Online Class Notes (Jesse)

Vocabulary

disclaimer – when you say sth to prepare sb for it
eg. Dorothy gave me a disclaimer before she showed me the writing because she wanted to prepare my expectations

tomorrow they will ask me – the next day they will ask me 

Grammar

we have to dress formal – formally

i’ll show you what I want to dress – what I want to wear

Energy drinks should be prohibited to people under the age of 18

Definition: According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, the definition of prohibited is not allowed and banned. Energy Drinks are a kind of drink made of sugar and caffeine which provides energy and vitamin after exercising / physical exertion.

Framework: to win this debate, the pro needs to prove that energy drinks can be harmful to the both mental and physical health of us teenagers, while the con needs to prove the opposite.

Contention 1: energy drinks are harmful to our physical health

A bottle of energy drink contains 10% of white sugar, 15% of caffeine, 6% of vitamin and 26% of energy. Exercise causes sweating, resulting in a large loss of / resulting in the loss of large amounts of potassium, sodium and other electrolytes (elec tro lites), leading to physical fatigue, even cramps, which may cause decline in endurance. The sodium and potassium in drinks are not only used to supplement the sodium and potassium lost in sweat, but also help the retention of water in blood vessels, so that the body can get more water. If the electrolyte content in the beverage is too low, it will not have the effect of supplement; If it is too high, it will increase the osmotic pressure of the beverage, cause gastrointestinal discomfort, and make the water in the beverage unable to be absorbed by the body as soon as possible. No carbonic acid, caffeine and alcohol: carbonic acid will cause flatulence and discomfort in the stomach; Caffeine has a certain diuretic effect, which will increase the loss of heavy water, while exercise itself will lose a lot of water and electrolytes. On October 27, 2017, the list of carcinogens published by the international agency for research on cancer of the World Health Organization was preliminarily sorted for reference. Caffeine belongs to category 3 carcinogens, that is, carcinogens “not yet classified”.

Impact: The things that are inside the energy drinks is harmful to the teenagers. Sugar can cause high blood pressure, and caffeine can cause cancer and even to death. Therefore it should be prohibited.

Contention 2: energy drinks can cause addiction and mental problems

Energy drinks provide us with a moment of happiness, but not for long. By drinking this, you will feel the sense of excitement inside you. However, it will only last for a moment. Sometimes later, all you will feel is a sense of disappointment and boredom. Some people think the sugar and energy inside the drink can reduce the feeling of being upset. It is wrong because due to the fact that sugar involves a high amount of caffeine inside, and caffeine cause the person to be thirsty after drinking it, it can only make the person feel that he or she wants to drink more of it. But the more you drink it, the more upset you will feel, but since you have not realised, you will want to drink more and more of it. This can cause the mental problem to depression and ABM.

Also, since the drink contains a huge amount of sugar [known as a drug from World Health Organisation (WHO)], it is easy for the people to become addicted to. There’s an example: in 2016, a thirteen year old boy Pocari which mainly replaced the water he needed every day. After wasting all of his pocket money on it, he started stealing money from his parents. At last, he was hospitalised due to the high blood pressure.

Impact: as what we can know from above, energy drinks is easy for us to be addicted to, then, every time you are lonely and don’t feel well, you might want to drink more of it. Then, it will lead to a loss of yourself and serious mental problems, and even worse, committing suicide.

(According to our Framework, we have successfully proved that energy drinks should be prohibited to people under 18. Please vote for the pro, thank you.)