8. Do you like sports? - Writing

1. b) a rhetorical question

3.   Computer games

The debate over the effects of digital games is running hot in academic circles and beyond at the moment. A recent Maclean’s cover headline blared: *How computers make our kids stupid.* Meanwhile Steven Johnson, author of a new book called Everything Bad Is Good for you, argues that games and other interactive media sharpen our brains. Children spend more and more time working and playing with them. And some social theorists say society is gripped by a ‘moral panic’ over the effects of computer games, a backlash amplified by media reports like the Maclean’s cover story. When it comes to computer games, the numbers are astounding: the world’s top professional gamer has won over half a million dollars shooting virtual monsters on-screen.

 

Relationships

The family is very important as a unit in our society. Nothing else but family can be an emotional centre of people’s life, can be a transmitter of culture and raising children. Every mother feels great affection for her children and tries to bring them up in a proper way. Understanding between the members of the family and consideration for others are very important in family relationship. Tenderness, warm-heartedness and respect must always be present in the family to make it friendly. A lot of activities help members of the family to be on friendly terms: discussing all the family plans together, going on trips hikes, visiting museums, theatres, exhibitions and exchanging opinions about them, sharing the same joys and sorrows. If you think of the others in the family you show your love and attention in everyday life, you can hurt them if you are selfish, not sincere and rude. It is very important to visit relatives on holidays, on birthdays, on anniversaries and develop close relationship. We feel more affection for our relatives when we are parted from them. As for me, I get on with my parents all right. I know that thousands of young people run away from their homes each year, because they don't get on with their parents well. Every day I can talk with my mother (father died last week) about everything, because she is young too. And she knows my problems as well as her own. Mother always gives me necessary. correct advice. Many parents are busy, but my mother helps me at any time. I have some friends, whose parents treat them unfairly as small children, but my mum treats me as the adult, as the equal. I clean my room myself — this doesn’t do my mother. She always says: "Go and clean your room tidy." I consider that my relationships with my mum are very good, which is especially rare at this time.

Technology

Technology is an interesting conversation for students of all ages. There are many ways to go with this ESI. topic but talking about how technology affects humanity is always an interesting route to take. Students nowadays live in a world where overflowed with a variety of advanced technology which it still develops at a unbelievable speed. Undoubtedly, the role played by technology in students' life has becomes more and more vital. However, this trend has intrigued a heated debate among people recently. Some say it could produce a positive effect in the process of students' growth, while others, particularly some parents and educators, concerning about the drawbacks of technology would influence their children’s grade. As far as I'm concerned, technology can be used as a tool to help students learn quickly and absorb more knowledge, while there are still some disadvantages we couldn’t ignore. One of the merits of technology can be presented in the process of learning English. As learning English becomes a trend in our society, an increasing number of learning materials have been invented to help students to learn easier and faster. For instance, in the past, few students owned tape recorders, even it was impossible for a average student because of its exorbitant price and limited production. But today, digital recorders can be see almost everywhere, and the recorders seems become an old school thing. Highly-developed technology has made diversified learning materials like MP3 and MI) become readily available. With the help of these new devices, students are easily and freely download learning materials like MP3 files from the Internet, and the property of potable and convenient make students learn wherever and whenever they want. Youth Culture

Culture is among the most complicated words in the English language. It refers to the processes by which the symbolic systems (e. g., common sense, ’usual way of doing things’; traditions and rituals, frameworks for understanding experience, etc.) characteristically shared by a group of people are maintained and transformed across time. Despite the appearance of stability, culture is a dynamic, historical process. Youth culture refers to those processes and symbolic systems that young people share that is to some degree, distinctive from those of their parents and the other adults in their community. Youth cultures have not been part of all societies throughout history; they appear most frequently where significant realms of social autonomy for young people become regularized and expected features of the socialization process. Most scholars would agree that the conditions necessary for the mass youth cultures recognizable today appeared after the formation of modern nation-states and the reutilization of the human life course in the industrializing nations of the nineteenth century. The mass institutions of the nation-state, which separate young people from adults and gather them in large numbers for education, religious instruction, training, work, or punishment, have been consistent locations in which youth cultures have developed. There is some evidence suggesting that youth cultures may have existed in certain circumstances during the medieval period. Also, it is important to recognize that there are significant gaps in our historical understanding, particularly for populations outside of Europe and the United States. Youth cultures have been clearly evident in the twentieth century, particularly since the end of World War II. The history of this period is notably marked by significant social and cultural influences of youth cultures on society at large, a trend that continues in the contemporary period.

4.   Yes, I agree with following statements.

5.   An educated person is one who knows a lot about many things. I think it is very important that everyone should be educated. Each pupil ought to do his best to become a useful member of our society. Education is very important in our life. Going on educational excursions gives us opportunities to acquire some scientific knowledge.

Climate is the weather a certain place has over a long period of time. Climate has a very important influence on plants, animals and humans and is different in different parts of the world. Some scientists think that the world is becoming hotter. If you compare Moscow winter and summer temperatures at the beginning of our century and at its end you will see that climate has really changed. Winters have become warmer. Sometimes there is little snow in January, and there were winters when it rained on the New Year’s Eve. Many people say that it is so because of the greenhouse effect. During the last 100 years people have produced a lot of carbon dioxide. This gas in the atmosphere works like glass in a greenhouse. It lets heat get in, but it doesn’t lot much heat get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer. Where does the carbon dioxide come from? People and animals breathe in oxygen, and. breathe out carbon dioxide. We produce carbon dioxide when we burn things. Trees take this gas from the air, and produce oxygen. But in the last few years, people have cut down and burn big areas of rainforest. This means there are fewer trees, and, of course, more carbon dioxide! As we see the climate in different parts of the world changes a little from year to year. These changes can be dangerous for our planet, which needs protection. Earth is millions of years old, much older than the humans. We know many of its secrets. Yet there is still much to learn.

7.  

1) first (main, chief)

2)   another

3)   next (last, main, chief)

4)   generally

5)   in fact (on the other hand)

6)   so (because, that’s why)

7)   on the other hand

8)   so

9)   finally (at last, in the end)

10)  in conclusion

11)  the pros and cons (for and against)

8.  

I like sports very much. My favourite kind of sport is football. I go in for football practically every day. If there are no trains I go to the stadium with my friends to play this game. I think that sports help to people in their life. Millions of people all over the world are fond of sports and games. Sport help people to stay in good shape, keeps them fit, healthy and makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities. I should admit that everyone must do all he can to be healthy. All kinds of physical exercises are very useful to make our bodies strong and to keep ourselves fit and healthy.