03-04
Credit cards, friends or foes? (by Daniel Chua 6C)Imagine you are on the street,
and you have the right to inspect everyone’s wallet.
What will you find in it? Money? Of course! And besides the
identity card, the octopus card and some coins, you will find
an extra thing in every adult’s wallet – a credit
card. Not only do those white collars own one, but so do the
university freshmen. It may not be common for young adults to
own a credit card, especially those economic-dependent ones,
in the past. But this trend is becoming more and more common,
it has even become an integral part of becoming an adult. You
are 18 years old, but you do not have a credit card? What a
shame!
Do you know why owning a credit card has become a trend?
Simply because of the word ‘convenient’. As the
world is focusing on integrated technology, e-shopping has
become quite pervasive among the globe. You just need to stay
at home, and move your mouse to the icon representing the
goods you want, and click it. A few days later, you will
receive what you want, even from shops in foreign countries.
Don’t you think that it is extremely convenient? You
just need to pay for the shipping fee, then you can purchase
everything in the whole wide world. Even Lee Ka-shing could
not do so if he does not own a credit card. Moreover, you
could do all sorts of thing on the Internet like joining some
websites, booking public facilities and air tickets, etc.
And the second reason for the increasing demand on credit
card is very obvious. If you want to buy something which
costs a few thousand dollars, would you rather pay by a bunch
of dollar notes or just by scribbling your signature on the
receipt? Everyone will choose the latter, not only because it
is convenient to use, it is also very safe. Even if a
pickpocket has stolen your wallet and got your credit card,
so what? The thief could not withdraw any money as long as
your password is not disclosed to him. And by making one
phone call to cancel the card, this useless rectangular
plastic thing can be thrown into the incinerator.
That’s why you will definitely feel safer to put a
credit card than stuff a stack of dollar notes into your
purse.
Credit card providers often lure people to apply for their
credit card by giving out all sorts of trendy gifts like the
newest mobile phone, or other electronic appliances.
Household appliances are also acted quite commonly as gifts.
Some providers are a bit smarter, they will at least require
the card owners to spend a certain amount of money with their
credit cards before the owner can claim the gift. The
providers may also attract the owners by a variety of methods
like providing touring packages to customers who always
patronize their services of holding lucky draws in which the
prize is a luxurious car. It seems that applying for a credit
card can gain you a lot of advantages but this is not true.
Most people pay by credit cards because they can pay in
instalments. And by paying in instalments, you can buy a lot
of things at the same time. For instance, you only have a
thousand dollar, but you would like to buy a mobile phone, a
laptop computer and a television at once; how could you do
so? It is impossible unless you pay in instalments. Credit
cards can provide such service. But do you know that
instalment payment is absolutely treacherous? Paying in
instalment will allow you to purchase more and more and you
may end up not able to pay for all the things you have
bought. As you use more than you earn, how on earth are you
able to pay all the money? Easy, just borrow some money from
a bank, then you will be able to ‘fill up’ all
the instalments. What a perfect method to cash in money! You
borrow money from a bank to pay all the instalments you owe
other banks. In order to eschew customers from terminating
the use of their service, they won’t force customers to
pay off their debts immediately. So young people may be prone
to spending future money.
And because most of the young people are quite vulnerable
when facing difficulties, they will choose to declare
bankruptcy when they could not get out of debt. Some would
even become so extreme that they decide to plunge to death to
get rid of those loan sharks hired by the banks. See,
overusing credit cards will only impair your money managing
ability and declaring bankruptcy will only obliterate your
entire life. Though credit cards are really convenient, we
should not overuse it.
Therefore, schools should conduct lessons which teach
students how to manage their money. Students should also be
taught that borrowing money is not a good habit because it
will only worsen the situation.
Lastly, banks should set higher criteria for the application
of credit cards, so that people won’t anyhow apply for
credit cards. Moreover, banks or credit card companies should
go through the customer’s record to ensure that he or
she does not owe any bank any money before granting his or
her application. Banks could also increase the minimum
payment if the debtors pay in instalment or have debts.
We could only hope that by adopting these methods, could the
ever-growing problem of the overuse of credit cards be
curtailed.
Marriage does not seem
to be very popular with young adults nowadays. Some say that
men, especially, choose to stay single. Account for the
causes behind this phenomenon. What is your view towards
staying single or getting married? Support your view with at
least 3 arguments. (by Cynthia Law 6C)
On a silent beach, a young couple hugs each other tightly.
The man whispers sweet words into his girlfriend’s ear.
The girl says nothing but smiles. The ambience is full of
love and romance. Sarcastically, perfect moment can never
last long. When the woman asks the man when they will get
married, the man is struck dumb and in no time sidesteps the
question. This really grieves her. What’s wrong with
getting married indeed?
In fact, as for many males, tying the knot is the toughest
thing to do in the world. It is tantamount to putting them
into jail. Once you get married, you cannot fool around
anymore and you have to give up all the round-the-clock
pastime with your intimates. The even worse one is that you
cannot spend money luxuriously anymore and purchase what you
want as your ‘dearest’ wife will limit your
expenditure and manage your account. Moreover, you can have
excuse for not answering your girlfriend’s chasing
calls. However, after she has become your legal wife, you
have to endure the call from her at any time and report to
her where you are and who you are being with. To get married,
men must have to say goodbye to their freedom first but
obviously men are reluctant to do that.
Despite the situation of men, the trend of young women
getting married is also not prevailing now. They love to stay
single. It definitely stems from their sky-high social
status. Nowadays, many young women are well-educated,
independent and have a good income. They are no longer
restricted to stay at home raising children and maintaining a
clean and comfortable home. They also don’t have to
rely on men financially. This leads the women to set a high
criterion for their ‘husbands’. Cruelly speaking,
some women earnestly may look down on the men whose social
status is lower and they absolutely will not regard them as
their targets. If they cannot find their Mr Right, they will
not be anxious about it. They prefer to remain single. The
reason is that they have their powers and jobs.
Should I have to make decision, I will decidedly choose to
stay single too. One of the main reasons is that there are
too many divorces. Rarely do I not hear the news of divorce
of someone each day. Confronted with these anecdotal
shattered marriage, I find that it is difficult for me to
believe marriage. It seems that no one can maintain a
life-long and happy marriage. Even the couples who are deemed
as perfect match, their marriages ultimately also result in
divorce. It really makes people lose confidence in marriage.
I don’t think marriage is a necessity and the things
that you find from marriage can actually be acquired from
cohabitation, except the wedding certificate. Why don’t
we choose the one which has less anxiety?
Needless to say, cohabitation rather than marriage has become
the first priority to most of the couples. I think it really
has its own superiority. It requires less or even no
commitment. Furthermore, it possesses much flexible freedom
and privacy than marriage. For instance, you can still have
some so-called ‘Boys’ Night or
‘Girls’ Night with your intimates. On the other
hand, when the couple’s relationship ends they can
break up easily. However, as for marriage, you would have a
lot of considerations such as children. Sometimes with a view
to considering the well-being of the children, the husband
and wife often will not choose to divorce but only tolerate
no matter how disastrous their relationship is. If they
really divorce, there are plenty of troublesome procedures to
do. Therefore staying single is earnestly better than getting
married.
As nowadays having a stable job is not an easy thing, tying
the knot is not the best choice for people without thinking
twice. The reason is that without a stable job, that means
you are economically unstable and have a risk of becoming
unemployed, then how can you provide enough financial support
for the family? In regard to your job instability, you may
often have to work beyond your working hour or take more than
one job, how can you have time to take care of the children?
Thus, if you really get married, you need to take many things
into account. By contrast, staying single doesn’t have
to come across these problems. That’s why I think
staying single is better.
Love is a learning of how to respect others, care for others
and be responsible to others. Regrettably, many people fail
to do that. Some even distort the meaning of love. I am not
saying that marriage is a bad thing, it is just because
people today are not responsible enough and are not bound for
getting married. To avoid numerous shattered marriages in the
near future, I think staying single suits us more.
Many young married couples now choose not to have
children, even though their parents put them under great
pressure to have children. Explain why this conflict occurs
between these couples and their parents. State whether you
agree with the views of the young couples or with those of
their parents. Justify your opinions with logical arguments.
(by 7A Elton Chan Wing Ching)
Couples nowadays are constantly battling their parents on the
issue of when to have children. Parents will first imply that
they are bored; then they will talk of neighbors’
grandsons or how some distant relatives are enjoying playing
with their grandchildren. Usually these pressures will end up
in one response from the couples – ‘Mom, Dad,
would you be kind enough to give us a break?’
The answer will probably be ‘no’ and the friction
will usually keep growing. Husband and wife nowadays are so
inflexible in avoiding having baby mostly because they want
to have a marriage just for the two of them. Just imagine you
are driving with the one you love up to a mountain in the
fainting dusk, whispering to each other. Who will be cruel
enough to ruin this romantic scene? No one will, except a
crying baby. Taking care of a baby is probably the most
energy-consuming work on earth. Parents do not eat before
their baby; they do not sleep before their baby; they do not
even smile unless their baby is laughing. Sleeping serenely
is presumably a luxury for parents, let alone romance. The
demanding nature of infants gradually frightens the potential
parents to keep themselves just being potential.
Giving birth to a new life is also too much a burden for
modern working couples. Thanks to better education, men and
women at present time are much more ambitious than in the old
days. Career seems to have occupied their top priority.
Therefore, it is reasonable to understand that a mid-night
crying baby will be worse than a nightmare for couples who
need to work 17 hours the next day (for nightmare only exists
in long, deep sleep which working parents are clearly not
lucky enough to have one). To avoid being constrained in
career development by an infant, couples tend not to have
one.
However, the logic of the couples’ parents work pretty
much in a different way. Being deeply affected by the
traditional thought of preserving the bloodline for the
family and the ancestors, parents feel obligated to press
their daughter-in-law to have a child (preferably a boy). As
time goes by, their virtue of patience will degenerate as
quick as the growing of their white hair; the young ones will
soon feel the pressure originate from the three-thousand-year
tradition of China.
The conflicts between couples and parents are inflamed mostly
because they have different mindsets. To the young ones,
romance and career prospects are definitely more tempting
than the responsibility of raising a child. To the parents,
on the other hand, romance and any other reasons are no
better than any lousy excuse and preserving the bloodline is
of course on the top of everything else. These different
values spark off many conflicts. No wonder some couples may
even complain to their parents when they are upset - you do
not and probably will never understand!
The world has changed gigantically from decades ago and what
the couples did is very justifiable. I sympathize these
couples’ decision not only because of my youth and
ability to understand their concerns about having babies, but
also because the population on this Earth has exploded to
such a dangerous level that birth control is considered to be
urgent. The decision of these married young ones is
beneficial to their own interest as well as to the
world’s.
Misunderstandings and different values have been and will
continue to generate frictions between the two generations on
the question of having children. It is virtually impossible
to defuse these quarrels in a foreseeable future. Hopefully
when the couples become parents-in-law themselves, they will
understand the difficulties of the new couples. Meanwhile,
the only painkiller to stop the pangs of conflicts between
the two generations is perhaps the patience of the young
ones.
‘Television has too great an influence on life
today’. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
(by 7A Jacky Li Ping Him)
Do you like watching television? Do you think you are
influenced by television? To brook no doubt, television is an
indispensable part of modern lifestyle. However, television
does have too great influence on our daily life. We all are
influenced unwittingly.
Television widens the gap between us and our family members
and even our friends. For instance, many families seldom sit
round the table when they have meals. The reason behind is
that they want to have their meals in the sitting room,
allowing them to view their favourite television programs. As
having meals is a good chance for families to gather and
chat, the loss of such a chance means also a loss of
communication! As a fatal result, family problems, violence
and even some suicidal acts are not rarely observed nowadays.
Maybe you will say that I am overestimating the harm of
television, but that is true! Television is eroding our
relationship with others. Do you remember the case about the
conflict between a father and his son? They fought as they
wanted to view different programs on television!
Television disrupts our mode of life. I am sure you have
tried to stay up late at night to watch your beloved
programs. Do you remember the craze of football in 1998 when
the World Cup was held in France? Many football enthusiasts
stayed up until the day was dawning! Now, many students like
to watch television until midnight because they want to
‘relax’. Obviously, to ‘relax’ is
merely a justification of laziness. The outcomes of staying
up late at night are either sleeping in lessons or waking up
in the afternoon during holidays! It can be seen that
television ‘adjusts’ our biological clock and the
adjustment is a very unhealthy one.
Television is not harmless to our health. According to some
medical reports, our eyes will be over weary and our backbone
will be damaged if we watch television excessively. On top of
that, all of you know that watching television is exhausting.
You will surely not work with energy after watching
television. As a corollary, you will not do revision,
exercises and therefore you will definitely be harmed, both
physically and academically. In fact, television does
contribute to school failures and obesity!
Some may agree television is not as influential as
aforementioned. It is true that watching television is a kind
of relaxation, but if one is addicted, I am sure he or she is
‘corroded’ without his or her consent. All in
all, what I am talking about here is the results of watching
television overly. Of course, it is undeniable that
television is a machine that brings us enjoyment. The harmful
effects only come when we neglect the suitable utilization of
television. However, some television addicts claim that
television has no influence on life. In reality, they are
just excusing themselves!
To reiterate, television has too great an influence on life
today. Those who disagree with this statement may be the
television addicts or those without common sense. In a
nutshell, the influence is inevitable because television
becomes one of the necessities in our daily life in the 21st
century.