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Devote to Our Country
Like many
young people of my age in China, I want to see my
country get prosperous and enjoy respect in the
international
community. But it seems
to me that mere patriotism is not just enough. It
is vitally important that we young people do more
serious thinking and broaden our minds
to bigger issues.
Look
at
us
today!
So
many
doors
are
open
to
us!
I
believe
there
have
never
been
such
abundant
opportunities
for
self-development as we have today. The
doors open to us also pose challenges. Each door
is a test of our courage, ability and
judgement, but with the support of my
teachers, parents and friends, I believe I can
meet the challenge head on.
Is Failure a Bad Thing?
Failure is a common occurrence
(happening) in our daily life. Whatever we do,
there are always two possible results: success
or failure. Although everyone wants to
succeed in what he tries, sometimes failure can’t
be avoided.
Different people
hold different attitudes towards failure. When
faced with it, some can stand up to it, draw a
useful lesson
from it and try their
best to fulfill what they are determined to do.
Others, however, lose heart and give in. They do
nothing
but complain about themselves
and objective conditions.
As a popular
saying goes, “Failure teaches success.” In my
opinion, what really counts is not the failure
itself, but the proper
attitude we
should take after it. I trust that as long as we
keep to what is right and correct what is wrong,
that is to say, learn a
lesson from
failure, we will be certain to succeed. So I am of
the opinion that failure is not a bad thing.
Ability and Gook
Looks
Old
people
usually
tell
the
young,
“Don’t
judge
a
person
by
his
appearance.”
Meaning
ability
is
more
important
than
appearance.
Indeed,
we’ve
seen
so
many
brilli
ant
but
not
at
all
good-looking
people.
In
the
film
Mozart,
an
opera
singer
reiterates (repeat) this
view by saying, “For a woman of taste, it is not
the looks, but the talent that interests me.” For
h
er, the
preference shows one’s
taste.
However,
nowadays,
with
more
and
more
interviewers
putting
much
emphasis
on
the
looks,
the
appearance
of
the
job-applicants, a lot of people come to
the conclusion that appearance is more important
than ability because many beautiful
girls acquire very good positions
altho
ugh they don’t have much talent.
In my opinion, ability
is definitely much more important than good looks,
because it demonstrates one’s own
self
-cultivation.
It bespeaks
(show) the efforts and the glory of acquiring
something through one’s hard work where
as a good look bespeaks no
struggle of the
individual. Good looks are pleasant, but I like
the ability because it really shows something of
my own self.
Life
Is Struggle
Everything in the world is
in constant struggle. Struggle is in a sense of
the competition in natural selection among
organisms.
Animals and plants struggle
for their existence. Nature provides them with
weapons for that struggle. Lions have claws; fish
have scales; roses have thorns. They
use these weapons for the unavoidable war of
existence. Nature also orders us to struggle;
when we obey the nature, we win our
existence.
The result of struggle is
the evolution of a better society. In order to
surpass the others, one has to devote himself to
what he
does. If every individual does
so, the society will make progress.
Struggle is inevitable. But we should
struggle with sportsmanship, not to stand in the
way of others in order to achieve our
own success. It is only by struggling
in such a way, mankind will see a world getting
more glorious day by day.
The Car and Pollution
Most
Americans would find it hard to think what life
would look like without a car. However, some have
realized the serious
problem of the air
pollution caused by the car. The polluted air
becomes poisonous and dangerous to health.
One way to get rid of the polluted air
is to build a car that does not pollute. That’s
what several of the large factories ha
ve
been trying to do. But to build a clean
car is easier said than done. Progress in this
field has been slow.
Another way is to
take the place of the car engine by something. Now
inventors are working on steam cars as well as
electric
cars. Many makers believe that
it will take years to develop a useful model that
pleases men.
To prevent the world from
being polluted by cars, we make some changes in
the way many of us live. Americans, for example,
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have to reduce the
number of their total cars. They are encouraged to
travel and to work by bicycle. It is thought to
help man
to keep the air clean.
But this change does not come easily. A
large number of workers might find themselves
without jobs if a car factory closed.
Thus the problem of air pollution would
become less important than that of unemployment.
Although cars have led us to better
life, they have also brought us new problems.
Time Is Money
“
Time is money.” This saying means that time is very valuable.
But time is more
valuable than money. The money we have lost can be
gained again, but the time we have wasted cannot
be
regained. Moreover, sometimes
persons can exist without money, but nothing can
be done without time, just as no one can
live without air.
Despite
being
so
valuable,
time
is
often
neglected
by
men.
Since
time
is
an
invisible
thing,
men
often
waste
their
time
unconsciously
（无意地）
. Without anything to do, they may gossip from morning till night.
Man can live only
at most to about 100 years. It seems fairly long,
but in fact it is rather short. We often say “How
quickly
time flies!” How many
things can a man accomplish in such a short
period? Hence we should
use the valuable time properly
to do our work. We will
race with it. We will study and work hard. Never
waste a little bit of it.
We Have Only One World
When industries grow, pollution also grows. Today the problem of environment has become more and more important. The
world
population
is
rising
so
quickly
that
the
world
has
become
too
crowded.
We
are
using
up
our
natural
resources
too
quickly and
at the same time we are polluting our environment
with dangerous chemicals. If we don’t take action
immediat
ely,
then we will
destroy our only world.
Man has made
great progress in environment protection.
Government of many countries has established laws
to protect the
forest and sea resource
and to stop the environmental pollution.
Still more measures should be taken to
solve the problem. First, we should start by
educating the public about the hazards of
pollution. The government on its part
should also design stricter laws. This is not only
for our own generation but also for the
future generation to come.
It is necessary to protect our nature
environment. We must begin now to protect our only
world.
Smoking
It is well known that smoking does harm to the health. Today, so many people still keep smoking, which has drawn wide
attention of the society.
Smoking has so many disadvantages but
no advantages at all. First, the cigarettes with
nicotine in them do great harm to the
health. Such diseases as pneumonia,
lung cancer may be caused or partly caused by
them. Furthermore, the bad effects of
cigarettes cost the smokers lots of
money, which could be spent on other meaningful
things. Thirdly, the accidents of fire all
over the world every year are mostly
caused by the still-burning butts (end).
The government has formulated the
regulation of no smoking in public places. Yet its
result is not so satisfactory. From my
point of view, it needs the common
efforts of the society. Not only the nonsmokers
but the smokers should cooperate on this
matter.
Live in the City or in the Country
Where do you like to live, in the city
or in the country?
Most cities are
centers of economy, trade, transportation or
culture. With the development of economy and
society, more and
more people have
flooded into the cities, which makes the scale of
the cities larger and larger. Surely, it is very
convenient for
shopping, education,
business and so on. But it also has many
disadvantages: the large population makes it
crowded in each
corner of the city; the
big factories, too many cars, buses and trucks
pollute the clean air; too much noise can make
people
mad. To live in the city, one
even can’t get enough room for living.
To live in the country is another
thing. You can breathe the fresh air cheerfully,
own a spacious house with a big backyard, and
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