Answers to All toefl Essay Questions

Topic 100 Computer technology or basic needs?

Many people believe that governments should spend as much money as possible on developing or buying computer technologies, while others think that governments should spend money on more basic needs. While both spending on computer technologies and on basic needs of the society are important, I think that government should concentrate on the latter. Computer technologies are not very good investments from the point of view of society as a whole, while investments in essentials have a much higher rate of return.

Investment in areas related to computer software, networks and hardware are not very profitable and will not improve life of ordinary citizens. Several years ago many people believed that by investing in computer-related fields we can improve performance across the board, but the reality has not been what we have thought about. Most of Internet companies and dot-coms went bankrupt. Although huge money was poured into those companies, many of them cannot stay in business anymore. The promise of improved performance has never come true.

Even in the United States, the most powerful and prosperous country in the world, there are still more than 20 million people who live below the poverty line. More than third of the earth population live on less than one dollar a day -the official threshold of poverty declared by United Nations. We can greatly improve the life of those people by investing in public education, organizing loan agencies or other projects that can help to alleviate poverty. What's more, computers can actually make this problem worse, because with the application of computer technology, more and more people are losing their jobs - thus making most of the world's uneducated population obsolete and without means to sustain themselves.

Analysts expect that in several decades more than third of the population on the Earth will not have access to clean water. This can result in famine, deteriorate public health and other disasters. Some argue that we might have wars for the access to clean water. To prevent this scenario we need to invest a large amount of money in projects that will help to save clean water on our planet.

In conclusion I want to say, that investments in computers will not solve a single problem of our society. Computers will not prevent famines, which are so usual today, or help poor people. On the contrary, computers can make poor blue-collar workers out of work and money to support their families. So governments around the world should spend all available money on basic necessities of our society, not on some dream projects.

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Answers to All toefl Essay Questions

Topic 101 Doing work by hand vs. by machine

In general, there are two ways of making products, one is by hand and the other is by machine. It is undeniable that products can be manufactured easily and efficiently by machine. But for me, I prefer hand-made items for their features of individualism and flexibility.

First of all, hand-made products are more unique and personal. Take birthday cards as an example, instead of same pictures on the printed cards available in the market, well-chosen images such as our own photos printed on a self-made card can surely distinguish the card from others. Owing to its uniqueness, the self-designed card will be of greater value for the person who receives it.

What's more, garments made by hand are fitter than machine made ones. Although men's suits and lady's dresses can easily be found in shops that sell machine-made clothes, many people go for tailor-made clothing simply because tailors can make those clothes precisely according to individual customer's measurement and styles. Obviously, the fitness of clothing is what those people care about most.

Finally, producing items by hand is more flexible. It releases people from being confined by modes that are necessary for machine-made manufacturing. For example, in hand-made pottery making, people can create new designs at any time. While in machine manufacturing, however, modes have to be made in advance, and afterward all finished products are based on the same modes and have completely the same looks. If a different look is needed, people must re­produce the modes first. Moreover, there are still some items that cannot be produced by machine because there are no matched modes.

In conclusion, it is easy to get the conclusion that doing work by hand is more flexible than by machine in most cases, so I prefer products that are made by hand.

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