IT - practice test 3 - Bui Nhung

Both the reading and the listening discuss the same topic that is the speeding management by speed cameras. But, their perspective is totally different. While the reading gives some main benefits of speed cameras, the listening casts doubt on what the passage states.

Firstly, the writer shows that controlling behavior’s drivers by speed cameras forces them to drive under the speed limit. However, the lecture opposes that such devices can not guarantee the conformity of drivers with speed rules. If they are free from the management, they will drive at the speed they like. Just seeing the appearance of a police or cameras, they immediately turn to reduce speed. Furthermore, recognizing the existence of such machines, they suddenly slow down that easily create a collision between that car and others behind it.

Next, in the passage, speed cameras help police decrease the amount of his tasks to focus on other ones. On the other hand, according to the lecture, police can not be replaced by cameras. Besides, fining the drivers who speed up to the speed limit, a police also manages other activities like the acting of drivers who are using drugs, alcohol, guns... These jobs are complex, it is necessary to assign them to a real police. It means that a police is responsible for more important missions than monitoring speed.

Finally, the reading claims that pictures taken by speed cameras are a kind of irrefutable evidence about the violation of driver in court. With regard to this argument, the listening refutes it. It says that speed cameras just are kinds of machine. It is possible for it to be out of order or make mistakes. In such a circumstance, the defendant may suffer an absolutely wrong conviction due to the camera’s failure.

the practise test 3-My

In the lecture, the professor talks that there are some problems with the speed cameras. He indicates that the reading are not convincing when compare with what happened in real.

Firstly, the professor brings the idea that speed cameras cannot guarantee the divers will slow down their speed. This casts doubt on the claim in the reading that driver will drive carefully in a safety speed. There is no evidence to prove that driver will travel in safer speed. People go fast as usual and only suddenly decrease the speed when seeing the speed cameras or police officials. That also put cars around in dangerous in such cases.

Furthermore, the reading says that the camera speed can reduce part of the police office duties. However, the professor contradicts that machine cannot do mission as the police officers do. Machine cannot deal with the dangerous violent actions such as controlling people who drink alcohol and bring gun and cannot judge guilty people.

Finally, the professor refutes about the evidence which speed cameras can record. He argues that speed cameras are machines which can be error without the dictation of people. Consequently, they will show wrong data. Therefore, people cannot absolutely believe in this kind of machine.

art-environment - My

There are many ways a company can contribute to the society. Both supporting art and protecting environment are in the need of society as well as beneficial for the company. However, in the point of a company view, I would like to put my priority for environment because of both society’s benefit and company’s one.

First and foremost, saving the environment is more useful for society. Supporting the art encourages art develop; enrich the spirit life of human and increase the life standard. That is a complement to people. However, confronting the environment problems are the essential need of people. Environment provides basic factors to maintain the existents of living being, such as the art to breath, the sources of foods and energy and places to life. Moreover, our environment are seriously damaged by human activities and causing a lot of consequences in people life. For example, the act of destroying forests and releasing uncontrollably toxic gas broken ozonosphere; warming up the climate, thawing the ice in two poles, raising sea level. As a result, many creatures in poles are damaged; risking ecological balance in poles. Seriously, the sea level is thawed causes the flood in many areas and the loss of many coastal zone.

Secondly, the act for environment will bring more reputation for the company. Both kinds of domination prove the company’s ethic. However, while supporting for art praised by a limited amount of people, saving the environment receives the encouragement of the whole society. Only people who love art and intelligentsia has strong desire to put priority on art other than the basic needs. In another hand, because of the essential need of saving environment, it is paid attention by all communities. For instance, a riding race for propagandizing to protect environment will be taken part in by many people, from old to young, from students from employees, from individuals to organizations.

Finally, that company provides money for protecting environment raises a goof mirror for other companies in protecting environment. One of the most fundamental causes of pollution is the industrial waste. The carbon dioxide from manufactures, solid waste which hardly disintegrate in the nature and liquid waste directly flowing to river seriously damage in the environment. While a company raising a good example of protecting environment receives the encouragement from communities, other companies also are in pressure to be friendly to environment to gain the preference of customers. Nowadays, people tend to consume the goods with green labor than others. Therefore, to raise the market share, companies must care about the environment.

To sum up, if the company must choose kind of activities, they should prefer saving the environment to gain best effective for society, for themselves as well as influencing in other companies.

support the arts or protect the environment_NgocPhan

It is the done thing for a company to give money to both support the arts and protect the environment. But if it has to choose one option only, then protecting the environment is more advisable for some following reasons.

First and foremost, environment is important to human beings’ survival. Because the environment encompasses all of us and it provides us with essential elements to survive such as water, air, land, minerals, etc, we cannot live without it. More notably, our environment is now under threat of many catastrophes like global warming, resources exhaustion and the like which have been making threats against people’s lives. So if we want to pursue other interests like enjoying arts, we must do something to exist first. That is why we need to protect our environment.

Secondly, this kind of activity can much improve the company’s reputation. Nowadays, the environment protection has gradually drawn plenty of attention from people all over the world. There are more and more movements of boycotting products produced by the companies whose operations bring about bad effects on the environment. For example, many Vietnamese consumers have stopped using Vedan’s products since the company was exposed to discharge directly waste water into Thi Vai River. By contrast, consumers tend to support the companies having activities to protect the environment. Therefore, giving money to protect the environment may be a strategic plan to increase the company’s turnover as well as appreciate its products’ brand names in the future.

To sum up, by donating money to improve the environmental problems, the company can not only contribute to human’s life protection but also make more profits through spreading its reputation and attract consumers’ support. All companies, especially operations companies, should focus on this activity to come up with the most appropriate strategies.

Topic 5 - art or environment - Bui Nhung

Saving the earth, keeping values of some types of the arts... have being usually discussed  in a lot of forums all around the world. Some times we are struggling to identify what is the priority between them. Standing at the point of view of a company, I strongly recommend that a company should spend its money to protect our environment.

First and foremost, saving the environment is one way to carry out social responsibilities of a company. Most of companies have to base on some kinds of natural resource to do business. It means that they exploit the nature and take benefits from it. So in return, it must protect the earth to show its duty to the society and consider it as a moral standard or a global mission. Furthermore, saving the earth means preventing and tackling all kinds of pollution, funding for research and development activities to protect the environment better, spending money to call for the support of every body or just raise the awareness of taking care the earth... With the strength of each firm, esp. the confluence of all organizations, implementing these above activities is possible and feasible.

Secondly, the reputation of a company may be upgraded by keeping the nature pure and clean. In the world, the duty to care for the environment is in character with the world-wide current tendency. So, one of the criteria to evaluate its reputation is based on its action to meet this trend. The more caring for the environment is , the better its image is on the eyes of its customers, its associate and  authorities. For example, its strategy should focuses on financing the manufacture of some environment-friendly products which is considered as a way to protect the earth. Or it puts money in some funds to reduce the speed of deforestation, immense farming and damages of acid rain in its location. The authority could give it more favorable condition to expand its business. And from appreciating its action, consumers may give it more credit and faithfulness. It means that a company may develop sustainably by having more customers.

Finally, a company should be aware that protecting the environment is more urgent than supporting the arts. The increasing change of the environment are influencing directly and badly us day by day. For example, in many areas, the speed of immense farming which is on the rise is spoiling the soil and crops. That also leads to the shortage of food. The pollution level of air or water and the emission of carbon dioxin and gas soar every day, which harms our health and destroys the ecosystem. There is no time to argue about whether protecting the earth or not. We must act right now after too late. In addition, the loss of some kinds of the arts are happening gradually. Its damage does not effect immediately and severely like the change of the environment. Besides, human beings still survive without the existence of some arts.

All in all, a company should spend money on protecting the earth because of both its social mission, its own benefit and the emergency of this duty.

IT - practice test 2 - Bui Nhung

Both the reading and the listening discuss the same topic that is who discovering America. However, their perspective is totally different. While the reading claims that Chinese sailors found this land in 1421, a half century before Columbus did, the listening casts doubt on it by giving opposite information.

Firstly, the theory in the passage shows that the anchor found in the California coast strongly supports its belief. On the other hand, the lecturer says that this anchor just is similar with the anchor of ancient Chinese junks in shape but different in material. A lot of tests indicate that the anchor is composed of rocks native to California, not China. Furthermore, it was most likely designed and made by Chinese-America sailors or fishermen in 19^th  century instead of in 15^th century. So there are no evidence to conclude that that anchor was made by Chinese.

Secondly, the writer assumes that the Newport Tower in Rhode Island has built by Chinese. On the contrary, the speaker shows that there is no clue to believe in that argument. According to a lot of researches, comparisons and radiocarbons dating of the age of the structure’s stones, this tower was built in the 1600s after Columbus found American. Moreover, there is also no evidence to conclude that the Chinese settlers built this tower.

Finally, according to the passage, linguistic similarities between Native America and Chinese is a strong evidence to support for its conclusion. But the lecturer thinks that these similarities make non sense. It is impossible to compare these languages because they have countless dialects. In addition, a lot of notes exposed by historians and linguists deny the existence of the “shared words”. The speaker also says that these similarities seems to be coincidences.

Practice test 2_ngocphan

Apparently, both the listening and the reading discuss China’s discovery of America, but an opposition to the reading’s arguments is implied in the listening at three points as follows.

The first point the professor casts doubt on the reading is the artifacts found off California coast. According to the passage, the ship anchors resembling those used on ancient Chinese junks and ship wreckage predating Columbus’s expedition are among the most compelling evidence to claim that Chinese explorers set foot in this place before Columbus’s exploration in 1492.  However, the lecturer affirms that the ship anchors were composed of rocks native to California, not China and those ones were most likely made by Chinese-American fishermen in the 19^th century, not in 15^th century.

The professor’s next argument focuses on Newport Tower. It is stated in the reading that Chinese may have established early settlements in North America because the Newport Tower which is believed to be built by some pre-Columbian explorers was designed according to the architecture of the Ming Dynasty in China. On the contrary, the lecturer asserts that a lot of studies including excavations, mortar comparisons and radiocarbon dating of the structure’s stones consistently trace the Newport Tower to the 1600s. Moreover, there is no evidence that Chinese settlers erected this structure a century or two earlier.

Finally, with regard to the similarities between Native American and Chinese words, the lecturer refutes the notion presented in the passage that some linguistic similarities show the relation between Native American and Chinese languages because she believes that it is hard to compare the two languages since Native American and Chinese language have a lot of dialects. Plus, many “shared words” are proven by historians and linguists to be false. The genuine similarities can be just explained to be mere coincidences.   

In conclusion, the lecturer contradicts the passage in terms of all three pieces of evidence: artifacts on California coast, architecture and linguistic similarities.

Practise test 2 - My

In the lecture, the professor talks that the suggestion in which the Chinese are not found America before 1492. He indicates that the reading is wrong when compared with happened to real.
Firstly, the professor casts doubt on the claim in the reading that the anchors found in California coast belong to Chinese vessels. There are two evidence for the professor argues that. People found that the material of the anchors are made in California instead of China as the theory supposed. Furthermore, although the anchors’ structure are resembling with the Chinese ones, they are similar to the ones Chinese- American or fishermen used in 19th century, long time after 14th century.
Secondly, the reading says that the centuries- old stone structure in Rhode Island are erected by the Chinese in these early settlements in North America. The professor completely contradicts this hypothesis. The extensive studies used a lot of scientist methods proved that the structure are newly served as the windmill of new English settlements. Moreover, there are no confirmation that can assert this structure stone are made by the Chinese.
Finally, the professor refutes that the similarity between some native American’s words. He clarifies that there are too many America tongues as well as China dialects, so it is difficult to show the relation between them. In addition, the words confirmed by historians and linguists do not convince.

R – 21st June 2011

Reading: gone to the passage 1 of the minitest 6
Speaking: covered the pre-speaking task 3&4
Vocabulary: learn by heart from "comparable" to "conceivable"

the good neighbor _ My

Neighbors who live next to our house have great influences in our daily life. They may contribute to your convenience life or raise your stress when you coming home after a tired working day. Seeing that the desperate significance of good neighbors to our live, we should try to be a good neighbor with the characteristics: helpful and community-oriented and handle situation maturely.

First and foremost, a good neighbor is an obliging person. We can help our neighbors such as taking care their pets and their house when they are on vacation or share your one hand without their suggestions. An example is we can help them do some housework or take drug to them when they get sick. Those actions do not just bring them more expedient, but also create a good friend for us.

Secondly, a good neighbor should be community – oriented. People who living next together, sharing the same areas, they sometime conflict in getting their own advantages. Instead of thinking themselves, we should care for our neighbors to balance both our benefits and theirs ones. For example, when we would like turning on the volume to maximize to enjoy the rock songs or sing aloud to reducing stress at midnight, let’s think about our neighbors, they will be unpleasant to hear rock songs or will be insomniac due to your voice. We can satisfy them by using microphones or turn the volume down. Therefore, you can enjoy your interest without annoying our neighbor.

Finally but not less important, as a neighbor we should find out the best ways to solve unexpected problems between you and your neighbor smoothly. The problems are unavoidable when people in daily live, such as his dog bark a lot or his kids break your window. However, we should kindly approach to the neighbor and take into account his concern. Tolerance and sympathy help you get along better as well as the problems solved faster.

There is no exactly qualification for a person to be a good neighbor. Just behave with your neighbor as good as you expect them treat to them, basically being their good friend, think about the others and strengthen your relationships by easing the problems.