Describe an object that you find beautiful.

You should say:

what it is
where you saw it
what it looks like
and explain why you find it beautiful.

An object that I find beautiful is this water bottle, and I first came across it when I was picking
out a birthday present for one of my friend’s. Since I wanted to get him something nice, but still
something affordable, I went to the closest shopping centre I could find. In this shopping centre
there was this stationery store that sells all kinds of things – from accessories to key chains and
small ornaments.

What initially drew me to the water bottle was its unusual shape, which I can only describe as a
hexagonal prism. The water bottle was ornamented with the Coca-Cola brand and was red and
white all throughout in terms of patterns and logo. The combination of these two colours gave
something that was simple on the eye and recognisable from afar, which was one feature that I
found made this water bottle particularly beautiful. It was made of stainless steel, but it has a
smooth finish that gives it a highly bright appearance. The edges of this water bottle, on the other
hand, are constructed from a different substance, one that is stiffer and more stone-like. All of
this, I would say contributed to its aesthetic appeal and made it more beautiful.

Other than its obvious visual beauty, I think the water bottle is also a representation of our
friendship and in a way this made the water bottle more beautiful because it symbolises the years
of friendship we shared and all the hurdles we had to overcome. So, I guess you could say that
this water bottle is both visually and metaphorically beautiful.

Describe a place you visited where the air was polluted.

You should say:
where it is
when you visited there
why the air was polluted
and explain how you felt about the place.

When I think about it, I haven’t been to any place recently that I would say has a major issue
with air pollution. Though I do remember this time we visited Beijing in 2010 and the air was
completely polluted. Even though I was three, I can vividly remember how grey the days were.
We were constantly under a blanket of darkness, and this actually reduced the overall beauty of
Beijing. For instance, Beijing has several tourist attractions, such as gardens, scenic spots and
palaces and to experience all of these elements to its greatest splendour, we actually do need
daylight and visibility. Unfortunately, the pollution made this impossible. On top of this, we
were constantly walking around, waiting, going from place to place and this made the pollution
even harder to bear.
I hate to say this, but it did leave a negative impression of Beijing. I can understand why there
was much pollution because of the growing industries and mass production of resources on a
large scale, but it was a pity that the city was being ruined by the pollution. While this left a
lasting impression, I’m happy to say that the air pollution has reduced a lot over the last thirteen
years – actually the air quality index on most days shows that Beijing’s air pollution is much
lower than that of Suzhou’s.