[color=indigo][size=150]Do you agree or disagree with the following statement:
To remain happy and optimistic when you fail is more important than achieving success.[/size]
Optimism plays a substantial role throughout our life from childhood through adolescence into adulthood. So, it is necessary to be optimist or positive in spite of any kind of failures or obstacles emerging on our ways, because optimism in failures brings significant advantages to our lives. It leads people to inventions, and makes them be stronger in disasters. In addition, it enables people to live longer.
In fact, there have not been any crucial discoveries in history without failures. It is an inescapable part of our life that may guide people to innovations. For instance, a light-bulb, one of the major inventions of mankind, was invented by Thomas Alva Edison after failing more than ninety times. So, as a proverb says: “Only who gets lost, discover new ways”. It proves once again that optimism in failures is the main motive for success, because after reaching success we are no longer willing to improve ourselves.
Optimism during failures also encourages us to be stronger in life. It teaches us to overcome our barriers and to take lessons from them. As an example, Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, experienced countless misfortunes in his life. He could not enter to his dream university, was not accepted to a job in the time of need, and experienced poverty and numerous difficulties in his life, but each time he did not give up, but extracted experience from failures, and enhanced his self-reliance. Ultimately, he became a president of Turkey thanks to the failures that made him so stronger.
Finally, recent investigations have unearthed that optimism or remaining happiness in failures prolongs our life. According to researchers, people who are positive when they do not succeed are living longer than those of others. I believe that this is true, because my grandfather was a very optimist person notwithstanding ups and downs of life. As a matter of fact, he lived ninety years that was longer than his relatives and friends.
To make a long story short, it is not important to achieve success, it is important how to estimate the way that leads to success. If we are happy and optimist despite failures in this way, then we can contribute to society by inventions, can make ourselves more resistant to the disasters of life, and can live longer by enjoying ourselves. At this point, the words of Winston Churchill should be tattooed on our brains, as he once said: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
TOEFL listening discussions: Which best describes the student’s current activity?