Against'pointofview.Anexampleisgivenwhichcommentsonthelikelyeffectiveness
ofsuch a policy.)
Itcan bearguedthatanationmaintainsitsculturethroughitslanguage,andsothereis
aneedtorestricttheuseofforeignwordsandchangesin pronunciation.However,in
realitythisapproachisfruitless, becauselanguageisaliving
thinganditisimpossibletostopitfromchanging.Thispolicy hasbeentriedinsome
countries, butitneverworks.People,especially young people,willusethelanguagethat
they heararoundthem,andwhichseparatesthemfromothers;
stoppingtheuseofcertainwordswillonlymakethemappearmoreattractive.
(PutsthecaseAgainst'governments preventingspellingreform, butconcedesitmaybe
useful.)
Asforspelling,weallknowthattheEnglishsystemisirregularand,Ibelieve,itwould
benefitfromsimplificationso
thatchildrenand otherlearnersdo notwastetimelearningtoreadandwrite.Onthe
otherhand,somepeoplemayfeel, perhapsrightly,thatitisimportantto keepthe
originalspelling ofwordsasalink
withthepastandthisviewisalsoheld byspeakersoflanguageswhich do notusethe
Romanalphabet.
(Putsbothsidesoftheargumentaboutwhichlanguageto useinschools.)
Whileitisimportantforpeoplewhospeakaminoritylanguageto beabletolearnand
usethatlanguage,itispracticalforeducationto beinacommonlanguage.Thiscreates
nationalprideandlinks
peoplewithinthesociety.Realistically,schoolsarethebestplaceforthistostart.
(Endswith aclearstatement.)
Ultimately,thereisaroleforgovernmentsto playintheareaoflanguageplanning,
particularlyineducation, butatnotimeshould governmentsimposeregulationswhich
restrictpeople'slinguisticfreedom.
Sample 122
Withtheincreasingpopularity ofcomputersandcalculators,student
literacyisdecreasingdramatically. Whatarethepositiveandnegative
effectstheprogressofscienceandtechnologyhasbroughtabout?
Youshouldwriteatleast 250 words.Youshouldspendabout 40 minutes onthistask.modelanswer:
Ithasbeenwidely notedthat,withthe growing useofcomputersandcalculators bothin
theclassroomandinthehome,thelevelofliteracyandmathematicalability ofstudents
isdropping.Thisraisesseriousdoubtsaboutthevalueoftheprogressofscienceand
technology.HereIwill
discusstheprosandconsofthisquestion.Firstofall,advancesinscienceand
technology havecertainly broughtaboutmany benefitsformankind.They havemade
ourlivesmorecomfortableand healthier.Inaddition,they haveeasedthe burden of