Some people think the government funding should not be used for supporting art and

culture, while others think supporting cultural activities may be beneficial for the
population and the culture. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Opinions diverge on the necessity of funding cultural activities. While some claim it is an
unnecessary investment, others believe both citizens and cultures would benefit if
governments were to provide financial support for art and culture. I will discuss both views
and state my own opinion in this essay.
On the one hand, many people oppose investing in cultural activities because there are more
serious issues to address. The deterioration of transport infrastructure in many cities, for
example, is the major reason for the increased number of traffic accidents. Using money for
the construction of new roads and highways would bring about immediate effects and save
thousands of lives. In addition, nations across the globe are facing many environmental
problems that require urgent attention, namely pollution and natural resource depletion.
National leaders, therefore, should join forces with scientists to combat these issues by
allocating financial resources to the development of renewable and environmentally friendly
sources of energy. There is no point in spending money on cultural activities before ensuring a
safe and clean environment for citizens.
Advocates of art and culture, on the other hand, argue that cultural activities play an
important role in people’s lives. Cultural events, like Tet holiday or Christmas, are occasions
when family members gather together, which helps to strengthen the sense of family and
community and further enriches people’s lives. Moreover, funding these activities helps
to preserve cultural diversity, especially in such a globalised world where so much culture is
being lost and forgotten. The Vietnamese government, for instance, has constructed many
museums that solely exhibit examples of ethnic minority culture, whose populations are
decreasing at an alarming rate.
In conclusion, I believe that cultural activities are of great significance and require attention
and financial support from governments. However, it is also the government’s duty to address
issues in transportation and the environment to protect citizens’ lives and maintain a healthy
environment for people to live.
The media should include more stories which report good news. To what extent do you
agree or disagree?
A large number of media channels these days are too focused on negative news, probably to
increase viewership. However, many people often say that they prefer more good news being
covered in the media. I personally agree with this Idea and will explain my reasoning in my
essay below.
Bad news dominating the headlines is having an undesirable influence on society.
Psychologically, this type of news, unless managed properly, may keep readers in a state of
stress and lead them to experience trauma. Stories about ISIS slaughtering innocent citizens
for example caused massive damage to people’s mental states and instilled fear into their
minds. Also, frequent exposure to negative news can distort readers’ perception of
reality. In Vietnam for example, it seems that members of the media do not focus on keeping
the public informed of current events anymore, both locally and globally. Instead, they are
trying to publish articles with the primary aim of attracting more viewers and therefore
increasing profits. This, unfortunately, shapes readers’ outlook on society in a negative way.
On the other hand, including good news in the media may have positive effects on the general
public. It helps restore our faith in humanity, which inspires moral courses of
action to uphold ethical social values. Media stories of good news, as opposed to bad news,
can also have a positive psychological implication. Such stories can uplift people to become
more optimistic and generally improve both physical and mental health.
In conclusion, I believe recounting more stories of good news can positively affect the moral
behavior of a group of people and therefore should receive more attention. Although negative
news still has an important place in our life, its severity should be realized so that readers can
fully reap all the benefits that the media has to offer.
In many places, people’s lifestyles are changing rapidly, and this affects family
relationships. Do you think the advantages of such developments outweigh the
disadvantages?
In the present age, people have dramatically changed the way they live, which in turn affects
their family relationships. Personally, I think this tendency comes with both positive and
negative effects.
On the one hand, changing lifestyles bring about various positive impacts on family
connections. Firstly, people are paying more attention to their well-being nowadays, and
therefore family members tend to go to fitness centres together to lead healthier lifestyles. As
a result, spending time working out together will help to bridge the generation
gap and promote better communication between family members. To illustrate, when a
child takes part in some forms of sport or physical activities with their parents, they will feel
more open to share things and seek advice from them. Secondly, thanks to developments in
technology, devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptop computers have not only become
an indispensable part of our lives but have also helped to make communicating with our
friends and families much easier, particularly between those who are separated by long
distances.
On the other hand, changes in lifestyles also have their downsides when it comes to family
relationships. To begin with, the overuse of such technological devices mentioned above, can
also hurt family relationships. For example, if family members become too immersed
in using their devices for individual recreational purposes, like checking their social media
accounts or browsing their favourite websites, they may neglect their relationships with other
family members. Consequently, the amount of quality time that a family spends together is
likely to reduce, negatively impacting family relations. Furthermore, these days, people are
becoming more and more career-oriented and are subsequently losing the balance between
work and family life. In fact, it has become more common that family members are less
available at home, even outside of official working time, leading to weakened family
interactions.
In conclusion, while some changes in lifestyle are advantageous to family relationships, the
opposite is true for other changes.