Luyện theo cấu trúc Cambridge IELTS 3 · Writing Task 1 + 2: Bike-Sharing Figures & Small Local Museums

The table provides data on the size and use of a bike-sharing scheme in one city in 2019 and 2024.

Overall, the scheme expanded dramatically over the five-year period, with almost every figure increasing substantially. At the same time, the way the bikes were used changed, as trips became shorter and were far more likely to be made for commuting.

In terms of infrastructure, the number of docking stations rose from 120 to 310, while the fleet of bikes almost tripled, from 1,500 to 4,200. Electric bikes, which were not offered at all in 2019, accounted for 1,100 of the bikes available by 2024, just over a quarter of the total.

Demand grew even faster than supply. Membership nearly tripled to 52,000, and the average number of trips per day climbed from 3,400 to 11,800, an increase of roughly 250%. The only figure to fall was the average trip length, which dropped from 24 to 17 minutes. This coincided with a sharp rise in the proportion of journeys made to and from work, which went up from 38% to 61%, suggesting that the scheme had become part of many residents' daily routine rather than a leisure activity.

With so many collections now available online and major national museums attracting millions of visitors, it is sometimes argued that small local museums have outlived their purpose. I strongly disagree with this view, as local museums perform functions that neither websites nor national institutions can replace.

It is true that online collections and large museums have clear advantages. A website allows someone to examine a famous painting or ancient manuscript from anywhere in the world at no cost, and national museums have the funds to display rare objects with expert interpretation. For a student researching a well-known historical period, these resources may well be more useful than a small town collection.

However, local museums preserve a kind of history that larger institutions largely ignore. They hold the everyday objects, photographs and personal stories of a particular town, such as the tools used in a local industry or the records of a school that closed decades ago. These items are rarely of interest to national collections, and if small museums disappeared, they would very likely be lost. Moreover, seeing a real object is a different experience from viewing an image on a screen. A child who visits a recreated village kitchen and handles the utensils is far more likely to remember it than one who scrolls past a photograph. Finally, local museums act as community centres in their own right, hosting talks and school visits and relying on volunteers, many of whom are retired residents who value the chance to share their knowledge.

In conclusion, while digital collections and national museums are valuable, they complement rather than replace small local museums, which protect local identity and give communities a place to connect with their own past.