The Way to Success

　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled The Way to Success by commenting on Honore De Balzac’s famous remark, “There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.” You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

There are many ways to success, such as hard working, passion or good preparations. From Honore De Balzac’s famous remark, “There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power”, we can see that the way to success is having a strong will.
　　A strong will is essential if we want to achieve our goals. Initially, every success involves several stages of setbacks and risks, and we need to summon up our will to overcome them. Moreover, there are enormous temptations in our path of the pursuit of success. Only with a strong will can we resist the temptation, and persist in chasing our goals until we reach them.
　　The long history of human being has also proved that only those with a strong will can achieve success at last. We are all familiar with Thomas Edison’s story that he had tried one thousand kinds of materials before he finally made his great bulb light up. Without a strong will, Edison might have been a nobody. Without a strong will, no one can succeed.

The Impact of the Computer on Writing Ability
　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled The Impact of the Computer on Writing Ability. Your essay should start with a brief description of the picture. Your should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

As we can see, from left to right, there is a brush, a pen and a computer in the picture, which indicates the development of the way people write with. Under each one of them, there are two Chinese characters meaning “handwriting”. Obviously, the two characters under the computer are not as beautiful as the rest ones, which implies that with the popularity of computer people’s writing ability has deteriorated.
　　This picture brings us the question whether we are going forward or backward after the popularity of computer. There is no doubt that our life has become much easier owing to the conveniences computer has brought. However, people have depended so much on computer that they can hardly do things well without it, which result in the degeneration in some abilities, such as writing ability and communication ability. In this sense, computer has made us go backward.
　　Alarmed by the issue reflected in the picture, we should do something to prevent ourselves from the side effects of computer. As far as I am concerned, we should limit the time we spend on computer and try to develop as many good habits as possible in spare time.

On Maintaining Honesty
　　Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled On Maintaining Friendship by commenting on “Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.” by Jean de la Fontaine. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

By saying “Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer”, Jean de la Fontaine has pointed out the importance of friendship. Nowadays, it seems that people get closer to each other by means of the increasingly advanced communicating technologies, yet the closeness of hearts has in fact been distanced. Therefore, it is high time that we should attach great importance to maintain this precious sentiment.
　　Everyone need the warmth of friendship. In good times, friendship is flowers growing fast because we irritate it by sharing our joy and happiness; in adversity, friendship is a dose of consolation since friends are always there ready to help. Also, friendship is the effective lubricator for cooperative organizations, communities and different countries in the process of cooperation and development.
　　As friendship is so important in our life, actions should be taken to pursue and maintain it. And it involves trust and honesty in establishing and maintaining true friendship. Frankness and uprightness contribute to a good relationship. Moreover, tolerance and modesty also help promote the closeness of friends. Only by doing these things will we retain our friends and keep the lamp of friendship burning long.