Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community, then we will have a better life. To that extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?
In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.
Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greed and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.
In spite of common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness, both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things though such behaviors were more condemned then. But we can not ignore the fact that people in the past lived a relatively more isolated life and faced less pressure compared with their modern counterparts.
Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.
In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.
Are Modern People Becoming More Selfish?
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People in the past appeared to be modest and self-effacing(谦逊的). |
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A relationship which can |
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Ms. Mary was over eighty, but she still drove her old car like half her age. She loved driving very fast, and boasted of the fact she had never, in her thirty-five years of driving, been punished
a driving mistake.
Then one day, she nearly lost her record. A police car followed her, and the policemen in it saw her pass a red light without (stop).
When Ms. Mary came before the judge, he looked at her severely and said that she was too old to drive a car, and that the reason she had not stopped at red light was most probably that her eyes had become weak
old age, so that she had simply not seen it.
When the judge had finished he was saying, Ms. Mary opened the big handbag she was carrying and took out her sewing. Without saying a word, she
(choose) a needle with a very small eye, and threaded it at the first time.
When she had (success) done this, she took the thread out of the needle again and handed both the needle and thread to the judge, saying, “Now it is your turn. I suppose you can drive a car well, and you have no doubts
your eyesight.”
The judge took the needle and tried to thread it. After half a dozen times, he had still not succeeded. The case against Ms. Mary (dismiss解雇), and her record remained unbroken.
____________, they have been drilling for sixteen hours and they still have a long way to go.
People will do anything to see a free show---even if it is a bad one. When the news
______________ would be presented at our local cinema by the P. and U. Bird…
because balloons can be a great danger to aircraft. He said that someone ______________ the station and the pilot was ordered to _______
_______ the strange object.
Experiments have proved that children can be instructed in swimming ___________________.
Whether they will ever become future Olympic champions, _________________.
He looked pale and his clothes were in a frightful state. “What has happened?” she asked. “How did your clothes __________________?”
This is a moving spectacle, for crowds of people stand on the shore _________________ until they can be seen no more.
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. alert B. classify C. commit D. delicately E. gentle F. impose
G. labels H. moderation I. relieve J. signals K. simply
Let's say you've decided you want to eat more healthfully. However, you don't have time to carefully plan menus for meals or read food ____ at the supermarket. Since you really__
__ yourself to a healthier lifestyle, a little help would come in handy, wouldn't it? This is where a "choice architect" can help__
__some of the burden of doing it all yourself. Choice architects are people who organize the contexts in which customers make decisions. For example, the person who decides the layout of your local supermarket-including which shelf the peanut butter goes on, and how the oranges are piled up—is a choice architect.
Governments don't have to____healthier lifestyles through laws for example, smoking bans. Rather, if given an environment created by a choice architect-one that encourages us to choose what is best-we will do the right things. In other words, there will be designs that gently push customers toward making healthier choices, without removing freedom of choice. This idea combines freedom to choose with__
__hints from choice architects, who aim to help people live longer, healthier, and happier lives.
The British and Swedish governments have introduced a so-called "traffic light system" to ____foods as healthy or unhealthy. This means that customers can see at a glance how much fat, sugar, and salt each product contains__
__by looking at the lights on the package. A green light __
__that the amounts of the three nutrients are healthy; yellow indicates that the customer should be__
__; and red means that the food is high in at least one of the three nutrients and should be eaten in __
__. The customer is given important health information, but is still free to decide what to choose.
The giant vending machine (自动售货机) is a new village shop
Villagers have long been used to facing a drive when they run out of basic supplies. However, help is now nearer at hand in form of the country’s first automatic push-button shop. Now residents in the Derbyshire Village of Clifton can buy groceries around the clock after the huge vending was installed outside a pub in the village this week.
Peter Fox, who is______electrical engineer, spent two and a half years working on the project. The machine
______ (equip) with securing cameras and alarms and looks like a mini shop with a brick front, a grey roof and a display window.
Mr. Fox said he hoped his invention, _____ is set to be installed in other villages in the area over the coming months, will mark a return to convenience shopping for rural communities.
He said:“ I had this idea a few years ago but I couldn’t find a manufacture who could deliver what I wanted, so I did it by _____. The result is what amounts to huge outdoor vending machine. Yet I think the term “automatic shop” is far
______ (appropriate)
In recent years, the commercial pressure from supermarket chains______ force village shops across the country to close. In 2010, it was estimated that about 400 village shops closed,
______ (urge) the local government to give financial support to struggling shops or set-up new communities stores.
Hundreds of communities have since stepped in and opened up their won volunteer-run shops, but Mr. Fox hopes his new invention will offer a solution______these villages without a local shop.
My Stay in New York
After graduation from university, I had been unable to secure a permanent job in my small town. So I decided to leave home for New York, ______I might have a better chance to find a good job.
______ (earn) some money to pay the daily expenses, I started work in a local café as a waiter. I believe that
______ ______ ______ I was offered a good position, I would resign at once.
Over time, the high cost of living became a little burden on my already ______ (exhaust) shoulder. On the other hand, my search for a respectable job had not met with much success. As I had studied literature at university, I found it quite difficult to secure a suitable job in big companies. Mother had just said that
______ I want to have a better career advancement, I had to find work in the city. Perhaps
______my mother had told me was deeply rooted in my mind. I just did as she had expected.
Soon I had lived in the city for over six months but I still did not like it. Apparently, I had difficulty______ (adapt) myself to life in the city, let alone finding a job to my delight. After nine months of frustration, I eventually decided to go back to my small town. Not until I returned
______I realize that a quiet town life was the best for me.