TOEFL® essays examples collection

[IuriiSas]

#028 Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television, newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people such as public figures and celebrities. Use specific reasons and details to explain your opinion.
Such as many people who watch TV, read newspaper and magazines, does it just for wasting a time, but not to gain something useful, in modern media have appeared a lot gossipy information about famous people's lives. I think that we don't need so many facts about celebrities and media shouldn't pay so much attention to their personal life. This news pollutes our informational air. Very often bad behavior of heroes becomes bad example for our children or even adults. And also, I think that famous people have right on their personal lives.
News and programs about marriages and divorces, about spouses and kids, about rash and bad acts of famous people have appeared on TV channels, in newspapers and magazines more often and often. Shows about what someone wears or where he/she does haircutting occupied huge part of TV air. Ratings of the wealthiest people or biggest yachts are printed more frequently. All these information are useless. We can't gain any benefit for us or society from them. It is like noise from traffic on the street that just annoys you.
Wrong actions, acts or statements of famous people have become most popular themes for gossip in media. And for many people, especially for kids, these things might become examples for imitation and signals to act. For example, I thing that a few decades ago, more people started to smoke, just because there were a lot of well known smoking people. And now we can see news about drunk fighting or driving or about using of drugs. And what will happens when some teenager will think "Why does this man do this, but I can't?" and will decide to behave in the same way.
And last but not least, I also think that all people have right on personal life. And magazines shouldn't propose huge amount of money for photo of pregnant movie star or famous performer with new girlfriend and force paparazzo break laws and someone personal space. And public figures shouldn’t spend money on guards to have quite live at least at their houses.
So, I strongly agree that we have a lot of useless information about personal lives of famous people in media now. And think that it would be better if people could find more historical, scientific and cultural programs, series and articles in the media.

[IuriiSas]

#029 Some people believe that the Earth is being harmed (damaged) by human activity. Others feel that human activity makes the Earth a better place to live. What is your opinion? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
The nature of the Earth has changed a lot while the humanity began activity here. In my opinion, the state of nature has become worth and the Earth is in danger now because of the mankind needs. We use restricted natural resources. We kill animals and plants. We pollute the environment.
People need many different resources to make their life comfortable. Some of these resources are unrestricted, but most of them aren't. In my opinion we use restricted resources irrational. I don't talk about oil and gas because leak of these resource has no influence on other life on the Earth. But forest and water have huge influence on other species. For example, construction companies in my county destroy a lot of trees to built houses or shopping centers instead them. But it takes a few hundred years for these trees to grow up and we cannot replace them by other ones. The same situations happen in different places all over the world. Sometimes farmers destroy a acres of forest to use this land as fields. But all there forests are home for wolves, bears, rats and other different animals and insects. And when people destroy forest most animals which live there die. Also people use a lot of water now for production. Plants and factories released this water after production cycle, but very often it is polluted and can't be living environment for breathers anymore.
Other human activity which influences other world is hunting and fishing. People do these not only for surviving; they do this just for fun or for profit. For example, elephant tusks are valuable material and to take these material poachers kills elephants, take only tusks and leave carcass. In the same way hunter behave with whales and many other species and many of them disappeared from the Earth or are very close to disappearing.
And third type of harm that the humankind does for the nature is pollution. We have been polluting water, air and ground. This pollution seriously change ecosystem and it leads to global changes in weather like global warming, which causes in turn more tornados, hurricanes and other disasters.
So, in my opinion, the humankind is very harmful for environment now and it can cause many problems in the future. We have to change our behavior. We have to protect the nature to give our children hope for good life.

[IuriiSas]

#030 It has recently been announced that a new high school may be built in your community. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details in your answer.
I definitely support building of new school in my community. New school would be useful for children, for teachers and for community at all.
First of all new high school would cause students to study better. New big rooms and clear halls would give pleasure for students. New modern equipment and different facilities would create effect of care about children. And it would be interesting for them to go to school and use all these things. Some of students would want to use science and computer labs, others would use gym and sport facilities. And I'm sure that they would spend more time in school than they spend now.
On the other hand new school make teacher more interested in their work. When you have everything you need for work this work becomes pleasure or hobby. Teachers would have more ways to present and support their lectures, seminars and researches. They would have projectors, computers, labs and much other stuff for teaching purposes.
And at the end, new school would give some gain for community at all. All students would study not far from home. So, parents wouldn't have to drive them in other communities or cities. Children would spend more time in school and less on the streets. Also school facilities would be useful for community. People could use gym, basketball pitch or other playground. Concert hall in school could be used for community meetings and some celebrations.
In conclusion, I want to say that it is great idea to build new school in my community. It would help children to study better and make them interested in school. And maybe some of them will become a big scientist in the future. And it is fact that spending time in school safe students from influence of bad companies.