4.Some people think that giving students time during a class to discuss ideas with each other is a good way to help students learn; others think giving students time for discussion is ineffective or a waste of time. Which idea do you agree with, and why?"

　　As is known to all, the education in China is exam-oriented. Everything students learn in class is for passing the exams. There are few open topics for students to discuss in Chinese class. It is believed by both Chinese teachers and students that discussion in class is an ineffective way to learn. I totally agree with it.To begin with, Chinese students have got used to the way they are educated. Most students are required to listen carefully to the teachers and take as many note as possible in the class from primary school to senior high school. It will be too much to ask for students to accept class discussion within a short period of time. It is possible that students might not know what to say in the first place. When topics were given in class, it would be possible that the whole class would be silent. It is not only a waste of time, but also embarrassing.In addition, the effectiveness of class discussion depends on the students’ personality. Unlike students from western countries like the United States, Chinese students are introverted who are reluctant to express their ideas in front of their fellow classmates. Some students might be afraid of speaking in public. They are worried if they do something wrong, it will be quite humiliating. Some students are just not interested in sharing although they have plenty of amazing ideas in mind.Moreover, in order to conduct successful class discussion, the teacher plays the most crucial role. It is quite tough for the teacher to supervise the process. He is supposed to be capable of dealing with various challenges. He has to know how to start the topic when the whole class remains silent. Also he has to know how to engage as many students as possible. He has to know what to do when the discussion is absolutely off the topic.In sum, class discussion might be an effective teaching method in other countries. However, it is not the case in China. It takes time for Chinese students to get familiar with it. It might be good when students become more extraverted. The qualification of the teacher matters the most in carrying out a successful class discussion.

　　5.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Technology designed to make our life simpler actually makes our life more complicated.

　　It cannot be denied that technology enables people to live a better and more convenient life today. People have been enjoying high-tech products such as smart phones, car navigation system, and laptops, to name a few. However, it does not mean that those high-tech tools make our life easier now than in the past. In fact, technology makes our life far more complicated today as illustrated in the following parts.High-tech tools can save lots of labor work, but sometimes they are not as “smart” as we expect. I would like to use car navigation system as an example. In the past, people could only refer to printed maps to find ways to their destinations. Nowadays, car navigation system can automatically find the right path for us. It seems that car navigation system is far more convenient than printed maps. However, in order to install the system, we need to download the digital maps before ahead and make sure that our destinations are recognizable. If the system fails to recognize the destination, it sometimes does not stop navigating, but lead us to somewhere else. Once I was driving from California to a Native American Reservation in Arizona, the car navigation failed to find the right path and led me to a small town that I had never heard of. Fortunately, I found a gas station and the employees there showed me the correct way. My own experience shows that high-tech products might not be always as reliable as we expect.Another example of how technology has made our life more complicated is online shopping. Nowadays, more and more people choose to shop clothes online, so to save time and efforts. Admittedly, shopping online is convenient to some extent compared with going to a shopping mall, because we could stay at home and check out with several clicks. All we need to do then is to wait until our new clothes are delivered to us. However, many people had terrible shopping experience in that the colors and designs of those clothes are not exactly the same as they are described online. Moreover, the size might not fit us, which is not expected either. In this case, we need to follow a complicated returning process, completing forms needed for returning and going to the local express service to send the clothes back. The process of returning is extremely daunting, which usually takes a long time for us to get our money back.Based on the above discussion, it could be concluded that sometimes technology is not as convenient as we expect. Should we just refuse to use high-tech products? I do not think so. I believe that modern technology is still developing, and it will definitely make our life more and more comfortable and convenient in the future.

　　6.The government should give priority to improving healthcare than to solving environmental problems. Do you agree or disagree?

　　Many people have been complaining that the health care system in my home country needs to be improved. Thus they believe that it is the government’s top priority to build more hospitals, to purchase advanced equipment, as well as to provide patients with more medical subsidies. However, to my understanding, the government should focus more on handling environmental issues in that it is closely related to our living environment. Besides, some environmental problems are also causes of certain diseases.To begin with, environmental problems such as pollution has become the cause of certain diseases, which means that only by solving those problems could help prevent people from getting sick. For example, in big cities, air pollution resulted from gas emission could probably cause asthma or even lung cancer. According to a recent survey, the particles of PM 2.5, one type of air pollution today, contain harmful substance, and could stay for a long time in the air. Once people breathe those particles in, the substance will definitely harm our physical health. In this sense, solving air pollution problem is the best way to prevent people from those diseases. Otherwise, no matter how many hospitals are built and how innovative the facilities in hospitals are, people still cannot stay away from diseases. Therefore, before improving health care system, it is better for the government to handle environmental issues in the first place.Moreover, solving environmental problems could help improving our living condition in general. Based on my own experience, when living in a pleasant environment, I could maintain a positive mental status. Being positive could benefit us both physically and mentally. On the contrary, if the pollution problems are not solved and the endangered animals are still skilled constantly, it is not difficult to imagine that the earth will become a place that is no longer suitable for people to live in. If we do not give a country’s priority to solving environmental problems from now on, we will regret for today’s choice sooner or later.Based on the above discussion, I strongly advocate that the government considers handling environmental issues as its top priority rather than improving health care system. This is because that improving our living condition and reducing different types of pollution could benefit human beings in a long run.