Essay 1: There are two versions of this essay; try them both.

Secondo voi, mangiare insieme è veramente importante nella vita di una famiglia?
[In your opinion, is eating together really an important part of family life?]

A

In my opinion, eating together is not very important in family life. My father and my mother work and there is not time to prepare an evening meal. Besides, food is not an important thing for me: I prefer to eat in a hurry and go out to meet my friends.
Usually it is true that we eat together but I find it boring; my parents always ask me what I did at school but I never do anything new and I have nothing to say. My father's work doesn't interest me much. I prefer to sit down by myself in front of the TV and eat a pizza.

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B

I don't believe that eating together is so important in family life. Years ago, in the time of my grandparents, it was very usual that the whole family ate together but the world of today is very different. At that time, normally the mother did not work; she was a housewife and spent hours in the kitchen preparing the meals for the family. Now, usually, even the mother needs a job outside the house and does not have time to cook. Besides, with a microwave it is easy to prepare a meal, it takes only a few minutes.
Nevertheless, every so often we all eat together, to celebrate a birthday or at Christmas. I like Christmas Dinner a lot because it is an occasion when the family gets together and it is very enjoyable.

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