The table below shows the amount of waste production (in millions of tonnes) in six different countries over a twenty-year period.

The chart compares the amounts of waste that were produced in six countries in the years 1980, 1990 and 2000.

In each of these years, the US produced more waste than Ireland, Japan, Korea, Poland and Portugal combined.

 It is also noticeable that Korea was the only country that managed to reduce its waste output by the year 2000.

Between 1980 and 2000, waste production in the US rose from 131 to 192 million tonnes, and rising trends were also seen in Japan, Poland and Portugal.

Japan’s waste output increased from 28 to 53 million tonnes, while Poland and Portugal saw waste totals increase from 4 to 6.6 and from 2 to 5 million tonnes respectively.

The trends for Ireland and Korea were noticeably different from those described above.

In Ireland, waste production increased more than eightfold, from only 0.6 million tonnes in 1980 to 5 million tonnes in 2000.

Korea, by contrast, cut its waste output by 12 million tonnes between 1990 and 2000.

BÀI 2

The table compares the numbers of people who cycled to work in twelve areas of the UK in the years 2001 and 2011.

Overall, the number of UK commuters who travelled to work by bicycle rose considerably over the 10-year period.

Inner London had by far the highest number of cycling commuters in both years.

In 2001, well over 43 thousand residents of inner London commuted by bicycle, and this figure rose to more than 106 thousand in 2011, an increase of 144%.

By contrast, although outer London had the second highest number of cycling commuters in each year, the percentage change, at only 45%, was the lowest of the twelve areas shown in the table.

Brighton and Hove saw the second biggest increase (109%) in the number of residents cycling to work, but Bristol was the UK’s second city in terms of total numbers of cycling commuters, with 8,108 in 2001 and 15,768 in 2011.

Figures for the other eight areas were below the 10 thousand mark in both years.

Sample #41

With the increasing popularity of computers and calculators, student literacy is decreasing dramatically.

What are the positive and negative effects the progress of science and technology has brought about?

model answer:

It has been widely noted that, with the growing use of computers and calculators both in the classroom and in the home, the level of literacy and mathematical ability of students is dropping.

This raises serious doubts about the value of the progress of science and technology.

Here I will discuss the pros and cons of this question.

First of all, advances in science and technology have certainly brought about many benefits for mankind.

They have made our lives more comfortable and healthier.

In addition, they have eased the burden of work for most people and provided them with more leisure opportunities, while at the same time increasing productivity dramatically.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that technology has some negative side-effects.

As mentioned above, with computers which check spelling, grammar and calculation for them, students have little incentive to learn how to do these things for themselves.

Also, the availability of TV programs and videos encourages an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle.

Another aspect of this issue is that technology may be good or bad, depending on how we use it.

For instance, dynamite may be used to make road construction easier, or it may be used to kill people.

Again, nuclear reactors can supply huge amounts of cheap electricity, but if they are carelessly handled they can cause devastating pollution.

We can conclude that the progress of science and technology has both positive and negative effects.

 What we must do is to make sure that the positive ones are encouraged and the negative ones are eliminated as far as possible.

Among other things, this means that students are warned not to let computers and calculators do all their work for them.