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1)We can’t see it, but brains hum with electrical activity. Brain waves created by the coordinated firing of huge collections of nerve cells pinball around the brain. The waves can ricochet from the front of the brain to the back, or from deep structures all the way to the scalp and then back again. Called neuronal oscillations, these signals are known to accompany certain mental states. Quiet alpha waves ripple soothingly across the brains of meditating monks. Beta waves rise and fall during intense conversational turns. Fast gamma waves accompany sharp insights. Sluggish delta rhythms lull deep sleepers, while dreamers shift into slightly quicker theta rhythms. Researchers have long argued over whether these waves have purposes, and what those purposes might be. Some scientists see waves as inevitable but useless by-products of the signals that really matter  — messages sent by individual nerve cells. Waves are simply a consequence of collective neural behavior, and nothing more, that view holds. But a growing body of evidence suggests just the opposite: instead of by-products of important signals, brain waves are key to how the brain operates, routing information among far-flung brain regions that need to work together. MIT’s Earl Miller is among the neuro scientists amassing evidence that waves are an essential part of how the brain operates. Brain oscillations deftly route information in a way that allows the brain to choose which signals in the world to pay attention to and which to ignore, his recent studies suggest.

Other research supports this view, too. Studies on people with electrodes implanted in their brains suggest brain waves, and their interactions, help enable emotion, language, vision and more.

2) Currently, Americans only eat about 16 grams of fiber — the parts of plants that can’t be digested —per day. That’s way less than the 25 to 30 grams that’s recommended. There are so many reasons why, from fast-food marketing to agriculture subsidies, but one contributing factor is the slow death of cooking, and the rise of the restaurant meal. Americans now spend more on food at restaurants than they do at grocery stores, but restaurant food tends to have even less fiber than the food we would otherwise eat at home. One problem seems to be that restaurant meals aren’t typically loaded with two of the best sources of fiber, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. A revealing study from 2007, in which researchers interviewed 41 restaurant executives, showed that restaurants think fruits and vegetables are too expensive to feature prominently on the menu, and “61 percent said profits drive menu selections.”

They also opposed labeling certain menu items as healthier choices, saying that would be “the kiss of death.” So people like to eat out, and when they do, they prefer mushy, fiber- free comfort foods. But that’s a pretty dangerous road to go down.

3)Water is at the core of sustainable development. Water resources, and the range of services they provide, underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental sustainability. From food and energy security to human and environmental health, water contributes to improvements in social wellbeing and inclusive growth, affecting the livelihoods of billions. In a sustainable world that is achievable in the near future, water and related resources are managed in support of human well-being and ecosystem integrity in a robust economy. Sufficient and safe water is made available to meet every person’s basic needs, with healthy lifestyles and behaviors easily upheld through reliable and affordable water supply and sanitation services, in turn supported by equitably extended and efficiently managed infrastructure. Water resources management, infrastructure and service delivery are sustainably financed.Water is duly valued in all its forms, with wastewater treated as a resource that avails energy, nutrients and freshwater for reuse. Human settlements develop in harmony with the natural water cycle and the ecosystems that support it, with measures in place that reduce vulnerability and improve resilience to water-related disasters. Integrated approaches to water resources development, management and use and to human rights are the norm. Water is governed in a participatory way that draws on the full potential of women and men as professionals and citizens, guided by a number of able and knowledgeable organizations, within a just and transparent institutional framework.

4)The Importance of International Studies and Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and National Security Committee for Economic Development. To confront the twenty-first century challenges to our economy and national security, our education system must be strengthened to increase the foreign language skills and cultural awareness of our students. America’s continued global leadership will depend on our students’ abilities to interact with the world community both inside and outside our borders.

5)A marketing objective is a marketing target or goal that an organization hopes to achieve such as to boost market share from 9 to 12 per cent within 2 years. Marketing objectives steer the direction of the business. Operating a business without knowing your objectives is like driving a car without knowing where you want to go. Some businesses achieve a degree of success without setting marketing objectives; stumbling across a successful business model by accident. But why should anyone rely on chance? If firms set marketing objectives the probability of success increases because decision making will be more focused. Marketing objectives must be compatible with the overall objectives of the company. They cannot be set in isolation by the marketing department. Achieving the marketing objective of boosting share from 9 to 12 per cent will help realize a corporate objective of growth. To be effective, marketing objectives should be quantifiable and measurable. Targets should also be set within a time frame. An example of a marketing objective that Nestle might set is to achieve a 9 per cent increase in the sales of KitKat by the end of next year A car manufacturer, such as BMW could set the following marketing objective: ‘To increase the number of BMW 3 Series cars sold in China from 250,000 to 400,000 over the next 12 months’. Setting sales volume targets can be particularly important in industries such as car manufacturing because of the high fixed costs associated with operating in this market. If sales volume can be increased, the high fixed costs of operating will be spread across a greater number of units of output, reducing fixed costs per unit.

6)When people start thinking about language, the first question which often occurs to them is this: is language natural to humans? – in the same way that grunting is natural to pigs, and barking comes naturally to dogs. Or is it just something we happen to have learned? – in the same way that dogs may learn to beg, or elephants may learn to waltz, or humans may learn to play the guitar. Clearly, in one sense, children ‘learn’ whatever language they are exposed to, be it Chinese, Nootka or English. So no one would deny that ‘learning’ is very important. But the crucial question is whether children are born with ‘blank sheets’ in their head as far as language is concerned – or whether humans are ‘programmed’ with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general. This question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, and has been discussed for centuries. For example, it was the topic of one of Plato’s dialogues, the Cratylus. Controversies which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion. They lie dormant for a while, then break out fiercely. This particular issue resurfaced in linguistics in 1959 when the linguist Noam Chomsky wrote a devastating and witty review of Verbal Behavior, a book by the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (Skinner 1957; Chomsky 1959). This book claimed to ‘explain’ language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years. According to Skinner, no complicated innate or mental mechanisms are needed. All that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter  sounds.

7)Many technologies have promised these qualities, but few have been commercially viable. What’s been lacking is the performance data needed to demonstrate that these technologies are durable, genuinely environmentally beneficial, and suitable to be insured. Over the past 13 years, our Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering has led on research into straw as a low-impact building material. This work, which has included developing a unique straw bale panel as well as scientific monitoring and testing, has now culminated in crucial industry certifications. The BM TRADA’s Q-Mark certification guarantees a straw building’s energy efficiency, fire safety, durability and weather- resilience and means that developers and homebuyers can now get insurance and mortgages for straw homes and buildings.

The innovative straw walls in the new houses provide two times more insulation than required by current UK building regulations. Based on monitoring a residential straw-bale development in Leeds, fuel bill reductions up to 90% can be expected. The walls have been built using ModCell technology; prefabricated panels consisting of a wooden structural frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with either a breathable lime-based system or ventilated timber or brick cladding. This technology combines the lowest carbon footprint and the best operational CO² performance of any system of construction currently available. In fact, as an agricultural co-product, straw buildings can be carbon negative as straw absorbs CO² when it grows.

8) The National Oceanography Center (NOC) is engaged in research into the potential risks and benefits of exploiting deep-sea mineral resources, some of which are essential for low- carbon technology, as well as using ocean robots to estimate the environmental impact of these potential deep-sea mining activities. Late last year the NOC led an expedition on the RRS James Cook that found enough of the scarce element Tellurium present in the crust of a submerged volcano that, if it were all to be used in the production of solar PV panels, could provide two-thirds of the UK’s annual electricity supply.

Recently, the NOC also led an international study demonstrating deep-sea nodule mining will cause long-lasting damage to deep-sea life, lasting at least for decades. These nodules are potato-sized rocks containing high levels of metals, including copper, manganese and nickel. They grow very slowly on the sea-bed, over millions of years. Although no commercial operations exist to extract these resources, many are planned. Professor Edward Hill, Executive Director at the NOC commented, “By 2050 there will be nine billion people on earth and attention is increasingly turning to the ocean, particularly the deep ocean, for food, clean supplies of energy and strategic minerals. The NOC is undertaking research related to many aspects and perspectives involved in exploiting ocean resources. This research is aimed at informing with sound scientific evidence the decisions that will need to be taken in the future, as people increasingly turn to the oceans to address some of society’s greatest challenges.”

9)The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), defines sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Implicit in this definition is the idea that the old pattern of development could not be sustained. Is this true? Development in the past was driven by growth and innovation. It led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards. To assume that we know what the circumstances or needs of future generations will be is mistaken and inevitably leads to the debilitating sense that we are living on borrowed time. Only if we assume that society will remain static can we understand the needs of the future. The way we live today could not have been predicted twenty years ago. The sustainability paradigm fails to recognize this. It is a static view and thus places limits on human ingenuity. Similarly, a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought; the scale of problems is exaggerated, the amount of resources is underestimated and spurious links are made between areas such as green policies and profit, poverty and environmental degradation. Those of us who want a better future need to question these assumptions.

10) Humans love to complain to each other. It helps us feel less alone. Think about what happens when a family member or friend is going through a tough time; they call up someone who will listen to their tale of woe. Unfortunately, negative bonding is the default for many groups. In some families, complaining is the only way to get attention. When one person says, I had a bad day; the other person has to top it,

“You think you had a tough day. I had to do three TPS reports!” The same thing happens at work and social settings. “Your child didn’t sleep through the night until 6 months? Mine was a full year old before she went over six hours.” It’s a race to the bottom, and the worst situation wins. In Bitching is Bonding, A Guide to Mutual Complaint, Irene S. Levine, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at the NYU Langone

School of Medicine says, “The reason why these conversations feel good is because we feel understood.” People raised in negative environments learn early on. Being positive gets you thrown out of the club. When family dinner is a complaint fest, you’re not going to risk alienation saying, “Wow, I had an awesome day. Don’t you just love life?” Translate this into a work setting: people, often unconsciously, believe being positive keeps you out of the cool club. When negativity provides bonding, humans are reluctant to abandon the behavior  that  brings  them  comfort.

11) Currently, Americans only eat about 16 grams of fiber – the parts of plants that can’t be digested – per day. That’s way less than the 25 to 30 grams that’s recommended. There are so many reasons why, from fast-food marketing to agriculture subsidies, but one contributing factor is the slow death of cooking, and the rise of the restaurant meal. Americans now spend more on food at restaurants than they do at grocery stores, but restaurant food tends to have even less fiber than the food we would otherwise eat at home. One problem seems to be that restaurant meals aren’t typically loaded with two of the best sources of fiber, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. A revealing study from 2007, in which researchers interviewed 41 restaurant executives, showed that restaurants think fruits and vegetables are too expensive to feature prominently on the menu, and “61 percent said profits drive menu selections.” They also opposed labeling certain menu items as healthier choices, saying that would be “the kiss of death.” So, people like to eat out, and when they do, they prefer mushy, fiber-free comfort foods. But that’s a pretty dangerous road to go down.

12) The colors that we see are a result of the light reflected within a narrow range of wavelengths – what we call the visible spectrum. But sunlight also spans wavelengths that we cannot see. Humans can’t see ultraviolet wavelengths, which many other animals can see. But there’s one set of wavelengths that elude all of us – these are near infra-red (NIR) wavelengths. And understanding how bird feathers interact with these wavelengths is important, not just for birds, but also for humans through the potential for improvements in thermal efficiency. Our research in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne suggests that some Australian birds can control their temperature and avoid overheating by reflecting near-infrared wavelengths of sunlight. We collected information on 90 species of Australian birds and found a very strong link between living in hot, arid regions and reflecting a higher proportion of near-infrared light. Researchers in the field of animal colouration have largely ignored near-infrared light, because it isn’t easy to measure and there’s no evidence that animals can see these wavelengths. Because these wavelengths are invisible, they don’t affect camouflage or sexual attractiveness, which are very important in the animal world. This means that many animals can control their temperature by altering reflection of near-infrared light without compromising their ability to hide or attract a mate.

13) What is known (prior knowledge or pre-existing knowledge) is the knowledge, skill or ability that a learner brings to a new learning encounter. This includes all knowledge that is available before the learning event, and which has been gathered or developed by any means, and in any situation, including both formal and, quite often, informal learning situations. Learners need enough previous knowledge and understanding to enable them to learn new things; they also need help making links with new and previous knowledge explicit. It is considered to be valuable to go through a process of what has been called ‘activating prior knowledge’. Teachers often go through this process at the beginning of a new topic. They also use introductory strategies at the beginning of lessons which are continuations from previous lessons. In terms of the practicalities of teaching, this is a process of making children think about the topic or remember what has been covered already. In terms of theory, it is to do with activating particular schemas.

14) By living in close contact with humans, dogs have developed specific skills that enable them to interact and communicate effectively with people. Recent studies have shown that the canine brain can pick up on emotional cues contained in a person’s voice, body odor and posture, and read their faces. In this study, the authors observed what happened when they presented photographs of the same two adults’ faces (a man and a woman) to 26 feeding dogs. The images were placed strategically to the sides of the animals’ line of sight and the photos showed a human face expressing one of the six basic human emotions: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust or being neutral. The dogs showed greater response and cardiac activity when shown photographs that expressed arousing emotional states such as anger, fear and happiness. They also took longer to resume feeding after seeing these images. The dogs’ increased heart rate indicated that in these cases they experienced higher levels of stress. In addition, dogs turned their heads to the left when they saw human faces expressing anger, fear or happiness. The reverse happened when the faces looked surprised, possibly because dogs view it as a non- threatening, relaxed expression. These findings, therefore, support the existence of an asymmetrical emotional modulation of dogs’ brains to process basic human emotions.

15) The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), defines sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Implicit in this definition is the idea that the old pattern of development could not be sustained. Is this true? Development in the past was driven by growth and innovation. It led to new technologies and huge improvements in living standards. To assume that we know what the circumstances or needs of future generations will be is mistaken and inevitably leads to the debilitating sense that we are living on borrowed time. Only if we assume that society will remain static can we understand the needs of the future. The way we live today could not have been predicted twenty years ago. The sustainability paradigm fails to recognize this. It is a static view and thus places limits on human ingenuity. Similarly, a whole host of false assumptions dominate environmental thought; the scale of problems is exaggerated, the amount of resources is underestimated and spurious links are made between areas such as green policies and profit, poverty and environmental degradation. Those of us who want a better future need to question these assumptions.

16) It’s very easy to forget about what’s in the ground beneath our feet and why it’s so important to protect it. One tablespoon of soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth; billions of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms combine with minerals, water, air and organic matter to create a living system that supports plants and, in turn, all life. Healthy soil can store as much as 3,750 tons of water per hectare, reducing the risk of flooding, and the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that 89% of all agricultural emissions could be mitigated if we improved the health of our soil. Good soil management also increases disease resistance in livestock and ultimately drives profits for farmers – yet soil and its impact on the health of our animals has, over recent decades, been one of the most neglected links in UK agriculture. Over the last 50 years’ agriculture has become increasingly dependent on chemical fertilizers, with applications today around 10 times higher than in the 1950s. Farmers often think the chemical fertilizer NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) provides all the nutrition a plant requires, but it also has a detrimental effect on the long- term health of the land: research suggests there are fewer than 100 harvests left in many of the world’s soils.

17) Political risk and nationalism have had major impacts on the development and retardation of global business. Two World Wars, the protectionism of the 1930s, and subsequent waves of economic nationalism damaged the global economy severely and threw it into reverse, though temporarily and partially, and changed the trajectory of globalization during the twentieth century. Wartime blockades, interwar trade barriers, and policies of sovereign nations protecting or serving national interests dealt a blow to the global integration of the market. The two World Wars also brought about technological innovation, and partly contributed to the rise of regions that had been traditionally on the periphery, and laid the basis for today’s multi-polar global economy. Under these pressures, global business looked to transform itself from being based on a unitary structure to a multi-centred one: today’s multinational corporations were created to operate beyond the constraints imposed by the sovereign states. In addition, the economic entities involved in global business created international public goods on their own, such as special safe havens, rather than remaining passive to the actions of sovereign states. Ironically, however, this seems to be creating a new kind of political risk and widespread anti-globalism. The effects of political risks, due to their nature, showed significant geographical differences. They varied widely between European and US companies. In Europe, where serious risks such as war and occupation became a reality, the capability to address political risks had a great impact on the rise, fall, and survival of firms, while in US, such risks have little impact on companies.

18) In the 1840s scientists understood that heat was not just a substance but a form of energy that can be converted from one form to another. James Prescott Joule and Rudolf Clausius stated that heat can produce mechanical energy, and mechanical energy can produce heat. Which lead to the idea that the “heat energy” of a substance is the kinetic energy of its atoms and molecules. Heat is what makes kinetic energy. The more heat that is produced the higher the kinetic energy level of an object or substance is or has. The kinetic energy theory of matter is a scientific theory that states that matter consists of small particles in a rapid random motion. The kinetic energy theory gives the differences of three states of matter; solids, liquids, and gases. The Kinetic Theory of Matter states that matter is composed of a large number and small particles that are in constant motion. It also assumes that particles are small and widely separated. They collide and exchange energy. The theory helps explain the flow or transfer of heat and the relationship between pressure, temperature and volume properties of gases. Heat is energy and describes the movement between objects. Heat is a measure of the total internal energy that has been absorbed or transferred from one body to another. Internal energy is the kinetic and potential energy of molecules of an object. The total internal energy of molecules increases by gaining energy from a temperature difference such as conduction, convection and radiation or by gaining energy from a form conversion (mechanical, chemical radiant, electrical, nuclear). Heat is a form of energy that is mostly converted into kinetic energy of molecules. As long as you heat an object, its temperature rises.

19) A marketing objective is a marketing target or goal that an organization hopes to achieve such as to boost market share from 9 to 12 per cent within 2 years. Marketing objectives steer the direction of the business. Operating a business without knowing your objective is like driving a car without knowing where you want to go. Some businesses achieve a degree of success without setting marketing objectives; stumbling across a successful business model by accident. But why should anyone rely on chance? If firms set marketing objectives the probability of success increases because decision making will be more focused. Marketing objectives must be compatible with the overall objectives of the company, they cannot be set in isolation by the marketing department. Achieving the marketing objective of boosting share from 9 to 12 per cent will help realize a corporate objective of growth. To be effective, marketing objectives should be quantifiable and measurable. Targets should also be set within a time frame. An example of a marketing objective that Nestle might set is to achieve a 9 percent increase in the sales of KitKat by the end of next year A car manufacturer, such as BMW could set the following marketing objective. To increase the number of BMW 3 Series cars sold in China from 250,000 to 400,000 over the next 12 months. Setting sales volume targets can be particularly important in industries such as car manufacturing because of the high fixed costs associated with operating in this market. If sales volume can be increased, the high fixed costs of operating will be spread across a greater number of units of output, reducing fixed costs per unit.

20) In addition to this lack of information about protein families, there is a lack of information about those from the species of most interest to researchers: Homo sapiens. Only a quarter of known protein structures are human. A majority of the rest come from bacteria. This paucity is a problem, for in proteins form and function are intimately related. A protein is a chain of smaller molecules, called amino acids, that is often hundreds or thousands of links long. By a process not well understood, this chain folds up, after it has been made, into a specific and complex three-dimensional shape. That shape determines what the protein does: acting as a channel, say, to admit a chemical into a cell or as an enzyme to accelerate a chemical reaction; or as a receptor, to receive chemical signals and pass them on to a cell’s molecular machinery.

21) Many technologies have promised these qualities, but few have been commercially viable. What’s been lacking is the performance data needed to demonstrate that these technologies are durable, genuinely environmentally beneficial, and suitable to be insured. Over the past 13 years, our Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering has led on research into straw as a low-impact building material. This work, which has included developing a unique straw bale panel as well as scientific monitoring and testing, has now culminated in crucial industry certifications. The BM TRADA’s Q-Mark certification guarantees a straw building’s energy efficiency, fire safety, durability and weather- resilience and means that developers and home buyers can now get insurance and mortgages for straw homes and buildings. The innovative straw walls in the new houses provide two times more insulation than required by current UK building regulations. Based on monitoring a residential straw-bale development in Leeds, fuel bill reductions up to 90% can be expected. The walls have been built using ModCell technology; prefabricated panels consisting of a wooden structural frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with either a breathable lime-based system or ventilated timber or brick cladding. This technology combines the lowest carbon footprint and the best operational CO? performance of any system of construction currently available. In fact, as an agricultural co-product, straw buildings can be carbon negative as straw absorbs CO? when it grows.

22) About 120,000 types of protein molecules have yielded up their structures to science. That sounds a lot, but it isn’t. The techniques, such as X-ray crystallography and nuclear- magnetic resonance (NMR), which are used to elucidate the structures as not yet work on all proteins. Some types are hard to produce or purify in the volumes required. Others do not seem to crystallize at all a prerequisite for probing them with X-rays. As a consequence, those structures that have been determined include who are less than a third of the 16,000 known protein families. Researchers can build reasonable computer models for another third, because the structures of these resemble ones already known. For the remainder, however, there is nothing to go on.

23) Americans in the mid-nineteenth century could point to plenty of examples, real as well as mythical, of self-made men who by dint of “industry, prudence, perseverance, and good economy” had risen “to competence, and then to affluence.” With the election of Abraham Lincoln they could point to one who had risen from a log cabin to the White House. “I am not ashamed to confess that twenty-five years ago I was a hired laborer, mauling rails, at work on a flat-boat – just what might happen to any poor man’s son!” Lincoln told an audience at New Haven in 1860. But in the free states a man knows that “he can better his condition there is no such thing as a freeman being fatally fixed for life, in the condition of a hired laborer.” “Wage slave” was a contradiction in terms, said Lincoln. “The man who labored for another last year, this year labors for himself, and next year he will hire others to labor for him.” If a man “continue through life in the condition of the hired laborer, it is not the fault of the system, but because of either a dependent nature which prefers it, or improvidence, folly, or singular misfortune.” The “free labor system,” concluded Lincoln, “opens the way for all – gives hope to all, and energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all.”

24) The area that is now South Africa has been inhabited by humans for millennia. The San, the original inhabitant this land, were migratory people who lived in small groups of about 15 to 20 people. They survived by fishing and hunting and by gathering roots and other wild foods. They did not build permanent dwellings but used rock shelters as temporary dwellings. Around 2,000 years ago Khoikhoi pastoralists migrated to the coast. In the eastern part of present-day South Africa, iron-working societies date from about 300 AD. The Sotho-Tswana and Nguni peoples arrived in this region around 1,200 AD. They lived by agriculture and stock farming, mined gold, copper and tin and hunted for ivory and built stone-walled towns. Over the centuries, these societies had diverse contacts with the Khoisan. Strife between the San and the Khoikhoi developed over competition for game;eventually the Khoikhoi became dominant. These peoples lived in the western part of present-day South Africa and are known collectively as the Khoisan.

25) With an abundance of low-priced labor relative to the United States, it is no surprise that China, India and other developing countries specialize in the production of labor-intensive products. For similar reasons, the United States will specialize in the production of goods that are human- and physical capital intensive because of the relative abundance of a highly- educated labor force and technically sophisticated equipment in the United States. This division of global production should yield higher global output of both types of goods than would be the case if each country attempted to produce both of these goods itself. For example, the United States would produce more expensive labor-intensive goods because of its more expensive labor and the developing countries would produce more expensive human and physical capital-intensive goods because of their relative scarcity of these inputs.

Essay:

• Despite all the advancement made by mankind, some people still argue that gender equality is a What is your opinion?
• Some people think traditional cultures should be strictly followed, while others think modern people should adopt a new way of What is your opinion?
• Some countries have free health services. However, some people claim that those who live unhealthy lives should not receive free health services. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
• Students should spend the same amount of time doing exercises as they allocate to Do you agree or disagree with it?
• Education matters a lot to children, but some families cannot afford to pay the tuition. So, some people have argued that schools should be tuition-free. What is your opinion?
• Nowadays, more and more countries are developing alternative energy, such as electrical What is your opinion?
• Animals have been widely used for scientific and commercial experiments, and some people find the practice brutal. Do you think that we should prohibit it or not?
• In the future, students may have the choice of studying at home by using technology such as computers or television instead of studying at traditional schools. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages thereof.
• Some famous athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars every year. Is it good or not?
• Some people believe that the ability to read and write is more important today than in the Do you agree or disagree? Support your idea with examples.
• Movies are popular all over the Explain why movies are so popular.
• Many people have a close relationship with their pets. These people treat their birds, cats, or other animals as members of their In your opinion, are such relationships good? Give examples to support your idea.
• Do you agree that privatization of public sector undertakings is beneficial to society?
• In order to improve living standards, it is inevitable to destroy the environment. Do you agree with this statement or not?
• At present, some old people prefer to live in nursing homes instead of living with their adult children. What do you think are the reasons?
• Some people believe that there has been no major development in humanity with the rising number of child abuse Is it a lack of education?
• People dispute travel is or is not a component of a quality education. Some believe travel is What is your opinion?
• Games are as important for adults as they are for children. Do you think adults need games? Use specific reasons and examples to support your
• Some people are always in a hurry to get somewhere and get things Others prefer to take their time and live a slow-paced life. Will you prefer the slow-paced life and why?
• Some films are serious and designed to arouse audience’s thinking. Other films are designed primarily to Which type of movie will you choose?
• A person should never make an important decision Do you support this statement or not?
• Climate change is a concerning global issue. Who should take the responsibilities, governments, big companies or individuals?
• In the past 100 years, there have been many inventions, such as antibiotics, airplanes, and What do you think is the most important of them? Why?
• You are given climate change as the field of study. Which area would you prefer? Explain why you pick this particular area of your study and give an example in the area you
• There are both problems and benefits for high school students study plays and works of theatres written centuries ago. Discuss and use your own
• Large shopping malls are replacing small shops. What is your opinion on this? Do you think this is a good or bad change?
• Some people say involvement of youth in crimes is increasing at an alarming What is your opinion?
• The means of communicating in society today has changed greatly over the last ten Give your opinion.
• Some languages are increasingly spoken in different countries, while the usage of others is rapidly Is this a positive or a negative development?
• Globalization is important. What is your opinion? Give your