四六级

　　the advantages and disadvantages of living in the 21st century 生活在21 世纪的优缺点

　　the advantages and disadvantages of living in the 21st century

　　living in the 21 st century offers cer tain advantages , such as a higher standard of living , but it also has some disadvantages , such as a polluted environment .

　　to begin with , most people now have mor e money for less hard work . t hey ea rn highe r salaries than before and enjoy better social security , such as social welfar e for laid-off worke rs and disability in surance .

　　secondly , because of the advance in medical technology which leads to bet ter medical car e and t r eatment , people’s life expect ancy is longer . moreover , most people now can afford to buy foods of high nutrition and enjoy their leisure time .

　　thirdly , modern conveniences such as radio , tv, inter -net , va rious vehicles and labour- saving machines in the home, all greatly facilitate h uman communication , t ransportation and housework as well .

　　never theless , living in the 21st century also has its disadvantages . t he most serious one is the increasingly polluted environment ; air is filled with smog and wat er is contaminated by chemicals f rom factories . another main disadvantage is the depersonalization of human relationships which mostly results from people’s ever-increasing contact with machines and numbers . still one more disadvantage is the weakening of spiritual values . an undeniable fact is that a large numbe r of people are solely interested in mate rialistic culture , while neglecting spiritual civilization . limited by s pace , we have to s kip the examples .

　　in conclu sion , although the 21 st century has indeed given us a lot of advantages , it may not have made u s wiser , because it has also made our ear th dirtie r , our people less humane , and our spiritual life poor er . we should continue to enjoy the benefits of t ech nological advancement , however , we must make a concer ted effor t to pr eserve our natural environment for future gene ration s . mor eove r , we should take the time now to make our lives more meaningful in an increasingly impersonal , computerized world .