Oral Workshop: Argument

1. 01 Oral Workshop: Argument 英语高级口语讲义

2. 02 Lesson 1 Does Television Play a Positive or Negative Role in the Modern Society?

3. 03 Arguments 1. Television in now playing a very important part in our lives. 2. Television is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. 3. Television keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and politics and offers an endless series of pro grammes which are both instructive and entertaining. 4. A lot of television programmes introduce people to things they never thought of before and have never heard of before. 5. Television series have done a great job in popularizing many literary master- pieces. 6. Television has been good company to those who do not work, like house- wives, lonely old people, etc. 7. With television people are still free to enjoy other “civilized pleasures”, or even more. 8. There is a considerable variety of programmes on television. The viewer is always free to choose whatever he wants to see.

4. 04 Arguments 9. Television provides enormous possibilities for education, like school programmes via closed-circuit television. 10. Television provides special broadcasts for those in TV University, or Open University. It also offers specialized subjects like language teaching, sewing, cooking, painting, cosmetics, etc. 11. Television does the job of education in the broadest sense. Instructive programmes achieve their goal through entertaining the viewers. 12. Television provides an outlet for creative talents. 13. People all around the world are no longer distant and isolated from each other. The most distant countries and the strangest customs are brought right into one’s sitting-room. 14. Compared with the radio, everything on television is more lifelike, vivid, and real. 15. Television may be a vital factor in holding a family together where there are, for example, economic problems and husband and wife seem at breaking point.

5. 05 Counter-arguments 1. Television is a great time-waster. 2. People who don’t watch television are happier than those who watch it because television goes with the kind of life which leaves the viewer nothing to spare, nothing left. 3. Television makes the viewer completely passive because everything is presented to him without any effort on his part. 4. The very danger of watching television lies in the fact that the viewer takes no initiative. He makes no choice and exercises no judgment. 5. Television passes on to children the corrupting values of a corrupt society. 6. Television is to blame for the fact that children take longer to learn to read these days and barely see the point at all of acquiring the skill. 7. Television takes up too much of our time. We no longer have enough time for hobbies, entertaining activities, and other outside amusement like theatres, cinemas, sports, etc. 8. Unfortunately all our free time is now regulated by television. 9. People rush home; gulp their food, which is often as simple as sandwich and a glass of beer, and start watching the TV programmes.

6. 06 Counter-arguments 10. The monster, i.e. television, demands absolute silence and attention. No one dares to open his mouth during a programme. 11. People have grown addicted to television, often neglecting the necessary and more important things like meals, sleep and even work. 12. A lot of parents use television as a pacifier for their children. They put their children in front of the set and don’t care whether the children are exposed to rubbishy commercials or spectacles of violence as long as the children are quiet. 13. Most of the television programmes are bad and they do not keep pace with the high demand of viewers and do not maintain high quality. 14. The wide coverage of television programmes has reduced society to the condition in pre-literate communities; we are utterly dependent on the most primitive media of communication; pictures and spoken words. 15. What the viewer receives from television is nothing but second-hand experience. He is completely cut off from the real world. 16. The more that viewer watches television, the lazier he becomes. He is glued to the set instead of going out. 17. Television prevents people from communicating with each other. It has done a lot of harm to the relationship between family members.

7. 07 Lesson 2 Are Pets Good for Mankind?

8. 08 Arguments 1. The great virtue of pets is that they can keep us company. 2. An animal in the family helps to keep us human. 3. A pet is kept as a companion that makes us feel happy. It’s suggested that pets should be sent to astronauts in a spacecraft to help reduce the loneliness of space flights. 4. Besides providing mere companionship, pets invite us to love and be loved. 5. Often a cat or a dog can comfort us at times when human words don’t help. 6. Pets give us a sense of being important and needed because they depend on us for a home, food and drink. 7. Pets are of particular importance to children in this Plastic Age when most of us live in large cities. 8. A pet in a family keeps people in touch with the more natural, animal world.

9. 09 Arguments 9. Watching the everyday activities of a pet helps a child to under- stand nature and cope with problems. 10. Learning to care for a pet helps a child to grow up into a loving adult who feels responsible towards those dependent on him. 11. Animals can communicate with each other in their particular way. They communicate with human beings, too, f or they are quick to sense anger and sorrow. 12. People keep pets for emotional rather than economic reasons. 13. A pet dog brings its master (owner) a sense of confidence, for he can see in the dog that faithfulness does exist and he does have something to trust. 14. Sterilization of pets in utterly cruel. If there is a large number of pets, then the more, the merrier.

10. 10 Counter-arguments 1. Keeping pets is just a waste of time and resources. 2. Pets are humanized by those who keep pets. Owing to their need for a home, for food and drink, pets are tamed and idealized by their owners. 3. Pets and children often fight over care and love in the family. 4. People nowadays are so crazy about pets that they even neglect caring for their own children. 5. A campaign should be launched against the overpopulation of pets. 6. The growing number of pets has caused serious hygiene problems that cannot be solved.

11. 11 Counter-arguments 7. The earth will no longer be a world of human beings and animals but a world of animals only if we don’t take measures to stop the increase of pets. 8. Pet dogs and cats of both sexes should be sterilized because the animals themselves are in danger of becoming the first victims for the simple reason that their owners don’t have enough time for too many of them. 9. As a matter of fact those keep pets don’t always treat their pets with kindness. They sometimes abandon their pets when they go away on holiday and are unable to take the pets along with them. 10. It’s a shame that many animals eat much better food than we human beings do. 11. It’s really against nature to cage birds, chain dogs and keep cats within the house. 12. Pets are animals. They should be seen in their natural habitat rather than in the homes of human beings.

12. 12 Lesson 3 Should the Brain Drain Be Stopped by Restrictions?

13. 13 Arguments 1. Our government should try every way to stop the brain drain for the survival of our country. 2. Many of those who go overseas are college graduates on whom the country has spent a large sum of money. Why should we educate people for other countries? 3. China now faces a keen shortage of qualified personnel but one batch of gifted people after another have gone abroad. To change this grim situation it is impe- rative to stop any further outflow of talent through stricter restrictions. 4. Most people go abroad to seek their fortunes. In order to make money for them- selves, a few even take up indecent jobs. We must stop such kinds of people from going abroad. 5. Some people do not want to contribute to the construction of our country and say that they will come back when China becomes a rich and powerful country. Restrictions for these unpatriotic people should be even stricter. 6. It is true that some people go abroad to learn advanced science and technology, but what about those who major in Chinese folk songs and dances or those who major in subjects for which China has the best teachers and the most materials?

14. 14 Arguments 7. Many Chinese students, no matter what their majors were in colleges and universities here, turn to business courses in the United States because that makes it easier for them to find a job in the US after graduation. This shows that they do not plan to come back. Should we not stop people like them from going abroad? 8. Many of the things students learn in foreign countries cannot be applied in China. Therefore, we should not waste time and energy sending people abroad to study. 9. Many young people go abroad at such an early age that they hardly under- stand their own culture and are easily influenced by Western ideas. That is why stricter restriction should be put on young people going overseas. 10. The 5-year-service-system for college graduates is necessary and sensible. This is the least a college graduate should do for the country. 11. The 5-year-service-system is good not only for the country but also for the individuals because graduates fresh from college can hardly do their research well. A few years of work experience will help them realize their own weak- nesses and make them more eager to learn.

15. 15 Counter-arguments 1. The brain drain should not be stopped by restrictions because they can only prevent people from going abroad, but can never make them serve the needs of our country’s construction whole-heartedly. 2. Restrictions are useless, for in China there are always ways to get around restrictions and many people have already found ways to do so. 3. Backward management should be changed in order to bring people’s initiative into full play. 4. Unfair distribution systems should be got rid of to make sure that people who have made the most contribution are duly rewarded. 5. Intellectuals’ living and working conditions should be improved. Only in this way will people be willing, rather than forced, to stay in our country. 6. To those who have stayed in foreign countries beyond their time limit, we should give more trust and understanding rather than label them as unpatriotic or dismiss them from their former jobs. Only in this way can we attract those who have already gone abroad. 7. The 5-year-service-system is unreasonable because a person learns best when he is young and free from family duties.

16. 16 Counter-arguments 8. What occurs as a consequence of the 5-year-service-system is that many high school graduates refuse to go to college because they do not want to be bound by these regulations. 9. People are required to pay a large sum of money is they don’t want to fulfill the 5-year-service obligation. This hurts the feelings of many who actually want to come back after their studies abroad and forces them to remain overseas long enough to earn their money back. 10. For many people their desire to go abroad becomes even stronger when there are restrictions, for people are always tempted to do what is forbidden. 11. China’s irrational employment and personnel system should be changed so that people who do return from abroad can use the skills and knowledge they have acquired abroad. 12. People abroad often suffer from loneliness and homesickness and long to come back, but certain rules and regulations have frightened them away.

17. 17 Lesson 4 Does Criticism Do More Harm Than Good to People?

18. 18 Arguments 1. One will improve only with criticism because generally speaking, one knows one’s good qualities better than one’s bad. 2. Criticism helps people to know their negative qualities better and will add to their self-knowledge. 3. Very often criticism is more useful than compliments because those criticized can improve and will not make the same mistakes in the future. 4. Being criticized means to be judged. Such judgment implies a demand that we should change. If others do not demand change, we may feel the need to demand it of ourselves. 5. Criticism works effectively when it focuses on the task that is being done. 6. One should not take a negative attitude towards criticism, for such an attitude will kept one from knowing what others really think of one. 7. In our childhood we all got a great deal of criticism and, as a result, learning how to handle criticism is not new to us. 8. Criticism to us is like medicine to the sick. 9. Only those who care for us will offer us criticism in order to stop us from erring. 10. Even though some criticism comes from unfriendly intentions, still it can be taken as a warning.

19. 19 Counter-arguments 1. Criticism does more harm than good to one’s confidence and dignity. 2. In real life people tend to hold a protective web around themselves in defense against criticism, for criticism is usually very hurtful. 3. Criticism makes people lose confidence and become very negative about themselves. 4. Some people of ill will use their ostensible concern for the growth of others as an excuse to criticize and attack them. 5. It is not uncommon for many sensible people to withhold their criticism for fear of being disliked or considered unfair, or for fear of hurting another person. 6. Criticism, with few exceptions, discredits us, what we have done, or what we plan to do. 7. Criticism is authoritarian because it sets unreasonable demands on those criticized. 8. Criticism should focus on the problem, if there should be any. Very often it is the person who gets picked on. 9. Criticism throws people into frustration rather than urge them to improve. 10. Frequent criticism makes people completely baffled about how to behave and do things properly. 11. Criticism is not as useful as compliments. Compliments encourage people and offer them a hopeful prospect of themselves and their lives, but criticism does the opposite.

20. 20 Lesson 5 Is It Good for Students to Have Part-time Jobs?

21. 21 Arguments 1. It’s good for students to have part-time jobs because this helps cultivate independence among young people. 2. Part-time jobs in business can foster a sense of competition, which is important for students in the future. 3. After-school work enhances a young person’s social development. 4. Being able to earn their own money gives students a feeling that they’ve become adults and, therefore, makes them feel more mature. 5. Part-time jobs make students more confident in themselves because through the work they can realize their own value and prove that they are capable people. 6. Part-time job experience gives students an insight into what work is about and prepares them psychologically for their future jobs. 7. After-school work teaches students how hard it is to earn money and helps develop thriftiness in our younger generation. 8. Part-time jobs can help students apply their knowledge in practice, and, in return, their experience will make them know better what they have learned in classes and books. 9. Part-time jobs give students a feeling of achievement through contributing to national construction. 10. Part-time jobs can make students’ lives more colorful and are good for their personal development. 11. Students’ part-time jobs contribute a lot, in one way or another, to our socialist construction. 12. Students who have part-time jobs can relieve, to some extent, the economic burdens of their parents. 13. With the money earned, students can buy many of the books they like.

22. 22 Counter-arguments 1. It’s not good for students to do part-time jobs because they will become money-oriented. 2. Many students who have part-time jobs have shown a decline in their studies. 3. Part-time jobs do not help develop a sense of thriftiness among young people because many students spend the money on high-priced items, luxuries that their parents can hardly afford. 4. Part-time jobs often distract students’ attention from their studies, and some students even play truant. 5. The main task of students is to study hard and learn what is needed for the development of our nation. Social experience can be gained later after they finish their studies. 6. Since students are in their formative years, part-time jobs may expose them to social ills at an age when they can not differentiate good from bad. 7. Some students become juvenile delinquents because they come under the influence of bad people through part-time jobs. 8. Through students who have part-time jobs may relieve their parents’ economic burdens, their early contact with society adds greatly to the worries of their parents. 9. Though some after-school work can help students practice what they learn in classes, many of the jobs require nothing of the students’ knowledge. 10. Some students have become drop-outs because through part-time jobs they’ve found that the more education you have, the less money you make. 11. After the chaotic 10-year-long Culture Revolution, China now has a shortage of 60 million engineers. The problem of drop-outs only makes the situation worse.

23. 23 Lesson 6 Is Euthanasia Humane?

24. 24 Arguments 1. Euthanasia is humane because it helps to hasten the death of terminally ill patients. 2. Death, as natural as birth, is sometimes a hard process that requires assistance, and euthanasia is part of such assistance. 3. Death is a normal and natural stage of life, so people have the right to die. 4. It is unnecessary to maintain life artificially beyond the point when people will never regain consciousness. 5. Extending an incurably ill patient’s life means the same as aggravating his pain. 6. Efforts should not be made to perpetuate what has become a meaningless existence. 7. Euthanasia can bring mental and physical release to the patient and his family when he is terminally ill and has no prospect of recovering. 8. Mercy killing is motivated by nothing but love and sympathy for the dying patient. 9. Most of the terminally ill patients themselves want to die with dignity and peace instead of agony and degradation. Euthanasia is the only satisfactory way out. 10. The majority of people brought to trial for mercy killing are usually found innocent in the end.

25. 25 Counter-arguments 1. It is inhumane to perform euthanasia no matter how painless the process is. 2. Anyone who voluntarily, knowingly or premeditatedly takes the life of another, even one minute prior to death, is a killer. 3. Euthanasia is a criminal offense because it involves the killing of a person. 4. Legalized euthanasia will invite abuse of human life because any form of murder may be conveniently dubbed “mercy killing” by unscrupulous people. 5. Euthanasia raises many moral issues since it implies that active measures are taken to terminate human life. 6. Doctors and nurses should do everything they can to save dying patients instead of hastening their death by active measures. 7. Nothing can be more brutal than taking away human life. 8. The instinct for self-preservation is the strongest human beings possess. It is untrue that any patient himself should want to die. 9. Doctors and nurses involved in euthanasia have discredited their profession, for euthanasia is a violation of the fundamental medical principle to save human life.

26. 26 Lesson 7 Do Examinations Do More Harm Than Good?

27. 27 Arguments 1. Exams are primitive methods of testing the students’ knowledge and ability. They do more harm than good to the students, the teachers, education itself and the whole society. 2. Many exams are not scientifically designed, but are subjective assessments by some anonymous examiners. 3. Exams do more harm than good, for students often spend so much time revising for examinations than they can’t find enough time for new work. 4. Examinations do not motivate the student to read widely, but restrict his reading. 5. Exams often cause anxiety, for students will not get good jobs without good marks. Many students suffer from bad health, and some even commit suicide because of psychological pressure. 6. Since exams test a student’s memory rather than his ability and aptitude, they never train him to think for himself. 7. It is unfair to judge students by the results of exams because they can hardly perform well under great pressure or after a sleepless night. 8. Exams lower teaching standards, too. Since a teacher’s work is often judged by the exam results of his students, he often teaches them exam techniques rather than knowledge. 9. The exam system leads to the duck-stuffing lecturing method. 10. The examination system often produces people with good marks but poor abilities, for many successful examinees are well trained in exam techniques rather than well educated. 11. The standard of education cannot be improved so long as the examination system exists.

28. 28 Counter-arguments 1. Exams are a well-tried system which offers the best and quickest way of assessing a candidate. 2. Exams help us find people with real abilities, for the students can not possibly do well relying merely on memory and exam techniques. 3. If students work steadily all the time, they need not spend so much time preparing for exams and will not have to suffer from psychological pressure. 4. Many students hate exams, but admit that without exams, they wouldn’t do any work at all. 5. Exams provide a clear standard by which the students can assess themselves from time to time. 6. Teachers want exams because they indicate clearly what teachers should do. 7. Exams help employers in their selection of employees. Though teachers can write reports about their students for employers, they are often subjective and biased. 8. Exams are constantly being improved. There is a lot of research into objective testing techniques to eliminate human error, and computers are already widely used to mark specially devised tests. 9. Pernicious aspects of the system, such as duck-stuffing, are not the fault of examinations, but of teachers. 10. The exam system may not be perfect, but it’s the best we have; it may be painful, but so are many things in life.

29. 29 Lesson 8 Should We Diet in Order to Keep Fit?

30. 30 Arguments 1. Being overweight is bad for one’s health because it leads to heart disease, high blood pressure, etc. 2. Medical science has proved that animal fats and an excessive amount of sugar are harmful to one’s health. 3. Fat people suffer psychologically and physically. 4. It is hard for fat men and women to get ready-made clothes. 5. Fat people and women are unattractive to look at. 6. Fat people get tired easily. 7. Fat people should put themselves on a diet because they eat more than they really need. 8. Dieting is associated with sensible and rational living. 9. Dieting leads to longevity. 10. Dieting enable people to enjoy life more. 11. Obese people are often objects of ridicule owing to their abnormal figures.

31. 31 Counter-arguments 1. Dieting does more harm than good to one’s health for the simple reason that a dieter suffer constantly from malnutrition. 2. Dieters lead a miserable life because they are forever hungry and, at the same time, they have to go through the torture of watching others enjoy their three meals a day. 3. Dieters do not enjoy life fully. They miss one of the most important things in good food. 4. Many people diet not because they really want to live a healthy life, but because they are vain. 5. Many dieters are merely fashion followers. They will undertake gaining weight if being fat becomes fashionable one day. 6. What dieters are interested in is nothing but the battle against spreading hips, protruding tummies, double chins, etc. 7. Dieters may lose some weight. Once they stop, however, they gain weight again, which is more harmful to one’s health. 8. Those on a diet are simply senseless. They try to keep their “good figures” at the expense of their health.

32. 32 Lesson 9 Is It a Good Idea to Control Population Growth in the World?

33. 33 Arguments 1. The rapid rise in world population is creating problems for all countries on earth because there simply aren’t enough resources. 2. Both rich and poor countries of the world should take united action to deal with the population explosion. Otherwise, there will be more people fighting for less land and fewer resources, and the future will bring poverty, misery and war to us all. 3. Population increase in developing countries has wiped out the material benefits that they have achieved. 4. Statistics show that where the population rate is high, people’s living standards are low. This means, people’s living conditions cannot improve unless there is a reduction in the increased rate of population. 5. In modern times, a family with few children, or even with no children at all, is still a happy family. 6. With fewer children in a family, parents spend less time on household chores and concentrate more on their own interests, and their children enjoy better material and educational opportunities than those in bigger families. 7. The most pressing problem created by the rapid increase in population is a shortage of food. At present a large proportion of the existing population is not getting enough of the right kind of food (e.g. people in India, Ethiopia, etc.). 8. Overpopulation creates a shortage of schools, teachers, hospitals and doctors. 9. Overpopulation causes problems in housing and employment, especially in cities. 10. Just imagine how much better life would be if the world population were cut by half!

34. 34 Counter-arguments 1. More children, more happiness. This is especially true for elderly people who all love children. 2. People in agricultural areas need more children to help them with the work in the fields. 3. Whether to have children or not in a private matter and nobody should interfere with it. 4. It is unfair to blame all the problems on the increase in population. It is those greedy manufacturers and businessmen in developed countries that make the heaviest demands on the world’s resources and cause the most pollution. 5. If population control were a must, it should be carried out in developed countries as well because a baby born in the U.S. will use in his lifetime 30 times more of the world’s resources than a baby born in India. 6. Children are the most important thing in life. With fewer children around, life will be dull, meaningless and unhappy. It is incredible for a couple to have no child at all. 7. Children in a family give the parents a sense of responsibility and pride. They are very important to the stability of a family. 8. Population control does greater harm than we realize. For instant, if the one child policy is still in practice in 100 years, people then will have little idea of kinship ties, for most of them will have no brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, or cousins. 9. With the government’s family planning policy in operation we now have a generation of “only child” families: most of them are arrogant, selfish, and spoilt. 10. A big family offers children a chance to learn how to cope with and care for other people. 11. Children in big families have the chance to compete with each other, in terms of their manners at home, their study at school, their performance at their place of work, etc. Older children usually have a great influence on the younger.

35. 35 Lesson 10 Should Students Only Learn from Books?

36. 36 Arguments 1. Only books can provide people with the knowledge that makes them educated. 2. The criticism that what students learn today is not adapted to present-day society is utterly wrong because education can never be seen only in terms of how useful the subjects are when students leave school. We ought to evaluate education in terms of how much the students enjoy those subjects and how much they mean to those students. 3. Instead of being trained to be utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do things for their own sake, for getting satisfaction out of them rather than for what is achieved at the end. 4. Those with a good command of the knowledge provided in books can adapt themselves better to their future life than those without. 5. Those who stress only practical skills and techniques and ignore the function of books are short-sighted. 6. Only by urging students to read more, write more and do more exercises can education be improved. 7. Being practical, many children leave school and start earning money at an early age. Because of this, quite a large number of children join the ranks of the illiterate in the country. 8. Without the knowledge provided in books, there is no point in talking about training qualified personnel and fostering versatile talents.

37. 37 Counter-arguments 1. Education is a gradual extension of oneself. It does not only take place in echool buildings. It is a life-long experience. 2. Students should be taught how to live and how to get on with one another. This is more important than reading and writing. 3. Writing, reading and arithmetic don’t really matter. What matter is that students should learn to understand the world? 4. Students are so overburdened with class-work and homework that many of them do not enjoy good health. 5. Instead of offering students book-learning only, we should encourage them to get to know society so that they will be more adaptable to real life. 6. Many students are spoilt by our present-day educational system. They may be top students at school, but they are at a loss as to how to deal with practical matters. 7. Education is but a failure if it only produces people who are unable to put theory into practice. 8. We should put right the tendency of stressing only students’ academic achievement and ignoring their moral and physical education. 9. Students, in their formative years, should have a chance to broaden their outlook rather than feel compelled to work towards passing an exam.

38. 38 Lesson 11 Dose Parental Permissiveness Affect Children’s Development?

39. 39 Arguments 1. The excessive permissiveness of present-day parents is doing more harm than good to children and society as well. 2. Children should develop the habit of working and living independently and, meanwhile, practice the virtue of being filial to their parents. 3. If one lets the child do whatever he wants to, he will ruin the child for life. 4. We have to admit the fact that we now have got a generation of spoilt, self-centered brats with no respect for their elders. 5. The spread of juvenile delinquency in our age is largely due to parental permissiveness. 6. Children who have a surfeit of happiness in their childhood often emerge like stodgy puddings and fail to make a success of life. 7. The fact that young people nowadays are self-centered, indifferent and inconsiderate of others is largely the outcome of parental permissiveness in their childhood. 8. Parental authority in a family helps a child to develop his character healthily. 9. It is ridiculous that, instead of showing due respect to their parents, children in China today enjoy extreme piety from their parents. 10. Parents should exercise strict discipline over their children because, the more permissive the parents are, the more rebellious against their parents the children will become. 11. Lavish care and excessive permissiveness will only give rise to hedonism among the younger generation.

40. 40 Counter-arguments 1. More care for children is not the same as permissiveness to them. 2. The truth is that parents nowadays do not take enough care of their children and often neglect their development because the parents are only interested in their careers. 3. Parents are not at all permissive to their children. Violence often takes place in families in which children are abused. 4. Only a relaxed family atmosphere can help the physical and psychological growth of children. 5. To let children do what they like contributions to their independence and competence in their adult lives. 6. It is unfair to blame parents for the spread of juvenile delinquency. There are a lot of other causes involved. 7. Many cases show that children leave home and become members of street gangs just because they can not bear authoritarian control over them by their parents. 8. Strict discipline does not always work in terms of developing children’s personal qualities. Too much pressure on children leads to rebellion and other extreme actions. 9. Parents are not justified in using violence to keep discipline and maintain their authority over the children. 10. Children are human beings, too. they need to be protected instead of being frequently scolded or physically abused.

41. 41 Lesson 12 Is It Necessary to Develop Tourism?

42. 42 Arguments 1. It is necessary to develop the tourist trade, for it contributes a lot to increasing understanding between nations. 2. As the saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” Only a trip to an unfamiliar land can help us understand the people and culture there. 3. Since tourism helps increase understanding between people, it will finally wipe out prejudice against other nations, and make the world a more peaceful one. 4. Tourism contributes significantly to many countries’ GNP (Gross National Product). The economy of some nations is based on the tourist industry. 5. Tourism helps develop a nation’s commerce because tourists are most likely to buy souvenirs wherever they go. 6. Tourism provides jobs for many people and helps solve or ease the social problem of unemployment. 7. Tourism also helps promote the catering trade. 8. Tourism helps improve the transportation system of a nation. 9. Tourism helps accelerate a city’s construction and its embellishment. 10. Contact with tourists from afar widens the horizon of the local people. 11. The tourist trade gives people a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the world and the wonders of mankind. 12. Tourism will help people learn about different cultures of the world. 13. Travel can widen one’s horizon and make one more open-minded.

43. 43 Counter-arguments 1. Tourism cannot increase understanding between nations because tourists are often trapped in big hotels and only gaze at the natives from a distance. 2. Tourism does not wipe out prejudice, but leads to the persistence of national stereotypes because when traveling, you notice only characteristics which confirm your preconceptions. 3. It is true that foreign friends can make people understand stereotypes are absurd and harmful, but the tourist trade prevents people from making foreign friends. 4. Since tourists do not have time to mix with the local people, they cannot have a full view of the local culture. 5. Tourism makes some parts of the world too crowded a place to live in. 6. Tourism creates pollution and has destroyed many beautiful scenic spots. 7. Tourists cannot have a full enjoyment of the beautiful scenery because the places they visit are restricted by organizers. 8. As the saying goes, “Travel makes a wise man better, but a fool worse.” 9. Contact with and assimilation of other cultures will reduce the uniqueness of one’s own culture and make the world less colorful than before.

44. 44 Lesson 13 Work to Live or Live to Work?

45. 45 Arguments 1. Some people live to work. They want to have a fulfilling profession. 2. Work that is worth doing gives mental satisfaction to the doer. 3. One should always enjoy what one does even if the salary is low. 4. One will feel tense if he is in the wrong job. 5. Doing well in the right job helps to improve one’s relationship with one’s colleagues and family members. 6. Whatever one does is a creative experience, like cooking, sewing, and other “do-it-yourself” activities. 7. We shouldn’t regard work merely as a breadwinning process. We should take a wider perspective on work. 8. People work for the sake of success, position and control in society. 9. Working gives women a sense of independence away from the family. 10. Work fulfils human beings and they should not be prey to base impulses. 11. To work is a human need and a unique human characteristic.

46. 46 Counter-arguments 1. Some people work to live. To live is to survive. It is a fundamental human need. 2. Work is a means to an end. It is a breadwinning process. 3. One is happy if his job enables him to earn enough to live well. 4. The person who works to live has a very strong sense of responsibility for his family and himself as well. 5. The purpose of working is to live satisfactorily. 6. Work should not rule one’s life. As soon as one arrives home from work, he should forget about the office. 7. Work is drudgery. People work so that they will enjoy their leisure or whatever comes after it. 8. For most people, work has very little value at all. 9. Nowadays, we do things which are either totally futile and useless or have very little justification. 10. For most of us the only reason for working is that we need to keep ourselves alive, to pay for somewhere to live, to pay to feed our children. 11. A lot of people have found that working has become a dispiriting experience. So work can never be the goal of life. 12. To work is to earn money, and money can buy happiness. 13. Making money is gratifying and exciting. People’s lives are actually geared towards this because the amount of money one earns symbolizes his position in society. 14. People are vain. They don’t admit the fact that they work hard in order to enjoy life.

47. 47 Lesson 14 Does the younger Generation Know Best?

48. 48 Arguments 1. The young are better educated and more broad-minded. 2. The young enjoy a lot more things than the old: they have money to spend; they are less dependent on their parent; they grow up more quickly; and they enjoy more freedom. 3. The young do not blindly accept the ideals of their elders. 4. The old assume they know best, but it is only a mater of experience. 5. The young question the values and assumptions of the older generation and they are right. 6. The young reject conformity, in dress: drab grey suits and convict haircut. 7. The young enjoy more freedom and have a stronger sense of responsibility. 8. The old tend to settle differences by conventional politics and violence. 9. The old are unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives. 10. The old do not have noble ambitions and only strive for material possessions. 11. The old are unable to keep away from the ratrace, in which they have lost touch with the most important things in life. 12. The old can learn from the young. Young people are more devoted to their friends. 13. The young know how to enjoy work and leisure and not to be inhibited. 14. The young live in the present rather than in the past or future.

49. 49 Counter-arguments 1. The young do not assume their responsibility; they evade it. 2. The young have too much money and they are spoiled. 3. The young are not interested in important questions. 4. The young are only interested in themselves. 5. The young are concerned only with making money and getting ahead. 6. The young seek material possessions like clothing, cars, etc. They do not wish to work for them. 7. The young should feel grateful to the older generations, who have created a good life for them. 8. The older generation brought about peace and freedom which the young enjoy today. 9. The old provide the young with a good education and money to spend. 10. The older generation fought in the two world wars. They faced real problems, but the young have an easier life. 11. The young are shallow and cling to passing fashions: trendy clothes, pop music, etc. 12. The way many young people dress is in very bad taste. They grow long hair, and they are dirty, scruffy, and lazy. 13. Young people have too much freedom and have no sense of morality. 14. The older generation is too kind and soft with the young. A tougher policy is needed and might work wonders. 15. The young are unadventurous and they lack noble ideals. 16. Young people’s outlook on the world is very bleak and they are skeptical of everything. 17. Young people are unstable. They are cocksure.

50. 50 Lesson 15 Should Smoking Be Prohibited?