Sample question on p.

297

The author and the lecturer in the given passage discusses on the topic of the enigma
regarding the collapse of the civilization of Eastern Islanders and theories behind the
downfall of such civilization. The professor in the lecture contends that three theories
provided in the passage do not answer as to why the civilization had collapsed, as there are
flaws associated with each theory.
 
In relation to the first theory, the professor objects that this is not the main contribution to
the disappearance of the Eastern Islanders, casting doubt on the author’s point that
deforestation was one of the leading causes as it caused the erosion of agricultural lands.
According to the professor, it does not make sense that deforestation had led to the erosion
of the agricultural land. Although Islanders had indeed deforested the palm forests, there
was evidence showing that they had grown grasslands, which demonstrates that there were
no actual erosions of the soils for farming. Thereby, there was no scarcity in foods.
 
Secondly, the professor takes the proposition that rats as a primary cause to the downfall
explained in the passage is not valid. Although he concedes that rat may be a possible
contribution to the degradation of the eco-system, he notes that it is not the main cause of
it. This is because it was found that Islanders had been eating rats alongside with chickens as
one of the sources of food. Thereby, he speculates that the existence of rats cannot be the
main reason as to why it had led to scarcity of food sources for the Islanders.
 
Thirdly, the professor further argues that the war between the short-ear islanders and the
long-ear islanders cannot be the main ground to justify the mysterious collapse of Eastern
Islanders. He supports this contention by focusing on the timeline of the war. Here, he notes
that when there was an expedition to the Eastern Island in 1778, it was witnessed that there
were approximately 3,000 Islanders living on the Island. Subsequently, with the further
expedition, it was observed that two-thirds of the population had perished. However, if we
look at the timeline of the war between the two ethnic groups, it was during 1680s.
Therefore, he argues that there is a mismatch between the timeline of the war and the
decline of the population.
 
With the above-mentioned flaws identified, the professor casts a doubt that these theories
do not support as to why there was an end of civilization. Hence, the causes as to such
downfall of the civilization remain a mystery.

Question

In relation to the given statement, it is my opinion that pets should be considered as one of
the family members. I feel this way for three main reasons, which will be addressed in the
following passages.

金銭的理由・精神的理由・肉体的理由・
Question: College years are the best time in a person’s life (independent)

Entering into a College assists students mentally, academically and physically. Although,
it is subjective, in my opinion entering into college provides one of the best experiences
in person’s life. There are two main rationales, which will be addressed in the following
passages.

For one thing, college is the best platform to be exposed to other students with different
backgrounds. This is often the case because there are various activities established to
make connections with other students that shares same values. For instance, in my
University located in Japan, I decided to join a club also known as Asian Law Students
Association (“ALSA”). By signing up for this club, I had the opportunity to visit other
Asian countries, namely Thailand and Malaysia for an ASEAN forum discussion. These
activities allowed me to network with many other law students from different ethnic
backgrounds while discussing one of the most interesting academic topics in Asia.
Thereby, college experiences provide an opportunity to make a relationship with
diverse students.

Furthermore, college is extremely important in the sense that it allows you to debate
and discuss on certain issues. During my college years, I was majoring in law and one of
the benefits of being in a class is that you are able to raise your voice and object to
student or professor’s opinion concerning the law. Specifically, I enjoyed debating in my
Intellectually Property course on the issue of whether copy right should extend to
Artificial Intelligence. Nevertheless, when I was interning at a law firm, this was clearly
not the case. Usually, senior lawyers would instruct the interns on a simple task such as
researching on court precedence, which did not require a lot of thinking. Hence, we can
observe that college life is also a platform that encourages students to think critically
and express their opinions.

With the above-mentioned reasons, college provides one of the best experiences for a
person’s life.

Q. Summarize the main point in the lecture and then explain how they cast doubt on the
ideas in the reading passage?

The given passage in the textbook explores the unique features of Emperor Penguins.
Here, the article assumes three main characteristics associated with such species. On
the other hand, the professor in the lecture contends that these assumptions may not be
true as the facts may be outdated, which will be discussed in the following passages.

The first assumption made in the text passage is that Emperor Penguins are
monogamous. This feature represents how the male and female penguins are faithful to
each other for their life time. The text further illustrates this by noting that each penguin
has different vocal frequencies to identify their own mate, which facilitates the
formation of colonies. Nevertheless, the professor here argues that this may not be
entirely accurate. Although it is true that for mating season, the mates are committed to
each other by returning to their nest, but it is also found that in case that these male
penguins are unable to find their original mate, it may find another female. Indeed, this
was also supported by the fact that only 15% of the penguins actually found the same
mating penguin, hence, it is more correct to insist that these species are “serially
monogamous”.

The second assumption noted by the passage was the penguin’s loyalty to return to
their nests, also known as “rookery”. The scientific evidences have proven that even
though there are differences as to the pathway back to the rookery, all penguins are
capable of returning to their nests every year. This is the way how the penguins are able
to form such large colonies. However, the professor seems disagree with such
contention because the scientific evidences does not demonstrate such facts. For
example, according to the satellite images and several other studies conducted by
scientists, it has been proven that there were several instances where the penguins
would not return to their original site, abandoning its original rookery and relocating its
colony.

Lastly, it was pointed out by the text that although penguins are not an endangered
species, they lack protection under the regime of international law. It further explains
that the population of penguins are stable, yet due to its harsh environmental conditions
that these penguins are subjected to, some colonies are not monitored. In contrast, the
professor notes that penguins today are in fact endangered species. As evidence, these
penguins are listed in the Endangered Species Act. Furthermore, it can be observed that
due to several harsh environmental conditions, statistically it is noted that one-third of
the emperor penguins would extinguish by the end of this century.

In conclusion, the three main assumptions made concerning emperor penguins in the
textbook may not be fully accurate as argued by professor, as it contains outdated
information.
The given passage in the textbook explores three main principles in which the company
can increase its sales. These strategies are important in sales, as it concerns with the
relationship with the customer. Nevertheless, the professor in the lecture raises an
objection that these principles may not be true according to recent studies, which will
be discussed in the following passages.

The first principle to increase the sales of a product is to make more calls to the
customers to offer the sales products. The textbook notes that there are clear
correlations between call and the formation of the contract of sales with the customers.
This is corroborated by the fact that the more call that the employee makes, more
practice he gets resulting in better calls, and ultimately attaining more contracts.
However, the professor notes that this contention is partially correct. The correlation of
the call with the sales may be true for cheap products, however, not for expensive
products. The reason stems from the fact that when customers make bigger decisions,
they require more information and their concerns has to be addressed properly,
meaning that the sales employee must prepare its call thoroughly.

The second principle noted that sales would increase if the the employee would make
offer the product or service to a person with higher position such as the executive of the
company. This is mainly due to the fact that they have the authoritative power to decide
on their own, which signifies that the decision making process to attain the product is
more efficient. Moreover, if the sales were to be made to a person with lower-position of
the company, the case for that particular sales may not be strong as those made to a
person with higher-position. This contention again is objected by the professor, which
he notes that according to a research, this would depend. Indeed, he states that because
person in higher position in a company would have more knowledge and background in
terms of sales, the offeror must make sure that it has enough preparation time to
respond to such person.

Lastly, the textbook emphasizes that closing the contract is extremely important to
increase the number of sales. It notes that it is important not to rush the customers,
however, in case that the customer raises some concern or objection, the person calling
should offer certain incentives or note some deadlines to urge the customers to
purchase the products. On the other hand, the professor does not agree, because he
claims that the customer will only the products as long as as its concerns are addressed
by the sales person.

In conclusion, the three fundamental princples to increase the sales provided by

textbook may not be accurate as argued by the professor.
One may argue that individual should be satisfied with comfortable living, as certain
lavish lifestyles are considered unnecessary. Nontheless, in my point of view, having
aspiration to attain a certain amount of wealth is important, as it allows them afford
various things in life.

First, high quality education can be attained with sufficient amount of money. Here, one
may say that in order to provide the best education, they must be able to afford that. I
do agree with this stance in some sense as an student who attended to international
school, where the school fee is extremely costly, where in return, I did get the
opportunity to be fluent in English. On the other hand, I see majority of the

Second, wealth can help one in the aspect of health.

Third, it mentally satisfies you.

In the end, this is subjective, where it depends entirely on what an invidividual values in
life.