What makes a good neighbor

As the saying goes, ‘a good neighbor is more valuable than a relative far away’. A recent investigation taken by citizens in our city also reveals that 86 percent of the families hold the opinion that it is really important to have a good neighbor. But what makes a good neighbor indeed? From my point of view, a good neighbor should maintain three characteristics: honest, supportive and easygoing.

The most important characteristic which makes a good neighbor is of course honest. It could definitely destroy my respect to my neighbor if he or she deceives me. For instance, a neighbor of my friend always complimented him to his face but ran him down behind his back, which made my friends embarrassed when talked with other neighbors. My friends finally had a long talk with that neighbor, however, it turned out that the neighbor just didn’t realize that and admitted that it was sort of bad habits she couldn’t get rid of.

Additionally, supportive is in no doubt also very significant of a good neighbor. Everyone could rush into some trouble and at the time, your friends and your relatives may be too far away to give you a hand, thus, a helping hand from your neighbor would probably be great to you. Imagine when you are away from home, your pet is taken good care by your neighbor; a call to the policeman by your neighbor prevent a greedy thief from leaving you an almost empty house; or just bring you some salt when you couldn’t find it anywhere in your kitchen. A supportive neighbor would surely play a very important role in your life.

Also, we need to get more relaxed and less stressed after a long day’s work, a good talking or even a family party could be a really good help, a neighbor who seems to be aloof or apathy would make  people around him hesitated to invite. An aloof guy would also make it difficult for someone to share his happiness, sorrow and ideas.

Judging from what has been discussed above, I believe if someone wants to have a better life around his yard, just be a nice guy with quality of being honest, supportive and easygoing which would make him popular among his neighborhood and in turn his neighbors would treat him in the same way.
全文396词了。一会继续改改。

[ 本帖最后由 yiskylee_xiaoma 于 2008-7-5 10:12 编辑 ]

格式看上去是很方正，3个要点也清楚。
不过论点没有充分展开，例子倒是有充分的细节不过略显罗嗦。
第一段模板痕迹太重。。。不过还能忍受
要注意的是：第三段强烈不建议用那么多的YOU！要注意外国人写文章很不喜欢用第二人称 "you" ，这样会不大礼貌。
尤其是负面的信息，要尽量用第三人称“he / she / someone"
最后说下，要拿高分的话字数还需要提升。

非常受益，十分感谢！
关于论点的展开的问题，就是把每一条都多写一些？

还有一点我想请教下。关于替换you，如果用he 或者 she 的话，是不是用一个就够了。意思就是我还需要在文章指代中总是写上s/he his or her him or her 吗？

还是用He/She吧，我看范文里都是这么用的

好的，虽然麻烦点。