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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 09:11:09 |显示全部楼层

issue 12示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-25 10:07 编辑

Governments should offer a free university education to any student who has been admitted to a university but who cannot afford the tuition.

Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.

The cost of higher education has increased significantly all over the world as people become increasingly aware of the importance of university training for the personal and career development of young people. As a result, students from lower socioeconomic classes may not be able to attend universities, which raises the question of equality and justice. Some people argue that in order to ensure equal access to higher education, the government should provide free tuition to students who are offered a place to study in a university but could not afford the tuition and living expenses. In this essay, I would discuss the consequences of implementing this policy of free higher education for the university, the students and the society in general and argue that the policy is not desirable due to the negative consequences.

To begin with, if the government would foot the bills for all admitted students with limited financial means, the university may have the incentive to admit more students to get more resources from the government and the quality of university education will surely deteriorate. It is reasonable to assume that a university, just like other profit-making corporations, is interested in recruiting as many students as possible to maximize its revenue through charging tuition fees. Of course, the university can only admit certain number of students and the tuition fee is the price of the university education that helps maintain the market equilibrium between the number of students interested in studying in the university and the number of places available. If the government decides to pay the tuition fees for the poor students, more students will be able to study in the university, which would have to accommodate more students. With the limited resources available in the university, e.g. study space and faculty members, the quality of university education will be compromised and both the university and its students will suffer in the long term.

Now let’s imagine what would happen to the students if the proposed policy were implemented. An immediate effect would be that more students would be interested in benefiting from the “free lunch” even if they may be able to afford the tuition fees with the support from their families or working on part-time jobs. Students may be tempted to provide misleading or fraudulent information about their financial situation in order to get free university education. In addition, under the current policies, students with limited financial means can usually afford university education through government loans. If the government provides free college education to the students, they may lose the momentum to work hard during their studies as they do not have to worry about paying back their student loan after graduation.

To assess the proposed policy, we also need to consider its effects on the overall government budget. Since the taxpayers’ money is limited, if the government has to pay for university education for the poor students, less financial resources will be available for other members of the society who may deserve more attention or care from the government. Careful researches have to be done to compare the potential returns and social benefits of different programs in areas like health care, nursing homes and training for the unemployed to decide the priority of government funding. Since students can usually finance their university education through government loans, the free university education program is unlikely to be an urgent one.

In conclusion, I believe that the government should not pay tuition fees for students who cannot afford university education after considering the consequences of the proposal for the university, the students and the society in general. We should let the students decide whether they want to pursue their further education through student loan so that the university would not admit excessive number of students. Meanwhile, scarce government resources should be invested in areas that can produce more returns and social benefits.

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 09:31:54 |显示全部楼层

issue 21 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-6-30 15:28 编辑

21) Laws should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.



Constitutional law does not need to be very flexible to take account of different kinds of factors because the constitution will vest ultimate authority in one central administration and legislature, and judiciary.宪法为其他普通法律提供法律原则和权威性,因此最抽象,起到法律纲领的作用。由于宪法需要有极高的权威性,不宜根据现实变化时常调整时常调整,因此宪法具有抽象性,不用考虑各种情况的具体细节。举例:美国宪法。



State law, which is the law of each separate U.S. state, should be flexible to take account of characteristics in different places.州法律是各个州独立制定的法律,可以考虑到当地的具体文化、历史、信仰等情况,在不违背宪法的情况下制定,因此需要考虑当地的具体情况。举例:美国部分州同性恋合法化(个人感觉这个例子不太恰当,,,请问有因为某州独特的历史文化或者地理背景导致的独特法律么?)

其实很多针对某个问题推出的法案都是考虑了具体场景的
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal ... or_Higher_Education
这个可以参考一下




Case law should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places.不同判例可以考虑具体情况,较为灵活,能够随时适应新的状况。

判例法的概念需要解释一下 不是判例法应该灵活 而是判例本身成为法律 就决定了其灵活性 或者说判例法制度的目的就是为了法律更灵活


实际写的时候发现宪法这个大坑还是不要跳了

21) Laws should be flexible enough to take account of various circumstances, times, and places.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.  

Before discussing whether laws should be flexible or not, it is important to clarify what the term “laws” means.  Different people may interpret the term differently.  As far as I am concerned, laws may refer to the statutes enacted by legislatures at different levels, the rulings of the courts that also become part of the law in common law jurisdictions as well as the law enforcement activities of the governments.  While the laws enacted through legislation should not be too flexible, the judges and the law enforcement agents should interpret and enforce the laws taking into account different circumstances, times and places.   

There are two reasons why laws enacted by legislatures should not be flexible.  To begin with, the time and efforts of the Congressmen at federal and state levels are limited.  They can only hold meetings for a certain amount of time each year and there are many items in their legislative agendas.  In addition, they often represent different interest groups and it takes them a long time to reach any consensus on any issues.  If they have to take into account specific circumstances or times or places when debating a statute, they will never be able to finish their jobs on time.  The second reason has to do with the function of laws as the general guide for human behaviors.  Laws have to be understood by the general public if they are to be used to regulate people’s behaviors.  Given the limited cognitive abilities of the public, the laws have to be clear and concise.  If the laws change according to different situations, the public would find it difficult to use the laws to make decisions about their behaviors.  

On the other hand, the case laws created by the judges should take into account the details of the cases.  Consider the famous case of Riggs v. Palmer during which a grandson murdered his rich grandfather, but according to the law and the will of his grandfather, was entitled to inherit a large sum of money.  Despite the law and the will, the judge invalidated Palmer’s claim to his grandfather’s estate because, in the case, the defendant should not benefit from his murderous act.  While there was no statutory law authorizing the court to punish the defendant further by depriving his rights to the estate, the specific circumstance of the case warrants such a decision.  

Finally, the enforcement of laws, which is also an important aspect of laws, should be flexible as the law enforcement agents should always take into account the specific circumstances, times and places.  Consider the laws about speeding. Usually when a driver exceeds the speed limit, by the traffic laws, s/he will receive punishment in the form of a speeding ticket.  But one can and should get away from this law if it is under emergency situation.  Maybe the driver was sending a pregnant woman to a hospital for delivering a baby.  In cases like this, with a letter from the hospital, the driver should get his/her speeding tickets cancelled.  As illustrated in this example, the enforcement of law should be flexible by considering the specific situations that may warrant a different treatment.  

In conclusion, I would argue that whether laws should be flexible depends on which aspects of the laws we are talking about.  For the statutes enacted through legislation, flexibility is not usually affordable given the limited amount of time and effort available for the legislatures.  But the interpretation and enforcement of laws should be flexible as the judges and the law enforcement agents should make decisions on a case-by-case basis.  



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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 09:38:35 |显示全部楼层

issue 31示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-21 16:18 编辑


Society should make efforts to save endangered species only if the potential extinction of those species is the result of human activities.

Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.


Since the industrialisation of human society, a great number of animal and plant species have been threatened by the human activities such as logging, construction of dams and manufacturing.  Some efforts have been made to preserve the endangered species around the world but given the limited resources some argue that we should focus on those species that may become extinct as a result of human activities and let it go for species that will not survive due to the changes of natural environment.  In my opinion, this proposed criterion cannot be practically used to decide on what species we should focus our preservation efforts.  Therefore, we should use advanced genetic technology to build a gene bank for all endangered species and devote more resources to saving those species that carry practical or scientific value.  

It is difficult to apply the proposed criterion for selectively saving endangered species in practice.  If this criterion were adopted as part of the policy, the government agencies and the scientists would have a hard time to decide whether or not the potential extinction of certain species is due to human activities or not.  As we all know, the excessive generation of greenhouse gas such as carbon dioxide has led to global climate changes which has impact the livelihood of all living organisms on earth.  So broadly speaking extinction of any species is in one way or another related to human activities.  It may take a whole team of biologist, anthropologists, mathematicians, geologists to work out the extent to which the potential extinction of a given species results from human activities.  It would be more reasonable to use the resources directly to save the endangered species instead of engaging in some complex factor analyses.  

Moreover, another reason against the proposed policy is that new technologies have made it possible for scientists to build a gene bank to preserve all the endangered species in a rather inexpensive way.  Specifically, efforts have been made to collect the genes of the endangered species and store the genes in freezing conditions.  For endangered plant species, the seeds of the species can be dried and freezed at a temperature typical of winter and may be thawed and regrown when necessary.  For animal species, the preservation efforts involve storing sperms and eggs in zoological freezers.  With the further development of genetic technologies, it is anticipated that the costs of building gene banks will decline over time.  Therefore, there is no need to select some endangered species for preservation and give up others.  

Finally, the proposed policy fails to take into account the potential value of the different species for humanity.  Some species have great potential to produce substance with important pharmaceutical value and should be preserved with great efforts.  Other species may lead to further insights about the biology of certain plant or animal groups and help us solve important problems in biology and other scientific fields.  Such species should also be saved.  The species with great value may not meet with the criterion set out in the proposed policy and implementing the policy may lead to the extinction of the valuable species.  

In conclusion, it is unfortunate that human society has flourished in the expense of the livelihood of many other animal and plant species.  Since the impact of human activities on the environment is profound and global, it is not feasible to distinguish species near extinction due to human activities from those near natural extinction.  We may build a large and inclusive gene bank to preserve all endangered species.  Meanwhile, efforts should be focused on those species with greater practical or scientific value rather than those species whose extinction were caused by human activities.  





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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 09:41:56 |显示全部楼层

issue 32 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-4 09:27 编辑

这道题太高频了

32) College students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.



In this statement, two assumptions are made implicitly: first, the availability of jobs in any field can be reliably predicted at any point in time; second, students have to major in a specific field to get a job in that field.  I disagree with this statement because these two assumptions do not hold.  Some people may argue that following the advice in the statement can increase the chance of students getting decent jobs.  I will address this argument after discussing the two assumptions.  

The first assumption being made is that one can reliably predict the availablity of jobs in a given field.  This assumption is simply wrong because the world economy is changing in an unprecedented way and the demand for talents and skills are also different from time to time.  For example, when I was in college back in late 1990s, computer science was a field with promises of many job offers to the graduates.  Yet, by the time I graduated at the turn of the century, the burst of dot-com bubbles dramatically cut the number of computer science jobs available in the market.  Nowadays, with the advent of the Internet and the e-commerce, the demand for computer science majors has rebounded.  As my personal experiences clearly illustrates, one cannot predict the future demand for any specific types of expertise.  Therefore, choosing one’s major based on such prediction may not lead to the desired outcome.  

The second assumption is that in order to get a job in a field X, one has to concentrate his/her studies on a major Y.  The assumption is also inconsistent with the reality of the job market.  In fact, many employers do not care about what majors the job candidates study so long as they are reasonably intelligent and hard-working.  The big-four auditing firms, for example, actively recruit non-accounting majors from top universities around the world every year with the belief that their in-house training system can effectively help the fresh graduates pick up the technical knowledge while they work.  Likewise, leading investment banks do not expect their job candidates to have a degree in finance so long as they have a strong background in quantitative reasoning.  

Some people may insist that by choosing a field of study based on the job prospect can increase the chance of the students finding good jobs.  It seems that, other things being equal, students holding a degree in a relevant major should be favored by the prospective employers.  One important issue being overlooked here is that students may not be interested in the major relevant to any given profession.  As we all know, students are less likely to perform well in their studies without genuine interest in the subject matters.  If they cannot get a decent GPA out of the chosen field, their chance of getting good jobs will be reduced.  On the other hand, if they choose a major based on their interest, they will more likely to perform better academically and get better jobs after graduation.  

In conclusion, I do not believe that students should choose their majors based on the availability of jobs fours years later because it is difficult to predict the job market and many jobs do not require background in specific fields.  Instead of choosing a major based on the unpredictable job market, one should focus on his/her interest and study a major that can lead to academic success.  



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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 09:56:34 |显示全部楼层

issue 34 49/76/79/118/146示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-6-24 10:14 编辑

issue 34 49/76/79/146
先占楼

34) In any situation, progress requires discussion among people who have contrasting points of view.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

这道题可以按照不同的领域来讨论

在外交领域,这种来自不同角度和观点的讨论是必不可少,只有通过不同国家代表不同利益的讨论,才有可能使多国之间的关系得到和平发展
可以以中、日、美、越在南海的冲突为例,大国的视角、小国的视角、美国对中国威胁的担忧,中国对资源的需求等等。

在科学研究领域,尤其是社会科学领域,定性研究和定量研究的学者需要取长补短

在政策制定的过程中,民主党和共和党需要在国会里就不同的问题展开讨论。 民主党通常从平民利益出发,共和党更代表商家和中产阶级,需要通过妥协来找到最合适的政策。




49) Claim: We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from those whose views contradict our own.
Reason: Disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.


76) We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


118) We can learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


reason和claim是否成立取决于双方能否在科学、理性的框架下讨论。

在科学研究领域,和不同观点的同行讨论可以更好的检验自己的理论以及从对方那里学习新的研究视角。具体例子可以是定性研究和定量研究学者的交流。

在商业投资领域,听一下不看好某个项目的人的意见能帮助我们更全面的考虑这个项目的优缺点,避免不理性的投资。  

但是,对于迷信伪科学的人,就没什么好说的。比如相信星座的人总可以从星座描述中找到符合事实的地方,但是其实这是一个模凌两可的封闭系统。比如那些相信圣经的每句话都是真理的狭隘的基督徒,见到他们最好呵呵一下算了,跟他们讲进化论、讲宇宙学就是浪费时间。   




貌似这道题难倒不少同学,于是写了这篇范文,供大家参考。

49) Claim: We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from those whose views contradict our own.
Reason: Disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.


Whether the claim and the reason hold true or not depends on the specidic contexts of the discussion.  When it comes to issues in science and research, talking with people from different POVs can promote learning as we can more critically examine our methods and data with their input. It is also important to discuss political issues with people holding contrasting opinions as we may learn how other stakeholders think about the problems.  Nevertheless, discussing religious matters with people from different backgrounds often leads to more disagreement, confrontation and embarrassment as people seldom change their religious beliefs that are at the core of their identities.   

In the context of science and research, we can learn more from people holding different views as discussing with them forces us to examine more critically our own methods and data.  Consider a researcher in applied linguistics who concludes that learning vocabulary by memorizing word lists is an effective method based on a single case study of a Chinese student preparing for GRE tests.  He may benefit from presenting his study in a conference and   answering questions from his colleagues who may challenge the validity of the single case study approach.  By exploring the advantages and disadvantages of the method, the researcher can learn a great deal from his colleagues about different methods that can be used to study this issue.  He can also learn from people who may question the reliability of the data he collected and improve his future studies regarding data collection.  Such learning opportunities are not possible if the researcher only presents his/her study to people who agree with him/her.  

When it comes to political debate, holding a conversation with people from different backgrounds may also help us to learn how other stakeholders view the issues and reach consensus as a society.  An advocate for gay and lesbian marriage, for example, can be enlightened through a dialogue with more conservative people who believe that rights to marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples.  The advocate will learn that people who oppose gay and lesbian marriage may have been motivated by some beliefs that are deeply rooted in their lack of interaction with people with different sexual orientations.  Through such communication, people from both sides will realize that disagreement can be better understood and handled by promoting mutual respect.  Again, people from both sides would miss valuable learning opportunities if they only discuss such matters with friends sharing their views.  


As the above two examples clearly illustrate, the claim and the reason do not hold true so long as people can have a rational and peaceful discussion despite their different points of view.  Nevertheless, such discussion should be avoided on more sensitive topics where people may become more emotionally charged.  Consider a conversation between an atheist and a devout christian.  The christian may maintain that the Bible is the main source of truth and wisdom as it was written with inspiration from God. On the other hand, the atheist may ask for concrete evidence about certain claims made in the Bible about Jesus.  Such conversation may easily turn into an emotional and irrational conflict as both sides could not hold a rational and peaceful discussion on such a sensitive topic. In cases like this, little can be learned through such discussion as disagreement will likely to cause stress and rule out any possibility of learning.  

In conclusion, I believe that people can learn more from communicating with people holding different viewpoints in various contexts so long as they can remain calm and reasonable throughout the conversations.  Nevertheless, for certain sensitive topics, it is better to avoid such discussion which can often lead to stress and inhibit learning.


79) Claim: The best test of an argument is its ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.
Reason: Only by being forced to defend an idea against the doubts and contrasting views of others does one really discover the value of that idea.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.


146) The best test of an argument is the argument's ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


这里的reason未必是对的,可以分两种情况来讨论

在投资领域,不断的回应质疑和挑战,可以更多的发现这个想法的价值。比如,开发微信的团队需要说服高层这个产品比QQ好。

在科研领域,有时候不是想法的价值需要强化,关键是论证中的证据是否充分,而通过和不同意见的人讨论,可以不断检查论据是否充分。可以讲一下论文peer review的过程。

但是上述讨论的前提是持不同意见的人具有理性思考和讨论的能力,如果遇到伪科学或宗教狂热分子就呵呵了  

换了一个思路来写这道题 通过argument的结构来构建文章的框架 可能模仿有难度  

146) The best test of an argument is the argument's ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Whether or not the proposed test of an argument is the most useful depends on which aspects of the argument that the opponents challenge.  As we know, an opponent may challenge the premise, the evidence and the reasoning process of an argument.  I think an argument can be best tested through convincing the opponents who cast doubts on the evidence and the reasoning process.  Nevertheless, if the opponents do not agree with the basic premise of an argument, it would be fruitless to try to convince them.  I’ll explain my position with more concrete examples as follows.  

Let’s first consider the argument that gays and lesbians should have the right to get married.  The argument may consist of the following premise, evidence and reasoning process.  It may be first assumed that people with different sexual orientations should enjoy equal rights including rights of marriage so long as giving them such rights would not harm other people. Next, evidence about gay and lesbian couples getting married does not hurt anyone but may bring benefits to the society can then be presented. Finally, the conclusion that gay and lesbians couples should be allowed to marry can be reached by considering the evidence and the premise.  

Suppose someone challenges the evidence that homosexual marriage do not harm the society.  To try to convince such opponents, one has to provide all the evidence suggesting that few people suffer from the marriages of homosexual couples.  One can even provide evidence to suggest that homosexual weddings will boost the economy by stimulating consumption.  Such evidence will be scrutinized critically in the process of trying to persuade the opponents.  Weaker evidence will be identified and replaced by stronger evidence, thereby strengthening the argument.  In other words, the statement holds true for opponents who question the evidence of an argument.  

What if the opponents question the reasoning process of an argument?  The process of walking through the reasoning of an argument with the opponents may also help both the proponents and opponents of an argument to better understand how the evidence can be used to support the conclusion.  The opponents of homosexual marriages may, for example, ask why the couples should be allowed to marry as long as doing so does not hurt others.  The advocate may respond by pointing out that the basic assumption has been made that anyone should have the right to do anything if such behavior does not bring any harm to other members of the society.  The strength of such a test can be seen from the fact that convincing the opponents often forces the proponents to make certain implicitly made assumptions explicit.  

Nevertheless, the proposed test of arguments would be useless if the opponents question the basic assumptions made in the arguments.  Suppose the opponents of homesexual marriages do not agree that people with different sexual orientations should enjoy the same legal rights.  Or they find the idea of homosexual marriages intrinsically wrong regardless of whether the marriages may bring damage to the society.  In cases like these, it would be pointless to try to convince them about the argument as they do not even accept the premise of the argument.  

In conclusion, through examining some hypothetical scenarios about the argument for homosexual marriages, it is demonstrated that the proposed test for arguments can be very helpful when the opponents challenge the evidence and the reasoning process of the arguments but may be of limited value when the opponents simply reject the basic premises of the arguments.






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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:00:31 |显示全部楼层

issue 36 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-5 17:02 编辑

36) Governments should not fund any scientific research whose consequences are unclear.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

Government funding is a major source of financial support that scientific researchers around the world rely on for doing their research projects.  For projects that do not have clearly anticipated consequences, whether the governments should provide the funding depends on the specific nature of the research.  For those projects that may lead to commercial applications or ethical crisis, the government should not spend taxpayers’ money on them.  But for those theoretical research projects with no clear practical value, government support is essential.  

The government should refrain from supporting the projects that may lead to commercially valuable technologies or findings.  Such projects should be funded by the corporations which have better knowledge about the potential markets of the research results and can do better jobs to manage the risk.  For example, the research projects on driverless vehicles have great potential to revolutionize the automobile industry.  But the consequences of such projects in terms of financial success are far from clear.  The government should stay away from such projects because private corporations such as Google have more experiences and resources to manage such projects.  And it is not fair for the taxpayers to bear the potential loss of the projects which can be very costly.  Projects like this should be left to the private sector to invest in while guided by the invisible hand of the market.  

On the other hand, taxpayers’ money should not be spent on the research projects that may lead to ethically controversial results. Take the human cloning project for example.  With the successful cloning of sheep, the technology for cloning human beings is on the horizon.  While such technology may have huge potential for applications in different contexts such as biology and health care, the government should not support the research projecst involving cloning human beings because of the ethical controversies related to such research.  In a short essay like this, there is no space for me to discuss the ethical issues in great details.  But it is clear that the government should not provide financial support for such projects before the ethical issues are resolved.  

Nevertheless, for theoretically oriented research project whose consequences are difficult to predict, the government should provided financial support to ensure efforts and money are devoted to such projects.  Take the research projects on pure mathematics for example.  For more than a century, a great many mathematicians have been working on Riemann hypothesis regarding the patterns of prime numbers.  Until the recent development of online e-commerce and the growing demand for online security, however, the importance of such research was not fully understood.  Without the full appreciation of the consequences of the research on Riemann hypothesis in terms of practical applications, the private sector may have little incentive to support the researchers in this area.  In research areas like this, government support is essential.  

In conclusion, given the scarcity of government funding, the research projects that can attract support from the private sector or those that may be ethically problematic should not receive support from the government.  Nevertheless, the government should be generous in supporting the theoretically important research projects whose consequences cannot be predicted.  

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:04:11 |显示全部楼层

issue 37 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-25 10:04 编辑

37) Society should identify those children who have special talents and provide training for them at an early age to develop their talents.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

已经有思路


Society should identify those children who have special talents and provide training for them at an early age to develop their talents in mathematics and science as well as artistic, but not in linguistics.
In mathematics and science, society can identify those children who have special talents by competitions and should provide them with special training because the children may contribute to the fields greatly.数学和科学能够通过竞赛的方式选拔出有天分的孩子,专门培养以及训练有助于他们在自己的领域出成果,带来社会价值。举例:数学领域的Terrance Tao,科学领域的Eva Vertes和 Jessica Su
In artistic, society can also identify the gifted children by artistic competitions or programs, and should provide them with special training because the child stars have social value.艺术领域有天分的孩子可以通过比赛或者节目选出,以让童星在艺术圈发展的方式对其进行特殊培养,可以创造出更多的艺术作品,即社会价值。举例:Shirley Temple, Natalie Portman.
In linguistics, however, there is no need to train the gifted children because languages are used to communicate with others so that the gifted children can learn the languages in their daily life.语言属于社会层面,作用在于与他人交流,专门对儿童的语言进行培养难以创造社会价值。

From time to time, exceptional children with special gifts were born and the society have to think about what to do with these children who have the potential to become very useful members of the society.  I believe that resources should be devoted to identifying talented children in math and science and provide tailor-made training for them to fully realize their potential. Despite the popularity of such practices, however, identifying and training children with athletic talents for competition are ethically problematic.  

For children with special talents in mathematics, it is often quite easy to identify and special training should be provided.  Take Terrence Tao, a Fields Medal winning mathematician, for example.  Tao was recognised as a genius when he taught his 5-year-old buddies to spell and add numbers as a 2-year-old.  Given his talents in math, the regular school curriculum could not meet his educational needs.  His parents made the special arrangements for him to skip grades and started taking college-level math courses as a 11-year-old.   For gifted children like Terry, although very rare, it is important for the society to recognise them and train them in the ways they need to fully develop their talents.

Likewise, for children with talents in science, special training and opportunities for doing research are essential for their growth.  Consider the story of Eva Vertes, who became interested in research on cancer as a 10-year-old when reading a book on the topic.  As a high school student, she wrote to a professor in a local university and had the opportunities to do some researches on cancer in his lab.  The kinds of training provided in the form of working with more senior researchers in a lab turned out to be critical for the development of Vertes as a biomedical scientist.  The example clearly illustrates the importance of identification and training for children and teenagers talented in sciences.  

Nevertheless, for children talented in sports, it is ethically problematic to identify and train them at an early age.  Nowadays, in certain fields such as gymnastic and diving, children as young as 3 years olds in China were sent to training schools to practice basic skills and techniques with the hope that they may win a gold medal in Olympics Games ten years later.  Such systematic training of a large number of children for the competitive sports raises some serious ethical issues.  For one thing, the children may be forced to receive rigorous training against their wills.  In addition, among the many children receiving the training, only very few eventually won medals in national and international sports events.  For many, despite their talents and hard work, the benefits from the training are not obvious.  

In conclusion, I believe that this statement holds true for children with talents in math and science. As for children gifted in sports, identifying and training them at early stages are not always ethically acceptable or beneficial for their long-term development.



I was reading a book "Gifted Lives" talking about the experiences of gifted people.  One point the author made is that gifted children are often good at many different things.  One example was Jeremy who had to decide whether to pursue a career in music or in medicine.  I think this insight is relevant to this issue here.  We may argue that it is a bad idea to provide early training because it narrows down the children's future careers too early.  One could have become a very successful scientist if he were not trained to become a pianist, for example.  Of course, one can also argue that such specialised training can help solve the problem of too many choices that gifted children often have to face.  

The larger point I want to make is that to tackle issues in GRE writing, it is often helpful, if not necessary, to do a bit research on a given topic.  After all, the test is about how well educated one is at college level.  Presumably the more widely read you are, the more educated you look like.  

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:15:13 |显示全部楼层

issue 40/47/90 示范 先占楼

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-7 09:06 编辑

40) Claim: When planning courses, educators should take into account the interests and suggestions of their students.
Reason: Students are more motivated to learn when they are interested in what they are studying.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.


47) Educators should find out what students want included in the curriculum and then offer it to them.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.


https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1790275-1-1.html


90) Educators should take students' interests into account when planning the content of the courses they teach.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

required courses
why not
- certain materials are important
- certain materials may become more interesting after some exposure to it  
elective courses  
attract more students to different field  



Students’ interests in different topics and contents are an important issue that course planners need to consider.  Whether this factor should be taken into account to determine the content of the courses depends on whether the course is a requirement for students pursuing their majors or an elective course designed to broaden students’ horizon.  I will first explain two reasons why required courses should be designed without regard to students’ interests.  Afterwards, I would discuss why the statement holds true for elective courses.  

The first reason why required courses often include materials students are not interested in is that such materials are essential for students’ current and future academic studies.  Take the introductory Calculus course I took as a freshman for example.  In the course, the professor introduced Matlab as a programming tool for performing advanced math calculations.  Without prior background in programming, most students found the materials boring and difficult.  Following the logic of the statement, the professor should not have included Matlab programming in the course because students would not be interested in the topic.  Nevertheless, learning how to use Matlab as a tool to solve advanced math problems is an essential technique not just for this course on Calculus but for many other courses in science and engineering that students need to take in the near future.  Therefore, the topic has to be treated at a considerable length despite the lack of interests of the students.  

In addition, the interests of students on a certain topic may change dramatically after some exposure to it.  This is the second reason why course planners should not exclude certain topics simply because students are not interested at the beginning.  In the Calculus course I took, after spending some time learning how to program in Matlab, my classmates and I had gradually realized the power of Matlab in solving math problems numerically.  We were particularly impressed with the visialization of an abstract math problem made possible by some programs written in Matlab.  Towards the end of course, most of us became increasingly interested in Matlab as a useful tool for solving math and engineering problems.  As this example clearly illustrates, it often takes some time for students to develop their interests on certain topics that seemed to be boring at the beginning.  Therefore, course planners should not give up such topics too early.  

On the other hand, when designing elective courses, students’ interests should be a decisive factor.  As we know, unlike required courses for students’ major field of study, elective courses are offered with the belief that students should take different courses outside their major fields to receive a more well-rounded education. Such courses are often standalone without close links to more advanced courses on the same topics.  Therefore, the course planners can be more flexible in choosing what topics to cover in such introductory courses.  For example, in the course “Physics and Society”, an elective course I took in my sophomore year, the professor covered a wide range of topics from global warming to nuclear energy that most students fould appealing and relevant.  Due to its interesting topics, this course had become one of the most popular courses among non-physics majors when I was in college.  Indeed, this is another reason why elective courses have to present materials that are interesting— they have to attract students who have many options when choosing elective courses.  

In conclusion, student’s interests should be taken into account when determining the content of elective courses that are offerred to broaden students’ horizons.  But for required courses that prepare students for more advanced training in a given field, the course contents should be designed based on students’ needs rather than interests.  Nevertheless, students may develop their interests on certain topics after some exposure to the topics despite their initial lack of interests.  




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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:17:24 |显示全部楼层

issue 42 提纲示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:42 编辑

42) Students should always question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


TS: Whether the statement holds true depends on the nature of what is being taught.  When students are taught the facts and methods that have been generally accepted, they should not question them until they master the knowledge.  They should, however, challenge the legitimacy of the values taught in schools in order to avoid being brainwashed.   

ts1: facts presented in the classrooms should be accepted passively in order to study efficiently
- facts are usually verified by researchers scientifically
- for example- the fact that the numbers that are divisible by 3 always have the sum of their digits divisible by 3
- this fact can be proved mathematically
- the fact should be memorised and used in doing math (questioning it is pointless)

ts2: methods taught to solve problems should not be questioned either
- for example, Riemann hypothesis has not been proved
- but the hypothesis has been used to solve many problems before
- efforts should be made to understand the methods and practice using them
- no need to question them as students
- may question it later as researchers

ts3: values and ideologies taught in schools should be questioned to avoid being brainwashed  
- some US schools taught abstinence as the best method to prevent pregnancy
- such biased messages should be questioned  
- http://thinkprogress.org/health/ ... ancy-sex-education/

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:22:02 |显示全部楼层

issue 45/138 示范 先占楼

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-25 09:50 编辑

issue138 Some people believe that competition for high grades motivates students to excel in the classroom. Others believe that such competition seriously limits the quality of real learning.

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.  

competition would not motivate students in primary school students to excel because they do not understand the idea of competition and motivating them this way would create unnecessary pressure for them

competing for high grades is essential for high school students who are inspired to get into top universities

competition for high grades is detrimental to learning at college level as students should learn to collaborate with their peers and solve problems creatively  


Whether my own position aligns more closely to the advocates of competition or not depends on the educational levels of the students

Tests and examinations are important instruments for assessment widely adopted in most educational contexts.  The debate remains unresolved as to whether or not competition for good grades from the exams promotes or harms quality of learning.  In my opinion, while such competition is not helpful for children in elementary schools and students in universities, it does provide important motivation for high school students inspired to going to colleges.  

In elementary schools, students are too young to fully understand the concept of competition and too much emphasis on academic studies would stifle the development of their creativity.  The elementary schoolchildren just begin to learn the basic rules about interacting with their schoolmates and teachers in the schools and their abilities to understand more complex human relationships are rather limited.  If they are taught to compete for better grades, they may not be able to fully understand what competition means and get confused about the whole process of learning in schools.  In addition, educational researchers believe that in elementary schools, children should spend more time playing and experimenting with different ideas and objects in order to cultivate creativity rather than memorizing and practicing for exams.  Therefore, competition for good grades is not helpful for improving learning quality.   

Very different from young children in elementary schools, adult students in colleges and universities do not benefit from competition for high grades for different reasons.  At college level, students need to develop skills and techniques that are important in the real world, where people often collaborate in teams rather than work individually.  To facilitate collaboration and teamwork, students should be encouraged to help one another in their courseworks and group projects instead of competing for high grades.  The overall trend in universities nowadays is that group projects are replacing exams as assessment instruments because college professors have realized that cooperation in team rather than competition for high grades is more important for improving learning.  

While competition for grades is detrimental to students in elementary schools and colleges, it is quite useful for motivating high school students to study hard and improve their learning outcome.  With the development of knowledge economy, it has been now widely acknowledged that college education does make a difference in boosting people’s income and quality of life.  With more young people interested in going to colleges  but limited number of places and limited amount of financial aid available in the universities, students have to demonstrate their academic potential through strong performance in their high schools and standardised tests such as SAT and ACT.  Competition for grades within high schools and in national standardised tests can provide the motivation for the students to work harder on their academic studies and increase their chances to get into their dream schools for college education.  This is particularly useful for high school adolescents who have to deal with temptations such as party, sex and drug.  

In conclusion, whether competition for grades harms or promotes quality of learning depends on which groups of students we are talking about.  For elementary schoolchildren and college students, competition for grades is not very helpful; but for high school students, they need the extra push from the competition to get into the universities.   

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:32:23 |显示全部楼层

issue 13/46/70/102/112/140 示范 另142

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-17 11:31 编辑

13) Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.


13) Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

140) Some people believe that universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study. Others believe that universities should not force students to take any courses other than those that will help prepare them for jobs in their chosen fields.

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.  

在这里写一篇文章同时满足13和140的写作要求。也就是同意140里的前一种观点,然后以140的后一种观点作为挑战来回应。 对于这种有不同写作要求的issue,参考不同的的题干也可以帮助我们打开思路。  


In today’s competitive world, holding a college degree can no longer guarantee good job placement or  career success.  Some people argue that students should be required to take courses outside their major area to broaden their perspetives and better prepare for future careers.  Others believe that such requirement is not necessary as courses outside students’ field will not be helpful for future jobs.  In my opinion, taking courses outside one’s speciality can benefit one’s academic study, development of citizenship as well as future career.  

To begin with, taking courses from other field can help students to study their own majors more effectively by introducing the students different perspectives and methods from other disciplines.  Take the students majoring in English and linguistics as examples. By taking courses in computer science, English majors can learn basic programming skills and latest technologies in natural language processing which can help them to explore interesting issues in English and linguistics based on corpus.  Through courses on psychology, English students can also study how learning efficiencies were affected by different factors and better understand the issues in second language acquisition.  As the examples clearly illustrate, taking courses from related disciplines can help student to study their own majors more effectively.  

Courses in other fields can also help students become more responsible citizens capable of making informed decisions on different social issues.  Arts and humanities students can gain more insights into how technologies transformed the society and what ethical and political issues we have to deal with by taking some courses in science and engineering.  Science and technology majors can also better understand the current debates on different political issues by taking courses in history, economics and political science.  The effective operation of out democratic society depends on the collective wisdom of well-educated citizens.  The proposed requirement of courses from different fields can contribute to cultivating better citizens for the society.  

Some people may argue that no courses should be required unless such courses are beneficial for students’ future jobs.  In fact, many courses outside one’s discipline can be helpful for students’ career development.  Taking writing-intensive courses in history and philosophy, for example, can help business students to sharpen their writing skills, which are essential for effective communication in any jobs they may take.  Programming skills that math students can develop through computer science courses will also enable the math graduates to apply their math models to big data in their workplace by developing appropriate computer programs.  On the other hand, it is rather short-sighted to focus on the direct benefits for jobs that students may gain from courses.  After all, universities are not merely vocational training schools.  Students should be encouraged to pursue goals that are not career-oriented.  

In conclusion, I believe that requiring students to take courses outside their fields is beneficial for their academic studies as well as their development of citizenship. While it is also helpful for their future career development, this concern should not be the only consideration when we make decisions.

46) Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

70) Claim: Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's major field of study.
Reason: Acquiring knowledge of various academic disciplines is the best way to become truly educated.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

102) Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study.
Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.

112) Requiring university students to take a variety of courses outside their major fields of study is the best way to ensure that students become truly educated.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

140) Some people believe that universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study. Others believe that universities should not force students to take any courses other than those that will help prepare them for jobs in their chosen fields.
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.


142) Claim: Colleges and universities should specify all required courses and eliminate elective courses in order to provide clear guidance for students.
Reason: College students—like people in general—prefer to follow directions rather than make their own decisions.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.


TS: Universities and colleges should allow students to decide what elective courses to take at different stages of their college education as they need to choose their majors, their focus within the major field and their future careers.  

ts1: Taking some elective courses can help them to decide which field of study is the most suitable major for them
- many freshmen are undecided with their majors
- taking some elective courses can help them explore different fields
- if they decided not pursue that major, the courses can still count towards the general degree requirement

ts2: they also need to decide which specific areas they would like to focus on within their major field
- another important decision to make
- within computer science, they may focus on computer architecture, algorithm, operating system or programming languages (elective courses are necessary for them to pursue their interests)
- particularly important if they want to go to graduate schools later

ts3: elective courses are also important for students who decided to pursue certain careers
- some students may be interested in working in a Chinese company
- they will take a few courses to learn Chinese language and Chinese history
- if they want to pursue a law degree later, they may want to take some extra writing-intensive courses to sharpen their writing skills


(note that the three points also focus on some important decisions that students need to make, which also rejects the reason)  




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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:33:45 |显示全部楼层

issue 15 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-8 14:04 编辑

15) Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study that will prepare them for lucrative careers.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.



I strongly disagree that students should be encouraged to choose their study areas for future lucrative careers for two reasons.  First, no studies in any given fields can guarantee the so-called lucrative careers in the future; moreover, students who choose the fields with the hope of lucrative careers may not enjoy their studies and their future works.  While the educational institutions may be interested in cultivating future successful alumni, this policy may lead to dissatisfaction among the graduates.  

To begin with, there are no such majors that can ensure that the graduates will necessarily enjoy a lucrative career later in their lives.  To get a well-paid job and a successful career requires a combination of many things including a good degree with solid knowledge, a booming industry in which the graduate works, good interpersonal skills and a large amount of luck.  Maybe pursuing a major in certain fields such as computer science and finance can increase the chance of getting into a field where more people can have lucrative careers.  But the graduates also need many other things mentioned above to become successful.  In other words, the notion that certain fields of study can “prepare” students for lucrative careers is nothing but wishful thinking.  

Another reason why this policy is not desirable is that students may end up studying something they are not interested in.  Without genuine interests in the field but driven by the extrinsic motivation from the promise of future “lucrative” careers, the students may find it difficult to understand the materials or commit themselves to the studies.  Their academic performance may not meet the standards expected by the future employers and, as a result, they may not get good jobs in the fields.  Even they do manage to start their careers in the fields, they may not enjoy their work and the lack of job satisfaction would render the “lucrative" careers less meaningful for the graduates.  Their chance for long-term success will also be very small.   

Some people may argue that by encouraging the students to choose majors that lead to lucrative careers the universities may cultivate future alumni with higher income, who will then donate more money to the institutions. With stronger financial support from the alumni, the schools will have more resources to improve their education and attract better faculty members and students.  What is overloooked in the reasoning is the possibility that students who cannot find lucrative careers after studying majors they were encouraged to choose or do not enjoy their careers due to the lack of interests may not be willing to donate any money to the schools.   

In conclusion, while it is understandable that educational institutions may want to encourage students to prepare for lucrative careers by choosing certain majors, this policy is not helpful for students as there are no majors that can guarantee lucrative careers in the future and students may end up with careers they do not enjoy if they follow the advice of the institutions rather than their hearts.  

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:35:13 |显示全部楼层

issue 18 示范 先占楼

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-25 09:46 编辑

18) The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Whether the statement holds true or not depends on which groups of people in the society are challenging the authority and in what ways.  For groups of people such as secondary school students and employees in factories and companies, challenging the school teachers and the supervisors will disrupt the normal operations of schools and firms that would harm the well-beings of the society.  On the other hand, scientists should be encouraged to question the authority through which new theories can be developed and new technologies can be advanced to improve the productivity of the society.   



Adolescents studying in secondary schools should not be allowed to challenge their teachers and parents to ensure their own well-being and the stability of the society.  As we all know, adolescents are very likely to have conflicts with their parents and teachers as they struggle to become more independent and get more freedom.  They are interested in experimenting with new things such as sex and drugs without proper understanding of the consequences of such experimentation.  The supervision and constraints from teachers and parents are often necessary for their own well-beings.  Without respecting the authority of parents in regulating young people’s sexual behaviours, for example, the teenage girls may get pregnant by accident, which can lead to serious personal and social problems.  In terms of academic studies, students at this stage do not have the abilities to challenge the authority of the teachers who often present the relatively well-established facts and theories based on the textbooks.  Challenging teachers’ authority in academic matters will only harm the productivity of the teachers and students.  

Employees in manufacturing and service sectors need to follow a set of rules if the society is to prosper economically.  Modern corporations and factories rely on the cooperation of a large team of employees to create economic value efficiently.  Workers on the assembly lines, for example, have to follow the instructions of their supervisors to ensure the smooth manufacturing processes.  The supervisors’ authority has to be respected when the workers are told to correct some mistakes they make.  In addition, the effective governance of corporations rely on the swift execution of instructions made by the managers to their subordinates.  The authority of the managers has to be maintained to ensure that the organisation would perform according to the policies made by the top management.  Otherwise, the productivity and profitability of the corporations will suffer.  

Scientists, on the other hand, can benefit the research community and the society as a whole by questioning the leading experts and their theories in the fields.  One of the key features of science that distinguishes itself from pseudoscience is that the scientists and researchers are always open to the possibility that the existing theories and explanations could be wrong.  Through publishing peer-reviewed scientific papers, the researchers need to present their findings to the scientific community and be prepared to answer any challenges that may arise from their peers.  Other members of the research community may try to replicate the studies and challenge the authority of the authors if they come up with some inconsistent results.  The whole process of challenging the authority of one another ensures the rigor of science and the validity of knowledge construction, which are essential for the overall well-being of the modern society.  

In conclusion, the well-being of the society is closely related to the success of different sectors such as education, business and research.  As I clearly illustrate with the examples above, challenging the authority in the fields of secondary education and business may harm the effective operation of the schools and businesses, thereby damaging the well-being of the society.  Nevertheless, it is necessary for the members of the research community to challenge the authority to advance the development of the fields.  

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:38:37 |显示全部楼层

issue 16/50/114/115/139 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-5-30 14:27 编辑

50) Government officials should rely on their own judgment rather than unquestioningly carry out the will of the people they serve.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.


In democratic society, government officials are often held responsible for their decisions related to their office duty.  If they failed to perform their duties and satisfy their constituencies, they may lose the next election.  Therefore, some people believe that government officials should make their decisions according to the will of the people instead of making their own judgements over different issues.  In my opinion, government officials should always consult the public opinions when formulating important policies.  Nevertheless, it is not reasonable to carry people’s will unquestioningly because over important issues people are often divided and poorly informed.  Therefore, government officials should do their jobs by taking into account various factors and let the people decide if they did a satisfactory job overall in the next election.  

To begin with, I strongly believe that government officials should consult the public frequently and systematically before introducing important policies.  For one thing, the government officials should always take into account the people’s opinions when developing relevant policies in order to better meet the needs of the people.  For example, before the Hong Kong government decides to tighten the ban on smoking in public space, it has run a public consultation for over 3 months to collect people’s opinions on this issue.  A better understanding of what people think about the issue can inform the policy-making process.  In addition, hearing people’s voices on the proposed policy will further legitimize the policy and make it easy for the government to later enforce the policy.  The ban of smoking, for example, would be much easier if the society has reached a consensus about the issue.  

Nevertheless, it is unrealistic to expect the government officials to follow people’s will blindly because people are often divided over important social issues.  For example, gay and lesbian marriage has been a hot issue in the United States in recent years.  While more and more Americans have become tolerant of homosexual couples, there are still a significant group of conservatives who oppose fiercely the idea of gay and lesbian marriage.  Given the deep disputes over the issue, it is not possible for the government to “carry out people’s will” because there is no consensus in the society on this issue.  The government will always be against certain people’s will no matter what it does.  Ultimately, the government officials have to make their own judgments taking into the account the public opinions, the laws as well as the overall public interests.  

Another reason why the government officials should not make decisions solely based on people’s will is that the members of the public are often notoriously ill-informed on some important issues, especially when it comes to science and technology.  For example, despite the advance of genetic  engineering in the past decades, the public has harbored a general fear of genetically modified food.  If policies are to be made according to people’s opinions, no GM food would be allowed in the market in order to please the people who are ignorant of the science behind GM food.  But GM food is arguably one of the most important inventions in late 20th century, which has to the potential to address many problems such as environemental pollution, food crisis in the developing world and energy crisis.  Prohibiting GM food would be a grave mistake of any governments despite the public skepticism and misgivings.  

In conclusion, while the government officials should always take into account public opinions when making decisions, they should not carry out people’s will unquestioningly because the public is often divided and ill-informed over different issues. The government officials should ultimately rely on their own judgements when developing the policies and let the public to decide if they have done a good overall job in the next election.  


16) Some people believe that in order to be effective, political leaders must yield to public opinion and abandon principle for the sake of compromise. Others believe that the most essential quality of an effective leader is the ability to remain consistently committed to particular principles and objectives.
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.



86) Some people believe that government officials must carry out the will of the people they serve. Others believe that officials should base their decisions on their own judgment.
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.

114) Any leader who is quickly and easily influenced by shifts in popular opinion will accomplish little.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

115) Government officials should rely on their own judgment rather than unquestioningly carry out the will of the people whom they serve.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

139) Claim: Major policy decisions should always be left to politicians and other government experts.
Reason: Politicians and other government experts are more informed and thus have better judgment and perspective than do members of the general public.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

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寄托兑换店纪念章 US-applicant 19周年勋章

发表于 2015-5-28 10:39:45 |显示全部楼层

issue 19 示范

本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-25 09:57 编辑


19) Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

Financially supported by the public through taxation and politically legitimized by the citizens through democratic election, the governments have to devote themselves to solving various problems facing the society.  Regarding the dichotomy of immediate problems vs. future problems, I believe that local government should focus more on immediate problems whereas federal government should be concerned with more long-term issues.  Of course, the local and federal governments have to work together to address both short-term and long-term problems, many of which are closely and intricately related.  

Local governments should commit themselves to solving immediate problems such as emergency relief and maintenance of public hygiene because they have more local knowledge and resources.  It is fair to say that most immediate problems occur at local levels that require solutions of local problems.  For example, when the earthquake hit Sichuan province in China in 2008, it is the local, provincial government who was responsible for providing emergency relief for the victims.  Local governments of Sichuan have better knowledge about the people and the places which can enable them to provide services more effectively and efficiently.  Likewise, people in Sichuan also have to rely on local governments to take effective measures to disinfect the affected areas and prevent the spread of epidemics after the earthquake.  Therefore, local governments should also consider addressing immediate problems as their priorities.  

Federal governments, on the other hand, should develop long-term solutions for the nation.  The Sichuan earthquake had highlighted a number of problems such as the quality of building, architecture code for earthquake and development of emergency response mechanism. These problems are not just about this earthquake, but relate to the entire nations as more natural disasters will hit China in the future.  Local governments would not have the resources or foresights to deal with such problems.  Federal governments should take the responsibility to develop solutions that can benefit not just Sichuan province, but any other areas in China, which might be affected by natural disasters.  Once the solutions are developed, they can be applied to similar problems all over the nation.  Therefore, it is more economically feasible and effective for the federal government to focus on future problems.  

Of course, the proposed division of labor between local and federal governments is not as clear-cut as it seems.  When facing severe natural disasters like Sichuan earthquake, local governments will definitely need help from federal governments in terms of financial and human resources.  But the local governments should lead the efforts to solve immediate problems because they are more knowledgeable about the situation.  Meanwhile, federal governments also need local government’s support and participation when developing long-term solutions for future problems.  Specifically, local government may help federal government to run pilot study to test if certain solutions will be useful or not.  

In conclusion, federal governments should focus more on long-term problems whereas local governments should be concerned more with immediate problems.  Governments at both levels should nevertheless work together to address problems of different natures.






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