劉文勇GRE寫作百日題庫 Day 18

Day 18 The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority

The well-being of a society is enhanced when many of its people question authority.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

五問：

（1）到底什么是“ authority（權(quán)威）”？是最有威望、最有支配作用的力量嗎？是被社會所公認的價值、功績或品德嗎？你能羅列一些各個領(lǐng)域的權(quán)威人物嗎？例如：物理學(xué)界有愛因斯坦，哲學(xué)界有亞里士多德、蘇格拉底，藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域有達·芬奇、畢加索等。

（2）權(quán)威就一定是正確的嗎？你能否想出一兩個具體的例子來說明，在某些特定的情況下，權(quán)威也可能是不正確的？例如：愛因斯坦挑戰(zhàn)牛頓的經(jīng)典力學(xué)，提出了相對論；伽利略挑戰(zhàn)亞里士多德，用“比薩斜塔實驗”證明自由下落物體的運動規(guī)律。

（3）權(quán)威是怎么形成的？權(quán)威是在人類社會實踐中形成的嗎？權(quán)威是不是一種大眾公認的力量？權(quán)威是否在任何層面乃至任何領(lǐng)域都一定是權(quán)威？你能夠想出一兩個反例來嗎？例如，馬克思在科學(xué)、政治、思想領(lǐng)域都提出了權(quán)威的理論，但是他在經(jīng)濟方面提出的“剩余價值”理論卻被一些經(jīng)濟學(xué)家指出是錯誤的。

（4）挑戰(zhàn)權(quán)威對社會的好處是什么？例如：可以促使人類不斷反思，根據(jù)事物發(fā)展的變化去思考問題，發(fā)現(xiàn)有錯及時糾正。挑戰(zhàn)權(quán)威可能誘發(fā)的問題有哪些？為什么有人認為挑戰(zhàn)權(quán)威可能會降低社會運行效率？這是因為他們認為權(quán)威被挑戰(zhàn)，社會會失去主導(dǎo)和規(guī)則，一切事物不再循規(guī)蹈矩，從而降低社會運行效率。

（5）你認為，需要在何種程度上滿足何種條件，才會讓我們覺得挑戰(zhàn)權(quán)威是一件有利于社會的事情？挑戰(zhàn)者如果不具備相當(dāng)程度的知識水平和判斷能力，那么，他們對權(quán)威的挑戰(zhàn)會對社會的發(fā)展進步有利嗎？

翻譯練習(xí)：

為了一個國家的成功發(fā)展，對其當(dāng)局提出合理的挑戰(zhàn)的確是需要的，要么去揭露之前被忽視的問題，要么去推進改革的進程（盡量使用“ ...be required either to...or to...”結(jié)構(gòu)）。但是，惡意的、不理性的質(zhì)疑可能會擾亂社會秩序，甚至將國家引向瓦解。

參考答案：

For the successful development of a nation, reasonable challenges to its authorities are definitely required either to disclose previously overlooked problems or to push forward the reform process. However, malicious and irrational questioning would disrupt social order and even lead the country toward disintegration.

翻譯練習(xí)：

男女平等主要意味著女性地位的上升，這對古代的人來說是不切實際的，他們從出生那一刻起就被教導(dǎo)男尊女卑的思想，并且從未懷疑過這種觀念的不合理性。

參考答案：

Sexual equality, mainly meaning the rise of women's status, seemed unrealistic to ancient people who were taught about the superiority of men to women the moment they were born and who had never doubted the irrationality of that concept.

翻譯練習(xí)：

過去，中國的大多數(shù)孩子都被教導(dǎo)要遵從主流思想，永遠不要做第一個表達反對意見的人。如今，在我們所處的這個社會中，所有人都被鼓勵去建立自己個體的獨特性，并通過這樣做從人群中脫穎而出。這在我看來是一個重要的進步。

參考答案：

In the past, most children in China were taught to conform to the mainstream thoughts and never be the first one to express an opposition. Today, we are in a society in which all the people are encouraged to establish their individualistic uniqueness and to stand out among the crowd by so doing. This, to my mind, is a significant leap forward.

翻譯練習(xí)：

站在和大部分人相反的立場經(jīng)常會招致大量批評。正是這種害怕他人不贊同的心理，使我們很難脫離群體。但是，很多突破都是通過背離群體而取得的。比如，如果約翰·納什沒有足夠的勇氣去質(zhì)疑權(quán)威，我們現(xiàn)在可能還在繼續(xù)推崇亞當(dāng)·斯密的理論。

參考答案：

Taking an opposite stand against the majority always elicits torrents of criticism. It is this fear of other people's disapproval that makes it so difficult for us to break away from the crowd. However, numerous breakthroughs have been achieved by deviating from the crowd. For example, if John Nash were not audacious enough to question the authority, we might still stick with Adam Smith's theory now.