GRE写作工具箱.doc

【精品文档】如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流GRE写作工具箱.精品文档.GRE写作工具箱写作工具箱（新东方孙远）下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。对于文章中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，我并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now.经常有学生告诉我：不知道背诵什么好。现在我可以告诉各位：背诵下面的文章错不了，至少对GRE的写作来说有立竿见影的效果！可别再找借口了哦！目 录1.Section one: Education51.1Proverbs51.2Damaging Research51.3Education and Citizenship51.4The Teachers Role61.5Education Philosophy71.6Student Life71.7Adult Education81.8Moral Relativism in American81.9Schools Should Teach Values101.10College Pressures111.11To Err Is Wrong151.11.1Playing It Safe161.11.2Different Logic161.11.3Errors as Stepping Stones171.11.4Negative Feedback171.11.5Trying New Things181.11.6Natures Errors191.11.7Summary191.12The Practicality of the Liberal Arts Major191.13The Liberal Arts Degree Is Marketable201.13.1Skills acquired with a Liberal Arts Background Are Most Desired by Employers211.13.2Liberal Arts Majors Can Enhance Their Credentials211.14The Vast Emptiness at the Core of Todays Liberal Arts Education221.15Education as Philosophy231.16What True Education Should Do231.17The Future of Universities241.18Teaching and Learning: Strategies for the 21st Century251.19Universities changing to meet the needs of the 21st Century261.20Education and Training281.21Knowledge and Wisdom292.Section Two: Science and Technology322.1Computer in Education322.2Computer Make the Workplace Less Friendly322.3Solar Energy342.4Micro machines352.5Social Responsible in Science and Arts352.6Environmental Stress362.7High Technology and Employment372.8The Effects of Technology382.9Technology and Social Change392.10The Quest for Energy402.11Technology in Everyday Life412.12Science, Technology and Society: The Case of Medical Technology422.13The Impact of Technology432.14Scientific Institutions432.15The Norms of Science452.16Technology in Modern Societies472.17Galileo and the Inquisition482.18Technology and People493.Section Three: Ideas513.1Critical Thinking513.1.1Be willing to say “I dont know”513.1.2Define your terms513.1.3Practice tolerance523.1.4Understand before criticizing523.1.5Watch for hot spots523.1.6Consider the source533.1.7Seek out alternative views533.1.8Ask questions533.1.9Look for at least three answers543.1.10Be willing to change your mind543.1.11Lay your cards on the table543.1.12Examine the problem from different points of view543.1.13Write about it553.1.14Construct a reasonable view553.2The Function of Critical Thinking553.3Critical Thinking as Thorough Thinking563.4Creative people563.5The Lowest Animal583.6Decision by Consensus594.Section Four: Mass Media624.1Propaganda Techniques in Todays Advertising624.2TV Addiction655.Section Five: Society675.1The Function of Art675.2Intercultural Prejudices685.3Culture Shock695.4Groups705.5Authority705.6The No-Status Society715.7Conformity715.8Debating Moral Questions725.9Art as Nonverbal Communication735.10Turtle Island746.Section Six: Politics766.1Proverbs766.2What Makes a Leader?776.3What Derails Fast-Track Executives?796.4A Leader806.5Watergate80Section one: EducationProverbs1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.2. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make ones mind a pleasant place in which to spend ones time.3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.4. The classroom-not the trench-is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.5. Educations purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesnt answer questions; it provokes them.8. People will pay more to be entertained than educated.9. the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure.10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.11. A great teacher never strives to explain his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.12. If you can read and don, you are an illiterate by choice.Damaging Research A study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positive that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.Education and CitizenshipAn important aspect of education in the United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many incentives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform young people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the problem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in the case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their childrens education.Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schooling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-time undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.Advocates of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the classroom. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.The Teachers RoleGiven the undeniable importance of classroom experience, sociologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single first-grade teacher on her students subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in childrens lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching. The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an important part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classrooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teachers authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students and teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.Education PhilosophyFor the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the schools job was to enhance the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.Consequently, American schools are very enthusiastic about teaching “life skills” logical thinking, analysis, creative problem-solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teachers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and suicide are just a few of the modern problems that have appeared on the school curriculum.This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.Student LifeTo the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways, around which thy congregate.Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activitiessports, clubs, cheerleading, scoutssupposed to inculcate such qualities as leadership, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who dont become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show that American parents have lower expectations for their childrens success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “Hes just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their son is on the swim team and doesnt take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitted against each otherwhether in classroom discussion, spelling bees, reading groups, or tests. Every classroom is expected to produce a scattering of As and Fs (teachers often grade A=excellent; B=good; C=average; D=poor; and F=failed). A teacher who gives all As looks too softso students are aware that they are competing for the limited number of top marks.Foreign students sometimes dont understand that copying from other peoples papers or from books is considered wrong and taken seriously. Here, it is important to show that you have done your own work and are displaying your own knowledge. It is more important than helping your friends to pass, whom we think do not deserve to pass unless they can provide their own answers. Group effort goes against the competitive grain, and American students do not study together as many Asians do. Many Asians in this country consider their group study habits a large contributor to their school success.Adult EducationAfter complaining about many aspects of American life, a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong concluded, “But where else could someone my age go back to school and get a degree in social work? Here you can change your whole life, start a new business, do what you really want to do.”So at least to this person, school requirements werent inhibiting. And to millions of others, adult education is the path to a new career, or if not to a new career, to a new outlook. Schools generally encourage the older person who wants to start anew, and besides regular classes, schedule evening classes in special programs. Today there are so many people of retirement age in college that it is no longer remarkable.Moral Relativism in AmericanImproving American education requires