social and economic indicators for four countries

The table below shows social and economic indicators for four countries in 1994, according to United Nations statistics. Describe the information shown below in your own words.

The table compares UN data on socio-economic indicators for Japan, Canada, Peru and Zaire in 1994.

Overall, it is clear that the figures for all four indicators were consistently higher in Canada and Japan.

In addition, Zaire had the lowest figures for each of the indicators.

Annual income per person in Japan was $15760, considerably ahead of Canada with $11100.

There was a dramatic gap then to Peru and Zaire, where the annual income per person was $160 and $130 respectively.

In terms of life expectancy, this was similar in Japan [78 years] and Canada [76 years], but it was much lower in Peru [51 years] and just 47 years in Zaire.

Canada headed the table for daily calorie supply per person.

The calory intake of 3326 compared with 2846 in Japan, 1927 in Peru and 1749 in Zaire.

Whereas the adult literacy rate was almost 100% in Canada and Japan, only 68% of people in Peru and 34% of those in Zaire were literate.

Sample #18

Nowadays food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live?

model answer:

Food is a basic part of life, so it follows that improved methods of food preparation have made our lives better.

Nowadays we can prepare meals much faster than we could in the past.

We can also enjoy a greater variety of food and eat more healthfully, all because of modern methods of food preparation.

Microwave ovens have made it possible to prepare delicious food quickly.

People these days rarely have time to shop and prepare meals the old-fashioned way. We live very fast lives.

We are busy working, caring for our families travelling, playing sports, and many other things.

Because of microwave ovens, we have time to enjoy a good meal with our family and then play soccer, go to a movie, study, or do anything else we want to afterwards.

Modern methods of preserving food have made it possible to enjoy a wide variety of food.

Because of refrigerators, freezers, canning, and freeze-drying, we can eat fruits and vegetables that come from far away places.

We can prepare a meal one day and save the leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer to eat at another time.

We can keep different kinds of food in the refrigerator or on the shelf.

Its easy to always have food available and to be able to eat completely different meals every day.

Healthful eating is easier now than it ever was.

Because of modern transportation methods, fresh fruits and vegetables are available all year round.

 Modern kitchen appliances make it easy to prepare fruits and vegetables fro cooking.

Bread machines make it possible to enjoy healthful, home-baked bread whenever we like.

We can eat fresh and healthful food everyday because modern methods have made preparation easy.

Our lifestyle is fast, but people still like good food.

New food preparation methods have given us is more choices.

Today we can prepare food that is more convenient healthier, and of greater variety than ever before in history.

Sample #19

It has been said, "Not everything that is learned is contained in books." Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books.
In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?

model answer:

"Experience is the best teacher" is an old cliché, but I agree with it.

We can learn a lot of important things from books, but the most important lessons in life come from our own experiences.

Throughout the different stages of life, from primary school to university to adulthood, experience teaches us many skills we need for life.

As children in primary school, we learn facts and information from books, but that is not all we learn in school.

On the playground we learn how to make friends. In our class work, we learn how it feels to succeed and what we do when we fail.

We start to learn about the things we like to do and the things we don't.

We don't learn these things from books, but from our experiences with our friends and classmates.

In our university classes, we learn a lot of information and skills we will need for our future careers, but we also learn a lot that is not in our textbooks.

In our daily lives both in class and out of class, we learn to make decisions for ourselves. We learn to take on responsibilities.

We learn to get along with our classmates, our roommates, and our workmates.

Our successes and failures help us develop skills we will need in our adult lives. They are skills that no book can teach us.

Throughout our adulthood, experience remains a constant teacher. We may continue to read or take classes for professional development.

However, our experiences at work, at home, and with our friends teach us more.

The triumphs and disasters of our lives teach us how to improve our careers and also how to improve our relationships and how to be the person each one of us wants to be.

Books teach us a lot, but there is a limit to what they teach.

They can give us information or show us another person's experiences.

These are valuable things, but the lessons we learn from our own experiences, from childhood through adulthood, are the most important ones we learn.