IELTS Essay Practice 008 : On Music I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ There are many different types of music in the world today. Why do we need music? Is the traditional music of a country more important than the international music that is heard everywhere nowadays? +++++++++++++++++++++ For millennia, humans have been enjoying the company of music. We need music not only for entertainment but also for emotional and spiritual needs. Though modern music now has a global appeal, I believe traditional music is more important for its historical value. Our inherent desire for euphonious melodies is encoded in our DNA. As a tool for communication, music can express emotions beyond words. Even an infant who cannot understand a word can be soothed by the mother’s lullaby, for he can naturally sense the affection expressed in tunes. Music can be so soul-stirring that even in most isolated tribes, songs and chants were created in the worship of deities, for priests and shamans once believed music to be the language spoken by gods. Pop songs produced by the music industry are easier for anyone to appreciate and hence prevail around the globe. However, I believe traditional music has more historical value, so it should be protected and promoted as the heritage of a country. By listening to folk songs in old times, we can understand how our ancestors proposed marriages, hosted ceremonies, or even waged wars. In ancient China, music could never be separated from politics and warfare. Confucius even proposed a system of rites and music as the cornerstone of the ideal ruling order. So, in this sense, the Book of Songs in China is no less significant than the Federalist Papers in the US. In conclusion, music serves us in many ways. Though all genres of music can please our ears, we should attach more importance to traditional music, for it is a gold mine of historical information.

IELTS Essay Practice 007 : Compulsory Community Services I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ Some people think that all teenagers should be required to do unpaid work in their free time to help the local community. They believe this would benefit both the individual teenager and society as a whole. Do you agree or disagree? +++++++++++++++++++++ Many people notice that voluntary work benefits both volunteers and society, so they claim we should require all teenagers to do unpaid jobs for their communities. I disagree with this proposal because once we make voluntary services mandatory, they may be harmful, not only for teenagers themselves but for the masses as well. First, teenagers can never benefit from compulsory “volunteering”. By definition, nobody could be forced to volunteer because voluntary work should be done out of volunteers’ own will. Volunteers choose to work for free because these unpaid jobs can fulfill their needs for self-actualization. However, if volunteering becomes an obligation, it can no longer satisfy their spiritual desires, and as a result, volunteers would lose their initiative. Without both financial and psychological rewards, serving local communities becomes nothing more than drudgery, and hence should only be imposed as a punishment upon criminals, rather than innocent teenagers. Moreover, I do not believe that our society has anything to gain from obliging all students to do unpaid work. Schooling is no less demanding than a full-time job. On top of attending daily lessons, students have to invest their time after school in homework and exam preparation, so they won’t have that much spare time as some adults may expect. If their valuable spare time has to be spent on working rather than relaxing, their learning efficiency back at school may be impaired. By forcing students to serve after school, local communities may enjoy free, though untrained, laborers in the short term, but society as a whole may suffer from ill-educated members in the long run. That is why we should leave community services to professionals and never resort to child labor in any form. In conclusion, teenagers may choose to help their communities voluntarily, but such acts of kindness should not be considered a universal duty.

IELTS Essay Practice 006 : Gov Funding for Artists I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ Some people think that governments should give financial support to creative artists such as painters and musicians. Others believe that creative artists should be funded by alternative sources. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. +++++++++++++++++++++ Great artworks not only nourish our spirit but also promote the country’s cultural influence. For this reason, many people claim that governments should fund artists. However, in my opinion, governmental funding for art would be a counterproductive practice that only rewards talentless artists. The argument in favor of such a practice would be that fine arts and classical music are not so profitable as popular entertainment such as Hollywood movies or K-pop songs. Without financial support from governments, painters or musicians who want to express themselves, rather than cater to the mass market, can hardly live a decent life like those of movie stars or pop singers. They may suffer from poverty or even give up creating pure art, which, in the eyes of some, would be the loss of the whole country. Nevertheless, I believe that governments should not subsidize artists since government sponsorship never helps to create extraordinary artworks. Talented artists, whether poor or rich, will not stop their artistic expression. By contrast, mediocre artists, even with substantial financial support, can only create tedious works that can impress no one. Van Gogh lived in poverty and died in misery, while Da Vinci had many powerful patrons, including the Duke of Milan and the King of France. With disparate paths of life, they both created paintings of great artistic value in human history. So, money is never the decisive factor in artistic creation. More money invested may increase the quantity of ordinary artworks, but it can never improve the quality of them. In conclusion, governmental subsidies will not help create great art, and state budgets should be allocated to sectors better worth the investment. If one cannot support himself as an artist, he should consider receiving further education or even make a career change.

IELTS Essay Practice 005 : Animal Testing I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ Nowadays animal experiments are widely used to develop new medicines and to test the safety of other products. Some people argue that these experiments should be banned because it is morally wrong to cause animals to suffer, while others are in favor of them because of their benefits to humanity. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. +++++++++++++++++++++ While their benefits to humanity are undeniable, the morality of animal experiments is never without controversy. In my opinion, animal experiments are not necessarily immoral, and even they are, they may be a necessary evil until equally effective alternatives are developed. First, there is no absolute morality, and our ethical standards are always context-dependent. One who kills innocents is called a murderer, but one who kills invaders is called a patriot. Likewise, animal testing itself is amoral, neither moral nor immoral, without the context provided. The opponents against animal testing accuse scientists of being inhumane for the suffering they inflict on laboratory mice. But they have ignored, deliberately or unintentionally, the fact that human patients may suffer more without proper tests on drugs developed. Scientists don’t inflict pain for pleasure. Instead, they do it for a greater good of humanity, and the lives saved can reasonably justify the suffering caused. Second, even though we admit that it is immoral to subject lab animals to traumas, a ban on animal experiments is not feasible at present. Though in many countries, animal experiments for non-medical products are restricted or even forbidden, randomized and double-blind clinical trials are still a must to measure the effectiveness of new medicines and, more importantly, figure out possible risks and side effects. Without these trials on animals or even on human patients, it is irresponsible for any medication to reach the market. As long as no alternatives can take their place, animal experiments, whether moral or not, have to be perpetuated. In conclusion, though people have an outstanding dispute over the morality of animal experiments, as a necessity for scientific research and medicine development, in no way can they be banned or replaced for now.

IELTS Essay Practice 004 : Choosing a Job I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ When choosing a job, the salary is the most important consideration. To what extent do you agree or disagree? +++++++++++++++++++++ A job is more than an income source. Instead, it is the foundation of one’s lifestyle. Hence, I completely disagree that people should give priority to money when choosing their careers. There are other factors of equal, even greater, importance and therefore should be taken into consideration. First, the health risk of a job should be carefully considered in job hunting. A huge pay often comes with a substantial risk, either from the direct exposure to harmful environment or from the debilitating work overload. Miners, for instance, are usually offered a higher salary than other blue-collar workers. However, their income pales in comparison with the grave danger they face on a daily basis. Cave-ins, gas explosions, and floods are still hard to prevent and may happen anytime in underground mines. Apart from fatal accidents, miners are also susceptible to chronic occupational diseases. With day-to-day exposure, dust particles can accumulate in and damage the miners’ lungs, resulting in pneumoconiosis, a notorious disease known as the “miner’s lung”. Moreover, the morality of a certain career is another key factor that should not be ignored. Some profitable occupations, though legal, may harm many others, and hence should be considered immoral. Take tobacco industries for an example: with the government’s dependence on their tax payments, tobacco industries are already too huge to be banned. The smokers, rather than the tobacco companies, are facing the moral judgment from non-smokers because passive smoking proves to be associated with a variety of respiratory diseases, even lung cancer. But ultimately, it is the tobacco sellers who choose to pose a danger to the public for their own profit, and on whom moral pressure should be brought to bear. In conclusion, money should not take priority over other non-financial factors. Otherwise, people may choose a lifestyle either unhealthy or immoral.

IELTS Essay Practice 003 : More or Less Dependence I'm practicing writing IELTS essays. Please help me refine my expressions, or share your thoughts about the topic. Thanks. +++++++++++++++++++++ Some people think that in the modern world we are more dependent on each other, while others think that people have become more independent. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. +++++++++++++++++++++ Recent years have witnessed a drastic change in the way people live. And people have different views about whether we are more or less dependent on each other. In my opinion, the answer varies from different perspectives. Without doubt, modernization has made us less dependent on the people around us, such as our parents, children, or relatives. Such decreased dependence is the result of financial services, social welfare, and the free market. With the help of bank loans, today’s young people can pay their deposits and mortgages independently, while in the past, their properties have to be paid with the family fortune. State pension and endowment insurance have lifted their burden of supporting the old, which in turn makes the “dink” lifestyle a possible, if not popular, choice for young couples. At the same time, job-hopping is gaining in popularity as employees now have unprecedented freedom to choose their ideal jobs in the global labor market. On the other hand, every one of us has become more dependent on the society as a whole, or on those we never get acquainted with. As a result of the division of labor, no one can ever survive like a hermit without products and services provided by strangers. Life in solitude becomes impossible because, ultimately, we have to collaborate with others in exchange for our necessities. Most urban dwellers can no longer live without Wi-Fi signals, let alone a stable supply of water and electricity. In fact, without mutual dependence between strangers and close cooperation across borders, not a single lead pencil could be made easily. In conclusion, while people are living a life less dependent on any particular individual, it’s undeniable that they have to count on more strangers to lead such modern life.