Compiling afterthoughts

Alfred Yiu is here to help you get through your exams. A graduate of the University of Hong Kong, he has 15 years' experience in tutoring students for HKCEE and A-level exams and has also written English textbooks.

To COMPILE your afterthoughts, look at the following ideas. They should give you a good start.

Sample 1: About Hong Kong's future

Will the next chapter tell a continuing story of success, with Hong Kong contributing even more to China's spectacular economic revolution?

Yes, provided the rule of law - the guardian angel of Hong Kong's decency and the engine of its success - survives. But will it?

In my judgment, Hong Kong will continue to write new pages in the record books and provide a good and civilised home for all of us.

The will, resilience and courage of Hong Kong people provides hope that they will continue to enjoy in the decades ahead justice and the blessings of liberty.

Sample 2: About social issues

I personally believe that (euthanasia) will be a hot topic in the days to come, not only for the man in the street but also decision-makers in the government.

If the authorities fail to straighten out the conflict, society will be further polarised. In no way would that benefit Hong Kong.

With the globalisation of the world economy, and as we move increasingly towards a knowledge-driven information age, our education system must move with the times.

Unemployment levels, now at record levels, are unlikely to head for pre-crisis levels of around 2 per cent for years and property prices - a key barometer of confidence in Hong Kong - are likely to spiral lower rather than higher.

It is not so much the complexity of issues, but more the need for bureaucracy to change the way it has been dealing with these issues.

What is urgently needed is government leadership, commitment and action, not the usual array of committees discussing issues and plans that are not or only partly carried out.

Effective proactive decision-making requires an ability to anticipate needs, to monitor and react to community values, and to consider a broad range of economic, environmental and social issues.

The government will need new thinking, bravery to challenge the status quo, and some degree of honesty in acknowledging the ineffectiveness of certain existing policies if we are to successfully reshape Hong Kong.

But it is simplistic, if not tempting, to heap all the responsibility for achieving these objectives on the government alone.

Success requires constructive debate and accountability on all sides, not political gamesmanship or fancy footwork.

It is not unrealistic to predict that Hong Kong will one day become a pollution-free city. But the question is when and how.

Challenges by the score, but none that cannot be confronted or conquered.

The obstacles are formidable but so are our assets.