Task 1
The graph below shows the percentage of Australian exports to 4 countries from 1990 to 2012.
Sample Answer:
The given line graph illustrates the proportions of Australian products exported to four countries between 1990 and 2012.
In general, while Australian exports to China and India increased over the period, the US and Japan saw a decline in products imported from Australia. In addition, China experienced the biggest increase in exports over the period, making it the biggest export market of Australia from around 2007 onwards.
In 1990, Japan was the leading export market of Australia, receiving over 25% of all exported goods. China, however, received only a mere 5%. By 2012, the percentage of exports to Japan had dropped to below 20%, while the figures for China saw a dramatic rise to almost 30%.
Meanwhile, Australia exported just over 10% of its goods to the US in 1990, which was around ten times higher than the exports to India. Over the following twenty-two years, the figures for the US fluctuated, and dropped to 5% by 2012. The percentage of exports to India, on the other hand, remained unchanged until 2000, and then increased to about 7% in 2010, before dropping slightly to roughly 5% in 2012.
Task 2
It has been said that people who read for pleasure have more developed imaginations and better language skills than people who prefer to watch TV. Do you agree or disagree?
Sample Answer:
Some people think that reading for pleasure increases people’s imagination and language skills more than watching TV does. Personally, I totally agree with this view and will analyse the reasons in the following essay.
Reading for enjoyment can help people to develop their imagination and improve their language skills in many ways. Firstly, while watching television is said to be more of a passive activity, reading is considered to be an active form of learning. Reading stimulates people’s brains more as they have to use their imagination to visualise the characters and plot of the story, and this helps to further develop their imaginative thinking skills. Secondly, language skills can also be improved from reading. By reading regularly, people can expand their vocabulary and learn different grammatical structures and how to use them effectively.
Watching TV, on the other hand, does little to enhance people’s imagination and language skills. While reading, people have plenty of time to read the text and visualise the content of the story. However, when watching TV, viewers use their imagination very little, as they can see the images on the screen. Furthermore, the dialogue of the story or movie is usually spoken at a fast pace, which does not give viewers much time to comprehend what is being said, let alone learning anything new. Finally, television is full of advertisements these days and therefore distracts viewers from what they are watching. This makes it even more difficult for people to absorb information that might enhance their language skills.
In conclusion, I believe that reading books is a more efficient way for people to enhance their imagination and language skills, while watching TV is simply more of a source of entertainment.
