James Bryant - 101 IELTS Writing Acacdemic and General Task 2: 2016

James Bryant

This book is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to otherpeople. If you would like to share this book with another person,please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank youfor respecting the hard work of this author.

Question

Present a written argument or case to aneducated reader with no specialist knowledge of the followingtopic.

Discuss the effects of this on individualsand society.

You should use your own ideas, knowledge andexperience and support your arguments with examples and relevantevidence.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer

In many societies people are shopping lessout of the necessity of buying things they need and more as aleisure activity. This is probably a result of having moredisposable income, the fact that many items are relatively cheapand that they are being encouraged to do so by advertising. Thiscan have several

effects on individuals and on society.

One effect is that individuals buy many itemsthey dont really need. They buy things because they arefashionable to have rather than because such items have a practicaluse. This has the effect of making people more materialistic. Theyoften want items for the sake of it or because someone else hasthem. Second, people keep things that they buy for a shorter time.This is particularly true with clothes. People buy clothes, wearthem a few times and then throw them away and buy new ones. Sincemany items of clothing are cheap, they can afford to do this. Thiscreates an environmental problem, since more waste is beingproduced. It means items need to be recycled or disposed of byburning (creating pollution) or by burial at landfill sites.

Another effect is people spend more money.This is often greeted by economists since it helps the economygrow. Increased shopping creates business, increases trade andprovides jobs in the retail industry. However, it can also causepeople to save less for their futures, particularly for theirretirements when they will almost certainly have lower incomes. Itcan also create trade deficits if the majority of

items are imported rather than produced inthe country where they are sold. This is the situation in Britainand the USA.

To conclude, shopping as a leisure activityaffects society and individuals in many ways. Some of these arebeneficial while others are not. I think that moderation is thekey word. People should be given the freedom to shop if it issomething they enjoy, but they should also be aware of theconsequences of shopping on their financial status, the environmentand the economy. (346 words)

Question

Present a written argument or case to aneducated reader with no specialist knowledge of the followingtopic.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

You should use your own ideas, knowledge andexperience and support your arguments with examples and relevantevidence.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer

Many people believe that internationalsporting events contribute to a more peaceful world and betterunderstanding between nations and their peoples. I think that theymight make a small contribution, but that they do not make animportant one.

When the Greeks held the ancient Olympics, itwas understood that conflicts would cease for the duration of theGames. In the modern Olympics and other sporting events heldnowadays, this is not the case.

The terrorist attacked during the MunichOlympics in 1972. The intensified security service evident duringthe worlds major sporting events proves that there is still athreat even to these peaceful proceedings.

Many people maintain that internationalsporting events contribute to international peace and understandingindirectly, by allowing people from different countries to meet ina friendly atmosphere. I do not believe that it has such a markedeffect as people claim. At major sporting events, people tend tobecome very supportive of their own team or country and thisdissuades people from becoming very friendly to fans from othercountries. We see this in football in particular, but it alsohappens at the Olympics where the race for gold medals oftenovershadows the simple enjoyment of sport.

I think that international sporting eventscan be more effective promoters of international peace andunderstanding when the team members are not from a particularcountry but are from several different countries. We can see thisin tennis, where doubles teams are almost always made up of twoplayers from different countries, and in football, where leadingteams such as Manchester United bring together players from Europeand South America.

To summarise, I think making mostinternational sporting events vehicles for promoting internationalpeace is unrealistic because of national pride, but that it ispossible in some sports where the nationality of the players is notconsidered important. (310 words)

Question

Present a written argument or case to aneducated reader with no specialist knowledge of the followingtopic.

To what extent do the advantages of thisoutweigh the disadvantages?

You should use your own ideas, knowledge andexperience and support your arguments with examples and relevantevidence.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer

Almost everyone is convinced of theadvantages of international trade. There are, however,disadvantages. Nowadays, when the issue of environmental protectionis high on the global agenda, some people are beginning to questionwhether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages any longer.

The main advantages of international tradeare that they allow people to purchase a wider variety of productsthan would otherwise be available to them and that these importeditems are often cheaper than those produced domestically.International trade also allows countries to import and exporttechnologies to other countries, facilitating the spread of humanknowledge.

One of the key disadvantages of global tradeis that items need to be transported thousands of miles around theworld. Whether these items are transported by land, air or sea,their shipment requires substantial amounts of fuel. At present,this is almost always fossil fuel, either oil or coal. Thisproduces large amounts of pollution, which damages the environment.Some people believe that this drawback outweighs the advantages ofglobal trade, particularly those people who believe that therelease of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the burning offossil fuels is responsible for global warming.

On the other hand, this massive business ofglobal transportation of goods from one country to another is amajor source of employment in most countries. It provides jobs notonly for those who actually transport the goods, but also for thosewho load and unload them. It is also a major source of income forgovernments in the form of excise duties.

Overall, I think that the advantages ofglobal trade outweigh the disadvantages of transporting goods overlong distances. Whilst there are alternative sources of energy,these are not currently suitable for use in the transportation ofgoods in bulk internationally. Consequently, any restrictions onusing these fuels for this purpose would inevitably mean areduction in international trade. (315 words)