13876 Family
IELTS Writing Task 2
Essay Question: Family relations are not close
Example Answer by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
ielts360toefl@hotmail.com 谢振礼
IELTS Essay Topic:
>Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "It is generally accepted that families are not as close as they used to be. "
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples fromyour knowledge or experience to support your opinion.
Example Writing (谢振礼 Jeenn Lee Hsieh):
Nowadays, family members seem not close enough and cannot be brought together the way it used to be from cradle to tomb because the concept of the family being the nucleus of the society has changed in step with the economic evolution. It may be that modern families are narrowing into smaller units and merging into big interactive conglomerates to cope with such change. This being the case, a person needs to separate from family and go to new places in order to be open to economic influence and social transformation, while staying connected by telephone and the Internet.
In pursuit of economic benefits, an increasing number of persons, particularly the younger generation, are moving away from their hometowns. They need to work and live elsewhere, leaving other members of the family behind. Some even go beyond borders for the prospects of better economic horizons. But the more obvious phenomenon is the exodus of the rural population to large cities to seek job opportunities. These examples may explain in part why families are not as close as they were before our grandparents' time. Whatever, love being the same, money is always the most influential motivation behind such change.
From a social point of view, the structure of families and marriages is somewhat different now from those days when families were much larger and marriages were more formal. On the one hand, effective family-planning programs have popularized the one-child or two-child families, meaning that there are simply not so many brothers and sisters to gather together. On the other hand. family units characteristic of "trial marriages" have become not very uncommon, making them to appear socially as if a tribe apart. Consequently, pessimists say that the family system is eroding while optimists say that the family is diversifying. Neither is wrong and both may agree to the new reality that there seems less need for families to be close together in the traditional way. By and large, family joys are great joys and people enjoy visiting their relations, or at least feeling closer together through chat, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc., but it seems that they prefer not to live too near to them.
Finally, that some people are not close enough to their families is due mainly to social and economic reasons, and there is no turning back to the old days of living with a grand-mother. Regardless of its size and shape, the family will continue to play a critical role in the modern civilization in a new and different way. It is sad to think that a close relative is one you see once in a while between family funerals. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh 谢振礼 ielts360toefl@hotmail.com pigai zuowen )
