Telecommunication means no need for going to work and learning at school ??

ĐỀ 19/3/2011

Telecommunication means no need for going to work and learning at school. Agree of disagree ?

AGREE

-         Connect people

-         Stay at home and do may work at the same time

DISAGREE

-         Disturbed by children, games

-         Multi-tasking leads to greater stress

-         Physical ills because of telecommunication

-         People become self-centered and alienated

-         School is better environment for students while technology and internet affect them adversely.

The boom of technology is conducive to diversifying our workplace than ever. It is quite a common scene that there are people making money through phone contacts and online systems, which leads some people to believe that paperless officies and schools arrive. I, however, totally disagree with this idea.

Admittedly, the appearance of telecommunication is seen as an effective way to connect people from all walks of life. Workers can stay at home, finish their tasks while baby-sitting, especially female ones who can grow more versatile by dint of applying the internet. Besides, students are able to create online conferences with their friends, debating their academic problems and receiving frequent feedbacks within seconds from their beloved teachers.

Undeniably, telecommunication is gaining its popularity, but that does not mean that it can totally replace the role of social working places. At home, it is, highly likely that workers can be disturbed by children’s crying or involved in time-wasting online games, while their work deadline is calling their name. Also, according to social studies, despite the fact that people grow multi-tasking, by virtue of telecommunication, their tasks are mixed randomly, which results in their greater stress. At the same time, an escalating number of people who undergo a series of physical ills, such as digestive problems, hypertension and insomnia are officially recorded, as a result of telecommunication overload. With the dearth of face-to-face conversations, modern people, too, become more self-centered and alienated from each other. It is believed that technology, say, telecommunication is not the first catalyst, but it actually exacerbates this connection. In this case, how could people obtain mutual sympathy to reach the zenith of work deals? Ironically, such technology is born to facilitate our work, but eventually, makes us less producive.

Students and children themselves are barely spared the ills of telecommunication-related diseases. For its optimum benefit in physically connecting people through soulless windows, students are currently having less need to go to school and bury themselves in the screen of computers, yet they are sure to find something missing in their life. What is it? It is irrefutable that school is not the single-place for students to attend lectures, rather a social destination where they can enhance other skills, for instance, communication, physical practice through sports activities and team-spirit, which can never be nurtured through the instructions of steel cables. Even worse, burying themselves in the virtual world, little children might be disoriented, injected with unfiltered information, like violence scenes, and gradually become distant to the real-world. Surveys have shown that since the burgeoning of technology, there are an increasing number of children that suffer from autism, grow aggressive and passive in thinking as well.

All in all, telecommunication flattens the world, yet ironically, can breakdown people’s connection in pieces, if abused. Schools and offices are here to stay, in accordance to their growing presence.

-         Diversify (v) đa dạng hóa

-         Versatile (adj) linh hoạt, tháo vát, đa năng

-         Alienate + from = isolate + from (v) xa lánh, cô lập

-         Exacerbate (v) làm tệ hại hơn, xấu hơn

-         Optimum (n)(adj) tối ưu, điều kiện tốt nhất, điều kiện thuận lợi nhất

-         Single-place (n) ngồi 1 chỗ

-         Irrefutable (adj) không thể bác bỏ được

-         Burgeon (n) chồi cây  (v) đâm chồi, nảy nở, phát triển nhanh

With internet, there is no need for our museum ?

ĐỀ 17/1/2011

With internet, there is no need for our museum. Agree or disagree?

AGREE (support  internet)

-         Being convinient : availability, no transportation, no service fee

-         Facilitating people to search, collect data and study and supporting scientists to restore history

DISAGREE (support museums)

-         Discerning the greatness of a civilization by watching and touching objects

-         Understanding history and being greatful to ancestors

-         Creating a mysterious world for visitors, especially children.

Museums have been existent until this moment, but some people claim them as unnecessary, especially in the technology – dominated world with the prevalence of computers. Others, however, still realize their undeniable merits and insist on their survival. I strongly agree with the latter view.

It is undeniable that the internet is creeping ubiquitously into our world in most areas of life, even in the domain of the past. Museums are believed to have little say when people just stay at home, surf the net, and the entire world of quintessence unfolds before their very eyes without physical movements to the museum nearby and payment for this service as well. However, can people really discern the greatness of a civilization without their glance at real objects and direct touch on them? Images on the internet are useful to provide us quick information, yet by no means can they reproduce the real world of the old days via the machine – like window. Only by visiting museums of different countries around the world can modern day people perceive deeply the glory of the yesterdays and learn to appreciate what ancestors sacrified for our today’s sustenance. In other sense, the internet serves as a mean to arouse people’s curiosity to rush to museums, rather than thwart the existence of these places. Not until visitors have opportunities to journey themselves through websites do they have the urge to explore beautiful destination, touch and contemplate themselves among flows of extraordinary things righ there in museums, as there goes a saying “seeing is believing”.

Internet is now also leveraged as an effective tool to color our museums surprisingly. To facilitate people’s journey through varied time-lines in the large museums where they can get lost easily, the tool of searching information and categorizing fuctions available at these places are beneficial. To many historians and reseachers, internet is, too, regarded as a reservoir for them to dig deeper into histories of a variety of nations worldwide to collect enough data and refer a host of sources for their studies in a relentless effort to recreate the histories, say, wars, to the original state, by dint of which a touch of reality is added to museums and makes it more appealing to visitors. At the same time, it is the usage of other cutting edge innovations, along with the support of the internet that experts can restore legendaries or myths of the long forgotten past, for instance, mummification, and give a sense of adventure to children. In other words, museums and internet are complementary to each other to enrich our world.

In the final analysis, no matter how advanced the internet grows, museums are right there, and they can coexist to shed more light on the past to satisfy inherent curiosity of human kind.

-         Curiosity (n) tính tò mò, hiếu kỳ = inquisitiveness (tò mò, tọc mạch)

 (adj) curious = inquisitive = nosy (tò mò, tọc mạch)

-         Mummification (n) phương pháp ướp xác

-         Leverage (n) tác dụng/lực của đòn bẩy (v) be leveraged : được thúc đẩy

-         Categorize (v) phân loại = classify

-         Coexist (v) chung sống, cùng tồn tại

-         Relentless /ri’lentlis/ (adj) : tàn nhẫn / không ngừng = ceaselessly = incessantly

-         Legendary (n) truyện cổ tích

-         Complementary = complement (adj) bổ sung, bù

-         Dominate (v) chi phối, thống trị, vượt trội, chiếm ưu thế

-         Contemplate (v) thưởng ngoạn, nhìn vào cái gì và suy ngẫm

-         Thwart (v) cản trở, phá ngang = obstruct (v) =  be an obstacle to sth = block (v) = bar (v) = impede (v)

-         Sustenance (n) thức ăn, sự nuôi dưỡng, phương tiện sinh sống

-         Merit (v)(n) sự xứng đáng, công lao

Information on the internet is inaccurate

ĐỀ 22/10/2011

Information on the internet is inaccurate. To what extend do you agree or disagree

DISAGREE (no support to the internet)

-         Information on the internet mislead users

-   Customers have little idea about the true quality and are easily confused between different products

-         For the advantage of government, news can be distorted

AGREE (support to the internet)

-         People’s level of education is increased

-         They have more sources to compare and contrast to have the best opinion of products

-         Citizens eventually discover the truth

Internet has become a household item for a decade. Some people find that nowhere can they find more useful information than in the experience of surfing the internet whereas others believe that what is transmitted on this system is not always reliable. I strongly agree with the former view for the following reasons

First of all, it is argued that the floods of information posted on the Internet mislead users. With hundreds of advertising companies launching their campaigns about their products and extolling their strengths, customers have little idea about the true quality and are easily confused between them. This situation persists and irks customers greatly, partly as a result of the fact that quality controllers are unavailable to monitor the authenticity of information. Nevertheless, such is a staggering speed of information delivery that we are driven to train ourselves with the ability to absorb and filter information. Surveys have also shown that since the birth of the Internet, the fact is that by dint of being equipped with more information, people’s level of education is increased, which is conducive to their better critical thinking. Besides, as being purchasers who are given a great amount of news about products, they have more sources to compare and contrast to have the best option, by dint of their advanced critical thinking.

Second of all, for the advantage of government, news can be distorted. It is likely that in order to gain more votes, politicians and leaders use this means to hide their frauds and manipulate their citizens with inaccurate news. Again, this argument has its flaw. On the other side, it is by virtue of accessing news from different nations, areas and organizations, whether official and unofficial, that citizens eventually discover the truth. Governments can only shut the mouth of some people and show news that are most advantageous for them, but are unable to stifle all voices of people who desire for the truth and employ means to reveal it through the internet. Another point is that after all, whether the information on the websites is accurate not depends on the people who spread the news, not the device itself. If human cast their blame on the internet for its distortion, others kinds of media, say, television and radio would not be spared. Equally important, faced with the reality that damaging feedbacks and news can appear at any time against people in online discussions or forums on the internet , they are actually learning to consummate themselves and become more cautious and responsible for their words which can sometimes determine the destiny of other people.

In the final analysis, I am in favor of the appearance and popularity of the internet for its undeniable contributions to our world, increasing people’s self-awareness, bettering critical thinking and enriching our knowledge to the fullest extent, and the truth is that, until now, it is here to stay against all odds.

-            Distort /dis'tɔ:t/ (v) : bóp méo, xuyên tạc

-         Disturb / dis'tə:b/ (v) làm phiền, quấy rầy, làm khó chịu = Irk /ə:k/ (v)

-         Confuse (v) : làm hoang mang, bối rối, lộn xộn

-         Eventually (adv) : rốt cuộc, cuối cùng là

-         Item /’aitəm/ (n) tin tức, món, khoản (ghi sổ)

-         Extol /iks'tɔl/ (v) tán dương, ca tụng  - (n) extolment : lời tán dương

-         Persist (v) khăng khăng, cố chấp, dai dẳng, bền bỉ

-         Authenticity /,ɔ:θen'tisiti/ (n) : tính chất xác thực = genuineness

(adj) authentic =  genuine / 'ʤenjuin/

-          Stagger (n) sự chóng mặt, loạng choạng – staggering speed

-         Absorb (v) hấp thu, miệt mài chăm chú

-         Manipulate (v) lôi kéo, vận động (bằng mánh khóe)

-         Fraud /frɔ:d/ (n) sự gian lận, lừa gạt

-         Flaw (n) sai lầm, thiếu sót = defect = fault

-         Stifle /’staifl/ (v) dập tắt, đàn áp, kiềm chế

-         Consummate (v) hoàn thành, hoàn thiện, làm cái gì hoàn hảo
 (adj) quá chừng, tuyệt vời, hoàn toàn

-         Cautious (adj) cẩn thận, thận trọng = careful = prudent

-         Destiny (n) số phận, vận mệnh

-         Stay against all odds : tồn tại bất chấp mọi thứ