The speaker claims that major cities represent the cardinal characteristics of a society.I concede that the study of major cities would reveal numerous important features of a society. However, the author fails to put two main factors into considerations. Firstly, the influence of territory is not to be neglected. Secondly, characteristics of certain fields to concern with.Thus, it should be based on a case-by-case analysis.

In the field of economy, science, and technology, major city is an ideal place. Whether for countries with large or small territory, major cities are usually blessed with complete infrastructure, like convenient traffic and communication facilities. Therefore, more and more people swarm here to get better opportunities, whether individually or collectively. Students come for well-known universities to get better education and chances of employment. companies and organizations come for recruiting outstanding employees or members. Major cities are also more likely to have political and financial advantages over other cities, which people seek for. Take the major cities of USA as an example. Economic prosperity could be seen from the business in New York. What’s more, In Silicon Valley, one could find science and technology advancement by visiting giant companies there. Therefore, there is a must to study its major cities to learn about the characteristics of the hard power of a society.

When it comes to the fields of cultures and living, there is a sharp difference. Since big countries lie across a wide range of latitude and longitude, customs and ideology vary greatly. The example of Jiangsu province in China aptly illustrates it. Merely separated by a river, people living on different sides of the river do not understand the dialect that other uses. People living in the east enjoy seafood, while people living in the west seldom have fish as dishes. In such cases, major cities no longer serve as a paragon to the study of essential characteristics of a society. Therefore, it is necessary to visit each place separately.

On the other hand, small countries usually have cities and towns lying close to each other. Thus, they are very likely to share analogous customs and cultures. Small European countries, one of many examples, can sufficiently support my claim. Buildings with similar structures and decorations distribute from London to Paris. In addition, although with heterogeneous official languages, people from different countries understand each other’s speech. In this case, major cities are proper places to visit to learn about small countries’features.

In conclusion, a case-by-case analysis is needed, and we should take all relevant factors into account.

Each person has his own lifestyle different from others. Some people prefer to work at home, while others choose to work at the office. Recently, an increasing number of companies have changed the traditional way of working, giving permission to their workers to stay at home, as long as they manage to finish their tasks on time. In my point of view, I am in favor of working at home, because of the flexibility and economy it can offer.

Apparently, working at home will give workers much more freedom, for people can make an ideal arrangement for their own need. employees can make decisions individually when to come off work, thus they would have more chance to look after their family. What’s more, workers are able to make adaptations according to their own habits in daily life, which is likely to promise a good working state and higher efficiency of workers. My aunt used to be quite sleepy after having lunch when she worked in the office. Since recently her company allowed employees to work at home, she could take a nap on the sofa. With a short relaxation, my aunt felt more energetic and efficient than before.

On the other hand, working at home not only saves time but also has lower costs. People don’t have to dress up themselves formally before going outdoors, as well as hurrying to the office at peak hours of traffic. As more and more workers choose to work at home, there will be no need for companies to pay the cost of renting sites for office. In this case, Companies will save a lot of money and can use it for further development in other fields.

Admittedly, working at office has some advantages, including easy management and convenience of communication between staff members. However, the progress in technologies enables workers and managers communicate efficiently on the Internet with email or software designed for distant business. Since the communication technologies have overcome such difficulties, working at home offers a much flexible and cost-saving way of business.