Class Supplement, TOEFL Essay, Pre-Summer 2

Writing Topic　１
Your city has decided to build a statue or monument to honor a famous person in your country. Who would you choose? Use reasons and specific examples to support your choice.

Let’s Think
Very few people are commemorated with statues. How many statues of real figures can you name; Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and …? The person should be special as well as famous. Washington was the first President of the United States. Lincoln helped end the slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully fought against discrimination and sacrificed his life for the purpose. We think these people were so important that we want to keep their statues, the most effective way to remember them.

Who were/are such people in your country? Who were/are famous and special? Who contributed to your society so much as to be commemorated with a statue?

Notes:
1) Since the topic gives no definition about how famous the person should be, as long as a number of people know the person, and even if the person is not world-famous, you can say the person you chose is famous.
2) If you do not remember the name of the person, you could put it this way: I would choose the person who invented blue, green, and white LED (Light-Emitting Diode).

☆Your short response:
I would choose … , who is a …(occupation) .

… is famous for …

What is special about … is that …


Ideas and Expressions
Industrialists
Son Masayoshi: (1957 - ) A businessman and the founder and chief executive officer of SoftBank. He is also a philanthropist. He donated 10 billion yen to the victims of the recent megaquake and has promised to donate to them all of his income every year. In addition, he has taken initiatives of Japan’s shift to a society based on safe and sustainable energy sources.

Ando Momofuku: (1910 - 2007) A businessman who founded Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd. He is famed as the inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles. He invented Chiken Ramen to help people struggling to get food in the aftermath of WWII. He kept donating cup noodles to the people in poor countries and disaster-stricken areas.

Other names: Matsushita Konosuke, Honda Sōichirō

Historical Figures
Fukuzawa Yukichi : (1834 - 1901) An author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern Japan.

Sakamoto Ryōma: (1836 - 1867) A leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan.

Other names: Ito Hirobumi, Sugita Genpaku, Yoshida Shoin, Katsu Kaishu, Ino Tadataka,

Cultural Figures
Miyazaki Hayao : (1941-) A Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films. Miyazaki's films often incorporate recurrent themes like humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. Miyazaki is a vocal critic of capitalism and globalization.

Ozaki Yutaka (1965 - 1992) A popular Japanese musician. He is ranked at No. 23 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians by HMV.

Other names: Yosano Akiko, Kurosawa Akira, Miyazawa Kenji, Murasaki Shikibu, Natsume Soseki , Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Tezuka Osamu, Matsuo Basho, Ikkyu, Dazai Osamu

Athlets
Suzuki Ichiro : (1973-) A Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262. He has had ten consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player. He has been voted onto ten All-Star teams by the fans. Ichiro has won a Gold Glove award in each of his first ten years in the major leagues.

Uemura Naomi:　 (1941 - 1984) Ａ Japanese adventurer. He was particularly well known for doing alone what had previously been achieved only with large teams. For example, he was the first person ever to reach the North Pole solo, the first ever to raft the Amazon solo, and the first ever to climb Mount McKinley solo.

Other names: Krumm Date Kimiko, Ishikawa Ryo, Shimizu Hiroyasu, Arakawa Shizuka, Miura Kazu, Matsui Hideki, Antonio Inoki, Shohei “Giant” Baba


Writing Topic　2
People recognize a difference between children and adults. What events (experiences or ceremonies) make a person an adult? Use specific reasons and examples to explain your answer.

Let’s Think
The status of being an adult probably has three aspects: legal, biological and social aspects. Legal adulthood is obvious, the Coming of Age Day marks your adulthood. Biologically, if you have or have reached the age of the ability to reproduce, you are an adult. However, words like “monster/helicopter parents” show that legal or biological adulthood is not enough to make someone an adult. Monster/helicopter parents are so called partly because they are not mentally independent from their children, so “mental independence” can be one condition for adulthood. What events make a person mentally independent? What other social factors determine one’s adulthood? What other events give children acquire those social factors?

Note: The question specifically says, “What events (experiences or ceremonies),” and so you are required to cite specific events and experiences that cause transformation from childhood to adulthood.


Ideas and Expressions
Economic independence: Money is not everything, but money very often decides relationships. As long as your parents are paying for what is necessary for your survival, they treat you as such, someone in their custody. Also, until you start taking care of yourself moneywise, you are not fully responsible for yourself and hence you are not full-fledged as a member of society. Getting a job makes someone economically independent.

Mental independence: Even if economically not independent, many people are looked upon as adults. For example, a woman whose illness does not allow her to support herself can be mentally mature. She can be respected by others for her strong self-restriction, wisdom, and abundant love for others. Therefore, events that develop these qualities can be said to make a person an adult. Experiencing love which is strong enough to set the beloved free or loss of your family member that makes you think what life and relationships are all about might be some of such events.

Mind development: Childish people are those who are selfish, impatient, and thoughtless. They do not understand that they are members of society, do not have respect for others, and embarrass themselves by following impulses without thinking of the results. Then people who are less childish, who do these things less often, can be called adults. An event or events that intensively expose a child to the adult world, or community, might help this maturation, such as participating in community projects or joining the Boy Scouts.

Reliability: Parents stop, either consciously or unconsciously, giving directions to their children when they realize that their children know what to do and so their directions are unnecessary and that they would probably get better results if they leave everything to their children. This usually happens after events like their children being assigned an important job in community, at school, or in their work places. Through taking responsibility, children become adults, who know everything necessary and what should be done in any situation.

☆Your short response:
I think a person becomes an adult when …

This is because …





Sample short response:
I think a person becomes an adult when an event makes the person stop blaming others.
This is because if you an adult, you know and accept the fact that basically no one can fully care about you. Of course we help each other and love each other as humans, but on a personal level, you have to protect yourself in the end. Parents, even if they might do everything to cajole their child to eat carrots, are helpless if she does not eat the food that she does not like. A wife cannot be fully aware of her husband’s health not matter how much she loves him. When the child grows up to be physically weak, when the husband develops skin cancer because of his love of sunshine, they cannot blame anybody but themselves. An adult is a person who takes this sheer personal responsibility for granted. Therefore, when you see your best friend, a really good person, panic at an earthquake and run out of the room leaving you behind, you are one step closer to your adulthood.