Talk about the importance of good roads in a country

Good roads are essential for the development of a country. The Romans realized this centuries ago. Wherever they established themselves, they tried to improve the roads there. Today, the governments of all countries in the world are building more and more roads to gain access to the remotest regions of their countries.

Roads link towns and villages and enable the people of one place to communicate with the people of another place. When food is scarce in one place, it can be brought from another place without much difficulty. Even things which cannot be produced in one region can be brought from another region where they are produced in abundance. The invention of motor-vehicles has made it easy to transport goods from place to place. These vehicles, however, require good roads to travel faster. The better the roads are, the more goods can be transported from place to place. Thus, trade is improved.

Further, good roads help people to travel easily to places where they can work and to develop their lands and industries. In Malaysia, for example, the improvement of roads has made it easy for skilled workers from the towns to work in remote villages. The people of the villages, on the other hand, have been able to learn much from the towns. As a result, there has been a lot of improvement in this country in all spheres of activity.

Finally, in times of war, good roads help armies to move about without difficulty. Sometimes, a country is defeated because its army is not able to reach a place in good time due to bad roads. Even the police may not be able to reach a place where there is some trouble if the roads are bad.

For all these reasons, it is always necessary for a country to have good roads.

Talk about life in the village

The village has always been known to be a place of peace and quiet. The scattered houses among hundreds of plants and trees indicate the lack of activities in the village.

The workers in the village leave their homes early in the morning to work in the plantations or towns near by. Some have their own plantations, and some make certain articles in their homes to sell them in the towns. A few of the villagers, including women, go out to catch fish in the streams and rivers found in the village. Though the people of the village do not usually earn much, they seem to be contented.

In the afternoon, most of the villagers are at home. Some of them take a nap after lunch, do some work in their small gardens or pay some visit to the small shops in the village. In various parts of the village, children may be found playing the popular games of the village. Occasionally, a cyclist passes by.

In the evening, the villagers meet one another. Some play cards and other types of games which are peculiar to the village. Some talk about the day’s incidents in the village, and those whose minds go beyond the village discuss world events.

In almost every village there is a headman whose duty is to settle quarrels among the villagers and maintain peace in the village. Whenever there is a dispute, the villagers go to the headman who is held in such esteem that his words have the force of law. In this way the villagers have developed their own simple laws, and the crimes of cities are almost unknown to the people of the village.

During a festival, the whole village is alive with activities. Everyone is in a happy mood and plays his part to make the festival a success. This is the time for the men, women and children of the village to wear their best clothes and the village is full of color.

These simple ways of life in the village, however, must soon change. Progress in science and education has already begun to affect the outlook of the people in the village. Hundreds are leaving the village to seek their fortunes in the towns and cities.

Talk about a frightening experience

I am not one who is frightened easily; but I must admit that one night I saw a figure that struck terror into my heart.

I remembered a moon-lit night when I was walking home on foot. I had to go on foot a few miles from a town. It was the first night of my whole life that I was alone in such a late time. There were often few people in the road at night. On that day, it seemed quieter in my consideration. Even during the day, the road was used by only some who worked in the rubber and banana plantations. While I was walking, I could hear some noises made by squirrels, insects and owls. They are creatures that love the night world. In the dark, I could see bats. There were hundreds of them in the shadows. I had a stick in my hand and moved really fast towards home. It was partly because I was hungry. I therefore moved rapidly for a dinner. All of a sudden, I caught a sight of an old lady in a short distance away. Her head was covered with a white cloth. She was waving to me, I think.

I was a bit curious. I wanted to know why she was there at that time of the late night. I stopped walking for a while. As I stood there, vague memories of stories about ghosts began to come back to my mind one after another. I was soon gripped with fear and took to my heels. I ran as fast as I could, and when I reached home I could hardly speak.

On the next day, however, I visited that place again to make sure that the woman was indeed a real person and not a ghost. But I could find no footprints there. Only a banana plant stood there with its leaves moving in the breeze. I realized then that it was the banana plant with its leaves moving in the breeze that looked like a woman waving her hand. I had indeed made a fool of myself; but after the previous night’s experience, this discovery was small relief to me.

“Fire is a good servant, but a bad master”. Discuss

How men first used fire is still unknown; however, it is probable that even the most primitive man of centuries ago found fire a great service to him as it is to us today. In early days, men did not cook food. They ate everything raw, including meat and fish. But the discovery of fire changed the way of eating food completely. They cooked food. The prehistoric men soon found that cooked food was more delicious. Fire became an important thing since then.

Moreover, fire gave the early men warmth and light. Even in there scanty clothes men could keep themselves warm in caves on rainy or cold nights. Caves were no longer dark. They could move about freely in the dark night. Besides, fire gave him protection from wild beast. Consequently, life was more secure than it had been. In fact, fire, like water and air, became indispensable to men. Today, we use fire for a variety of purposes. We use it even to operate machinery to produce goods.

However fire has to be kept under strict control. Once it is out of control, it will destroy lives and property at tremendous speed. The world has lost things worth billions of dollars because of fire. It is claimed that thousands of acres of forest was burned for growing crops.

On the other hand, fire has been used by men, especially of the modern age to destroy men. In the past, fire itself was used in the battles to fight against enemy. Even today, thousands of people in many parts of the world are being destroyed by fire. Whenever furious men try to make the best use of the terrible anger of fire, misery is hard to avoid. Innocent people, young and old, must die in thousands. It is, therefore, true to say that, “fire is a good servant, but a bad master”.

Talk about an accident I have witnessed

One rainy day last year, while I was returning home from Mersing, a town in the east coast of Malaysia, I witnessed an accident which I shall never forget.

I was returning home in my father’s car. It was raining heavily and the road therefore could not be seen clearly. My father, an old man, was driving slowly to avoid an accident. The journey seemed longer than usual, which made me begin to feel tired.

All of a sudden, a small car ran at great speed, overtaking us. My father was shocked at the recklessness of the driver of the car. We could not count the number of persons in the car, but were sure that there were at least five, including two children. My father at once predicted that tragedy would befall the occupants of the car. After the prediction, I began to grow impatient. I did not wish to see any horrific scene resulting from accident. Although the car had gone quite far away from us, its rear lights could still be seen.

In the distance, there was a narrow bridge. Looking at the way the car was running, I too was now sure that an accident would come.

A lorry was coming from the other side of the bridge. It was already on the bridge. The driver of the small car, however, could not slow down in time. He lost control of the car which skidded and plunged into the river. Somehow, the driver managed to slip out of the car. The others however were doomed. When we arrived at the bridge, we were touched deeply by what we saw. Two children were struggling in the river and we could do nothing to save them. Their mother, as we came to know later, was at the bottom of the river, trapped in the car. They were swept away by the rush of the current and drowned. The driver, father of the children, began to cry piteously because of the death of the wife and children. He had lost them so suddenly.

It was indeed a very touching scene that I shall never forget.