谢振礼写雅思作文【19】Poorism

IELTS Sample Essay: Poorism
by Mr. Jeenn Lee Hsieh
for www.360abc.com

IELTS Topic
Writing task 2

Most of the world's poor live in countries where tourism is a growing industry. The issue is that tourism does not benefit the poorest. How can the income generated by tourism benefit the poor? And how can we ensure that tourism does not destroy traditional cultures and ways of life?

Related IELTS Topic:

Tourism is a modern form of colonialism. It distorts local economies, causes environment damage, and ruins the places it exploits. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Example writing:

Rich countries are helping poor countries to some extent. But they can do more. A practical way to benefit the poorest of the poor is to promote pro-poverty tourism called poorism. In less fortunate places where tourism is a growing industry, poorism is vital to poverty reduction through job creation. Reactions are mixed, however. While some people consider the intake of foreign currencies as a blessing, others fear that foreign influences may reshape a poor country's national idendity. The point is that if a poor country needs tourism money, it must let the world come in.

It's an overstatement to define poorism as colonialism in a modern form. Far from it. Poorism means good, not harm. So far no evidence has been reported about exploitation even in the old sense of the word. The imagined fear is groundless. Poorism is not about distorting local economies and ruiniing places. It's about making money, hopefully going into the poorest pockets on earth. The more, the better. Poor people need to work and poorism creates jobs. More tourist arrivals will bring in more badly needed money. The gains will reduce the pains of people in extreme poverty. Neverthless, a large-scale pro-poverty policy is a long way to go. To attract more tourists, it's essential to improve basic conditions ranging from transportation to hospitality to entertainment since the modern global tourism implies leisure activities.

Poorism is sight-seeing, of course. All tourists expect to have places to go and things to see, not excluding slum corners as sites of attractions. Although it's kind of sad to witness visitors snapping pictures of agony and misery, it may actually be vivid images in the memory of tourists to arouse the moral consciousness. All they have to do is spend more bucks without destroying local traditional customs and ways of life. The local idendity, after all, is not for sale.

If effectively promoted, poorism may be like the ladder of opportunity for have-nots to move up. It's up to very poor countries to maintain cultures or mix them with foreign influences. Reducing poverty through job creation being the aim, they must face the new opportunity on their own terms. People move. Ideas move. And cultures mix. If tourists come, progress and change cannot be far behind.

本教程由来自台湾大学和智利大学的谢振礼老师为世博英语网站独家撰写，旨在提高大家托福雅思写作的实战水平。未经谢振礼老师和世博英语授权，其他媒体和个人不得转载！若有任何问题和建议，请电邮谢振礼老师：englishcomposition@hotmail.com