109 AD Do you agree or disagree with following statement? It is better to be a member of a group than to be the leader of a group. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

According to my opinion, it’s always better to be a leader than a follower. True leader show initiative. They take action and they assume responsibility. A leader makes a decision. Some followers may approve of the decision, others may complain about it. However, these followers all chose to follow, not to lead. They chose not to make a decision. That’s how I’m different. I’m not a follower. I want to make the decisions.
  
Good leader will not react to events, but will anticipate them .A leader will start a plan of action and then will persuade others to follow. For example, a class president at a local college may feel that the relationship between the community and the campus is not a good one .The citizens may feel that the college kids make too much noise on the street, litter public areas, and shop in other communities. A good class president will recognize that the community and the campus depend on one another. The president will ask the student body to keep noise down, help clean up the neighborhoods, and work with businesses to attract students.  A good leader takes the initiative.
  
Good leaders must be action-oriented. Having taken the initiative, they must see the job though. They have to take charge and lead the followers. They have to motivate and encourage the followers. The followers (in this example, the student body) must understand why good relations with the community are necessary. The followers must be persuaded to do something about it.

I enjoy taking the initiative, determining the direction, and being responsible for my actions.  I don’t want to suffer through other people’s stupid decisions. If there are going to be stupid ways to do something, let them be mine. Wouldn’t you agree?

110 EX What do you consider to be the most important room in a house? Why is this room more important to you than any other room? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

The kitchen is my favorite room in a house, because it is where families gather. To me, that is the most important thing. So many of the memories people have of growing up revolve around the kitchen. My childhood memories concern the kitchens in my grandparents ‘homes.

My mother’s family lived in a row house in the city. The rooms were all small, and that included the kitchen. In the summertime, when we’d visit, the back door of the house would be left open. People would be sitting on the back porch and in the kitchen, talking and laughing, while my grandmother made dinner. There was no air-conditioning, but I don’t ever remember feeling too hot. There was always a breeze coming through, along with the sounds of traffic and kids playing ball in the street.

My father’s family liver on a farm in the country, and their house had a huge kitchen with windows on three sides. It seems like the windows were always open and the curtains blowing with the breeze. The main door to the house was almost never used. Everyone came in through the kitchen, and sat at the big table in the middle of the room. When dinner was being prepared, all the women would bustle around, while the men sat at the table talking about farm prices. Sometimes my grandmother wouldn’t even sit down during dinner, but would be refilling bowls of food and people’s glasses. From outside ,we could hear the cows in the field near the house.

These two kitchens are the background for some of my happiest memories. From the beginning of time, human beings have gathered together near the fire where the food was being prepared. I hope that never changes.