TOEFL Independent Writing Task
Essay Topic: Why Do People Work?
Example Answer by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
Essay Question:
People work because they need money to live. In your opinion, what are other reasons that people work? Use specific reasons and examples from your knowledge or experience to support your opinion.
Sample Essay (Jeenn Lee Hsieh):
Money is by far the most important factor that people work; however, having a job means more than just being able to make ends meet. As the old saying goes, "work spares people from three evils-- need, vice, and boredom". That is to say, by happily having a career you may not only get rid of poverty but prevent yourself from being bored and vicious.
Given that there is no excuse to be bored, you must work (and rest, of course). It is easy to understand that doing something worthwhile helps you hold boredom at bay and enjoy deserved rest after work. Generally speaking, people who do not actually work probably do not really appreciate rest, either. In a certain sense, boredom is an evil because it is like the negative feeling that nothing is important and everything, perhaps including earning a decent living, is a waste of time. That is why those who seek rest find boredom while those who seek work find rest. As such, you must choose in life between work and boredom.
Vice is another evil next door to boredom for its obvious association with idleness. Ever so often being idle is the beginning of plenty of vice. You cannot fail to see that people who need money to live but refuse to work inevitably fall easy victims to such bad habits as heavy drinking, drug abuse, and what not. Now and then, people being affected by dangerous vice are likely to get trouble with the law. It is because the presence of vice is invariably linked to the absence of work. Without a doubt, in any society as the unemployment rates rise, so do the crime rates.
On the whole, working people are happy people, thanks to that kind of freedom they could enjoy which keeps them away from the evils of need, boredom and vice. Economic gains being the No. 1 factor that people work, it is also critical for them not to be trapped in doing nothing at all or doing wrong things. After all, when you are able to work, there is no reason to do otherwise. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh)
