[托福题库]15年12-16年1月新托福写作题库

1. Which way do you think is the best for a student to make new friends?

1. joining a sports team;

2. participating in community activities;

3. traveling.

Sample answer:

It is probably true that we have hundreds or even thousands of acquaintances, but not all of them can be considered to be our friends. With or without our full awareness, friends must share a great portion of our character, our beliefs and our interests. An activity that can help you make new friends surely enables you to form a better understanding of other people and vice versa. Thus, joining a sports team would be my first choice.

To begin with, certain type of sport attracts people with certain character. Therefore, your chance of meeting a potential friend while doing it is high. For instance, people who love Snooker are normally calm and steady; people who find themselves passionate for fishing must enjoy the long waiting before the thrilling bite; And rock-climbers are usually strong both physically and psychologically. If you like this type of sport, you might like the person who shares your interest as well.

In addition, sports provide us a goal to fight for. Hence, they build up a precious experience for the participants, which is essential for long-lasting friendship. I used to be in the basketball team of our high school and I played as the guard. Although it was almost five years ago, I can still remember all the exiting moments when we won and the tears after we lost the final. They were so vivid as if they just happened yesterday. And although our team members went to different universities, we still keep in touch with each other and hang out together from time to time. Every time we get reunited, these important memories always give us the feeling that we have never been apart.

Furthermore, sports can help reveal the deep truth of someone. Friendship innately embodies a profound understanding that each friend has for the other. Undeniably, we more or less put on some make-up on our personality, for we all want other people to like us. But those moments under high pressure or choices involving loss and gain will inevitably reveal who we really are and what we truly believe. And such moments or choices are never rare in sports. Would you cheat to win a game or rather lose it honestly? If your fellow player has more chances than you to accomplish a goal, will you pass the ball to him or her? These situations always tell. As a result, we can always see friendship built or damaged.

To conclude, joining a sports team may never fail your expectation to make some new friends. It brings people together and accelerates the process of understanding each other. If you don’t have a favorite sport yet, do some research to find one. If you already have your answer, join a team and meet some new fellows there. Maybe your best friend to be has already been awaiting.

2. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is easier for people to become well-educated now than in the past.

Sample answer:

It is the information age. If you have a computer and an Internet connection, you have all the information in the world at your fingertips. That should mean it is easier than ever to become well-educated. Sadly, this is not true. Institutionalized education has failed to deliver, socio-economic barriers have not been overcome, and only one definition of “well-educated” prevails in the developed world.

Institutionalized education around the world is failing students with its promises of a better life. The two most important skills that students learn in school are memorizing facts and taking standardized tests. There are no jobs that demand these two skills. Employers want employees who can quickly understand new information and immediately apply it to solve real problems or create new opportunities. This system has created millions of unemployed college graduates around the world.

There continues to be disparity in education access between students from well-off families and students from impoverished families. Those who already have substantial assets are in a better position to take advantage of educational resources like private schools, school readiness programs, tutors, and college. For example, when children from a non-cash agricultural economy where nobody gets rich but nobody starves are put into a competitive system of success and failure, a few lives may get better, but most will get worse.

We need to change our definition of well-educated. Developed nations assume cultural superiority by creating education aid projects, which overtly aim to help children escape to a better life. In a global society, wealth and poverty and knowledge and ignorance need to be redefined. We need to acknowledge the role of institutionalized education in the destruction of traditional sustainable agricultural and ecological knowledge, in the breakup of extended families and communities, and in the devaluation of ancient spiritual traditions.

In conclusion, we should develop an education system that is not structured on competition with winners and losers, and we should redefine what it means to be well-educated. When we have respect for all learning, when every community’s knowledge is accepted as valid, that is when we can claim that it is easy to be well-educated.

3. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? In the past young people depended on their parents for making decisions. Today, young people are better able to make decisions on their own.

Sample answer:

It is not uncommon in the past for parents to go to all the length, racking their brains to figure out what is the best school for their children to go, which is the most ideal job and who is the perfect match for marriage. Believing that they are building the brightest future for the young, they literally live the lives for their children who, by contrast, stay relaxed / are rather laid-back, take whatever has been done to move ahead. It is, however, not the case today.

Previously, young people depend largely on their parents for decision making partly due to the patriarchal role parents play and partly to the lack of information media. In a traditional family matrix, the father, as the head of the house, make virtually all major decisions for the entire family, particularly for the kids who are taught to do / fulfill their filial duties by following what has been decided on, leaving hardly any room for discussion, questioning, or thinking of other options. Then as time goes by, the young get used / accustomed to this pattern, like it or not. In addition, the lack of information input leads further to this state of passivity and dependence. With pitifully meager source at hand, the young do have difficulty working out a blueprint for their future study or work. It is simply natural for them to turn to their family members, their parents in particular, who are more sophisticated and well-travelled, for advice, guidance, or even decision-making.

Not surprisingly, this dynamic has changed as the times move on. With an easy access to a wide range of websites and social media, hence information at the tips of their fingers, children and young people today are better equipped with sufficient and mostly reliable knowledge, to help make sensible deci