刚写的essay, 欢迎大家点评，亮分

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
Author Betty Friedan 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 come 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, found 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 an understanding of ourselves.”

# K% B- L0 l3 T5 h' A! h! v' h8 ]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.


For us to truly understand ourselves, lots of works need to be put in. I feel that being able to totally understand our inner self is a remarkable feat, as it has not been a simple task to do. As we rarely look into ourselves, self-understanding do not come the easy way and do require effort in reflecting to seek the true understanding of ourselves.
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: q6 [, U2 W$ e/ y$ N- P: x( vI feel that most people are unwilling to look into themselves by knocking on the doors of their inner spiritual world to seek full self-understanding. For the simple fact that it always easier to look at others than to reflect upon ourselves as our eyes are make to be outside, for us to scrutinize the outside world. There goes a saying that a cow can never see its horns, demanding ourselves to reflect and seek self-understanding is therefore not a simple feat. Thus, for us to truly understanding ourselves, we must shut ourselves to the critical outer-world and use a peaceful mind to think about our true character and how we like ourselves to be. We need a piece of lens that can be switched from outside to inside, to look into our own deeds and inner self.

For example in this critical world, notable art and academic works will surely face the critics, where any possible error can be picked upon. For those artists who easily give up to the critics and become doubtful of their style can never achieve true self-understanding. It is only those who can look into their works themselves and seek out mistakes, not being influenced by other critics, will probably have sufficient self-understanding. Self-understanding in here can also be used as a form of self motivation and for perseverance to carry on our works. Self awareness is also extremely important and can only come from true self-understanding. People who understand their habits and style will be fully aware of what they are doing and chances of making mistakes will be low. This in turn promotes self-confidence in people for them to believe in themselves. These intrapersonal values can help us through lots of difficult situations and help us spot those who are hypocritical or those who are truthful to ourselves. In the event of a ball for example, it is not how others look at ourselves but is how satisfied is ourselves for our looks. This applies to many other events in daily life, such as our artworks or academic papers.

2 b% k! U; \( N6 JIn all, I would like to say that to find the pair of lens that truly enable us to look into our inner self is not an easy achievement. People who can totally understand themselves have a huge edge over others and is already one step ahead to success.
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9 H& b) x# }; R& f[ 本帖最后由 topgoer 于 2009-1-4 18:38 编辑 ]

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
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* ^$ y& b" l# P2 \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 Marshalll 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 a responsible society that recognizes that some material made for adults is not appropriate for children.”
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4 X* g3 m8 i. ]4 s. v1 T0 qAssignment: 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.
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Suitable amounts of censorship will be useful and is justified, but excessive use will surely do more harm than good. Issues about censorship have long been debated and there is no certain measure of the extent that censorship should be implemented. Censorship is the control of information and media, where different countries have varying degrees of censorship on their media.
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3 Q" F3 l- R2 O9 `9 aI agree that censorship is important in keeping inappropriate material away from young children. Studies have shown that children who spend excessive time in front of the television box have trends of violent behavior. We must know the fact that the way young children interpret and receive media is different from older people. Too much time spent on TV will surely expose young children to unsuitable material and bring detrimental effects, with kids learning the violence from television shows and practicing it subconsciously in real life. Thus, censorship is inevitable here but the media is always for all walks of life, which can never be specifically catered to all the needs of children.

( O2 B( z5 }* z5 s' W' O6 bFrom the above example we can see that censorship can never be fully imposed on all media. Too much censorship will just allow much more dire consequences to surface. For example in Somali, the government has such ridiculous censorship imposed on its citizens that in turn caused huge problems. A few teenagers of age 15-17 had post critical comments about the government on their blogs and in a couple of days, the government’s secret army had tracked them down and put them behind bars, shutting down their blogs. All media is carefully monitored and strict censorship is implemented, whereby any violation will be tracked down and the individual will face serious consequences. Such actions of the government has caused protests internally and received condemnation from other countries.
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6 L; B1 d6 z$ n  y6 U/ mThus in all, we can see that censorship is double-edged sword and should only be used in moderate amounts. For one thing I can sure that censorship can never be the only way to avoid violent media, as efforts from the individual and their guardian are vital too.
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[ 本帖最后由 topgoer 于 2009-1-4 18:37 编辑 ]

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
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1 [$ B/ ]; E) h! REducator William Morris once said to parents of high school students, “The true test of a person’s character lies in what he or she chooses to 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.
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7 z: G9 C/ @5 Y* Z' CAssignment: What tow 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.


' p2 V, Q# h8 u, j4 q/ x+ |% VThe debate about people’s character is an interesting one and it is hard for man to set definite standard. The choice between total vigilant self-discipline and a colorful character with more flexibility is confusing. We often find ourselves stuck in between, either finding our lives too dull and boring when we discipline ourselves or could not control ourselves if we open up for more freedom. The options of discipline and freedom are difficult to choose from, where many youngsters find it extremely tough to make a choice or balance out the two.
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For me, I liked the balance of two in our characters, with more inclination to flexibility and longing for freedom. Being able to have free times is a gift which we must treasure such freedom. The times to be alone though is great, should be handled with more care, as it may be lost in the blink of any eye if we abused it. This is a difficulty especially for those youngsters who have too much freedom or no freedom at all. The number of rotten youths out there wasting their life on the streets or being in boys-home and rehabilation centers are just phenomenal. Thus, we can see how both important and disorientating the two options can be. I believe that finding a balance in our lifestyle is the way to go, having too much of one thing will simply be disastrous.
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" F8 Z$ ~8 K. f/ @We can definitely take a neutral approach to this difficult choice and truly be ourselves. For example, there are friends who achieve outstanding results in school and are able to spend great amounts of time in games and entertainment. Those students who never seem to study at all can still get decent results. There are times that we can balance work and play well that people do not miss out on both. They never have to make that difficult choice but live a colorful life that others long for. This boils down to more personal abilities such as knowing when to do the right thing, say or write the right word. In this situation, we can look after both freedom and discipline. Simply having just that little restriction is enough for most people and we can get ourselves out of the dilemma.

6 \( K3 ]3 k9 O/ E: yI must assert the point that we can always turn back when we go off little further. It is just like we are on the beam balance, which we can walk back to the centre after moving off a little right or left. Even president-elect Barack Obama is a hardcore partygoer and had taken drugs in his youth days, we normal people surely can make the smart choice to turn back if we find ourselves off-track. Therefore, we really do not need to make a down-right choice and sacrifice one of the options, but seek the balance between the two and lead a colorful life.

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
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Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.
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Assignment: Is it true that respecting one’s opponents is not strategic? 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.
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I disagree with the belief that respecting our opponents is not strategic and feel that respect is vital for all kinds of competition. Respect is a fundamental value that should be upheld all time, even for our opponents where interests clash. I feel strongly that all righteous man should deserve respect and competition just comes inevitably in this world. Even if we really hate that opponent, they still deserve our respect as long as they do not resort to unscrupulous methods to achieve their aims.
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$ l& ~% ~- j* s' f2 S% n: ?1 [Most of our opponents are there for fair and constructive competition. Though it is natural for us to dislike the obstacles, they are there for a reason. In a race to achieve our aims, they are sure to be obstacles and opponents. Defaming or not respecting opponents who provide constructive competition is no where strategic. Disrespect will cause more disputes and may let the matter go out of hand. Examples are everywhere, which we can see simple competition fall into a never-ending legal case. Disrespect can only spawn more hatred, which can never be strategic as it does no good.

In politics, for instance, we have lots of people running for the senator seat, where politicians get up to almost ten opponents running against them. This is the time where respect for opponent is vital and strategic as it will have the positive effect of keeping our reputation up to standard. From the example of Obama’s successful run for the senator seat, we learn that his success is due to his respect for everyone, and the media can never produce anything negative about him. Whereas his opponents against each other furiously and he simply sat in between to reap the benefits.
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% T, @( X. h0 T! E& eTherefore, we see that respect is important for us to uphold a clean reputation and not get worded into a never-ending dispute or even a legal case. Respect will allow us to continue the constructive competition with our opponents and get to a win-win resolution.

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:

Success is somebody else’s failure.                                          --Ursula K. Le Guin
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$ c" j% P& y1 i* {Assignment: Is it true that success and failure trade off, and that there can be no “win-win” situation? 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.
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I believe that it is only true to small extent that success and failure trade off. Even though there is always a clear distinction between success and failure. Win-win situations are still achievable. Win-win is an ideal situation where both parties trade off success and benefit each other. I feel that win-win always happen provided that both sides cooperate to achieve common understanding and earn satisfactory benefits where nobody really loses out.

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Although win-win situations are becoming rare in this increasingly competitive world, we should believe in the motion of win-win and constantly strive for it whenever possible. Unfortunately, many believe strongly in “survival of the fittest”, where only win-lose situations are realistic to them. For the worst, some overly competitive people will go for lose-lose, where they destroy others chance of success if they fail at getting to their goal. Either we want to build our success upon our competitors’ failure or deny other people from success if we cannot make it. This can be seen from various examples in the competitive business world, where businessman fight against their loggerheads. When the company succeeds, they swallow companies who fail by buying them in. If they cannot get what they want, they will even try to disrupt competitors to save their skin.
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Win-win I can say is idealistic to some extent, but totally achievable, as long as we look at the situation with a more positive angle, constructive paths to a win-win situation will open up. For example, my school’s motto is win-win, which is a valuable principle leant from the sayings of Confucius. I have seen many other schools with the motto of win-win, which encourage students to look for possible win-win situations and make something constructive out of it. We are constantly reminded about win-win and have been asked to final cases with win-win from our readings. In some readings about entrepreneurs, we are able to find examples of win-win, where start-up entrepreneurs cooperated and achieved satisfactory start-up results.


' c3 `9 s2 b- v: q2 S) FI find it hard to agree with the notion that success is somebody else’s failure. Our success should not be built upon others agony and win-win is indeed a valuable principle that we should uphold. Win-win brings constructive competition and cooperation, thus should be constantly strived for.

topgoerUID: 2563731

原帖由 lengygf 于 2009-1-11 13:29 发表
高中英语多次不及格的某人飘过……

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- B- v( i' n  S1 |8 Y- b, M呵呵，我也差不多，英语也就60多分的水平，而且还是第一语言。你不会华文考60多分吧 :-)

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
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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 that one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision” (Principles of Psychology). He agrees with Voltaire, who wrote, “There is a certain inevitable futility in indecision.”

+ l1 P$ Q( |: U% }# q0 `: A1 KAssignment: What is your opinion of the claim that making a bad decision is sometimes better that 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.
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8 w: ]4 n+ n3 ]% cWe constantly have to make decisions in our lives, as we often find ourselves inevitably at crossroads. Decision making is so essential that it has a frightening aspect in it. We all know that decisions we make will turn out either good or bad. Some feel that decision making is similar to a coin toss, which certainly has a negative side. Sometimes we became so afraid of making a decision that we refuse to make any decisions. I feel that having no action is as bad as making a bad move. We should avoid landing ourselves in this dilemma at all cost as it will do us no good.
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. b/ r$ h/ W! q  E% F& A5 r( D$ I: FFor example, people always like to avoid taking action to own up their mistakes. Many of us fear the uncertainty that lay ahead even though we know that it is positive for us to make up for what we have done wrong. In a classroom setting, a rich kid brought the newest cell phone to class and started flaunting. Another immature boy felt like playing a trick on him and hid his phone. When the rich kid started searching for his phone, no one claimed to have seen it. The owner who lost his phone called the police and the boy who hid it became too afraid to own up. He had no idea how he was going to tell to truth and landed in a dilemma. When the police came and found out that he played to prank on his classmate, it was all too late. He truly meant no harm and others would probably understand if he made the move to simply own up earlier own. This was a true incident a few years back in my school and had proven how disastrous indecision on can be.
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5 L% N+ S$ x! g. gAS the saying goes, “There is an inevitable futility in indecision”. This tells us that making a rational decision is surely better than indecision. Every decision should have a rational and positive motivation behind it. This is a value all upright man should possess. We learn from example of great man in history, where there has been no case that greatness is made without action. Washington, the first president of the United States owned up to cutting his father’s tree when he was young. Edison was at constant action, or he would never make any inventions. Wall Street shrewd and dinosaurs always make big moves, or the Stanley Morgan legacy would never be so legendary.
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Therefore, we all know that decision making is inevitable and we should just learn from the experience if a decision turns out bad. It is rather easy to learn from mistake and indecision is never good. Thus we should make rational decisions, backed up by a proper motive, or constant rush action will just make us like Oedipus.

深海lavenderUID: 2350207

比原来有进步.
$ a; l" P4 J, ~# U不过还是有两个问题,
4 m: N! H2 ^/ {1.老问题,例子太brief.写例子的时候不要简单交代几句发生了什么,先怎么样后怎么样,而是用描述性语言去告诉别人,当时是怎样的情况.比如第二段的例子,多描述一些人物表情和心理变化,一边描述一边剖析,到底这些有什么样的后果,如果他没这么做会怎么样等等.不要把例子和论证分开,而是把论证落实在具体例子中,就事论事.
2.逻辑有些混乱.可以看出来你对这个问题有不少想法,但是东一句西一句太混乱,没有一个比较清晰严谨的逻辑结构.这个需要自己好好考虑.如果想法很多而又说不清楚,就不要全说出来.挑一两点说的清楚的写.SAT作文评分看的最多的不是你对题目有多少想法,而是你怎么清楚论证自己的观点,哪怕观点再简单,只要说清楚了就可以得高分.

/ k( R: {* [/ Z继续加油~:)

topgoerUID: 2563731

非常感谢，我会细细体会的。

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:

+ `/ x6 G- h$ B" p, _& \" FAppreciation is a subtle passion. What is it that we appreciate? Do we appreciate only those things that profoundly change or affect us? If the event is of such a great magnitude, is it really appreciation to take note of it? Perhaps we only truly appreciate the things that are not so deep, not so incredible. Perhaps appreciation is best reserved for the smallest things in life.
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Assignment: What is your view of the claim that appreciation is best reserved for the smallest things in 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.
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Appreciation of things of varying magnitude is an interesting objective topic and I agree to a large extent with the stand that appreciation is best reserved for the smallest things in life. We give our appreciation to wonderful things in life, where there are both big and small events that we give our appreciation.

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Cool small events happen in our life frequently and should be easily appreciated. For example, a boy who got an extremely bad day in school will truly appreciate if his good friend shows up and simply show some concern. In our circle of friends, we do get nice buddies who can make our day with all the fun they provide by being there. Smalls things like an enjoyable football or basketball match though insignificant, are able to lighten up a stressful day for us. For the busily working parents will end their day happily if they return home feeling the love and warmth by a simple exchange of smiles between family members. These are small things in daily life that we truly should appreciate most as we are able to find warmth and happiness from it everyday.
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. m$ \! @) G, x  U/ d5 Q" ^9 ZThere are also examples that show how small things can turn out to be absolutely wonderful and touching. From an example of a small interschool American baseball match, a famous story of touching sportsmanship was made. A girl from one team was going for the homerun broke here leg and it was really bad. The opposing team could totally defend the match and secure a win  but something of true great sportsmanship happened. The opposing team carried the girl who broke here leg and went around the stadium to complete the homerun. It was a baseball match where a small unfortunate event turned out to be an amazing story, which shows how small appreciable events in life and turn out to be great.
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) @5 k' ~! h4 ]* ]( a$ HWhereas on the other hand, I feel that it is true that events too great a magnitude will just be like a strong hurricane that would blow for a while. Flowers bloom fast and die fast, where people hardly even notice it. When we see a report of a big scientific discovery on television, people will hardly appreciate it as we will not feel the truth relation to our lives. True appreciable events happen small and often, which can touch our lives, this will be what we appreciate and what we are looking for.

topgoerUID: 2563731

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:
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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.
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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.

Prevention is better than cure, I totally agree that best solution to a problem is to try and prevent it. Therefore, we should always give our best shot to prevent potential problems from happening at all. We know that many ailments in life can be controlled and nipped in time. Most things can be readily prevented if we put in extra effort in foreseeing problems.

; w  t5 p+ u# |/ U3 K2 FHaving the ability of foresight is an asset which is valuable for us. We all never like to be bugged by problems and hate it when serious problems do occur. One basic example will be our health, which is a fundamental thing in our control. One can stay healthy if he or she has the initiative to take up regular exercise and take care of our diet. This needs a little discipline to execute and we can enjoy the long time benefits. Whereas, a couch potato will suffer the consequences of health deteoriate. The lazy will pay the debt of their laziness by footing medical bill while people who lead an active lifestyle will find it hard to be ever disturbed by health problems.

When we regret what we have done wrong and think of how the problem can be simply prevented, we should not get ourselves stuck here. Another vital characteristic is that people should always look forward to the future and respond readily. When a problem really occur, stop asking ‘what if’ and start thinking or what should be done to really conquer the problem This world is not perfect and bugging things do happen constantly. Accidents happen and for example, an extremely unlucky broke his leg during soccer match on the first day of an overseas school excursion. In this kind of situation, of course, teachings and friends should send him to hospital as soon as possible rather than lamenting and ask what if had not played. Though things that happen cannot be undone, we can still live positively and actively prevent possible problems from striking us.

Being prepared and having a plan for problem prevention is important people who like to save themselves from facing huge problems. Problem prevention should be Plan A while problem solving comes as Plan B when Plan A failed. At times we unfortunately met accidents that could be prevented, we should act at once to do the necessary problem solving.

  U9 P6 {0 Z1 O  m1 V/ g* h2 u[ 本帖最后由 topgoer 于 2009-1-17 23:12 编辑 ]