The bar charts compare how many people in urban and rural areas were impacted

by noise pollution from four sources during daytime and nightime in 2007. In general,
it is clear that more residents in cities experienced all types of noise pollution
compared with rural areas. In addition, traffic was the main source of noise pollution
at all times.
To begin with, it can be seen that daytime noise from traffic affected 64 million
people in cities and 34 million in rural areas. At night, there was 48 million city
residents, which is double the figure for rural areas were affected by traffic noise.
Additionally, noise pollution caused by trains impacted slightly more people in cities
compared with rural areas, at 10 million and 8 million respectively during the
daytime, and 8 million and 6 million respectively at night.
Moving to the remaining two sources of noise pollution, it can be seen that they
impacted minimally to people. Daytime aircraft noise affected 4 million people in
cities and half that number in rural areas, while the figure at night for cities and rural
areas was 1 million. There was 1 million city residents, which experienced industrial
noise pollution in the daytime and fourfold the number affected at night. However,
those living in rural areas were not affected by noise from industry business.

Task 2
It is inevitable that traditional cultures will be lost as technology develops.
Technology and traditional cultures are incompatible. To what extent do you agree
or disagree with this view?

Some people believe that technological developments lead to the disappearance of

traditional cultures. To my knowledge, I partly agree with this assertion because while
this may be true in the case of some societies or customs, others seem to be unaffected
by technology and the modern world.
To begin with, the advances in technology have contributed to the disappearance of
some traditions in many ways. Firstly, due to industrialisation and modernisation,
more and more people migrate to the urban centres to have more job opportunities and
abandon their own culture. As a result, some traditional skills such as embroidering or
pottery are not passed on to the next generations. Secondly, technological
development also leads to globalisation which might cause cultural assimilation. This
is because some developing countries have to adopt culture from other nations in
order to integrate.
On the other hand, the advances in technology make a great contribution to the
development of the traditions. Technological development not only helps to expand
people’s knowledge of cultural diversity and raise people’s awareness of preserving it
but also promotes traditional values so that these traditions can be well-known and
appreciated by others. Futhermore, there are many traditional cultures which are still
thrived in many parts of the world. Most countries have a rich heritage of legends and
folklore about the birth and development of their nation, some of which are
mythological and some being grounded in truth.
In conclusion, it can be admitted that many traditional ways of life have been lost as
a result of advances in technology, but other traditional communities have survived
and even flourished.
Some people argue that history is of little use to us. Others believe that studying
history brings us many benefits. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Many people believe that history is essentially useless to us in our future life and
career, while there are those who think that studying the past brings us many positive
impacts. In this essay , I will analyse both sides of the argument by providing
examples on why history may be obsolete as a subject and the fact that it is still as
important as it was in the past.
To begin with, history knowledge cannot be used in any beneficial way in today's
fast-paced society. Firstly, some people think that it's a waste of time and resources to
learn what our forefathers did in the past and how the civilizations developed because
their knowledge are useless to survive in contemporary society. Secondly, history is
the field that is rarely used in people’s lives, and therefore, they would rather pay
attention to science or technology than focus on something that brings no relevant
values to the present or future.
On the other hand, history is imperative for people and their lives. It can be
admitted that history helps us to learn patterns, mistakes from the past, hence helping
people to avoid similar ones in the future. Futhermore, history is extremely essential
for teenagers in understanding culture, their own identity and where they come from.
The youth need to understand how their ancestors defended the nation against
intruders throughout many dynasties and maintain a sovereign and free country, which
would develop their patriotism and pride.
In conclusion, history as it is taught now is very conventional, not relevant in
todays world. However, acquiring knowledge from the past is important for people to
not repeat mistakes, progress as a society and sustain the traditional cultures