16508 谢振礼 TOEFL Essay: The advantages and disadvantages of living alone
托福范文：比较独居生活的利弊
The advantages and disadvantages of living alone
谢振礼 写作讲义 批改作文
Jeenn Lee Hsieh ielts360toefl@163.com
托福独立写作真题 Essay Topic:
Nowadays in some countries a growing number of young people choose to live alone. In your opinion, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of living alone? Use reasons and specific examples or details tosupport your opinion.
托福写作范文 Example Essay:
The number of single-person households is rapidly growing, and although it can be solitary, it can also be a great way to live. It seems that some people, young adults in particular, deliberately prefer to live alone
while others probably do so out of necessity. Whatever the reason might be, there are both benefits and drawbacks to living on their own.
To begin with, those who live alone can be very comfortable since they are not dependent on anyone and do not feel any sense of control, and this leads to numerous advantages. For example, they can do with their
time whatever they want to without the need to explain anything to anyone where they are going and when they will be back. Furthermore, because to be clean or to be messy is nobody's business but their own, they do not have to bother about keeping their things in order, tidying the room every day or doing washing-up after every meal. Besides, being the only user of the bathroom, they can enjoy long baths or showers since no one will rush them, not to mention the "walk-around-naked" stuff. And as can be expected, in freedom they also learn independence and responsibility because they must remember about paying bills on time or about doing shopping, among other things. And finally because there is no one they can count on, they learn to take care of themselves for their own benefits.
Despite of all the advantages, living alone has also various disadvantages. First of all, those people who live by themselves may find it hard and depressing to be on their own all the time, particularly if by nature they are outgoing and sociable. In this case, they may soon become tired of doing everything alone and may
start to miss somebody's company while watching TV or even eating dinner. Needless to say, if they do not share their flat with anyone, there will be no one to look after them when they fall ill. What is more, they may need a friendly chat from time to time, some pieces of advice or consolation when they have some worries; then, a family member or a flatmate can be really helpful. True enough, even such simple thing as cooking is much more enjoyable when being done with somebody or for somebody.
To sum up, living alone may have both good and bad sides. It does not seem to matter whether the one-person household is a product of young adults' choice or necessity. As often as not, a solitary life can be a happy one or an unhappy one. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh ielts360toefl@163.com )
