Writing Practice I

Task 1

Answer

Throughout the decades, recycling rates for all the listed materials have been increasing in this country. To the citizens, this should be a good thing. However, there are some additional points worth noting.

First of all, we can see that even though all the plotted materials are recycled by a greater proportion as time passes, there are significant differences among them. In comparison, glass containers and aluminum cans have witnessed larger growth in terms of proportion recycled than paper, cardboard and plastics. This was probably due to increased awareness of recycling them or critical advancement in the technologies needed to recycle them. Also, the recycling rate of glass and aluminum plummeted in earth 1990s, resulting from the likely intensified industrialization of the country.

Second, the growth of paper’ and cardboard’s recycling rate was not significant compared with some other materials, but the exact number topped the list at around 70%. The reason might be that paper-made products are easier to recycle but further increasing the recycling rate require great technological advancement, which is challenging to achieve.

Finally, plastics have been recycled more but the recycling rate stood below 10% by the end of the first decade of this century. Plastics are not naturally decomposable so technological or chemical means need to be invented to recycle plastics more, and this may be the reason why this country has struggled to step up its recycling. (233 words)

High band sample

Sample 1

The line graph illustrates the percentage of 4 things – paper & cardboard, glass containers, aluminum cans and plastics – that were recycled in an unspecified country between 1982 and 2010.

Overall, when compared to 1982, the total percentage of recycling increased over the years. While the amount / proportion of recycled aluminum cans and plastics had seen a steady increase, paper & cardboard and glass containers had some fluctuations until 1994.

The percentage of recycled aluminum cans increased from just 5% in 1983 to 45% in 2010. Plastics recycling also saw an improvement from less than 5% to 9% in 2010.

In contrast, glass containers reuse had initially fallen by 10% in 8 years but then, from 1990 it had a steady rise and reached 60% in 2010. Paper & cardboard recycling had also seen fluctuations in the beginning but then reached its peak at 80% in 1994 and then steadily dropped to reach 70% in 2010.

Even though there were fluctuations in the recycling rate of paper and cardboard and glass containers over the given period, the general trend was upward.

While paper and cardboard were the most recycled items throughout the given period, plastic was the least recycled thing. (205 words)

Sample 2

The chart shows the percentage of paper and cardboard, glass containers, aluminum cans and plastics that were recycled in one country between 1982 and 2010.

In 1982, about 65% of paper and cardboard was recycled. This figure fluctuated before rising steeply to reach a peak 80% in 1994. From then on, however, it decreased steadily to a level of 70% in 2010. In 1982, half of all glass containers were recycled; after dipping to a low of 40% in 1990, the glass recycling rate gradually increased to 60% by 2010.

Aluminum cans were first recycled in 1986, starting at about 5%, but this figure climbed rapidly over 25 years and by 2010 it had reached 45%. Recycling of plastics, on the other hand, was not introduced until 1990 and, although the growth in this category was also constant, it was very slow, rising from about 2% to around 8% over the period.

Overall, the proportion of paper and cardboard that was recycled was the highest of the four class of material, but this category experienced a decline after 1994, whereas there was a continuing upward trend in the recycling of the other materials. (200 words)

Task 2

Answer

The provided diagram illustrates the process of manufacturing products from wool.

It is shown in the chart that raw materials are first sheared from sheep before being cleaned and dried. This is followed by the machines spinning process which creates the first divergence in the chart. At this point, the major product is wool waiting for later use, while some materials are made into string which is recycled.

Continue on the main process, the next products are tufts of wool, which are later moved into storage, We can also see that, at about this stage, some of the wool is dyed.

Going forward, balls of yarn are made, followed by either knitting or the production of woolen goods such as carpets and jackets.

Overall, the diagram indicates that it requires many stages to go from sheep to end products. On top of that, along the process of woolen goods production, several in-between products are manufactured. (155 words)