新年的钟声立即就要响起，同时响起的还有美国大学申请截止的钟声。貌似一切很快就要尘归尘，土归土，有一个了断。不过其实也不尽然，因为留学这事本来就是为了一个经历，其实我们不必把自己弄得很累，放眼一些非热门的院校，其实也是未尝不可的，比如说Kansas State University截止日期就是2月1日，而且托福成绩仅需要79分，老托福仅需要550分，排名120左右，跟中国的同济大学是可以比肩的学校。再比如排名80多的Clark University托福成绩就仅需80分，申请截止日期是1月15日，这就给我们增加了1-2次考托福考试的机会，也是很好的选择。申请美国大学，其实排名30之后，差别是不大的。
不过当然，2011年12月的这次SAT很多考友还是在分秒必争。数学问题不大，阅读无能为力，貌似也只能在作文上想想办法了。本次无老师特提供2010年SAT真题作文大全，及1篇SAT非官方指南的满分作文片段与大家分享，优秀作文如沐春风。推荐各位考友有机会读一些哲学的书籍，顿时会觉得思维开阔很多。^_^
2010年01月SAT作文真题
Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
External constraints—factors that limit people’s plans and projects—can create stress, but this stress is not always bad and may even be necessary. In fact, the pressure of deadline, budgets, rules, and the demands imposed by others can push people to accomplish things that they would find impossible to accomplish with unlimited time, money, and the absence of pressure.
Adapted from Jena Pincott, Success: Advice for achieving your goals from Remarkably accomplished people.
Assignment: Do the demands of others tend to make people more productive than they would be without such pressure? 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.
Prompt 2
Are people entitled to have their own opinions? Yes and no. People can have virtually any opinion, no matter how illogical, uninformed, or foolish. But this does not mean that they are entitled to have their uninformed opinions taken seriously or that their opinions should be considered as valuable as informed opinions. Opinions are valuable only when they are backed up by thorough knowledge of the subject.
Adapted from John Chaffee, The Thinker’s Way
Assignment: Should all people’s opinions be valued equally, or should only informed opinions be taken seriously? 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.
Prompt 3
There are books that try to show the world as it is and books that try to show the world as it should or could be. Which sort of books should we be offering children and reading ourselves? One answer is the argument for the value of truth, for telling it like it is. Writers could promote certain positive ideals by being less realistic, but all of us—especially children—have a right to be told the truth
Adapted from Claudia Mills, “The Ethics of Representation: Realism and Idealism in Children’s Fictions”
Assignment: Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Prompt 4
Great discoveries often occur when a person explores the unknown, venturing far from what is familiar. But important breakthroughs—innovative solutions to difficult problems, for example—can also result when people take the time to look closely at their daily surroundings. In fact, the greatest discoveries often occur when people recognize in their familiar surroundings certain opportunities that others have overlooked or when people recognize that the way things have always been done is unjust or ineffective or unnecessary.
Assignment: Do people make the greatest discoveries by exploring what is unfamiliar to them or by paying close attention to what seems familiar? 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.
2010年03月SAT作文真题
Many powerful leaders throughout history have considered themselves above the law and acted in ways that violated the laws or guidelines of their own country or group. People are quick to condemn these leaders, but shouldn't leaders be held to different standards? If what a leader is doing benefits the majority of the people in a country or group, it does not matter if a law or guideline is violated.
Assignment: Should leaders of a country or group be judged by different standards? 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.
People are often advised to practice moderation in everything they do. The way to succeed in achieving their goals, they are told, is to remain balanced, controlled, and restrained. But this advice is misguided. Instead of being moderate, people should be passionate and intense. Throughout history, moderation has produced nothing extraordinary or exceptional. Excellence in any pursuit requires excess — great enthusiasm, high energy, and extreme effort.
Assignment: Is moderation an obstacle to achievement and success? 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.
Possibly because we live in a work-oriented society, most of us feel that we must be continually busy in order to be successful. We are led to believe that fabulous wealth and fame await the person who works the hardest and is always busy. The irony is that taking it easy now and then would help us achieve our goals a lot sooner. In fact, overwork can stifle our creative ability.
Adapted from Ernie J. Zelinski, The Joy of Not Working
Assignment: Does society put too much emphasis on working hard? 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.
2010年05月SAT作文真题
People make decisions all the time. Some of these decisions may seems to be minor and inconsequential—whether to read a book or to not attend a meeting—while others are obviously more important. But even though the important decisions are likely to have equally important consequences, people should not treat casually or overlook the small decisions. The so-called small decisions have the greatest impact on our lives.
Assignment: Do small decisions often have major consequences? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
A well-known company recently proposed setting aside every Friday as a day with no email-based communication. On these email-free Fridays, employees would be encouraged to refrain completely from reading or sending email or text messages and advised instead to call each other or talk in person. This idea can work for everyone. If each week we set aside time to actually talk to one another, our communications will be less impersonal and more effective and satisfying.
Assignment: Is talking the most effective and satisfying way of communicating with others?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Our distant ancestors survived because they were physically active, hunting wild animals and gathering fruits and vegetables over large areas of land. Modern life, however, is characterized by physical inactivity. Given the resulting health problems and the tremendous cost of treating them, the government should work with schools and businesses to ensure that people eat the right foods and get enough exercise each day.
Assignment: Should the government be responsible for making sure that people lead healthy lives ? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
In business, the term "personal brand" describes how companies define themselves and differentiate their products from those of other companies. People, too, are often advised to develop a kind of personal brand or style--to make themselves stand out from other people by developing unique characteristics. Nowadays, people who want to be successful in school, at work, or in their personal relationships must emphasize their differences from their peers in the same way that companies emphasize their differences from their competitors.
ASSIGNMENT: Do people succeed by emphasizing their differences from other people?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
2010年06月SAT作文真题
Common sense tells us that people tend to get along better with those who are like them, who think and act as they do. Many people, however, get along very well with people who are very different from them and may prefer to associate with those whose views and actions are different from their own. In fact, some people even complain that they are bored and irritated by those who are too much like them.
Assignment: Do people tend to get along better with people who are very different from them or with those who are like them? 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.
From early childhood, we are encouraged—pressured, even—to be in the company of others: we are urged to belong to this or that group, to join this or that club, to spend time with this or that friend. People do everything to avoid being by themselves, treating solitude as though it were the equivalent of loneliness. And yet it is only when people are by themselves that they can truly achieve their most important goals.
Assignment: Is solitude—spending time alone—necessary for people to achieve their most important goals? 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.
Usually, people look to others around them—ordinary people—for their heroes. They define heroes as decent citizens who make sacrifices or try to make a difference. For example, people name streets after local war veterans, parks after teachers, bridges after local politicians. Rejecting historical, literary, or national figures as heroes, people tend to believe that anyone can be a hero. A hero does not have to be superhuman.
Adapted from Peter H. Gibbon, A Call to Heroism
Assignment: Should ordinary people be considered heroes, or should the term "hero" be reserved for extraordinary people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Not yet available.
2010年10月SAT作文真题
Why do we not value the creative arts more than we do? Why are subjects like music, drama, photography, and creative writing always the first to be cut from school budgets during hard times? Many would answer that, unlike math, science, history, and other subjects taught in school, the arts are unnecessary. But this is so untrue. The arts are as necessary as these other subject areas—possibly even more necessary.
Assignment: Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative arts? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
I spent some part of every year at the farm until I was twelve or thirteen years old. The life that I led there was full of charm and so is the memory of it yet. I can call back the faint odors of wildflowers, the sheen of rain-washed foliage, the clatter of raindrops when the wind shook the trees, and the far-off hammering of woodpeckers. I can call back the prairie—and its loneliness and peace.
Adapted from Mark Twain, My Autobiography
Assignment: Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciate the natural environment? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
In some circumstances we are encouraged to conform—to follow others, to do and think what everyone else is doing and thinking. In other circumstances, however, we are told to be individuals and are reminded that most people we consider great are not afraid to be different. Conformity may be appropriate in day-to-day life, but we should save our highest praise for people who choose to be unique.
Assignment: Should originality always be more highly praised than conformity? 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.
Some people say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," meaning that when you are in a new culture, place, or setting, it is best to change your behavior to adapt to the rules and customs of your new surroundings. But does that old saying still apply in today's world? Isn't the world better off when people facing a change—whether it is a transfer to a new school, the start of a new job, or travel to a foreign country—retain their individuality and way of life instead of changing?
Assignment: Should people adapt to their new surroundings, or should they refuse to change? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
2010年11月SAT作文真题
We are very individually oriented. We see everything in terms of personal independence, personal pleasure, personal fulfillment. "Do your own thing," we say. The idea that people can actually do things for someone or something else—a community, a school, or any other group—is lost. It is important to realize, however, that all people are interconnected. We cannot survive without each other.
Adapted from Willard Gaylin in Bill Moyers, A World of Ideas
Assignment: Do people put too much emphasis on doing things by and 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.
Most people are so impressed by facts and objectivity that they do not appreciate the use of imagination. They worry that our imaginations get us away from reality, distort our views and perspectives, and, worst of all, are unscientific. As a result, using our imagination and other related activities such as appreciating art or music or being creative are often considered the "frosting"—the nice extras in life—rather than vital pursuits that are crucial to everyone.
Adapted from Rollo May, The Courage to Create
Assignment: Is imagination less valuable than facts and objectivity? 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.
There is no more powerful way to initiate significant change in our communities, our society, and our lives than to start talking to others. When people discover that they share a common concern, that is when the process of change begins. Change does not start with an individual leader of a group, a nation, or an organization announcing a new plan. It begins when a group of people notices something that could, or even must, be done differently.
Adapted from Margaret J. Wheatley, "Some Friends and I Started Talking..."
Assignment: Is a group of people more likely than an individual leader to bring about significant change? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Some people believe that making mistakes is unacceptable, that whatever is done must be done error free. However, research has found that perfectionists tend to be less successful than non-perfectionists because they spend too much time trying to be perfect. Even when they do some things wrong, non-perfectionists often achieve more of their goals than perfectionists do.
Adapted from Glenn Hirsch, "An Imperfect Look At Overcoming Perfectionism"
Assignment: Would it be better if people were more accepting of mistakes? 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.
2010年12月SAT作文真题
Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Again and again we hear the complaint that we have no heroes anymore. Heroes—people who should be admired for their great courage or noble achievements—are no longer recognized in our modern world. Many people, in fact, believe that heroes existed only in the past. But this belief is wrong. Because more praise is given to the latest technological innovation than to one individual's heroic achievements, we may not be aware of our heroes, but we do have them.
Assignment: Is it possible to be a hero in the modern world? 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.
Prompt 2
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Technology has dramatically increased the speed with which we can communicate and share information. Some people are critical of this development, claiming that rapid communication, often made possible by some form of technology, discourages people from focusing at length on any one topic, shortens their attention spans, and prevents them from truly learning about the world and people around them. But what is wrong with how instantly and easily information is communicated thanks to the wonders of modern technology?
Assignment: Does the way that information is communicated today result in people learning less than ever before? 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.
Prompt 3
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Is a temporary or partial solution to a problem better than no solution at all? Many people would say so. All that humanity can hope to accomplish is to find workable solutions to the serious problems of the world. Others would argue, however, that the world's serious problems are, in fact, caused by the so-called solutions. These solutions are creating problems more serious than the problems they are addressing.
Assignment: Do temporary or otherwise imperfect solutions to problems only create more serious problems? 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.
Prompt 4
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Choice improves the quality of our lives. On the other hand, the fact that some choice is good doesn't necessarily mean that more choice is better. There is a problem with having too much choice. We are unwilling to give up any of our options, but stubbornly insisting upon having all the choices available to us can lead to bad decisions, stress, and dissatisfaction.
Adapted from Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
Assignment: Is it better for people to have limited choices? 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.
满分作文片断
Is the opinion of the majority-in government or in any other circumstances-a poor guide?
The entire idea of democracy centers around “majority rule”， where laws and standards are put into effect if most of the citizens support it. However, if people concentrate on only the majority in each circumstance, they often forget the voices and rights of the minorities. Simply because a person is in the minority of an opinion does not mean he can be ignored, for in a true democracy all the citizens are guaranteed the same rights. Thus in some circumstances strictly following the opinions of the majority is a poor guide to determining what actions to take.
The days before America’s Civil War, when slavery was prevalent, demonstrate that following majority rule often fails to respect people’s moral rights and liberty. The majority of white people in the early 1800’s supported slavery because of the benefits they received from the suppressed blacks. Thus, the government reluctantly allowed slavery to be legal in America, despite the terrible sufferings of the slaves. The degraded slaves underwent uncountable terrifying experiences-they were beaten, separated from their families, and forced to toil laboriously in fields their entire lives. And because the government believed “majority ruled”，the slaves lived in such conditions until the Emancipation Proclamation was written during the bloody Civil War. Had the government not followed the opinions of the clamoring whites, slavery could have been abolished much sooner, and much suffering could have been avoided. Thus, in this circumstance of freedom vs. suppression, the opinion of the majority served as a poor guide to follow by the U.S. government.
Furthermore, the effects of majority rule impact Americans today, for there are many unsolved, controversial issues such as abortion, stem-cell research, and homosexual marriages. In the case of “gay rights”， the majority of Americans oppose people of the same sex marrying, and most of the states’ laws reflect this opinion. However, ignoring the wishes of gays and lesbians by enacting these laws will leave many of them unhappy because they cannot legally “tie the knot” with the person they love. The U.S. Constitution declares that everyone has the right to pursue happiness, but by banning gay marriages, some may be barred from the happiness of marriage. In addition, many oppose stem-cell research because they are angered by the fact that embryos are created and then destroyed. Once again, though, if the government passes a law banning such research, the minority may suffer. Stem-cell research may save lives by using the cells to specialize in a certain area. Those who would benefit from the discoveries of stem-cell research may die
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