二十六 Overseas Study at an Early Age
　　1.目前很多父母在孩子高中畢業前就總他們出國學習
　　2.導致這種趨勢的原因是什么
　　3.我對此的看法
　　Nowadays more and more parents are eager to send their children to study abroad before they finish high school by whatever means and at whatever cost.
　　It is quite understandable for parents to send their children to study overseas because they place high expectations on their children. They are encouraged by the success stories of those who have completed their overseas study. With the development of economy, companies and institutions at home are giving more and more emphasis on overseas experiences, too. Consequently, pursuing overseas study became a kind of short cut in gaining a better future. Moreover, there is still one underlying reason for this rush-economic reason. The rapid economic progress in the past few years in China has enabled more and more parents to afford the huge cost for their children’s overseas study.
　　As for me, overseas study is surely a helpful way to get both advanced knowledge and necessary experiences, but overseas study at an early age is neither necessary nor benef1cial. The students may be too young to either tend for themselves or think for themselves. I do think that overseas study can contribute to one’s self-improvement, but it’s better to be pursued after one has finished his college study at home, when he is more capable of learning and living on his own.
　　二十七 Statistics of Family Expenses in Shanghai
　　1980 1990 2000
　　Food & Clothing 68% 45% 20%
　　Recreation 3% 5% 8%來源：考試大的美女編輯們
　　Education 6% 16% 22%
　　Health Care 6% 10% 16%
　　Others 17% 24% 35%
　　1.根據上圖描述該城市家庭支出的變化
　　2.分析產生這些變化的原因
　　3.說明這些變化對個人和社會產生的影響
　　As is shown in the table above, dramatic changes have taken place in family expenses in the City of Shanghai within two decades (from 1980 to 2000). The most obvious change is in expense on food and clothing, which has dropped by 48%, while those on recreation, education and health care have increased respectively by 5%, l6% and l0%. Expenses on other things keep rising from 17% to 35%.
　　The statistics of rise and fall seem to exist in isolation but are in fact closely related to one another. The most likely factors accounting for these changes are as follows:
　　Development in economy is the fundamental one. The increased income results in the lowering percentage of food and clothing. That is to say, a small percentage of the total income is enou5h to cover food and clothing expenses.
　　Another factor lies in the development of people’s concept. When people are well fed and well dressed, they begin to interest themselves in recreation and education.
　　These changes should also be attributed to social reforms. In the 1990’s, college education was not totally free as it was before, which also accounts for the rising expenses on education. Soon after, the government gradually stopped offering houses to its citizens without charges. People had to save a large proportion of their money for housing. That's partly why the expenses for ''others'' doubled.
　　As for the more expenses on health care, I figure there are two main reasons: the cancellation of free medical care and people’s awareness of the importance of health.
　　The changes reflect the development of the city and indicate that people are enjoying more.
　　二十八 On Space Project
　　給《**周刊》宇航專欄的編輯寫一封信，說明你對太空探索項目的態度(支持或反對)，并簡單陳述你的理由。
　　Dear Editor，采集者退散
　　Thank you for your starting a specia1 co1umn jor the discussion on space projects. Frankly, it seems to me that our space projects so far have been in the main a waste of money, time, energy, human lives and resources.
　　The richer countries are pouring large sums of money into space research programs which are of no benefit to human beings while in underdeveloped countries thousands of people are dying of hunger. Besides, many scientists’ time and energy are wasted, which could have been devoted to improving our living condition. What’s more, many astronauts have died complete1y uselessly in space vehicles which have been faulty. They were young people who hadn’t enjoyed the fruit of life yet.考試大論壇
　　Apart from human wastage, there is the wastage of resources which are finite and essential if man is to survive. I think it’s high time we stopped these meaningless programs.
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