Editor's note: China is the top country of origin for international students in the US, with more than 274,000 Chinese students reportedly accounting for 31 percent of all international students at US universities. Many Chinese parents save up a lot of money for their children to pursue an overseas education. Is it worth spending big to study abroad? You are welcome to leave your comments.

    Arsa (Russia): I went to study abroad when I was 17. First year was a total waste as I met plenty of Russian students in my college and we spent most of our time shopping and hanging out at cafes, it wasn't until two years later that I realized that my English hadn't improved. I changed my mindset entirely and started studying hard. I ended up staying in UK for 10 years, which opened a lot of doors and introduced me to great people, so I'm all for studying abroad.

    Truth (US): There is an assumption that American education is the best in the world, so Chinese parents are pushing their kids to American colleges. And some are even sending their children overseas at junior or high school level. I often feel this is a mistake as the education a Chinese child gets in a foreign country is very different from what they are used to and they often struggle. Some students have trouble understanding their lecturers and their assignments keep coming back with poor scores.

【写作内容】

1). 用约30个单词写出上文概要；

2). 用约120个单词发表你的观点，内容包括：

( 1 )支持或反对“国外留学”；

( 2 )用2至3个理由或论据支撑你的观点。

Holding Parents Responsible—An Unfair Punishment

    The rise in teen crime suggests that some parents are failing at their parental tasks. To correct the problem, lawmakers in some states require parents to serve jail time. They hope that this punishment will motivate parents to take their responsibilities seriously.

    Despite public support for parental responsibility laws, many people think that the laws are unfair. They suggest that parents should not be punished for the criminal acts of their children, unless it can be shown there is a related fault on the parents' part. For example, if young teenagers are arrested for drinking alcohol supplied by parents, then parents should be held responsible because they helped the teenagers break the law. People who oppose parental responsibility laws also believe that punishing parents is unlikely to create a change in the kids' behavior. These people argue that parents may not be at fault. The children of good parents can fall in with the wrong kids and get into trouble, they say. Worse yet, if mom is in jail, there may be no one at all to control her kid. That lack of control may then lead to more crime.

    The unfortunate fact is that jailing a mom or dad punishes the rest of the family. The jailed parent cannot work to help feed the family or pay the rent. A parent who is sent to jail for the crimes of a teenager may also be fired from a job for missing too much work. Furthermore, little evidence exists to support the idea that the threat of punishment improves a parents' ability to control a teenager. The problem is that some teens cannot be controlled by their parents, even if the parents try hard to control them. These struggling parents are not ignoring their parental responsibilities. Opponents of parental responsibility laws say that parents who are in this situation need help, not a jail sentence.

    Loneliness Peaks

    For years America has been talking about obesity, but a new study points to a more serious health issue: isolation and loneliness.

Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need — crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants who lack human contact in care fail to grow and often die. Indeed, social isolation has been used as a form of punishment. According to Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the lead author of the study, an increasing portion of the U.S. population now population now experiences isolation regularly. Over 42 million adults above age 45 in the U.S. are estimated to be suffering from chronic(长期的)loneliness.

    The study of 340 adults between the ages of 27 and 101 living in San Diego identified three key age ranges when people felt the loneliest. Participants who had the highest levels of loneliness were in their late-20s, mid-50s and late-80s. While it may come as a surprise that people in their late-20s suffered from loneliness, a larger survey shows they actually may suffer the hardest.

    With an increasing number of people working from home, watching television, getting into an addiction to electronic devices, it has become too easy to be alone, even if that's not a person's intention. Modern day conveniences like having anything we want delivered make it possible to never need to leave the house. So, not surprisingly, those with frequent social contact usually feel less lonely than those with few social ties.

    Mounting evidence suggests social isolation and loneliness significantly impact our health, and even shorten our lives, just like obesity. This study isn't the first time loneliness has been flagged as an emerging health issue. Therefore, reducing both isolation and loneliness is important for quality of life and well-being.

    "Helicopter parents" is a description of parents who are hovering over their children in a state of extreme concern. They always show up to solve their children's problems, protect them from real or imagined harm, resolve stressful situation, offer advice and get them out of trouble, even if they misbehaved. Although out of love and concern, it can have harmful effect on their children's emotional development and future autonomy.

    Children learn through their mistakes. But if you intervene (介入) at first sign of struggle and finish your child's homework, he'll miss out on valuable learning opportunities. You're sending him the message that he needs to be perfect and failure is not an option, otherwise you wouldn't always take over for him.

    By constantly rescuing your child from stressful situation, you're sending him a message that you don't believe he's capable of taking care of himself. Children develop self-esteem by learning how to complete challenge on their own. If you are always intervening, he's denied this vital stage in his growth. As a result, your child may lack the confidence necessary to do well in school, pursue hobbies and interests, and develop friendships.

    If you're always taking care of everything for your child, it'll be more difficult for him to become independent. As an adult, he might find it hard to take care of himself, because he's never developed coping skills to deal with life's challenges. He might suffer from irrational fears, anxiety and depression, which could lead him to drop out of college or frequently change jobs, according to Dr. Michele Borba. Instead of developing healthy relationships, he might seek a partner who will take care of him or controlling, as his parents were.

You can help your child become more independent by allowing him to complete tasks and challenges on his own without your intervention. Even if he fails at first don't interfere—encourage him to start again. Show that you have faith in his abilities to succeed without your help. Allow him to learn natural consequences. Even small things can help him become more independent—making his own bed, preparing his own lunch, shopping for his own clothes and doing homework without your help.

    What is eco­fashion? Eco­fashion is about making clothes that considers the environment, the health of consumers and the working conditions of people in the fashion industry.

    A closer look at the fashion industry points out many problems that are common practices in the creation of our fashions from the field to the factory. Firstly, the production of textiles pollutes the environment heavily. Cotton­planting uses pesticides; sheep­farming and wool­cleaning bring about global warming. Secondly, every stage of clothing production consumes a great deal of energy and some also involve chemicals which obviously do harm to the surroundings. In addition, there is a lot of waste produced in the process, especially in the form of polluted water. Thirdly, growing purchasing power and our shopping habits further worsen the bad effects. We are now buying clothes in increasing quantities and we are also quick to throw away clothes that have been worn only a couple of times.

    Then, how to solve the problem? To a large degree, it is the fashion producers that really have the power and the responsibility to shape our future. There are a great many ways these producers can reduce their ecological footprint, from switching to green energy and reducing energy use, through selecting sustainable materials and choosing local suppliers, to recycling and minimizing waste. On the other hand, as consumers we can all play our part by selecting environmentally friendly clothing and reducing clothing buying.

    There is some concern that eco­friendly fashions are just a trend that we will eventually grow tired of but we can make sure that doesn't happen. Now many people are beginning to shop for organic food products because the benefits of eating food free of chemicals are immediate. They relate directly to our personal health. In fact, choosing eco­fashion can also do good to our personal health, though it is mostly done by way of keeping the health of the planet.

    Be kind to others. I realize this is simple and very basic. However, it is necessary and it does make a difference. I often have people who cross my daily path to whom I can show kindness. It is often just a smile. A smile often says, "I see you. You aren't invisible to me. You are important." People need someone to care about them.

    I read a story many years ago about a man who had decided to commit suicide. He'd lost a fortune, his family and nearly everything he owned. He went to a local pawn shop to buy a gun. He planned to take the gun back to his apartment in New York City and kill himself.

    As he was getting on the elevator, a little old lady was slowly getting on too. She had a small cart she was pulling behind her and was having a little trouble getting it into the elevator. He said that he was actually a bit angry because he wanted to hurry up, get to his apartment and end his own life. He reached out to the old lady's cart and forced it as it had become stuck. He got it free easily and she got on the elevator.

    After the door closed, she looked up at him with a big smile and said, "If we had more young men like you in this world, the world would be a better place. You are so kind to help. Such a sweet young man."

    Of course, it changed his thought of going back to kill himself. He wanted to go around New York and find people that he could help and people who were struggling even with something that was as small as the little old lady's cart.

注意：①所续写短文的词数应为150左右；②至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；③续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；④续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1:

    That day, his life changed.

Paragraph 2:

    Later, he enjoyed great success in his work and life.