【Criteria】 Able to understand and use language necessary to take part effectively in a wide range of social, professional, and educational situations (e.g. meetings at work, lectures for educational purposes, etc.), knowing about 10,000-15,000 vocabularies.
【Passing score】 The passing scores on the First Stage for Grade 1 are usually expected to be about 79/113 (70%), but are subject to change for adjustments. The passing mark in the Second Stage is set at 60/100.
【Inquiries for STEP International Division】 Organizer: The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP), Inc. TEL (domestic): 03-3266-6090 Office hours: 10:00-17:00 in JST (Mon.-Fri.) E-mail: http://stepeiken.org/contact.shtml#Contact *Do NOT contact the test site for directions under any circumstances. To learn more, go to http://www.eiken.or.jp/exam/grade_1/about.html
The papers tell us we live in a broken society: crime, divorce, and unemployment are up. People, they say, lack the moral values of past generations. I don't think this is true. Take family relations. We are constantly exhorted to prioritize our work and careers as a route to personal satisfaction. Most people, however, realize that true happiness lies in the family, so even really busy people make sure they spend quality time with their parents, spouses, and children. It is also remarkable how well behaved and considerate most people are in public places. For example, even in massive cities like Tokyo, where there is a lot of stress and people are crowded onto rush-hour trains every day, fights and arguments remain very rare. While the Internet allows access to subversive information, such as where to buy illegal drugs, or even how to make a bomb, has the world as we know it fallen apart? No. There are some who may be swayed by such information, but the majority of people know where to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. The fact that people have kept their moral values rather than lost them is surely worthy of media attention, but that would not make the sensational story newspapers crave.
2004 01 Factors to consider when choosing a career 2004 02 The advantages and / or disadvantages of public transportation 2004 03 How best to handle conflicts with others 2005 01 Making the world safer for future generations 2005 02 Should there be more government control of the internet? 2005 03 Does the developed world have a responsibility to help developing countries overcome poverty? 2006 01 When future generations look back on this era, for what will they praise and/or criticize us? 2006 02 Agree or disagree: National identity is becoming less important in today's global society 2006 03 Does society give the rights of animals enough consideration? 2007 01 Has modern society become too dependent on technology? 2007 02 Should more be done to eliminate world hunger? 2007 03 Do the world's wilderness areas need to be better protected? 2008 01 Agree or disagree: The use of nuclear power should be expanded 2008 02 Is society doing enough to deal with violent crime? 2008 03 Will societies with aging populations face a crisis in the future? 2009 01 The advantage and/disadvantages of home schooling difference between day schools and boading schools 2009 02 Are people in modern society losing thier moral values?
「製薬会社はもっと低コストで薬を発展途上国に輸出するべきか」 「青少年の犯罪は誇張されているか」 「会社へのロイヤリティが薄れてきているか」 「ワープアは救済されるべきか?」(2次試験スレ:「我々はワーキングプアをもっと援助するべきか?」) 「高齢者は現代の社会において差別されているか?」(午前1) ( 「老人は冷遇されているか?」) 「少子化」(午後B1) 「科学は最終的に宗教に取って代わるか」 「The Pros and Cons of TVの視聴料金」(午前 大阪YMCA) 「動植物の絶滅は必然的か」(午前) 「Time is money. Do you agree?」(午前) 「職場での年齢による差別はあるか?」
I am planning to take the next STEP 1st exam, and am determined to pass it by any means. So, what do you recommend to do to improve my English skills, particularly the skills needed to fully understand academic fields and current events these days?
I have been, so far, watching dozens of American dramas, one after another, so I believe my daily conversation skill is fairly nice. But not for such academic matter or news. Any idea?
I think you know the answer already and the reason why you posted such a question is you just wanted to write something in English.
If you read newspapaers in English, you can enrich your vocabulary relating current events. Reading Japan Times is enough. I don't know what academic field you are specialized in but just read some websites regulary about your academic field. Internet can be a source of various study resources and it isn't hard to find what websites are suitable for you.
Reading theses in your field is good, too. I guess lots of theses and journals in PDF or WORD file format can be found on the Internet.
Are you planning to have an English examination test, called Eiken, in the first class? Even I, who have never had the examination, don't think you are so fluently writing sentences. What do you think about my impression against your writing?
>>162 Thanks for your comment. Ok, I understand your point is that I have gotta read newspapers and thesses, right? Yeah, I will. But but?
I rather do not want to subscribe to newspapers, because, you know, it would cost much, right? And, I am not used to finding academic PDF files, and it will take a lot of time before I can pinpoint the websites where I can download them. So, could you be more specific and tell us where we can getsuch PDF or WORD files, please?
In my last statement, I meant, by academic, general academic fields that are typical of this test. So, even though my major while in college was science, I rather want to read articles on economics, life science, up-to-date technology and something like that, because I have a feeling that such fields are very often dealt with in STEP.
To be put most simply, where is the address of Japan Times? Is it really good? Because I had an impression, when I read it many years ago, that the style of sentences is not like that of natives, but of Japanese, with an odd grammatical structure typicval of Japanese English learners.
>>165 News on Japan Times come from Reuters, Los Angels Times, and other native papers, with few written by Japanese writers. In addition, some big reports are on pace everyday. Those are the stories from Los Angels Times. For me, you seems only to be a person not even trying something good for your studying English language.
>>169 Alright. I will try to find and read Japan times. Thank you.
Yeah, I said so because, many years ago, I read Japanese professional baseball section in Japan Times, and, at that time, I found that the English style was a little funny.
>>163 Nobody can force you to have a good impression on my English so even if you think my English isn't that good, there's nothing I can do about it. I passed Grade 1 a few years ago but never thought my English is good. If people who are planning to take the test become confident of their English after reading my posts, then that's good on my part.
>>164 You can go to library to read English newspapers. A decent library carries English newspapers so try your nearest library first. You can read English newspapers online, too as you know. If you think your eyes get sore gazing at the PC monitor, you can print out some articles for later reference, if you have a printer.
To search for specific type of files, all you have to do is add "filetype:pdf"(in case of PDF file) without the quotations after your search word. Don't forget to insert a space after a search word. If you search for a WORD file, replace pdf with doc.
ttp://www.dougamanual.com/blog/13/7/e21.html You may find this website helpful, too. The way introduced in the video is basically the same as my explanation. The way I told you is faster, I think.
I understand what you meant by "academic field" now. I'm not an expert of Eiken test, so I'm not sure what academic field is popular. In my opinion, EIKEN doesn't require you to have expertise in any academic fields. Remember, even elementary school kids pass Grade 1.
I have ever heard that if we assume pre 1st grade is a level of an average high school baseball team, 1st grade is a level of a professional baseball team that has won championship and become Japan's number-one team.
>>180 precisely, I felt I'm just throwing away my money, with which I can buy many books that can be used for improvement of my English... but surely the feeling made me determined to study harder so as not to waste the money too. thus, I don't lament it.
If you know a background of news, reading newspaper is interesting. News articles alone can be boring because they states just facts, especially when they're straight news. But if you relate each articles to your life, you don't think they are not your business.
Besides, newspapers are not about straight news alone. There are an opinion page, op-ed page, colums that go deep into current events. I think English learners who don't like reading English newspapers don't read even Japanese newspaper on daily basis.
If you are obssessed with reading all the pages, you'll be overwhelmed. So just make it a rule to read pages or articles you are interested in. But sometimes it's good to force yourself to read articles which you are not interested in. The key is that you have to find your own middle ground. Don't haste but you need to stick to it. Slow and steady wins the race as they say.
Machine translation doesn't work in general, although some parts in the post seem to make sense. Do you remain to be an English learner who depends on machine translation for the rest of life, or will you roll up your sleeves and put your mind to studying English? You decide.
I think that reading English newspapers is a good practice for STEP test 1st grade. When I studied for 1st grade, I was reading Daily Yomiuri everyday. And I listened to English Journal everyday. Lovely. What I want to say is that studying for the test everyday is a milestone for your bright future. Bye for now.
(1) The man who makes a joke buys vulgar one and displeasure. But may not it be recognized more about the use of the humor as a kind of lubricant in the human relations? Wide knowledge, flexible way of thinking and abundant susceptibility are needed to become the man who knows the humor. When I have the good taste of a wit, they're the best praises that it's called.
(2) An old piano of my home is filled with many dear memories. My daughters who have begun a piano from 5 years old were an adult completely, too, and no one played any more already. But quite, I have a mind to dispose, I don't get away. There seems to be a firm which buys such piano and plays. Being the professional and when repairing it, I say that it's possible to play beautiful sound again.
(1) Making jokes is sometimes frown upon, but it should be widely recognised how effectively humor can be in helping us get along with each other. If you want to appreciate humor, you have to learn a lot, have a flexible way of thinking and to be keenly sensitive. If someone tells you that you have a good sense of humor, you can take it as agreat compliment.
(2) We have an old piano at home, which bring back so many good memories. My daughter started learning to play when they were only five, but they've grown up now and there is no one in the family that uses it these days. However, I just can't bring myself yo get rid of it. I hear there are companies that buy and restore old pianos like ours. They say that when they have been returned by skilled professionals, they can once again produce beautiful music.
(1) It is true that people making jokes can sometimes be disgusted and regarded as inferior fellows, but the efffect of humor, seen as a way to ease human relationship, should be emphasized much more. It is necessary to have a wider knowledge, more flexible perspective, and richer sensitivity , in order to recognize what humor is like. There would be no better compliment than being considered that you have a sense of humor.
(2) My old piano at home is full of happy good memories. Our daughters, who started playing piano at the age of five, have grown fully mature, and now none of them play it any longer. We, however, do not feel like getting rid of it. I hear there are some companies which will purchase such old pianos and try to fix them, and that our piano, if repaied by a skillful expert, would again be able to produce beautiful tunes.
>>237 As I wrote in >>226, I teaches English at high school. The ALT I teaches English with in a class even told me becoming a translator can be one of my career paths. blush No one can destinguish the English composition of mine of Kyoto university entranse exam with that of native English speakers. Even the ALT acknowledge my English proficiency, so that explains why not. blush
Those translation by the other posters have some features peculiar to Japanese English learners, right?
Some say nobody reads my translation but in reality, I'd say my English so good that they've lost their confidence. Come on, be honest. lol
>>248 Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you! Shame one you!
>>250 nay, you can't take it so seriously at all cuz all >>226 says is nothing but a fairy tale. let him boast until he gets tired of being such an effin' oaf.
I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius. I am a genius.
During sex, I feel more excited to watch closely the ass hole of a naked girl than to watch her pussy, and even more, too, than to insert my penis and move my waist back and forth..
>>1-1000 The thing that saves most of us from feeling terrible about our limited intellect is some small part of our personality or character that makes us different. Being uniquely our-selves makes us feel better about not being smart. It is those little differences we have that keep us from commit-ting suicide when we realize, early in life, that a lot of people have more brains than we have.
>>285 Oh, I got it! Thank you for your good translation.
Who made the sentences of >>283, anyway? Is it translated from English into Japanese, or vice versa? In whichever case, his or her English is terrible.
>>287 Tell me again, and I will beat you to death.
If I assume >>285 is the original sentences, I would say,
"It is thanks to a subtle difference in character that distracts us from confronting an unavoidable feeling that our capacity is limited. This unique personality prevents us from despairing of the fact that we are inferior. Each one of us, endowed with such his or her own possesions, can avoid committing suiside, even if they are, in an earlier time in life, surrounded with people more intelligent than themselves."
(1) A person who makes a joke can sometimes be seen as lowbrow and disliked, however, I think the effect of humor as a sort of interpersonal lubricant is something should be taken highly of. It is necessary to have wide knowledge, a flexible way of thinking, and rich sensitivity to enjoy humor. No compliment is more grateful than to be said that you have a good sense of humor.
(2) My old piano carries lots of good old memories. Now that my daughters who started playing piano at age five have quite matured, no one plays it any longer. However, I can hardly feel like throwing it away. I heard there's business that buys old pianos like mine to revive them. They say an old piano can produce a beautiful melody again by the hand of professional.
>>210 (1) Some people may think of joking as vulgar, raising their eyebrows at those who joke. But I think people should pay more attention to the power of humor to lubricate interpersonal relationships. You need to have a wide range of knowledge, a flexible way of thinking, and a great sensitivity to understand humor. So if someone says,"you have a good sense of humor",it will be the best praise you can get.
(2) I have many happy memories of the old piano in my house. My daughters all started to play the piano at the age of five. Now they are completely grown-up and don't play the piano anymore. But I can't bring myself to dispose of the instrument. People say that there are shops that buy such a used piano and make it work again. They also say that if I have a piano tuner that tunes the piano, it will be able to sing beautifully again.
____ /::::\::::::ノ\ The learners here, referring to this thread for information, must be /:::::::(●):::(●)\ losers, belonging to the lowest class in society. /:::: (_人_) ::::::ヽ With more talent, you could have easily passed STEP 1st grade | /ー─'| | while in college, and stayed away from here. ゝ 〈'⌒ヽ / ノ ___________ \ 。 ,、、、 / | | | __/ .(::O(⌒)、 \ | | | | | / , '''’´\ `ヽヽ | | | | | / / >>304 \_,ノ | | | | | | ⌒ ーnnn. ) |_|___________|  ̄ \__、("二) ̄l二二l二二二二二二l _|_|__|_
Hlelo, all. How are you? I'm fnie. Tihs pssgaae is so craeted taht its wrod odrer is ararnegd at rnodam, besad on the rersaceh cuntocded at Cimdabrge Utniviersy wtih the rulsets taht hamuns can roceginze wdros as lnog as its inatiil and lsat ltertes are in a cerorct pisitoon. Waht do you tinhk? I'm srue you can raed tihs, rhigt? If you can, pselae gvie smoe cemonmt.
>>317 I have to warn you that the first and last letters of each world should remain in the same position, so it must be, like, "Hey, tihs is amizang! I d'dnit fnid out the fcat utinl you epilaxn it."
>>442 well, strictly, I think there are a few mistakes in terms of situation. But I could figure out what you were saying. Do you realize → Don't you know you are only proving *I'm not >>443 though.
Correct their English or shut it. If you're not confident with your English, you must return your grade. Having passed Grade-1 means to be able to take part in discussions of any kind including issues like written above.
You smear the name of EIKEN Grade 1. You don't deserve it.
>>471 Are you crazy? You're stupid! You're the dumbest 2channer I've ever seen. (プ Do you know you only prove yourself that your English is poor by writing Japanese? You don't speak English because you have no GUTS! I hope you'll come back when you've got the nerve to speak English. Bye!
あと、 >今のことを言う条件節に過去形はおかしいでしょ。 条件節 If you couldn't write right English, は現在過去で捕らえるんじゃないよ。 そういった意味で553は助動詞といったんだよ。残りは普遍的な事実を述べるので you have no right to say you have one でおk。 1級を目指すものとしては高校の文法書から離れ、心の流れをつかまなくては。
英語の方言に invariant be というのがあって、例えば "We be pirates!"(俺たちゃ海賊だぜ!)とか そんな風に助動詞付近は微妙な用法が残っていたり新たに現れたりするのでは? 省略形の 'd とかは速く喋ると発音も微妙になるし適当に書くと消えるのでは? ともかく休日に友人にあって相談してみよう。勉強になるなぁ。
"if you couldn't *, you have" の検索結果 約 43,200,000 件中 1 - 10 件目 (0.37 秒) if you couldn't figure out you have to change your gamma settings you better not download such stuff at all...
"if i couldn't *, i have" の検索結果 約 203,000,000 件中 1 - 10 件目 (0.35 秒) if I couldn't afford that, then I have no business owning a cat!
"if she couldn't *, she has" の検索結果 約 8,610,000 件中 1 - 10 件目 (0.22 秒) If she couldn't save him, then at least she has a piece of his memory, of his identity intact.
"if he couldn't *, he has" の検索結果 約 24,200,000 件中 1 - 10 件目 (0.33 秒) if he couldn't fight Fedor, then he has nothing left to prove in the sport of mixed martial arts.
I know some junior-high students with 1st STEP, who have tremoendously great proficiency in English. When you actually see them speak English. I'm sure you wil be astonished with them, realizing that the English skills of childfood are unusually superior to those of adulthood.
>>671 How many years you stayed overseas doesn't count. Unless you mingled with local people there, chances are you had few opportunities to chat in English.
I'm not 678 but talikng about pre-grade1 test is irrelevant in this thread. As for writing down something while listening, I don't know. To be precise, I forgot because it was a long time ago when I took the test.
disdain straddl percolate innudate incarcerate ostracize impound recitify diffident covert haggard latent lay on store up shell out claw back drag out cast back trip over tap into buckle down drift off force back keep after thin out pann out haul off box up
>>704 Compared to rural areas, examinees in Tokyo are said to have good command of English on average. That's why some people say that an examinee, say, in Tottori wouldn't pass an interview test held in Tokyo.
>>706 How rude of you to say that! I've never felt so insulted in my life until now ..... just for living in a prefecture some hundreds of miles north-west of Osaka. You've got to tell me where you live.
>>707 You don't live in Tottori because basically, people in Tottori can't access to Internet except a tiny portion of wealthy people who have dial-up Internet connection. I live in a hich tech city where all cars are fuel-cell-powered and our Internet conection is extremely fast.
<704 Thanks. Your explanation about the stringent criteria on 2nd stage in Tokyo area is cogent. Anyway, regardless of contents or claims English should be used here.
>>718 Every time I see this kind of question, I can't help but thinking why don't you search for the stats on your own. Information on the official websites of STEP and TOEIC is a lot more reliable than info from anonymous people in 2ch.
Can you distinguish TRUTH and LIE in an online forum? If not, you'd better not use 2ch as your primary source of information.
>>720 Don't assume I dont know such basic facts, aho. There are lots of advantaged in using 2ch, see?. First of all, we can get the information I want very QUCIK, unless, of course, someone like you keeps disturbing, offending and annoying others.
>>721 If you have time to post such a stupid comment, go to STEP and TOEIC sites to search for the stats you want. It's just that you're too lazy to search for them on your own. Or else you're too naive to believe what annonymous 2channelers say.
>>723 OK, you don't know how to search? I'll give you a step by step instruction. Go to Google or any search engine you perfer and type "Eiken" and "TOEIC." Read each search results carefully and find official websites of them. Once you go to their websites, look for links that lead you to stats of each of the test, rainging from how many people took the tests in the past, what socres were border lines, etc.
Here is a BBS where you can only change your info with the others' one to prevent it from being wasted to communicate smoothly. Just read the bbs rules first if you come here for the first time. If you couldn't read this sentences you'd better get out of here. If you're in neither of them then just show us how poor your English is. Thank you for your cooperation.
"'This post isn't mine.' 'That post isn't mine, either'" doesn't get you nowhere. Remember. This is an anonymous forum and you can't tell who said what unless posters use trip code to prove their identities.
Don't underestimate the power of writing in English. It doesn't matter how much you write and what you write about because you guys don't have enough experiences to write in English in the first place. Stop looking on the negative side and muster up your courage and post in English and lo and behold you'll see your goal in sight.
Posters here look few and far between now. I have no idea how many people are luriking. Those who usually lurk in this thread show up like mushrooms out of nowhere on the day Grade1 test is held and I'm often surprised to know that quite a lot of people lurk holidng their breath.
>>747 As long as you're instructed to cover three points, all you have to cover is three among other points. Over the course of writing an essay, sometimes you end up covering more than three points whether intentioanlly or not, because all the points are relevant to the theme of an essay.
It's not that you can expect a higher score by covering more than three points. It's not that you are given a demerit mark by that, either.
Sample essays are too good for all examinees to model after, so you don't have to lose confidence if you think you can't write an essay as good as them.
747の文章いかにもJAPって感じだな 独学で学びました的なオーラがぷんぷんする ずっと海外に住んでるnativeの俺からすればナチュラルではないよね。 It's not that you can expect a higher score by covering more than three points. It's not that you are given a demerit mark by that, either. この二行不自然すぎてうけたlol
>>749 Your claim of having been living overseas makes me laugh on my part. LMAO Constructive criticizm is worth listening but it's obvious you're just critisizing my English for the sake of criticizing withou even suggesting alternatives, which I doubt you can.
Let me provide you with a most valuable piece of information, which will help you greatly sovle the problems tomorrow.
Below is my plan of how many minutes I will spare for each question.
[1] 12 mins [2](1st paragraph) 8 mins [2](2nd paragraph) 8 mins [3](1st paragraph) 13 mins [3](2nd paragraph) 13 mins [3](3rd paragraph) 18 mins [4] 25 mins [Reading in advance for listening part] 3 mins
>>759 I think you plan to spend too much of time on 1st, 2nd and 3rd paragraph in the third part. If I were you I would spare 10 minutes on 1st and 2nd paragraph and about 15minutes on 3rd paragraph. But that's as long as I'm concerned.
Oh, I regret to admit that I seem to have made a big mistake--in fact, the biggest ever this year. So, your point is that we should spend more time on Part 3, not on such minor parts as Part1 and Part2, right?
[1] 10 mins [2](1st paragraph) 7 mins [2](2nd paragraph) 7 mins [3](1st paragraph) 14 mins [3](2nd paragraph) 14 mins [3](3rd paragraph) 20 mins [4] 25 mins [Reading in advance for listening part] 3 mins
>>766 That's ok because midunderstandings always working around. Actually you can do so with concentrating to find the answer of question. I mean, there are always unnecessary parts in the sentences. Take a minute to confirm where isn't necessary and the rest to underline key parts.
>>767 Thanks. So, you are saying that not only should we be aware of the key part and other unnecessary parts, but we should also have a talent to distinguish the former from the latter in no time, right?
By the way, you talk as if you had already passed 1st grade. May I ask if you actually did?
>>769 No actually I haven't passed 1st grade yet and I'm just a highschool student. In the first exam held in 2009-term I was thrashed with score 45. Now tomorrow (actually today) I should pass this exam because I'm planning to specialize in something connected to English(for example we have to be able to use English when reading papers made in other English-spoken countries). Anyway we just do put all efforts we've done in tomorrow's exam. God bless you.
>>774 In my opinion, the interview test isn't something you can handle with practices of a short period of time. Daily efforts and practices counts most because you can't expect rapid improvement in your speech and conversation skill.
But I understand what you mean. If you're not in a situation where you don't use English, you have no chances of improving speaking skill on daily basis and without a set time frame and facing deadline, you tend to procrastinate taking measures to prepare for an oral test.
2010年1月24日(日) 答え合わせ 語彙 32431*13332*22122*24124*42144 Patently Ridiculous 312 Medical Decisions in the United States 214 An Enigma from Crete 442 Anti-Poaching Enforcers Turn to Forensics 324 The Travels of Ibn Battuta 1334 リスニング Part 1 12424*24221 Part 2 32433*23441 Part 3 11122 Part 4 14
opposable 【形】 抵抗{ていこう}[対抗{たいこう}]できる 反対側{はんたいがわ}[向かい側]に置ける 《解剖》〔親指{おやゆび}が他の指と〕対置{たいち}できる ・The thumbs of the monkey are not fully opposable. : そのサルの親指は完全に対置できるようにはなっていない。
>>809 名詞としては可算名詞 ━━[名] 1 賭け事;相場;冒険 ・ on a gamble 一か八かで, 運任せに. 2 賭博(とばく) ・ make a gamble 賭博をする ・ take the full gamble on ... …に大ばくちを打つ ・ The gamble paid off. その賭けは成功した.
The correct answer to question #30 is (2). Here's my reasoning. First, "the treatment" directly after the blank must refer to the chemotherapy procedure advised by the doctors, because only that procedure was referred to as a "treatment" in the text -- the other procedure was only called a "method". Now, what does the child think about chemotherapy? The text mentions that a) in the US, the child's opinion must be considered; and b) the child's opinion was a "further complication". Since the court eventually forced the child to have chemotherapy, that means that originally the child did not want to have chemotherapy. Therefore the correct answer is that "the child was totally against the treatment".
Topic : Agree or Disagee: Gambling should be banned
Although I don’t play any gambles myself, I don’t agree with the idea that gambling should be banned. When you consider the advantages and disadvantages of gambling, there are more advantages than disadvantages.
First, although it’s crucial to set an age limit, gambling isn’t something government regulates. Adults should enjoy personal freedom with their own responsibility in deciding whether they gamble or not. They have to control themselves not to damage family relations if they gamble and that’s what decent adults can handle on their own.
Second, many examples show that gambling provides employment opportunity in the world. Take Macao in China for example. It’s the city where no industries except gambling are prosperous. After the handover to China from Portugal, gambling business provides young people there places to work and keeps unemployment rate low. The same goes for Las Vegas. Both Macao and Las Vegas are economically successful due to tax revenues to the cities.
In conclusion, it’s a good idea to look on the negative side of things to prevent negative effects of them, but both on personal and economic level, gambling doesn’t do any harms if you are careful enough to avoid disadvantages gambling could bring. So I’m against prohibiting any form of gambling.
>>895 Well, >>901 has got the right idea. I can't speak for anyone else, but I find it easier to speak in my native language. Since this is the "english" board, I thought it would be permitted. 僕には日本語で説明するのは難しいですから。
>>908 Nope, "blotted out" is definitely correct. The phrase "to blot out the sun" is pretty common. It can even be used to describe huge monsters or other imposing things. For example, "In the movie '300', there was one scene where Emperor Xerxes's army shot so many arrows at the Spartans that they blotted out the sun."
>>902 "play any gambles" -> "gamble". We don't say "play a gamble". You can "play a gambit", but that's a bit more specific terminology. You can also "take a gamble", but that usually refers to an uncontrolled situation, not to games in a casino, for example.
"Adults should enjoy the personal freedom of taking responsibility for deciding whether to gamble or not."
"...that's something decent adults..."
"many examples from around the world show that gambling provides employment opportunities."
"Macao" -> "Macau", it's the more common spelling. "the city" -> "a city". "After the handover" -> "Since the handover", "provides" -> "has provided", "places" -> "a place" "unemployment rate" -> "unemployment rates" or "the unemployment rate" "tax revenues to the cities" -> "tax revenue from gambling"
In my opinion, it sounds formulaic to say "In conclusion" at the beginning of your conclusion paragraph. Why not just omit those words?
"personal and economic level" -> "a personal and an economic level" "any harms" -> "any harm" (uncountable noun) "disadvantages" -> "the disadvantages"
>>913 Thank you very much for your feedback. Thanks to you, it was worth trying. Before writing it, I thought I need to get it done in 20 minutes like I did when I took Grade1 test but ended up taking 30 minutes. Some mistakes you pointed out can be avoided if I'm careful, but others I couldn't if I was careful enough, such as uncountable noun, plural or singular. Collocation is one of the things that bugs me, too.
I am not confident of writing an essay so I thought it's better on the same side, sticking to the idea of using, "First," "Second," and "In conclusion" form. If it's OK to ask you, why did you take the test? Are you a returnee or a non-Japanese who studies Japanese? Are you a English teacher or something?
>>922 Glad I could help. I didn't take the test; one of the test-takers, a returnee, was talking to me on IRC and sent me the questions and linked me to this thread, so I decided to help out a bit.
>>927 Wow! This is one of the occasions I recofnized the power of the Internet. Never heard of IRC. If I'm not mistaken, Skype or MSN is more common now. At least you speak some basic Japanese as in >>903 I take it? Are he/she told you how to say it in Japanese via IRC?
>>936 IRC is kind of old, but still popular. Besides chat, it's also used for filesharing through XDCC. There is even a 2ch IRC server, by the way. http://irc.2ch.net/
My online test-taker correspondent generally speaks to me in English; as a returnee he's pretty much fluent (his answers for the reading section agreed with mine except for #30, which I convinced him he was wrong about).
Perhaps private language conversation schools or other language schools which has their own STEP Grade1 program for their students make them available faster than the Official STEP site.
>>946 I'd like to read your sample essay on gambling in the test for referance, if you don't mind. Greatly appreciated if you tell us how much time it took for you to finish up your essay. Sample essays in textbooks for test takers of this test is too good to believe that they are written in 20-30 minutes or so, which is the time it takes for average test takers to write in the test. Of course the textbooks have to be something reliable so I understand if they are proofread, editted, taking a lot of time by multiple people for publication.
I'm curious to read what an essay is like written by a native English speaker in the same time frame with test takers of this test.
While total freedom is regarded as somewhat of an ideal in the modern world, political theorists have come to the conclusion that at least some restrictions must be imposed upon the people in order to maintain order on a large scale. In many cases, governments have decided to curtail behavior that, at least in a direct sense, does no harm to others, such as gambling. While I don't think that an outright ban is necessarily called for, I do believe that some restrictions should be imposed upon these kinds of activities.
Inherently, gambling is a self-destructive activity on a personal level. It destroys families, as advocacy groups remind us, and the high stress level caused by habitual gambling may also drive a person to drink, or in other ways harm their health. Gambling can easily become an addiction, and certainly there are any number of other activities that are routinely prohibited by most governments, ostensibly to the end of preventing serious addiction problems among their populace. While a healthy society avoids marginalizing its citizens and letting them fall into disreputable patterns of living, many would not be convinced that such motivations warrant a regulatory response.
However, gambling does hurt others, if indirectly. Criminal activity is strongly correlated to the poverty level, and gambling is well known to be a driving force for poor families to cross the line into poverty. More directly, broken families and unhealthy breadwinners lead to vastly decreased participation of the households of gamblers in the economy. In general, the institution of gambling could be considered to be almost a parasite on society -- it essentially consists of nothing but a cash flow from a large number of usually poor gamblers to the large companies or organizations that run casinos, with no exchange of goods or services involved. As an abuse of the principles of monetary transaction, gambling cannot be viewed as anything but an inefficiency, a carbuncle in the state's economy.
There are, of course, beneficial sides to gambling, from the perspective of a government. While it is true that the primary transaction involved in gambling has no physical impetus, the support mechanisms of the system do involve a standard business model, and allow for the hiring of many workers, table operators, slot machine builders, construction agencies, statisticians, and other specialists. Indeed, cutting out the "gambling sector" would cause a spike in unemployment, especially since some skill sets are specifically adapted for this particular market.
As I see it, the solution should be found through taxation. Taking a cue from, for example, how the United States handles the problematic cigarette, the government should heavily tax gambling while sponsoring advocacy campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of overreaching. Some care must be taken to make the tax take effect as close to the gambler as possible, otherwise the casinos can easily cover their losses to taxation by simply rigging their games to better house odds. This solution can essentially pay for itself, since the tax revenue thus gained could fund the educational campaigns, probably with plenty to spare.
Gambling can and should be restricted, though not banned entirely. Mankind yearns to be free, which is all well and good, but it is clear that with some compromises made, countless people can be saved from themselves, while also providing a tangible benefit to society as a whole.
I took the test yesterday. It reminded me of my school days, because it was held in a junior high campas. To my surprise, I felt everything--including the size of a desk, a chair, a room, and the like--is small for grownups.
>>962 Oh, you did? Looking back, I didn't feel it was pain--therefore, by no means, torture--to have to sit in a set of a desk and a chair, which are really so hard and so cramped. Never in my life have I ever wished more greatly than yesterday that I could go back in time to my happy school days.
【スレタイ】実用英語技能検定1級 英検1級 Thread Part 66 【名前】1 【メール欄】age 【本文】 【Criteria】 Able to understand and use language necessary to take part effectively in a wide range of social, professional, and educational situations (e.g. meetings at work, lectures for educational purposes, etc.), knowing about 10,000-15,000 vocabularies.
【Passing score】 The passing scores on the First Stage for Grade 1 are usually expected to be about 79/113 (70%), but are subject to change for adjustments. The passing mark in the Second Stage is set at 60/100.
【Inquiries for STEP International Division】 Organizer: The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP), Inc. TEL (domestic): 03-3266-6090 Office hours: 10:00-17:00 in JST (Mon.-Fri.) E-mail: http://stepeiken.org/contact.shtml#Contact *Do NOT contact the test site for directions under any circumstances. To learn more, go to http://www.eiken.or.jp/exam/grade_1/about.html
>>959 Haha. Yes, 561 words. But the original instructions were "200字", so if we interpret it as "200 letters", it's an impossible guideline in the first place.