WHAT DOES ADVERTISING MEAN TO YOU : INFORMATION OR

MANIPULATION ? GIVE ARGUMENTS TO SUPPORT YOUR IDEAS.

In my opinion advertising implies both keeping people informed and
manipulating them. It is obvious that advertising is necessary to make products known
and help people select the ones they need. But modern society has turned into a consumer
society where advertising creates artificial needs, ensuring demand for mass produced
goods.
The purpose of advertising is to sell to the greatest number of customers.
To this end, it must be persuasive, it must attract and retain attention. Posters, road signs,
the display of goods in shop windows are traditional means of advertising. Nowadays, a
wide use is made of the mass-media (i.e. the press, TV and radio). Thus most TV and
radio programs are interrupted by commercials and newspapers are covered with ads
praising the merits of goods and services. By appealing to our senses, feelings,
frustrations and yearnings, by taking advantage of our shortcomings, advertising turns us
into compulsive buyers, which means we buy a lot of goods we do not necessarily need
and the only reason we buy them is because we see them advertised and the
advertisement has succeeded in catching our eye.
Advertising has become intrusive and dishonest. Ads are everywhere, they have
invaded our lives. People are exposed to hundreds of ads everyday wherever they go,
whenever they switch on the TV, radio, even the computer or when they read a newspaper
or a magazine. Moreover ads have been placed on objects we see or use everyday : the
sides of taxis, the backs of bus tickets, post-lamps, paving stones etc. Ads try to convince
us that we wont buy a simple product or service. We will buy a completely new lifestyle,
the product or service will bring a change in our life, we will be part of a selected elite.
Advertisers manipulate our frustrations, our secret desires, our naivety.
Children and teenagers are the most frequent victims of unscrupulous advertisers.
Certain ads deliberately encourage children to pester their parents to buy things they do
not need and cannot afford, such as expensive toys, expensive clothes. Ads may induce a
false set of values, a distorted outlook on how people should look or behave. For instance
many famous persons, especially actors and sportsmen, are paid to advertise products that
teenagers will definitely want to buy to look like their idols, to show off in front of their
peers.
Advertising cannot be banned, but dishonest, misleading advertising could and
should be banned. Advertisers might argue that they only do the job they are paid for and
they cannot be held responsible for the quality of the products or services they are paid to
advertise. I think this is a wrong attitude and advertisers should face the reality that they
have the power to manipulate public opinion and this goes with a lot of responsibility.

SOME PEOPLE PREFER TO LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN. OTHERS PREFER TO

LIVE IN A BIG CITY. WHICH PLACE WOULD YOU PREFER TO LIVE

IN? USE SPECIFIC REASONS AND DETAILS TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.
Life in a small town has some advantages: no traffic jams, less pollution, less noise, a
quiet lifestyle, the possibility of living in a house with a garden instead of living in a
crammed apartment in a block of flats. In a small town people are more sociable, people
are closer to each other and there is indeed the feeling of belonging to a community as
public events in small towns can involve almost the entire population.
On the other hand, in a small town there are few opportunities for pursuing a career and
sometimes even no good schools or colleges to attend. To certain people life in a small
town might seem boring, monotonous, they would miss the glamour of great cities: the
shopping malls, the cinemas, the discos, the countless opportunities for entertainment in
a city that never sleeps as the lyrics of a famous song say about New York. Seeing new
faces everyday, enjoying the convenience, comfort even luxury of city life outweigh in
many cases the quietness and intimacy of life in a small town.
Yet, there are many people who long for having a house somewhere in the suburbs or in a
small town, far away from the noise, the madding crowd and the exhausting rat race of
life in the big cities. The oppressive skyscrapers, the multitude of buildings and streets
that look alike, the busy traffic, the long commuting hours, the hectic lifestyle may
sometimes cause a feeling of estrangement, of alienation. Lost in a big city, in the middle
of the crowd, one can feel as lonely as in a huge desert. No one really knows you, as no
one can afford the time to know you. No one really cares as no one can afford to care.
Living in the jungle of a big city, people sometimes tend to forget that they are humans,
not robots. For the ordinary, average man, trapped in the routine of earning a living, life
in a big city can be quite depressing, overwhelming, dull, meaningless. Of course, for a
multimillionaire, life in a metropolis looks very different from what it looks like to the
average man. Whenever they feel the need, multimillionaires can take refuge in their
huge apartments or in luxurious hotels where everything is meant to make them feel
comfortable and relaxed.
If I could choose, I would live in a small town, in a house with a garden full of flowers
that I would like to take care of myself. I would like to have nice, helpful neighbours,
I would also like to be able to go to work or school on foot, not to be forced to commute
for long hours. I think small towns are usually cleaner than bigger towns, and are quite
often better and more efficiently run than bigger cities. Good organization of community
life really helps raise the living standards of the population, therefore I tend to believe
that small towns, small communities are a much better choice than huge cities.

YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OT VISIT A FOREIGN COUNTRY FOR TWO

WEEKS. WHICH COUNTRY WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY?

If I had the opportunity to visit a foreign country, I would like to visit the United States of
America. I would start by visiting the great cities on the Atlantic coast: the capital
Washington, where I would like to see the White House, to meet the president, even to sit
for some minutes in the comfortable armchair in his office. Them I would visit New
York, I would admire the Statue of Liberty, then I would go to Philadelphia to see places
connected to Benjamin Franklin, who was a great statesman and inventor.
I would not include Hollywood, Las Vegas, Los Angeles in my itinerary. In my opinion,
they are just crowded and suffocating places, but I would definitely visit Americas
famous national parks. For instance, I would visit Yellowstone National Park, the first
national park in America and in the whole world, which is famous not only because of the
cartoon character Yogi bear, but also for the hot water geysers springing up from the
earth.
Another place that fascinates me is the Grand Canyon. All the pictures I have seen of it
present this natural wonder as something breathtaking. I suppose that actually being
there, maybe flying over the tumultuous Colorado River cutting through the stone walls,
is even more impressive. Perhaps I would be scared.
Florida and its exotic beaches would definitely be a place where I would remain longer,
but my longest stay would certainly be in Hawaii, which is described by everybody as an
earthly paradise. Millions of beautifully smelling flowers, like orchids, enormous
luxurious forests, high and frightening volcanoes, exquisite beaches and the splendid
view of the ocean all these are good reasons for anyone to want to spend a holiday
there.
All in all, what would interest me more, would be Americas natural assets not its
crowded and noisy cities. I am quite interested in seeing how the Americans preserve the
environment and maybe to take some of their experience back to our country.

HOW DO MOVIES OR TELEVISION INFLUENCE PEOPLES BEHAVIOUR?

USE REASONS AND SPECIFIC EXAMPLES TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

I strongly believe that movies and television have a great influence on people's
behaviour. It is an undeniable fact that most people in the world have access to either
television or cinema and do make use of them on a regular basis. Being part of our daily
lives, the fact that we are influenced by them is unavoidable.
The main group of people who are attracted to television and movies are teenagers.
This is the group that is most susceptible to change. They often try to imitate what they
see on screen, in order to become heroes themselves. It is not uncommon to see young
people trying to mimic the stunts and heroic deeds performed by their idols or rolemodels. Quite often teenagers also try to display violent and aggressive behaviour that
they visualize on the screen. Movies do make people more violent. The more we see
violent acts on television, the less sensitive we become to them. Eventually violence
doesn't seem wrong anymore, we may even commit violent acts ourselves. This is
especially true because we don't always realize that violence has consequences. Actors
can be killed and come back for another movie. Sometimes we confuse that with reality.
We forget that killing someone is permanent.
Moreover, each country or region has its own culture and it is necessary to
preserve it in order to ensure the cultural diversity to the future generations. There are a
lot of TV programs that might get into conflict with the traditional mentality of people.
Teenagers might get a false impression that they should live their life the way they see
people live it in foreign movies. They tend to change themselves according to what they
see. This might destroy the native practices and customs and also lead to the loss of
personal identity.
Movies and television also influence our behavior because they make us less
active. Watching TV or films is a passive activity. If we watch TV too much, we become
unhealthy, both mentally and physically. We stop using our own imagination when we see
things acted out for us. Mental laziness becomes physical laziness; we'd rather watch
sports events on TV than play sports ourselves, we'd rather pay a visit to the characters
of some soap opera than go chat with our own neighbors or friends. Imaginary people
have exciting lives and this tempts some people to live in a fantasy world rather than
make or have a life of their own.
Of course, watching movies and television can also be good for us. It can give us
a broader view on the world. For example, seeing movies can expose us to people of
different races and cultures. We can then overcome some prejudices more easily. The best
influence on our behavior is that movies and television reduce stress. Watching films, we
can escape our own problems for a little while. Also, sometimes movies show positive
ways to resolve problems we all face. While TV and movies shouldn't be a way to hide
from life, sometimes they can help us cope with it.
Whether the influence of TV and movies on our behaviour is beneficial or not
depends entirely on ourselves. How they affect us depends on how much we watch, what
we watch, and how we respond to what we watch.

DISCUSS THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BEING YOUR OWN

BOSS. GIVE ARGUMENTS AND EXAMPLES TO SUPPORT YOUR IDEAS.

Todays fiercely competitive job market forces jobseekers to comply with ever stricter job
requirements and employees to live up to ever higher professional standards. In addition
to this, there are of course the bosses own specific demands, outlooks and personalities
that employees are compelled to put up with. Under these circumstances, being your own
boss might seem a bright prospect, an enviable position, a life-long dream for many who
carry out orders and feel that at work they are treated like slaves.
Therefore the number of freelancers or self-employed persons has been steadily growing
in the last years.
The first advantage of being your own boss is the fact that you can work flexible hours,
you can make your own timetable and account to no one for your absences or actions.
But being your own boss rarely allows you to be absent from work for no solid reason.
You are the so-called bread-winner, the income provider of the family, so the more you
work, the more you earn. Sometimes you prefer or you actually have to work from
morning till night because no one can replace you or simply because you prefer to do
things yourself so that you make sure they are well done.
Being a boss, running a business, being in charge of other people whom you are supposed
to coordinate and supervise, involves a lot of stress. To make people work for you, not
only for money but also out of a sense of duty, you must have an instinctive knowledge of
people, be diplomatic, try to avoid being perceived as biased or unfair, treat people with
respect and friendliness. You must create an appropriate working environment that should
ensure your subordinates highest efficiency.
Making decisions is never easy, especially if decisions affect your income and sometimes
other peoples income too, if you have subordinates or business partners.
Being the one to decide for yourself as well as for everybody under your command,
places a heavy burden on your shoulders. You have to take full responsibility for your
actions and decisions. You cannot afford to make mistakes, to put off solving problems,
as there is no one to pass on the responsibility to.
Being a freelancer also takes a lot of courage, especially if your income is limited or
restricted to what you can earn form your own work. You must be prepared to run
financial risks, to face any unpredictable situation. Besides that, self employed persons
must be able to adapt and move with the times. Resilience is a key quality as economic
survival depends on it.
All in all, I think that being your own boss is a position not to be taken lightly, but on the
other hand, a position to be desired especially if you have difficulties in carrying out
orders or working in a team. The main advantage is that you can make your own rules,
the main disadvantages is that you also have to obey them.
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:
GRADES ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO LEARN?

There are several reasons why students might feel attracted to school, why they might
feel inclined to learn more: being fond of a certain subject or the teaching methods and
personality of a certain teacher, feeling highly responsible for getting a proper education
that might enable them in the future to get a well paid job. These are examples of positive
motivation, but there are also cases when children learn only out of constraint: they are
afraid of their parents reaction when they get a low mark, or they know that high grades
are necessary to be accepted at colleges. Such students really perceive their school years
like a burden, like a nightmare.
Apart from any other reasons that might force or urge students to learn, I think that grades
do play a great part in students motivation. For instance, in the case of a weak or
hesitating student, a generous mark can work wonders, it can boost self esteem, it can
prove to the students peers that he is also able to outdo himself as well as the others. For
average, good and very good students, high marks must come as a due reward for their
efforts. Quite often, if a good student happens to get a lower mark, he is terribly
disappointed with himself or with the teacher and he often loses interest in a certain
subject if the teacher does not appreciate what he considers to be his great achievements.
The truth remains that the greatest majority of students learn just to get high grades that
will open to them the doors of colleges and universities. This situation is unlikely to
change unless persons in authority do something to change the curriculum, to introduce
more vocational subjects along with the academic ones, to adapt the educational means to
the needs of nowadays students and to the demands of nowadays job market.
In my opinion the only true motivation for learning should be the usefulness of the school
subjects and their relevance to preparing students for everyday life. Yet, it is very difficult
to make every child aware, from an early age, of the necessity of studying hard, with
diligence and dedication. Some children are simply not meant to be so. This is why
grades are and will remain the strongest motivation in the case of most students.