■ DirectionYou have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response will be judged on the basis of The quality of writing and on how well your response presents the points in the lecture and the relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words.■ QuestionSummarize the points made in the lecture you just heard, explaining how they cast doubt on the points made in the reading

Your Answer ▼

I strongly agree on encouraging people to use public transportation in order to enhance people's quality of life. However, it is hard to agree international laws should restrict car ownership and its usage.

It is definitely a good idea to encourage people to use public transportation such as train, underground, and bus, given the fact that too many cars on the road tend to lessen their quality of life in general. For instance, people need to spend a lot of time when plenty of cars are on the road, especially during rush hours. This makes people waste their precious time whilst commuting. In addition, as fossil fuels are required for many vehicles to run, it may result in air pollution which may affect people's respiratory disease. If using public transportation becomes more common, people will not only spend less time for commuting, but also enjoy better quality of air.

While it is entirely positive to encourage people to use public transportation as much as possible from my point of view, I disagree that certain international laws hinder people to own and use vehicles. It will be difficult to make a general rule, because every country has different infrastructure system. For example, I used to work in the Philippines for a year where public transportation was barely available. Of course it depends on how strict the laws will be, but people might have face more struggles in their daily life unless a perfect law reflecting the country's context, which is almost impossible to set in real world.

In conclusion, it should be encouraged for people to take advantage of alternative forms of transport considering their quality of life. However, putting restrictions on purchasing cars and using them is hard to agree, as road situations are various depending on the nations across the world.