Topic 19 Highways or public transportation?

In this modern society, governments always confront (сталкивается, противостоит) the dilemma whether spending more money on improving roads and highways or on improving public transportation. This problem is a much-debated one in that it affects everybody in his or her daily life. Personally speaking, I would be one of those who argue that governments should spend more money on improving public transportation.

Though it is quite rational for average people to choose roads and highways because of the obvious reason that a better road condition could suspend (приостановить, замедлить) more vehicles and accelerate the speed of them. A close scrutiny (тщат. изучение, иследование) of the potential benefits of choosing roads and highways would reveal how flimsy (насколько обоснован) it is to stick to the propensity (придерживаться склонность). A better road condition would bring with it more vehicles, thus a much more crowded traffic. Have you ever been caught in a traffic jam? Then how could just spending more money on improving roads and highways do?

Besides, putting the discussion in a wider context, a further reason why I advocate the (Я выступаю за) later lies in the fact that (заключается в том) improvement of road condition would stimulate more people to use cars and hence more energy would be used and more pollution would be exposed (подвергаться). This would be the last thing that everyone would like to see. But if we choose to improve public transportation, a quite different result could be. This can be demonstrated by the undeniable fact of our city. We have greatly improved the bus network and reduced the parking places since several years ago. Now more and more people shift from cars to buses and other public transportation, and an azure sky (лазурное небо) can be highly savored (наслаждаться) again.

Finally, frankly speaking, there is also a more practical reason why I choose to improve public transportations. Public transportation encourages a sense of community. People who travel to work together all the time get to know each other better while cars isolate us from neighbors. An improvement in public transportation would make it fit more (сделать его пригодным) people's schedules (графики) and more people would choose to take public transportation to enjoy communicating with each other.

When taking into account all these merits (достоинства) and drawbacks (недостатки) I have numerated, we may safely arrived at the conclusion that we should put more money and concerns more about public transportation. We would experience more convenience when traveling as well as an appreciable nature environment.

Topic 20 Should children grow up in the countryside or in a city?

There are advantages and disadvantages for a child to grow up in the country or in a city. It's hard to say which is better. Growing up in the country means a certain degree of isolation. You're in a small town or on a farm with few people. In addition, the people you meet everyday tend to be just like you. Most have the same background with you, and go to the same schools with you. In the city, people you meet are all different. People come from different culture backgrounds.

City people tend to come from a lot of different places and move around a lot. So, there is not a sense of community in the city like what you have in the country. People in the city can live in the same apartment building for twenty years even without getting to know each other. In the country, however, everybody knows everybody. A child can get lost or hurt in the city and have no one to turn to (не к кому обратиться). In the country, everyone is a neighbor, and people feel connected to each other.

He appealed (обратился) to his friends for support. He appealed to me for help.

A child growing up in the city has a lot of interesting and exciting places to visit. He or she can go to a zoo, museums, art galleries and concerts. There are a lot of restaurants with different kinds of cuisines. It's easy to see new movies that come out. Children in the country don't have a lot of these activities to go to.

To my opinion, a childhood in the city is better because it prepares a child more for what real life is like.