The chart below shows figures for attendances at hospital emergency care departments in Northern Ireland by age group in December 2016 and December 2017.

The bar chart compares the number of visits made by people in six age categories to hospital emergency wards in Northern Ireland in the December of 2016 and 2017.

It is clear that elderly people and the youngest children were the most frequent visitors to A&E (accident and emergency) departments.

Also, there was a slight increase in the rate of emergency care attendances among all six age groups from December 2016 to December 2017.

Looking first at the older age groups, roughly 65 out of every 1000 people aged 75 and over attended A&E wards in December 2016, and this rose to almost 70 attendances per 1000-population one year later.

Interestingly, those aged 65 to 74 were less than half as likely to require emergency treatment, with around 30 attendances per 1000-population in both months.

At the other end of the age scale, the figures for A&E visits by under-5s rose marginally from around 50 to approximately 52 per 1000-population over the one year period.

Children aged 5 to 15 made the fewest visits, at just over 20 per 1000-population in both months.

Finally, there was almost no difference in the figures for emergency care attendances among people aged 16 to 44, 45 to 64 and 65 to 74.

The chart below compares levels of recycling, as well as some less environmentally friendly forms of waste management, in fifteen European countries.

 

The bar chart shows the percentage of waste that is recycled, put into landfill or incinerated in various EU countries.

If we look at the fifteen EU countries as a whole, it is clear that more waste goes to landfill sites than to any other refuse management facility.

In fact, while around half of the countries put the majority of their waste into landfill sites, only two countries recycle at least 50% of the waste that they produce.

Austria and Belgium are the most environmentally friendly of the fifteen countries, recycling around 60% and 50% of their waste respectively.

Germany, Sweden and Belgium also appear to have effective recycling programmes, resulting in roughly 40% of waste being processed in this way in each country.

Other EU countries recycle far less. Greece, Ireland and the UK, for example, only recycle around 10% of refuse, and put between 80 and 90 per cent of their waste into landfill.

Finally, while most nonrecycled waste in the EU area goes to landfill, four countries, namely Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, incinerate more waste than they bury.

Sample #49

Some people insist that senior workers 65 or over should retire but others believe that they should continue working. What is you opinion?

model answer:

Over the past few decades [In the past], there have been many advances in medical technology.

Because of this, senior citizens are healthier and more active than before and may choose to work beyond the age of 65.

Nowadays, however, there has been a growing debate as to whether or not these people should retire in order to create jobs for the younger generation.

Despite the advantages of early retirement, I strongly believe that it is better for senior workers to continue working as long as they are physically and mentally capable.

Those who believe that senior workers need to retire for younger generation base their case on the following arguments.

First, the unemployment rate, especially for college graduates, has never been so high so it is today.

This is largely due to the slow economy. Therefore, firing some elderly workers who are well-paid would allow those unemployed young people to have good opportunities to get a job.

In addition, replacing older workers with young people would bring greater benefits to companies [=employers].

This is because youngsters are better at adapting themselves to fast changing information based society.

They are generally better at computers and speaking foreign languages than their older counterparts.

Nevertheless, people should not ignore the fact that senior citizens have been playing vital roles both at home and at work for their entire lives.

To begin with, a young person's need for a job is no more important than an older person's.

Both have a responsibility to support their families. Sadly, few seniors can afford early retirement.

Besides, senior workers provide the wisdom and experience that young employees cannot offer.

There is strong [=acute] possibility of situations arising that require the knowledge of skilled senior employees.

In summary, the advantages of keeping seasoned workers far outweigh its disadvantages.

There are high hopes that employers exercise wisdom [=caution] in dealing with this issue.