[Author’s note] In Paper 1 Section B, I like choosing the one-word essay question because in my opinion, it has a wider scope thus making it a safe question to answer. Be it narrative or descriptive essay, one-word essay are very flexible. I like to make my one word essay article-like. It’s fun. ^^
Question 5 – Books.
(scope: Benefits of Reading Books.)
I’m sure we have heard the saying that goes, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” If we take a minute and ponder about it, it is actually true. We do judge a book by its cover. A colourful and illustrative book cover gains more of our attention but a dull and dim cover make our brains go, “This book is boring.”. Nevertheless, the meaning of the saying is to don’t judge someone by its appearance. A book is so much more than meets the eye. You won’t know the true colours of a book after a few quick flips of its pages. Read it, understand it and even embrace it. By then you will know there are numerous benefits of reading books.
You can gain useful and vital information by reading books. The next time you enter a library, think of it like this – the whole world and the universe is squeezed into one room and you are surrounded by it. There is so much knowledge a book can contain. From the history of the Cold War to modern fashion, reading books plays a vital role in increasing our general knowledge. Reading is the ideal source of information, standing in second after the Internet. Yet most of the information you need, can be found only in books as the Internet is not a reliable source of information.
Moving on, reading books aids in widening our vocabulary. Be it Malay, English or even Korean books, if we add more books into our daily readings, we can increase our word power. If we read books of different languages, it will improve our word power in different languages which is such an advantage! Spelling bee or Spell-It-Right contestants are not the only ones who can spell complex words, we can too! And by reading, I do not mean by reading the huge Oxford dictionary. Just read a different book every single day, thus you will be exposed to hundreds and hundreds of bombastic words which is able to be the key to good quality writing.
Ever wonder why when we were a kid, our parents used to read bedtime stories before we go to bed? It is because that studies shown that reading slows down the rate of our heartbeat and breathing thus keeping it at a slow and fixed pace. Say hello to a low-cost, relaxing therapy! Who needs to go to spas when you can rejuvenate yourself by reading a book? If music is food for the soul, then books are food for the mind. Reading a book is not only educational, but it is calming and relaxing at the same time.
Going through all the points given above, I’m sure there are a lot more pros than cons of reading books. Being labeled as a bookworm is not that bad after all. I personally feel that Malaysians should put our heads together and come up with ways to instill reading as a national habit. We need to work arm in arm and do whatever in our might if we want Vision 2020 to be a reality.