Challenges Are Increasing For Rural Land Users Environmental Sciences Essay

About one fifth of the universe ‘s population live in absolute poorness, each populating on less than one US dollar a twenty-four hours ( Jess, 2000 ) . Rural land-users in many developing countries are confronting increasing challenges in their daily lives ( Francis, 2000 ) . Climate alteration can convey both positive and negative impacts on different land users through exposing husbandmans and rural families to new and unfamiliar conditions ( Osbahr et al. , 2008 ) . These hazards and impacts of clime alteration around the universe are progressively recognised as important factors associating to nutrient security, poverty-reduction and sustainable development ( Osbahr et al. , 2008 ) . A support comprises of people, their capablenesss and their agencies of life, including nutrient income and assets ( Chambers and Conway, 1991 ) . Livelihoods go environmentally sustainable when they maintain or heighten the local and planetary assets on which they depend on, which has benefit effects for others and their supports ( Chambers and Conway, 1991 ) . This essay will discourse how climate alteration can impact people ‘s life styles in rural communities and how rural communities can go more sustainable. It will so travel onto talk about how exposure is increased and/or decreased when clime is changed. This essay will concentrate on countries within Asia and Africa who are thought to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of clime variableness and alteration ( Challinor et al. , 2007 ) . Asia and Africa were chosen as instance surveies as agribusiness plays a dominant function in back uping rural supports and economic growing ( Challinor et al. , 2007 ) . ( Singh, 2010 ) states that: â€Å" A support comprises the capablenesss, assets ( including both stuff and societal resources ) and activities require by the agencies of life. A support is sustainable when it can get by with and retrieve from emphasiss and dazes and maintain or heighten its capablenesss and assets both now and in the hereafter, while non sabotaging the natural resource base † . Majority of old surveies have shown a negative impact relationship between clime alteration and harvest productiveness in Africa and Asia ( Challinor et al. , 2007 ) . Over 850 million people in the universe are undernourished. It is hence of import to guarantee that the new attacks contribute to improved agricultural productiveness and that they help increase the hapless people ‘s entree to nutrient. A figure of factors lead to impairment, within rural supports. Expansion of agribusiness combined with unsustainable and natural resource direction practises such as over graze, over cultivation, nutrition inputs, hapless irrigation practises and deforestation, frequently induced by population force per unit area and break of societal systems cause this decay ( Ziervogel and Calder, 2003 ) . For rural supports to go genuinely sustainable, it is non adequate for little husbandmans to bring forth merely plenty nutrient for place ingestion as the costs for production in a smaller far m are similar to that of a larger commercial farm ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . About a 3rd of the universe ‘s population lives in countries where fresh H2O is scarce or difficult to acquire because of hapless substructure. This job is quickly acquiring worse for deficiency of the political will and concerted attempt needed to accomplish sustainable direction of the universe ‘s finite H2O supplies. Poorer people are most at hazard of clime alteration dazes and there are a scope of poverty-related clime alteration impacts, including decrease of harvest outputs due to a lessening in H2O handiness, major impacts on nutrient security, employment, income and economic growing, a immense supplanting of people and the exposure of 1000000s of people to wellness hazard ( Schnoor, 2007 ) . Climate alteration will worsen the looming H2O crisis, as lifting temperatures and more fickle rainfall in many parts drive up demand for irrigation ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . Together, H2O scarceness and clime alteration will present great adversity for many people in many w ays. But most ruinous of all are the expected impacts on planetary capacity to bring forth adequate nutrient. Within 40 old ages, the universe will hold another 2.5 billion people to feed, most of them in developing states. Given that one liter of H2O is used to bring forth one Calorie of nutrient, it will take up to 6,000 three-dimensional kilometers of extra H2O yearly – about twice the sum used for nutrient production today – to feed those people 2,500 Calories daily ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . The lone solution is to do agricultural usage of H2O far more productive and efficient than it is today. Two ways of making this are, foremost, to renovate old and ignored irrigation systems and, 2nd, better rain fed agribusiness through better dirt direction and expanded usage of H2O harvest home and auxiliary irrigation. New higher giving harvest assortments that tolerate utmost conditions, like drouth and implosion therapy, can besides assist ( Schild, 2010 ) . Eradication of utmost poorness and hungriness is among the eight Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs ) for sustainable development ( Haile, 2005 ) . Food security means entree to alimentary nutrient through direct nutrient production by the agriculture family and/or through increased ability to buy ( economic entree ) a assortment of nutrients from household income. Infertile dirts are a major cause of poorness and hungriness Africa ( Haile, 2005 ) stemming from bad agriculture patterns. He farther stressed that hapless agriculture patterns deplete dirt of basic foods needed by harvests and deplete dirt organic affair and water-holding capacity, which can finally decreased output in more than 75 % of farming area. Increased quality of natural capital, the land, leads to increased nutrient and income security, which are requirements for family wellness security ( Peters, 2006 ) . This implies that families with secure nutrient and income can afford medical and balanced diet disbursals for family members. In add-on, increased households income contributes to buying power for alimentary nutrients non produced on the farm. Conservation of H2O, through infiltration into the dirt, contributes to protection of the quality of H2O beginnings, which indirectly contributes to a decrease in wellness hazards that arise from the waterborne diseases ( Peters, 2002 ) . Figure: Analytic and intervention conceptual model for development of incorporate and sustainable direction of natural capital ( Malley et al. , 2009 ) Rural families in Africa and Asia tend to trust a great trade on climate-sensitive resources such as local H2O supplies and agricultural land. These climate-sensitive activities such as cultivable agriculture and farm animal farmings along with natural resources such as fuel wood and wild herbs are what they dependant on for mundane lives ( Haile, 2005 ) . Climate alteration can cut down the handiness of these local natural resources, restricting the options for rural families that depend on natural resources for ingestion or trade ( Haile, 2005 ) . In many developing states nutrient production has non kept up with population growing. Pressure on bing cultivated land in China has led to dirty exhaustion and eroding, doing an addition dependence in external fertilizers and pesticides to keep production in more intensive, sawed-off rotary motion systems ( Crucefix, 1998 ) . The productiveness of land, incomes and the coherence of society are closely linked in rural communities anyplace around the universe. Where land becomes unproductive, rural depopulation occurs which may farther worsen productiveness and change the gender and age balance of rural communities ( Crucefix, 1998 ) . Crucefix ( 1998 ) states that environmental harm seen as a consequence of agricultural actions in developing states consists of: Table: Environmental Damage Impacts in Developing States Parameter Environmental Damage Impacts Soil eroding Low productiveness, salt, H2O keeping capacity Sediment harm Reservoir siltation, increased pilotage channel siltation, inundations, addition costs of route care, habitat debasement Over irrigation Depletion of groundwater, H2O logging, salinisation Agrochemical harm Worker wellness, H2O taint, H2O choking, cost of cleansing harm Soil compression Soil productiveness, harder to cultivate Deforestation Soil eroding, harvest harm from high air currents Wetland drainage Decreased H2O purification, familial diverseness drainage Air pollution Odour, fume, H2O safety ( Crucefix, 1998 ) Africa Asia Water Frequent Droughts Frequent low H2O storage in reservoirs and lakes Frequent inundations Increase in H2O emphasis due to climate alteration and increased demand Disappearing glaciers cut down summer watercourse flow of most big rivers Increase H2O deficit during dry season Higher inundation hazard during monsoon season Increase H2O emphasis due to increase population growing Higher per capita H2O demand Agribusiness Severe impact on nutrient production and security Agribusiness will go unsustainable in semi waterless countries Increased poorness of little graduated table farms Changing seasons will do agribusiness more hard ( e.g. seeding day of the months ) Less predictable H2O handiness will do agribusiness more hard Increased clime variableness will increase the figure of harvest failures due to inundations or drouths Agricultural production probably to better where there is rainfall Likely addition of both diseases and plagues impacting both works and carnal production systems Farming production in low lying coastal countries will be affected by increased implosion therapy and salt H2O invasion Ecosystems / Biodiversity Most natural ecosystems will be affected: However impacts are ill-defined due to miss of informations Biodiversity in Highlandss of Africa threatened 25-40 % of big mammal species in National Parks will go endangered Desertification probably to increase due to combined menaces of clime alteration and unsustainable land usage Large parts of the biodiversity at hazard ; although detailed analyses are missing Forest fires have increased over the last 20years due to higher temperatures Speciess with low migration rates could go nonextant and flora zones could vanish Health Increased malaria hazard due to warmer temperatures Increased H2O borne diseases to increase drouths and inundations Higher temperatures and decreased H2O handiness can increase hazards of cholera and other diseases related to bad sanitation Frequent inundations can increase the hazard of imbibing H2O taint Higher temperatures in combination with increased wood fires and urbanization will cut down are quality and increase respiratory diseases Likely addition in malnutrition and diarrhea in poorer states Increased hazard of vector borne diseases, several diseases like Malaria will spread out into new countries which were antecedently non affected Table: Projected impacts of clime alteration in different sectors in Asiatic and African states ( Ludwig et al. , 2007 ) The tabular array above shows how climate alteration can impact parts of Asia and Africa at different degrees and different sectors. As we can see both states suffer at different graduated tables which means both continents will near sustainability otherwise. While Africa chiefly suffers drouths, Asia suffers from deluging, peculiarly in the monsoon season. Vulnerability when confronting clime alteration mirrors people ‘s marginalization within society. Climate alteration affected people who are disproportionally strained from the sections of the society which are continually marginalised in day-to-day life ( Gaillard, 2010 ) . Climate alteration has significant deductions for rural development in the Asia-Pacific part. A huge bulk of the population live in rural countries and depend to a great extent on agribusiness, forestry, piscaries, farm animal and other clime sensitive sectors ( Schild, 2010 ) . Climate alteration poses a serious menace to supports and nutrient security, every bit good as heightening hazards and exposures through the increased frequence of natural catastrophes and utmost conditions events. It has now been clearly established that clime alteration, together with an increasing demand for fresh water, will increase H2O emphasis in many Asia-Pacific states, peculiarly in South Asia. This will be critically of import to agricultural production, nutrient security, and rural development in the hereafter ( Assan et al. , 2009 ) . Increasing H2O emphasis combined with increasing uncertainness and utmost conditions events will impact nutrient production and will heighten nutrient insecurity across the full South Asiatic part. The impact of clime alteration can increase the exposure of rural supports by adversely impacting their wellness and manner of life, which therefore undermines growing chances ( Dasgupta and Baschieri, 2010 ) . One of the major impacts of clime alteration to rural communities is the hazard of deluging. Rural people are more vulnerable during high rainfall, heat moving ridges, storms and drouths. This is because there entree to communicating, safety and AID is limited compared to an urban country enduring the same events. Health is one of the chief impacts during clime induced events as there is an addition in deceases and high rates of diseases which can happen during events such as heat moving ridges. The best manner to accommodate to these kinds of issues is to hold disease surveillance and control systems, entree to better wellness installations and exigency alleviation systems. In the face of climate-related environmental alteration, such as the diminution of productive agricultural land, rural occupants may be forced to migrate in hunt of work. Migrants who find work frequently remit parts of their salary back place ( Haile, 2005 ) . Their households in the place communities may utilize the remittals to purchase replacements for goods antecedently produced or harvested from the local environm ent. For illustration, boughten nutrient may replace for nutrient antecedently grown on homestead secret plans ( Haile, 2005 ) . Global heating, will probably do possible harvest outputs in most of the African and Asiatic parts to worsen. Overall clime alteration is expected to decelerate the growing of universe nutrient production, ensuing in higher nutrient monetary values and adding force per unit area to hapless people as affordability will curtail them from purchasing such goods. Change in rainfall has had an impact on H2O beginnings and handiness, every bit good as agricultural production ( Msangi, 2007 ) . This has led to increased exposure in nutrient and H2O security, with direct impacts to wellness such as nutrition and water-borne unwellness along with poorness. In Africa, where communities have ever been vulnerable to H2O scarceness, decreased rainfall has created a desperate state of affairs for entree to H2O and production of rain-fed harvests ( Msangi, 2007 ) . In thi s part, the capriciousness of rainfall has made agricultural production, the chief beginning of income, hard and unreliable. Here H2O is more abundant and the alteration in rainfall has been debatable for agricultural production due to increased eroding and silting instead than H2O handiness. The implosion therapy in southern parts of Africa is by and large a merchandise of cyclones ( Msangi, 2007 ) . While cyclones have been debatable in Africa, the perceptual experience continues to stand those cyclones, inundations, and drouths which are all portion of a natural rhythm ( Devereux, 2007 ) and hence inundations are viewed as holding damaging effects to nutrient stocks in cyclone old ages and good effects to agricultural production in the old ages following cyclones. However, deposit ( increased by a figure of factors, deluging being one ) has been seen to hold a important negative impact on the marine environment and hence fish populations ( Eakin and Appendini, 2008 ) . Increased nutrient insecurity is the most noteworthy exposure for communities in all three parts. Traditional unfastened ridge patterns are used to increase dirt productiveness through better soil-water direction, to heighten dirt birthrate, increase harvest rooting deepness and ease organic affair incorporation ( Muchena et al. , 2005 ) . Traditional open-ridge patterns increase dirt surface raggedness, which helps to cut down dirt eroding by H2O and air current. However, husbandmans do non cultivate the unfastened ridges on contour lines, which lead to accelerated dirt, H2O and alimentary loses from the system during short heavy rainfall, making gullies along the unfastened furrows ( Muchena et al. , 2005 ) . Degradation of natural resources is a major enemy of little husbandmans in developing states. Menaces to the agro ecosystem come in many signifiers such as dirt eroding, compression, nutrition depletion, acidification, shriveling and contaminated H2O supplies, loss of flora screen, decreased biodiversity, planetary clime alteration and greater susceptibleness of harvests to plagues and diseases ( Clover and Eriksen, 2009 ) . Some of these jobs are acute and extremely seeable, while others are more chronic and elusive. Resource debasement has a major impact of rural communities as they can sabotage husbandman ‘s ability to vie in the market. Increased workss per unit country and enhanced dirt productiveness increased harvest outputs. Increased works figure is the consequence of seting cross ridges, which reduces land wastage caused by unfastened furrows ( Malley et al. , 2009 ) . Soil productiveness is the overall status necessary for optimal harvest productiveness, which includ es handiness of foods, absence of harvest toxicity, and handiness of dirt H2O ( Prowse, 2009 ) . The acquisition, development, and bringing of agricultural engineerings to smallholder husbandmans, every bit good as timely public market information to assist stabilise markets, are among the precedences of a new docket for market development in Africa ( Mignouna et al. , 2008 ) . New engineering has shown to take straight to higher incomes for local farms and landless rural families which can assist hike the local economic system. New intensive production engineerings ( including acceptance of genetically modified harvests ) can assist to increase outputs and cut down losingss cut downing the exposure of rural communities giving them a consistent beginning of income ( Mignouna et al. , 2008 ) . The chief factors which characterise a typical rural conveyance environment are low population densenesss, low degrees of economic activity ( and therefore low incomes ) , low vehicle ownership degrees ( of any description, including non-motorised vehicles ) , inferior proviso of roads ( both quality and measure ) , and near absence of regular conveyance services ( Bryceson et al. , 2008 ) . Given these hard conditions, travel still takes topographic point though at really low degrees of engagement by comparing with urban communities where vehicles are of the norm ( Plessis-Fraissard, 2007 ) . Transport development may convey in its challenge the job of environmental debasement. It is obvious that debasement is non merely an urban job, connected with the high volumes of traffic ( air pollution, noise and rupture ) . Rural route building can hold overmastering ill-effects on, for illustration, incline stableness, eroding and natural drainage forms. Of these, eroding is thought to hold the major environmental impact. Extenuation steps to command eroding can be included in the designs ( e.g. appropriate drainage channels and culverts ) every bit good as in the execution ( e.g. rapidly set uping flora on open inclines ) ( Bryceson et al. , 2003 ) . The method of execution may besides lend to cut down environmental harm ; therefore labour-based ( as opposed to heavy machinery ) operations may be better deployed due to the greater preciseness and sensitiveness of application that is possible. The indirect environmental impacts of rural conveyance development are much less easy to foretell, because they are likely to be of a long term nature ( Jacobs and Greaves, 2003 ) . Changes in land-use may ensue from the greater handiness due to improved roads and services. Roads which have been used to uncover rain woods of Africa have encouraged the development of settled agriculture communities, but at the disbursal of the autochthonal peoples ‘ supports, and at the dis bursal of the natural ecology ( Plessis-Fraissard, 2007 ) . Nevertheless, roads besides better support results through better entree to natural assets and direction of forest resources which can assist bring forth higher income and aid communities boost their supports in the long term. Figure: Cause-effect theoretical account of dirt productiveness diminution in Africa ( Malley et al. , 2009 ) Figure 2 above shows how insecurity or rural supports can alter with unsustainable land direction. To go more sustainable we must incorporate natural procedures such as alimentary rhythms, N repair, dirt regeneration and natural enemies of plagues into nutrient production procedures ( Brent and Mulder, 2005 ) . We must besides understate the usage of non-renewable resources inputs such as coal, Diesel and wood which mostly damage the environment and harm the wellness of husbandmans ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . Valuable usage of cognition and accomplishments of local husbandmans can besides be good as it can assist better ego trust and replacing human capital for dearly-won inputs, can assist cut down outgo which can be spent on other points. Poor rural communities must besides work together to reply basic agricultural and natural resource jobs such as the decrease of plagues, watershed, and cutting back irrigation, or utilizing different H2O systems which uses H2O in a more sustainable mode ( Schild, 2010 ) . Improvements in the efficiency of H2O usage can profit both irrigated and rain Federal husbandmans by leting new or once debauched lands to be brought under agriculture, and to increase cropping strength on bing lands ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . Intensification boosts the productiveness of land and labor, through higher harvest outputs, better on-farm food cycling and more effectual plague control. Fragile environments, upon which hapless husbandmans depend on for life, require particular attending. Areas such as hill inclines can be really productive if they are cultivated good and decently managed. Previous surveies have shown that improved H2O keeping has resulted in H2O tabular arraies by lifting approximately 1m over 3 to 4 old ages, in some topographic points around Africa ( Martin, 2004 ) . This shows that husbandmans can go more productive as they are now able to works a excess harvest in, doing an unproductive season into a productive season ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . In topographic points such as Sub Saharan Africa, H2O harvest home is besides transforming bare lands. This method is ideal as it is non to complex and dearly-won, which means husbandmans will greatly profit from this type of engineering ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . Successful rainwater reaping techniques have improved H2O infiltration, reduced run-off and increased H2O keeping capacities of dirts ( Challinor et al. , 2007 ) . Agroforestry has besides been an attack which has become well-liked in rural countries. Agroforestry is an incorporate method of utilizing the synergistic benefits from uniting trees and bushs with harvests and/or farm animal. It combines agricultural and forestry engineerings to make more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems ( Leakey et al. , 2005 ) . An of import support plus for the sweetening of sustainability of supports is societal capital. Social capital comprise of societal relationships in webs wit h shared norms, values and understanding that facilitate cooperation within or among group. Basic beginnings of societal capital root from three types of connexion: bonding, bridging and linking ( Bebbington, 1997 ) . A diminution in the quality of natural capital assets leads to scarcenesss for supports of people who depend on them ( Bebbington, 1999 ) . When resources scarcenesss occur, societal struggle over scarce resources emerges and tends to escalate among members of a community and between communities utilizing the resources ( Paavola, 2008 ) . This implies that sustainable direction of the quality of natural capital assets contributes to bar of societal struggles and enhances societal security, an plus necessary for secured supports. Improved societal dealingss provided capital for development of improved incorporate ridge cultivated land patterns and farther inspired local invention, such as usage of Big Dippers for the improved incorporate ridge cultivated land system. Re cognition and regard for local cognition, accomplishments, patterns and advanced capacities by professionals and governments improves societal dealingss in the development procedure and leads to societal security ( Bebbington, 1997 ) . This suggests that valuing locally available human capital assets such cognition, accomplishments, experience and patterns in bing support systems is a necessary starting point for societal security and development of improved engineerings, inventions, systems and patterns for sustainable development ( Paavola, 2008 ) . Agribusiness remains the anchor of many African economic systems, stand foring about 57 % of entire employment and 17 % of the gross domestic merchandise ( Greed, 2004 ) . Africa is the lone part of the universe where per capita nutrient grain end product has declined over the past four decennaries, necessitating the continent to import 25 % of its nutrient grain demands. Farm inputs, such as chemical fertilisers and pesticides, are prohibitively expensive and, where used, carry attendant homo and environmental wellness concerns as a consequence of toxic condition and pollution ( Bryan et al. , 2009 ) . A secure environment is necessary for human security and sustainable development. Environmental security is when the ecosystem and environment are able to back up a healthy chase of life, autonomy and felicity by present and future coevalss ( Greed, 2004 ) . This means that environmental security has positive effects on support security today and in the hereafter. Increased dirt and H 2O preservation, organic C and dirt birthrate are positive results of more sustainable usage and direction of natural capital for secured rural supports. Infiltration of H2O into the dirt prevents losingss of dirt, H2O and foods ( Greed, 2004 ) . Losingss are the procedures through which quality of the natural capital, the land, is depleted. Furthermore, infiltrated H2O serves as a beginning of belowground H2O available for harvests use during H2O emphasis. Sustainability can be improved by incorporating ridge cultivated land patterns which can cut down harvest H2O emphasis in periods of drawn-out non-rainfall. This implies that ridge cultivated land pattern is of import in dirt H2O direction. First, when there is extra H2O, it drains into basins/furrows ; 2nd, when there is moisture emphasis, conserved H2O in the undersoil supports works growing through capillary motion to the root zone ; and 3rd, integrated organic residues in the dirt addition humus, which, in bend, improves dirt H2O and alimentary keeping capacity ( Clover and Eriksen, 2009 ) . Humus can be indispensable for increasing dirt wet and foods keeping and heightening the buffering capacity of the dirt ( Bryan et al. , 2009 ) . Previous surveies have shown that, humus can keep four to five times more available H2O than mineral dirts. Increases in dirt organic C and foods build up under improved incorporate ridge cultivated land patterns, taking to increased security of natural capital, which has deductions for overall security of the production environment and rural family supports ( Bryan et al. , 2009 ) . Soil wellness is cardinal for agricultural sustainability, yet is under widespread menace from debasement procedures. Agricultural sustainability starts with the dirt by seeking both to cut down dirt eroding and to do betterments to dirty physical construction, organic affair content, water-holding capacity and alimentary balances ( Pretty et al. , 2003 ) . Soil wellness is improved through th e usage of leguminous plants, green manures and screen harvests, incorporation of workss with the capacity to let go of phosphate from the dirt into rotary motions, usage of composts and animate being manures, acceptance of zero-tillage, and usage of inorganic fertilizers where needed ( Zhen et al. , 2006 ) . Biomass to dirty well improves dirt organic affair content, and has helped to increase cereal productiveness for some 45,000 households in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua ( Muchena et al. , 2005 ) . Table: Potential Benefits of Sustainable Agribusiness Potential Benefits of Sustainable Agribusiness Parameter Agribusiness Environment Social Conditionss Economic Conditionss Organisational/institutional ( After Crucefix, 1998 ) While clime alteration has been presenting dangerous challenges, it has besides formed new chances for rural supports through improved direction of natural ecosystems and their services. Rural development continues to be a very critical precedence for the full Asia and Africa part as they are one of the major suppliers of nutrient. The rural sector will stay the most of import sector for back uping bulk of people in both Asia and Africa, even with the addition in rapid urbanization. Knowledge and information sharing within the communities and obtaining cognition from other beginnings, about sustainable agriculture practises, natural catastrophes and climatic events, can assist construct the resiliency to local rural supports and communities to climate alteration. Migration is one of many endurance schemes besides used by rural families in times of environmental emphasis. Other survival schemes include utilizing nutrient militias, seeking local nonfarm employment, selling farm animal, borrowing nutrient, or selling family and farm equipment. Still, one time these support options are exhausted, people frequently migrate to a new country. Increased agricultural sustainability can besides be complementary to betterments in rural people ‘s supports. It can present additions in nutrient production at comparatively low cost, plus contribute to other of import maps such as sustainable H2O use and dirt eroding decrease. If these attacks are widely adopted, they would do a important impact on rural people ‘s supports, every bit good as on local and regional nutrient security. Bettering agricultural sustainability clearly will non reply the full inquiry, but advancement from recent old ages can hold the sustainability of present and future supports. With farther support, peculiarly through international, national and local policy reforms, the benefits to nutrient security and aid, development to natural, societal and human capital will assist increase the figu re of husbandmans and rural people in the hereafter. Adaption and extenuation schemes should assist cut down poorness and at the same clip must profit the most vulnerable communities without harming the environment. Notifying supports about clime alteration impacts, exposure forms, get bying and adaptative capacity every bit good as easing location precise adaptation and extenuation practises are of cardinal concern within Africa and Asia.

Ex Memo Essay

Subject: Improvement on written refusals I am writing today to provide all employees with some useful tips on how to compose a customer refusal letter. While the example letter to Mr. Largo is factual, there are some things that could be presented much better. Presentation of facts could determine if we are able to retain customers and reflect the credibility of the company. Some key elements that I want to focus on are: †¢ Tone †¢ Punctuation and Grammar †¢ Professionalism The best way to begin a refusal is by setting an apologetic tone. You do not want to point blame at the customer, even if you feel they are wrong. Show empathy, and see if you can help them in anyway possible. Remember when writing a refusal all that’s representing our company are the words on the page; so we must use correct grammar and punctuation. Thank you for your attention and your time. I encourage our department to utilize these factors when writing a refusal letter. I want all refusals emailed to me, before mailing them. If there are any questions, problems or concerns you can reach me by email (twhitmore@mainappliance. com). MAIN STREET APPLIANCES 576 Main Street Gainesville, FL 33312 To: John Largo From: John Wright, Customer Relations Supervisor Date: July 20, 2009 Subject:$50 discount voucher Dear Mr. Largo, We apologize for not being able to grant your request for a replacement refrigerator. Main Street Appliances values you as a preferred customer, and would like to offer you a $50 discount voucher, to put towards a new refrigerator, with a 1year warranty. The voucher can only be used at the local Main Street location and expires on August 17, 2009. We apologize, again, for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. In the event that we may be of any further assistance, please call our customer service hotline (800-MAIN-STREET ext. 112) or by email (twhitmore@mainappliance. com). Sincerely, John Wright Customer Service

The rise of organized labor in the 1930s From the perspective of the Assignment

The rise of organized labor in the 1930s From the perspective of the early 21st century - Assignment Example These people, migrants who have decided to reside in camps, are the same people who are actively drawing the â€Å"other fun and light side† of their existing difficult life. This goes to show that despite the pressing needs of the moment: unemployment, poverty, lack of education, lack of quality living etc, people will always naturally look for ways to relieve them of the undercurrent stresses. As fun and leisure becomes more and more rare, engaging in these kinds of activities has become prized and photographers from this era have vividly captured that natural nature of humans to seek fun and leisure. The Great Depression and the Arts: East side West side. http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/william_gropper_1897.htm This literature offers a collection of paintings of the everyday life, hardships, and other related scenes among during the great depression. As life becomes harder and harder, strikes and other violent means of expressing anxiety against the government has be come a legitimate course of action among those severely affected. Unlike Documenting America, this collection emphasizes the people’s emotions that are captured through paintings; those that evoked suffering, resilience, and survival. The social unrest gave rise to these creative but sad expressions.

Art and architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art and architecture - Essay Example This feature of art came with the civilization of humans, and it was dominant among the Middle Eastern Cultures, which included Egypt and Assyria. Actually, they were a development of pictorial images where the aspect of three dimensions was captured in the end products. In America, the art was introduced by the Italian sculptors. Below is a relief sculpture of the famous Mohammed and historical law-givers. This bas type figure is found in the Supreme Court building. The building is based in Washington, DC. Corinthian column Corinthian columns represent some of the oldest Greek architecture. It dates back to the fifth century BC. They came into existence through the inventions of Callimachus, who was a sculptor and architect then in Greece. It is named after Corinth, which is a city in Greece. It is amazing that despite this technology having originated in Greece, it is more advanced and widely used in other parts of the world like Rome, Italy and America than it is used in Greece. A dditionally, among all the orders which had been developed by then, it remains to be the most ornate to date. Basically, it is just a column style which depicts classical orders for architecture, and it has its top decorated with very lavish ornaments as seen from the picture below. The tops have a finishing, which makes them look as flowers and acanthus leaves, and the shaft is grooved but not necessarily always. The ornaments flare outwards. This is the Corinthian column found at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Similar style is found at the Supreme Court building. The finishing styles may vary. Dome In its simplest form, a dome can be described as an architectural hemisphere which in most cases forms the roofs of buildings. It is hollow inside and mostly has a polygonal base which holds it strong. Dome structures are very strong, and since times immemorial, they have been used to depict efficiency and strength of architectural designs and structures. Many years ago in t he Middle East, domes were common in modest buildings or tombs of eminent persons houses, but the architecture was accentuated by the Roman Architecture Revolution in temple architecture. Domes technology was further advanced by spread of Christianity. The Muslim influence through the conquest of Greek-Roman Syria also adopted the technology in almost all their structures. The name â€Å"dome† credits the shape of the structure, which is a round-vault. Today, this technology still continues, and in America it was influenced by the ideologies of the Renaissance period. The US Capitol build has a dome on its roof, and it is used to signify the strength of democracy, which the US advocates, and efficiency in the building of the structure. Below is the picture of the Dome of the US Capital. Engaged column This is a very expensive architecture technology. Basically, it is a column that is partially attached to the wall. It can be said to be a â€Å"hemisphere column,† but t he projections vary between a third and a quarter of its diameter. This configuration earns its name, â€Å"the engaged column,† from the aspect of it being engaged to the wall. All over the world, the technology has been used most in cella walls. It is very common in the Roman architecture, mainly being used for ornamental purposes in the architecture. Historically, they were observed in the fifth

An interventional approach for patient and nurse safety Dissertation

An interventional approach for patient and nurse safety - Dissertation Example The theoretical framework that was used in this study was the model of impaired sleep developed by Lee et al. The framework is based on a scientific theory (Burns & Grove, 2009) as it uses previous research linking sleep quality with errors and lack of alertnessTheoretical Model Discussion The theoretical framework is clearly discussed as having a direct significance with the research topic It is stated impaired sleep consists of either sleep deprivation (inadequate sleep) or sleep disruption (fragmented sleep). The model implies that impaired sleep results in cognitive, behavioural, physiological, social, and emotional responses. The paper elaborates how a targeted fatigue countermeasures program for nurses (FCMPN) can intervene and prevent or alleviate the cognitive and behavioural impacts (like sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and alertness) and reduce patient-care errors. The following figure from the paper captures the conceptual and the theoretical framework employed: The fr amework is therefore discussed well to outline what variables are to be measured pre and post the FCMPN intervention. 2. Major Study Variables Research Variables: 1. Sleep Quality 2. Sleep Duration 3. Daytime Sleepiness 4. Vigilance 5. Risk for Accidents and Errors 6. Short Term Memory 7. Problem Solving and Coping. Conceptual Definition Sleep Duration was defined as the time duration that participants spent in uninterrupted sleep. Sleep Quality was clearly conceptualized to mean sleep which is not fragmented and which is of adequate duration. While the remaining variables were not clearly defined, conceptually they could be understood to mean the following: Daytime Sleepiness – tendency to doze during the daytime work-hours Vigilance – Drowsiness and Unplanned Sleep Episodes during work hours Risk for Errors – Any perceived deviations from standard practice Short Term Memory – Recall of errors Problem Solving and Coping – How errors were managed O perational Definition Sleep Duration was measured using the log book entries made by the participants. Sleep Quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index PSQI (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989). Daytime Sleepiness was measured using Epworth Sleepiness Scale (Johns, 1991) while other variables (Vigilance, Risk for Accidents and Errors, Short Term Memory, Problem Solving and Coping) were measured using the log book entries using the self-report method 3. Sample and Setting a. Sample Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria Full-Time Hospital Staff Surgical nurses were used as the sample. In addition, the selection criteria included that the nurses should be working at least 36 hour per week. Advanced practice nurses, nurse managers, or nurses in specialized roles such as discharge planning were excluded. b. Sampling Method The paper mentions using three surgical nursing units in Michigan using convenience method for selection, though the rationale or the specific fa ctors that led to the selection of the method is not listed. The qualifying nurses were contacted using the official mailing list and out of the 126, 62 consented to participate in the research. c. Sample Size 62 Power analysis indicated that 30 sample size would be sufficient to establish the impacts of FCMPN on the variables that are researched. d. Refusal to Participate Number and Percentage 62 out of the 147 full-time hospital staff nurses (43%). e. Sample attrition or Mortality Number and Percentage Out of the 62 selected for participation, 15 (24%) did not continue with the study for the complete duration. f. Informed Consent Process/Institutional Review Board The 147 nurses that comprised of the qualified the inclusion criteria were sent a preliminary survey to provide demographic information and give their interest to participate. Once the intent of

Parmenides and Heracleitus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Parmenides and Heracleitus - Essay Example A surprising amount of what we feel we know about the world today, and the way in which we interpret the nature of the world around us, was actually shaped by the ideas and concepts brought forward for discussion by the ancient Greek philosophers. Although their ideas have been modified and added to over the millennia since their first recording, the views of these philosophers helped shape the avenue of investigation and thus our concept of our role in the physical plane. Two of these philosophers, Heraclitus and Parmenides, introduced two opposing schools of thought regarding the nature of the physical world, each influencing the thoughts and actions of two more widely known philosophers, Socrates and Plato. Heraclitus proposed that everything around us was in a continual state of flux while Parmenides believed change was nothing but an illusion. To understand how their philosophies differed and how they affected Socrates and Plato, it is necessary to understand the position of eac h man and how he came to his conclusions. Heraclitus based much of his knowledge of the natural world on his concept that everything is in constant flux between one state of being and another. According to Plutarch, â€Å"Heraclitus holds it impossible to go into the same river twice; no more can you grasp mortal being twice so as to hold it. So sharp and swift is change; it scatters and brings together again, not again, no nor afterward; even while it is being formed it fails, it approaches, and it is gone†

Analysis of an Historian's Arguement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of an Historian's Arguement - Essay Example The Rabbinites based a legal and religious system on the Talmud, which is a practice that continues to the modern day. It is the socio-cultural and political relationship between these two sects that Marina Rustow surveys in her in her historical work Heresy and the Politics of Community1. Her scholarship about marriage in particular shows that arranged-type marriages demonstrate a series of strategic maneuvers to accomplish the goals of families, regardless of religious affiliations. In many ways, and through many primary sources, Rustow shows the Jewish marriage practice at the time to be very much a business-like decision, with rights, legal proxies, and contracts2. Rustow’s extensive details of the marriages between members of the two communities demonstrates broad yet through historical scholarship, and will leave a lasting impact on how the historians view the relationship between the Rabbinites and Qaraites. Rustow’s conclusions give us reason to change our perception of the Rabbinites and Qaraites as socially competing or mutually exclusive. Marriage, a cohesive factor bringing people legally and spiritually together, seemed to soften the boundaries between â€Å"Rabbanite† and â€Å"Qaraite† such that the two categories were neither absolute nor mutually exclusive. She gives the example of Yosef who became a Rabbanite, to, as she says, â€Å"in order to facilitate his transition to the Jewish community in Fustat†3. This anecdote suggests that the lines between Qaraite, which is the community Yosef had grown up a part of, and Rabbanite, the community that he ultimately joins to transition into the Jewish community, were not as starkly opposed as is traditionally thought. In fact, it may be said that instead of treating each other as theological and political enemies, the two groups depended on each other financially and socially for support. In the chapter o n marriages, Rustow makes this clear by investigating and commenting on the extent to which

Visual Argument Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visual Argument - Research Paper Example Judging from the first instance of seeing this visual argument, the researcher of this paper thinks that Nike is supposedly advocating freedom to do what you want, breaking barriers and conquering limits (especially when buying Nike products), which is in this case invoked by the freedom of the boy peeing on a wall. This argument would be analyzed further in the next part of the paper. In order to evaluate carefully the visual argument of Nike’s ad, the researcher would try to use the three rhetorical appeals: ethos (credibility), logos (logical reasoning and evidence), and as well as pathos (emotional appeal). In this case, the visual argument would be evaluated according to ethos logos and pathos, in that order, through using the text, the design, and as well as the image of this particular visual argument. In addition to this, the researcher would also cite the opinion of a colleague on Nike’s visual argument, wherein the researcher would react from his opinion. Usin g the first rhetorical appeal of ethos, the researcher thinks that Nike’s visual argument actually compromises the credibility of the rhetoric that Nike is trying to point out.

Wrigley Jr. Company Essay Example for Free

Wrigley Jr. Company Essay 1.0 Introduction In June 2002 Blanka Dobrynin, a managing director of Aurora Borealis hedge fund, considers the possible gains from increasing the debt capitalization of The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. Blanka suggests Wrigley raise the amount of $3 billion in debt of the capitalization while Wrigley has been conservatively financed and remained no debt at the end of 2001. This report is aiming to analyze whether Wrigley should use $3 billion debt recapitalization to either pay dividends or to repurchase shares. 2.0 Current Capital Structure Generally, firms can choose among various capital structures in order to maximize overall market value of the company. It is proposed however, that Wrigley issues $3 billion in debt. According to the trade-off theory, the optimal capital structure does exist (Kraus and Litzenberger, 1973). The higher level of debt may increase both bankruptcy and financial cost that lead the firm to go or avoid bankruptcy. However, there are several advantages of raising debt capital. Firstly, tax-deductions which decrease the cost of debt. Secondly, stockholders do not have to share the profit when the firm has excess, as debt holders are limited to their fixed return. Finally, stockholders do have voting right but debt holders do not which means the stockholders are controlling the business. 3.0 The Impacts of Proposed Changes The decision to increase $3 billion debt capitalization of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company by Blanka Dobrynin is to optimize the total value of the company. Firms are often inclined to choose debt over equity in order to use the tax shield. As the increasing of $3 billion debt in Wrigley’s capital structure, its equity value will increase by $1.2 billion due to the tax shield. Also this proposal of recapitalization will help Wrigley’s equity decrease by only $1.8 billion when they payout $3 billion debt, due to the offset by the $1.2 billion tax shield. According to our calculations, through recapitalization Wrigley’s total asset will be $14,459,826, which consists of $3,157,127 debt and $11,302,699 equity. In general, firms prefer to keep a higher level of debt/equity ratio to obtain larger total capital to increase the firm’s total value. But it is obvious that more debt means more risk and more payout. By assessing the spreadsheet, it suggests several reasons for and against the acquisition of debt. If the Wrigley’s debt increases, its credit rating will drop from AAA to BB, which leads to more cost of future financing and value of stocks. However, as debt can increase firm value up to a degree, we recommend that Wrigley’s find an optimal capital structure through further analysis of whether $3 billion of debt provides the smallest possible Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) for the firm. 3.1 Flexibility and Reserves According to Denis (2011), financial flexibility is the ability of a firm to make decisions and handle problems timely. Moreover, the firm should always maximize their firm value on any unexpected changes in investment opportunity and cash flows of the firm. In addition, the firm should prudently raise their capital in the good times to avoid stretching their capabilities too far, and in order to preserve their ability to choose to either borrow or issue equity in future times of need. Therefore, the lower level of firm’s debt, the more financial flexibility a firm has (Investopedia, 2014). Due to that $3 billion new debt existing, the financial flexibility of Wrigley will decline; this financial activity leads to lower ability to borrow money in the future if there are any profitable investment opportunities or any unexpected internal or external shocks. 3.2 The Book and Market Price per Share As is visible from the Appendix One, the decision of how to use the funds raised through debt is an important one as it will impact both the price per share and the book value per share. The price per share will decrease to $48.63 if the debt raised is used to pay out a dividend (decrease in the value of equity), whereas the price per share will increase to $61.53 if it is used to repurchase shares. However, the issuance of debt can have signalling effects for investors. Generally, when firms issue debt it signals to investors that the firm is in a good financial situation as the firm is able to undertake repayments of future interest. Furthermore, the clientele effect can impact the stock price because it assumes that the investors are attracted to the company for its policies and when these change the investors will react and adjust their stock accordingly (Moles Terry, 2005). In addition to this, the issuance of debt and repurchase of stock could signal to investors that managers believe the stock in undervalued. Despite this change in price, the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) will give a more accurate representation of what the change in capital structure implies for the firm, by taking account the costs of debt. 3.3 Weighted Average Cost of Capital Before recapitalisation Wrigley’s WACC was equal to it’s cost of equity (ke), which was calculated at 10.95%. After capitalisation it was found that Wrigley’s WACC decreased to 10.29%. This follows the general pattern of increasing debt resulting in a lower WACC. The cost of debt (kd) rate of 13% was used after we assessed the key industrial financial ratios and compared  them with that of Wrigley’s (See Appendix 2) to conclude that it was in the range between the BB rate of 12.753% and B 14.663% (see Appendices 3 4). Although WACC has decreased, which means that every $1 that Wrigley raises in capital from investors it must pay at least $10.30 in return, it’s Beta has increased from 0.75 to 0.87. This means that Wrigley’s investment is still less volatile than the market, but it has become more in line with the market after recapitalisation. However Beta will not incorporate the risk of financial distress that becomes present once Wrigley have taken out the debt. 4.0 Conclusions and Recommendations Therefore, from our analysis we know that an increase in debt can have adverse affects on flexibility and can have costs associated such as bankruptcy, agency and distress costs, however, due to the tax shield affects and the decrease in WACC we believe there should an increase in the level of debt. In addition, the share price change is not consistent with the change in WACC and it could be assumed that the distress costs associated with the increase in debt would mean the price would actually remain relatively steady to reflect the negligible change. We recommend that Wrigley issue $3 billion of debt in the form of share repurchase plan because this scenario has no defining impact upon WACC – slightly decreasing from 10.95% to 10.29%, and as a company’s main goal is to increase its’ shareholders value. Furthermore there are fewer risks in terms of clientele effect and signalling effect, while also allowing the Wrigley family to maintain their control with their high portion of shares. However, we recommend further analysis to determine what is the optimal level of debt by finding the lowest possible WACC, and therefore maximising the company’s value. 5.0 Reference List DeAngelo, H., DeAngelo, L., Whited T.M., (2011) Capital structure dynamics and transitory debt. Journal of Financial Economics, 99, 235–261. Denis, D J. (2011) Financial flexibility and corporate liquidity. Journal of Corporate Finance, 17(3), 667-674. Franco Modigliani; Merton H. Miller . (Jun., 1958) The American Economic Review, Vol. 48, No. 3. , pp. 261-297. Investopedia. (2014). Complete Guide To Corporate Finance. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/walkthrough/corporate-finance/5/capital-structure/capital-structure.aspx Investopedia (2014). Optimal Capital Structure. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/optimal-capital-structure.asp. [Last Accessed 19 Aug 2014]. Kraus, A. and R. Litzenberger (1973). A State-Preference model of optimal financial leverage. Journal of Finance, Vol. 28, pp. 911-922. Moles, P., Terry, N. (2005). Clientele effect. The Handbook of International Finance Terms. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/view/10.1093/acref/9780198294818.001.0001/acref-9780198294818-e-1351 Myers, S.C. (2001). Capital structure. Journal of Economic Perspective, Vol. 15, pp. 81-102. Tsuji, C. (2012) A discussion on the signalling hypothesis of dividend poilcy. The Open Business Journal, 5, 1-7. Retrieved from http://benthamopen.com/tobj/articles/V005/1TOBJ.pdf

Freudian Analysis of Melancholia Essay Example for Free

Freudian Analysis of Melancholia Essay The film Melancholia by Lars von Trier gradually develops into the characters depression through their actions and choices that can relate directly to Lars von Triers own depression and unfortunate childhood circumstances. The main protagonist of the movie, Justine, is depressed and this affects everyone around her. Lars von Trier, the writer and director, is depressed was depressed when creating this film and this depression is reflected in Melancholia. Freudian theories relate to Melancholia through Justines life as well as her love life. She is constantly unsatisfied and immediately has an extramarital sexual encounter when she is vulnerable. Freudian theories are demonstrated through the depression from the characters in the movie to the writer. Some of Freudian theories that will be discussed are looking at how some of the character experiences are similar to Lars von Triers past and the Oedipus complex. Lars von Triers past greatly influenced how and what he wrote for Melancholia. Freud said that â€Å"the notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware† (Tyson, 14-15) indicates Lars von Trier is motivated by his past experiences. The viewer learns quickly that Justine has an unhappiness that constantly affects her daily routine, and she pretends to be someone else when she’s around others. Depression is a common mental disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration. These problems can become chronic or recurrent and lead to substantial impairments in ones ability to take care of their everyday responsibilities. Justine shows signs of depression throughout the film for example, when refusing to take a bath or go riding which she usually she enjoys doing. People with depression tend to be exhausted on a regular basis similar to when Justine left her own wedding party to have a nap. Lars von Trier may have experienced the same symptoms of depression in his personal experiences, as well his childhood might have influenced why he became epressed in his later life which could have possibly enhanced his work for Melancholia. Although Lars was diagnosed with depression in 2007, he had a difficult childhood. He did not know who his biological father was until his mother told him on her death bed. Freud believed that â€Å"our unconscious was influenced by childhood events†. Lars von Trier stated during an interview that â€Å"I come from a family of communist nudists. I was allowed to do or not to do what I like. My parents were not interested in whether I went to school or get drunk on white wine. After a childhood like that, you search for restrictions in your own life. † Lars childhood relates greatly to the character of Justine. Justines parents did not seem to care for her. During Justines wedding, her parents self-absorption is reflected in their speeches about their marriage problems. As well, her parents did not care or take time for her when Justine specifically asked a few times to talk privately to her father and he could not find the time. In the bedroom, Justine was upset and asked her mother for help but her mother was no help at all. Her mom did not seem to care and her father left the wedding leaving only a note saying that he was leaving with another woman and to â€Å"forgive an old fool†. Lars and Justines parents have similar responses to their children of not caring. Claire was distraught and acted out of character, she could no longer organize her thoughts and be as calm around Justine as she was before, alike to Lars thoughts he quoted â€Å"Everything is going to Hell, but we should smile all the way. † (Lars personal quotes on IMDB) Once Justine realized Melancholia was going to hit the earth she became collected and composed. At the end of the movie Justine, Claire and Leo site together, close their eyes and hold hands as Justine had instructed. This is one of the only scenes where Justine actually genuinely smiles. She appears to be at peace and content even though she knows that the end of the world is approaching. This scene relates to Lars quote. Even though Justine knows everything is going to Hell, she is smiling even at the end. Lars mentions the restrictions he puts on his life like Justine not allowing herself to have a happy marriage and accept her husbands love and happiness. Justine becomes very depressed during her wedding and cheats on her newly wedded husband. She will not have a real relationship with her husband but moments later will have a quick sexual encounter with a complete stranger. This relates to Freuds beliefs in the Oedipus complex, a girls desire for her father and anger and jealousy towards her mother. Justines father flirts openly with other women in front of his wife and children at the wedding. Justine has a sexual encounter with a stranger trying to mimic a relationship alike to her fathers. This may have influenced Justines decision to behave dishonestly with her husband even though her husband loved her very much. Justines mother makes a speech during the wedding dinner and expresses her animosity against marriage, while Justine and her sister Claire look at their mother with anger and embarrassment. Justine and Claire disrespect their mother by getting married, knowing to expect her disapproving comments, yet criticize her for it. â€Å"The result is a murderous rage against the Mother and a desire to possess the Father† (1016) Melancholia is about the world ending and in Justine’s small world she is depressed, Citing Freudians Oedipus Complex one can parallel Lars state of depression which is shown throughout the movie. The characters actions mirror Lars von Triers beliefs and experiences through his life and through his depression, which is a huge factor in Melancholia. As well the relationships Justine has reflects the Oedipus Complex through her behaviour and decisions. Therefore Freudian theories relate directly to Melancholia.

Dealing With Unpleasant Situations Philosophy Essay

Dealing With Unpleasant Situations Philosophy Essay In life we always get our ups and downs. Everyone gets through these life experiences differently according to his character and the way things are approached. Both pleasant experiences and even those less pleasing ones will have an impact on life. Social, financial, psychological and emotional aspects affect the way problems are dealt with. Moreover, handling an unpleasant situation largely depends on character and support given by family and friends. A bad experience in a persons life causes mental stress which may result in making fast decisions reflecting their bad consequences later on. In my life education is very fundamental. I used to achieve high satisfactory grades during my secondary education. As a quite promising student, I used to aim high, aiming of someday becoming a Doctor. Enrolling to a matriculation course soon showed me that that was not an easy task to achieve and a lot of perseverance, much more than I used to have, was necessary. My subjects were not the easiest of all and lack of commitment started to have bad academic results. My far-fetched aims demolished and this led me to give much more importance to work and earn some money. I did not manage to attain the requirements to enrol in a University course and reasoned out to give another chance to myself and spend another year studying the failed subjects. Having changed school was already a drawback. To complicate things even worse, I was stolen and attacked by five persons on my way to work the day after Christmas of last year. Having my face bruised and retina commotion I was a bit afraid of g oing out alone and became paranoid that someone could be watching me. This experience in my life influenced me a lot, especially mentally where I always felt the need of having revenge, however I was persuaded that justice will do its job. For sure the New Year was not one of the best but with the help of my family and my girlfriend I was trying to get over this awful experience and start a new chapter. Going back to school was very hard for me and questioning by people suppressed me from attending regularly. In order to start looking at the optimistic side of life, I gave way to my dream of getting the driving licence and buying my own car with my brother helping me financial wise. Following a rough time I was finally going to achieve something which in my mind was going to give me my dignity back. Pursuing a materialistic dream was far too easily achievable opposing the academic one which I repeatedly was unsuccessful in. However, this time academic failure did not struck me that much since my car on its own made me feel successful in some other way. In order to completely own my success, I had to pay the debt incurred and felt the need of working more. I was working for something I already was enjoying, therefore this made me to fall more in love with my car, to the extent that I decided not to take exam re-sits in order to be able to work enough to pay it off through the summer. I used to enjoy each and every of my rides and I will always remember those great experiences I went through with it. As the end of summer was approaching and I was accepted for this course I started to admit the fact that the course on which I was going to embark too did not meet my previous expectations and desires. However, each time this thought stroke my mind, I used to console myself by my car which justified everything. Then the worse that could ever happen, just before school commencement, on the 2nd October, I had a car accident on my way to work where my car was almost totalled due to a careless driver who steered on me while I was overtaking him, pushing me off the road into a gate. In a split of a second I was in despair, losing the most important thing at that moment which gave me some sort of status. I lost courage, motivation and will-power up to the extent where I was not going to register in the course any longer. Nevertheless, at the beginning I started to attend to every lesson but I had so much hassle going on regarding the accident and trouble with the insurance agencies that I could not concentrate. In addition, lack of perseverance together with the fact that the course was not all that interesting at the beginning especially for a student who has an A level background, I missed on some lectures. Time healed my sorrowful feelings and I plucked up some courage with the help of my pers onal lawyer who is currently pursuing my case and struggling for a refund from the insurance company of the money lost in the accident. With reassurance of having some percent of right, I could now rest my thoughts and integrate back into the school attitude until here I am today writing this reflective diary analyzing improvements in my character arising from the experiences lived. In the psychological world, hiding from reality and escaping the harsh truths of life is most commonly known as negation. Killing your future due to the present or even worse due to the past is not a solution. I have learned that one has to find those people who you can count on and support you during hard times while keep holding on the future. Forgiveness Looking back at the experiences I went through last year, I learnt fundamental values that are important in life in order to keep looking at the bright side of life. Following the incident where I was beaten up, I have nowadays learnt to forgive; a psychological meaning of forgiveness is the refusal to hurt back the one who hurt you. My unfortunate event led to slight post traumatic stress disorders as I started to consider myself as a victim in every situation. My mind could not set at rest due to having recurrent memories of the event, recurrent nightmares and flashbacks in which I re-lived the distressing experience. I had feeling of extreme guilt and vengeance, withdrew from friends and lost interest in activities I enjoyed and education. At the end of the day, the Court of Justice left me without my mobile phone and a bruised face with no compensation, therefore I felt that no justice had been made with my case. From this happening onwards, my point of view to the local justice has degraded significantly. However, with the help of my family I realised that holding on to bitterness and anger towards those who hurt me, including justice itself , could only make things worse and seeking revenge only depletes strength and prevent emotional wounds from healing. One has to grasp back to his normal life and adopt for any unplanned changes. Therefore, trying to annihilate the traumatic memories and reaching an end for the past, I returned to my habitual, perpetual dreamer way of life. Ambition and Materialism Ambition and materialism form a considerable feature of my character. Ambition is closely related to motivation. It relates to many things such as desire to: attain success in life, achieve personal or professional advancement, achieve fame, power, money, social status, position, or achieve the fruits of an activity. In 1943, Abraham Maslow presented the theory of Hierarchy of Needs distinguishing between physiological, safety, social and esteem needs. In Maslows theory ambition could be included under esteem needs as a desire for increased self-esteem and achievement. Others define ambition as an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction and the willingness to strive for its attainment. Materialism is the attitude that physical well-being and worldly belongings constitute the utmost good and highest value in life. A materialistic person is therefore a person who is markedly more concerned with worldly concerns such as money and possessions rather than spiritual, intellectual or cultural values. My materialistic characteristics mainly depend on financial success and social recognition. As a car enthusiast, my ambition to have a sporty car which made me believe to stand out from the crowd fulfilled my materialistic desire which at the same time made me feel better and forget the previous negative experience. However, we can sometimes believe that pursuing material possessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our social relationships. This was in fact my mistake since I did not consider my car only as a means of transport but also my passion which revolved all my life around it. My priorities were messed up as I started to loose off from other things such as education while gave more importance on work in order to fully own my success. The status the car gave me neutralised between the sense of superiority attained and inferiority arising from my failures. The car was my comfort and became very sentimental as I dedicated a lot of importance towards it. Van Boven has spent a decade studying the social costs and benefits of pursuing happiness through the acquisition of life experiences such as traveling and going to concerts versus the purchase of material possessions like fancy cars and jewelry. We have found that material possessions dont provide as much enduring happiness as the pursuit of life experiences, Van Boven said. The take home message in his most recent study, which appears in this months edition of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, is that not only will investing in material possessions make us less happy than investing in life experiences, but that it often makes us less popular among our peers as well. The mistake we can sometimes make is believing that pursuing material possessions will gain us status and admiration while also improving our social relationships, Van Boven said. In fact, it seems to have exactly the opposite effect. This is really problematic because we know that having quality social relationships is one of the best predictors of happiness, health and well-being. So for many of us we should rethink these decisions that we might make in terms of pursuing material possessions versus life experiences, he said. Trying to have a happier life by the acquisition of material possessions is probably not a very wise decision. CU-Boulder marketing Professor Margaret Campbell and Cornell University Professor Thomas Gilovich were co-authors on the study. Past studies have found that people who are   materialistic tend to have lower quality social relationships. They also have fewer and less satisfying friendships. In the recent study, Van Boven and his colleagues conducted five experiments with undergraduate students and through a national survey. They sought to find out if people had unfavorable stereotypes of materialistic people and to see if these stereotypes led them to like the materialistic people less than those who pursued life experiences. In one experiment undergraduates who didnt know each other were randomly paired up and assigned to discuss either a material possession or a life experience they had purchased and were happy with. After talking for 15 or 20 minutes they were then asked about their conversation partners by the researchers. What we found was that people who had discussed their material possessions liked their conversation partner less than those who had discussed an experience they had purchased, Van Boven said. They also were less interested in forming a friendship with them, so theres a real social cost to being associated with material possessions rather than life experiences. In another experiment using a national survey, the researchers told people about someone who had purchased a material item such as a new shirt or a life experience like a concert ticket. They then asked them a number of questions about that person. They found that simply learning that someone made a material purchase caused them to like him or her less than learning that someone made an experiential purchase. We have pretty negative stereotypes of people who are materialistic, Van Boven said. When we asked people to think of someone who is materialistic and describe their personality traits, selfish and self-centered come up pretty frequently. However, when we asked people to describe someone who is more experiential in nature, things like altruistic, friendly and outgoing come up much more frequently. So what do you do if youre somebody who really likes to buy lots of material possessions? The short answer is you should try to change, Van Boven said. Not just our research, but a lot of other research has found that people who are materialistic incur many mental health costs and social costs theyre less happy and more prone to depression. Van Boven says one thing you can do is choose to be around people who are less interested in material goods. Its not a quick fix, but it can be done, he said. I think what makes it particularly challenging is that it requires some extra effort and mindfulness about the way we make decisions about how to be happy in life. Stress Management

Gender Theory Essay -- Gender Issues

Gender Theory Gender Theories can be related to a person’s emotional stability, status in society, work ethics and most important their ability to relate to others. As the sources of text, personal experience, research books, articles and websites are used to explain the importance of male and female communication, in itself it is only a theory based on the historical and internal learning that influence me as a student (Wood, 2011). In the end, the theory that best describes my gender characteristic will influence the outcome of opinion. That is what makes Gender Theory so interesting, it is a theories based on personal bias. In order to explain the differences and similarities in gender several theories have been established and researched with each having its own validation. Biological Theory Research has established that the biological theory regarding genders relies heavily on the chromosome makeup of individuals. Body chemistry makeup plays a large role in this; chromosomes are a significant factor in the physical, emotional, and social aspect of gender. Men having the chromosome XY are the determining factor in the sex of children they produce yet women having the XX according to the text are the dominant in social, heredity, and passing of some intellectual skills. Because the differences in not only social skill and physical skills there is evidence that relates the increase in hormonal influence to how men and women interact emotionally. Interpersonal Theory This theory focuses on the interpersonal relationships formed by individuals based on their sex makeup. There are three sub theories listed within this theory psychodynamic, social learning and cognitive development with each having its own argument... ...female goes to work and is the financial provider. As this occurs, it is possible new theories will be developed but communication will always be a factor between gender groups, this is because in general we are all different and come together with varied backgrounds, beliefs and predisposed opinions. There is not necessarily a right or wrong, in reality migration of people with the same interest, cultures, and beliefs will continue to form pocket communities where they can communicate with like in kind. References †¢ (2012). Anthropological theories. Alabama: DOI: http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=Feminist Anthropology †¢ Standpoint theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://users.ipfw.edu/lakes/Standpoint Theory.html †¢ Wood, J. (2011). Gendered lives: Communication gender and culture. (10th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning

Womens Rights :: essays research papers fc

When one reads Ibsen’s A Doll’s House Today, he may find it very difficult to imagine how daring it might have seemed at the time it was written. Nora’s actions were almost unheard of at the time the play was written, and were thus rather controversial. For Millennia, women were primarily child-bearers and homemakers, their domestic responsibilities generally prevented them from participating in hunts and waging war. Consequently, they were not allowed to share the rights and responsibilities given to hunters and warriors. Throughout history religion and mythology have regarded women as naturally weaker and therefore inferior to men (209). The ancient Greeks believed that Pandora’s curiosity was the root of all the evils in the world. The Bible tells how Eve led Adam into sin, and was placed under Adam’s authority by God. It was a typical belief that women should be controlled, not only for their own protection, but for that of everyone else. In most traditional societies, women were put at a distinct disadvantage to men. In ancient Rome, women had no rights whatsoever, they were the property of their father until they were married and then they became their husband’s possession. They had no rights to money, land, or even over their own children. Women were educated only in domestic skills, making it impossible for them to gain power, and almost a necessity to marry. Without the knowledge of how to live women had to rely on their husbands’ success or make a living through less morally acceptable means. The rights of women went largely unaltered until 1792 when a woman named Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman the first major modern feminist work. Sadly, however, her demands for equality and her revolutionary tone, made her work unacceptable at the time. "Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices.† (Wollstonecraft) A more noticeable advance in the equality of women’s rights was the industrial revolution. Lower classed women became wage earners in factories. Although their jobs were lower paying than their male counterparts, and controlled by men, financial independence was a major first step towards equal rights. In 1848 the first women’s rights convention was held. In 1919 Congress approved the 19th amendment, which, as quoted in Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, provided that â€Å"The right to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Computer: Wildlife and People

: 1. Tourism is becoming good source of revenue for many countries. Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of exploiting this resource. 2. What is your opinion about the advantages and disadvantages of fast food? (2002,10;2003,1;2004,4) 3. In 1995,an Englishman killed a burglar who broke into his house. He was sentenced. Do you think he should be sentenced ? How can we protect our property? 4. With the development of a market economy. Advertisements have become a dominant feature in television industry, despite the rich information brought by television.There still exists strong criticism against television advertisement. Write an article analyzing the positive and negative effects of television advertisement. 5. :version:000121(2005? G ) Some people think that visitors to other countries imitate local custom and behaviors. Some people disagree. They think the host country should welcome culture different. Discuss the two views and give your own opinion. : : 1. Some people think that people at the age of 55 and over should be encouraged to retire in order to give opportunities to a new generation. Do you agree or disagree? 2.A report indicates that nowadays children are becoming more and more lazy, fat and unsociable. Give the reasons for this and a proposal for a solution. (2003) : 3. Computers are widely used for education and some people think that teachers will not play important role in the classroom. Disagree or agree? 4. People use computers when they work, go banking and so on, but some argue that it will make people isolated and decrease their social skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 5. Some people think that traditional techniques and modern technology are incompatible. To what extent do you agree or disagree? . Oriental session 7. Some people think that strong tradition can civilize a country and the government should subsidize musicians, artists, actors and drama companies. Do you agree or disagree with this opinion? what should government do? 8. Is it possible for a woman to be a good mother and a successful career woman at the same time? some people agree that government should pay some money to women so that they can stay at home to look after their children. Do you agree or disagree? 9. Modern technology, such as fertilizer and machinery has changed our world so much. What are the advantages and disadvantages? Discuss 10.There have been many technological developments in the 20th century. For example, computer and electric power. Choose either of them, describe the change it has brought about and discuss whether all the changes are positive. 11. :What are the purposes of places, such as museums and how should they be funded? : 1. A. Television is the most popular form of entertainment in the modern household. ( )people of all ages use this medium to entertain themselves for an average of four hours a day. ( )thus, television has had a tremendous influence on its viewers, especially children. )scien tists now say that children can be negatively effected by constantly watching television. ( )? I take their side. B. We hear a lot about negative effects of television on the viewers. Obviously, televisions can be harmful if it is watched constantly. However, when television is watched in moderation, it is extremely valuable,( )as/for it provides relaxation entertainment and education. 2. Some people think that the government should not put money in building theaters and sports stadium, they should spend more money on education and medical care. a.Theaters and sports stadium are the most popular places in the modern society. People of all ages love to entertain themselves and enjoy the relaxation. Plus, as the desire for music and sports is increasing, the government ought to spend more money on that. b. Most people hold the point that theaters and sports are losing their importance as time passes by. It is no denying that modern people are leading an increasingly busy life. Neverth eless, not a single place can replace the status in helping people develop their physical body and mental condition like theaters and stadium. : 1. :We are now living in high developing world. Great changes have taken place. The computer was born in 1946 in America and was named ENTAC by researchers. It’s development is very quick. It had made greater progress recently and plays a more important role in our society. ( ) It is of great value to master necessary computer knowledge In world today. ( )? That is to say, one can never live without sufficient knowledge of computer. As what happens in Britain, a college graduate even from Cambridge University may face a difficulty in finding a job if he or she does not know how to manage computers.It is true in other countries. Therefore, it will be very hard to live free from contact with computers. : From the above, in conclusion, in short, all in all, on the whole, in one word : some people claim that disadvantages of cars are more than advantages, do you agree or disagree? 2:2005 version00110 Many of the world’s languages and cultures are dying out. Give possible reasons and your recommendations. 1. : 2. :Dear Mr. Wang: I am awfully sorry about what my dog did to your garden the day before yesterday, I want you know how badly I feel about it. I assure you that it will not happen again. , , , , , , , , ) :Being sorry is not enough. But we honestly thank you for being so generous with us and our dog. Yours sincerely Lynn 3. :thank you from the bottom of my heart thanks a million I sincerely appreciate Many thanks for your kindness :Write a letter to thank your friends for caring for you when you were in hospital after an accident. 4. 😕 :Write a letter to Mr. Wang who works in administration office to ask for an increase in financial aid. Dear Mr. Wang: I am writing to you to see whether or not I can get an increase in financial aid.As the administration office had done a lot in help ing people with financial need. I tend to ask another help from you. 5. : you have come back to your hometown after the first term in Canada. Write a letter to your good friend, Mike, inviting him to visit your hometown in summer vacation. One of your friends invites you to visit his hometown. But you have made your plans. Write a letter to refuse his invitation. Version 00113 Some people think that university should not provide theoretical knowledge, but to give practical training beneficial to the society.Do you agree or disagree? Use your own experience and knowledge to support you idea. 5: Most universities and colleges spend rather long period in fundamental theories and elementary course. But students regard these kinds of knowledge useless, and pay less attention to it. Some people think that university should not provide theoretical knowledge, but to give practical training beneficial to the society. As for me, I think this view is reasonable in some aspects. First of all, the theoretical knowledge just handles problem is an abstract concept. It must combine with real job.For instance, as everyone know, with the development of society, work position more and more need experienced and technical talent, especially in Shanghai of China, one of the biggest city throughout the world. So, more offering practice training to university students can help them to adapt to the society better. Therefore, the theoretical knowledge losing contact with reality is nonsensical. Secondly, the theoretical knowledge comes from practice. Any theoretical knowledge is obtained form the work of practicing. The universities provide practical training to students, making them understand the theoretical knowledge deeply.Just because of this, our universities believe that students should participate in social work at least one year in the four years in order to get practical training. However, the theoretical knowledge is the essence of practice, and it is the important course t hat we can’t ignore too. So, theoretical knowledge and practice have the equal status in our study. In a word, theoretical knowledge and practical training is all our require courses. We should study theory knowledge, and then apply it to practice. , , , , version 00121(2005? G )Some people think visitors to other countries should imitate local custom and behaviors. Some people disagree. they think the host country should welcome culture different. Discuss the tow views, and give your own opinion. 4: Recent years, because traffic is convenient day-by-day, people have more chances to travel around the world. The plane can make us reach any corner of the earth in a short time. Some people think visitors to other countries should imitate local custom and behaviors, but some people disagree. As far as I am concerned, necessary imitation is, in contrast, a wiser choice.As a famous saying goes, do as they do when in Room. The knowledge of local custom can help outside people adap t to the new environment rapidly. For instance, a Chinese student came to Britain, he can imitate British life style. In this way, he can understand British habit more thoroughly, thus, make himself live a more comfortable life in Britain. In addition, the cultural uniqueness that should be maintained need more attention. If people did not adhere to their national symbol especially in foreign country, these treasures would disappear. Take American hug for instance.Opposed to it, Chinese people greet each other with a formal handshake instead of warm hug. Because of this, different countries know each other to a greater extent. On the other hand, it is generally believed that outside cultures take a significant role in shaping the new world. Without taking back foreign customs home, a traveler can do nothing to help promote his or her country’s civil variety, In conclusion, according to the above reasons, the transformation to total reference to foreign customs gain an upper h and over the persistence in cultural identity abroad. Version 00110Many world languages and cultures are dying out. Give possible reasons and your recommendations. Nowadays, international communication has become more and more important. But many world languages ad cultures are dying out. In this essay, we will examine the problem of languages and culture dying and the solutions. Firstly, as the technology improves, people around the world are relying more and more on electronic devices to communicate with each other. Take internet for example. In order to make international conversations, people attempt to talk and send e-mail with the commonly-spoken language, say, English.As a result, cultural uniqueness will fade away gradually. Secondly, some of the world languages and cultures are not being learned widely by children. As what happens in China, Chinese youngsters tend to avoid speaking as their elders do. Because of their contact with foreign cultures, they prefer imitating som e odd sayings and behaviors. That is also the way Peking opera is dying out. In order to solve the problems illustrated above, I offer two solutions in this special occasion. For one solution, people might record the culture and languages on books or tapes, making sure our descendants can learn or use them in the future.The second solution is to increase the awareness of the importance of national cultural identity among young people. From the above analyses, the important thing is to learn the elder’s tongue and culture before it is too late. Otherwise, we will lose them. V120 What are the purposes of places such as museums and how should they be funded? : As we all know, museums are unreplaceable places for human beings. However, more and more museums have to face the serous economic problem nowadays. Therefore, many people doubt museum’s significance. On the contrary, I am a firm believer that museums is still of great importance.Firstly, museum is considered the h istorical symbol that it exhibits traditional culture of a nation. Nations of difference have different culture and history. Taking the history and revolution museum for example. The museum is the best way to let the Chinese youngsters enjoy their ancestor’s history and let visitors and foreigners know what china was like century ago. Secondly, museum could help improve people’s love for art and beauty. As a result, museums aiming to exhibit artist paintings, photos and the like can never be replaced. For instance, the greatest art museum in Paris represents things alike every year.Without it, we would not have a so keen taste for beauty. For one solution, the government ought to buy all museums. If museums belong to government, it means main economic problem of museums is solved. The second solution is that society ought to donate lots of money to maintain development of museum. The museum protects out history and culture, so we have obligation to support progress of museums. All in all, it is museums, along with other institutes, that enrich our dull lives. Only by permanently funding them can we share the magnificence. V105Some people claim that the disadvantages of cars are more than the advantages, do you agree or disagree? With the development of science and technology, the cars have already become the important component in our daily life gradually. Cars make our life convenient and swift. However, too many cars have caused very serious social problems. Some people claim that the disadvantages of cars are more than the advantages. I doubt it. Since one century ago, the auto industry has been developed at full speed worldwide, and has brought the enormous progresses to our life. For example, the car is the most convenient tool of transportation.We can be on and off duty by car every day; we can go to travel by car on the vacation; we can utilize the cars to deal with some emergency too. The car is playing an important role in our daily life . They make our rhythm of life faster and faster and make our business become more and more efficient. On the other hand, the development gives people countless employment opportunities too, such as manufacturing industry, repairing industry and maintaining industry. We are enjoying the convenience that the cars bring to us; at the same time we can utilize the auto industry to support ourselves.However, we ca not ignore that too many cars cause enormous social problems, for example, traffic jam, air pollution, traffic accident, to which we have to find a solution. In a word, the cars have brought enormous change to our life. The advantages are far more than the disadvantages. : The graph below shows the percentage of people unable to find work in three major countries from 1983 to 1992. [pic] The line graph shows a comparison of unemployment rates in Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada between 1989 and 1992. In Japan, the percentage of unemployment from 2. 3%to 3%between 1983 and 1986.After that, the percentage started decreasing with minor fluctuation and returned to the original value in 1992. ( : , , ) In 1983, the percentage of umemployed people was 12% in Canada and 13% in the UK. ( )These values decreased dramatically and at a constant rate over the next few years. ( )and unemployment reached the lowest percentage in Canada with about 7. 7% in 1988-1989,and in the UK with 7% in 1989-1990. ( )( )The unemployment rates of the two countries reaches the same point between 1988 and 1989. And then the figures( ))started increasing in both countries . n 1992,Canada reached its original value. Meanwhile, UK reached 10%, three points below the original percentage in 1983. ( ) From the above analysis, the unemployment rate was more stable than those of UK and Canada. ( ) : The graph below shows the different modes of transport used to travel to and from work in one European city in 1950, 1970, and 1990. [pic] The bar chart represents a contrast in terms of bus , car, bike, foot in years of 1950, 1970 and 1990. From 1950 to 1990,the percentage of people who travel( )by bike and on foot decreased from 27%to 7% and 33%to 10% respectively.Similarly, the percentage of people taking bus dropped after 1970 but increased before that. However, car’s percentage use sharply boomed year after year. ( : ) Traveling by bike or on foot were most popular in 1950. but percentage of car users was far more smaller. After two decades, with the decrease of bike users and travelers on foot, bus and car gain a lot of popularity. Bus reached its peak at 27%. in 1970,over one out of three( )people drive to and from work. ( , ) All in all, as the economy increases gradually, people prefer to go to work and come home by driving rather than taking bus or walking. : The table below shows information on income, taxes and prices in five cities around the world. Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below. |City |Average hourl y wage |Tax as % of wage |Monthly rent for 4-bedroom flat | |Athens |? 4 |18. 9% |? 700 | |Geneva |? 13 |26. 6% |? 1, 300 | |Hong Kong |? |15% |? 2, 400 | |London |? 7 |31. 3% |? 1, 200 | |Tokyo |? 12 |19. 3% |? 5, 300 | This table graph demonstrates a comparison of wages, taxes and rents in five important cities, Athens, Geneva, Hong Kong, London and Tokyo. Geneva and Tokyo offer the highest average hourly wage,13 and 12 pounds respectively.Within expectation, the tax as percentage of wage is also high. However, the rent in Tokyo is much more than that in Geneva. On the contrary, the lowest wages are offered by Hong Kong and Athens,3 and 4 pounds respectively. It is not surprising that the taxes are correspondingly lower than the rest. The difference between the two cities is the rent, with the lowest 700 pounds in Athens and more higher 2400 pounds in Hong Kong. ( : , ) With the average rent and wage, London has the highest tax ( ) In conclusion, in terms of living cost, living in London might harder than the others. ( ) :The two pie charts below show the types of communication used in 1962 and 1982. [pic] [pic] The two pie charts demonstrate a comparison in different patterns of communication which were used in 1962 and 1982. As what has been shown in the two charts, the percentage of letters drastically decreased from 50% in 1962 to 10% in 1982 respectively. The figures of phone and computer usage, on the contrary, increased correspondingly at a high rate. The percentage of computer communication in 1982 was exactly twice that in 1962. Similarly,the popularity of phone in 1982 can also be suggested by its rise-25% from the original value,35%.In conclusion, communication devices, as economy and technology are being enhanced, have changes greatly. High-tech ways will gradually take the place of private and traditional ones. 1. 21 discuss? With our entrance to 21st century, there rises the controversy of whether our future would turn to the bright one. Many people claim that 21st century would be taken into a positive way through scientific and technological advance while a great number of pessimists argue that our future is threat123d by lots of ongoing disasters. As for me, I prefer a balanced view that there will be crisis and opportunities.On one hand, we have reasons to be optimistic. For one thing, the development of information technology will make it possible to for all the people in the world to communicate with each other easily. Take the internet as an example. A simple click on the mouse could lead you to every place and person all over the world. For another, as the medical treatment develops, it could be expected that there will be cure for such deadly diseases as cancer and AIDS and that human beings would be able to enjoy a long life expectancy. Moreover, with the ongoing mechanization, an increasing amount f dangerous and heavy-labor work would tend to be taken by the robot. In this case, man can work in more safe and comfortable conditions, as well as enjoy more leisure time. On the other hand, it can be foreseen that there may be crises in the future. First, people will run high risk of psychological problems for dealing with computers in long-term is likely to cause the loneliness and infantile autism. Consequently the rate of suicide would experience a sharp rise. Besides, there is possibility that the robot would take over the earth, enslaving our mankind who is originally its creator.Furthermore, it is not impossible that a global nuclear war would break out. As a result, none of all creatures on the earth can escape this disaster so that from then on the civil history comes to an end. From the discussion above, it can be concluded that we would confront both opportunities and crises. The advanced science and technology could obtain merit and drawback. So what I hope to see in the future is that we can enjoy healthier and longer life and that more and more science and technology will be em ployed in the peaceful way. 2.Some people claim that the increasingly frequent business and cultural communications are positive whereas others hold a different opinion. Discuss. Although a slight mention of the past pastoral life arouses a nostalgia and reminiscent beauty, which is unexceptionally characterized by isolation and somewhat disconsolation, various and frequent communications in business, education, scientific research, and even the daily life are flooding the existent values, ideas, and ideals. Inevitably, this social phenomenon provokes a storm of commendation and criticism as well.Frequent communications in various fields among cultures and people undoubtedly benefit individuals’ life. Almost every citizen becomes the beneficiary of the communications. People around the world today are able to enjoy otherwise unavailable products and services. For instance, it is due to the international communication in business that people in China can enjoy such high qualit y products as Mercedes Benz from Germany, Titoni watch from Switzerland, and IBM computers. All these cases demonstrate one thing: communications contribute to human beings.Not only are diverse array of communications in the international spectrum positive to individuals, they also have been exerting significant favorable influences on family life. It was virtually incredible to imagine an international family five decades ago, but today on account of the rapid development of communications and transportations, religious and racial discriminations have almost entirely â€Å"gone with the wind†. It is no longer an â€Å"abnormal† thing that a Chinese husband gets married with a Japanese wife.Such international family, as scientific research warrants, is a welcome development in terms of both biological and political elements. In fact, the advantages of communications are also shaping and reflecting the general human civilization development. If God, as Bible says, creat ed different languages among men, then men all over the world today are able to work together, pray together, and struggle for freedom together. The communications are actually a process of globalization. This is the trend of sustainable development. With communications, people become brothers and sisters rather than enemies.With communications, there will be peace rather than war. With communications, the mundane mortals will eventually retrieve the paradise that our forefathers lost and get renascence. Admittedly, the communications might have some negative influences. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Therefore, the communications should be advocated and encouraged with the utmost enthusiasm A,B : Wild animals have no place in the 21st contrary, and the protection for them is a waste of resource. To what extent, do you agree or disagree with the above statement?Humans share the planet with the wild animas who have contributed a lot to our society and economy. But today, the world is poised on the brink of the largest wave of extinctions. So we have to do something to protect wild animals. Firstly, faming to feed the growing human population is one of the chief cause of extinction. From this millions of hectares of forests and natural vegetation have been cleared for agricultural use. Secondly, excess mining has destroyed the habitat of wild animals. Then came the threat of illegal logging, poaching and smuggling.Wild animals are now facing severe problems, but fortunately more and more people begin to realize the value of wild animals to our human-beings environment. As we know, wild animals together with wild plants consist of a complex ecosystem, which is significant to our natural environment, providing clean water, clean air and various resources. They are so connected and interacted that even extinction of several species will lead to a disaster to the whole ecosystem. Furthermore, the variety of species and genes founding wild animals are critical resources that could be utilized in each country’s development, especially in science and medical.In history, many ideas of famous inventions originated form animals such as ultrasonic fro bat. Moreover, there are still so many undiscovered fields of science, maybe we can get use of one kind of wild animals one day. Before this, we had better keep them protected, particular to some rare species. Someone said safeguard of wild animals is a waste of resource, but I do not agree. It seems that we would spend some time, wealth and manpower on this meaningless thing. Actually we also do this for human being ourselves.Wild animals have no place in the 21st contrary, and the protection for them is a waste of resource. To what extent, do you agree or disagree with the above statement? With the rapid progress of society, people’s living standard is dramatically improved, with more convenience and resource coming to us. However, our living environment at the same t ime is getting more polluted. One effect of this phenomenon is that there is not enough space for wild animals to survive, and many people hold an opinion that it would be a waste of resource to protect wild animals.Nevertheless, I think exactly the opposite way. The environment is a comprehensively biological life cycle, with human beings, animals and plants playing affecting each other accordingly. Wild animals occupy an essential position in the life cycle. Let’s look at a very simple example. Although snakes are very dangerous and frightening, they can catch mice, and mice can destroy the crop as well as sanitary surroundings. Here it is easy to understand that if there are not enough snakes, the number of mice would grow rapidly, doing more harm to us. Then , should not we protect the snake?Actually, we are saving resource by doing this because trying to save something that is already destroyed seriously costs more. Secondly, in present, quite a number of problems such a s desertification and rivers dried up, caused by excessive exploitation of natural resource, have arisen an increasing number of people aware of environment protection. More and more places, I think, should be planned for wild animals in 21st contrary. Thus, it is obviously noticed that more trees are planted and more wildlife conservation areas are planned, ensuring that wild animals will be under protection.As we can see from the improvement, in the 21st contrary, wild animals would be leading a happy life. To sum up, we cannot live without wild animals due to their profound effects on us. For this reason, we should try our best to protect them. Let’s remember one thing—protecting wild animals is equivalent to protecting ourselves. Wild animals have no place in the 21st contrary, and the protection for them is a waste of resource. To what extent, do you agree or disagree with the above statement? Biological diversity has never been as threatened as it is today as a r esult of the process of human civilization.The various forms of pressure created by human activity have destroyed natural balance, led to the deterioration of natural habitats, genetic erosion and the rarity, even disappearance, of a number of plant and animal species. As the pace of civilization accelerates, more people, taking more space, needing to use more natural resources, engaging in ever-growing consumption, impose sever deterioration on the habitat of animals. An increasing number of people come to realize that the disappearance of animals will result in serious threat to the equilibrium of ecosystem.Simply put, the extinction of hawks, rat-eating bird seen in many regions, will result in the rapid propagation of rats. And rats, further, will destroy the prairies and threaten the other animals like gazelles, zebras, and others, who live on grass and green lands. The coexistence of animals and human beings creates perfect harmony and brings about vividness to our planet. It is hard to imagine what our world would be like without animals. Sociologists also point our that the disappearance of animals can cause social and economic problems. Animals trade, as a supporting sector to the world economy, was very active before.However, the situation is beyond control since animals trade is very profitable and alluring. Many species cannot escape the adversity of being killed. Certainly, our diet cannot be without meat. There are living stocks, which can provide us with sufficient and nutritious produce. Therefore, we need not to resort to wild animals, especially the endangered ones. To protect animals is to protect our living environment. Every individual should join efforts to keep the diversity of animals. : The gap of living in cities and the countryside is larger and larger. What are the reasons in your country and how to reduce the differences?As the step of economic development accelerates, the gap between the city and the countryside becomes more and more overt , which arouses colossal concerns. Take a further look at the phenomenon, there are three major causes. Firstly, the insufficiency of investment in the rural areas accounts mainly for the issue. China, for example, covers a very large area. Due to the emphasis on the development in the coastal areas, the government devotes more investment in the large cities, such as shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The investment, undoubtedly, is repaid by the threefold increase of economy and commerce in these cities.However, this is not the case in the rural area and the western regions. The lack of investment barriers the productivity and economic development and sharpens the gap between the city and the countryside. Secondly, the low education level in the rural areas contributes partly to the gap of living. Education is the prime force of productivity. Keeping this in mind, many countries and governments give priority to the development of education. China’s education witness ed a rapid growth in the past decade. However, the education level in the countryside still keeps very low.The enrollment of primary schools and secondary schools is much lower compared with the advanced regions, not to mention the developed countries in the world. Without good education, the development of economy and technology would be dream difficult to be realized. Finally, the influx of migrant workers to the cities form the countryside deteriorates the undeveloped conditions in the rural areas. The life style in the urban areas is very attractive to the people in the countryside. To seek more working opportunities, many people abandon the fertile lands and leave them uncultivated.If the situation continues, it will lead to serious unbalance of economic and regional development. To sum up, only when the government renders more concerns over the issue can the gap between the cities and the countryside be bridged. The gap of living in cities and the countryside is larger and lar ger. What are the reasons in your country and how to reduce the differences? When you look back to the last contrary, amazingly you will find that not only had all world’s largest populated cities experienced different population growth rates, but also the difference between the city and the ountryside had grown accordingly. Two reasons of mine can examine the tendency as following. The glamorous city life allures lots of human resources to move to the city, taking major contribution to the gap. In the city, there are many advantages to attract those talented people to settle down—more job opportunities, cultural activities, sporting events, if you name them. Therefore, even those well-educated people who are originated from the country intend to lead a dynamic city life instead of returning to face the static country view.If the rural government can work out some favorable policies such as low prices of land occupied for industrial uses, with the combination of low co st of workforce, investors are willing to establish factories in the countryside. The improvement of employment situation will enormously help pull back some intellectuals and lessen the gap. (104words) In the second part, I would mention the factor of transportation. Supporting sentences: the vital resistance of economic development in the countryside is the inconvenient transportation. It has been witnessed in China that almost all leading cities are scattered along the coastline.They take advantages of sea, air and other sophisticated transport facilities to enjoy high economic growth rates. I suggest that the central government should fund on infrastructure for the whole nation, including rural areas, to build up a nationwide transport network. Consequently, tourism as well as housing in the countryside will be boosted, and the difference between the city and the country would be minimized. (94words) To sum up, intelligent resources would determine who is the winner or loser of the intense competition; moreover, transit system also play an important role in developing economy.If both issues were tackled properly in the countryside, gap between the city and the country would never be overwhelming. 2007 3? 10? TASK 1bar , , 7 TASK2 With the increase in use of mobile phones and computers, less people tend to write letters. The skill of writing letters will disappear completely. To what extend do you agree of disagree? How important do you think is letter writing ? 3? 3? task 1 ,overseas and UK visitors in London from 1996 to 2001. task 2 , , 2? 10? task1 how waste recycled to garden fertilizer task2: maintaining public libraries is a waste of money because computer technology services the function. do you agree or disagree? 2? 3 TASK1:TABLE. TASK2:Who will be responsible for the environment, individual? or government? you opinion? 1? 20 table, 8? ( 8? ) motor vehicle? 1990 2000 It is believed that government should pay for health care and education instead of the public. However, some people debate that it would be a large cost and it is not necessary. What's your opinion? 1? 13? 1? TABLES 1? 6 ,TABLE 1900 ? 2000 : , , , 2006 1? 7? People believe that they should be able to keep all the money they earn and should not pay tax to the state. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 1? 14? There are social, medical, and technical problems associated with the use of mobile phones. What forms do they take? Do you agree that the problems outweigh the benefits of the mobile phone? 1? 21? At present, science has been developing at a high speed, but people still have a high opinion of artists.What can the arts tell us of the life that science cannot? 2006? 2? 11? In many countries, the proportion of older people is steadily increasing. Does this trend have more positive or negative effects on the society? 2? 18? Some people believe that air travel should be restricted because it causes serious pollution and uses up the world's fuel res ources. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 2? 25? More and more measures to improve the security in the urban area have been introduced because of the increased crime. Do the benefits of the measures outweigh the drawbacks? 3? 11? In many countries, more and more young people are leaving school and unable to find jobs after graduation. What problems do you think youth unemployment will cause to the individual and the society? Give reasons and make some suggestions. 3? 18? VS Some people think that teachers should be responsible for teaching students how to judge right and wrong and how to behave well. Some say that teachers should only teach students about academic subjects. Discuss both views and give your opinion. 3? 25? Long distance flight uses more fuel than car and brings pollution to the environment.We should discourage non-essential flight rather than limit the use of car. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06/ 04 / 08 Space travel to the moon, cited as a b ig step for the mankind. Some people think it made little difference to our daily lives. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06/ 04 / 22 VS History is little or nothing to tell people. Others believe people must study history to understand the present. Please discuss. 06/ 04 / 29 Some people believe that national sports teams and individual men and women who represent their country should be financially supported by the government.Others think they should be funded by non-government organizations (business, scholarship). 06/ 05 / 13 Housing shortage in big cities can cause severe consequences. Only government action can solve this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06/ 05 / 20 Do the problems brought by international travel outweigh the advantages? 06/ 05 / 27 Some people think that the use of animal for experimentation is cruel. Other think it is good for the development of science. Discuss the two sides and give your opinion. 06/ 06 / 10 Nowadays some peo ple like to give help to the local community or provide people with direct help. Other people prefer to give money to national and international organizations. Discuss both of the two ways and present your own opinion. 06/ 06 / 17 The best way to solve the world’s environmental problems is to increase the price of fuel. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Use your own experience and give an example to support your idea. 06/ 06 / 24 Some people think that it is beneficial for students to go to private secondary schools, but other people think that it can have a negative effect.Discuss the two points and give your own opinion. 06 / 07 / 08 In a modern society, it has been observed in some countries that the elderly are not duly respected. Discuss the reasons why this has occurred and the effects it might have on our society. 06 / 07 /22 Is it better for students to live at home with their parents or in school accommodations? Give your own opinion on the issue. Use your own experience or an example to support your idea. 06 / 07/ 29 Earlier technological development brought more benefits changes to the life of ordinary people than the recent technological development will.To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06 / 08/ 05 Some people think museums should be enjoyable places to attract and entertain young people. Other think the purpose of museums is educate, not entertain. Discuss both sides and give your own opinion. 06 / 08/ 12 In order to learn a language well, we should also learn about the country as well as the cultures and lifestyles of the people who speak it. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06 / 08/ 26 Multi-cultural societies, which are a mixture of different ethnic groups, bring more benefits than drawbacks for a country.To what extend do you agree or disagree with this conclusion? 06 / 09/ 02 In some countries, advertisers increase the amount of advertising which try to persuade children to buy snacks, toys,and other goo ds. Parents object such pressure on children. But some advertisers claim that there is useful information in these advertisements. Discuss both views and give your opinion. 06 / 09/ 16 Some people think the students should take the subjects which are decided by the government in the university. Others think that students can apply for the subjects they prefer.Discuss the two situations and give your opinion. 06 / 09/ 23 Young adults should undertake unpaid work to help people in the community. Do you think it brings more drawbacks to the community and the young adults than benefits? 06 / 10 / 14 Some people think the main purpose of schools is to turn the children into good citizens and workers, rather than to benefit them as individuals. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? 06 / 10 / 22 The speeding up of life in many areas such as travel and communication has negative effects on society at all levels—individual, national and global.To what extent d o you agree or disagree? 06 / 10 / 29 Some people think that increasing business and cultural contacts have positive influences on development; others think that it has negative effects on national identities. Discuss both views and give your opinion. 06 / 11/ 04 Some people think that good health is very important to every person, so medical services should not be run by profit-making companies. Do the disadvantages of private health care outweigh the advantage? 06 / 11/ 18 Some people think secondary students should study international news as a school subject, but others argue that it is a waste of their valuable school time. What’s your opinion? 06 / 11/ 25 Exposure to international media, e. g. films, TV and magazines, has an impact on the local culture. Please discuss whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 06 / 12/ 02 Throughout the history, male leaders often made the society more violent and conflicting. If women governed the world, it would be a more peaceful world. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give an example to support your idea. 6 / 12/ 09 Modern buildings are appearing in large numbers, some people believe that we should build our buildings in traditional styles. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 06 / 12/ 16 Some people believe that personal happiness is directly related to economic success. Others believe there are other factors. Discuss the two sides and give your opinion ———————– 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 % of people unable to work (UNEMPLOYMENT RATES) United Kingdom Canada Japan 1962 P 35% C 15% L 50%