综合写作：
In many cities, tourists have increasingly been choosing to stay in rented rooms or apartments rather than in hotels. This trend has been made easier by short – term rental platforms. These are online Web sites where property owners can place an advertisement to rent a room, an apartment, or a house. Travelers then pay to stay there for a short period of time. However, despite their popularity, these platforms have several downsides.
Impact on Regular Housing
First, in many cities, the rising popularity of short – term rentals has led to residential apartments being converted to short – term rentals. This has reduced the overall number of apartments and houses available to long – term residents. The short supply of long – term housing has led to a rise in long – term housing costs. People who currently live in the cities or want to move into the cities are faced with higher rents, which many cannot afford.
Quality of Service
Second, short – term rental platforms do not consistently offer the high quality of service for travelers that hotels do. Hotels are run by professionals and therefore meet certain standards of quality and safety. When travelers book a hotel room, they know that they will have a safe and clean place to stay. Travelers who stay in short – term rentals do not have this same guarantee. They could be disappointed to find that their rental is not how it was advertised to be.
Tourist Disturbances
Another serious downside of the platforms is that they have burdened residential neighborhoods with an increase in tourism. Unlike hotels, many of the apartments listed on short – term rental platforms are located in areas where a city’s regular residents live. These neighborhoods are not accustomed to high levels of tourism. Some tourists are noisy and disrespectful toward public property and local residents. Many residents are unhappy about the disturbances that the tourists cause.
学术写作：
Instructions: Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question. In your response you should:
- express and support your personal opinion
- make a contribution to the discussion in your own words
An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Dr. Achebe
This week, we’ll examine issues in education reform. For example, some educators think that by focusing mainly on foundational school subjects like reading, math, and science, schools are not fully preparing students for success in the workforce. These educators argue that soft skills – non – academic skills such as being empathetic or having a strong work ethic – should be part of the curriculum, with classroom time dedicated to developing these skills.
Claire
Soft skills are important, but I don’t agree with using classroom time to work on them. I’m not sure how teachers would measure students’ progress in developing these skills. If students’ growth can’t be measured in something being taught, I’m not sure there’s any point to it.
Andrew
I agree. While students need a strong foundation in academic subjects, soft skills are important because they affect how well students do their work. If classroom time is set aside for these skills, students will take them seriously and their academic work will benefit. Teachers could design lessons so that students learn about a skill and then do role – playing activities with classmates.
