International Workers' Day

Happy International Workers' Day to everyone!

Enjoy yourselves on the 3rd holiday in April. April is just amazing. And it is possibly the only month with comfortable weather in Kaifeng. May should be just fine. But good luck with your June and July on campus.

As a very ordinary worker, I have really complicated feeling about working. On one hand, I’m happy about my job. On the other hand, what else can I do, you know, if I don’t work? (Pay attention to the usage of “on one hand…on the other hand…”)

It should be noted, that International Workers' Day is a celebration of laborers and the working classes. So if you are super rich, like a millionaire, I’m not sure if you are allowed to have this holiday. But if you are a millionaire, and still go to university classes every day, I really think you are just amazing.

The date May 1st was chosen to mark the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886, when workers fought for the right to work for 8 hours, and rest for 8 hours a day.

Two sample essays

All of you wrote the essay about good habits and temptation. So did I. I’m reading your wonderful essays, and you could also read mine. There are two versions, a short and a longer one.

For those who want to explore and think about habits and temptation deeper, you can read this book review, 《习惯的力量书评》.

The CET 6 version

Introduction

1. Everyone wants to have good habits, but **why is it so hard to establish some seemingly simple habits, such as sleeping early? **
2. It turns out that there are various kinds of temptation presenting formidable obstacles to cultivating beneficial habits.
3. Some good habits, especially personal lifestyle habits, results from resisting temptation. (Thesis Statement)

Body

1. To start with, a good sleeping habit is essential for people’s health, but nowadays if people want to adopt one, they have to** fight** a series of temptation.
2. For example, what most Internet and television companies desperately need is people’s time and attention.
3. When people finish a busy day, they ought to resist the temptation of attractive late night TV shows, exciting computer games and social networking services like WeChat and Weibo, and go to bed early so that they can get up early and be energetic the next day.
4. Likewise, good eating habits result from resisting the temptation of fast food, soft drinks, and popular snacks like ice cream and crackers that many people enjoy.
5. There are often too much sugar, fat and salt in these foods, which are harmful to health.
6. One crucial step to form good eating habits is to stop eating convenient, delicious but unhealthy food.

Conclusion

1. In summary, good habits can never be formed, if we can’t resist the relevant temptation. (Reworded Thesis Statement)
2. Oscar Wilde once humorously remarked, “I can resist anything except temptation”, which should not be our attitude to temptation.

The longer version (for TOEFL or IELTS)

Everyone wants to have good habits, but why is it so hard to establish some seemingly simple habits, such as sleeping early? It turns out that there are various kinds of temptation presenting formidable obstacles to cultivating beneficial habits. Some good habits, especially personal lifestyle habits, results from resisting temptation.

To start with, a good sleeping habit is essential for people’s health, but nowadays if people want to adopt one, they have to fight a series of temptation. In fact, there are several industries that would like people to stay up as late as possible. For example, what most Internet and television companies desperately need is people’s time and attention. When people finish a busy day, they ought to overcome the temptation of attractive late night TV shows, exciting computer games, endless feeds of social networks like WeChat and Weibo, thousands and thousands of movies, TV series, animations, and funny cat and dog videos on video streaming websites like Youku and iQiyi, all of which can bring them pleasure and excitement. If people want to get up early and be energetic the next day, they cannot give in to the temptation, but should resist all the temptation and go to bed early.

Besides, like a lot of other healthy lifestyle habits, good eating habits can only result from resisting temptation. Admittedly, it is difficult to form good eating habits, because most food options available in fast-food restaurants and supermarkets are not healthy at all. A great deal of research demonstrates that it is harmful to eat too much sugar, fat and salt, which, unfortunately, are quite common in fast food, soft drinks, and popular snacks like ice cream and crackers that many people enjoy. In a sense, the temptation of unhealthy but delicious food takes the advantage of people’s instinctive preference, and that is not a easy thing to resist. These popular and unhealthy foods are constant temptation around us, because they are convenient, relatively cheap and ubiquitous, but people who are determined to develop good eating habits have no option but to resist the strong temptation.

In summary, good habits can never be formed, if people can’t resist the relevant temptation. In modern society, there is a lot of temptation that stands in people’s way of having good and beneficial habits. Oscar Wilde once humorously remarked, “I can resist anything except temptation”, which should not be our attitude to temptation.

Thank you for finishing reading this.