English Recordings

Witch”s cauldron
Witch’s hat
Witch’s broomstick
Witch’s bat Fly over here
Fly over there Abracadabra Now you disappear!
Witch’s wand And witch’s spell
Witch’s nose
And witch’s smell
Fly in the dark At the dead of night If you see her She’ll give you such a fright!

I’m a mean old witch with a hat And I ride on a broom with my cat!
And my shoes are pointed And my chin is too, And you better watch out, ‘cause I might scare you!
I’m a mean old witch with a hat

Witch, witch, where do you fly?
Under the clouds and over the sky.
Witch, witch, what do you eat?
Little black apples from Hurricane Street.
Witch, witch, what do you drink?
Vinegar and good red ink.
Witch, witch, where do you sleep? Up in the clouds where the pillows are cheap.

Robots at Home

Topic: Nowadays more tasks at home and work are being performed by robots. Is this a negative or positive development?

Model answer:

It is becoming increasingly common for homeowners and businesses to use robots to deal with daily tasks. I believe this trend is wholly positive because it saves individuals time and allows businesses to better allocate resources.

Those who use various advances in robotics in the home have more free time. Fully humanoid robots are rare but more and more families now use robotic vacuums such as the Roomba, mobile webcams for security surveillance, lawn care machines and devices that bridge the gap between robotics and artificial intelligence like Amazon Alexa and Google Home to make life easier. These devices save a lot of time for their users that can be better invested in hobbies, exercise, family, entertainment, and spending time with your significant other.

In the past, a sizeable percentage of operating budgets went to labour but as this number begins to dwindle we will see a concomitant rise in investiture in areas like research and development. Large companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple and automobile manufacturers can now invest in developing artificial intelligence, improving existing products, making safer cars, and so on. Over time, these benefits will add up to hasten both the pace of technological development and the speed with which new advances reach consumers. Robots will replace jobs reliant on manual labour and divert those wasted dollars to more important, creative areas that elevate human endeavours.

The large scale adoption of robotics bodes well for the future as it will streamline both home and work. There are looming risks related to massive unemployment but these can be mitigated with governmental regulation and by encouraging ethical corporate practices.

Businesses Social Responsibility

Topic: As well as making money, businesses also have a responsibility towards society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Many socially conscious public figures have called on businesses to show greater responsibility to the societies they depend on. In my opinion, the responsibility of a business towards society extends to ethical management of their own operations but not to areas largely outside their purview.

Large and small businesses are no different from individuals and have the same obligation to be ethical. Every business, conducting themselves in a just manner, will contribute greatly to the betterment of society. A local grocery shop that pays its workers a living wage, charges fair prices, keeps accurate books, and sells quality food taken in the aggregate with stores around the country, produces innumerable benefits for both staff and patrons. Large companies are no exception. If Apple pays employees well and builds quality products while adhering to environmental and economic regulations, they make the world a better place. In contrast, companies without moral compass like Enron, Purdue and Facebook exact a heavy toll on society in exchange for their services.

However, companies should not to be forced to take responsibility for greater societal ills unless they are in some way culpable. A good example of this relates to education. The education of children and adolescents is the foundation of a stable, content society. Responsibility for education lies squarely with governments and parents, notwithstanding some private enterprise schools. If a company comes in direct contact with a school, for example by selling them textbooks, then the company is responsible for the quality of their products. If they pollute nearby land and students get sick, the company should bear full responsibility as well. In all other matters not under their direct influence, parents and governments take on the sole burden of care.

In conclusion, businesses are only in contact with certain aspects of society and they should not be asked to assume a full burden of responsibility. As free market companies become larger and supplant national governments this may require re-examination.

The Economy & the Environment

Topic: Developing the economy will always damage the environment. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Model answer:

It is often asserted that economic progress must always come at the expense of environmental. While this is not the case for entrenched economies, it is true for nations trying to gain a foothold in the global marketplace.

Only developed nations have the prerogative of protecting the environment without major economic backlash. The best examples of this can be seen in advanced economies around the world ranging from Japan and South Korea in Asia to France and Germany in Europe and the UAE and Kuwait in the Middle East. All these nations are already dominant in various global economic sectors. Germany leads the world in automobile manufacturing and other high-end goods. Japan is famous for its electronics and entertainments brands. This frees them up to haughtily build more energy efficient factories, tax companies, pass public awareness bans, and regulate pollution far more aggressively than developing nations.

Developing nations have neither the means nor the inclination to protect the environment. A good example of this can be seen in Vietnam, which is a rapidly evolving, populous nation. A good deal of their economic growth has come from offshore drilling, which has resulted in oil spills, as well as factories dotting the countryside, which contribute to growing concerns about air pollution. Many people depend on these businesses for their livelihood and the companies are trying to compete with developed nations from a huge initial, competitive disadvantage. In order to catch up they must cut environmental corners or risk falling further behind globally.

In conclusion, environmental conservation is a privilege for countries that contributed the most to climate change historically. Developed nations ought to make allowances for countries that are still struggling to provide their citizenry with a decent standard of living.

Working Too Much

Topic: These days people spend more and more time at work and less time at home. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Model answer:

These days, most people find themselves working longer hours, cutting into their home time. Though this brings economic stability to a nation, it also deprives people of a rich personal life.

The foundation of economic prosperity is a flourishing middle class unburdened by debts. A good example and counter-example of this can be seen in the changing fortunes of the American model of economics. In the 1950s, the economy grew as people worked long hours and had large disposable incomes to feed back into the larger consumer economy by purchasing automobiles, houses, and luxuries. Since the economic crash of 2008, there have been fewer jobs to go around and most people make due with part-time labour. The result of an idle labour force was a long-lasting recession that has only abated in recent years as people began to work more.

When people have less time to spend either on their hobbies or with their family, they rightly feel deprived. Every person should have time for both a fulfilling public and private life. Work constitutes the bulk of public service for most people and home life the private. Those with families feel particularly justifiable anger, which can boil over to general unhappiness or depression at best and neglect or abuse, at worst. Even the childless still have loved ones, hobbies, and a variety of other pursuits. At the end of their lives, everyone strives to be able to look back proudly on their career and fondly on their daily life.

In my opinion, the tilting of work-life balance towards work is primarily a negative because it robs people of some of their most meaningful moments. People must individually find ways to not only survive but also prosper in a world where the private sphere shrinks with each passing year.

Face to Face Interaction

Topic: The use of social media is replacing face-to-face interaction among many people in society. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Model answer:

Many people today believe that social media has largely supplanted traditional face-to-face interpersonal relationships, leading to worsening communication skills. I fully agree with this point of view though I concede the advantages of social media for entrepreneurs.

Social media has been a boon for anyone interested in starting their own business. In the past, if someone wanted to start a business the avenues were more limited and likely presupposed some inherited capital. Social media, beginning with Facebook and now being brought to fruition with apps like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, opens up possibilities for content creators to communicate with their audience around the world. This applies to larger than life success stories like Justin Bieber, who went viral and rose from relative obscurity to global stardom, as well as more modest examples like the various Instagram artists and models who interact and generate income and publicity from their loyal fan bases.

Despite the aforementioned advantages, social media has degraded the general quality of communication. Those most affected are young users. In school, children and teenagers must develop their interpersonal skills by telling jokes, engaging in playful banter, and arguing about personal and political topics. Over time, some people distinguish themselves as great storytellers or compelling speakers while others at least improve their communication skills. In contrast, young people today are more likely to communicate by texting and interacting through fleeting comments as they impatiently scroll through their various feeds. They do not get quality feedback on their output and so develop haphazardly, not knowing whether or not their jokes and points ever really connect.

In conclusion, social media has hurt communication, overshadowing all its economic utility. Parents ought to limit phone use for children and themselves in order to fight the rising influence of technology that humanity is not evolved enough to deal with responsibly.

Tourism and Culture

Topic: Some believe that tourism does more to create tension between countries rather than helping individuals better understand other cultures. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Model answer:

Many people are of the belief that rather than easing tensions, tourism actually further strains relations between countries. In my opinion, despite some newsworthy incidents, the vast majority of tourist interactions are positive.

The reason that many have turned against tourism as a means of soft power is the memorable disputes that naturally arise. A good example of this would be the recent outbreak of coronavirus in China and the resultant worldwide panic. Chinese tourists have since reported on social media channels increased harassment and chilly treatment abroad. Such reactions are irrational because coronavirus is a tame threat relative to normal strains of influenza, various diseases and other fatalities over the period including vehicular deaths. This psychological bias applies to small-scale tourist interactions as well: people are more likely to remember recent, negative events even if their actual impact is marginal.

The overwhelming majority of interactions between tourist and local are friendly and conducive to increased understanding. The average person taking a trip, to most countries, will encounter friendly customs officials, chat amiably with their taxi driver on the way to their hotel, where the staff will likely be very accommodating. The negative interactions are rare though they may stick out and make memorable stories. The more common scenario is that a tourist’s curiosity will be matched by local enthusiasm to make a good impression of themselves and their country. These complimentary human drives from the tourist and local, re-enacted in millions of micro-interactions daily, may not make headlines but they foster empathy and understanding between otherwise diverse cultures.

In conclusion, the cumulative impact of friendly encounters engendered by tourism far outweigh exaggerated slights. People should keep this in perspective when travelling and rise above prejudice and confirmation bias.

Old Buildings

Topic: Too much money is wasted on repairing old buildings that should be used to knock them down and build new ones. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Model answer:

Many people today claim that too much money is being allocated to the upkeep of older buildings that would be better utilised on modern infrastructure. In my opinion, though new buildings are more practical, old buildings are indispensable cultural relics.

Progressive supporters of modernity rationally point out the actual utility of a building should be the priority. A good example of this would be in cities that have developed substantially in the last half century such as Kolkata, India. Rapid economic development there has overtaken sentimentality over both pre and post-Colonial architecture. It is commonplace for old buildings that no longer meet today’s safety standards to be bulldozed to build hospitals, hotels, restaurants, and offices. All these new buildings serve vital functions in a 21st century metropolis and are not merely for show, as the buildings relegated for demolition are.

Despite the above justifications, old buildings serve to maintain the irreplaceable cultural identity of a city. While cities like Kolkata and Beijing have ruthlessly swept aside the past in favour of an inevitable future, smaller cities like Chiang Mai in Thailand have managed to protect the majority of their historic buildings. The result is more than just tourist attractions like classic homes, old city walls and ancient pagodas. The residents of Chiang Mai, and other citizens of Thailand, can visit and be reminded of the beauty and resilience of their ancestors. In Beijing, the disdain for history encourages the nation at large to imitate the stubborn pursuit of progress characteristic of the 21st century.

In conclusion, old buildings ought to be preserved as they are important for a nation’s cultural identity. The governments that adopt this long-term, multifaceted view will reap the rewards of a more unified national citizenry.