Recent Actual Test 02/2023
Some experts believe that when a country is already rich, any additional increase in economic wealth does not make its citizens any more satisfied.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Answer
A number of experts have noted that economic growth in a developed nation does not add to the satisfaction of its population. I agree with this statement, although it is necessary to define what “dissatisfaction” is.
It is not hard to find some people who never decline material additions, no matter how affluent their lifestyle may be. In fact, they welcome it. Karl Marx has pointed out that in a capitalist society, capital is concentrated in the hands of the class he calls the bourgeois. According to Marx, by exploiting workers, this class cannot help but grow richer and, therefore, is dissatisfied with additional economic wealth in the sense that they never feel they have had enough.
For others, however, material richness does not equal spiritual fulfillment. Depression rates in more economically stable nations such as the United States, Australia, Portugal, and Finland (5.6–5.9%) are just as high as those in developing countries like Ukraine, Brazil, and Belarus (5.6–6.3%). In fact, out of the ten countries with the highest depression rates globally, seven are developed nations.
Moreover, there are still some who do not rejoice in being wealthy when they gain more property at the expense of those living in poverty. This group of individuals, as opposed to the first, is displeased with increasing affluence on the ground of social injustice instead of limitless desire.
In conclusion, dissatisfaction with growing prosperity in already-prosperous countries can exist in three different forms: infinite greed, spiritual emptiness, and discontentment over social inequality.
253 words – Band 7.5+
Highlight Vocabulary
- Add to something [v]: to increase something in size, number, amount, etc.
- Define [v]: to describe or show the nature or range of somebody/something.
- Material [adj]: connected with money, possessions, etc. rather than with the needs of the mind or spirit.
- Affluent [adj]: having a lot of money and a good standard of living.
- Capitalist [adj]: based on the principles of capitalism.
- Bourgeois /ˈbʊrʒwɑː/ [n]: a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper class
- Somebody cannot help but do something [idiom]: used to say that it is impossible to prevent or avoid something
- Spiritual [adj]: connected with the human spirit, rather than the body or physical things
- Fulfillment [n]: the feeling of being happy and satisfied with what you are doing or have done
- Rejoice (at/in/over something) [v]: to express great happiness about something
- Property [uncountable noun]: a thing or things that are owned by somebody; a possession or possessions.
- Poverty [n]: the state of being poor .
- Displeased (with something) [adj]: feeling upset, annoyed or not satisfied
- Ground [n]: a good or true reason for saying, doing or believing something
- → On the ground of something [conj.]: because of something
- Injustice [n]: the fact of a situation being unfair and of people not being treated equally; an unfair act or an example of unfair treatment .
- Prosperity [n]: the state of being successful, especially in making money.
- Discontentment (at/over/with something) [n] = dissatisfaction [n]: a feeling of being unhappy because you are not satisfied with a particular situation; something that makes you have this feeling .
