1. 
      Read carefully the following two excerpts about making friends online, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
      1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts, and then
      2. express your opinion towards making online friends, especially your opinion on whether it is a good way or not.
      You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
      Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
      Excerpt 1
     
      With the access to the Internet, our life has changed a lot. Despite the many advantages and convenience the Internet has brought to our life, making friends online is a bonus. Overcoming the limit of time and space, online friend-making has expanded our circle of friends. Through certain applications on mobile phones, computers, etc., we get to know people we have never met before. The geographical limitation has been broken through.
      One of the characteristics of online衔ends is its accessibility. The amazing experience of sharing thoughts and emotions with someone you don't know has actually reduced the stress of exposure. Without going somewhere or being bogged down in social civilities and activities, we can be who we really are in the Internet world. We don't need to talk with them face to face, which has greatly eliminated the awkwardness in sharing the mirth as well as the sadness with them.
      Also, the social competition is fiercer than before, that is to say, making friends in real life settings may easily encounter hardships while the online friendship usually generates no troubles. Thus online friendship is more comfortable.
      Excerpt 2
     
      Using various chatting applications, we harvest plenty of friendship. Knowing someone from a different culture or race and talking to someone about our troubles without any physical burdens is definitely an amazing experience. Yet things can be tricky here.
      The online friendships are full of uncertainties and threatening elements. For instance, we often hear the news lamenting for some innocent young girls. They fell into the meshes of bad people and some even lost their lives. The murderers are their online "friends". Believing they have found the true friends or even their Mr. Right online, these girls were holding no defense towards crimes. The cases give us deep thoughts if making friends online is full of dangerous and thorny problems.
      What's more, the Internet has impacted many people. We tend to feel indifferent about our real life. According to a recent report, the users who spend more than 5 hours a week will spend less time with their families. Furthermore, they prefer to spend family time working. The closer distance in the Internet has enlarged the distance in real life. The pattern that the friends online are not trustworthy and the real friends have been ignored can push one to loneliness.

2. 
      Read carefully the following two excerpts about talents and choices, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
      1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts, and then
      2. express your opinion towards gifts and choices, especially their influence on our life.
      You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
      Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
      Excerpt 1
     
      Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher once said, "Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." Although the great philosopher is always the spokesman for philosophical pessimism, the opinion on talents makes sense in our life. Thousands of eggs may give the world a good painter, but not a Leonardo da Vinci in the history of art without a painting gift. Believe it or not, it is talent that decides our directions and achievements in life.
      To be successful in a field, we need to know if we are suitable for this field or not firstly. Everyone has his or her own value and potential. Only by finding out what we are good at can we take a right path. Gifts are significant in our life, for they make everything worthwhile and reasonable.
      Knowing that setting a right direction in life is prior to the following effort, a growing number of people try to consider their abilities and talents in advance. Also, the consciousness of knowing their kids before they give any forms of education or trainings to them is also increasing among parents.
      Excerpt 2
     
      Choices are always important in our life. For thousands of years, the story of Fang Zhongyong who was a talented kid endowed with the amazing gift of writing poems, but finally withered away due to the absence of education has been popular in China. Usually the story is told to highlight the eternal question for kids: To learn, or not to learn. Our talent is a present; that's why it is called a gift. But eventually it's our choice to decide whether we open the gift or not.
      A gift is what we were born with and it is a case without us sitting in the jury, while choices are what we live with and they are the melody hummed by us. Or in other words, a gift is not one of the choices that we can make, but choices are all decided by us.
      A man's life is in fact the reflection of all the choices that he has made. The question of "who am I" can never be simply answered according to our configuration; rather, the answer is mostly showed in what we choose or refuse to do in life.

3. 
      Read carefully the following two excerpts on online teaching, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
      1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts. and then
      2. express your opinion towards the new education approach, especially your opinion on the relationship between school education and online courses.
      You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
      Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
      Excerpt 1
     
      With the access of Internet, online courses have become a trendy way to learn. The new form of teaching is getting more and more popular, for it provides the convenience of having lectures and courses whenever and wherever we want.
      Breaking through the limits of time and space, online teaching also balances educational resources. By studying online, students are free to choose the teachers they like which can greatly motivate their interest in studying. Thus, the spirit of self-study is cultivated and the consciousness of choosing a suitable learning style is formed. What's attractive about online courses can also include its ideal model of learning. With the help of the infinite knowledge storage, we can do an instant online search when we are puzzled. Normally in school, the teachers may spare no time for us to figure out what we don't understand, for they have to take care of all the students, or at least the majority of the class.
      Online courses are available for both students and citizens. For the working class, taking online courses is a wonderful choice. The online courses are flexible. No matter what your occupation is and when your work ends, you can always have classes after work or in your free time with the abundant online courses available.
      Excerpt 2
     
      Although online courses are going viral with the advantages of flexibility and convenience, traditional school education is more influential on students' learning and personalities. School education provides the opportunity for teachers and students to be really intimate with each other, which is quite helpful for teaching and learning.
      The school education can proceed without demanding facilities. For the realistic causes and emotional reasons, school education is still the main way for students to acquire knowledge nowadays. Taken in fixed classrooms and dominated by certain teachers, classes in school are more effective. Like the profound role Ms Sullivan played in Helen Keller's life, a teacher's company means a lot to a child. A good teacher can always lift the students' interest with his or her charisma. And the influence is beyond the imparting of knowledge to them.
      Despite the above, certain subjects cannot be finished through online courses. If we want to teach a little girl paper folding, it's better to correct the procedures face to face so that you can show where she went wrong. Through online teaching, however, the correction may take several minutes or even longer to be clear.

4. 
      Read carefully the following two excerpts about luck, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
      1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts, and then
      2. express your opinion towards luck, especially your opinion on the substance of luck.
      You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
      Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
      Excerpt 1
     
      Luck as the presentation of supernatural power is often used to express our blessings to others. Although saying life is closely associated with luck sounds fatalistic, luck does exist. Owning perfect knowledge of odds, we may be able to predict things in life. But no one can calculate luck since it is full of unknown probabilities and because of its randomness, good luck is expected and treasured in life.
      The usual advice in life is to trust the power of effort, but not to count on the favor of luck. It is for the reason that effort is controllable in life but luck is not. Surely, success is full of {7eat strategies and hard work. However, the trace of luck can also be seen in it. And that's why we see there are people who make all the right moves yet still are unsuccessful. No one can ever promise success or failure since we know luck is naughty.
      The world is a place that's filled with uncertainties. We human beings admit it and prepare for various situations in life. It's not nihilism. Rather, it's an objective recognition of life and a foundation of a better world outlook.
      Excerpt 2
     
      There's no doubt that the focus of luck exists in our life from literally every aspect. The essence of luck has been discussed since ancient times. And the conclusion has been given that luck can be earned and accumulated, for it is the reward of our talents and efforts.
      The appearance of luck is the result of the joint actions. A good mindset is the precondition of handling things calmly; a sense of humor is the support when we are knocked down; focus promises our dedication even in tough situations; building a social network helps you thrive in working; learning from others avoids the painful setbacks. All the above is the dispensable elements in success and they all depend on our own effort. Therefore, another definition for luck is the accumulation of hard work.
      Actually, those who trust in hard work rather than luck will lead a happier life. They believe that success and happiness can be earned by effort. Although we usually say to others: catch a break, yet the extremely rare breakthroughs can only be caught when we have a solid quantitative foundation.

5. 
      Read carefully the following two excerpts on the relationships between teachers and students, and then write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
      1. summarize the main message of the two excerpts. and then
      2. express your opinion towards the relationships between teachers and students, especially on the ideal relationship in your mind.
      You can support yourself with information from the excerpts.
      Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
      Excerpt 1
     
      The importance of establishing a harmonious and strong relationship between students and teachers can never be overemphasized. As the two active factors in the process of education, teachers and students have different duties. To complete the education better, great teachers usually focus on the connections with their students rather than the students' compliance.
      Education is such an interactive task that it is impossible to fulfill if either side breaks the law of interaction. Therefore, mutual understanding between students and teachers is of great significance. Teaching and learning is a process that go hand in hand with the participants knowing clearly about their requirements. A friendly communication between teachers and students is the precondition of efficient knowledge transmission.
      A good education starts from the frank and equal exchange of each other's expectations. If a sense of distance is created because of the ideology barriers in positions, then it is hard for teachers to approach their students. In order to make education fruitful, teachers should play the role of not only a mentor but also a friend and give more proper encouragement and guidance to their students.
      Excerpt 2
     
      Surely, the scenery of students and teachers smiling at each other is warm and beautiful, yet the close relationship between teachers and students is not always appropriate in the actual process of education. The ultimate task of a teacher is to bring out the best of the students' ability to master knowledge. A teacher can be friendly to a student, but they cannot be friends.
      The identity of a friend is conflicted with the status of a teacher. A teacher must be someone who points out the misdoings of their students and supervises the correction process. People tend to set unrealistic high standards and labels on teachers to make them be friends with their students when no one has ever considered the difficulty in scolding a friend face to face. A teacher's authority is absolutely to be maintained. Even if the relationship between teachers and students should be based on trust and respect, students must treat their teachers seriously.
      All students are fond of amicable and knowledgeable teachers. Yet this lovely image of a teacher should not be at the expense of a teacher's authority. Teachers and their students can become true or even best friends after the students' graduation, but not during the period when one side is still under the supervision of the other.