上智国際教養学部公募推薦入試対策 Homework 英検1級作文 2017

Name:                                        

Write a one paragraph essay on each topic using at least three of the expressions following the topic.

1.    Agree or disagree: World peace is an achievable goal  2016年度1回 　POINTS： protection-only policy, peaceful co-existence, discussion, mutual understanding, historical background, apology and compensation for past mistakes, compromise, sharing interests, education, globalization, economic inequality, military industrial complex, vested interests and terrorism

2.    Can the global food supply be ensured in the coming decades? 2014年度2回 　POINTS：climate change due to global warming, water shortage, extinction of useful creatures, pollination. agricultural practices, damage to fisheries, greenhouse gases, methane from cattle, CO2 emissions from cars and factories, conflict, eating less beef, international cooperation, population growth

3.  Is too much emphasis put on work in modern society? 2011年度2回  POINTS： business culture, stress, harassment, family relations, global competition, health, materialism, temporary employment, basic income, basic needs

4.    Agree or disagree: The use of nuclear power should be expanded 2008年度1回  POINTS： demand for electricity, disposal of nuclear waste, global warming, price of oil, renewable energy, safety, nuclear weapons

5.    Agree or disagree: Can restrictions on freedom of speech ever be justified?  2017年度1回 　POINTS：democracy, supression of free speech, McCarthyism, the Red Purge in the Empire of Japan, public interest, public safety, violation of privacy, anonymity of the Internet, syber-bullying, hate speech, slander or libel, common sense

6.    Are people in modern society losing their moral values? 2009年度2回 POINTS： white-collar crimes, bullying, bad public matters, indifference to the disadvantaged, dysfunctional communities, poor interpersonal relation, competitive society, materialism, grassroots movement, the Internet

7.    When future generations look back on this era, for what will they praise and/or criticize us?  2006年度1回  POINTS： fossil fuel age, technology, the gap between the haves and have-nots, health and medicine, human rights, international relations, intolerance, morals and values, scientific endeavor

以下は皆さん全員の答案を添削することが不可能なので宿題にしませんが、試験本番までに答案を書いてみて模範解答に目を通し、模範解答の書写か要約をしておいてください。直前まで勉強を続ける姿勢を崩さず頑張りましょう。

その他の国際教養学部関連英検1級作文トピック 

Should Japan play a bigger role in international affairs? 2010年度1回 　POINTS：Cultural exchanges, Development aid, Domestic issues, Nuclear disarmament, Terrorism, The environment

Making the world safer for future generations 2005年度1回   POINTS： diplomacy, disaster preparedness, human rights, nuclear disarmament, public health, renewable energy

TOPIC：Can international terrorism ever be eliminated? 2015年度2回 　POINTS：Economic inequality, Education, Financial costs, Historical background, International relations, Military action

Agree or disagree: National identity is becoming less important in today’s global society. 2006年度2回   POINTS： immigration, international conflicts, language, nationalism, tourism, values and traditions

Do the benefits of free trade outweigh the disadvantages? 2014年度1回 　POINTS： Competition, Consumers, Economic growth, Environmental concerns, International relations, Tradition and culture

Should cloning research be promoted, or should it be discontinued? 2015年度1回　POINTS：Endangered species, Ethics, Financial costs, Food supply, Medical applications, Risks

Does the mass media have a beneficial effect on society? 2,013年度3回　POINTS：Advertising, Education, Human rights, Politics, Privacy, Public safety

Do multinational corporations play a positive role in today’s world? 2013年度1回 POINTS：Consumers, Cultural diversity, Human rights, Jobs, Tax revenue, The environment

Should more be done to eliminate world hunger? 2007年度2回 POINTS： Climate change, Genetically, modified crops, Fair trade, International aid, Transfer of technology, War

Should there be more government control of the Internet? 2005年度2回  POINTS： censorship, copyright and intellectual property, free speech, fraud, privacy, viruses

Does the developed world have a responsibility to help developing countries overcome poverty?  2005年度3回   POINTS： legacy of colonialism, civil unrest, corruption, economic aid, multinational corporations, natural resources, the technology gap

The advantages and / or disadvantages of public transportation 2004年度2回   POINTS： environmental effects, traffic conditions, independence, costs, safety, accessibility

Can the global demand for water be met in the future? 2012年度1回  POINTS： agricultural practices, climate change, government regulations, household consumption, infrastructure, territorial boundaries

Agree or disagree: World poverty can be eliminated 2011年度3回  POINTS： education, globalization, political corruption, population growth, technology, the United Nations

Do the benefits of genetically modified crops outweigh the dangers? 2009年度1回  POINTS： economic impact, global warming, government regulations, human health, resistance to disease and pests. world hunger

Is society doing enough to deal with violent crime? 2008年度2回  POINTS： banning weapons, economic causes of crime, school education, stricter punishments, surveillance cameras, the influence of the media

Will societies with aging populations face a crisis in the future? 2008年度3回POINTS：Birthrate、Family responsibility, Health care, immigration, Role of senior citizens, Taxes

Agree or Disagree : Space exploration should be continued 2012年度2回 POINTS：dangers, expense, other needs, life on other planet, scientific research, space colonization

Are prisons an effective way to deal with criminals? 2010年度3回  POINTS： costs, crime deterrence, human rights, public safety, punishment, rehabilitation, education, social system

Has urbanization had a positive effect on Japanese society? 2014年度3回 POINTS：Convenience, Economic effects, Health, Human relations, The environment, Traditional culture

TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, Computers can provide all the information that once could be found only in books, and therefore, it will not be long before electronic technology makes books unnecessary. - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Consider the following statement. Computers can provide all the information that once could be found only in books, and therefore, it will not be long before electronic technology makes books unnecessary. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

☆Hints for Points

Agree: information search … more efficient / thousands of books in an electronic reader / many functions that allow quicker and better learning

Disagree: no need for electricity / some information that cannot be digitized (copy right, when the book itself provides information) / more reliable information

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

I do not have the impression that books will soon become antiques that you seldom see in your daily lives, at least in lives of people who read.

Technically, digitalized books will replace paper books in the near future. In terms of information search, it is usually much more efficient to use computers than it is to go to the library or subscribe to a newspaper; books that purely provide information such as dictionaries and encyclopedias have almost gone extinct. Tablets and electronic readers have displays pretty close to the surface of book pages and allow flipping and underlining. It might not be long before functions for leafing through and writing in are added. Ultimately, the difference will be literally either in ink on paper or electric. Here I think is the answer to this question. Paper books will not become totally unnecessary because they exist in the non-virtual world.

First, libraries will keep paper books even though they have been digitizing books over decades. Paper and electric books complement each other in their physical shortcomings. Unlike e-books, paper books are bulky and vulnerable to nature such as fire and fungi, yet they are important resources because of their feature as tangible objects. They are ready to be read any time if you just pick them up and open them. Computers need electricity. For fear of blackouts, cyber-terrorism, or accidents that will disable access to or cause damage on digital archive, hard copies will always be kept in libraries and archives. Paper books are to human knowledge what bankbooks are to our accounts. Everyone has bankbooks in this era of e-banking.

In private libraries, books might gradually disappear but will never be “unnecessary.” Digital books occupy no space and this is attractive for most of us, who do not live in a mansion. Therefore, natural selection, in fact the owner’s selection, of books in our bookshelves will be accelerated as many more cheaper digitalized versions will be available. However, people still keep buying paper books. Personally, I use electric reader only for novels. Paper books are necessary for serious studies. When you jump from one page to another according to your thought, just flipping the pages is much faster than typing in the key words for search on the electric version. Also, I think those books to which you have some personal attachment will remain. They are in your shelf as proof of your life. It is hard to imagine readers throwing away their favorite books and downloading e-books of the same titles no matter how small apartments they live in, and I think some of their books will establish the same kind of relationship with the next owners after their death, and this will be repeated until they are worn out and naturally perish. It would take long for all paper books to disappear this way, and they will just disappear, treasured by someone till the last moment. Therefore, paper books will never become unnecessary.

The substantial presence of books will be necessary in a digitized society. Paper books are often more handy than e-books in study. Good books will always be loved and needed by their owners until someday they are not available in print, and probably some special books such as the Bible, the Koran, or Bruce Springsteen’s biography, whose existence is indispensable for many people, will always be in demand.

☆Sample Body Structures

A

【Good Points of Digitalized Books】

【Good Points of Paper Books】

【Why You Think Paper Books Will/Will not Be Unnecessary】

B

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Why Bad Points do not matter】

Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

☆Paragraph Development

Paragraph development is a key to making your essay convincing. If a paragraph has only one sentence or two, it lacks some essential sentences such as supporting details (background information), or the main idea. Also, as Japanese, whose culture directs them to start with details and give a generalized idea in the end, we often make a paragraph like the following.

Paragraph A

By pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary installed in the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the related information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by sound, picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more quickly, actively and intuitively. E-books will make learning more efficient. It will not be long before school provides students with tablets instead of textbooks.

The paragraph above goes from specific (detail) to general (conclusion). If this paragraph is rewritten to conform to the English essay structure, the western thought process, it may become as follows.

Paragraph B

【Main Idea】 E-books will make learning more efficient.

【Detail / Example】 For example, by pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary installed in the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the related information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by sound, picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more quickly, actively and intuitively.

【Conclusion】 It will not be long before school provides students with tablets instead of textbooks.

As you can see, the comment after the detail in the former (Paragraph A) is placed on top of the latter (Paragraph B) as the main idea of the paragraph. If you add sentences of transition and follow-up it would be as follows.

【Main Idea】 E-books will make learning more efficient.

【Transition】 Their functions will help faster and more active learning.

【Detail / Example】 For example, by pointing a word you do not know, you can look into the dictionary installed in the electronic reader for the word. You can also refer to the related information of a particular person or event, often accompanied by sound, picture, and video. With the help of these functions, you can learn more quickly, actively and intuitively.

【Follow up】 It is true that to have a deeper understanding of a subject, you might need to read some books, but digitized books help form a general idea of a topic efficiently.

【Conclusion】 It will not be long before school provides students with tablets instead of textbooks.

It might be a good idea for us Japanese to write following our thought process (specific →general) and then rearrange the sentences following the western thought process (general→ specific).

Your test paragraph development:

【Main Idea】

【Transition】

【Detail / Example】

【Follow up】

【Conclusion】

TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, Imagine that a company has announced plans to build a large factory in your community. Would you support this addition to your community? - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Imagine that a company has announced plans to build a large factory in your community. Would you support this addition to your community?

☆Notes:

“a large factory”… It has advantages and disadvantages.

“in your community” … You can consider distinct conditions in your community.

So you can start with discussing merits and demerits of building a factory in general, and then add some conditions of your community to conclude.

☆Hints for Points

◍merits and demerits of building a factory in general

advantages: It will stimulate the local economy. / The employment will improve. / The municipal government will benefit from the tax revenue increase.

disadvantages: air/water/noise pollution / Transportation will be crowded. / There might be conflicts between old and new residents

◍conditions of your community

old residential area → The health of senior citizens might be adversely affected.

already full of factories  → more demerits than merits

☆Counter-argument: When you think of a counter-argument, take it up, and deal with it by, for example, proving the counter argument does not make a case.

e.g.

◍The employment will improve. 

⇔ Corporations employ dispatched workers, who are already trained to do the same kind of tasks and do not cost much.

⇔ The community leaders can organize themselves to make sure that the factory will give priority to hiring residents in the area before the construction starts.

◍effect on the environment (pollution, CO2 emissions, habitat loss, etc.)

⇔ New technology will reduce the impact on the environment.

⇔ A corporation owes responsibility not to the environment or the community but to the shareholders. It won’t seriously take measures to protect the environment.

Sample Body Structures

A

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Why good points are not attractive / Why bad points do not matter】

B

【Good Points】

【Bad Points】

【Conditions of My Community】

Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

I would welcome the factory if it is run by a new type of company but strongly reject it if it is owned by the conventional corporation. Although it would seemingly benefit my town mainly because of job creation, a factory owned by the corporation would eventually bring unhappiness to the community and humankind.

In the long run, a corporate-owned factory would harm my community and its environment. By law, a corporation is only responsible to its shareholders, not to the community, and much less to the environment. If calculation shows that it can still make profits even if it has to pay compensation for the damage caused by the production, the corporation just makes the product. As we have seen, factories have polluted the air, water, and soil, and many people have suffered due to defective products.

Outsourcing is another practice to worry about. If the factory is successful, the company wants to expand and it will close the factory to build some in overseas countries where cheap labor forces are available. If this happens, not to speak of the plight of the people who are exploited there in the third world, my town will be full of the unemployed. This has happened in America over the last 20 years. The result is a bunch of ghost towns and the crushed middle class. Tight economy and harsh global market competition, plus very expensive personnel costs of my country Japan, can transform even a paternalistic Japanese company into a ruthless, money-hungry machine. It is sensible to suspect the possibility of future offshoring of the factory.

Moreover, the corporation could close even a most productive factory for profits. For example, if the product the factory turns out is abundant in the market, the company could stop manufacturing it to prevent its price from falling down, just as extra crops such as oranges are discarded to manipulate the market prices, when many people are starving, as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath half a century ago and is being done right at this moment somewhere on this planet.

A new type of company that I would be pleased to invite to my town is one of employee ownership. I myself have no desire to own a company, but, in theory, I think this system will make our lives better. Employee ownership allows all employees literally participate in policy making. This would drive the factory to the right direction even though the majority is not always right. For instance, considering most ordinary citizens are concerned about environmental issues while many large companies are still denying the global warming theory for fear of loss caused by policy change, a company where decisions are made by workers’ majority vote is sure to emit minimum amount of CO2 and easy on the environment in general. Needless to say, the pay gap between the officials and the rank-and-file would be smaller because everyone is the owner of the company. This kind of company is established by people who have values far from money-and-power orientation and therefore, my town would be livelier with people respecting and supporting each other.

A company as a tool for extra-income of a few super-rich people is not welcome, while a company of the ordinary people, by the ordinary people, for the ordinary people is a great welcome. Increase of factories operated by this type of companies would drastically change society.

国際教養AO入試 , 早稲田国際教養学部（SILS）, Supplementary Material, Born a Crime, Trevor Noah with answer keys

Read the following excerpt and answer the following questions.

.....

(Adopted from Trevor Noah, Born a Crime  pp. 54-56)

                                             

1.    What does the author mean by “I became a chameleon” in the first line in the last paragraph? Why and how did he become a chameleon?

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

2.    Name factors other than a language ability that could change other’s perception of your appearance. Use bullets to describe.

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

3.   Out of necessity, the author became a “chameleon” in a positive way, but it might be sometimes unacceptable to not be yourself or stick to your policy. Write your idea about it.

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

                                                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                                                               

Answer Keys

1.    What does the author mean by “I became a chameleon” in the first line in the last paragraph? Why did he become a chameleon?

By “I became a chameleon,” the author means that he came to be able to change his racial, and tribal, identity projected to the mind of the person he is talking to in response to the person’s race, and tribe. He is a person of mixed race who grew up in a society with racial and tribal diversity, which made him often the target of discrimination and violence. To survive in the circumstance, he learned the languages of the races and tribes around him. Speaking the same language as the others are speaking saved him from being regarded as a stranger.

2.    Name factors other than a language ability that could change others’ perception of your appearance. Use bullets to describe.

◍Sense of Humor  If we can laugh together about the same joke, we are the same kind.

◍Clothing  How you dress yourself shows where you are from.

◍Item of a Certain Social Group  People carry items of their social group to show their identity.

◍Religious Icon  This shows others whether you serve their god or something else.

◍Your Company  If you are a friend of my kind, you are cool.

◍The Way People around You Treat You  Blending in a scene in harmony, you can pass as one of them.

◍SNS Postings about You  SNS postings often fix the way others look at you.

3.    Out of necessity, the author became a “chameleon” in a positive way, but it might be sometimes unacceptable to not be yourself or stick to your policy. Write your idea about it.

When you are responsible to someone for something related to the person’s belief, you should not be a chameleon, changing your character or identity from one to another. A parent should stay the same as they were yesterday in front of their children; otherwise, they would be confused and lose their trust in their parent’s integrity. Teachers, coaches, and other people in the same kind of social position must be careful not to change their basic style or policy they present to people they are in charge of for the same reason. Also, when your circumstance is wrong in light of universal values or against what you have grown up with, you cannot conform to the circumstance, losing yourself and becoming part of the phenomenon. Since nothing, neither times nor people, stays the same, you have to stubbornly abide by the unchangeable such as ethics, rules of civil society, and your roots. Society makes people behave differently from one moment to another, wearing totally different personas in response to the change of the atmosphere of the circumstance. It might be necessary to some extent, but it is in essence dangerous. It could drive us to our demise because we do not know what we are doing when we let not our wisdom but the atmosphere control us.