20. Sample Essay 1:
The issue of whether machines are an advantage or disadvantage to humans is a
controversial one. On the one hand, humans are more and more dependent on machines.
On the other hand, machines are making our lives better and better. However, in the
final analysis, I believe that the advantages of machines outweigh their disadvantages.
One reason for my belief is that machines have made our lives much easier than
before. For example, with help of my computer, I can navigate on the internet everyday,
searching for the information I need, while my automatic washing machine is doing my
laundry for me. My mobile phone connects me with my friends and my office wherever
I go. I cannot image what my life would be like without all these machines and devices.
Another reason for my belief is that machines can do many dangerous work for us.
For example, a robot bomb expert can dismantle a bomb for the police so that no one
will be hurt. Other robots can work under extreme weather conditions.
Perhaps the best reason for my belief is that machines have opened more and more
possibilities for humans. For instance, a spaceship can take us to outer space where we
had never dared to go. Likewise, a submarine can bring us to the bottom of the ocean,
which used to be forbidden area to humans. I believe that there will be more machines
doing hazardous jobs.
For all these reasons, I therefore believe that machines are so important to humans
that we cannot do without them. Of course, machines have also brought with it many
disadvantages. Such machines as calculators, cars, typewriters have made some people
lazy, stupid, weak, and clumsy. However, whether machines are beneficial to humans
depends on how you use them. We can use machines to save us time and then use the
time to do more creative work or to enjoy life. Anyway, there are still more advantages
than disadvantages.
Sample Essay 2:
In some respects humans serve machines, while in other respects machines serve
us by enhancing our lives. While mechanical automation may have diminished our
quality of life on balance, digital automation is doing more to improve our lives than to
undermine our autonomy.
Consider first mechanical automation, particularly assembly line manufacturing.
With automation came a loss of pride in and alienation from ones work. In this sense,
automation both diminished our quality of life and rendered us slaves to machines in
our inability to reverse progress. Admittedly, mechanical automation spawned entire
industries, creating jobs, stimulating economic growth, and supplying a plethora of
innovative conveniences. Nevertheless, the sociological and environmental price of
progress may have outweighed its benefits.
Digital automation has brought its own brand of alienation. Computer automation,
and especially the Internet, breeds information overload and steals our time and
attention away from family, community, and coworkers. In these respects, digital
automation tends to diminish our quality of life and create its own legion of human
slaves. On the other hand, by relegating repetitive tasks to computers, digital technology
has spawned great advances in medicine and physics, helping us to better understand the
world, to enhance our health, and to prolong our lives. Digital automation has also
emancipated architects, artists, designers, and musicians, by opening up creative
possibilities and by saving time. Perhaps most important, however, information
technology makes possible universal access to information, thereby providing a
democratizing influence on our culture.
In sum, while mechanical automation may have created a society of slaves to
modem conveniences and unfulfilling work, digital automation holds more promise for
improving our lives without enslaving us to the technology.
2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 1-14
2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 2-6
2017届高中英语一轮复习精品学案:【外研版】选修7 Module1—6
2017届高中英语一轮复习精品学案:【外研版】必修4 Module1—6
2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练:14 必修5 Unit 14(北师大版含解析)
2017届高中英语一轮复习精品学案:【外研版】选修6 Module1—6
2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 2-12
2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 2-20
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2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 2-19
人教英语一轮复习
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2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 1-17
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2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练:17 选修6 Unit 17(北师大版含解析)
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2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练:21 选修7 Unit 21(北师大版含解析)
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2017届高考英语一轮复习专题讲学案:专题03 形容词和副词(解析版)
2017届高中英语一轮复习精品学案:【外研版】必修3 Module1—6
2017届高考英语一轮复习考点规范练:22 选修8 Unit 22(北师大版含解析)
2017届高考英语一轮复习专题讲学案:专题15 完形填空(解析版)
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2017高考英语一轮复习(大纲版)精品课件 2-10
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