Itistruethatilliteracyisbecoming aseriousprobleminindustrialised nations.Thisis
surprisingasmostpeoplethinkthatthisisaproblemonlyin under-developed nations
suchasin partsofAfricaandIndia.Illiteracyisrelatedtomany otherproblemssuchas
poverty, over-populationandgovernmentalcorruption.Letustakeamoredetailed
lookatthecausesofthisgrowing probleminmanyWestern nations.
Oneofthemostobviousreasonsfortheincreaseinilliteracyistheadventoftelevision.
Children nolongerhavetoreadto obtaininformation.Neitherdothey
havetoreadtorelax.Todaychildren get homefromschooland gostraightto“the
box”towatchtheirfavoriteprogram.Watchingtelevisionismucheasierandmore
excitingthanreading.
Anotherreasonfortheincreaseinilliteracyisthefactthatsomanywomenwork.This
meansthatchildrenareoftenaloneathomeandsotheyare unsupervised.When
parentsgethometheyareoftentootiredtospend qualitytimewhittheirchildren.
Itisalsotruethatmany peopleblameschoolsforthedeclineinilliteracy.In
manycountriestherehasbeenamoveawayfromteaching basicskillssuchasreading
andwriting.
Therearemanyeffectsofthisgrowingilliteracyrate.Themostobviousis
unemployment.Thismayinturnleadtoalcoholand drugabuse.Ultimatelytheeconomy
ofthecountry beginstosufferandthereisadropinlivingstandards.Toaddressthis
problem, parentsneedto becomemoreawareoftheirresponsibilitiesandschoolsneed
toconsiderachangeintheirteachingmethods.Ifthisworseningtrendisnotreversed,
theproblemofilliteracywill becomeveryserious.
( 286 words)
Sample 22
Youshouldspendabout 40 minutesonthistask.
Writeaboutthefollowingtopic:
Using acomputereverydaycanhavemorenegativethanpositiveeffectson
yourchildren.
Do youagreeordisagree?
Givereasonsforyouranswerandincludeanyrelevantexamplesfromyourown
knowledgeorexperience.
Writeatleast 250 words.
modelanswer:
Itendtoagreethatyoungchildrencan be negativelyaffected bytoomuchtime
spentonthecomputerevery day.Thisis partly becausesittinginfrontofascreenfor
toolongcan bedamagingto boththeeyesandthephysicalpostureofayoungchild,
regardlessofwhattheyareusingthecomputerfor.