12.04.12

Ambition is an important characteristic of people. How important is it for people to make success in life? Is it a positive or negative characteristic for success?

 

题目翻译：当今社会非常看重一个人是否有“雄心大志”。你认为这对于那些想成功的人士来说有多重要?此类观点是积极还是消极的体现呢?

题目关键词：Ambition, How Important, Positive, Negative

题目分类及题型确定：此类文章为“抽象类”话题，在具体行文时，可参照“双问号”的写作思路和方法。

相关考题：

1.Competitiveness is a positive quality for people in most societies. How does competitiveness affect individuals? Is it a positive or negative trend? (110312)

 

附：考官范文

In this essay, I shall look at the importance of success to people and at whether ambition is positive or negative.

 

I think that it is usually beneficial for people to want success in life, mainly because it can encourage them to do things in better ways. If a person wants to be successful at their studies, this desire for success usually has the effect of making them study harder. However, this is not always true. We can see this in IELTS, where some students have hired other people to take the test for them. The importance of success has encouraged them to try to cheat. If this is successful, it means that the successful people are not the ones who are the most capable and hard-working. Instead it means that those willing to behave in illegal or immoral ways will succeed. Of course, these people are a small minority, but they cannot be allowed to succeed.

 

Consequently, we can see that ambition can be a positive characteristic, pushing people to study harder, work harder and create positive relationships with other people. These things push society forward, both economically and socially. However, there have to be rules. These rules need to ensure that people have a fair chance. Some of these rules can be created and enforced by institutions such as universities, when deciding on admissions for example. Others need to be enforced by government. This is why it is so important for governments to deal with corruption. If they do not, the most capable people are unsuccessful, affecting the whole country.

 

To conclude, I think that it is good for people to want success and have ambition, so long as they do not cheat to succeed.

 

1.

There is no doubt that people’s aspiration to success is important and it guides people through the process towards their goals. Being ambitious is considered to be the essential quality of successful people. In my point of view, ambition brings about advantages as well as disadvantages in people’s life.

 

People with strong ambition tend to set high goals in their study or work and devote themselves to achieving these goals. With enthusiasm to their study or work, they are more self-disciplined and self-motivated than those who have less desire for success. When met with hardships, ambitious people show more courage and determination to overcome the barriers, as they cannot put up with failure. In addition, since competition is getting fierce in every aspect of our life, people with high ambition are more likely to adapt to the society and defeat their rivals.

 

However, ambition may cause negative impacts in some circumstances if not handled properly. For instance, it is common that people in big cities are stressed in their work as they fail to strike a balance between work and other parts of life. Many people are over-burdened with tasks, striving for higher salary and promotion. Similarly, sense of competition is a double-edged sword. Some people are so eager for personal success that their behavior may jeopardize other people’s interest. As a result, their relationship with colleagues becomes tense, which is harmful to their career development in the long term.

 

To sum up, ambition gives people an advantage in terms of coping with challengers on their way to towards success, but people should also be aware of the negative effects of being over-ambitious. The key is to realistic ideals and work step by step to realize them.

 

12.04.14

A tendency of news reported in the media about problems and emergencies rather than positive developments is more harmful to the individual and to society. Do you agree or disagree?

 

题目翻译：媒体新闻报道更多倾向于社会问题和突发的紧急情况，而忽略了社会积极发展的一面，这对于社会及个人都产生了不良影响。你是否同意此种说法?

题目关键词：News, Problems, Emergencies, Effects, Harmful

题目分类及题型确定：此类文章为“媒体类”议论文，在写作时可参照“单边类”写法

题目解读：“单边类”写法在剑桥5至8四套教材中共有6篇，2012年时至今日，此类问法1月份考过1次，2月份考过3次，3月份未曾考过，4月份现已考过1次;在过去的2011年47场考试中，此类问法考试题目共出现过19次。

 

考官范文： 

In this essay, I shall look at why news reports might seem to focus on problems and emergencies rather than positive developments and why focusing too much on either positive or on negative stories could be harmful to individuals and society.

 

Commercial news media generally want people to view or read their news because they can use this to get more money from advertising. This means that they tend to promote news that is dramatic and exciting in order to grab people’s attention. Since a lot of this kind of news is about problems, disasters and emergencies, these kinds of stories can appear to dominate the news. Sometimes, however, the news media seem to want to create bad news stories. They seem to be searching for bad news even within good news. I think that this kind of reporting can be detrimental to individuals and to society because it suggests that everything is bad.

 

On the other hand, there is plenty of good news that is reported. News media rarely focuses only on bad news. This raises the question of whether news media focus on bad news or whether news consumers do. If it is consumers who focus on bad news instead of good news, I think that says more about the consumers than the media. However, if the news media focuses on good news, and ignores bad news, this can also cause problems, because it may mean that the people responsible for causing problems do not have to face scrutiny for their actions.

 

To conclude, I think that if the news media focuses too much on negative stories, this can have a bad effect on individuals and society, but paying too much attention to positive news can have the same result.

 

1.

In today’s world, we are surrounded by various kinds of news reports, which have become an essential part of our daily lives. Some people believe that news media should focus on the positive development of the society instead of the negative side. In my point of view, news reports should be objective and unbiased, whether they are good news or bad news.

 

There is a widespread concern that excessive reports on problems may cause panic or instability. For instance, when people are exposed to reports on crimes too often, they tend to lack sense of security. What is worse is the detailed description of the crime cases that makes people uncomfortable. If people become over-cautious, they may lose their trust on other people and it is difficult for them to develop a harmonious interpersonal relationship.

 

Despite the concern mentioned above, we should not ignore the fact that reports on problems and emergencies contribute to the solution of social problems. First of all, these reports draw people’s attention to some serious and urgent issues. For example, when a country suffers from war or natural disasters, the international community reaches their hands immediately to help the victims after they see the news reports. Also, negative reports urge the government to reflect on the deficiency of their administration and make an effort to improve their work. One case that happened in the past few decades is that in some cities the living standard of poor urban population was highly raised after their situation was revealed by the media.

 

In conclusion, news reports on the dark side of the society cannot be avoided and in most cases they help to solve social problems and promote the development of the society. But we should also be aware that there is no need to over-react to the negative reports.

 

12.04.21

Some people think planning future is a waste of time and people should focus on the present. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

 

1.

There has long been a debate as t whether we should plan our future or just focus on the present. In my point of view, the two sides are not contradictory and both are needed if we want to be successful.

 

Plans serve as guidelines for people to achieve success. Once people have set clear goals, they tend to devote themselves to pursuing these goals, regardless of hardships in their way. If they are unclear about what they hope to do and why, they are likely to get disoriented when in difficulty. Moreover, in the fast-changing world, it is necessary to anticipate problems in advance and get well-prepared for them. For example, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce in the commercialized society and those entrepreneurs with far-sight and vision are usually in an advantageous position to win more market share.

 

Although planning future is encouraged, to seize the present is the key to fulfill the plans. If we do not put any effort into our plans, they will never change into reality automatically. However, a large number of people seem to be blind to this fact. It is not uncommon to see people who are indulged in daydreaming but they never take any action. Their planning for future is nothing but a waste of time, as they never implement the plans, or they get started with enthusiasm and ambition, but give up half way. Therefore, planning without action would be neither attractive nor productive.

 

To sum up, setting plans for future increases the likelihood of success, but the precondition is that we should convert our plans into real action.

 

2.

The present is where everything begins and there is no time like the present. Without being prisoners of the past, winners prefer working in the changing present toward the unpredictable future. The trouble with some people is that they are planning only for the unforeseeable time to come and not facing the reality now. 

 

Paradoxically, the future is now. It is more realistic to regard life as an awareness of the present rather than a prediction beyond knowledge. Since the future is anybody’s guess, "one today is worth two tomorrows," to quote Benjamin Franklin. Therefore, the way we live and the way we work ought to keep in step with the present leading to the future. The logic may be that we can only learn from the past, and on the other hand the future does not affect us now as much as does the present. It also makes sense that the way to plan tomorrow is to enjoy living and working as wisely and beautifully today as possible. 

Our argument for focusing on today may as well be based on the fact that the present does not sit still for a portrait, but is changing constantly. Change being the law of life, concentrating our mind on what is happening in the present is probably more true to life than dreaming of the future. It means that life for us today is always becoming and never being. Obviously, today has its own problems to be solved, so there is no need to be over troubled about the future. Accordingly, it is better not to foresee the future but be concerned about taking care of the present. It is one thing to prefer planning for the future, but it is quite another to control the change that follows soon enough. 

 

Focusing on the present is more important than merely planning for the future because right now is one of the moments we are influencing our future. Practically, we should see the future in the present which carries more weight in real life. It stands to reason that the future actually begins now.

 

12.04.28

In modern world, it is no longer necessary to use animals for food or use animal products, for instance, clothing and medicines. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In recent years animal protection has become a heated topic and some people hold the opinion that we should not use animals for food, clothing or medicines any more. As far as I am concerned, it is unrealistic not to use animals for the well-being of mankind at the present day, but meanwhile, the rights of animals should also be respected and protected.

 

As we know, meat is an important part of people’s daily diet in most of the world, providing a variety of nutrients that are difficult to obtain from vegetables and fruits. It has been proved that balanced diets containing a certain quantities of meat, egg, milk, are essential for people to enhance physical fitness and prevent diseases. Moreover, animals are a major source of food and clothes for people living in some areas, who would not be able to survive if they abandon hunting or raising animals.

 

Using animals as ingredients of medicines or for medical tests is also widely criticized. However, most of such practice is still for the interest of human being. People conduct animal-based experiments to explore new therapies and medicines, which significantly lowers the risks of trial use on people. Also, some animal products are the key elements in some drugs and no substitute has yet been found to achieve the same effect.

 

Despite the fact that we still need to sacrifice animals for the benefits of humans, there is no denying that measures should be taken to protect endangered animals and ban any form of cruel treatment to animals. With the continuous scientific advancement and discovery of alternatives to animals for food and medicine, I believe people would increasingly reduce the killing of animals.

（Avril总结整理，转载敬请注明http://blog.sina.com.cn/avrildaisy）