Writing based on reading and listening

You will have 3 minutes to read a passage about an academic topic. While you read, you may take notes on scrap paper.

Then you will listen to a lecture about the same topic.

You may take notes while you listen.

After the lecture is over, you will have 20 minutes to write a response to a question that asks you about the relationship between the lecture and the reading passage. Try to answer the question as completely as possible using information from the reading passage and the lecture.

Your response will be evaluated on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words.

The Reading

Professors are normally found in university classrooms, offices, and libraries doing research
and lecturing to their students. More and more, however, they also appear as guests on
television news programs, giving expert commentary on the latest events in the world. These
television appearances are of great benefit to the professors themselves as well as to their
universities and the general public.

Professors benefit from appearing on television because by doing so acquire reputations as
authorities in their academic fields among a much wider audience than they have on
campus. If a professor publishes views in an academic journal, only other scholars will learn
about and appreciate those views. But when a professor appears on TV, thousands of
people outside the narrow academic community become aware of the professor’s ideas. So
when professors share their ideas with a television audience, the professors’ importance as
scholars is enhanced.

Universities also benefit from such appearances. The universities receive positive publicity
when their professors appear on TV. When people see a knowledgeable faculty member of a
university on television, they think more highly of that university. That then leads to an
improved reputation for the university. And that improved reputation in turn leads to more
donations for the university and more applications from potential students.

Finally, the public gains from professors’ appearing on television. Most television viewers
normally have no contact with university professors. When professors appear on television,
viewers have a chance to learn from experts and to be exposed to views they might
otherwise never hear about. Television is generally a medium for commentary that tends to
be superficial, not deep or thoughtful. From professors on television, by contrast, viewers get
a taste of real expertise and insight.

Listening Script

Lately, we’ve been seeing some professors on television. Though it’s sometimes claimed to be a good thing, we should question whether anybody really benefits from it. First of all, it’s not good for the professors themselves—not from a professional standpoint. Rightly or wrongly, a professor who appears on TV tends to get the reputation among fellow professors of being someone who is not a serious scholar— someone who chooses to entertain rather than to educate. And for that reason, TV professors may not be invited to important conferences—important meetings to discuss their academic work. They may even have difficulty getting money to do research. So for professors, being a TV celebrity has important disadvantages. A second point is that being on TV can take a lot of a professor’s time—not just the time on TV but also time figuring out what to present and time spent rehearsing, travel time, even time getting made up to look good for the cameras. And all this time comes out of the time the professor can spend doing research, meeting with students, and attending to university business. So you can certainly see there are problems for the university and its students when professors are in the TV studio and not on campus. So who does benefit? The public? That’s not so clear either. Look, professors do have a lot of knowledge to offer, but TV networks don’t want really serious in-depth academic lectures for after-dinner viewing. What the networks want is the academic title, not the intellectual substance. The material that professors usually present on TV—such as background on current events, or some brief historical introduction to a new movie version of a great literary work—this material is not much different from what viewers would get from a TV reporter who had done a little homework.

My response

The lecturer explains that public appearances of university professors are not as such a good idea. The lecturer gives 3 arguments.

First of all, professors do not benefit from appearing in public media sources. University professionals gain their reputation from other professionals in the business. Researchers’ reputations are built on good quality in the results for gaining support from other scientists. On the other hand, on public television professors do not gain reputations from other university professors. Television is used for entertainment, hence, university professionals do not watch television for scientific research.

Secondly, appearing on tv wastes a lot of time for the professor, due to the fact that they must prepare the essay and speend time traveling. All this time wasted on public appearances could be used for scientific research.

Finally, the lecturer explains that the public does not gain from professors’ appearing on television. University professionals are experts in technical areas and the general public would not be able understand what the professional is explaining. The General public on television wants to obtain general information. A reporter could be more beneficial than a professional, because a reporter gives the public a better perspective that everyone can understand.

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Writing Based on Knowledge and Experience

DirectionsRead the question below. You have 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise your essay. Typically, an effective essay will contain a minimum of 300 words.

Young people enjoy life more than older people do

Youth is a very important part of life. Young adults are still learning plenty of new things, besides that they are meeting new people and experiencing new things. In other words, they are changing the way they are thinking. Young people really feel the phrase “The world is your oyster”, in the fact that young people still have a lot of decisions to make in their lifes. However, are they enjoying life more than older people do?

In my point of view older people and young people have different points of view on life. The things I enjoy, the movies I want to watch, or my friends are continually changing in my life. When I was younger I really liked to play videogames, but now I don’t really like as much as I used to playing videogames, however what I enjoy of videogames now are the progamming aspects. So I still enjoy videogames, but the way I enjoy videogames has changed. Young people and older people enjoy different things, but that does not mean that older people are sadder than young ones. They just enjoy different things.

On the other hand, it is unquestionable that childhood is a very special part of life. Children are discovering life for the first time, moreover they have a special enthusiasm when they learn new things. Everyone likes to remember their childwood, since it is a beautiful part of our life that changed us. As I feel, when you are younger you enjoy the little things in life more. Children’s new experiences are simpler, but also more important for them. And that enthutiasm would not be the same when you are older.

In conclusion, I could not say that young people enjoy life more than older people do. Since young people and older people have different points of view of what they enjoy. However, the enthusiasm when you are young is very special, as a matter of fact they are continually experimenting new impressions.

Correction: WHEN i WAS YOUNGER, i USED TO REALLY LIKE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, BUT NOW i DON’T LIKE PLAYING THEM QUITE AS MUCH.