Some people believe that improve public health should increase the number of sports facilities; others believe that it has little effects and need other measures to improve it.
Discuss both views and give your opinion.
本题是政府政策类话题和健康类话题的结合。考题虽新,但政府类话题和健康类话题话题却是经常出现的。考到政府政策类的话题,有一个思路总是可以通用的,那就是:政府可以通过教育来提升人们对于......的认识(这比花大笔资金建设某某工程要来的更“实惠”和有效。)
Sample Answer (359 words)
The construction of new sports facilities are definitely needed in an environment where people's health is in a declining state. However, there are those who believe that the way to improving people's health should lie in other measures that governments have to come up with to get people to live more healthily.
In many countries around the world, sports facilities are diminishing at an alarming rate, with existing ones being threatened with closure or face redevelopment in favor of housing and commercial development. The lack of sports facilities has directly led to a sharp decline in the general public’s involvement in sports activities, which is the major culprit for ill health and excessive weight nowadays. If a wider range of sports and fitness facilities (swimming pools, basketball court and gymnasiums etc.) were available, then people would be more willing to spend time in these facilities to train their bodies and to improve their fitness, instead of living a sedentary life at home watching television, playing video games or using computers.
However, the building of such facilities may become a waste of time and taxpayers’ money if they are built far away from where people live or if they are too expensive to use. There are scenes of empty sports grounds in many cities because it takes too much trouble to get there, and many sports clubs are receiving fewer guests because they charge unreasonably high membership fees. In these cases, the government should be spending more on advertising healthier life style instead of just wasting money on facilities that are not going to be actively used by the people. For example, it is important for people to know that little things like jogging or taking the stairs provide as many benefits as using exercising equipment in a sports club.
All in all, the government should be spending more money on the campaigns of getting the people to be more involved in a healthier lifestyle instead of wasting taxpayers’ money on sports facilities that are barely used by the general public. This is by far the best way of improving the health standards of a nation as a whole.