The writer provides an account on bubonic plague, the disease having its origins in 14th century’s China. In contrast, the speaker suggests that there are new evidence justifying that bubonic plague appeared in North Africa.
The writer gives an information on the cases of the disease outbreaks, with the most severe one happened in the 14th century. A natural carrier of the disease is the infected fleas, whereas rats are an intermediate host for fleas. Since China was a busy trading nation at that moment, it sent heaps of ships to other parts of the word. Those ships carried with them rats which transmitted bubonic plague to other countries, for example Europe. The writer tells that the bubonic plague, while appearing occasionally over the course of time, finally disappeared in 17th century.
The speaker, however, tells us that there are evidence that it is North Africa where the disease occurred for the first time. According to archeologists, the fossils found during the excavations of some villages, inhabited in the Ancient Egypt, demonstrate that fleas were present in the human settlements. Another study suggests that ancient villages were situated along the Nile river, and rats were common in the region as well. During periodic flooding rats may have come to the villages and towns, infecting the local population. What is more, archeologists say that there are evidence that Egyptians suffered from the similar to plague disease. The speaker says that the disease could have brought to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, the speaker states that plague did not disappear in 17th century, its outbreaks are still registered by WHO. For example, in Madagascar epidemiologists still spot incidents of this disease.
Hi Trololo, your essay is very good, but this sample question does not seem very typical of what is usually on the TOEFL test. Every other integrated task I have ever seen has a reading giving three pieces of evidence supporting a thesis. The lecturer then disagrees with the thesis and states why the evidence is incorrect. In that type of question, it is much easier to give a piece of evidence stated in the reading and then write why the lecturer disagrees with it. Then move on to the next piece of evidence and then the third, so you end up with three body paragraphs. Is that the type of question you encountered the last time you took the TOEFL? I just want to make sure you are ready for that, even though your two paragraph format worked well for this particular question.
I do not remember the task on my last test. But thank you for reminding me to review this section of writing! I’ll check other textbooks, and practice with more appropriate tasks.