EN 
VI 
Task 2: Some people think that one of the most effective ways to deal with environmental problems is to increase the cost of fuel for cars and other vehicles.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Certainly, the environment is suffering at the wasteful hands of humanity and some people are scramble to think of effective ways of ameliorating the harm, but whether or not increasing the cost of fuel will reduce our impact is highly debatable.
If the most direct of global warming predictions pan out then we're all going to be in serious trouble in the second half of this century. Action must be taken, but what action will be most effective, and will we be willing to act before it's too late? These questions have been bandied around since the 1970's with a whole range of solutions, with few having been taken up thus far. Increasing fuel costs is one that is most obvious and definitely one of the most contentious as no person or business wants to spend more money. This makes this idea very unlikely to ever succeed.
On face value, raising the price of petrol, diesel or gasses will reduce usage, no one likes to pay more, especially those on tight budgets. However, right now fuel prices are rocketing and everyone is crying about it, but few are significantly reducing their frequency of using their vehicles. This shows how ineffective this will be, people have their habits and luxuries and are usually reluctant to bring them up. Thus increases the cost of any activity that pollutes is likely to fail.
On the surface raising the price of fuel seems like an easy way to reduce pollution, but in reality, our selfish species is just not ready yet to make such sacrifices. Maybe future generations will be?
Word count: 266
Useful phrases that appear in the article:
- humanity (n) : humankind, humanity
- scramble (v) : to compete, to fight
- ameliorate (v) : improve
- debatable (adj) : causing controversy, debate
- direct (adj) : horrible, terrible
- contentious (adj) : controversial
- tight budget: budget, tight budget
- rocket (v) : increase rapidly, increase high
- significantly (adv) : significantly
- reluctant (adj) : reluctantly, unwillingly
- selfish (adj) : selfish
See program details IELTS English at ETEST and to receive IELTS learning roadmap Personalized to your goals and free IELTS test at ETEST Study Abroad English
ETEST ENGLISH FOR STUDY ABROAD
Contact information:
- Hotline: 0933 80 66 99 (District 3) | 0937 80 66 99 (District 7) | 0936 17 76 99 (Da Nang)
- ETEST District 3: 3rd Floor, 215 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Anh Dang Building, Xuan Hoa Ward, HCMC
- ETEST District 7: 6th Floor, 79 - 81 - 83 Hoang Van Thai, Saigon Bank Building, Tan My Ward, HCMC
- ETEST Da Nang: No. 9, Road C2, Da Phuoc International Urban Area, Hai Chau Ward, Da Nang City
Explore now: Impressive achievements of ETEST students
