Writing task 1: Causes of land degradation

The pie chart indicates the percentage of farmland becoming less solid because of different reasons which are deforestation, over – cultivation and over – grazing. Besides that, the table shows the result of these causes in specific areas which are North America, Europe and Oceania by percentage in 1990s.

As can be seen, the main reasons making agricultural land become less solid were over – grazing and deforestation with 35% and 30%. Over – cultivation also transformed farmland into less productive, with 28%, which is four times of the percentage of farmland destroyed by other reasons.

According to the table, Europe is an area which had the biggest land become less productive with 23% of total Europe’s land, which is almost four times of total degraded land in North America, only 5%. In addition, the land affected by 3 main causes in Europe was higher than 2 other areas. Most land in Oceania was degraded by over – grazing with 11,3% of total land in this region.

In overall, the large amount of farmland was become less solid because of humans demand. Especially in Europe, the amount of less solid land was the biggest number among 3 regions.   

Essay: Affection of technologies on human's relationship

Topic: Nowadays, the way people interact with each other has changed because of technology.

In what way has technology affected the type of relationship people make?

Has this become a positive or negative development?

Nowadays, the way many individuals keep in touch with each other is an issue which frequently generates a great deal of heated debate. With supporters remaining that it is vital to accept that technologies create a good effect on making people become nearer, whilst opponents claim that now people only know about their virtual world and forget the real world. The arguments surrounding such issue will be hence be discussed in this essay.

Upon initial examinations, it cannot be denied that today, people always interact with each other through social networks such as Facebook. Taking my experience as an example, in 5 years ago, on my birthday, a lot of my friends came and gave me presents and the best regard but now, a lot of notifications and e – mails send to me instead of the real people on that day. As a consequence, more and more individuals communicate through the social networks instead of meeting each other.

However, it is not always the case. Despite the fact that technologies have a lot of advantages but it makes a large impact on human’s relationship. Up to a point, many people become lazy and cannot control themselves. The most obvious instance to prove is that everyday it announces a lot of teenager criminal who has addicted game online. That is to say, technologies also have negative affect that people should avoid.

Taking everything into consideration, it can be concluded that the benefits of technologies still far outweigh the obstacles. The course of action would be to attempt to achieve a balance between improvement of technology and the human’s interaction. It is my firm conviction that people should communicate to other people by meeting each other instead of using modern technologies

        

Idiom of fear

1. Shaking like a leaf : means that when someone is too scare that they cannot stop moving

2. Scared stiff: So frightened tat you cannot move

3. It sends shivers up and down my spine: something frightens you very much (useless in Ielts)

Sometimes when i was a little boy, I was scared about the ghost story. Whenever I heard a haunting from my sister I was usually "shaking like a leaf" but it never make me "scared stiff" so My mother always told that I was a brave boy :">.  And now I know that ghost is just imagination and I do not believe in it. But rarely I read a frightening story . maybe "It sends shivers up and down my spine" :-SS

Essay: Credit cards and loans

Topic: Many people are using credit cards or loans to run up huge personal debts that they may be unable to repay. It should therefore be made more difficult for individuals to borrow large amount of money.

It is unarguable that nowadays, credit card is becoming more and more popular. Many people use them and some people have to have at least two. However, a lot of people say that “Using credit cards or loans makes lavish private liability that individual cannot pay for, which create more difficulties people to borrow cash from banks” I strongly agree with this argument and in this essay I will show you more detailed about it.

First of all, now people can have a credit card or debit card easily. Most banks usually encourage their customers create new card and it also make individual feel more convenient especially with their shopping. Unfortunately, people often use money, which is bigger than the real money that have. For example, individual who are shopaholics always buy a lot of things, which may force them, have to borrow money from bank so that make their personal debt become larger and unable to pay.

On the other hands, many individuals usually go to bank and ask for borrowing money to set up their business idea. Many recent researches have shown that there is a variety of business idea created by people everyday but most of them do not work effectively in the real situation as the individuals think. In addition, when the bank releases loan for one ineffective personal idea, it makes the number of their unrepay debt increase. Therefore, it is more difficult for people to borrow the large money from bank.

To sum up, using credit cards and loans from bank may not only make you more convenient but also provide an opportunity for your business idea but it also create your private liability become huger. So individual should think carefully and clearly before borrowing money from bank.

A hidden power of smiling

1.

A collar: the part of a shirt, coat, dress, blouse, etc., that encompasses the neckline of the garment and is sewn permanently to it, often so as to fold or roll over.

2. Embark: to board a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle, as for a journey

3. Span: the distance between the tip of the thumb and the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.

4. Womb: the uterus of the human female and certain higher mammals (Phôi thai)

5. Cannibalism: the eating of human flesh by another human being.

6. Ritual: a system or collection of religious  (Nghi lễ)    

7. Impaired = decrease

8.Courteous = polite

9. Competent:  having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience,etc., for some purpose; properly qualified

TRANSCRIPT:

When I was a child, I always wanted to be a superhero. I wanted to save the world and then make everyone happy. But I knew that I'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true. So I used to embark on these imaginary journeys to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton, which was a lot of fun, but didn't get much result. When I grew up, and realized that science-fiction was not a good source for superpowers, I decided instead to embark on a journey of real science, to find a more useful truth.

I started my journey in California with a UC Berkley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. By measuring their student smiles,researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject's marriage will be, how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being and how inspiring she would be to others. In another yearbook, I stumbled upon Barry Obama's picture. When I first saw his picture, I thought that these superpowers came from his super collar.But now I know it was all in his smile.

Another aha! moment came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players.The researchers found that the span of a players smile could actually predict the span of his life.Players who didn't smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years.

The good news is that we're actually born smiling.Using 3D ultrasound technology, we can now see that developing babies appear to smile, even in the womb. When they're born, babies continue to smile -- initially, mostly in their sleep. And even blind babies smile to the sound of the human voice.Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically-uniform expressions of all humans.

In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea, Paul Ekman, the world's most renowned researcher on facial expressions, found that even members of the Fore tribe, who were completely disconnected from Western culture, and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals, attributed smiles to descriptions of situations the same way you and I would. So from Papau New Guinea to Hollywoodall the way to modern art in Beijing, we smile often,and you smile to express joy and satisfaction.

How many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day? Raise your hand if you do. Oh, wow. Outside of this room, more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day, whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five. In fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children who smile as many as 400 times per day.

Have you ever wondered why being around children who smile so frequently makes you smile very often? A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. You ask, why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically help us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fakewhile holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, But with the pencil in their mouth,when they could not mimic the smile they saw,their judgment was impaired.

In addition to theorizing on evolution in "The Origin of Species", Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. His theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better -- rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. In his study, Darwin actually cited a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne, who used electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. Please, don't try this at home.

In a related German study, researchers used fMRI imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles. The finding supported Darwin's theory by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain in a way that helps us feel better when we smile. Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate -- a well-regarded pleasure inducer --cannot match.

British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate. (Laughter) Wait. The same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds Sterling in cash.That's like 25 grand a smile. It's not bad. And think about it this way: 25,000 times 400 -- quite a few kids out there feel like mark Zuckerberg every day.

And, unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphin and reduce overall blood pressure.

And if that's not enough, smiling can actually look good in the eyes of others. A recent study at Penn State University found that when you smile you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous,but you actually appear to be more competent.

So whenever you want to look great and competent, reduce your stress or improve your marriage, or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate -- without incurring the caloric cost -- or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ages, or whenever you want to tap into a superpower that will help you and everyone around you live a longer, healthier, happier life, smile.

Essay: What is qualities of a talent manager?

Topic: What is a quality of a good manager?

It is unarguable that leading other people is always a hard work and nowadays it seems to be more difficult. There are many arguments globally debating that a manager is a person who delegates all work to subordinates or only knows to use his authority to control other employees. From my point of view, a good leader not only controls working process but also has some important features such as ability to judge people, good communication skills and especially delegating skills.

Delegating skill may be the most important quality which all talent managers must have. Each employee is good at different parts of work, for example, some are good at accounting or administrative jobs while other work well with dealing with clients. A good manager knows which part of the whole working progress will suit with each employee and hence delegates tasks to the right staff. For instance, in most companies, the manager is responsible for every part of the work, so if he or she delegates jobs to the inappropriate staff, the tasks will not be completed in deadline.

Additionally, a good manager also needs to have good communication skills. More detailed studies have shown that normally the manager is not the best person in a group. Although there are people who are better than him or her but a manager must have the best communication ability. A supervisor’s duty is making people in the group interact well and ensure everything is good. Hence communicating with other partners is a vital skill.

However, a good communication ability does not mean to satisfy everyone in a group. A talent manager knows when to make decisions even if they make some employees dissatisfy. It is clear that there are always arguments and conflicts between colleagues and a manager has to judge who is right. If the manager gives a correct judgment, it will not only encourage him to work better but also make employees believe in his ability. In contrast, if the manager makes an incorrect decision, the employees will feel disappointed and may not work effectively as usual.

In general, becoming a talent manager is always a difficult task and a good employer needs many abilities. But nothing is impossible, if a manager knows how to delegate and make good decisions, it is not hard to become an excellent leader.

Writing task 1: The various sources of electricity in the U.S.A

The two pie charts represent the various sources of electricity in the USA.

Describe the information by selecting the main infoemation and make comparisons where relevant. (150 words)

The pie charts indicate the variety of electrical origins in the USA in 1970 and 1984 by percentages. There are many ways to produce electricity which are by coal, by oil, by hydro – power and by nuclear. As can be seen, the electricity which is manufactured by coal had the biggest proportion in both 1970 and 1984, with 46% and 55.5%

According to the pie charts, in 1970, besides the biggest percentages of electricity made by coal, with 46%, most of electricity was produced by natural gas, hydro – power and oil. It was just 12.1 percent of electricity made by oil, which was about a half of the percentages of the electricity produced by natural gas, with 24.3%. There was very small amount of electricity made by nuclear, just 1.4%

It was clear that in 1984, electricity made by coal was still the most used electricity in USA with 55.5%. However, there were many changes in other origins of electricity. The percentage of electricity produced by natural gas was just as a half of the ones in 1970, with 12.3%. Electricity manufactured by hydro – power and oil were also lower than they were in 1970 with 13.7% of electricity made by hydro – power and just only 7% of electricity produced by oil. But the electricity made by nuclear was increased sharply, just from 1.4% in 1970 to 13, 5% in 1984.

To sum up, the electricity made by coal still had the biggest proportion. Other origins of electricity which was hydro – power, oil and natural gas was decreased gradually while the proportion of electricity produced by nuclear was rise sharply.  

Essay: Teaching children how to become good members of society

Topic: Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion 

It is unarguable that nowadays teaching children how to have a good manner is becoming more and more difficult. There are many debates globally that parents should take responsibility to make their children become good members of society. However, other people think that this duty has to be taken by schools. From my point of view, it is a responsibility of both schools and parents.

It is clear that parents have a big effect on their children. If parents are bad, their children will have a bad behavior. So they have to live in good way if they want their children to grow well. Another principal reason is that parents are the only people who the children can share their secrets and help them get over their troubles. Recent researches show that the more parents listen to their children the better they are in future.

 Furthermore, beside parents, children are also affected by many other things such as society, friends and especially schools. If children go to school everyday and they are only taught knowledge about maths, literature, history etc they will be bored quickly. They want to prove themselves in many ways so if schools teach them the right ways, they will follow them. Another point I want to add is that friends also have a large impact on the children. Maybe friends have an effect as large as parents do so a good school will have a right method to choose students who are good enough.

In general, I think that children are affected by a plenty of things and teaching them how to become good members of society is always very difficult and takes a long time. However, I believe that with the patience and advice from both parents and school, children will become good members of society in future.                 

Essay: The early and recent technologies

Topic: Early technological developments helped ordinary people and changed their lives more than recent developments.

To what extent do you agree or disagree

  It is unarguable that technologies are making humans life more and more convenient and modern. However, there are many debates in all over the world about early technological developments take people a bigger move to the future than the recent technologies do. From my point of view, I disagree with this argument because the recent or early technologies have an equal impact on ours lives.

There are a variety of ways that can explain why the early technologies help people more than recent technologies. The principal reason is that with the inventions such as electricity, phone, etc it makes our lives become more modern. For example, people can contact easily to each other when they have a phone or they can light up their room in the evening without candles by an electrical lamp. In addition, the early technologies help human discovery new things in the world such as new energy like gas, fuel etc or new chemical elements.

On the other hand, besides the benefit of the early technologies, the modern technologies also bring many advantages. Here the principal argument is that the present technologies not only base on early technologies but also take humans a fantastic move. An example here is that in 10 years ago, people could not call anyone if they did not have a telephone. Now people can call anyone whenever they want by a small mobile phone or they can share many things easily by the internet. A second positive effect is that the modern technologies can prevent many diseases that are impossible in the past such as cold, cancer, plague etc

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the early and recent technologies have an equal effect on humans. However, some technologies have negative impact such as nuclear technology or process of manufacturing steel in the past etc but without them, people cannot take a big move to the modern life like present.

Essay: Tests and examinations

Topic: Test and examinations are a central feature of school systems in many countries. Do you think the educational benefits of testing outweigh any disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your all knowledge or experience.

Nowadays, assessments and exams are becoming a major feature of academic structure in several nations. There are many arguments around the world debating that the academic advantages of testing pre – dominate its disadvantages. In my opinion, I strongly agree with this argument. It will be proved by analyzing how examinations can help students enrich their knowledge as well as teachers improve their teaching methods

The main purpose of examination is to identify how well the students absorb from lessons hence teachers will adjust ways to teach each students. Tests may be stressful and cause a lot of pressure but it is the easiest method for the teachers to know that their teaching is successful or not. For example, students in one class might not study at same level, some students are at a lower level than the others so through the tests the teacher will know who they are and have more effective ways to teach them.

A very important aspect of testing is to encourage students to focus on self – study  and review their lessons. If the teachers just come and teach with no exams, students probably forget what they have learnt. Because the exams will cover most of knowledge which the teacher have taught so if the students  do not really study during the courses then they have to refresh their knowledge and revise rapidly their lesson in order to pass with flying colors.

From my point of view, I think the most important point of examinations is making students get together and help each other to pass the exam. The assessments not only assess the knowledge of one student but also test how students work together. Through the exams, students can improve their soft – skills such as team – work, presentation etc in addition  by working as a team, students can get on well with others. Probably we have had many discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of examinations but testing is still the most effective way assess the academic ability of students  until now. 

Writing task 1: The value of total and selected exports

The line graphs give the data about the worth of whole exports and selected exports which is fuel, food and manufactured goods in 6 years from 2000 to 2005 by one nation. The number of the whole exports fell dramatically from 300.000 to 250.000 between 2000 and 2002. But from 2002 to 2005 it increased sharply amd peaked at well over 400.000 in 2005. 

As can be seen, in 2000 the value of fuel export was the highest. It was about 45000 more than the double of manufactured goods export and the triple of food export. There was a dramatical decrease of the worth of fuel export from about 45000 to 20000 in 5 years between 2000 and 2005. the export of manufactured goods increased gradually from 2000 to 2002. Although it decreased slightly from well over 20000 to 20000 between 2002 and 2003 but it kept increasing to approximately 25000  2 years later.

The value of food export was the lowest among 3 selected exports. It was always well under 10000, it fluctuated around 5000 and the highest point of it was about 5000 in 2003. 

Writing task 1: The preferred leisure activities of Vietnamese children in 2011

The bar chart shows the percentage of 5 popular action which is skateboarding and rollerblading, bike riding, watching TV or videos, electronic or computer games, art and craft, Vietnamese children between 5 and 14 devided by gender do in their free time in 2011.

As can be seen , the Vietnamese children prefer watching TV or videos to other activities. Its percentage is 100% in both bos and girls. The least preferred action is skateboarding and rollerblading. The percentage of this activity is less than a half of the one of the most favourited action, watching TV and videos. The indoor activities are more preferred than the outdoor activities because the second favourited action is playing electronic or computer games. Its percentage is just over 80% in boys, 60% in girls and higher than the one of bike riding in both sex.

Boys are more intereted in strong action than the action related to art or music. Which is more preferred by girls. In addition the percentage of art and craft activity is just under 60% in girls and well over 20% in boys, which is a big different between two gender.

Transport idioms: Drive

1. In the driver's seat: In English if someone is in control the situation or in charge of something we can say they are in the driver's seat.


2. A backseat driver: if someone tries to take control the situation but they are not responsible for. They can be called a backseat driver


3. A Sunday driver: We call someone who drives in an annoying  slow speed a Sunday driver 


For example:  I think I'm always in the driver's seat in my studying and I like working as a team with other people, which will improve my knowledge and my skill. But I really really don't like working with people like a backseat driver who don't know anything about what has to do or how to do it, however they always tell other people should or shouldn't do.
                    
                      

Writing task 1: Brick manufacturing

The diagram gives the information about the operation how to produce the building meterial, brick, for the structure manufacturing. The process includes 7 steps and can be deviced into 3 main stages.

Firstly, the raw meterial, clay, has to be dug up by a special machine such as a digger. And then the clay is thrown onto the metal grid in order to be selected and broken into the smaller ones, which fall through the metal grid onto a roller. On the roller a worker adds sand and water to create a mixture among sand, water and clay. The mixture is either cut into brick shape by wrie cutter or moulding.

Secondly, the fresh brick are brought into a drying oven and kept in here in 24 to 48 hours, which will make all water is gone out. In next step, the bricks are transferred to a kiln, which is kind of high temperature oven. At first, they are kept at moderate temperature between 200 and 980^oC and then at high temperature between 870^oC  and 1300^oC. at the end of the second main stage, the bricks are stayed in the cooling chamber at least 48 hours and a maxium of 72 hours to decrease its temperature

Finally, when the bricks are ready to be used, they will be packaged and delivered to its fimal destination, a factory or a customer

Colour idioms: Gold

1. As good as gold: When you talk about someone, usually children and pet, is very well-behaved we said it is as good as gold.


2. A heart of gold:  When someone is very kind and helpful people say he/she has a heart of gold


3. Worth its weight in gold: In English if something is extremely useful, we will say it's worth its weight in gold


For example: My family has a dog. He is very intelligent and well-behaved, he is really as good as gold. My mother takes care him, she goes for walk everyday with him. she is also kind and always ready to help other people. Everyone says she has a heart of gold. 


I have a clock, my mother gave to me on my birthday. It is very useful for me. I can know what time it is whenever I want. It also reminds me about managing your time. From my point of view, I think It is worth its weight in gold.