Essay by 謝振禮老師 Jeenn Lee Hsieh

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真題還原

Many countries spend a lot of money on preparing competitors to take part in major international events such as the Olympics and the World Football Cup (FIFA) games. Some people argue that it would be better to spend this money on encouraging children to take up sporting activities from a young age. What is your opinion? Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.


范文：

Sporting Activities

It seems that nowadays international events, such as the Olympic Games and the World (FIFA) Cup, are particularly motivating for children to take up sports in many countries. To be fair, while spending money on preparing elite competitors to shine on the international stage is worthwhile, a country ought not to ignore an investment strategy that could help every child to cultivate a passion for doing exercise from an early age. The idea is not making a medal winner out of every child but to let the child pursue something that is rewarding, both physically and mentally, in later life.

On the one hand, playing games, besides being fun, helps a child to stay physically fit. Usually small children are energetic, so playing sports is like energy put to good use; so much so, any investment on the part of the government in this respect is like money put to good use. Because physical exercise builds the healthy body, we should have a special budget to upgrade our kids' physical fitness. If not, we will be raising an obese and unfit generation. That is to say, engaging in different kinds of sporting activities is essential to a child's physical development in different ways, all translating into overall physical benefits. For example, games that involve running, kicking or throwing a ball strengthen the arms and legs, and swimming provides a full body workout, and so on.

On the other hand, researches say that children who play sports tend to be in a mentally happier state of mind than those who do not. And probably there is no match to that kind of mental happiness which this brings. The same reports explain that sports are a form of exercise that generates what is called 'happiness molecules' in the body, thus restoring the mental health by easing stress and releasing emotions. In view of this, public facilities like sports parks should be timely built and sufficiently funded at as many key destinations as possible in order to ensure the younger generation's mental health. To put it in another way, by strengthening their muscles and bones for a sound body, children could also benefit greatly from playing sports for a positive mind. With that positive mentality, it is very likely that those kids who regularly play sports also fare well in academics at school.

Although it is not necessary to make every child a sport hero or a professional football star for the next generation, it must be a country's responsibility to create a sporting environment for their physical and mental wellbeing. However important it is to foster national pride and unity through preparing our competitors in international events, we cannot afford not to motivate our kids to play sports here and now. So, should strictly money be the issue, some of today's children who are good enough in sports can win Olympic medals, or even play for money.