sat写作题目大全
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Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on the following issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience or observations.Official Study Guide, Second Edition1. Isit important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions ofauthority?2. Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affecttheir communities or the nation in general?3. Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?4. Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?5. Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame or power?6. Can success be disastrous?7. Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?8. Is the world changing for the better?9. Do you think that ease does not challenge us and what we need adversityto help us discover who we are?10. Should heroes be defined as people who say that they think when weourselves lack the courage to say it?MoreDo memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?Kaplan Test1. Do you think that people are capable of finding happiness or are theyalways searching for something beyond what they have?2. If you want to become an expert in a certain field, do you need to havemore talent or more motivation?3. Which do you think contributes more to personal happiness: what happensto you or the way you respond to what happens?4. Do you agree with Aaron Burr that it is wisest to put things off if you can?5. Do we ourselves cause change in our lives by making certqain decisions,or are we acted upon by events that happen around us?6. Is it really impossible to fail? Are some failures simply unsuccessfulattempts to accomplish what we set out to do, or do all failures ultimately provide some benefits, even if we can’t see it right away?7. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change yourattitude. Don’t complain.”D o you agree with Maya Angelou that it is pointless to complain?8. Do you think that teaching something to another person can help you tolearn or master a subject or process?9. Do you believe that fantasy or imagination is more important thanknowledge?10. What is your view of the idea that every obstacle can be turned into anopportunity?11. “In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story.”D o you agree withWater Cronkite that it is necessary to see both sides of an issue in order to discover the truth?历年真题1. Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?2. Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in theirown way?3. It is necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negativeconsequences for other people?4. Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?5. Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices wecan make?6. Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the completetruth?7. Does the success of a community – whether it is a class, ta team, a family,a nation or any other group-depend upon people’s willingness to limit theirpersonal interests?8. Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?9. Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?10. Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in position ofauthority?11. Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?12. Can deception-pretending that something is true when it is not- sometimeshave good results?13. Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that payswell?14. Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?15. Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affecttheir communities of the nation in general?16. Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?17. Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?18. Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or canwe benefit from following the crowd?19. Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?20. Is identity something people are born with or given, or it is somethingpeople create for themselves?21. Can people ever be truly original?22. Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especiallygood at and developing that attribute above all else?23. Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?24. Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?25. Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is notreached?26. Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of thepast?27. Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups withwhich they have something in common?28. Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of moderntechnology, even when using it would make life easier?29. Do people place too much emphasis on winning?30. Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?31. Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?32. Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?33. Are decision made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly andcarefully?34. Can a group of people function effectively without someone being incharge?35. Do actions, not words, reveal a person or group’s true attitudes andintentions?36. Does planning interfere with creativity?37. Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly becausethey expect more of themselves?38. Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is itbest for them to stick with their original decisions?39. Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or shouldpeople give up if they are not making progress?40. Should people let their feelings guide them when they make importantdecisions?41. Has today’s abundance of information only made it more difficult for us tounderstand the world around us?42. Are people best defined by what they do?43. Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems?44. Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network orfamily?45. Do books, newspapers, and other media focus too much on bad news?46.Is it better for people to know everything they can about something before taking action or should they act first and get more information later?47. Do the demands of others tend to make people more productive than theywould be without such pressure?48. Should all people’s opinions be valued equally, or should only informedopinions be takenseriously?49.Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be?50. Do people make the greatest discoveries by exploring what is unfamiliar tothem or by paying close attention to what seems familiar?51. Do small decisions often have major consequences?52. Is talking the most effective and satisfying way of communicating withothers?53. Should the government be responsible for making sure that people leadhealthy lives?54. Do people succeed by emphasizing their differences from other people?55. Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative arts (music,drama, photography, creative writing…)56. Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciatetheir natural environment?57. Is an idealistic approach less valuable than a practical approach?58. Is it better for people to learn from others than to learn on their own?59. Do people put too much importance on getting every detail right on aproject or task?60. Does the process of ding something matter more than the outcome?61. If people worked less, would they be more creative and active during theirfree time?62. Does every individual have an obligation to think seriously about importantmatters, even when doing so may be difficult?63. Is real success achieved only by people who accomplish goals and solveproblems on their own?。
sat试题及答案SAT试题及答案一、阅读理解(共20题,每题2分,总计40分)1. 根据文章A,作者主要讨论了什么主题?A. 环境保护的重要性B. 科技发展对环境的影响C. 可持续发展的策略D. 气候变化的成因答案:C2. 文章B中提到的“生态足迹”是指什么?A. 人类对自然资源的消耗量B. 人类对环境的污染程度C. 人类对生物多样性的影响D. 人类对气候系统的影响答案:A...20. 文章T中作者对于未来的看法是什么?A. 悲观的B. 乐观的C. 中立的D. 无法确定答案:B二、写作(共1题,总计20分)21. 根据所给材料,写一篇不少于500字的议论文,阐述你对“教育公平”的看法。
答案:略三、数学(共20题,每题2分,总计40分)22. 如果一个圆的半径是5厘米,那么它的面积是多少平方厘米?A. 78.5B. 100C. 157D. 196答案:A23. 一个直角三角形的两条直角边分别是3厘米和4厘米,那么它的斜边是多少厘米?A. 5B. 6C. 7D. 8答案:A...41. 如果一个数列的前三项是2, 4, 6,那么这个数列的第10项是多少?A. 20B. 22C. 24D. 26答案:A四、语法(共20题,每题2分,总计40分)42. 下列句子中,语法正确的是:a) She is one of the student who is going to the concert.b) He has more books than me.c) The children was playing in the park.d) I have been living here for two years.答案:d43. 选择正确的动词形式填空:The teacher _______ (explain/explained) the concept to the students yesterday.答案:explained...61. 选择正确的形容词填空:The _______ (boring/interested) lecture made the audience fell asleep.答案:boring五、词汇(共10题,每题2分,总计20分)62. 选择与“innovative”意思相近的词:A. TraditionalB. ConservativeC. CreativeD. Outdated答案:C63. 选择与“compromise”意思相反的词:A. AgreementB. DisputeC. ConflictD. Resolution答案:C...71. 选择与“meticulous”意思相同的词:A. CarelessB. SloppyC. ThoroughD. Haphazard答案:C请注意:以上内容为示例,实际SAT试题及答案会根据考试的具体内容而有所不同。
official●Is the opinion of the majority-in government or in any other circumstances-a poor guide?●Is creativity need more than ever in the world today?●Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remainneutral and impartial?●Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of otherpeople?●Is success in life earned or do people succeed because they are lucky?●Is society’s admirations for famous people beneficial or harmful?●Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private?●Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?●Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?●ls it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences forother people?●Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?●Are we free to `make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make?●Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth?●Does the success of a community-whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or anyother group depend upon people’s willingness to limit the ir personal interests?●Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?●Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?●Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?●Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?●Can deception-pretending that something is true when it is not-sometimes have goodresults?●Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communitiesor the nation in general?●Is it more important to do Work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?●Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?●Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?●Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?●Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right or wrong, or can we benefit fromthe crowd?●Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?●Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems?●Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network or family?●Do books, newspapers, and other media focus too much on bad news?●Is it better for people to know everything they can about something before taking actions,or should they get more information later?。
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on the following issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience or observations.Official Study Guide, Second Edition1. Isit important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions ofauthority?2. Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affecttheir communities or the nation in general?3. Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?4. Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?5. Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame or power?6. Can success be disastrous?7. Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?8. Is the world changing for the better?9. Do you think that ease does not challenge us and what we need adversityto help us discover who we are?10. Should heroes be defined as people who say that they think when weourselves lack the courage to say it?MoreDo memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?Kaplan Test1. Do you think that people are capable of finding happiness or are theyalways searching for something beyond what they have?2. If you want to become an expert in a certain field, do you need to havemore talent or more motivation?3. Which do you think contributes more to personal happiness: what happensto you or the way you respond to what happens?4. Do you agree with Aaron Burr that it is wisest to put things off if you can?5. Do we ourselves cause change in our lives by making certqain decisions,or are we acted upon by events that happen around us?6. Is it really impossible to fail? Are some failures simply unsuccessfulattempts to accomplish what we set out to do, or do all failures ultimately provide some benefits, even if we can’t see it right away?7. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change yourattitude. Don’t complain.”D o you agree with Maya Angelou that it is pointless to complain?8. Do you think that teaching something to another person can help you tolearn or master a subject or process?9. Do you believe that fantasy or imagination is more important thanknowledge?10. What is your view of the idea that every obstacle can be turned into anopportunity?11. “In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story.”D o you agree withWater Cronkite that it is necessary to see both sides of an issue in order to discover the truth?历年真题1. Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?2. Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in theirown way?3. It is necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negativeconsequences for other people?4. Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?5. Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices wecan make?6. Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the completetruth?7. Does the success of a community – whether it is a class, ta team, a family,a nation or any other group-depend upon people’s willingness to limit theirpersonal interests?8. Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?9. Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?10. Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in position ofauthority?11. Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?12. Can deception-pretending that something is true when it is not- sometimeshave good results?13. Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that payswell?14. Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?15. Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affecttheir communities of the nation in general?16. Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?17. Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?18. Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or canwe benefit from following the crowd?19. Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?20. Is identity something people are born with or given, or it is somethingpeople create for themselves?21. Can people ever be truly original?22. Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especiallygood at and developing that attribute above all else?23. Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?24. Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?25. Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is notreached?26. Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of thepast?27. Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups withwhich they have something in common?28. Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of moderntechnology, even when using it would make life easier?29. Do people place too much emphasis on winning?30. Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?31. Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?32. Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?33. Are decision made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly andcarefully?34. Can a group of people function effectively without someone being incharge?35. Do actions, not words, reveal a person or group’s true attitudes andintentions?36. Does planning interfere with creativity?37. Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly becausethey expect more of themselves?38. Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is itbest for them to stick with their original decisions?39. Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or shouldpeople give up if they are not making progress?40. Should people let their feelings guide them when they make importantdecisions?41. Has today’s abundance of information only made it more difficult for us tounderstand the world around us?42. Are people best defined by what they do?43. Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems?44. Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network orfamily?45. Do books, newspapers, and other media focus too much on bad news?46.Is it better for people to know everything they can about something before taking action or should they act first and get more information later?47. Do the demands of others tend to make people more productive than theywould be without such pressure?48. Should all people’s opinions be valued equally, or should only informedopinions be takenseriously?49.Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be?50. Do people make the greatest discoveries by exploring what is unfamiliar tothem or by paying close attention to what seems familiar?51. Do small decisions often have major consequences?52. Is talking the most effective and satisfying way of communicating withothers?53. Should the government be responsible for making sure that people leadhealthy lives?54. Do people succeed by emphasizing their differences from other people?55. Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative arts (music,drama, photography, creative writing…)56. Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciatetheir natural environment?57. Is an idealistic approach less valuable than a practical approach?58. Is it better for people to learn from others than to learn on their own?59. Do people put too much importance on getting every detail right on aproject or task?60. Does the process of ding something matter more than the outcome?61. If people worked less, would they be more creative and active during theirfree time?62. Does every individual have an obligation to think seriously about importantmatters, even when doing so may be difficult?63. Is real success achieved only by people who accomplish goals and solveproblems on their own?。
SAT写作题目大汇总SAT写作是SAT考试的主要组成部分,然而写好SAT写作也是一件令人头痛的事,写作的题目是得失分的关键,它不仅仅是一个题目,更是作者本身的观点所在。
下面三立小编为你带来SAT写作题目大汇总一文,希望对你取得好成绩有所帮助,更多资讯请访问三立在线教育,专业老师为你在线解答相关疑问。
1. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority—in government or in any other circumstances—a poor guide? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.2. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.3. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Plan and write anessay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.4. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.5. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:引文: If you think that what you do is your own business, you are wrong. In this world your conduct affects not only you but the conduct of other people as well. If you behave in a way that is considered unacceptable and other people copy your behavior, you are responsible for the consequences.Adapted from Margaret Banning, “Letter to Susan”引文: Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many news reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is toovaluable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,”Nieman Reports引文: Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.引文: We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?Adapted from James A. Reed, “Majority Rule”Assignment: Do people depend on work—whether it is a job, schoolwork, or volunteer work—to determine what their daily activities and interactions with others should be? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.以上相关信息由三立在线为你提供,希望阅读完以上文章后,你能有所收获,对学习有一定的帮助,更多资讯请访问三立在线,专业老师为你指导讲解相关疑惑,为你的考试之路保驾护航。
SAT作文题目汇总SAT ESSAY QUESTIONS COLLECTION1.OG Practice Test 1: Is there always another explanation or another point of view?2.OG Practice Test 2: Is deception ever justified?3.OG Practice Test 3: What motivates people to change?4.OG Practice Test 4: Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?5.OG Practice Test 5: Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power?6.OG Practice Test 6: Can success be disastrous?7.OG Practice Test 7: Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?8.OG Practice Test 8: Is the world changing for the better?9.OG Practice Test 9: Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversityto help us discover who we are?10.OG Practice Test 10: Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when weourselves lack the courage to say it?11.OC 1: Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is?12.OC 2: Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences?13.OC 3: Do people learn who they are only when they are forced into action?14.OC 4: Are people’s lives the result of the choices they make?15.OC 5: Do closed doors make us creative?16.OC 6: Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed?17.CB-1: Is style more important than substance?18.CB-2: Can what we value be determined only by what we sacrifice?19.CB-3: Is perfection something to be admired or sought after?20.CB-4: What makes a person wise?21.(2005.3) Is the opinion of the majority — in government or in any other circumstances — apoor guide?22.(2005.3) Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?23.(2005.3) Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remainneutral and impartial?24.(2005.3) Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of otherpeople?25.(2005.5) Do people depend on work—whether it is a job, schoolwork, or volunteer work — todetermine what their daily activities and interactions with others should be?26.(2005.5) Does progress depend on people with new ideas rather than on people whose ideasare based on the current way of doing things?27.(2005.5) Are people afraid to speak out against authority, whether the authority is anindividual, a group, or a government?28.(2005.5) Does worrying to o much about other people’s opinions prevent us from seeing thingsclearly?29.(2005.6) Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeedin the present?30.(2005.6) Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills?31.(2005.6) Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?32.(2005.6) Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other mediadetermine what is important to most people?33.(2005.10) Is success in life earned or do people succeed because they are lucky?34.(2005.10) Is society’s admiration for famous people beneficial or harmful?35.(2005.10) Do we live in a time when people do not engage in serious thinking?36.(2005.10) Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private?37.(2005.11) Should our perceptions of beauty be influenced by the perceptions of beauty ofother people?38.(2005.11) Is praising others, even if the praise is excessive or undeserved, a necessary part oflife?39.(2005.11) Is conflict helpful?40.(2005.11) Has the acquisition of money and possessions replaced more meaningful ways ofmeasuring our achievements?41.(2005.12) Are leaders necessarily people who are most capable of leadership?42.(2005.12) Is knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today?43.(2005.12) Is it necessary to limit or put restrictions on freedom of thought and expression?44.(2005.12) Do the benefits of scientific and technological developments come at the cost ofundesirable changes to people’s lives?45.(2006.1) Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?46.(2006.1) Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences forother people?47.(2006.1) Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?48.(2006.1) Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?49.(2006.4) Is it best not to change our ideas, opinions, or behaviors?50.(2006.4) Is our ability to change ourselves unlimited, or are there limits on our ability to makeimportant changes in our lives?51.(2006.4) What do you think motivates people to do their best?52.(2006.4) Should each individual decide what and how to learn?53.(2006.5) Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we canmake?54.(2006.5) Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth?55.(2006.5) Does the success of a community—whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, orany other group—depend upon people's willingness to limit their personal interests?56.(2006.5) Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?57.(2006.6) Does a strong commitment to technological progress cause a society to neglect othervalues, such as education and the protection of the environment?58.(2006.6) Are established rules too limited to guide people in real-life situations?59.(2006.6) Is it sometimes better to take risks than to follow a more reasonable course of action?60.(2006.6) Do we tend to accept the opinions of others instead of developing our ownindependent ideas?61.(2006.10) Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?62.(2006.10) Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions ofauthority?63.(2006.10) Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?64.(2006.10) Can deception—pretending that something is true when it is not—sometimes havegood results?65.(2006.11) Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people?66.(2006.11) Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach usanything useful?67.(2006.11) Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect?68.(2006.11) Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factorsbeyond their control?69.(2006.12) Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore theopinions of others?70.(2006.12) Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic?71.(2006.12)Is it important to try to understand people’s motivations before judging theiractions?72.(2006.12) Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose tobe happy?73.(2007.1) Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect theircommunities or the nation in general?74.(2007.1) Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?75.(2007.1) Is education primarily the result of influences other than school?76.(2007.1) Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?77.(2007.3) Is it more valuable for people to fit in than to be unique and different?78.(2007.3) Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving?79.(2007.3) Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way?80.(2007.5) Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?81.(2007.5) Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?82.(2007.5) Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or can we benefitfrom following the crowd?83.(2007.5) Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?84.(2007.6) Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goals other than their ownhappiness?85.(2007.6) Is there a value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes?86.(2007.6) Have modern advancements truly improved the quality of peo ple’s lives?87.(2007.6) Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune?88.(2007.10) Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people createfor themselves?89.(2007.10) Can people ever be truly original?90.(2007.10) Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good atand developing that attribute above all else?91.(2007.10) Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?92.(2007.11) Does having a large number of options to choose from make people happy?93.(2007.11) Is it always necessary to find new solutions to problems?94.(2007.11) Is the main value of the arts to teach us about the world around us?95.(2007.11) Is criticism —judging or finding fault with the ideas and actions of others —essential for personal well-being and social progress?96.(2007.12) Do people need to “unlearn”, or reject, many of their assumptions and ideas?97.(2007.12) Should people choose one of the two opposing sides of an issue, or is the truthusually found “in the middle”?98.(2007.12) Do images and impressions have too much of an effect on people?99.(2007.12) Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in thepast?100.(2008.1) Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?101.(2008.1) Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached? 102.(2008.1) Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past? 103.(2008.1) Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which they something in common?104.(2008.3) Are organizations or group most successful when their members pursue individual wishes and goals?105.(2008.3) Should people always be loyal?106.(2008.3) Do people learn more from losing than from winning?107.(2008.5) Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, even when using it would make life easier?108.(2008.5) Do people place too much emphasis on winning?109.(2008.5) Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power ov er others?110.(2008.5) Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?111.(2008.6) Does fame bring happiness, or are people who are not famous more likely to be happy?112.(2008.6) Is it better for a society when people act as individuals rather than copying the ideas and opinions of others?113.(2008.6) Are widely held views often wrong, or are such views more likely to be correct? 114.(2008.6) Are the actions of individuals more valuable than the actions of groups or teams? 115.(2008.10) Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?116.(2008.10) Are the decisions made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly and carefully?117.(2008.10) Can a group of people function effectively without someone being in charge? 118.(2008.10) Do actions, not words, r eveal a person or group’s rule attitudes and intentions? 119.(2008.11) Do all established traditions deserve to remain in existence?120.(2008.11) Do people need to compare themselves with others in order to appreciate what they have?121.(2008.11) Is it necessary for people to combine their efforts with those of others in order to be the most effective?122.(2008.11) Should society limit people’s exposure to some kinds of information or forms of expression?123.(2008.12) Is persistence more important than ability in dete rmining a person’s success? 124.(2008.12) Is acting an essential part of everyday life?125.(2008.12) Can people have too much enthusiasm?126.(2008.12) Do we only help others in order to help ourselves in some way?127.(2009.1) Does planning interfere with creativity?128.(2009.1) Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because they expect more of themselves?129.(2009.1) Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is it best for them to stick with their original decisions?130.(2009.1) Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or should people give up if they are not making progress?131.(2009.3) Does being ethical make it hard to be successful?132.(2009.3) Is it sometimes necessary to be impolite?133.(2009.3) Should we lim it our use of the term “courage” to acts in which people risk their own well-being for the sake of others or to uphold a value?134.(2009.5) Should we pay more attention to people who are older and more experienced than we are?135.(2009.5) Should people let their feelings guide them when they make important decisions? 136.(2009.5) Has today's abundance of information only made it more difficult for us to understand the world around us?137.(2009.5) Are people best defined by what they do?138.(2009.6) Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect? 139.(2009.6) Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people always strive to better themselves?140.(2009.6) Can common sense be trusted and accepted, or should it be questioned?141.(2009.6) When some people win, must others lose, or are there situations in which everyone wins?142.(2009.10) Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems?143.(2009.10) Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network or family? 144.(2009.10) Do books, newspapers, and other media focus too much on bad news?145.(2009.10) Is it better for people to know everything they can about something before taking action or should they act first and get more information later?146.(2009.11) Are the values of a society most clearly revealed in its popular culture?147.(2009.11) Do society and other people benefit when individuals pursue their own goals? 148.(2009.11) Is it better for people to stop trying when they feel certain they will not succeed? 149.(2009.11) Should new ideas be questioned?150.(2009.12) Is it easier now to form friendships than ever before?151.(2009.12) Should people give up their privacy in exchange for convenience of free services? 152.(2009.12) Is it better for people to work out their own ideas on a problem or issue before learning how others have approached it?153.(2009.12) Is it a mistake to believe something simply an authority that it is true?154.(2010.1) Do the demands of others tend to make people more productive than they would be without such pressure?155.(2010.1) Should all people’s opinions be valued equally, or should only informed opinions be taken seriously?156.(2010.1) Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be?157.(2010.1) Do people make the greatest discoveries by exploring what is unfamiliar to them or by paying close attention to what seems familiar?158.(2010.3) Should leaders of a country or group be judged by different standards?159.(2010.3) Is moderation an obstacle to achievement and success?160.(2010.3) Does society put too much emphasis on working hard?161.(2010.5) Do small decisions often have major consequences?162.(2010.5) Is talking the most effective and satisfying way of communicating with others? 163.(2010.5) Should the government be responsible for making sure that people lead healthylives?164.(2010.5) Do people succeed by emphasizing their differences from others?165.(2010.6)Do people tend to get along better with people who are very different from them or with those who are like them?166.(2010.6)Is solitude—spending time alone—necessary for people to achieve their most important goals?167.(2010.6)Should ordinary people be considered heroes, or should the term "hero" be reserved for extraordinary people?168.(2010.6)Is it wrong to use the word "courage" to describe behaviors that are ordinary or self-interested?169.(2010.10) Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative arts?170.(2010.10) Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciate the natural environment?171.(2010.10) Should originality always be more highly praised than conformity?172.(2010.10) Should people adapt to their new surroundings, or should they refuse to change? 173.(2010.11) Do people put much emphasis on doing things by and for themselves?174.(2010.11) Is imagination less valuable than facts and objectivity?175.(2010.11) Is a group of people more likely than an individual leader to bring about significant change?176.(2010.11) Would it be better if people were more accepting of mistakes?177.(2010.12) Is it possible to be a hero in the modern world?178.(2010.12) Does the way that information is communicated today result in people learning less than ever before?179.(2010.12) Do temporary or otherwise imperfect solutions to problems only create more serious problems?180.(2010.12) Is it better for people to have limited choices?181.(2011.1) Is an idealistic approach less valuable than a practical approach?182.(2011.1) Is it better for people to learn from others than to learn on their own?183.(2011.1) Do people put too much importance on getting every detail right on a project or task?184.(2011.1) Does the process of doing something matter more than the outcome?185.(2011.5) Do rules and limitations contribute to a person's happiness?186.(2011.5) If people worked less, would they be more creative and active during their free time?187.(2011.5) Does every individual have an obligation to think seriously about important matters, even when doing so may be difficult?188.(2011.5) Is real success achieved only by people who accomplish goals and solve problemson their own?189.(2011.6) Does every achievement bring with it new challenges?190.(2011.6) Does accepting the values of a group allow people to avoid taking responsibility for their own thoughts and actions?191.(2011.6) Do groups that encourage nonconformity and disagreement function better than those that discourage it?192.(2011.6) Are people fair when faced with unfairness?193. (2011.10) Do people need discipline to achieve freedom?194. (2011.10) Do people have to pay attention to mistakes in order to make progress?195. (2011.10) Are people overly influenced by unrealistic claims and misleading images?196. (2011.10) Are people better off if they do not listen to criticism?197. (2011.11) Should individuals take responsibility for issues and problems that do not affect them directly?198. (2011.11) Is it often difficult for people to determine what is the right thing to do?199. (2011.11) Are the consequences of people's actions more important than the motives behind the actions?200. (2011.11) Are optimistic, confident people more likely than others to make changes in their lives?挑战权威:1,3,7,10,21,22,26,27,28,29,34,35,38,39,42,43,53,56,59,60,62,69,76,77,82,85,89,91,93,95,96,98,10 0,102,110,112,113,115,122,132,134,135,138,140,141,149,153,155,157,158,164,170,172,174,182, 185,189,190,191,195,196,198,199追求完美:13,16,17,19,23,25,30,33,45,48,49,51,66,67,68,72,78,88,90,97,105,118,123,128,129,130,133,137,1 42,148,159,160,161,167,176,179,181,183,186,187,193个人价值观:5,14,18,20,24,31,37,40,74,84,109,111,120,125,131,147,168,177,192,197失败与成功:9,15,46,47,52,58,50,63,70,75,79,87,101,106,108,116,127,139,145,154,184,194,200科技恶果:4,6,8,12,32,44,57,73,80,81,86,92,99,107,119,136,144,150,151,162,163,171,178,180白色谎言:2,11,36,54,64,71,83,94,,124,146,156,169合作优势:41,55,61,65,103,104,114,117,121,126,143,152,165,166,173,175,188备注:当题目适用于多个题型时自动附给最常见的题型,如当遇到有挑权和合作都可写的例子时,自动归给挑权;同样遇到挑权和完美都可写的例子时也归类到挑权中。
场新s a t写作真题及汇总Have an independent personality. November 2, 20212016年5场新S A T写作真题及范文汇总2016年还剩下12月份的最后一场SAT考试了,这一年是付出也是收获,在最后一场考试来临之前,小编跟大家分享这一年里的前五场新SAT写作考试真题以及一些优秀的写作范文,希望能够给12月份要考试的同学带来参考价值,也希望以后要考SAT的同学们能收藏好好研究;一、2016年3月北美考场3月5日新SAT考试写作文章是出自WashingtonPost华盛顿邮报的一篇文章;此次新SAT 首考的作文题的阅读文章源自E.J. Dionne Jr.于2013年7月3日发表在The Washington Post华盛顿邮报文章名为 A Call for National Service,原文作者大力提倡NationalService;1.文章理解上,本次考试文章主题明确,词汇句型难度正常;2.例证方面,本次考试文章中没有明显的数据或者研究结果类的例证,但是有对于他人的引用等论据;考题原文:写作范文:It is widely acknowledged that a man inpossession of certain unalienablerights will not automatically undertake thecorresponding responsibilities. With an intense sense of social responsibility,American writer E. J. Dionne Jr. proclaims that civil obligations should beimplemented nationwide in his article “ A call for national service” inWashington post. He asserts unavoidable rights must be execrated. Strategies E.J. Dionne Jr. employs to bolster his argument include a personal anecdote, acitation of compelling polls, a quotation from the prestigious Americandocumentation, compare and contrast, paralleled structure and sincere appeal topathos.E.J. Dionne starts his article byillustrating that “ here is the sentence in the Declaration of Independence wealways remember” and “here is the sentence we often forget”, which are theparalleled structures to convey his urgency and attentive concern for the issuethat American citizens should cherish their obligations. Furthermore, hedirectly enumerates that the previous is on rights and the latter obligations.This distinct contrast is utilized to establish an emphasis on his latter pointby highlighting it as a coexisting factor relative to the former mentionedrights in American life. This literal tool serves as a strong technique to drawthe audience into the issue addressed in the wiring.By citing a quotation from “the Declarationof Independence” the author successfully establishes an authoritative image inthe readers’ heart that he is knowledgeable and thoughtfu l. E.J. Dionne’spresentation of a numerical statistics based on the accurate “237” year and agerange “18 and 28” strengthens his weight to his claim. Moreover, the authordemonstrates a personal anecdote that “last week, the Aspen Institute gathereda politi cally diverse group of Americans…to declare a commitment to give a yearof service to the country”, which provides a baseline for readers to findcredence andcredibility with the author’s argument. This anecdote instantlyconnects the author and readers closely which leads to a spiritual resonance.Dionne Jr. reasons that not only Americanscould enjoy their rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness freely butalso should assume their obligations on the solemn pledge of lives, fortunes andsacred honor. “There are no quick fixes to our sense of disconnection, butthere may be a way to restore our sense.” He first raises a precaution in thereaders’ heart then offers a sound solution to show the stringent andwell-organized thinking pattern. Subsequently, the author exemplifies anoccurrence last week, the precise time flow line, to underline the viewpointthat“ we do, indeed, owe something to our country and we owe an enormousdebt”.Dionne utilizes specific diction to enhancehis argument to convince his reader s. He employs personal pronoun such as “ we”for the aim to intrigue his personnel involvement as part of this calling whichfortifies his persuasion as well as consolidates his credibility in thepreachment. Through the careful word selection, Dionne enhances his propositionby ascribing the liability as a fundamental issue. This augments for thepersuasion of his readers by informing them that this is a significant issuethat all people should be aware of and take heed to.Following the calling, the author lists thesolutions and the challenges in the final parts of the article. He makes anefficient use of rhetorical question to challenge his readers to ponder that “who knows whether the universal exception of service would change the countryas much as Mc Chrystal hopes.” By raising this question, Dionne draws outprofound comprehension on the proposal. “It’s based on the belief that certainunalienable rights entail certain unavoidable responsibilities”-----the authorinspires his readers to feel responsible for the fate of America’s future. Thisstrategyis obviously an appeal to pathos, calling the readers to actresolutely and adding the emotionally-infused spur to the American citizens.Overall, E. J. Dionne Jr. provides a coherentand strong logical argument that all Americans should enjoy the unalienablerights that have been prescribed in “the Declaration of Independence”andshoulder the obligations cross thelines of class, race, background, politics,ideology as well. He takes full advantages of a personal anecdote, compellingpolls, an authoritative quotation, compare and contrast, paralleled structureand heart-felt appeal to emotions to thoroughly illustrate his steadfastcalling for national service.二、5月7日亚太新SAT考试5月份亚太地区的新SAT写作阅读文章选自2009年发表在VanityFair上的由Christopher Hitchens写的一片社论文章——The Lovely Stones,讲的是希腊古雕塑本身艺术价值极高,历史上被破坏和贱卖给英国,作者主张应该还给希腊;1. 难度高于OG的文章和2016年3月北美的文章,主要是因为涉及较多历史、雕塑等专业词汇,许多考生可能阅读要花较多时间阅读且理解难度大;2. 主要的论证手法与OG范文公布的基本范围一致,首段就出现引用名人名言,第三段主要用数据和历史事实,这两个出现概率和比重很大,之后主要用了类比;其中类比在OG范文中没有直接出现,备考中容易被忽略,建议后续备考延伸修辞手法;3. 作文部分时间50分钟,非常紧张,主要是阅读专业单词多,理解难度大,大部分考生都没有写完完整的两面答题纸有四面;考题原文:The Lovely StonesChristopher HitchensP1 The great classicist A. W. Lawrence once remarked of the Parthenon that it is “the one building in the world which may be assessed as absolutelyright.”P2 Not that the beauty and symmetry of the Parthenon have not been abused and perverted and mutilated. Five centuries after the birth of Christianity the Parthenon was closed and desolated. It was then “converted” into aChristian church. Turkish forces also used it for centuries as a garrison and an arsenal, with the tragic result that in 1687, when Christian Veniceattacked the Ottoman Turks, a powder magazine was detonated and huge damage inflicted on the structure. Most horrible of all, perhaps, the Acropolis was made to fly a Nazi flag during the German occupation of Athens.P3 The damage done by the ages to the building, and by past empires and occupations, cannot all be put right. But there is one desecration and dilapidation that can at least be partially undone. Early in the 19th century, Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, sent a wrecking crew to the Turkish-occupied territory of Greece, where it sawed off approximately half of the adornment of the Parthenon and carried it away. As with allthings Greek, there were three elements to this, the most lavish andbeautiful sculptural treasury in human history. Under the direction of the artistic genius Phidias, the temple had two massive pediments decorated with the figures of Pallas Athena, Poseidon, and the gods of the sun and the moon. It then had a series of 92 high-relief panels, or metopes, depicting a succession of mythical and historical battles. The most intricate element was the frieze, carved in bas-relief, which showed the gods, humans, and animals that made up the annual Pan-Athens procession: there were 192 equestrian warriors and auxiliaries featured, which happens to be the exact number ofthe city’s heroes who fell at the Battle of Marathon. Experts differ on precisely what story is being told here, but the frieze was quite clearly carved as a continuous narrative. Except that half the cast of the tale isstill in Bloomsbury, in London, having been sold well below cost by Elgin to the British government in 1816 for $2.2 million in today’s currency to payoff his many debts.P4 now, there has been a bitter argument about the legitimacy of the British Museum’s deal. I’ve written a whole book about this controversy and won’t oppress you with all the details, but would just make this one point. If the Mona Lisa had been sawed in two during the Napoleonic Wars and the separated halves had been acquired by different museums in, say, St. Petersburg and Lisbon, would there not be a general wish to see what they might look like if re-united If you think my analogy is overdrawn, consider this: the body ofthe goddess Iris is at present in London, while her head is in Athens. Thefront part of the torso of Poseidon is in London, and the rear part is in Athens. And so on. This is grotesque.P5 It is unfortunately true that the city allowed itself to become very dirty and polluted in the 20th century, and as a result the remaining sculpturesand statues on the Parthenon were nastily eroded by “acid rain.” But gradually and now impressively, the Greeks have been living up to their responsibilities. Beginning in 1992, the endangered marbles were removed from the temple, given careful cleaning with ultraviolet and infra-red lasers, and placed in a climate-controlled interior.P6 About a thousand feet southeast of the temple, the astonishing newAcropolis Museum will open on June 20. With 10 times the space of the old repository, it will be able to display all the marvels that go with the temples on top of the hill. Most important, it will be able to show, for the first time in centuries, how the Parthenon sculptures looked to the citizensof old.P7 The British may continue in their constipated fashion to cling to what they have so crudely amputated, but the other museums and galleries of Europe have seen the artistic point of re-unification and restored to Athens whatwas looted in the years when Greece was defenseless. The Acropolis Museum has hit on the happy idea of exhibiting, for as long as following that precedentis too much to hope for, its own original sculptures with the London-held pieces represented by beautifully copied casts. And it creates a naturalthirst to see the actual re-assembly completed. So, far from emptying or weakening a museum, this controversy has instead created another one, whichis destined to be among Europe’s finest galleries. And one day, surely,there will be an agreement to do the right thing by the world’s most“right” structure.写作范文:Sculptures, bestowed with native people’swisdom, practice and cultural stamp, should be preserved in appropriate placesso as to maintain their integrity.In the article “The Lovely Stones”editorialforConde Nast Digital,Christopher Hitchens argues that the sculptures of theParthenon should be returned to its origin, Greece. By the end of this piece,readers will find themselves nodding in agreement with what the Hitchens has tosay. Hitchens utilizes contrast, historical event, analogy and appeal toemotion to pleadwith the readers to take his side.In order to expose the people’smaltreatment toward the Parthenon, Hitchens starts his article off by employinga sharp contrast. Hitchens first quotes A. W. Lawrence’s remark of theParthenon, “it is the one building in the world which may be assessed asabsolutely right.” Quoting words of praise from an authoritative figureenhances Hitchens’s intention to depict the beauty and glamor of the Parthenon,lending more credibility to his argument. Later, inthe second paragraph,Hitchens points out that the beauty and glamor did not deter people’s abuse,destruction and mutilation. To demonstrate this,Hitchens illustrates theParthenon has been misused as garrison, arsenal andso on. By juxtaposing thefabulous beauty to the destruction of the Parthenon, Hitchens unfolds the harshfact that the significance of the Parthenon has been ignored. This contrastserves as a vehicle to highlight the irony and gravity of people’s maltreatmenttow ard the Parthenon, drawing the readersinto the issue addressed by thewriting.Hitchens strengthens his argument with theportrayal of historical event. In the third paragraph, Hitchens demonstratesthat some parts of the Parthenon were occupied by the British people in the19th century. To present the exquisite sculpture comprehensively, Hitchensfirst notes that three elements of the Parthenon contribute to its outstandingposition in human history —two massive pediments, a series of 92 high-reliefpanels and frieze. Furthermore, the use of detailed image and statistics leadsreaders to imagine the wonder of the Parthenon. However, such wonder has beendestroyed as parts of the sculpture have been carried away and preserved inBritish government. With the help of historical events, Hitchens successfullyenhances the credibility and legitimacy of his claim, creating a compellingappeal to ethos. In addition, the utilization of analogyfurthers Hitchens’ argument that the sculpture of the Parthenon should not bepreserved by different museums. Hitchens adopts several classic forms of artsto highlights the significanceof the integrity of art. Hitchens notes that “Ifthe Mona Lisa had been sawed in two during the Napoleonic Wars and theseparated halves had been acquiredby different museums in, say, St. Petersburgand Lisbon, would there not be a general wish to see what they might look like ifre-united”. Similarly, Hitchens compares the destroyed Parthenon to thegoddess Iris as well as the torso of Poseidon. As the assumptio ns of divided“Mona Lisa” , “goddess Iris” and “the torso of Poseidon” are grotesque, theseparate parts of the Parthenon are also ridiculous. Therefore, the analogyadds more power to Hitchens’ s claim that the integrity of the Parthenon shouldbe preserved i n Greece.Finally, Hitchens appeals to readers’emotion. Hitchens indicates that although the city did not attach muchimportance upon the protection of the Parthenon in the past, “the Greeks havebeen living up to their responsibilities”. Harboring a positiv e attitude, theAcropolis Museum tries to exhibit the integrity of the Parthenon. This practicesurely motivates readers’ longing to witness the marvel of the integralParthenon. At the end of the passage, the readers will definitely agree withHitchens’s clai m that the sculpture of the Parthenon should be returned to itsoriginal land. Thisis a strategy of appeal to pathos, forcing the readers toface an emotionally- charged inquiry that will spur some kind of response.In conclusion, contrast, historical events,analogy and appeal to emotion, all contribute to an exceptionally well-writtenargument. It is his utilization of these practices and more that make thisarticle worthy of recognition.三、2016年6月4日亚太新SAT考试本次考试作文A Carbon Tax Beats a Vacuum Ban来自美国新闻网opinion版块2014年1月23日发表的一篇文章;作者认为通过对碳排放收税是比禁止一些类型的真空吸尘器的使用更好的策略;这次写作题目的难度大大降低,远远低于5月的the lovely stone,甚至低于3月北美的真题a call for national service;文章的主题, 写作风格以及论证手法都非常像og的第二篇范文plastic bag ban;文章比较简单的主要原因是主题浅显易懂,而且文章用词比较简单;考题原文:A Carbon Tax Beats a Vacuum BanBy SitaSlavovP1 Starting in September, the European Union will ban vacuum cleaners using more than 1,600 watts of power, with the limit slated to be lowered to 900 watts by 2017. This ban won't just affect a handful of the worst offenders. According to the European Commission, the average vacuum cleaner sold today uses 1,800 watts.P2 Intended largely to reduce carbon emissions, the vacuum cleaner ban joins numerous other regulations throughout the world that severely restrict consumers' choices. Want an incandescent light bulb Too bad – they're banned. How about a gas guzzling car Sorry – they're being squeezed out by tighterfuel economy standards.P3 Rules like these rub many people the wrong way because they represent government intrusion into even the most minute of personal decisions. Do we really want the government telling us what kind of vacuum cleaner or lightbulb to buy Don't policy makers have better things to think about Backers of such regulations counter that, when people buy powerful vacuum cleaners and incandescent bulbs, they don't take into account the spillover costs they impose on others by contributing to climate change.P4 Fortunately, there's a better solution. A carbon tax – set to reflect the spillover costs of carbon emissions – would eliminate the need to micromanage the kinds of vacuum cleaners and light bulbs that people can buy. Instead, the tax would provide consumers with an incentive to act in asocially responsible manner by ensuring that those who operate such products pick up the tab for the climate harm they cause.P5 The main advantage of the carbon tax is that it leaves consumers free to decide whether to buy energy-efficient vacuum cleaners and light bulbs or whether to reduce their carbon footprint in other ways. That's a big improvement over the regulatory approach because individual consumers are ina better position than government bureaucrats to figure out the least painful way to reduce their contribution to climate change.P6 A carbon tax is also better targeted than vacuum cleaner bans and other regulations. Some critics of the EU's new rule claim that consumers will need to run their less powerful vacuum cleaners for longer periods of time to achieve their desired level of cleanliness, which might actually increase the amount of electricity they use. Similarly, improving fuel economy through tighter standards may increase the amount of driving that people do. These"rebound effects" might not be big enough to actually cause a net increase in emissions, but they still reduce the effectiveness of the regulations.P7 A carbon tax avoids these problems by directly targeting the real culprit– carbon. Under a carbon tax, there's an incentive to cut back on carbon emissions along every dimension. In other words, because tax payments are in line with actual emissions, a Prius owner who drives a lot could very wellpay more than an SUV owner who hardly ever drives.P8 Economists of all political stripes agree on these points. In a 2011 pollof leading academic economists representing a variety of demographic backgrounds and political views, 90 percent agreed with the statement: "A tax on the carbon content of fuels would be a less expensive way to reducecarbon-dioxide emissions than would a collection of policies such as'corporate average fuel economy' requirements for automobiles." There's no doubt that economic advisers offer similar advice when policy makers consider regulations like the vacuum cleaner ban. Unfortunately, these misguidedpolicies often turn out to be more politically feasible than a carbon tax.P9 That may change going forward, however. As policy makers look to trim budgets and find additional sources of revenue, a carbon tax could representa good compromise between conservatives and liberals – a way to address climate change while protecting consumer freedom and raising revenue that can be used to lower other taxes.写作范文:In an effort to fight off negative impactsof carbon emissions on the environment, the EU has decided to impose a strictban on vacuum cleanersusing more than 1,600 watts of power. Is this the rightaction to take Obviously, SitaSlavov, a US News contributor, does not side withthe decisionin her article A Carbon Tax Beats a Vacuum Ban, in which sheclaims that a carbon tax would work as a better solution than the ban. Sheemploys logical reasoning and mainly rhetorical questioning to sway the readersinto her side. Logical reasoning serves as the mostpowerful strategy utilized to present reasons against the vacuum ban and forthe tax. Stating the carbon tax as a better solution, Slavov starts her claimoff with the reason – the tax is“set to reflect the spillover costs of carbonemissions.” This reasonclearly addresses the vacuum ban backers’ claim thatthose who “buy powerful vacuum cleaners and incandescent bulbs” do not considertheir spillover costs, so the readers would begin to deem the tax as at leastone of the alternatives to the ban. What would persuade the audience to believethat the tax is abetter option is the author’s next argument: it givescustomers free choice.In a democratic country, no one would like to be told orforced by“government bureaucrats” to do their business, even a small decisionlike buying energy-efficient vacuum cleaners and light bulbs. Anotherargument,the tax targeting directly at the real culprit – carbon, would enablethe readers to realize that the ban might have a major defect: the“reboundeffects”could decrease its effectiveness. Having realized the point, theaudience would be more reluctant to support the ban. The final statementmadeby the author to bolster her claim would function as the last straw to breakthe back of the ban. In the statement, Slavov mentions that “economists of allpolitical stripes” agree with her points, citing a 2011 poll to add soundnessof her claim. Those ready to take her side would feel that they are not alone,backed up by all these professionals. By repeatedly pointing out theincredibility of the ban proponents’ reasons and the drawbacks of the ban, theauthor establishes and strengthens solidarity and authenticity of her claimthat the tax is a better choice.Logical reasoning aside, rhetorical questioningis flexibly employed to playto the readers’ emotion. The two rhetoricalquestions, “Want an incandescent light bulb” and “How about a gas guzzlingcar”, demonstrate how the government rudely intrudes people’s daily life andmakes decisions for them. This would arouse the readers’ distaste, as it isridiculous that someoneelse rather than oneself could meddle in one’s ownaffairs. Therefor e, they would definitely say no to the next question, “Do wereally want the government telling us what kind of vacuum cleaner or lightbulbto buy”. When reading the subsequent question, “Don't policy makers havebetter things to think about”, they would begi n to ponder upon whether therewould be a“better thing” than the government’s manipulation of their life viabansand regulations. This rhetorical device, clearly a strategy of appealingto emotions, makes it much easier for the audience to embrace theautho r’ssolution—a carbon tax—proposed immediately afterwards.All in all, logical reasoning and rhetoricalquestions strongly champion the author’s claim that a carbon tax performs muchbetter than a compulsory banon vacuum cleaners. Persuaded by her article, thereaders would choose the former, a less political option, the next time theyneed to address “climate change while protecting consumer freedom and raisingrevenue that can be usedto lower other taxes.”四、2016年10月亚洲考场本次写作考题选自纽约时报的文章Read, kids, read,作者 Frank Bruni,全文共15段,作者论点是 Reading must remain a valued activity.真题原文:1、As an uncle I’m inconsistent about too many things.2、Birthdays, for example. My nephew Mark had one on Sunday, and I didn’t remember — and send a text — until 10 p.m., by which point he was asleep.3、But about books, I’m steady. Relentless. I’m incessantly asking my nephews and nieces what they’re reading and why they’re not reading more.I’m reliably hurling novels at them, and also at friends’ kids. I may wellbe responsible for 10 percent of all sales of “The Fault in Our Stars,” a teenage love story to be released as a movie next month. Never have I spent money with fewer regrets, because I believe in reading — not just in its power to transport but in its power to transform.4、So I was crestfallen on Monday, when a new report by Common Sense Media came out. It showed that 30 years ago, only 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds said that they “hardly ever” or never read forpleasure. Today, 22 percent of 13-year-olds and 27 percent of 17-year-oldssay that. Fewer than 20 percent of 17-year-olds now read for pleasure“almost every day.” Back in 1984, 31 percent did. What a marked and depressing change.5、I know, I know: This sounds like a fogy’s crotchety lament. Or, worse,like self-interest. Professional writers arguing for vigorous reading are dinosaurs begging for a last breath. We’re panhandlers with a better vocabulary.6、But I’m coming at this differently, as someone persuaded that readingdoes things — to the brain, heart and spirit — that movies, television,video games and the rest of it cannot.7、There’s research on this, and it’s cited in a recent article in The Guardian by Dan Hurley, who wrote that after “three years interviewing psychologists and neur oscientists around the world,” he’d concluded that “reading and intelligence have a relationship so close as to be symbiotic.”8、In terms of smarts and success, is reading causative or merely correlated Which comes first, “The Hardy Boys” or the hardy mind That’s difficult to unravel, but several studies have suggested that people who read fiction, reveling in its analysis of character and motivation, are more adept atreading people, too: at sizing up the social whirl around them. They’re more empathetic. God knows we need that.9、Late last year, neuroscientists at Emory University reported enhancedneural activity in people who’d been given a regular course of daily reading, which seemed to jog the brain: to raise its game, if you will.10、Some experts hav e doubts about that experiment’s methodology, but I’m struck by how its findings track something that my friends and I often discuss. If we spend our last hours or minutes of the night reading ratherthan watching television, we wake the next morning with thoughts less jumbled, moods less jangled. Reading has bequeathed what meditation promises. It has smoothed and focused us.11、Maybe that’s about the quiet of reading, the pace of it. At Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City, whose students significantly outperform most peers statewide, the youngest kids all learn and play chess,in part because it hones “the ability to focus and concentrate,” said Sean O’Hanlon, who supervises the program. Doesn’t reading do the same12、Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, framed it as a potentially crucial corrective to the rapid metabolism and sensory overload of digital technology. He told me that it can demonstrate to kids that there’s payoff in “doing something taxing, in delayed gratification.” A new book of his, “Raising Kids Who Read,” will be published later this year.13、Before talking with him, I arranged a conference call with David Levithan and Amanda Maciel. Both have written fiction in the young adult genre, whose current robustness is cause to rejoice, and they rightly noted that the intensity of the connection that a person feels to a favorite novel, withwhich he or she spends eight or 10 or 20 hours, is unlike any response to a movie.14、That observation br ought to mind a moment in “The Fault in Our Stars” when one of the protagonists says that sometimes, “You read a book and itfills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”15、Books are personal, passionate. They stir emotions and spark thoughts ina manner all their own, and I’m convinced that the shattered world has less hope for repair if reading becomes an ever smaller part of it.写作范文:The vicissitude of history never fails to amaze us with all the changes ithas brought to human life. If we trace back to see what has been changedsince human civilization, seldom can we see anything that remains intact,with only one exception- the importance of reading. Despite the fact that reading has never dropped from our top priorities, few people keep the habitof it. As a reaction to such pathetic phenomenon, writer Frank Bruni draws people’s attention back to reading and encourages p eople to value it. Strategies he employs include contrast, credible reference and tacticreasoning that appeal to people’s emotion and agreement.One impressive feature of this article is Bruni’s contrast at the very beginning to introduce his topic, with the next paragraphs addressing its benefits. He compares things that he always ignores such as nephew’sbirthday and niece’s school production with things he never fails tooverlook -reading. For the majority of people, especially teenagers, birthday party and school performance are events that family members should remember. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the author. Reading at this point, readers are left a bit disappointed at the author and tend to pay moreattention to what he wants to convey n ext. At the cusp of people’s attention, author Bruni brings about something that deserves greater emphasis- reading: “I’m incessantly asking my nephews and nieces what they’re reading and why they’re not reading more.” Thus the readers start to realize howjustifiable the author is-as nothing like a birthday party or a performancein school is comparable with the importance of reading. With the utilizationof this contrast, the author successfully draws the attention from thereaders and lays a solid foundation for his later argument.Aside from this, the author’s careful choice of evidence adds credibility to the article. He cites properly a report by Common Sense Media, claiming that three is a sharp decline in the percentage of teenagers read for fun “few er than 20 percent of 17-year-olds now read for pleasure”. At the same time, however, the number of the young who hardly ever read or never read for pleasure elevates from “only 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds” 30 years ago to “22 p ercent of 13-year-olds and 27 percent of17-year-olds “ today. This worrisome report indicates that the young nolonger read as much as they used to. Linked with the previous paragraphs, the。
科学发现质疑权威1.Are all discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?(青霉素的发现,居里夫人孟德尔)2.Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions ofauthority?(达尔文,马丁路德.金,马丁路德)3.Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wro ng, or can webenefit from following the crowd?(达尔文,伽利略,布鲁诺,马丁.路德)4.Can people ever be truly original?()5.Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good atand developing that attribute above all else?(博尔顿,)6.Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use ideas of others?(牛顿万有引力定律借鉴了他人观点,爱迪生改造电影过程中借鉴了Lumiere兄弟最开始的简陋设备,使只能被一个人观看的电影得以投放到大银幕)7.Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past?(达尔文,美国三权分立制度物质主义科技)8.Does planning interfere with creativity?9.Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?自由民主10.Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?(甘地不结盟运动与绝食,博尔顿被允许由400赛跑转为100米赛跑)11.Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we canmake?犯错误困难矛盾和冲突12.Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequencesfor other people?(诺贝尔发明炸药的过程曾经误炸家人,环境污染)13.Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?(海伦凯勒,莎士比亚早期的底层生活对于其后来作品中的语言生动性及人物取材多样性的积极影响)14.Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?()15.Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something peoplecreate for themselves?(爱迪生,莎士比亚依靠个人奋斗从贫穷走向知名)16.Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?(同意:甘地的非暴力不合作运动化解了印度不同的宗教矛盾,不同意:马丁路德.金,林肯拒绝内战中的国家分裂二战核武器)17.Do closed doors make us creative?(obstacles)18.Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help usdiscover who we are?态度和环境19.Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?(欧亨利的“最后一片树叶”,海伦凯勒,弥尔顿的“失乐园”,维瓦尔第的“四季”)20.Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is it best forthem to stick with their original decisions?谎言与真实21.Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth?(欧亨利的小说“最后一片树叶”,)22.Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?()23.Can deception—pretending that something is true when it is not—sometimes havegood results?(同题目6)24.Do circumstances determine whether or not we should we should tell the truth?(最后一片叶子的小说,伽利略对于教廷的妥协对比布鲁诺被烧死的例子)Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?()Is deception ever justified?(二战文化大革命)表面和实质25.Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is?(科技)集体和个人26.Does the success of a community—whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation,or any other group—depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests?(中国乒乓球队布置战术,nba的波士顿凯尔特人队的三巨头为了总冠军而限制个人数据)27.Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect theircommunities or the nation in general?(马丁路德.金,林肯在南北战争中的决定)28.Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which theyhave something in common?()29.Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?英雄和名人leaders30.Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?(用撒尿浇灭罗马城大火的小孩,古希腊的长跑健将马拉松艳照门希尔顿饭店孙女)31.Can a group of people function effectively without some being in charge?(华盛顿在美国独立战争期间出头当家把美国从战争失败中拯救出来中国农民起义)32.Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselveslack the courage to say it?竞争和合作33.Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?(比尔盖茨和保罗艾伦,)34.Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed?钱和满足感35.Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?(同题目2,特丽莎修女)36.Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?(剩女的大量出现因为对于物质的不断索取,道德风气的败坏:挟尸要价,毒奶粉导致婴儿性早熟三鹿奶粉非诚勿扰)37.Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power?(ken lay,Columbus,bribery in china)38.Can success be disastrous?目标过程和价值过去和现在经验decisions39.Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is notachieved?40.Do people place too much emphasis on winning?(特雷萨修女,)41.Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?(爱因斯坦拒绝以色列总统的职位而专心研究科学,特雷萨修女拒绝被调回欧洲天主教总部去享受更好的生活而专心留在印度)42.Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?(林肯幼年时观察到黑奴被虐的经历影响到后来对黑人人权的捍卫,)43.Are decisions made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly and carefully?(个人做决定)44.Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because theyexpect more of themselves?45.Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or should peoplegive up if they are not making progress?46.Should we pay more attention to people who are older and more experienced thanwe are?47.Should people let their feelings guide them when they make important decisions?48.Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences?49.Are people’s liv es the result of the choices they make?科技发明50.Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, evenwhen using it would make life easier?(用步行或者地铁的方式来减少汽车的使用率,塑料袋的减少使用)51.Has today’s abundance of information only made it more diff icult for us tounderstand the world around us?52.Is there always another explanation or another point of view?53.Is the world changing for the better?行动至上54.Do actions, not words, reveal a person or a group’s true attitudes and intention?(日本表面亲美实则偷袭珍珠港,)55.Are people best defined by what they do?56.Do people learn who they are only when they are forced to action?。
SAT ESSAY QUESTION COLLECTIONNo. 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Nowadays nothing is private: our culture has become too confessional and self-expressive. People think that to hide one’s thoug hts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every inclination and impulse.Adapted from J. David Velleman, “The Genesis of Shame”Assignment: Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 2Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration — sometimes continuing for months or years — on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thoughts that is unrelated to the problem.Adapted from Santiago Santiago Ramón y Cajal, “Advice for a Young Investigator”Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 3Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.A colleague of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson was always ―lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments.‖ He concluded that ―There is more than one way of doing good science.‖ It was Watson’s form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve ―the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA.‖ It is a point worth remembering in a society overly concerned with efficiency.Adapted from John C. Polanyi, “Understanding Discovery”Assignment: Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 4Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.I do not feel terrible about my mistakes, though I grieve the pain they have sometimes caused others. Our lives are ―experiments with truth,‖ and in an experiment negative results are at least as important as successes. I have no idea how I would have learned the truth about myself and my calling without the mistakes I have made.Adapted from Parker Palmer, “Let Your Life Speak”Assignment: Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences for other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 5Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.An actor, when his cue came, was unable to move onto the stage. He said, ―I can’t get in, the chair is in the way.‖ And the producer said, ―Use the difficulty. If it’s a drama, pick the chair up and smash it. If it’s a comedy fall over it.‖ From this experience the actor concluded that in any situ ation in life that is negative, there is something positive you can do with it.Adapted from Lawrence Eisenberg, “Caine Scrutiny”Assignment: Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 6Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.We don’t really learn anything properly until there is a problem, until we make a mistake, until something fails to go as we had hoped. When everything is working well, with no problems or failure, what incentive do we have to try something new? We are only motivated to learn when we experience difficulties.Adapted from Alain de Botton, “How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel”Assignment: Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 7Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a person falsely promises to be your friend. But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the real thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to act in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may really be feeling friendlier.Adapted from a book by C. S. LewisAssignment: Can deception — pretending that something is true when it is not — sometimes have good results? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 8Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the most important and effective changes — in our attitude — hardly occur to us. In other words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.Adapted from Michael Hymers, “Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics”Assignment: Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 9Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government — rather than individuals — should always come up with the solutions to society’s ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence andself-sufficiency.Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 10Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Materialism: it’s the thing that everybody loves to hate. Few aspects of modern life have been more criticized than materialism. But let’s face it: materialism — acquiring possessions and spending money — is a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being to materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and consuming more and more stuff.Adapted from James Twitchell, “Two Cheers for Materialism”Assignment: Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 11Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Knowledge is power. In agriculture, medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used.Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 12Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.We do not take the time to determine right from wrong. Reflecting on the difference between right and wrong is hard work. It is so much easier to follow the crowd, going along with what is popular rather than risking the disapproval of others by voicing an objection of any kind.Adapted from Stephen J. Carter, “Integrity”Assignment: Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 13Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.It is often the case that revealing the complete truth may bring trouble — discomfort, embarrassment, sadness, or even harm — to oneself or to another person. In these circumstances, it is better not to express our real thoughts and feelings. Whether or not we should tell the truth, therefore, depends on the circumstances.Assignment: Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 14Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.A person does not simply ―receive‖ his or her ident ity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges. Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by.Adapted from Thomas Merton, “Contemplation in a World of Action”Assignment: Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 15Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.We value uniqueness and originality, but it seems that everywhere we turn, we are surrounded by ideas and things that are copies or even copies of copies. Writers, artists, and musicians seek new ideas for paintings, books, songs, and movies, but many sadl y realize, ―It’s been done.‖ The same is true for scientists, scholars, and businesspeople. Everyone wants to create something new, but at best we can hope only to repeat or imitate what has already been done.Assignment: Can people ever be truly original? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 16Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.All people who have achieved greatness in something knew that they excelled at. These people identified the skills that made them special – good judgment, or courage, or a special artistic or literary talent — and focused on developing these skills. Yet most people achieve superiority in nothing because the fail to identify and develop their greatest attribute.Adapted from Baltasar Gracián y Morales, “The Art of Worldly Wisdom”Assignment: Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good at and developing that attribute above all else? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 17Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Having many admirers is one way to become a celebrity, but it is not the way to become a hero. Heroes areself-made. Yet i n our daily lives we see no difference between ―celebrities‖ and ―heroes.‖ For this reason, we deprive ourselves of real role models. We should admire heroes — people who are famous because they are great — but not celebrities — people who simply seem great because they are famous.Adapted from Daniel Boorstin, “The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America”Assignment: Should we admire heroes but not celebrities? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 18Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.It is better to try to be original than to merely imitate others. People should always try to say, write, think, or create something new. There is little value in merely repeating what has been done before. People who merely copy or use the ideas and inventions of others, no matter how successful they may be, have never achieved anything significant.Assignment: Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 19Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Often we see people who persist in trying to achieve a particular goal, even when all the evidence indicates that they will be unlikely to achieve it. When they succeed, we consider them courageous for having overcomeimpossible obstacles. But when they fail, we think of them as headstrong, foolhardy, and bent on self-destruction. To many people, great effort is only worthwhile when it results in success.Adapted from Gilbert Brim, “Ambition”Assignment: Is the effort involved in pusuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 20Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Newness has become our obsession. Novelty is more interesting to us than continuing with whatever is ―tried and true.‖ We discard the old so we can acquire the most recent model, the latest version, the newest and most improved formula. Often, we replace what is useful just because it is no longer new. Not only with material goods but also with cultural values, we prefer whatever is the latest trend.Assignment: Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 21Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Since we live in a global society, surely we should view ourselves as citizens of the whole world. But instead, people choose to identify and associate with smaller and more familiar groups. People think of themselves as belonging to families, nations, cultures, and generations — or as belonging to smaller groups whose members share ideas, views, or common experiences. All of these kinds of groups may offer people a feeling of security but also prevent them from learning or experiencing anything new.Assignment: Is there any value for people to belonging only to a group or groups with which they have something in common? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 22Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Technological advances have freed society from tiresome labor, such as washing clothes by hand, hauling heavy loads, and walking long distances, and have given people increased access to information and entertainment. Yet,when given a choice, many people still resist using modern conveniences. There must be something to be gained from not using technology.Assignment: Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, even when using it would make life easier? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 23Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.From talent contests to the Olympics to the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, we constantly seek to reward those who are ―number one.‖ This emphasis on recognizing the winner creates the impression that other competitors, despite working hard and well, have lost. In many cases, however, the difference between the winner and thee losers is slight. The wrong person may even be selected as the winner. Awards and prizes merely distract us from valuable qualities possessed by others besides the winners.Assignment: Do people place too much emphasis on winning? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 24Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.There are those who believe that everything we do is inspired by the desire for power in its various forms. They maintain that our actions are nothing but expressions of a striving for power. In this view, even when we act kindly toward other people, we are motivated, whether we know it or not, by a desire to have some control over their lives, for our act of kindness puts them partially in our power.Adapted from Leszek Kolakowski, “Freedom, Fame, Lying, and Betrayal: Essays on Everyday Life”Assignment: Are peopl e’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over other? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 25Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Common sense suggests an obvious division between the past and present, between history and current events. In many cases, however, this boundary is not clear-cut because earlier events are not locked away in the past. Events from history remain alive through people’s memories and through books, films, and other media. For bothindividuals and groups, incidents from the past continue to influence the present — sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.Assignment: Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 26Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.We often hear that we can learn much about someone or something just by casual observation. We are not required to look beneath the surface or to question how something seems. In fact, we are urged to trust our impressions, often our first impressions, of how a person or a situation seems to be. Yet appearances can be misleading. What―seems‖ isn’t always what is.Assignment: Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 27Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.For a variety of reasons, people often make choices that have negative results. Later, they regret these choices, finding out too late that bad choices can be costly. On the other hand, decisions that seem completely reasonable when they are made may also be the cause of later disappointment and suffering. What looks like a wonderful idea at one time can later seem like the worst decision that could have been made. Good choices, too, can be costly.Assignment: Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 28Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.The people we call heroes do not usually start out as unusual. Often they are ordinary people subject to ordinary human weaknesses — fear, doubt, and self-interest. In fact, they live ordinary lives until they distinguish themselves by having to deal with an injustice or a difficult situation. Only then, when they must respond in thought and in action to an extraordinary challenge, do people begin to know their strengths and weaknesses.Assignment: Do people learn who they are only when they are forced into action? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 29Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Peopl e’s lives are the result of the choices they make-or fail to make. The path one takes in life is not arbitrary. Choices and their consequences determine the course of every person’s life. All people whatever their circumstances, make the choices on which their lives depend.Assignment: Are people’s lives the result of the choices they make? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 30Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Many people believe that ―closed doors make us creative.‖ These people argue that obstacles and restrictions are necessary, for witho ut them we would never be forced to come up with new solutions. But ―closed doors,‖ either in the form of specific obstacles or a lack of opportunities, often prevent people from reaching their full creative potential.Assignment: Do closed doors make us creative? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 31Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.People who like to think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic tend to take it for granted that human nature is ―selfish‖ and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive. According to thi s view, the basic law by which people must live is the law of the jungle. The ―fittest‖ are those people who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness.Adapted from S. I. Hayakawa, “Language in Thought and Action”Assignment: Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 33Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Some people believe that there is only one foolproof plan, perfect solution, or correct interpretation. But nothing is ever that simple. For better or worse, for every so-called finial answer there is another way of seeing things. There is always a ―however.‖Assignment: Is there always another explanation or another point of view? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No. 34Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.To change is to risk something, making us feel insecure. Not to change is a bigger risk, though we seldom feel that way. There is no choice but to change. People, however, cannot bemotivated to change from the outside. All of our motivation comes from within.Adapted from Ward Sybouts, “Planning in School Administration: A Handbook”Assignment: What motivates people to change? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Technology promises to make our lives easier, freeing up time for leisure pursuits. But the rapid pace of technological innovation and the split second processing capabilities of computers that can work virtually nonstop have made all of us feel rushed. We have adopted the relentless pace of the very machines that were supposed to simplify our lives, with the result that, whether at work or play. People do not feel like their lives have changed for the better.Adapted from Karen Finucan. “Life in the Fast Lane”Assignment: Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No.36Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.A mistakenly cynical view of human behavior holds that people are primarily driven by selfish motives: the desire for wealth, for power, or for fame. Yet history gives us many examples of individuals who have sacrificed their own welfare for a cause or a principle that they regarded as more important than their own lives, Conscience–that powerful inner voice that tells us what is right and what is wrong—-can be a more compelling force than money, power, or fame.Assignment: Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.No.37Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.The old saying, ―be careful what you wish for,‖ may be an appropriate warning. The drive to ach ieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one’s perspective and encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of life’s difficulties. In fact, success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward th e achievement of one goal often find that their lives are worse once ―success‖ is achieved than they were before.Assignment: Can success be disastrous? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.。
Section four: Question Bank1. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:A sense of happiness and fulfillment, not personal gain, is the best motivation and reward for one‘s achievements. Expecting a reward of wealth or recognition for achieving a goal can lead to disappointment and frustration. If we want to be happy in what we do in life, we should not seek achievement for the sake of winning wealth and fame. The persona satisfaction of a job well done is its own reward.Assignment: Are people motivated to achieve by personal satisfaction rather than by money or fame? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Keys:Money and fame: more specific and can bring direct benefit to one‘s lifeWith money and fame, more people will get helped.2. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Some people believe that there is only one foolproof plan, perfect solution, or correct interpretation. But nothing is ever that simple. For better or worse, for every so-called final answer these is another way of seeing things. There is always a ―however.‖Assignment: Is there always another explanation or another point of view? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.3. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:To Change is to risk something, making us feel insecure. Not to change is a bigger risk, though we seldom feel that way. There is no choice but to change. People, however, cannot be motivated to change from the outside. All of our motivation comes from within.Assignment: what motivates people to change? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.4. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Technology promises to make our lives easier, freeing up time for leisure pursuits. But the rapid pace of technological innovation and the split second processing capabilities of computers that can work virtually nonstop have made all of us feel rushed. We have adopted the relentless pace of the very machines that were supposed to simplify our lives, with the result that, whether at work or play, people do not feel like their lives have changed for the better.Adapted from Karen Finucan, ―Life in the Fast Lane‖Assignment:Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.5. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:A mistakenly cynical view of human behavior holds that people are primarily driven by selfish motives: the desire for wealth, for power, or for fame. Yet history gives us many examples of individuals who have sacrificed their own welfare for a cause or a principle that they regarded as more important than their own lives. Conscience- that powerful inner voice than tells us what is right and what is wrong- can be a more compelling force than money, power, or fame. Assignment: Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame, or power? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.6. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:The old saying, ―be careful what you wish for,‖ may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one‘s perspective and encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of life‘s difficulties. In fact success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward the achieved than they were before.Assignment: Can success be disastrous?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Keys:No, I don‘t think so. It‘s not success that makes things disastrous; it is another failure that pulls the success to an abyss.We are all in pursuit of success; we don‘t always have to fail before success.7. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:A better understanding of other people contributes to the development of moral virtues. We shall be both kinder and fairer in our treatment of others if we understand them better. have things in common.Adapted from Anne Sheppard, Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art. Assignment: Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.8. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: There is, of course, no legitimate branch of science that enables us to predict the future accurately. Yet the degree of change in the world is so overwhelming and so promising that the future, I believe, is far brighter than anyone has contemplated since the end of the Second World War.Adapted from Allan E. Goodman, A brief History of the Future: The United States in a Changing World OrderAssignment: Is the world changing for the better?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.9. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:―Tough challenges reveal our strengths and weaknesses.‖This statement is certainly true; adversity helps us discover who we are. Hardships can often lead us to examine who we are and to question what is important in life. In fact, people who have experienced seriously adverse events frequently report that they were positively changed by their negative experiences. Assignment:Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading studies, experience, or observations.I don‘t think so.We are living to fulfill the things that we can do well. If some things are easy for us, that are the best situations, why do we fetch difficulties on purpose to torture ourselves, on the sake of ―discovery‖?We are born to discover what we can do, rather than we couldn‘t do. I don‘t need to break my arms to see if my arms are strong enough.10. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Traditionally the term‖heroism‖ has been applied to those who have braved physical danger to defend a cause or to protect others. But one of the most feared dangers people face is that of disapproval by their family, peers, or community. Sometimes acting courageously requires someone to speak out at the risk of such rejection. We should consider those who do so true heroes.Assignment: Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when we ourselves lack the courage to say it? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.11. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Existentialist Jean Panl Sartre believed in personal freedom holding that man is free to write the script‖ for his own life: he can blame no one else if his life is a ―poor performance.‖ On the other hand, William Blake and others in the Romantic Movement felt that the expectations and restraints of society severely limit a person: they believed that schooling, organized religion, and other social institutions imprison a person‘s mind and spirit.Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that there is no such thing as free choice; to some degree, we are always bound by the rules of society? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.12. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Author Betty Frieda wrote in The Feminine Mystique, ―The only way for a woman, as for a man, to know herself as a person, is by a creative work of her own.‖Others feel that self-understanding comes from without: Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer states, ―In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we may better understand ourselves.‖ Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, is more specific about the role of others in our self-awareness when he states that ―Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to anunderstanding of ourselves.‖Assignment: What must we do in order to truly understand ourselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience. or observations.13. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Many Americans hold that individuals should be free to decide what they read, watch, and listen to, unrestrained by censorship laws. In a decision on the First Amendment guarantee of the right to possess ‖obscene‖ books, U. S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said that ―Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men‘s minds. ―Yet others believe that citizens, especially minors, should be protected by law from unsuitable subject matter. According to Susan Baker of the Parent‘s Music Resource Center, ―It is simply the act of responsible society that recognizes that some material made for adults is not appropriate for children.‖Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that sometimes censorship is justified? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.14. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Educator William Morris once said to parents of high school students, ―The true test of a person‘s character lies in what he or she choose to do when no one is looking.‖Others believe that character is constantly being formed and refined by the series of choices a person makes during his or her lifetime. Yet it is often very challenging to decide between two options which seem equally valuable.Assignment: What two options are the most difficult to choose between? plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.15. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Folk wisdom says that honesty is always the best policy. American author Jessamyn West agrees: ―I have done more harm by the falseness of trying to please than by the honesty of trying to hurt ―Yet some people believe that the truth, if it is not cushioned by tact, can hurt In fact, the Roman writer Ausonius wrote, ―Veritas odium parit,‖ or ―Truth produces hatred.‖Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that sometimes honesty is not the best policy? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.16. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: While most people believe education is essential to life, debate has raged for centuries over what should be taught and why. Educational theorist Paulo Freire has stated that ―Education either functions as an instrument… to … bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women…to participate in the transformation of their world.‖ John Adams the second president of the United States, categorized education differently when he wrote,―There are two types of education… One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live.‖ And humanitarian Helen Keller said, ―The highest aim of education is tolerance.‖Assignment:What, in your opinion, is the purpose of education? Plan and write an essay in which your develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.17. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: People sometimes refuse to acknowledge or learn from the lessons of history. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel writes, ―You‘ll try to incite people to learn from the past and rebel, but they will refuse to believe you They will not listen to you.‖But many believe that understanding me past is necessary to life in the present. Swiss Philosopher of History Jacob Burckhardt notes that historical knowledge is not ―to make us cleverer the next time, but wiser for all time.‖Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that without adequate knowledge of the past, we cannot truly understand the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Present is based on the technology, weather, economic and politics, etc.18. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Psychologist William James says that a person who is generally unwilling or unable to make conscious choices is an unhappy person: ―There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision‖.Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that making a bad decision is sometimes better than making no decision at all? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies. experience, or observations.19. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:In 1964, U. S. Senator James William Fulbright spoke on the need to view issues from many perspectives:‖We must dare to think ‗unthinkable‘thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. We must learn to welcome and not fear the voices of dissent.‖ Even Mahatma Ghandi, renowned advocate for peace, once pronounced: ―Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.‖Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that disagreement leads to progress? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.20. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Nearly twenty years ago, President Ronald Reagan said to scientists and Nobel laureates, ―You on the cutting edge of technology have already made yesterday‘s impossibilities the commonplace realities of today.‖In the same year, author C. P. Snow expressed a more ambivalent view: ―Technology…brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.‖(NY Times).Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that the benefits of new technology always outweigh the costs? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on thisissue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Yes. Potent value21. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:―No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.----- Thomas Carlyle, ―The Hero as Divinity.‖ (1841)―In historic events, the so-called great men are labels giving names to events, and like labels they have but the smallest connection with the event itself.‖----- Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, Book 9, Chapter 1 Assignment: What is your view of the claim that history is made not only by great leaders, but also by the daily contributions of average people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.22. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Psychologist Carl Jung said, ―The more critical reason dominates, the more impoverished life becomes…[When reason is overvalued,] the individual is pauperized.‖Reliance more on facts and rationality than on imagination and theory detracts from the quality of a person‘s intellectual life, he felt.Assignment: What is your view of the claim that knowing facts isn’t as important as understanding ideas and concepts? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.23. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: America‘s founders thought deeply and debated long about whether to accept, question, or reject Great Britain‘s authority over the colonies. In the Declaration of Independence they wrote ―when wrote, ― when a long train of abuses… evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government.‖Assignment:What is your view of the claim that questioning authority makes a society stronger, not weaker? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.24. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:On the subject of wisdom, Lao Tzu wrote, ―He who has extensive knowledge is not a wise man.‖Socrates, a philosopher (a Greek word which literally means lover of wisdom), said‖The only thing I know is that I know nothing.‖ However, Socrates alsoAssignment: what is your opinion of the claim that knowledge does not automatically lead to wisdom? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.25. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Rules keep a society functioning smoothly. Yet familiar adage states,‖Rules were made to be broken.‖Some, like the late Martin Luther King, Jr., have applied this adage to laws:‖An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust…is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law‖ (Why We can‘t Wait).Assignment:What is your opinion of the claim that breaking the rules is sometimes necessary? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.26. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Akira Kurosawa‘s film masterpiece Rashomon portrays several people who have witnessed a death. As each observer recounts the event as he or she witnessed it, we come to realize that each person‘s story varies greatly from every other account. Watching the movie, we reflect that truth of an experience-and perhaps all truth-is different for each person.Assignment: what is your opinion of the claim that truth is not objective, but rather is determined by each individual? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.27. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:An old adage states,‖ A stitch in time saves nine, ―indicating that fixing something when it‘s just a little ripped or broken will save a major repair job later. Likewise, another bit of folk wisdom warns that ―An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure‖—it‘s easier to prevent something than it is to stop it, once it has begun to happen.Assignment: What is your opinion of the claim that the best solution to a problem is to prevent it in the first place? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.28. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Intellectuals in America and abroad have debated over the concept of success in American culture. Success can be defined quite differently by different people, but few people argue that being successful is not considered valuable. However, some people also advocate the view that something considered unsuccessful can also have some value.Assignment: What is your view of the claim that something unsuccessful can still have some value? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.29. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:To the Romantics, the ultimate experience was the experience of emotion. Excessive analysis or thinking had no place in the Romantic scheme. To a true Romantic, it was the depth of the emotion that mattered, not the type. They did not seek out only the positive human emotions; the negative ones were just as worthwhile. Thus, to a Romantic, it would be far better to experiencelove, even if that love was eventually lost, then to not experience feeling at all.Assignment: what is your view of the claim that it would be far better to experience love, even if that love was eventually lost, then to not experience feeling at all? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.30. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: One revolutionary outcome of the capitalistic system is the overwhelming importance placed on the concept of ―ownership.‖In fact, many non-capitalistic systems have no equivalent concept, with the members of the society sharing essential material goods and having no need to claim ownership over any piece of land or space. The emphasis on ownership has led to a hyper-developed sense of private property, which can manifest itself in extremely selfish behavior, such as the hoarding of goods that apparently runs counter to biological needs for cooperation among humans.Assignment: Does the emphasis on ownership apparently run counter to biological needs for cooperation among humans? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.31. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Persistence pays off or so they say, Of course history is full of examples of individuals who never gave up and eventually succeeded in reaching their goals. But that is only half the story Po every person who didn‘t give up and achieved a goal, there are countless others who never reached that pinnacle. But we don‘t like to talk about them. So while persistence is a worthy quality. It is somewhat foolish to preach that persistence alone is sufficient to success.Assignment: What is your view of the claim that while persistence is a worthy quality, it is somewhat foolish to preach that persistence alone is sufficient to success? Plan and write and essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.32. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: What is the price of liberty? This question is often asked in civics and political science classes across the country. Is liberty a natural human right, or must it be earned, won, or purchased? An examination of history leads one to conclude that liberty is not a natural right – slavery, tyranny, and oppression are as old as humanity. So at what cost does liberty come? For many of history‘s great liberators, the answer to this question is clear. The cost of liberty should be no less than the ultimate cost-one‘s life.Assignment:What is your view of the claim that the cost of liberty should be no less than one’s life? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.34. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:The more we study history, the more likely we are to acquire what is known as‖a historicalperspective‖- the ability to view all of our current accomplishments, failures, and situations in the context of what has come before. The most common metaphor for this perspective is that of a wheel. Certain patterns and trends in human behavior come up again and again, so much so that it is evident that history does indeed repeat itself.Assignment:what is your view of the claim that history does indeed repeat itself? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.35. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:The hedonists were a group of philosophers who held that the point of existence was to seek out pleasure. They believed that a good life could be achieved by the pursuit of the good things in life. If one allows that pleasure can be sought out, then one must also consider that pain and grief can be sought out as well. Perhaps people who are constantly enduring struggle in their lives do so because they seek it out. It could be that the greatest pain we encounter is caused by none other than ourselves.Assignment:What is your view of the claim that the greatest pain we encounter is cause by none other than ourselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience or observations.36. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: Prudence shall be our guiding principle. When faced with a conflict, or a divergent path in the course of life, we shall always make caution our ally. Recklessness and rash action lead not to fruitfulness, but only to regret at the haste of our decisions.Oftentimes, people ask me how I have been so successful in business. ―Everything you touch turns to gold, ―they say. ―What‘s your secret?‖ they wonder. When I reflect on my decisions, I realize that the key to my success is nothing more than simple opportunism. When I saw an opening, I jumped at it. While everyone else was standing still, agonizing over the correct course of action, I went in feet first, with no hesitation. That is the key to my success.Assignment: consider the two contrasting statements above. Which best reflects your view on life? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.37. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: People who like to think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic tend to take it for granted that human nature is selfish‖and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive According to this view. The basic law by which people must live is the law of the jungle. The ―fittecl‖. are those people who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior conning and superior ruthlessness.Adapted from S. I. Hayakawa Language in Thought and ActionAssignment: Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.。
留学啦网站:h t t p://w w w.l i u x u e.l a/留学啦论坛:h t t p://b b s.l i u x u e.l a/S A T作文题库86题SAT ESSAY QUESTION COLLECTION1. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority—in government or in any other circumstances—a poor guide? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.2. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.3. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.4. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)Assignment: Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.5. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)引文: If you think that what you do is your own business, you are wrong. In this world your conduct affects not only you but the conduct of other people as well. If you behave in a way that is considered unacceptable and other people copy your behavior, you are responsible for the consequences.Adapted from Margaret Banning, “Letter to Susan”引文: Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many news reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,” Nieman Reports引文: Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.引文: We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?Adapted from James A. Reed, “Majority Rule”Assignment: Do people depend on work—whether it is a job, schoolwork, or volunteer work—to determine what their daily activities and interactions with others should be? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.6. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)Assignment: Does progress depend on people with new ideas rather than on people whose ideas are based on the current way of doing things? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.7. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)Assignment: Are people afraid to speak out against authority, whether the authority is an individual, a group, or a government? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.8. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)Assignment: Does worrying too much about other people’s opinions prevent us from seeing things clearly? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.9. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)引文: We are afraid that our cause is unjust, or that it is unclear, or that it is too insignificant to justify the horrors of a confrontation with Authority. We will endure almost any inconvenience before undertaking head-on, I’m-here-to-tell-you complaint.Adapted from William F. Buckley, Jr., “Why Don’t We Complain?”引文: There is no progress unless someone comes up with a new way of looking at things, of trying things that have never been done or thought of before. We cannot move forward by looking backward to old customs and past experience. There can be no advancement or improvement unless there are people who look forward in pursuit of the new and untried.引文: It’s easy to see why—aside from the income it provides—having a job is so desirable in our culture. Work works for us. It structures our time and imposes a rhythm on our lives. It gets us organized into various kinds of communities and social groups. And perhaps most important, work tells us what to do every day.Adapted from Joanne B. Ciulla, The Working Life引文: Alone we can afford to be wholly whatever we are and to feel whatever we feel absolutely. With others we are busy wondering what does my companion see or think of this, and what do I think of it? The original impact of our feelings gets lost or reduced.Adapted from May Sarton, The Rewards of Living a Solitary LifeAssignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.10. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)Assignment: Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.11. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)Assignment: Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.12. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)Assignment: Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine what is important to most people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.13. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)引文: Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I’ve Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation引文: The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape culture and values.Adapted from Alison Bernstein, “Artists Thrive on Freedom and Freedom Thrives on the Arts”引文: Most of our schools are not facing up to their responsibilities. We must begin to ask ourselves whether educators should help students address the critical moral choices and social issues of our time. Schools have responsibilities beyond training people for jobs and getting students into college.Adapted from Svi Shapiro引文: I cannot comprehend those who emphasize or recognize only what is useful. I am concerned that learning for learning’s sake is no longer considered desirable, that everything we do and think must be directed toward the solution of a practical problem. More and more we seem to try to teach how to make a good living and not how to live a good life.Adapted from Philip D. Jordan, “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge”Assignment: Is success in life earned or do people succeed because they are lucky? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.14. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)Assignment: Is society’s admiration for famous people beneficial or harmful? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.15. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)Assignment: Do we live in a time when people do not engage in serious thinking? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.16. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)Assignment: Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.引文: This is a time for shallowness. Seriousness is so rare these days that we tend to make all kinds of allowances for those who only seem to possess it. In this way, shallow ideas are not recognized for what they are, and they are increasingly mistaken for deep thoughts.Adapted from Margaret Talbot, “The Perfectionist”引文: Nowadays nothing is private: our culture has become too confessional and self-expressive. People think that to hide one’s thoughts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every inclination and impulse.Adapted from J. David Velleman, “the Genesis of Shame”引文: 1. Celebrities have the power to attract “communities”of like-minded followers; they provide an identity that people can connect to and call their own. Celebrities are trusted; they stand for certain ideas and values to which followers can express allegiance.Adapted from William Greider, Who Will Tell the People?2. Admiration for celebrities is often accompanied by contempt for “average” people. As we focus on the famous, other people become less important to us. The world becomes populated with a few “some bodies” and an excess of “near-nobodies.”Adapted from Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, Wizards of Media Oz引文: 1. Success in life is largely a matter of luck. It has little correlation with merit. And in all fields of life there have always been people of great merit who did not succeed.Karl Popper, Popper Selections2. As Colin Powell said, “there are no secrets to success. Don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”Adapted from Barry Farber, “Selling Points”17. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)Assignment: Should our perceptions of beauty be influenced by the perceptions of beauty of other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.18. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)Assignment: Is praising others, even if the praise is excessive or undeserved, a necessary part of life? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.19. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)Assignment: Is conflict helpful? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.20. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)Assignment: Has the acquisition of money and possessions replaced more meaningful ways of measuring our achievements? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.引文: What explains our increasing obsession with money and the things it can buy? It seems as though the acquisition of money is gradually replacing real measures of success, such as integrity, honesty, skill, and hard work.Adapted from Alan Durning, “Limiting Consumption: Toward a Sustainable Culture”引文: Conflict is not necessarily bad, and it does not necessarily indicate a failed interaction. It is a signal, a message that says, "Things aren’t working around here. We’ve got to do something different." Thus, conflict can be a catalyst-a motivating force-encouraging people to interact and communicate in ways that are more satisfying. Conflict can actually benefit people by pushing them to make necessary changes.Adapted from Beverly Potter, From Conflict to Cooperation引文: There are situations where flattery is mandatory: The bride is always beautiful. If we look at someone’s artwork, we are obliged to say something complimentary to the artist. If we visit someone with a new baby, we are required to say the infant is cute. In such situations, to say nothing is interpreted as rudeness. We compliment each other because we understand that flattery makes life run smoothly.Adapted from Richard Stengel, You’re Too Kind: A brief History of Flattery引文: Beauty is not a quality in people or in objects themselves. It exists in the mind that perceives those objects, and each mind perceives beauty differently. To seek real beauty, in some absolute sense, is pointless. Where one person sees beauty, another may even see the opposite. For this reason, we all ought to accept our own perceptions of who or what is beautiful, and not be influenced by the perceptions of others.Adapted from David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste”21. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)Assignment: Are leaders necessarily people who are most capable of leadership? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.22. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)Assignment: Is knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.23. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)Assignment: Is it necessary to limit or put restrictions on freedom of thought and expression? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.24. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)Assignment: Do the benefits of scientific and technological developments come at the cost of undesirable changes to people’s lives? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.引文: Progress is likely to slow down once science and technology have met our basic human needs. New developments in science and technology will not continue to produce more societal benefits. In fact, the promise that science and technology will continue to benefit us is increasingly doubtful when so many individuals find their lives changing in ways they cannot control and in directions they do not desire.Adapted from Daniel Sarewitz, “Social Change and Science Policy”引文: The free expression of thoughts and opinions is one of humanity’s most precious rights. Every citizen must be able to speak, write, and publish freely, provided that he or she is held accountable for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law.Adapted from Thomas Paine, Rights of Man引文: How valuable is history for our generation? On the surface this question is not as easy as it once might have been, for there is a widespread belief that history may no longer be relevant to modern life. We live, after all, in an age that appears very different from the world that came before us.Adapted from Stephen Vaughn, “History: Is It Relevant?”引文: We like to think that if someone has "the right stuff," he or she will naturally rise to the top. But it isn’t true. In that same way that acting talent doesn’t guarantee stardom, the capacity for leadership doesn’t guarantee that one will run a corporation or a government. In fact, at least in our time, genuine achievement is not highly valued, and those who are skilled at achieving greatness are not necessarily those who are ready to lead.Adapted from Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader25. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)Assignment: Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.26. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)Assignment: Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences for other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.27. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)Assignment: Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.28. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)引文: An actor, when his cue came, was unable to move onto the stage. He said, “I can’t get in, the chair is in the way.”And the producer said, “use the difficulty. If it’s a drama, pick the chair up and smash it. If it’s a comedy fall over it.”From this experience the actor concluded that in any situation in life that is negative, there is something positive you can do with it.Adapted from Lawrence Eisenberg, “Caine Scrutiny”引文: I do not feel terrible about my mistakes, though I grieve the pain they have sometimes caused others. Our lives are “experiments with truth,”and in an experiment negative results are lat least as important as successes. I have no idea how I would have learned the truth about myself and my calling without the mistakes I have made.Adapted from Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak引文: A colleague of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson was always “lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments.”He concluded that “there is more than one way of doing good science.”It was Watson’s form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve “the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA.” It is a point worth remembering in a society overly concerned with efficiency.Adapted from John C. Polanyi, “Understanding Discovery”Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.29. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)Assignment: Is it best not to change our ideas, opinions, or behaviors? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.30. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)Assignment: Is our ability to change ourselves unlimited, or are there limits on our ability to make important changes in our lives? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.31. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)Assignment: What do you think motivates people to do their best? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.32. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)引文: It is widely believed that people do their best work when they are promised rewards for their achievements. Our schools and workplaces operate on the assumption that good work occurs when people are competing for grades, money, or recognition from others. In truth, the prospect of rewards provided by others can inhibit and limit people’s drive and creativity. People do their best work when motivated fromwithin by their enjoyment of a particular challenge and their satisfaction in doing something well.引文: A teenager challenges everything and, by forming habits of intellectual and emotional independence, makes himself or herself into an adult. In a similar way, all people can learn the behaviors that they need to become the people they want to be. We can all change ourselves—our behaviors, our goals, our relationships— because our potential for change is unlimited.Adapted from Richard Stiller, Habits引文: Inconsistency is commonly thought to be an undesirable personality trait, and inconsistent people are viewed as indecisive and weak willed. On the other hand, firm commitment to an idea or plan of action is associated with personal and intellectual strength, stability, and honesty. Thus, once we have made a choice or taken a stand, it is best not to change.Adapted from Robert B. Cialdini, Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things引文: Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration–sometimes continuing for months or years–on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem.Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advice for a Young InvestigatorAssignment: Should each individual decide what and how to learn? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.33. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)Assignment: Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.34. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)Assignment: Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.35. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)Assignment: Does the success of a community—whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group—depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.引文: Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning—that is, to decide what they want to learn, when, and where. If we take from someone his or her right to decide what to be curious about, we destroy that person’s freedom of thought. We say, in effect, "you must think about what interests and concerns us, not you."Adapted from John Holt, “The Right to Control One’s Learning”引文: It is not that people dislike being part of a community; it is just that they care about their individual freedoms more. People value neighborliness and social interaction—until being part of a group requires them to limit their freedom for the larger good of the group. But a community or group cannot function effectively unless people are willing to set aside their personal interests.Adapted from Warren Johnson, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be引文: Certainly anyone who insists on condemning all lies should think about what would happen if we could reliably tell when our family, friends, colleagues, and government leaders were deceiving us. It is tempting to think that the world would become a better place without the hand, perhaps there is such a thing as too much honesty.Adapted from Allison Kornet, “The Truth About Lying”引文: Some people claim that each individual is solely responsible for what happens to him or her. But the claim that we ought to take absolute responsibility for the kinds of people we are and the kinds of lives we lead suggests that we have complete control over our lives. We do not. The circumstances of our lives can make it more or less impossible to make certain kinds of choices.Adapted form Gordon D. Marino, “I think You Should Be Responsible; Me, I’m not so Sure”36. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)Assignment: Does the truth change depending on how people look at things? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.37. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)Assignment: Does a strong commitment to technological progress cause a society to neglect other values, such as education and the protection of the environment? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.38. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)。
阅读以下文章,思考鲍比·布劳恩是如何:1. evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.利用论据,例如事实或案例,来支持观点。
2. reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.利用论证来阐述观点,并连接论点和论据。
3. stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.利用文体或有说服力的元素,如用词、情感感召力,来增加观点力度。
Passage阅读材料Adapted from Bobby Braun, “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s Future.” ©2014 by Capitol Hill PublishingCorporation.Originally published in the Hill, October 27, 2011.Paragraph 1Aerospace remains a strong component of our national fabric and is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. However, this technological leadership position is not a given. To remain the leader in aerospace technology, we must continue to perform research and invest in the people who will create the breakthroughs of tomorrow, preserving a critical component of our nation’s economic competitiveness for future generations.Paragraph 2For NASA,1 past cutting edge technology investments led to design and flight of the Apollo missions, the space shuttle, the International Space Station and a myriad of robotic explorers that allowed us to reach destinations across our solar system and peer across the universe. NASA remains one of the nation’s premiere research and development agencies, pursuing breakthrough technologies that will expand the frontiers of aeronautics and space. Paragraph 3Unfortunately, the pioneering spirit embodied by this storied agency is endangered as a result of chronic underinvestment in basic and applied research. In a recent report on the state of NASA’s technology plans, the National Research Council offered a stark assessment: “Success in executing future NASA space missions will depend on advanced technology developments that should already be underway. However, it has been years since NASA has had a vigorous, broad based program in advanced space technology. NASA’s technology base is largely depleted. Currently, available technology is insufficient to accomplish many intended space missions. Future U.S. leadership in space requires a foundation of sustained technology advances.”Paragraph 4America is beginning an exciting new chapter in human space exploration. This chapter centers on full use of the International Space Station, maturation of multiple American vehicles for delivering astronauts and cargo to low Earth orbit, development of a crew vehicle and an evolvable heavy lift rocket—two critical building blocks for our natio n’s deep space exploration future—andadvancement of a suite of new in space technologies that will allow us to send explorers safely into deep space for the first time.Paragraph 5By investing in the high payoff, transformative technology that the aerospace industry cannot tackle today, NASA will mature the systems required for its future missions while proving the capabilities and lowering the cost of other government agency and commercial space activities. Developing these solutions will create high tech jobs.Paragraph 6NASA’s technology investments continue to make a difference in the world around us. Knowledge provided by weather and navigational spacecraft, efficiency improvements in both ground and air transportation, super computers, solar and wind generated energy, the cameras found in many of today’s cellphones, improved biomedical applications including advanced medical imaging and more nutritious infant formula, and the protective gear that keeps our military, firefighters and police safe, have all benefitted from our nation’s investments in aerospace technology.Paragraph 7For many of the tens of thousands of engineering and science students in our nation’s universities today, the space program provides the opportunity to invent technologies today that will form the foundation for humanity’s next great leap across the solar system. For this new generation of engineers and scientists, and for those working across NASA at this moment, the future starts today. Modest, sustained federal investment in space technology, at a funding level approaching 5 percent of NASA’s budget (well below the R & D 2 budget of many corporations), is the key ingredient to their success. A NASA that is reaching for grand challenges and operating at the cutting edge is critical not only for our country’s future in space but also for America’s technological leadership position in the world.Paragraph 8Nearly 50 years ago, a young president gave NASA a grand challenge—one chosen not for its simplicity, but for its audacity, not for its ultimate goal or destination, but to “organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” In accomplishing that goal, NASA not only defined what we now call “rocket science,” but also made a lasting imprint on the economic, national security and geopolitical landscape of the time.Paragraph 9NASA can do the same today. This is the task for which this agency was built. This is the task this agency can complete. America expects no less.Prompt提示Write an essay in which you explain how Bobby Braun builds an argument to persuade his audience that the US government must continue to invest in NASA. In your essay, analyze how Braun uses one or more of the features listed in theprompt instructions (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.。
科技类1 Assignment: are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?2 Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?3 Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, even when using it would make life easier?4 Has today’s abundance of information only made it more difficult for us to understand the world around us?5 Do people make the greatest discoveries by exploring what is unfamiliar to them or by paying close attention to what seems familiar?成功失败类1Assignment: Do people accomplished more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?2Assignment: Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences for other people?3can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good?4Assignment: Does the success of a community-whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group-depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests?5Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?6Do people achieve greatness only byfinding out what they are especially good at and developing that attribute above all else?7Do people place too much emphasis on winning?8Can a group of people function effectively without someone being in charge?9Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because they expect more of themselves?10Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or should people give up if they are not making progress? 11Do the demands of others tend to make people more productive than they would be with such pressure?12 Do people succeed by emphasizing their difference from other people?决定1Assignment: Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make?2Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd?3Do decisions from the past continue to influence the present?4Are decisions made quickly just as good as decisions made slowing and carefully? 5Should people change their decisions when a circumstance change, or is it best for them to stick with their original decisions?6Should people let their feelings guide them when they make important decisions?7Is better for people to know everything they can about something before taking action, or should they act first and get more information later?8Do small decisions often have major consequences?真相谎言类: Would the world be a better place if everyone always told complete truth?Can deception-pretending that something is true when it is not-sometimes have good results?Do circumstances determine whether ornot we should tell the truth?变化类Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?挑战权威Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in position of authority?学习类Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?Should people always prefer new things, ideas or values to those of the past?Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative art?Can people ever be truly original?Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?工作Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?人生观Is it better to change one’s attitude than to change one’s circumstances?Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities of the nation in general?Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?Can people ever be truly original?Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people createfor themselves?Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached?Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which they have something in common?Are people’s actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?Do actions, not words, reveal a person or group’s true attitude and intentions?Does plan interfere with creativity? Should we pay more attention to people who are older and more experienced than we are?Are people best defined by what they do? Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems?Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network or family? Should all people’s opinion be valued equally, or should only informed opinions be taken seriously?Is talking the most effective and satisfying way of communicating with others?Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciate their natural environment?政府Should the government be responsible for making sure that people lead healthy lives?媒体Do books, newspapers, and other media focus too much on bad news?Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be?。
Sat写作题目大全
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1. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)
Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority—in government or in any other circumstances—a poor guide? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
2. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)
Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
3. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)
Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
4. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (200
5.3)
Assignment: Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of other people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
5. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)
引文: If you think that what you do is your own business, you are wrong. In this world your conduct affects not only you but the conduct of other people as well. If you behave in a way that is considered unacceptable and other people copy your behavior, you are responsible for the consequences.
Adapted from Margaret Banning, “Letter to Susan”
引文: Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many news reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.
Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,”Nieman Reports
引文: Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.
引文: We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?
Adapted from James A. Reed, “Majority Rule”
Assignment: Do people depend on work—whether it is a job, schoolwork, or
volunteer work—to determine what their daily activities and interactions with others should be? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.。