Essay by 謝振禮老師 Jeenn Lee Hsieh

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真題還原

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "Reading that a student does on his or her own is as important as, or even more important than, reading that a student does because it is assigned by teachers." Use specific reasons, examples or details to support your opinion.

范文:

By doing it on their own and doing it according to instructions from teachers, students can develop their reading skills to feed the academic minds, while beating the influence of television. In the process of learning, self-motivated reading, like eating nutritious food, can be especially beneficial to those young "couch potatoes". In comparison, reading as homework sounds like doing it for school exams, and reading independently sounds like doing it for personal pleasure.

To start with, it is important that teachers should give reading tasks in order that students, who prefer watching TV to reading at home, can at least learn to read to reach an expected level. In this case, the purpose is of course trying to make everyone a good reader, by obligation if needs be. It may be said that different books, like different kinds of food, appeal to different tastes. Sometimes, reading material as assigned by teachers may happen to be particularly boring to the point of torture. So much so, obliging students to read is similar to forcing them to eat what they do not see fit to digest with pleasure. Nevertheless, such example does not indicate that reading as course-work is a bad practice, but that the mixed results are not exactly as good as hoped because of lack of interest on the part of certain students.

At the same time, no less important for students is reading to learn on their own, in a way as if they were choosing their favorite restaurants and later feel entertained and happy. This is why students should not only be allowed but also encouraged to do more reading more extensively for increased knowledge in a wide range of disciplines. When students are constructing the habits of reading out of their own wills, they are sure to gain more confidence and self-esteem, which is part of the fruits of education that can lead to an intelligent lifestyle. Besides, to enjoy reading is to reduce TV screen time. Believe it or not, it is possible that ideas contained in many books being well read in spare time are worth more than have been presented in the entire history of television.

After all, whether doing it for exams or for enjoyment, reading makes fuller students in their pursuit of academic success at various stages, from the primary school right to the university level. Just as food is good for the health of the body, so is reading good for the health of the mind. At this point, nothing can please teachers more than to realize that their students are doing more reading on their own than are assigned.