TOEFL® essay: Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion...

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Neighbors are the people who live near us. In your opinion, what are the qualities of a good neighbor? Use specific details and examples in your answer.

Wherever you live, you have at least a neighbor nearby. A neighbor can directly or indirectly affect your life; therefore, a good neighbor is important. In this piece of writing, I would like to talk about necessary traits making up a good neighbor.

Firstly, a good neighbor should be helpful enough to assist you when necessary. In my country, there is a saying which means “neighbors are even more important than siblings living far away”. That is true, especially when you have problems. A good neighbor is a person who is willing to look after your house, pick up mails and water plants when you are on vacation or on business. More seriously, if your house is on fire or you yourself suffer from a heart attack, who else will call firemen or ambulance apart from the neighbor ? In short, helpfulness is the most essential characteristic that you ought to expect from a neighbor.

Secondly, as for a next-door neighbor, another indispensable quality is reliability. There is nothing worse than the fact that the person living in the adjacent house can’t be trusted. How can you dare to give your house’s key to a neighbor who was formerly a criminal ? How can you dare to have a drunken neighbor look after your children when you have to go out ? You even don’t dare to associate with that neighbor, let alone entrust him or her with anything. Thus, there is nothing as good as having a dependable person living nearby.

Last but not least, an inquisitive neighbor is not definitely welcome anywhere. You can’t surely find anything as unpleasant as having a neighbor who is always humming around to extract any incidents in your house to make up a gossip. For neighbors of this kind, privacy is an unfamiliar concept. You have no options other than put up with that inquisitiveness. At least, you may feel troubled with that unexpected curiosity. More badly, you will be living in hell. After all, it is fortunate not to encounter any neighbors like that in your surroundings.

All in all, there may be many qualities you expect from a good neighbor. As for me, if I could choose a neighbor myself, that would be a helpful, reliable and incurious one.

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