TOEFL sample essay: If you could change one important thing about your hometown, what would you change? use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.

My hometown is a large city with a dense population. because it is crowded with people and their vehicles, the environment is not as clean as i would like it to be. too many cars and buses pollute the air and people also create a lot of garbage that is not always disposed of properly. if i could change just one thing about my hometown, it would be the environment. i would make it a cleaner and less polluted place to live.

I believe that such a change is important because a person’s living environment can greatly affect both his physical and mental health. bad air quality can contribute to many health problems such as asthma, and improperly discarded garbage can spread bacteria that are dangerous to health. in addition, the environment can greatly affect the way a person feels. when in clean, attractive surroundings we always feel more optimistic. for these reasons, i think the people of my hometown should work together to make it a cleaner place to live.

To accomplish this goal we have to not only enact laws to limit pollution, but also take personal responsibility for our own actions. only when people realize the effect that the environment has on their well-being will they take such proposals seriously. therefore, we must first inform people of the dangers of a poor environment. then i believe we can all live happier, healthier lives.