Sample Answers and Questions,

Writing Task 2

1. Some people think that a sense of competition in children

should be encouraged. Others believe that children who
are taught to co-operate rather that compete become
more useful adults.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this
opinion.

The world of 21st century is getting advanced day by day. There have been a

number of remarkable changes compared to the previous times. Today, the number

of educated and capable people is mushrooming like never before. So, at this

moment of time when everybody possesses their own distinct traits and abilities, the

world demands the most outstanding personalities. So, the world is relevant to

develop the sense of competition in people from their childhood; to let them know

that this world is full of people like them and they should be involved in competition

to reach the point of summit. However, it should be thoroughly revised whether the

competition is for good purpose or not, stubborn and meaningless competition may

bring serious impacts.

 The fact is undoubted that every organization today wants extra-ordinary and

skilled employees at its workstation. This reality clearly depicts the importance of

competition in the present day world. But when people are exposed to the

environment of competition from the age which is primarily regarded to play and

enjoy with friends, it may disturb the development of the mutuality feelings on

children. These children think that they should be best of all, and so they might

ignore co-operation which is an elemental part of life. And even if they topped the

chart, they might plunge into vanity; a bad consequence.

Similarly, when there is one sided sense of competition, it hampers the overall

growth of children. They just learn to compete and avoid themselves from the

privileges they should have got. In addition, he will get no true friends and co-

operation as he is not ready to co-operate from his peers, and might be the victim

of mature mental problems, thanks to the ghost of competition. Moreover, there is

no guarantee he will meet all the requirements and win the competition. This might

create a state of frustrations that can paralyze his future.

So, reviewing all the things, it can be said the willingness of friendliness and unity

is superior to “must-win” concept. Competition is of course the need of modern

 society, but it should be well-integrated with co-operation and should not interfere

with the natural process of love.

2. The number of overweight children in developed countries

is increasing. Some people think this is due to problems
such as growing number of fast food outlets. Others
believe that parents are to blame for not looking after
their children’s health. Do you agree?

People in developed world have figured out the main cause of increase in number

of overweight children is primarily due to factors like increase in number of fast

foods outlets and negligence of parents towards their children health. There is no

doubt that the number of overweight children is increasing and I believe both factors

mentioned above contribute to the situation. However, another important cause of

overweight might be passive nature of children nowadays.

Everywhere we look around, we find ourselves surrounded by fast food restaurants

and lot of junk food. These foods contains higher amount of fat as an ingredient that

acts as chief source for putting up weight. In addition, children too love these foods

as compared to homemade food, so the consumption level is higher than it should

 be. So, without any question fast food outlets are one major cause of overweight in

children.

Another reason definitely is lack of parent’s attention towards their children’s

health. The modern society and inflation requires both the parents to go out and

work to earn livelihood for the family. This creates a situation where they have very

little time to prepare healthy meals and look after their children’s diets, which

contributes to overweight. However, children nowadays prefer going school by

vehicles rather walking. Their chief recreational source has become TV, internet or

PC games rather than any sorts of sports. This is another reason why children are

putting up weight heavily.

Hence, we can conclude that other than eating habits and parents’, lack of physical

exercise is another reason for increase in number of overweight children in

developed countries.

3. The position of women in society has changed remarkably

in the last twenty years. Many of the problems young
people now experience such as juvenile delinquency arise
from the fact that many married women now work and
are not at home to care for their children.
 To what extent do you agree or disagree with this
opinion.

It is undeniable that there is visible change in the status of married women today

who are found engaged on works and professions. Gone are the days when women

were meant to take care of children and carry on households activities, thus

challenging male-dominated society; but does it take onto account the various

problems faced by young people who lacked adequate maternal care in their

childhood?

Though the motive of doing jobs and standing on own feet is appreciable, the

effects of job on children must be painstakingly considered by working mothers. A

mother is the very first teacher of a child. It’s her duty to tech the child the

importance of family, life and environment and makes the child capable of

distinguishing right and wrong. But when a mother has something to do at first and

her children are of second priority, the children might fall victims of several problems

like making wrong decisions, loneliness and even depression at an early age.

Therefore, a mother must carefully review these consequences before starting any

profession. Secondly, a child not getting enough love and care from his parents

(especially mother) may walk the wrong track of life. Furthermore, when there is no

enough observation of parents on their child, the child becomes unbearable and
may adopt the habit of violence and aggressiveness. He may fall in the company of

bad and notorious people, and the parents would get the clue very late because

they have no time to stay at home and know what’s going on with their son or

daughter. Several incidents have been heard of people getting involved on drug

addictions, robbery, rape, molestation and other anti-social activities whose parents

were busy on their own work and were virtually unaware of their children.

The excessive obliviousness of the parents towards their children may pose

problems to the entire country. The children are the pillars of a country and the

figure of any country rests upon them. But can that be expected from them when

they are involved in wrong activities from a tender age? It is the role of a good

mother to make her children flourish and encourage them to contribute for the

nation.

Though it is not fair at this point of time to talk about restricting women into

households by simply taking care of children, women should themselves realize that

they have a family which is incomplete without them. Women should maintain a

balance between their work and family and should ensure their children are

administered properly.
4. Up to the 20th century, marriage was considered a
necessity. People chose partners who provided them with
economic and social stability. Since then attitudes have
changed and fewer people are tying the knot. In the
modern world, marriage is no longer necessary.
Do you agree with this view of marriage?

Rise of the modern civilization has presented many new outlooks, in the way

humans have lived. One of those new outlooks includes marriage as well. Over the

centuries, humans have always felt a kind of insecurity and discomfort without

marriages; so it has been considered as one of the most vital necessities for

humankind and their social status. However, with the turn of the new millennium,

fewer and fewer people are doing so. So, to a certain extent, I too believe that

marriage is not compulsion, as it brings with a lot of monumental considerations for

the people involved.

First and foremost marriage is considered a burden. Burden, in a sense that it

requires you to take care of someone else as well, alongside yourself. For example,

a person who has been living all his/her life as an individual; suddenly will ‘hit the

wall’ with the added need of looking after someone else besides oneself. Marriage
 requires a lot of dedication, commitment and the most important of all time. So,

these factors make marriage a burden.

Secondly, marriage just does not make it to the top list of priorities for many

people. In fact, marriage is a luxury that can be added as you get financially and

economically stable. As a result, people today are more concerned about how to be

successful in their lives rather than being wary about raising their family. They think

that having the resources in place for a better life will eventually make life easier

and fruitful. So, the fact remains that marriage just doesn’t fall under the must haves

of life.

To sum up, people now have grown up to live as individuals. They want time for

their own as the stress of financial and economic stability mounts. In addition, they

do not have the necessary resources and capabilities in place to lead a successful

married life. Hence, marriage as fallen in the list of priorities and is considered as a

burden. This may not be due to people disliking marriage but due to other factors

which are much more important in life.

5. In recent years, life has become more stressful than it has

ever been. As a consequence, more and more people are
suffering from stress-related problems. What factors are
contributing to this increase and what do you think can be
done to overcome the current problems?

In the modern society, stress is the part and parcel of life. We tend to see more and

more individuals with stress related problems. As a matter of fact, there are many

factors that contribute to the increment of stress, whereas there are only few

solutions to overcome it. This essay will focus on what factors cause stress and also

try to find the solution to their causes.

The modern world is constantly developing and at a very high speed. This means

that there is constant change and people need to update their skills. Job security is

no longer guaranteed and this can cause a great deal of stress. In the past, most

people were guaranteed a job for life, but this is no longer true. In fact, many people

may have to change career more than once in their life-times. In Japan, for

example- the restructuring of many businesses in the last 10 years led to a

reduction in the number of middle managers. This was very stressful and led to an

alarming number of suicides.

Another contributory factor is population growth. This puts more pressure on our

environment. For example- the roads and public transport becomes more crowded.
As a result, there are longer lines for every day activities like shopping and more

important things like visits to the hospital. In a world where people do not have

much time these waits can cause a huge amount of stress.

Although there are many factors behind stress and they are continuing to grow,

there are several causes of action open to everyone. An important way to overcome

stress is to focus on health. Health services could embark on a stress-awareness

campaign to make individuals and families understand the factors that led to stress.

Employers could also run relaxation classes during work time and try to make work

less stressful for their workforce. All people need to find time to relax.

To sum up, there is not particular cause and remedy for stress related problems. As

people have been diversified and their socio-economic stability has been

challenged, increment of stress related problems have appeared to be more

frequent. In contrast there is no particular preventive measure for it and it is up to

the individuals as how to overcome it.