Pre-TOEFL Reading, Summary (L. 10)

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was the friend of Felix Mendelssohn and the e          stic friend and teacher of Johannes Brahms and many other younger c         s. He was the first to write music about children and the e           ces of childhood. He was an i      se, s    tive man who could have been a fine writer if he had not been a composer. He was born near Leipzig in 1810. His father, who was an e    tor and p    shier, wanted him to be a l   yer. He o    tly studied law, but what he really wanted to be was a pianist. His i          ce made him use a m         cal d    ce to exercise and s     then his fingers and the i          ment injured one of his fingers p           tly, ending his dream of becoming a concert pianist. After the injury, he d    ted himself to composing and writing. With a group of musicians and writers, he f    ded a musical magazine, for which he wrote a     les to express different points of view about music, using names of i            ry characters he created. He also p         ted good music and the other arts and defended them against una          tive people.

TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, Which is more important for success: the natural ability you are born with or hard work? - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Which is more important for success: the natural ability you are born with or hard work? Explain your opinion, using specific reasons and examples.

☆Let’s Think

What is success? Perhaps it means achieving an above average goal like winning a difficult game or becoming rich. It also may mean becoming a respectable adult. How are these two words, the natural ability you are born with and hard work, related to success? Thinking of some so called successful people would help answer this question. For example, Barak Obama and Muhammad Ali are probably two of many successful people who were born with great abilities and worked hard as well. Which of these two elements were more important in their success?

☆Hints for Points

Natural Ability

1.    Successful people appear in all social classes in any kind of society.  

2.    Heredity plays a decisive role in one’s performance.

Hard Work

1.    Competitions are held among talented people, of whom one working hardest will win. e.g. athletes

2.    Talent has a limit but hard work has not limit.  e.g. the story of the rabbit and the turtle.

☆Sample Essay Structures

Sample 1

【Introduction = Outline】In my opinion, genetic factor is the most important in success.

【Point 1】Bigger people are much better than smaller people under the same conditions in most sports.

【Point 2】It is often the case that a genius grows up in the worst environment

【Pint 3/follow-up】Of course, to win a competition, hard work is necessary, but when two people make the same amount of effort, the more talented one will win.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】 Rather than sanctifying diligence, we had better know ourselves and try to make the best of given conditions for a better and happier life.

Sample 2

【Introduction = Outline】This is a difficult question to answer because “nature versus nurture” in terms of success is an age-old inquiry. However, I think hard work plays a larger role in success than innate ability.

【Point 1】 The story of the rabbit and the turtle teaches us that a hard worker can beat a talented opponent in the end.

【Point 2】Gifted people do not seem to work hard, but actually they do. They just enjoy hard work and often do not realize that they might be working twice as much as the others.

【My Opinion】No person with inherent ability can be successful without working hard.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】I believe industriousness is more important for success than innate quality.

♦Your Sample Essay Structure

【Introduction = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

単語メモ  成功（する・している） success n.   succeed v.  successful  adj.

生まれつきの才能  talent   natural ability  innate ability  inherent ability  ability that one is born with

勤勉 hard work（名詞句） working hard（動名詞句） diligence  industriousness

Cf. work hardly ほとんど勉強しない

TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, It is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors. - rewrite -

Writing Topic

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. It is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors.

☆Let’s Think

This question is made up of a comparison. It compares the importance of facilities and professors for a university. Also, the statement uses the word “worthwhile” not “important”. Does it mean that even though high-quality professors are important, improving facilities is more worthwhile to a university?

Let’s think about the relation between research facilities and faculty (professors) in studies by analogy. Professors can be to facilities what the software is to the hardware of a system. Just as good software performs exquisitely even the hardware looks miserable as long as its specifications are above some level, so do good professors achieve good results even if facilities for their studies are not perfect. At the same time, if the hardware is old and worn out, of course, nothing can make it do even a basic task.

At the same time, university facilities include those not only for studies but also for students such as dormitories, gyms, and cafeteria. They may need to have features that many people are attracted to.

For what purpose does the university exist? Why do people go to university? What does the word “worthwhile” mean?

If you like, answer these questions before you organize your thoughts.

1.     What are the merits of spending money on facilities?

2.     What are the merits of spending money on high-level professors?

3.     For what purpose does the university exist?

4.     What does the word “worthwhile” mean?

5.     Is spending money on facilities more worthwhile than on high-quality professors in realizing the answers to Questions from 1 through 3?

☆Essay for Ideas and Expressions

Both facilities and professors are important for a university to conduct studies. However, if the statement that it is more worthwhile for a university to spend money on improving facilities than on hiring high-quality professors is based on the idea that university is a business and thus its purpose is to make profits, I cannot agree with it because in my understanding the reason for existence of university is to promote and protect studies.

The university should provide a good environment so that professors can do research without worrying about funding for their studies. However, spending more money on facilities than on hiring good professors is putting the cart before the horse. Universities cannot exist without good researchers. While studies cannot be done well without good equipment, abundant information that the sophisticated machines can provide is useless without a person who knows how to use machines and how to interpret information they produce. Also, many professors are not only top level researchers but also very good teachers. They are some of the best, or at least most interesting, minds students meet in their whole lives: human beings with amazing brains and often unforgettable personalities. It is professors that protect, improve, and increase the knowledge the university has and raise the next generation of researchers and well-educated citizens that support important studies.

On the other hand, in the perspective of university as a business, spending money on the facilities might also be crucial. Universities need to attract as many students, their customers, as possible. Students who are purely interested in the subject they are going to major in and choose a university with renowned professors in the field of their interest might be minorities. A larger percentage of the young may want to pursue a good quality of life rather than an academic success and would be more concerned about the level of facilities related to their college life than those of professors. For example, students who live away from home might take good dormitory facilities into consideration in choosing a university that they should attend. Students who enjoy sports would choose the university with sporting facilities.

                                            

However, the main purpose of a university is research and education. Talks about making money should be the last of its priority. Although reality may put pressure on allocating more of its budget to other things than hiring high-quality professors, if it gives in, it is not really entitled to be called the highest educational institution. Instead of trying to attract many students or trying to increase its capital by buying equities, the university should spend money to protect its faculty.

The university is a place for studies and studies depend on high-level professors. Therefore, it is not worthwhile for a university to spend more money on its facilities than on its faculty. Good professors are more important for a university than anything else, including making a short term profit.

☆Sample Essay Structures

Sample Essay Structure 1

【Main Idea = Outline】 I agree/disagree with the statement that … because ….

【Facility】It is worthwhile for a university to spend money on facilities in that ….

【Professors】It is worthwhile for a university to spend money on professors because ….

【Decisive Reason】A university should spend more money on facilities/professors because ….

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Because…, I think it is more worthwhile …..

Sample Essay Structure 2

【Main Idea = Outline】 I agree/disagree with the statement that … .The reasons are as follows.

【Reason to agree/disagree 1】First, ….

【Reason to agree/disagree 2】Second, ….

【Why the drawbacks do not matter】It is true that …, but ….

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Since…, I cannot disagree/agree with the idea that ….

Your Essay Structure

【Main Idea = Outline】

【Point 1】

【Point 2】

【Point 3】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

国際教養AO入試 TOEFL Reading reference, human brain, thought, technology

Noam Chomsky Says Elon Musk's Neuralink Project Won't Really Work
Reclaiming motor function is one thing; connecting your thoughts to a computer is another.
Inverse Innovation   June 4, 2017
https://www.inverse.com/article/32395-elon-musk-neuralink-noam-chomsky

国際教養AO入試 TOEFL Reading reference, clean energy, environment

Clean Energy Takes Hold
Catalyst   Spring 2017   Published by Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/catalyst/clean-energy-takes-hold#.WUSFwWjyjIU

国際教養AO入試 TOEFL Reading reference, environment

＜ユニセフ報告書＞高１のエコ知識低く　３７カ国中３６位
 毎日新聞　　6/15(木) 5:00配信
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20170615-00000007-mai-soci

Pre-TOEFL Reading, Summary (L. 9)

The Civil Rights Movement

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old black s        ress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person and was a       ted for her action. Then a boycott of the city’s s        ted buses by black people began in Montgomery. The leader was a young m      ter, Martin Luther King, Jr. The Supreme Court declared the city’s bus s            tion laws u             nal. A b         h among southern whites began and King’s home was firebombed. The black community was brought to the b    k of violence, but R       d King insisted on a non       t response. He was c         ced that blacks could achieve e     ty only through peaceful c     l d            ce. He led voter r         tion drives among blacks, helped organize s  t-  ns at segregated lunch counters, and organized Freedom Riders to test f       l laws banning segregation in bus station facilities. Southern whites re       ted violently. In August 1963, the March on Washington was held. It was the largest civil rights d       tion in American history. King gave his most m      able “I Have a Dream” a       ss. He offered a v    sion of an America where l      ty and e      ty were realities for all citizens. In 1964, Congress p  ssed the Civil Rights Act and King was awarded with the Nobel P     e Prize.