TOPIC 142

TOPIC 142: Some people believe that students should be given one long vacation each year. Others believe that students should have several short vacations throughout the year. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.

Essay 1

I like the idea of students having several short vacations throughout the year. I'm a working parent with two school-age children. Every summer I have to come up with a plan for keeping my children safe and entertained for three months, while my husband and I are at work. Summer camps are expensive, and finding the one your children will enjoy can be a challenge. Getting rid of that one long vacation would make life a lot easier.

Having several shorter vacations would also make it easier to schedule vacations. My husband and I both work in small offices with other working parents. All of us need vacation time during the same three months. This is hard on our businesses and our careers.

We also find that wherever we go in the summer, it's crowded. It would be nice to go places throughout the year and find smaller crowds. I'm sure the attractions themselves would like that better, too. It would be better for the economy to spread things out, too.

I think my children would be more focused on their studies if their vacation time was divided up throughout the year. The final month of the school year, they're just not paying attention. They've been in School for nine long months and they don't have a lot of energy. Plus, they're anticipating vacation time. If vacations were throughout the year, they would concentrate better on studies.

Of course, many older school buildings aren't air-conditioned, because usually people aren't there during the hottest months. That might be a problem. I think, though, that new air-conditioning would be worth the cost. During the last few weeks of summer, my children are bored with their long vacation. I doubt that would happen if there were several vacations throughout the year.

(Essay ID: 18 )

Essay 2

Hello, friends! As students, what period is your happiest days?--Holidays! I think everyone will agree with this answer, so do I. But what kind of holiday do you like better--the longer one or several short vacations in a year? I think each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. As for me, I like the latter one.

Now, let's look at the good and bad points of the two kinds of holidays. Of course, I'd like to begin the topic with my favorite one--short period of vacations. Fist, short vacations are a great relaxation after busy final exams. When we finish the exams, we know that we'll have a month to think freely, to do other things besides classes, to visit friends, to be with our family, to go to concerts, to watch sports contests, and so on. Second, we can plan to travel during the short vacations. In spring, we can go to mountains, to see the various flowers that can't be seen in cities, to see the stream flowing, to climb the mountains, and to appreciate the beautiful scenery on the summit! What a wonderful picture, especially for we students always swimming in the "sea" of books! And in summer, we can go to the seashore to enjoy the sunshine and long beach. In winter, we may go to see the snow scenery! It gives us a lot of pleasure. At last, the most important one is that we will not forget classes after the short vacations. The shortcoming is that, for those students who want to make some money to cover their school expenses, the vacations are too short for them to make enough money.

As for the longer vacations, we can have a longer relaxation, we can have a longer relaxation, we can go to remote areas or go abroad to travel. But if we only have one long vacation for a year, isn't it dull for us? And we also may forget some of our lessons after we return to school. From the above, I think the short period of vacations have a lot of advantages comparing with the longer ones. So why not join us in short holidays and enjoy everything we'd like to do!

(Essay ID: 504. This is a 5 point essay)