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Integrated writing TOEFL
The reading and lecture discuss the accuracy of the memoir written by The Chevalier, and therefore if it is a valuable historical source or not. The reading passage talks about the critics’ arguments to explain why the memoir cannot be accurate. The professor, however, refutes those arguments and provides evidence to prove the opposite.
Firstly, the reading passage mentions that evidence exists that The Chevalier had to borrow money and could therefore not have been rich as he states in his memoir. The professor refutes this by pointing out that The Chevalier made a living by converting his assets into money and that this took some time. Meanwhile, he would have had to borrow money, but that does not mean that he was poor.
Secondly, critics doubt that the conversations between The Chevalier and Voltaire are correctly represented in the memoir. They argue that The Chevalier could not possibly have remembered the exact words from conversations with Voltaire. However, the professor mentions that The Chevalier kept notes from those conversations for years, which he had written down immediately after they had happened. Others confirmed that The Chevalier consulted those notes when he was writing his memoir.
Lastly, the reading talks about the adventurous escape from prison that The Chevalier describes in his memoir. Critics believe it is unlikely it happened this way and that rather one of The Chevalier’s powerful friends paid a bribe to get him out of prison. On the other hand, the professor believes that other prisoners had a lot more powerful friends and never managed to get out of prison with a bribe. Moreover, she mentions the existence of documents which state that the ceiling of The Chevalier’s cell had to be repaired after he was gone. This provides evidence for his escape story in the memoir.
In conclusion, the professor argues that The Chevalier was not poor, kept notes to represent the conversations in his memoir accurately and that there is proof to support his story about the escape from prison. As a result, she believes that the memoir is a reliable historical source.
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TOEFL Independent Writing
I remember I was a bit sad when I finished high school because I thought I would never learn as much again in my life. Now a few years later, I have realized how wrong I was. You do not only learn from books in school or at university but you also learn from experience. And learning is a life-long process. Knowledge gained from books is usually specific and related to a career skill, whereas knowledge gained from experience tends to be about skills for life.
Learning from books and experience is both important, however, I believe that knowledge gained from experience is more important for the following reasons.
Firstly, this type of knowledge is more useful for everyday life. Most things you need to survive you learn through experience. This starts as soon as you are born. You learn how to walk, how to talk, how to eat, etc., and this is basic, essential knowledge that a textbook cannot teach. And it continues in your adult life, you learn how to cook, how to take care of yourself, how to make decisions, what you like and what you do not like. A book can teach you some parts of these things but you will only gain thorough life knowledge by experiencing them. Obviously, to get through life, this knowledge is a lot more helpful than textbook knowledge. Knowing a mathematic formula will not help you when you have to make an important decision like moving somewhere, for example.
Secondly, you will be able to remember what you have learnt from experience a lot longer and better. The knowledge is connected to a specific experience and memory. For instance, either you did something, you saw something, you felt something, you made a mistake or you experienced success. This creates stronger connections in the brain than just reading something. I cannot remember half of the things I learnt from textbooks in school. And it is a known fact that teachers often try to teach by giving students a practical experience. I remember when we learnt about different plants in Biology, we would look at different methods to identify them in our books but then go outside to identify the plants in the schoolyard. This proves that knowledge gained from books is not sufficient and you need to experience things to learn long-term.
In conclusion, knowledge gained from experience is more useful and helpful for everyday life and it usually can be remembered longer and better. Although having knowledge from books is valuable, gaining knowledge from experience is more important.
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