早稲田国際教養AO, Climax of Humanity -partly rewritten-

SILSのAO入試で本問題を含めて３回引用されているJeffrey Sachs教授の主張が入っている問題です。２１世紀の課題を今後どのように解決してゆくべきかを提案し続けている教授が、成長期を過ぎた経済と環境問題の関係改善のための持続可能経済による取り組みについて述べています。

主な注意点

問１と問２  総評：記号問題は全問正解を目指しましょう。提示されたマテリアルを正確に読めることが合格答案の第１条件だと思います。準備勉強の優先度は、

【読解力→要約力→オリジナリティー（自分の知っている具体例が出せる力）】の順になります。

1.     A    正解D 18^th century はthe industrial revolutionが起こった時代なので正解です。産業革命によって起こった大きな変化（人口増加、近代経済社会の行き詰まり、温暖化を含む環境問題）が21世紀に深刻になると言っています。 

B    正解F 第３文は「（今は生産性増加と人口増加と資源増加によって増えている）経済成長が生産性のみに頼ることになる」と言っているので経済成長はスピードダウンすると考えられます。また第４文以降は、「（経済発展中の）昔の挑戦（問題）の代わりに（経済発展後の停滞経済では）社会保障道の問題が起こるだろう」と予測しています。Cは第５段落関連です。第５段落ではいわゆる”deniers” 「（人間による地球温暖化の）事実を認めない人」は漠然となんとかできると主張する代わりに現実認識をする必要があると言っています。

C    正解C第５段落全体のメッセージは「漠然となんとかできるというイデオロギーを捨てて現実を直視すれば必要な計画が見えてくる」です。  

2.     c. 第２段落第３文で「人口増加率は下がった」と述べていますが、増加率と増加は異なります。第４文で「現在の傾向から判断すると今世紀半ばにかけて９０億人ぐらいで停滞するだろう」と言っているのでまだ人口増加自体は止まっていないことが分かります。

問３ 内容が理解できていることを示すだけでなく共感または批判が感じられると良いと思います。

a. 本文該当箇所を見つけたら言い換えをしましょう。内容を理解していることを採点者に伝えるためには言い換えをしなくてはなりません。 特に比喩は必ず言い換えてください。比喩が象徴する語を本文内容の語に置き換えてみましょう。price tag=value, hang a price tag=evaluate (calculate) the value, nature’s benefits=products and services that nature provides for humansなどと置き換えられるので、例えば、The recent approach described in the passage is to make assessment of the value of the products and services that nature provides for humans. のような文が作れると思います。

b. a の方法の良さに対する共感があると言葉の選択がより正確でより説得力のあるものになると思います。このpassageで提案されている「持続可能経済」が「aのアプローチを行う価値」の答えの中心になります。

c. aの方法は「人間の経済活動に関わる自然の価値を金額に換算すること」なので実際に科学者になったつもりでこの方法を実施する時の困難について考えて答えてみましょう。

解答のポイント

主題： 21世紀は人口・経済・環境のバランスが課題であるが、環境コストの換算・導入を地道に行うことで環境に負担をかけずに経済発展し貧困問題を解決することができる。

本文該当箇所　第3段落 These three concurrent, intertwined transitions―demographic, economic, environmental―are what historians of the future will remember when they look back on our age. これら3つの同時で絡み合った推移（人口・経済・環境）が将来の歴史家が私たちの時代を振り返った時思い出すことだろう。第8段落 In recent years, economists and environmental scientists have come together to hang a price tag on nature’s benefits. 近年、経済学者と環境科学者が集合して環境の利得を換算してきた。 第9段落When the environment is properly accounted for, what is good for nature is often what is good for the economy and even for individual business sectors. 環境の適切な明細説明がなされれば、自然に良いことは経済や個人経営部門にとってさえしばしば良いことなのだ。第10段落 If decisions makers can get the framework right, the future of humanity will be secured by thousands of mundane decisions:  how many babies people have, where they graze their cattle, how they insulate their houses. 政治家が枠組みをきちんとできれば人類の将来は、生む子供の数や牛に草を食ませる場所や家の断熱方法など何千ものありふれた決定によって救われるだろう。

問１　段落要約問題　別プリント参照

①    正解D 18^th century はthe industrial revolutionが起こった時代なので正解です。産業革命によって起こった大きな変化（人口増加、近代経済社会の行き詰まり、温暖化を含む環境問題）が21世紀に深刻になると言っています。

②    正解F 第３文は「（今は生産性増加と人口増加と資源増加によって増えている）経済成長が生産性のみに頼ることになる」と言っているので経済成長はスピードダウンすると考えられます。また第４文以降は、「（経済発展中の）昔の挑戦（問題）の代わりに（経済発展後の停滞経済では）社会保障道の問題が起こるだろう」と予測しています。事実を認めない人」は漠然となんとかできると主張する代わりに現実認識をする必要があると言っています。

③    正解C第５段落全体のメッセージは「漠然となんとかできるというイデオロギーを捨てて現実を直視すれば必要な計画が見えてくる」です。 

問２　文章と表１によれば以下の文は正しいでしょうか間違っているでしょうか？解答欄にTrueかFalseと書いて答を示してください。

a.     商品や業務に支払われる値段は一般に関連環境コストを含む。False

本文該当箇所　第7段落More broadly, the prices we pay for goods and services seldom include the associated environmental costs. より一般的には私たちが品物や業務に払う値段はめったに関連環境コストを含んでいない。(価格は環境コストをめったに含まない。)

b.     極貧の減少は世界の全ての地域で均一だ。False

本文該当箇所　表１　（減少度には地域差があり激増している地域もある。）

c.     増加率は減ったが世界人口は依然として増加している。True

第２段落第３文で「人口増加率は下がった」と述べていますが、増加率と増加は異なります。第４文で「現在の傾向から判断すると今世紀半ばにかけて９０億人ぐらいで停滞するだろう」と言っているのでまだ人口増加自体は止まっていないことが分かります。

本文該当箇所　第2段落After several centuries of faster-than-exponential growth, the world’s population is stabilizing. Judging from current trends, it will plateau at around nine billion people toward the middle of this century. 数世紀間の指数関数的以上の成長後、世界人口は安定しつつある。現在の傾向から判断すると、今世紀半ばにかけて約90億人で横ばいになるだろう。

(「 安定しつつある」＋「2050年ごろ停滞」= 安定傾向にあるがまだ増加中)

問３　この文章は「ビジネスは必ずしも自然の敵ではない」のであり、私たちは経済と環境の福利を査定する新しい方法が必要だと提案しています。

a.     この文章で述べられた最近の方法は何ですか？

考え方  第8段落該当箇所を自分の言葉で言い換える。「価格に環境コストを含める」がどういう仕掛けなのかを説明する。注 b. の答え（この方法の有用性）と混ざらないようにする。

本文該当箇所　第7段落　More broadly, the prices we pay for goods and services seldom include the associated environmental costs. 更に広い意味では、品物やサービスに支払う値段には、関連する環境コストはめったに含まれていない。　第8段落 In recent years, economists and environmental scientists have come together to hang a price tag on nature’s benefits. 近年、経済学者と環境科学者が集合して環境の利得を換算してきた。

解答のポイント例　The approach assesses and includes environmental costs in prices. / It includes damage that nature will have through economic activities―resource depletion, environmental destruction, etc.―in prices as environmental costs, and has producers and consumers directly pay for the damage. 環境コストを算出して価格に含めるアプローチ。経済活動によって自然が受ける損害（資源減少、環境破壊等）を環境コストとして商品価格に加え、生産者と消費者に直接損害の支払いをさせる。

b.     なぜこの方法を使う価値があるのですか？

考え方  環境コストを考慮しないことによる悪影響が改善されることを示す。知っている「経済活動による環境破壊・地元経済の崩壊」を例として使う。

本文該当箇所　第7段落　The distorted market gives consumers and producers little incentive to clean up.  ゆがんだ市場のせいで消費者と生産者は後始末の動機付けがほとんどない。　第9段落When the environment is properly accounted for, what is good for nature is often what is good for the economy and even for individual business sectors. 環境の適切な明細説明がなされれば、自然に良いことはしばしば経済や個人経営部門にとってさえ良いことなのだ。

解答のポイント例　If commodity prices include costs to pay for or to prevent collateral loss of environmental assets, consumers will avoid items with high environmental costs and the manufacturers will be forced to come up with ways to make their manufacturing system more sustainable. Also, the money paid for the environment can be used to make up for the damage and produce goods with less stress on the environment. For example, this system could deal with environmental costs such as contaminated waters caused by oil well development, famine caused by global warming, or increase of the number of cancer patients caused by the use of fertilizers and insecticides or radioactive waste disposal. It can protect nature and our lives as well as decreasing extreme poverty caused by environmental destruction (global warming, destruction of ecosystem, pollution, etc.) Therefore, it is good for the future of humankind and economy in the end. 付随する環境資産損失(油田開発による水系汚染、温暖化による飢饉、農薬使用や放射性物質廃棄による癌患者増加など)への支払いまたは予防対策費を環境コストとして商品価格に含めると消費者は環境コストの高い製品は買わなくなるので生産者は持続可能な生産方法の考案を強いられるだろう。また、環境のために支払われたそのお金は環境の損害を補い、環境への負担を下げる努力に使える。この方法は体制を持続可能にするので環境と我々の生活を保護し、環境破壊（温暖化・生態系破壊等）と環境破壊による極貧を減らすので、最終的には人類の将来・経済に良い。

c.     アマゾンの熱帯雨林や別のあなたが選んだ関連例にこの方法を適用するときにどのような困難があると思いますか？

考え方  環境コストを計算する場合の問題点を想像する。環境コストの計算対象は｢アマゾン熱帯雨林｣のような自然自体なので流動的で未知数の要素を含んだものを数値化することの困難が考えられる。

解答のポイント例　The ecosystem is so complicated that it is difficult to estimate its economic value. If you wanted to make a precise calculation, you would have to count the number of all the species in it and investigate the relationships of these species such as food chain and symbiosis, and then simulate and quantify the character and degree of damage it would incur in case of its destruction. However, it would be almost impossible to do this with an ecosystem such as the Amazon tropical rainforest, which is vast, is full of unknown factors, and keeps changing. Therefore, patience and very careful research and assessment would be required in practicing such an approach. 生態系は非常に複雑なのでその経済価値を見積もるのは難しい。正確な計算をしたければ生息する種全てを数えて食物連鎖や共生のような種の関係を調べ、それから破壊された場合に生態系が被る損害の性格と程度をシミュレートし数値化しなければならないだろう。しかし広大で未知の要素が多く変化し続けるアマゾン熱帯雨林のような生態系を対象にこれをすることはほとんど不可能であり、このような方法の実践には根気と非常に注意深い調査と査定が要求されるだろう。

☆Extra Questions:

1) To meet the needs of the extremely poor, we need only less than ( one ) % of income of the rich world. 極貧の人々を救うのに必要なのは、豊かな国々の収入のたった（1 ）％未満。

2) Why are the issues of the poor the issues of women? なぜ貧困問題は女性問題なのか？

a. Most of the poor, the illiterate, and HIV/AIDS patients are women. Therefore, helping poor women will directly reduce the number of the poor.

b. Women use their extra money for the benefit of their family such as houses to shelter themselves from elements and education of their children, so that money spent to improve the lives of poor women will also improve the lives of the next generation.

早稲田国際教養AO Extra Material, The Corporation -partly rewrittend-

Read the following excerpt and answer the question. Write the answer at the bottom of the answer sheet.

Excerpt from The Corporation, pp. 153-154, Joel Bakan

 

The corporation was originally conceived as a public institution whose purpose was to serve national interests and advance the public good. In seventeenth-century England, corporations such as the Hudson’s Bay Company and the East India Company were chartered by the crown to run state monopolies in the colonies of England’s empire. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries too, in both England and the United States, corporations were formed primarily for public purposes, such as building canals and transporting water. The modern for-profit corporation, programmed solely to advance the private interest of its owners, differs profoundly from these earlier versions of the institution. Yet in one crucial respect it remains the same: it is, as it has always been, a product of public policy, a creation of the state.

 

The state is the only institution in the world that can bring a corporation to life. It alone grants corporations their essential rights, such as legal personhood and limited liability, and it compels them always to put profits first. It raises police forces and armies and builds courthouses and prisons (all compulsorily paid for by citizens) to enforce corporations’ property rights―rights themselves created by the state. And only the state, in conjunction with other states, can enter into international trade deals and create global institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, that, in turn, limit its ability to regulate the corporations and property rights it has created.

 

Without the state, the corporation is nothing. Literally nothing.

 

It is therefore a mistake to believe that because corporations are now strong, the state has become weak. Economic globalization and deregulations have diminished the state’s capacity to protect the public interest (through, for example, labor laws, environmental laws, and consumer protection laws) and have strengthened its power to promote corporations’ interest and facilitate their profit-seeking missions (through, for example, corporate laws, property and contract laws, copyright laws, and international trade laws). Overall, however, the state’s power has not been reduced. It has been redistributed, more tightly connected to the needs and interest of corporations and less so to the public interest.

 

 

Question: How can public protect the public interest from big businesses?

 

 

 

 

Ideas and Expressions

-change the law treating the corporation as man

-vote for the politicians pushing for the laws good for the environment and people

-call the politicians receiving donations from big businesses or those are for laws limiting public interest and promoting interest of corporations and tell them that you won’t vote for them for the reasons.

-pay attention to business executives becoming government officials

-use the media to let the world know what is going on

 

早稲田国際教養学部AO, Extra Material, Global Warming

 

The climate is changing. The earth is warming up, and there is now overwhelming scientific consensus that it is happening, and human-induced. With global warming on the increase and species and their habitats on the decrease, chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing.

 

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

The world mostly agrees that something needs to be done about global warming and climate change. The first stumbling block, however, has been trying to get an agreement on a framework.

 

Reactions to Climate Change Negotiations and Action

The United States plus a few other countries, and many large corporations, have been against climate change treaties due to the fear of the threat to their economy and profits if they have to make substantial changes.

However, as more climate change science has emerged over the years, many businesses are accepting this and even asking their governments for more action so that there is quick clarification on the new rules of the game so they can get on with their businesses.

 

Global Warming, Spin and Media

For many years, large, influential businesses and governments have been against the idea of global warming. Many have poured a lot of resources into discrediting what has generally been accepted for a long time as real.

Now, the mainstream is generally worried about climate change impacts and the discourse seems to have shifted accordingly. Some businesses that once engaged in disinformation campaigns have even changed their opinions, some even requesting governments for regulation and direction on this issue.　However, a few influential companies and organizations are still attempting to undermine climate change action and concerns.

 

Climate Justice and Equity

For a number of years, there have been concerns that climate change negotiations will essentially ignore a key principle of climate change negotiation frameworks: the common but differentiated responsibilities.

This recognizes that historically:

●Industrialized nations have emitted far more greenhouse gas emissions (even if some developing nations are only now increasing theirs);

●Rich countries therefore face the biggest responsibility and burden for action to address climate change; and

●Rich countries therefore must support developing nations adapt—through financing and technology transfer, for example.

 

This notion of climate justice is typically ignored by many rich nations and their mainstream media, making it easy to blame China, India and other developing countries for failures in climate change mitigation negotiations.

 

However, rather than continue down the path of unequal development, industrialized nations can help pay off their carbon debt by truly helping emerging countries develop along a cleaner path, such as through the promised-but-barely-delivered technology transfer, finance, and capacity building.

So far however, rich nations have done very little within the Kyoto protocol to reduce emissions by any meaningful amount, while they are all for negotiating a follow on treaty that brings more pressure to developing countries to agree to emissions targets.　In effect, the more there will be delay the more the poor nations will have to save the Earth with their sacrifices.

(Source: Unknown-probably a web site entitled Global Issues:

http://www.globalissues.org/article/710/global-warming-spin-and-media  Note that the contents of this website have been updated since I last accessed the site and I have edited the original material, so that they are different from the passage above. The certain thing is that you can learn much more about global warming if you access the site.)       

 

 

Reference:

Is there a connection between the ozone hole and global warming?

Ozone (O3) high in the atmosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun, thereby protecting living organisms below from this dangerous radiation. The term ‘ozone hole’ refers to recent depletion of this protective layer over Earth's polar regions. People, plants, and animals living under the ozone hole are harmed by the solar radiation now reaching the Earth's surface—where it causes health problems from eye damage to skin cancer.

 

The ozone hole, however, is not the mechanism of global warming. Ultraviolet radiation represents less than one percent of the energy from the sun—not enough to be the cause of the excess heat from human activities. Global warming is caused primarily from putting too much carbon into the atmosphere when coal, gas, and oil are burned to generate electricity or to run our cars. These gases spread around the planet like a blanket, capturing the solar heat that would otherwise be radiated out into space.

(Source: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/ozone-hole-and-gw-faq.html)

早稲田国際教養学部AO The Rise of Modern States -partly rewritten-

解答のポイント

主題： 近代国家は社会を安定させ経済を発展させたが、内外に圧力をかける側面を持ち、その権力の限度については意見が分かれる。

本文該当箇所　第１段落 The rise of these states, with their ability to provide order, security, law, and property rights, was what made possible the rise of the modern economic world. 秩序や安全、法、私有財産権を提供する能力を持つこれらの国家の出現により近代経済社会の出現が可能になった。第２段落 The task of modern politics has been to tame the power of the state, to direct its activities toward objectives regarded as legitimate by the people it serves, and to regularize the exercise of power under a rule of law. 近代政治の仕事は、国家が奉仕する民衆によって正当とみなされる目的の方に活動を向け権力の行使が法の支配の下で正当なものにするために国家権力を制御しやすくすることだった。 第４段落politics in the twentieth century were heavily shaped by controversies over the appropriate size and strength of the state. 国家の適切な規模と強さに関する議論で２０世紀の政治は常に形成されていた。

 

問１　この文章によるとヨーロッパ近代国家の特徴は何でしょうか？日本語で書いてください。

考え方  強大な管理体制で近代経済を出現させた点と内外に大きな影響力を持つ点とを述べる。　本文該当箇所　第１段落In Europe the modern state, deploying large armies, taxation powers, and a centralized bureaucracy that could exercise sovereign authority over a large territory, is much more recentヨーロッパでは巨大な軍隊と徴税力及び広大な領土に主権を及ぼすことが可能な中央集権化された官僚機構を動員した近代国家はずっと最近のことである。The rise of these states, with their ability to provide order, security, law, and property rights, was what made possible the rise of the modern economic world. 秩序や安全、法、財産権を提供する能力を持つこれらの国家の出現により近代経済社会の出現が可能になった。第２段落　The same coercive power that allows them to protect property rights and provide public safety also allows them to confiscate private property and abuse the rights of their citizens. The monopoly of legitimate power that states exercise allows individuals to escape the war between individuals inside the nation, but servers as the basis for conflict and of war at an international level. 国家が私有財産権を保護し公共の安全を提供するのを可能にするのと同じ強制力がまた私有財産を没収したり国民の権利を損ねたりすることを可能にさせる。国家が行使する正当な権力の占有により国内では個人間の争いを避けることが可能になるが国際レベルでは衝突や戦争の元としての役割を果たす。

解答のポイント例　ヨーロッパ近代国家は強大な軍事力と税徴収制度、中央集権化した官僚機構を持ち、広大な領土を支配する。この近代国家は国民に安全と財産を提供し、近代経済の出現を可能にした。近代国家のこの大きな権力は個人の生活を保護すると同時に公共の利益のために個人の自由や幸福を制限するし、国内の治安を維持すると同時に外では戦争を起こす。（Modern European states have large armies, taxation powers, and a centralized bureaucracy and exercises sovereign authority over a large territory. These states provided security and property rights for their citizens and this allowed the advent of the modern economic world. The huge power of a modern state can protect individual lives but at the same time it can limit freedom or happiness of an individual for the sake of public good, or keep the peace over a country as well as causing wars outside.）

 

問２　「この意味での近代国家は全然普遍的ではない。」と筆者は主張しています。これは何を意味するのかを自分の言葉で説明してください。　

考え方　質問文の「この意味での近代国家は全然普遍的ではない。」は第３段落の主題文なので、第３段落の要約をし、漠然としている部分(occurred in the name only)を」具体的に言い換える。《細かい手順》「この意味での近代国家」が何かをまず考える。これは”modern states”+”in this sense”から近代国家の中でも直前の内容を満たす「権力制御の努力がなされている近代国家」だと分かる。次に「全然普遍的ではない」は第３段落の詳細部分なので読んで見ると「全ての国が『権力制御の努力がなされている近代国家』としての条件を満たしていた訳ではない」ということだと分かるので、「国家とは名ばかりの機能不全国家（独裁体制や傀儡政権など）が多数ある。」というふうに具体的に言い換える。　

本文該当箇所　The task of modern politics has been to tame the power of the state, to direct its activities toward objectives regarded as legitimate by the people it serves, and to regularize the exercise of power under a rule of law. 近代政治の課題は国家権力を制御し、国家が奉仕する国民により正当とみなされる目的に国家活動を向け、法の支配の下権力の行使を調整することだった。They did not exist at all in large parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa before European colonialism, この意味での近代国家は、ヨーロッパ植民地主義以前はサハラ砂漠以南のアフリカ等世界の大部分では全く存在しなかった。(state-building) occurred in name only in many other parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. アフリカやアジア、中東の多く他の場所では（国家建設は）名ばかりの形で起こった。

解答のポイント例　The author means that states in which efforts are made to control their power and make them follow the will of their citizens had not been seen until recently in many areas on this planet and that many of the so-called states were or have been failed states which, even though they call themselves republics, are in reality dictatorships or corrupt puppet governments. 権力の制御と国民の意思に従う努力がなされている国家は、地球上の多くの地域で最近まで不在であったし、いわゆる国家の多くが共和国と自称していても実は独裁体制や腐敗した傀儡政権の機能不全国家であるものが多かったし多いということを筆者は言っている。

 

問３　Fukuyamaの定義では日本は「自由主義的な小さな国家」と「より中央集権化した能動的国家」のどちらにあてはまるでしょうか？いくつかの例で実証し説明してください。　

考え方　「自由主義的な小さな国家」は国民生活への関与が小さく「より中央集権化した能動的国家」は国民生活への関与が大きいのでその特色を示していると思える政策例を挙げる。　

本文該当箇所　The scope of state activity was not terribly broad in Britain or any of the other leading European powers, and it was even narrower in the United States. There were no income taxes, poverty programs, or food safety regulations. イギリスや他の主なヨーロッパの強国において国家の活動範囲はものすごく広くはなかったし合衆国ではより狭くさえあった。所得税も貧困対策も食品安全性に関する規制もなかった。As the century proceeded through war, revolution, depression, and war again, that liberal world order crumbled, and the minimalist liberal state was replaced throughout much of the world by a much highly centralized and active one.戦争、革命、恐慌、そして再び戦争と世紀が進むにつれてその自由な世界秩序は崩壊し、小さな自由主義国家は世界中でより中央集権化した能動的国家に取って代わられたのだ。

解答のポイント例　

big government: universal healthcare and pension system; most regulations and standards in Japan are the strictest in the world; government bureaucrats virtually decide budget allocation; the central government has a strong influence over local governments (not enough decentralization)→the involvement of the government in our life is large 　大きな政府：　国民皆保険・年金制度、日本の規制・基準の大半は世界でもっとも厳しい、政府中央官僚が事実上予算配分を決定、地方行政への政府の影響力大(地方分権不十分)→国民生活への政府の関与は大きい

small government these days: there is a trend toward economic deregulation,  the maximum income tax has been lowered (70%→30%); although we have the universal healthcare program, now senior citizens have to pay for the medical bills; the age for the start of pension has been raised; the safety net for unemployment is insufficient→the government is pushing for more self-responsibility　最近は小さな政府：　経済の規制緩和への流れ、最高税率は下がっている(70%→30%)、国民皆保険はあるが高齢者も医療費負担、年金支給開始年齢上昇、失業のセイフティーネットは不十分→政府が自己責任増を要求している

TOEFL iBT Independent Writing, Have automobiles improved the quality of our lives?

Writing Topic

Consider the following statement. Automobiles have improved the quality of our lives. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

 

☆Let’s think

It is recommended that you think of points for both agreement and disagreement with the statement of the writing topic in brainstorming and then decide whether you agree or disagree. In the case of the car, both of its positive and negative impacts on society can hit your mind immediately. Your conclusion sentence might include expressions like “cannot totally agree with…” or “I agree with … except that …”

 

☆Ideas and Expressions

For the statement:

1)  Automobiles increased mobility of society. People can commute, travel, or be transferred to places far away from home.

2)  Businesses have expanded thanks to cars. We have come to be able to trade between places which were too far away to do it before cars were invented.

3)  Cars offer us more opportunities. In the old times, social life was limited within walking distance or within the areas that you can reach on horseback, in our words, within the village or the city the person lives, but life with automobiles enables one to venture to go beyond the town border to meet new people.

4)  Cars gave birth to the assembly line, which made possible to provide large numbers of items at low prices.

 

Against the statement:

1)  Cars negatively influenced on the environment. The use of fossil fuels for cars contributed to the increase the amount of atmospheric CO2 and air pollution.

2)  Cars caused several vices that represent modern society. The assembly line, the byproduct of the invention of automobile, led to the economy of scale, which resulted in many negative effects such as excess supply of unnecessary commodities (consumerism), garbage disposal problems, and obesity.

3)  Cars are part of causes of wars in the past century. Oil has been the main fuel in modern society since the invention of cars, and wars related to oil are countless.

Text of Bradley Manning’s Letter to President Obama

http://www.globalresearch.ca/text-of-bradley-mannings-letter-to-president-obama/5346626