English Article.doc

How College Students Spend Their Leisure TimeWhen we take a look at leisure activities of college students, we find the popularity of pastimes varies according to personality, gender, and financial situations. Some students like to spend their leisure time pursuing their hobbies indoors. Others look for outdoor relaxation, even taking part in such adventurous activities as rock climbing or bungee jumping.Generally speaking, male students are fond of participating in sports, playing computer games, surfing on the Internet, and watching kung-fu movies, while female students love chit-chatting, shopping, watching soap opera, and knitting （编织）. If they can afford it, some students will go to pop stars concerts, take picnic, or invite some friends over for a dinner or a party. All these activities are entertaining and appealing to students because of their curiosities and their desires to escape from the limited world of the classroom. As a form of relaxation, leisure activities take their mind away from academic pressure. As an English proverb goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” After recreational activities, students usually will feel relaxed, more refreshed, and ready to start stressful school work. However, for some students, learning is a full-time job, and they even invest their leisure time studying. They like to bury their heads in piles of books, ignoring everything else. They have a sense of achievement from reading novels, working on papers, preparing for tough tests such as the Graduate Entrance Exam, GRE, TOEFL, GMAT or IELTS. Though these students have no time for entertainment, they believe spending leisure time studying is a pleasure of mind.Is Calling Better than Writing?In this era of “phone”-net, the telephone becomes so popular that it is indispensable in our daily life. Compared with writing letters, making telephone calls is much faster, so they are more appropriate and efficient when we need an immediate reply or in case of emergency. They also enable us to hear voices, which gives us a more natural and “interactive” feeling. It is so easy just to pick up the phone and call, whereas writing is more time-consuming and energy-consuming.However, as a conventional （传统的，常规的） means of communication, writing letters is still widely used in such formal cases as recommendation, business, and the like. The words in the letters are written after thinking, while calls are not, because sometimes our tongues may go ahead of our brains unconsciously. When we write letters, we have enough time to think about how to express our ideas, so we try to avoid saying something that we may regret, or we avoid making a comment that is misunderstood or that hurts others. For some cases, such as love letters, writing is more romantic. Rereading letters from friends is like rediscovering hidden treasures. Many letters are inspiring sources of excitement and reflection. Words on a page seem more expressive. And sometimes we feel more confident writing our feelings than conveying them over the phone.Therefore, it is very difficult to say which is better. Every means of communication has its advantages and disadvantages. The only thing we can do is make a wise choice between calling and writing, according to the situation.Gender Inequality in Employment of College Graduates1.高校毕业生，尤其是女生，就业压力大；2.用人单位在招聘时以各种原因歧视女生；3.你对在就业中“男女不平等”的看法。In recent years, the number of college graduates is skyrocketing (猛涨), while the number of job vacancies (空缺) is limited and seemingly shrinking. If you pay attention to the “want ads” in newspapers or on the Campus Information Board, you can find words like “males preferably,” or even “males ONLY.” When hunting for jobs in the Talent Fair, female graduates are more likely to sense the bias in employment that favors male graduates over females.The discrimination against females in employment widely exists for a variety of reasons. The employers have their sound reasons women are not fit for some of the jobs they offer. Most employers believe that women would not devote themselves to their careers as much as men do, for they spend more time and energy on family life or housework. Apart from this, it is generally accepted that females are physically and intellectually inferior to males, so they are not able to contribute much due to their incapability. Furthermore, the biological difference is another obstacle that hinders women from obtaining certain positions.As a matter of fact, it is not primarily biology that determines womens roles in society, but social prejudices (偏见). Men have been viewed as the breadwinner of the family, while women are expected to take care of the children and to do the housework. The employers discrimination against females not only deprives them of the opportunity to fulfill their dreams, but greatly discourages them as well even though their academic performances are better than males, the chances for them to get jobs are fewer. In reality, if females are treated similarly, they have the same potential as their male counterparts（男同胞） and can accomplish similar goals. Write a letter to the university president about improving students scientific and technological abilities for innovation.1你认为本校没有能够很好提高学生的科技创新能力；2你对如何提高学生的科技创新能力的几点建议。Dear Mr. President,I am Wang Gang, a junior at our university. I write this letter to address the issue of cultivating students scientific and technological innovation capabilities.As the transformation of scientific and technological advances into new products, processes, systems, and services, innovation has created astonishing benefits to society, including improved healthcare, transportation, and computer-communications capacities. However, this important issue has not been on the agenda at our university. Our innovation abilities are not fully cultivated in our courses. There are few extracurricular activities (课外活动) that aim at improving students innovation abilities. To put it simply, we are not prepared to work in a society that needs scientifically and technologically knowledgeable workforce with creativity and originality.Therefore, I strongly suggest that school authorities take some actions to cultivate students scientific and technological innovation capabilities. First, school authorities should establish a students scientific and technological innovation center and develop some programs that facilitate （促进） innovation activities. Secondly, as teachers play an essential role in generating new knowledge and creating a scientifically and technologically literate workforce, they should introduce some new knowledge and new research approaches in their in-class instruction and create an environment for innovation-oriented （以创新为导向的）learning. Thirdly, some lecture topics should focus on fostering the transformation of knowledge into the products, processes, systems and services that fuel economic development, create wealth and generate improvements in the standard of living.I believe as long as school authorities, teachers and students do our best, we will improve tremendously in scientific and technological innovation abilities.Sincerely,Wang GangAthletes Should Be Role ModelsWhether they like it or not, athletes are role models. If they participate in national or international sports and win, we admire them. We dont necessarily worship them, but we think about their courage and determination when we are discouraged.Most athletes have qualities that make them good examples for other people. They aim for perfection and have a lot of self-discipline（自律）. These are positive characteristics that most people would like to have. Since we live in a competitive world today, we need the qualities that athletes have in order to succeed.Some athletes, however, do not measure up to our expectations. They become greedy and selfish. Perhaps they think that because they are famous they can do anything they want. Even though some athletes become very rich and powerful, they do not take their social responsibility seriously.In a sense, athletes are the center of attention. We can watch their performance on television, or we can read about them in the newspaper. We can also talk about them with our friends. Athletes are like public heroes who can inspire us.Making the World a Better Place to Live1近年来环境灾害频繁发生； 2环境灾害危害严重；3保护环境，创造美好家园。People around the world may feel that environmental disasters have frequently occurred in recent years. Flood and drought in some places are the result of inappropriate human intervention （干预）in the natural environment. Because of pesticide abuse or improper management of metals, some chemicals have been released into the environment through human activities. The earth is plagued （被折磨）with oil leaks, poisonous gas leaks, chemical spills, and other environmental disasters as a result of failure in the technological-human management system.Human beings suffer a lot from human-made environmental disasters. The loss of life and property can hardly be measured in monetary terms. What is more, intensified human activities have affected the ecosystem（生态系统） and induced certain environmental problems. For instance, in some regions, weather pat