Perseverance Vomit splashed across the walls of the toilet as Sue gasped for air.

It has been the third time since this morning she had to rush to the toilet, this time in an awkward moment whilst dinner with her family. Sue never expected something like this to happen. Confusion and self-pity swept her mind as she repeatedly hit the concrete walls surrounding her, as if blaming them for what has happened. All this because of one mistake she made that night at Ken s house, all because of that one mistake. She forced herself to look once again at the test result. Two red lines showed, as painful as if they were bright red cuts on her skin. Sue could no longer hide the truth of those who loved them dearly. She stepped out of the toilet and faced her parents. Mum, Dad, I m pregnant. Her parents instantly froze on the spot, staring at her with eyes of shock and horror. Sue could do nothing but show them the two red lines on the pregnancy test, clearly indicating that she was indeed pregnant. A long time passed before Sue s father broke the silence. You are to abort the baby. But I want to keep her. Sue said calmly, desperately trying to prevent her emotions from getting the better of things. How do you know that .thing is even a girl? Sue s father yelled. How am I going to .face others knowing my teenage daughter is carrying that .creature around! Tears and anger flooded her emotions as Sue dashed into her room. She thought her parents would at least support her emotionally rather than tear up what s left of her emotions. Hi! This is Ken! I m sorry that I m unable to take your call now, please leave a message! Ken s cheerful voice that constantly repeated itself did little to calm Sue s emotions. Sue was confused on what to do. On one hand, she wanted this nightmare to end, yet on the other, she knew she could never live with the guilt of giving up an innocent child s life before it could even open his (or her) eyes. It was then in the midst of everything that Sue remembered what her Chemistry teacher used to tell her. Whatever it is, whatever you want to do, press on. Work hard and strive towards what you are passionate in. Sue felt a surge of encouragement as she felt the small bulge which would soon grow to become her child. She opened the door and ran into the arms of her parents in a tearful embrace.

Mummy! Mummy! A girl in a pink chiffon dress ran out of the classroom and into the arms of a young lady. Sue ignored the eyes of the other older parents as she held her daughter s hand and led her home.

Shopping Does it liberate or exploit women? Introduction Many pro-women speakers have expressed that women have been living unjustly in a male dominated world. , and to a certain extent that is fairly true. Since early history women have taken a back seat in society, often living within the four walls of a house and confined to meagre household chores, rarely stepping out. This has allowed men to frequently exploit women by giving treating them unequally or giving them less human rights. However, the act of shopping has allowed women to be exposed more to the world and hence allowed them to be liberated. Unfortunately, many historians have also pointed out that the exploitation of women could have merely shifted from the household to the supermarket or shopping centre. However in my opinion, women are not exploited but are instead liberated by shopping. Shopping liberates women Point By shopping, women get to communicate with others and thus learn more about the world around them Explanation In the past, women were compelled to be housekeepers and rarely left their homes. However, shopping has allowed women to know more about the occurrences around them through communicating with others, thus liberating them from only knowing things from their husbands or family members. Example During World War II, many families saw their sole breadwinners (Husbands) leave the country to serve in the army. As such, wives had to take over as heads of the household, allowing them to leave the house more often for everyday tasks normally conducted by men. This allowed these women to learn more about the outside world and are hence liberated Link Thus, shopping can be seen as a form of liberation for women

Shopping exploits women Point Companies make use of women s desire for attention in order to gain more sales Explanation Fashion designer labels use highly attractive models to show how their products make them look more attractive or exclusive, in the process bringing across the message of how possessing their product can make the buyer feel the same way. Example Louis Vuitton often employs attractive supermodels to pose with their handbags with confidence, attracting women to buy them. Due to women s desire to seek attention amongst a crowd, they might feel compelled to buy the handbag in order to gain the level of satisfaction from the attention attained from others along the street. Buyers might thus think that by buying such designer-labelled bags, it will engender others to envy her, just like how the buyer (without the bag) envies the model. Link Thus, the process of shopping can be a way for companies to exploit women.

Shopping exploits BOTH women and men Point Men are also attracted by similar advertisements mentioned above due to similar desires to stand out and be envied Explanation Men, like women, have similar areas that a company can exploit. Men do enjoy exclusive products such as luxury watches and thus can be exploited as well Example Luxury watch brands such as Tag Heuer seek celebrities such as golf legend Tiger

Link

Woods and F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton to pose in their adverts. By doing so, men similarly will feel compelled to purchase the watch as they too want to feel the sense of exclusiveness amongst the owners of the watch (including Woods and Hamilton). Thus, the exploits of shopping is not limited to women.

Conclusion In conclusion, I strongly believe that women are not excessively exploited by shopping. In any case both men and women are exploited by shopping, just different that different products are concerned for the different genders. Shopping has allowed women to know more about the world that is happening around them, and also provides them freedom of choice where they can decide what they want to purchase and when. Thus I feel that shopping has liberated women.

The way we treat animals puts the human race in very poor light indeed. Is this a fair comment? Introduction The animal kingdom and the human race has coexisted for over a millennia. Humans have hunted animals for food and vice versa. However, in recent decades, some humans have ethically mistreated animals, killing them for game and even simply for human pleasure, while others have become strong activists for animal rights and protection. Overall however, I do feel that the way humans are treating animals do indeed put the human race in a very poor light. Humans do indeed treat animals poorly Point Humans mistreat animals, killing them in the name of fun. Explanation Reports have surfaced suggesting that humans have mistreated animals, causing them intentional pain before eventual death. This shows the ugly side of the human race, killing innocent lives for the sake of pleasure. Example A lady in China videoed herself using her high heels to stomp a kitten to death, in the process filming her enjoyment of killing the harmless animal. Link Such acts clearly out the human race in poor light

Humans do not treat animals poorly Point Growing number of people are reaching out to prevent the unnecessary harm of animals Explanation While society has ill-treated animals, active steps are taken by people to ensure that ill-treatment is stopped Example PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have raised awareness of abuse conducted on animals and placed pressure on the government as well as on multi-national corporations to stop such acts of cruelty. A certain degree of success has been attained, where testing cosmetics on animals is now banned. Example (2) Fox hunting has been banned in Europe to ensure that the animals are not over hunted. Likewise fishing trawlers in European waters are not allowed to fish over a certain amount to ensure sustainable growth of fishes. Link Thus, this shows the merits of the human race and hence does not put it in bad light

Humans do treat animals poorly Point More animals are now being reared and mistreated before being sent to abattoirs Explanation The human race has treated animals negatively, not only killing thousands of animals a day for food but keep this animals in unliveable conditions as well Example Chickens reared for meat are kept in cold, cramp and unsanitary conditions. They are overfed and injected constantly with hormone injections, before being killed for meat. Frequently these chickens die a painful death as no anaesthesia is given. Due to inefficient killing methods, some chickens often bleed to death, suffering immense pain. While concerns have been raised, they are more often than not ignored completely due to the need to feed the population and maximise profits. Link This clearly puts the human race in bad light

Conclusion While the presence of animal rights watch groups cannot be ignored, the immense number of animals being mistreated everyday far trumps the actions of such watch groups. Research and development could have been conducted to find out methods to ensure anima are ethically ls treated, yet these are not done as governments often treat these issues of the lowest priority as other pressing issues such as education, healthcare and defence are seen as more important. If the ethical treatment of such animals are not seen as important, little can be said about how ethical we humans are. Thus I strongly feel that the above statement is a fair comment.