历年
2007.1 美东
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.1)
Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government—rather than individuals—should always come up with the solutions to society's ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.
Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
1. 题目翻译：
很多人相信我们的政府应当做更多事情以解决我们的问题。毕竟，个人怎么能创造更多工作机会，提升道路安全系数，改善校园环境，或是帮忙提供其他的我们所享受的好处呢?然而总是期待政府，而不是我们自己，想出解决社会痼疾的方案会让我们不那么自立，减弱我们的独立精神和自主意识。
题目：人们通过合作比竞争取得更多成就吗?
2. 审题关键词：responsibility, community
3. 论证分析-各段核心提纲：
正：We are all an inseparable part of the community and nation as a whole. Thus, the society’s ill should be everyone’s problem.
反：We pay taxes to government so that they can help us solve the problems of the society. Otherwise, there is no point of having the government.
补：Neither should we rely solely on government nor ourselves to solve the problems. Instead, we should be responsible citizens of the country.
2007.5 美东
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.5)
Materialism: it's the thing that everybody loves to hate. Few aspects of modern life have been more criticized than materialism. But let's face it: materialism—acquiring possessions and spending money—is a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being too materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and consuming more and more stuff.
Adapted from James Twitchell, “Two Cheers for Materialism”
Assignment: Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observation.
1. 题目翻译：
物质主义主义是每个人都不喜欢的东西。在现代生活中，很少有什么比物质主义受到的指责更多了。然而我们必须面对这点：那就是唯物主义，也就是得到物质或者花钱，是这个时代重要的意义和幸福的来源。人们可以指责现代社会太过注重物质，但是事实是我们中的大多数人把大多数的力气都花在了创造和消费更多的物质上。
题目：我们应当指责现代社会过于物质主义吗?
2. 审题关键词：modern society, materialistic
3. 论证分析-各段核心提纲：
正：The world we are living has more stuff and money than any time in the past. More and more people emphasize so much on materials that they ignore other things that ate equally important, such as love and sympathy. So, modern society should be blamed.
反：Yet, it is because of materialism that people have the incentive to create stuff, improve technology and gain wealth. Thus, materialism serves as a key momentum to perfect the society.
补：We cannot safely say that materialism is good or bad. But it is guaranteed that putting too much emphasis on material can be harmful for the society as a whole.
2007.10 美东
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.10)
A person does not simply "receive" his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges. Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by.
Adapted from Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action
Assignment: Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
1. 题目翻译：
人们不会得到自己的身份。身份比你出生时的名字和特征含义更加丰富。真正的身份需要人们通过做出重要的、需要做出勇敢承诺的选择自己创造。身份意味着拥有自己的想法和价值观。
题目：身份是与生俱来的还是自己创造的?
2. 审题关键词：identity, born, create
3. 论证分析-各段核心提纲：
与生俱来的：You cannot change your family or birthplace, which people will ask about wherever you go and whoever you want to be. They are the most important features inseparable from your entire life. Also, your family and birthplace will exert significant impact on your personality whether you admit it or not.
自己创造的：It does not really matter who your parents are or where you were born. What matters most is who you want yourself to be and what you want others to remember you by.
