Is progress always good? Scientific progress brings us many conveniences and advanced

machines, such as computers, automobiles, and so on. Progress seems to have made life more simple and more comfortable. But if we analyze it carefully, we will find that progress is not always good.

Modern industry brings us more convenient life. But at the same time, some problems appear. For example, "the green-house effect" is a very serious problem that scientists try to solve it as early as possible. It increases the earth temperature and some icebergs melt and the sea level becomes higher and higher gradually. Maybe someday the sea will swallow some big cities nearby the sea.

Progress enhances the product efficiency, but it also brings us an other serious problem-pollution. Pollution is so serious that ecological balance is damaged and many animals and plants lose their

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living environment and become extinct eventually. The air is polluted and it is not suitable for people. The water is also polluted and people are facing deficiency of drinking water in some countries.

Progress makes the speed of life faster and faster because of the usage of computers and

automatic machines. People have to work faster than before and it makes them nervous. More

and more physical and psychological problems disturb people's life. Many people do not have time for recreation.

From the above statements, it can be concluded that progress is not always good. It has its own negative influences on our life. Maybe those problems can be solved by more progress.

(Essay ID: 367 )

Topic: 37

Alll over the world people are welcoming progress into their home, their business and their

education. Larg corporations use progress in technology, industries use progress in their

manufacture process. How ever, when we think about in larger picture, it is clear that progress can be damaging in some cases. We as asociety have to check ourselfs once and a while to make sure, that the progress is not making to much damage to certain communities around the world.

Speaking as a member of avery spacial community called a Kibbutz, which used to provid to our poeple from the agriculture products we grow in our own feilds, and sell in markets. When progress came to our country, many industries got stronger, and farmers like ourselfs found their selfs without a future for their agriculture investment, that they worked and built for years. In this case progress has damaged a larg community, and made them face a hard finencial fueture.

Another unfourtunate veiw on progress, is the use of computures to entertain children. In the year 2000, when every home has adopted the progress in computures, children find themselfs sitting long hours infront of the compure instead of playing outside or inviting friends over. This way of spending to much time on the computure is very damaging to thier social skills, and even a reason for weight gain amoung young children.

After looking at a differnt aspects of progress, i can say clearly, that progress has to be supervised. That in some cases progress is making a big damage for our society. People sould welcome progress in many feilds of life, but always have your eyes open for littel "land mines" that could make an unreversable situation and future.

(Essay ID: 317. This is a 5 point essay)

Topic: 37

The nobleness & the use of progress in any field, to an individual, or to the society on the whole, will depend on what use the progress is being put to, and I feel, cannot be generalized as stated above.

Progress has been inherent with the human race. As the human brain developed, so has progress been achieved, in almost all fields known to man. The cultural progress over the ages, have made humans better and made this world, a better place to live in. Similarly, scientific progress has been effective in eradicating diseases, providing better food crops, facilitating transportation etc. Literary progress has helped us better document our history and has produced works that have made us think. Progress in communication techniques have converged this whole world of ours,

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into the 'global village'.

If we look at the above examples, we see that they are all aimed at the betterment of our world. Here progress is being applied for the society's good.

The products from the same progress in the various fields, when in wrong hands, wreak havoc in the same society that they are supposed to make better.

Sophisticated arms & explosives in the hands of terrorists & children, science of human cloning in the hands of scientists, crop control technologies in the hands of corporations etc., are some of the examples of how progress can go wrong. Think of how much better the world would be, without nuclear and biological weapons, without mutated food grains et al. Think of how many people would not have died or maimed for life, if there had been no land mines ? After witnessing the destructive use the Dynamite could be put to, Alfred Nobel himself repented his own creation of Dynamite so much that he set up the Nobel prize, to be awarded to people who work for the betterment of the human society.

Therefore, it is my strong contention that progress is only good when it is put to the right use, for the betterment and upliftment of the individual and the society, on a whole. Progress put to any ulterior uses should be outrightly condemned.

(Essay ID: 320. This is a 5 point essay)

Topic: 38

I disagree wholeheartedly that learning about the past has no value for those of us living in the present. In fact, the definition of learning includes the idea of an accumulation of experiences from the past. Learning can only take place if we make an association between things that have happened in the past or between something in the past and something that we predict will happen in the future. All knowledge that we acquire as we grow is from the past-language, customs, academic subjects, and so on. While it may be helpful sometimes to be able to overlook previous knowledge in order to avoid the constraint conformity, the vast majority of knowledge that we learn is a huge boost-imagine if each of us had to discover by ourselves that 2 + 2 = 4! So, in a very real sense, all learning depends on past events.

We are only able to live in this world with our current standard of living because we have learned from the past. We receive knowledge from the past and we are able to use it and improve it. We examine our actions in the past and we make judgments about what was right and what was wrong. Then, it is hoped, we will attempt to avoid those same mistakes again. For example, one of the great mistakes all over the world has been depriving women and the disempowered classes status in society and many industrialized and developing countries all over the world are attempting to avoid such mistakes both in the present and in the future.

Furthermore, all of the knowledge that we have today is a result of all the work of our

predecessors. The ancient Greeks developed geometry, which helped other European scientists analyze the solar system, which in turn gave us a new understanding of our place in the universe. The great majority of technology today depends directly on several thousands of years of work of past thinkers. To ignore the knowledge of the past would be to throw away five thousand years of history and experience.

There is, however, some seemingly small, but important value to ignoring the past. It is often the case that history or tradition has the effect of constraining our thought in the present and many important philosophical and scientific breakthroughs have only been possible as a direct result of

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ignoring the past. The past, in a sense, can blind us to the truth, we can become bound by

tradition. For example, at one time, leading thinkers in Europe thought that the Earth was at the center of the universe and those who disagreed were persecuted as heretics, even Copernicus, who we now know was correct about his heliocentric model of the Solar System. However, scientists were eventually able to break from the past and accept the new model of the universe.

In short, learning from and analyzing the past has enormous value for us and life as we know it on Earth today would not be possible without the benefit of thousands of years of history and accumulated knowledge. It is important, however, to ignore the past so that we can make a step forward, and such free thinking should be encouraged, although not at the expense of past knowledge. Learning from the past is something like learning from our parents-in most cases, their past helps us have a better future, but there are times when we need to make a break from the past and make a bold step into an unknown future.

(Essay ID: 122 . Sample essay provided by Erin Billy of www.TestMagic.com)

Topic: 39

Technology has greatly improved the way we get information. Students can now get more information, get it more quickly, and get it more conveniently.

The Internet and the World Wide Web has opened every major library and database to students around the world. Information comes not only in print form, but also in multimedia. You can get audio and video data. You can get information about events in the past as well as events that unfold as you watch your computer monitor.

Information comes at the speed of the Internet which is to say in nanoseconds. ? You can type in a few key words in your search engine, and the engine will search the entire WWW to find information on your topic. You don't have to spend hours pouring over card catalogs in the library and looking at the shelves. This research is done for you instantly on the Web.

It is certainly more convenient to sit at home and do research on your computer. Your computer is open 24-hours a day, unlike a library or office which has limited hours and limited resources. You can do research in your pajamas while you eat breakfast. What could be more convenient?

Technology, especially the Internet, has certainly changed the quantity and quality of the

information we get. The speed and convenience of a computer helps students learn more, more quickly.

(Essay ID: 123 )

Topic: 40

I do strongly support the idea that we should keep trying and never stop working for our goals. I think this is the most important thing that can help us to achieve our goals. I believe that everybody meets many obstacles in their lives before achieving their goals. I have learned the biography of some famous people in the past. I found that almost all of them persevered through enormous hardships in order to reach their goals. In this essay, I will give you an example of the attempt of a great inventor of the world named Thomas Edison.

I am quite sure that everybody knows Thomas Edison. He made many inventions during his lifetime. According to his biography, it states that he always met obstacles in order to invent something. However, he still kept trying in order to meet his goals. I personally think that this is

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the most important thing that made him reach his goals. Some scientists said that it was impossible to invent something such as electric light and movie projector. However, he could make them success. In my opinion, the greatest invention of Edison was electric light. I have learned that he got many hardships and failures, but he never gave up. He spent about two years to achieve it. He used to say that his successes came from hardworking more than luck or fate.

In conclusion, I believe that everyone cannot achieve their goals if they always give up when they meet the obstacles and hardships. I think that we have to try to solve the problems we will meet. I am quite sure that we can do everything success if we are confident that we can do it and never give it up.

(Essay ID: 125 . Sample essay provided by Erin Billy of www.TestMagic.com)

Topic: 40

"Never, never give up" means to keep trying and never stop working for your goals. I think it's a very good piece of advice for all of us.

Never stop working for your goals doesn't mean you must be successful; it doesn't even mean that you must achieve your goal, but it's very important to keep it in your mind.

You want to be a great basketball player, but you are 1,60m tall; you want to be a great pianist, but what you have studied in the university was physics; you want to establish your own company, but you are just a clerk in a small company. These examples are very common in our real lives.

There are enough unfavorable conditions which make our lives difficult, but what important for us is to make efforts towards your goal or your dream. If you have given your best for your goal or your dream, whether you succeed or not, at least you won't leave any regret in your life. What's more, who knows, what will happen in the next 10 years?

You might not be a famous basketball player, but you could become a good player in the

basketball-team of your school. You might not be a great pianist, but you play the piano very well and enjoy yourself after the heavy work every day. You might not be able to establish your own company yet, but you are just collecting experience and knowledge as a good manager, and maybe in 10 years, you will become the boss of your own company.

Few of us have perfect lives, what I want to say is, don't give up working for your goal or your dream. If you succeed, you will taste great joy in your life. If you don't succeed, you won't have regret in your life because you have given your best. Besides, in trying to achieve your goals, you might find out that perhaps your goals are not correct or not practical at all, then you can improve them and make your life more beautiful.

(Essay ID: 124 )

Topic: 41

In the past, there have been many endangered animals. Now they are extinct. Does it matter? Has our environment been affected by their absence? Has the quality of our own life been changed? The answer to these questions is "Yes."

It does matter if we destroy an endangered species habitat to develop more farmland, housing or industrial parks. There is a delicate balance of nature. If one small part is removed, it will affect all

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the other parts. For example, if certain trees are cut down, bats will have no place to roost. If they cannot roost, they cannot breed. If there are no bats, there will be no animal, or bird to eat certain insects that plague our crops.

Our environment has been affected by the absence of certain animals. Certain flowers are

pollinated by butterflies which migrate from Canada to Mexico. Some of the breeding grounds of these butterflies were destroyed. Now these flowers are disappearing from certain areas. We will no longer be able to enjoy their beauty.

The quality of our life has been changed. America used to be covered with giant trees. Now we have to visit them in one small park. Rainforests around the world are being cut down to make room for humans. We will never be able to see or study this fragile ecosystem.