Report Plan:
- Paraphrase paragraph: show>compare; US>American; various>different; categories>types
- Overview/summary paragraph: (1) the highest % of income was spent on electronic goods (2) expenditure on electronic goods and clothing increased significantly
- Paragraph 3: report on the 3 categories in which the proportion of spending increased – electronic goods, clothing and holidays
- Paragraph 4: contrast spending on newspapers/magazines and the cinema, which declined. % of spending on eating remained stable.
Report:
The charts compare the spending of an average American household on six different types of products or activities in 1998 and 2008.
Overall, it is clear that the highest proportion of household income was spent on electronic goods, while spending both on electronic goods and clothing increased significantly in 2008 compared with ten years earlier.
In 1998, electronic goods accounted for 16% of household expenditure, and this proportion rose to 20% in 2008. A similar increase was seen in spending on clothing, from 12% of the household budget in 1998 to 18% ten years later. There
was also a small rise in holiday expenditure, which was 3% of household spending in 1998 compared with 5% in 2008.
By contrast, while the amount spent on newspapers and magazines and going to the cinema accounted for 3% of household expenditure in 1998, by 2008 households spent nothing on these things.
Finally, there was no change in the proportion of income spent on eating, which remained at 6% for the average US household.
170 words
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Task 2:
Entertainment such as electronic games on portal devices is harmful for individuals and the society they live in.
Do you agree or disagree?
Essay Plan:
- Introduction: refer to the task question. My opinion: completely agree
- Paragraph 2: reason (1): people don’t develop social skills – little real interaction with other people e.g. they don’t talk on journeys. Result: social isolation increases as people focus on their cell phones
- Paragraph 3: reason (2): people do less physical exercise, e.g. playing football with others. They become less fit. They may become addicted to electronic games and suffer mental health problems as a result
- Conclusion: completely agree that electronic games are a harmful form of entertainment, socially and individually.
Sample Essay:
It is true that many children and adolescents, in particular, spend hours and hours playing electronic games, or simply chatting or accessing social networking sites on their cell phones, as their main pastime. While I may be considered to be behind the times, I completely agree that this is harmful for both individuals and society as a whole.
Firstly, young people in particular have problems in developing social skills if they spend too much time relying on their cell phones for their entertainment to play electronic games or to chat. Advances in technology are bringing about the downfall of communication between people, since real interaction is discouraged.
For example, I often used to talk to other passengers during my long journeys by bus or train, but it no longer seems to be socially acceptable to do this. Instead, most fellow travellers spend the entire journey on their mobile devices, playing some electronic game or messaging online friends. The result is increasing personal isolation and a growing distrust of others.
Secondly, becoming over-reliant on electronic portable devices for entertainment is detrimental to individual health. It encourages a sedentary lifestyle, whereas people need to take regular exercise to keep fit. As a child, for instance, I used to play football in the street, making friends with other youngsters and becoming strong.
People should take up sport or they will be prone to obesity if they simply sit around playing electronic games on their hand-held devices. In particular, if people spend too much time on these games, then they may suffer from mental health problems if they become addicted to them.
In conclusion, I fully agree that forms of entertainment such as electronic games are harmful for both individuals and society.
288 words
1. Vocabulary from communication and personality:
- social networking sites
Meaning: a website on which you communicate with people who share your interests
Example: Young people today waste too much time on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. - behind the times
Meaning: refers to a person who is old-fashioned and has not adopted certain modern customs, beliefs, or behaviors
Example: He was angry when they said that his accounting methods were behind the times because he did not use computer software. - the downfall of communication
Meaning: the decline of communication
Example: Texting and social media are causing the downfall of society’s interpersonal communication.
2. Vocabulary from society:
- to develop social skills
Meaning: to become better at communicating and interacting in different situations
Example: Playing team sports at school helps children to develop social skills which will help them in adult life. - to be socially acceptable
Meaning: agreed or approved of by most people in a society
Example: Smoking in public places is no longer socially acceptable in many countries.
3. Vocabulary from technology:
- advances in technology
Meaning: the improvement or development in technology
Example: Recent advances in medical technology are making a great contribution to the search for a cure for Aids. - to discourage real interaction
Meaning: to result in less face-to-face communication with other people
Example: the availability of new communication technologies may also have the result of isolating people and discouraging real interaction. - to become over-reliant on
Meaning: to need something so that your survival or success depends too much on it
Example: Businesses have become over-reliant on complicated computer systems, so that if these systems fail the results will be disastrous.
4. Vocabulary from health:
- to be detrimental to health
Meaning: to be harmful to health
Example: Lying in the sun for too long can be detrimental to health and result in skin cancers. - a sedentary lifestyle
Meaning: involving little exercise or physical activity
Example: A sedentary lifestyle is a major factor in health problems such as obesity and heart disease. - to take regular exercise
Meaning: to do some physical activity on a regular basis
Example: Authorities should encourage people of all ages to take regular exercise by providing facilities in each community. - to be prone to obesity
Meaning: to be likely to become fat [in an unhealthy way]
Example: Children who are addicted to watching television, instead of playing outdoor games, are more prone to obesity. - mental health problems
Meaning: related to illnesses of one’s mind
Example: Overwork may sometimes result in mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. - to be addicted to sth
Meaning: to be unable to stop taking harmful drugs, tobacco or alcohol.
Example: More specialist clinics, offering treatment and advice, are required to help people who are addicted to drugs.
5. Vocabulary from sport and exercise:
- to keep fit
Meaning: to stay in good physical condition
Example: A healthy diet and plenty of exercise are essential for people to keep fit. - to take up sport/to take up exercise
Meaning: to start doing a sport, to start doing exercise
Example: Governments should provide sports facilities to encourage more people to take up sport.
6. Other vocabulary:
- fellow [adjective]:
Meaning: used to describe somebody who is the same as you in some way, or in the same situation
Example: She tried to persuade all her fellow workers in the office to join the strike. - distrust [noun]:
Meaning: a feeling of not being able to trust somebody or something
Example: He has a deep distrust of modern technology. - to sit around [phrasal verb]:
Meaning: to spend time doing nothing very useful
Example: Anne just sits around watching TV all day.
From IELTS NgocBach
