TPO 22 Integrated Writing Task

Both the reading and the listening sections are about ethanol productivity. The author of the reading passage suggests that although so many people think that ethanol is a good alternative for gasoline, it is not, for several reasons. The lecturer, by contrast, challenges the clam made by the author. She is of the opinion that the reasons why ethanol is not a good replacement for gasoline are not convincing.

To begin with the author argues that increased use of ethanol would not help to solve the problem of global warming. In further it mentions that ethanol like gasoline releases carbon dioxide which helps trap heat in the atmosphere. This argument is challenged by the professor. More specifically she claims that the increase use of ethanol will not add to global warming. She expands on topic by mentioning that it is true that it releases carbon dioxide but also ethanol is made of plants such as corn and growing the plants counteracts this release of carbon dioxide because every growing plant absorbs carbon dioxide from the air as a part of its nutrient.

Secondly, the text suggests that the increase production of ethanol dramatically reduces the amount of plants which are used to feed animals in the United States, so it reduces the sources of food for animals. The lecturer, on the contrary, rebuts this argument by mentioning that increased production of ethanol does not have to diminish the sources of food for animals because it could be made of cellulose which is the main component of plant cell walls. Those parts of plants are not eaten by animals.

Finally, the reading passage points out that ethanol is much more expansive than gasoline although now prices are nearly same but that is because government of the United States offers help in the form of tax subsides to the ethanol producers. The lecturer, rebuts this argument by pointing out that the increase use of ethanol will make it compete with gasoline in terms of price. Particularly, the lecturer notes that it is true that government make ethanol cheaper one but if enough people starting use it, ethanol producers would increase its production which in turn would decreases ethanol's price. In other words, the increased production of ethanol leads to a drop in its price .