for pop stars make many people envy
them. 13. A desire to earn more money is nothing
to be ashamed of.
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Counter-arguments
1. Too much wealth leads to disaster. Murder or
kidnapping might occur when big money is
involved. 2. There is a marked reluctance among
people to work long hours for money. Many people
desire to have a rich and interesting life. 3.
Money corrupts. The more money you have, the more
you want. 4. Success and wealth often earn one
envy and even hostility which ruins good human
relationship. 5. Many young people reject
materialistic values. They are motivated by their
interest in work. 6. Many people think it is
vulgar to be after money all the time. They give
away their money to less fortunate people. 7.
Many devoted teachers consider teaching a noble
career and are not demoralized by their low
salaries. 8. There is now a return of interest in
the humanities, which arouse peoples academic
interest. Money is obviously not the sole
interest to these people. 9. There exist many
volunteer organizations, such as neighborhood
committees in China, people involved in work
without a reward. 10. When people are struck by
natural disasters in one part of the world, those
in other parts of the world often help
generously. 11. What scientists and engineers
want is often better conditions for work rather
than more money.
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Lesson 17
Is Romantic Love the Most Important Condition
for Marriage?
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57
Arguments
1. Marriage is the result and extension of love.
Therefore, romantic love is the most important
condition of marriage. 2. Love should be the most
important condition for marriage because a
marriage without love is like hell in which the
couples suffer for the rest of their lives. 3.
Romantic love will enable the couple to conquer
any difficulties in their life together. 4. In
feudal society, many people suffered from
arranged marriages because love was never an
element for consideration in marriages at that
time. 5. Romantic love can lead to the healthy
psychological development of the couple. 6.
Marriages based on romantic love will bring forth
beautiful and intelligent children. 7. Marriages
based on love tend to create a happy and
harmonious atmosphere in the family which is good
for the development of children. 8. A happy
marriage helps one to achieve more in ones
career. 9. A marriage without love is worse than
being single. 10. Marriage without love is most
likely to end in divorce which creates many
social problems.
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Counter-arguments
1. Love is not the most important condition for
marriage because love is romantic whereas
marriage is practical. 2. Lack of money in a new
marriage might bring trouble and chronic
quarrelling. 3. Education is the most important
condition for a good marriage because a couple
whose educational levels do not match are not
likely to have much in common. 4. A marriage
based on romantic love alone will not last long,
for a sense of responsibility is most essential
to a successful marriage. 5. Age is a very
important condition for a happy marriage because,
if the couples belong to different age groups,
they tend to have different interests and find it
hard to understand each other. 6. Love is not the
most important condition for a happy marriage
because, when the choice is carefully and wisely
made, its usually a good one. 7. Health is a
very important condition for a good marriage. If
either party of a marriage suffers from poor
health, then happiness is impaired. 8. As the
saying goes, love blinds a man to imperfection,
so a marriage based on love alone is only a bet
for happiness. 9. Parental approval is important
for marriage because it creates unity in a
family. Moreover, the experience of parents can
often correct and restrain the headstrong and
distorted choices of inexperienced youth. 10.
Love is not the single, most important condition
for a successful marriage. It requires the
combination of many conditions, all of which are
important.
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Lesson 18
Should Women Be Treated the Same as Men?
60
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Arguments
1. Prejudice against women violates the
fundamental principle that all people are created
equal. 2. Women should not be treated differently
from men since, according to statistics, there is
no basic difference between the standard and
quality of work performed by men and women who do
the same work. 3. This is an unfair world most
of the top position in society, like company
directors, judges, university professors, etc.
are occupied by men. 4. This is a male-dominant
world. Over centuries men have been training and
educating women to consider themselves inferior
and to accept their superior position. As a
result, not only men are prejudiced against
women, but some women are also prejudiced against
themselves because they believe they are really
inferior and only fit for household chores. 5.
Women should no longer be treated as the inferior
sex. They should stand side by side with men and
define their role in society, in which they can
choose to work outside or stay at home and in
which they will have more time to develop their
own interests. 6. It is a shame in the modern
world to confine women to the home and block
their way to the full exploitation of their
capacity and potential. 7. Women should be given
an equal chance of education in order to compete
with men on an equal footing. 8. Men should take
an equal share in housework so as to liberate
women from the kitchen. 9. It is unreasonable for
authorities to refuse to promote able women to
important posts just because they have children
to bring up.
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Counter-arguments
1. Since we all admit that women belong to a
different sex, we shouldnt complain about the
different treatment to women. 2. The fact is that
most housewives are content to be housewives.
They dont feel that housekeeping is something
imposed upon them by men. 3. Women are by nature
good at housekeeping since the biological
function of a woman is first to bring children
into the world and then to bring them up. Women
shouldnt attribute the exploitation of their
biological advantage to mens discrimination
against them. 4. The difference (women use the
word unequal) treatment to women is, in fact,
the division of labor both at home and in
society. 5. If staying at home taking care of
household chores is a sort of discrimination
against women, do women agree to work outside
while their husbands do the housework at home? 6.
Actually women today have already got as much
freedom as they could possibly want. They enjoy
the right to vote they can go to university
they can compete with men in any professional
field on equal terms. It is groundless and
unreasonable to raise the issue of unequal
treatment of women in social life. 7. Women are
born to be attentive and tender. Their talents
lie in being mothers instead of in other
directions. 8. It has been proved that women are
not good at business management, political
administration, etc. That is why women dont hold
many important posts in social and economic
life. 9. Most women are family-oriented by
nature. Not to put them in important positions is
just to show consideration for their natural
inclination. 10. Women should not attribute their
inferior social status to unequal treatment by
men. They have to look at their own incompetence
and inability for answer. 11. The fact is that
women have received too much special treatment in
society at mens expense. Women should realize
that men are in an unfavorable position and are
discriminated against. 12. Women shouldnt
complain about their so-called double burden
(work and household chores) because men have
always asked them to take only one of the
responsibilities, i.e. taking care of the family.
It is women themselves who choose to take up both.
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Lesson 19
Is It Good to Live in a Large Modern City?
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63
Arguments
1. Large modern cities are too big to control. 2.
Trains are packed streets are crowded buses are
full. There are bus queues and traffic jams
everywhere. 3. Commuting stretches mans
resources to the utmost. 4. Unforeseen events
(e.g. power-cut, heavy snowfall, etc.) can bring
about condition of utter chaos. 5. City-dwellers
adopt a wholly unnatural way of life. They lose
touch with the land and the rhythm of nature.
They are barely conscious of seasons. Flowers,
leaves, the changes of season become irrelevant
in their lives. 6. Distinction between day and
night is lost. There is always noise and traffic,
everywhere. 7. Rents are high buying a house of
your own average people is impossible. 8. The
cost of living is high in big cities. 9. Cities
breed crime and violence houses are often
burgled. 10. Tension in big cities shortens
peoples lives. 11. People lose too much time in
getting to work. 12. In big cities there are not
enough cinemas, public transport or public
toilets. 13. Pollution in big cities is becoming
impossible. 14. City people are not as
warm-hearted and friendly as country people.
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Counter-arguments
1. Most people love cities and many are flocking
there from the country. 2. Modern man is too
sophisticated for simple country pleasures. 3. It
is enough to visit the countryside at
weekends. 4. Commuting does not really affect
those who live in cities it is only a small
inconvenience. 5. Getting to work by bike is very
healthy. 6. People easily adapt themselves to
city life noise, traffic, etc. are hardly
noticeable. 7. Only a small minority of
city-dwellers are involved in crime and
violence. 8. There are manyreasons why city life
is preferable there are more places for
entertainment, etc. 9. It is good to be near
ones friends and never cut off by weather
conditions. 10. Life is never dull there is
always something to do. 11. There are better
schools and services in big cities. 12. There are
more chances of employment. There is a greater
ranges of jobs and the pay is higher. 13. There
is more opportunity to succeed in life. 14. There
is more opportunity to meet a variety of
interesting people. 15. Living standards are
high. 16. It is easy to earn a lot of money. 17.
The educational level is higher it is a better
place for children.
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Lesson 20
Is Housing Reform Necessary?
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66
Arguments
1. Housing reform is possible because Chinas
overall social reform environment is not yet
ready for it. 2. Its the States duty to provide
shelter for urban employees as a kind of social
welfare. 3. The commercialization or
privatization of housing is synonymous with
taking money out of peoples pockets and runs
counter to the ideals of socialism. 4. In Chinas
urban areas, the per capita monthly income is no
more than 80 yuan, which is not even enough for
food and other necessities. How can city dwellers
find extra money to buy a house? 5. Housing gives
the rich minority rather than the average
minority a chance to live better. 6. It is
difficult for enterprises to earmark large sums
of money to support housing reform since many of
them are not profitably run. 7. The price of
housing has rocketed to 2,000 yuan a square meter
in some cities. At the present salary level a
teacher would have to have a lifetimes savings
before being able to buy a two-room apartment. 8.
Since housing reform ia being carried out in
units with vastly different conditions, it may
happens that some units have empty houses waiting
for buyers whereas others try desperately to find
money to build new houses.
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67
Counter-arguments
1. Housing reform ia necessary because, in the
past few years, the State has spent 30 billion
yuan a year on building and maintaining houses
and subsidizing rents, yet the investment has
produced little financial return and a housing
shortage still persists. 2. Commercialization of
housing would stop some officials from abusing
their positions to obtain extra or larger
houses. 3. Many couples who work in different
units have two apartments living in one and
keeping the other for their childrens future
marriage. This situation can only be changed by
housing reform. 4. There are still cases of three
generations sharing one room, simply because the
State does not have enough money to improve their
housing conditions. 5. If only one half of the
state-built houses nationwide are sold to urban
residents, up to 200 billion yuan will be
recouped, which can be used to invent in the
construction of more residential dwellings. 6.
Housing reform is necessary, for it will stop the
backdoorism in the previous system of housing
assignment. 7. With construction costs shared by
local governments, would-be buyers and local
enterprises, people can buy a two-room apartment
for only 6,000 to 10,000 yuan. 8. Many people
still live in dangerous and old houses, which can
only be improved with the money collected through
higher rent.
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Lesson 21
Should People Be Promoted according to Ability?
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69
Arguments
1. It is a matter of course that people should be
promoted according to ability instead of age or
experience. 2. China has a long tradition of
selecting talented people to be officials
regardless of their family backgrounds. There is
still a