冲击波英语专八作文范文赏析:核能的利用与开发

写作题目

We have been living in the nuclear age for over half a century. Since the first atomic bombs were developed, nuclear technology has provided governments with the ability to totally destroy the planet. Yet technology has been put into positive use as an energy source and in certain areas of medicine. Is nuclear technology a danger to life on Earth? What are benefits and risks associated with its use? Write an essay of about 400 words. You should supply an appropriate title for your essay.

In the first part of your essay you should state clearly your main argument, and in the second part you should support your argument with appropriate details. In the last part you should bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or make a summary.

Marks will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriateness. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks .

写作思路

核能的利用与开发是当下的一个热门话题。本题在一开始就介绍了有关核能的众所周知的危险和益处，这些观点都有道理，也都是有据可查的。因此，对于这样的一个题目，我们的态度可以是如下两种：一种是认为核能的优点很多，虽然有危险，但可以控制；另一种是认为虽然核能有优点，但会给人类造成巨大的威胁，因此最好不再利用。不管采取哪种观点，我们都最好加入让步段，这样会使观点看起来更为全面，毕竟，谈核能的优点而对危险避而不谈，或是谈危险而忽视它的优点都是不可取的。

范文

Nuclear Technology: Beneficial or Disastrous?

One question that has caused a great deal of controversy over the years is nuclear technology. Although it offers a number of advantages in world peace and green power, it is also a dangerous technology. Nuclear weapons pose the greatest threat to life. Even the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes also carries some serious risks. In this essay, however, I intend to show how the benefits of such technology counterbalance its disadvantages.

The opponents of nuclear power generally base their arguments on the danger it presents to the world. There are two main dangers: the risk of nuclear warfare and the nuclear disasters. The danger of nuclear war is obvious and if one thinks about Chernobyl, it is easy to understand why people are worried about nuclear power, as it can cause major suffering.

There are, however, good reasons for believing that nuclear technology is generally advantageous. The first of these is that there has not been a major world conflict since the invention of nuclear weapons. Although nuclear weapons have enlarged the mechanism of war by threatening to kill more people more secretly and more horribly than those of the past, it is generally agreed that such weapons should be the last thing to be thought of as a means to win a war because there would be no winner in any nuclear conflict. If anything goes wrong, the scale of destruction on human lives and civilization is beyond imagination. The nightmare of Hiroshima is a vivid memory, so nuclear weapons hidden in stock somewhere serve to maintain world peace by theory of counter-attack .

The other most significant benefit relates to the environment. Perhaps the greatest danger facing our world today is a combination of global warming and the greenhouse effect. This danger is caused partly by burning fossil fuel, which leads to our polluted atmosphere. Nuclear power, however, is a much greener alternative which does not have such negative effects.

Already power plants have been in operation in a number of countries. These are successful examples to be followed. All in all, although it is true that nuclear weapons pose the greatest threat to life, the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes is really benefi cial. In all appearances, the fear of war is overcome by the need for economic development.

★用词亮点

controversy ：争议

counterbalance ：抵消 ，使平衡

opponent ：反对者

the scale of destruction ：破坏的范围

counter-attack ：反击

alternative ：替换物

in operation ：工作 中，运转着

★句式亮点

Although nuclear weapons have enlarged the mechanism of war by threatening to kill more people more secretly and more horribly than those of the past, it is generally agreed that such weapons should be the last thing to be thought of as a means to win a war because there would be no winner in any nuclear conflict.

本句的长度是考生作文中难得一见的。本句的主干为让步状语从句，其从句部分包含了并列结构和比较结构，而主句部分则包含了主语从句和原因状语从句。本句不仅句式复杂 ，而且还在句末使用了虚拟语气“because there would be no winner in any nuclear conflict”，说明了爆发核战争的不可能性。本句句意为：虽然核武器 由于比以前的武器能更秘密地、更恐怖地杀死更多的人而扩大了战争机制，但人们普遍赞同这样一个观点，那就是这样的武器应该是最不应该用来赢得战争的，因为在任何核冲突中都没有赢家。

The nightmare of Hiroshima is a vivid memory, so nuclear weapons hidden in stock somewhere serve to maintain world peace by theory of counter-attack.

本句用连词so将前后两句连接成因果关系复合句。很多同学喜欢将so放在句首，甚至还有些同学在so后添加逗号，这些做法都是不符合语法的。这是因为so只是连接因果关系复合句前后两个小句的连词而已，如果需要在句首表示“因此”这样的意思，可以用However 、Thus等替代。本句句意为：广岛的噩梦大家还记忆犹新，因此，由于忌惮反击，藏在某个地方的核武器也可以帮助我们维护世界和平。

★篇章亮点

本文作者认为核能的优点抵消了它给人类带来的威胁。这既承认了核能的危险性，又明确地表明了自己的态度：即核能功大于过。同时，这也显示了作者是在非常理性地思考这一问题。既然功大于过，那么就需要简要地介绍一下核能的“过”，因此，在第二段中，作者用几句话介绍了反对核能者的两大理由，这些危险也是已经被整个社会认可的。针对这两大理由，作者马上提出了核能相应的优点：一是它可以给人以震慑，这样反而维护了世界和平；二是和平利用核能有利于环境保护。这两点正是对反对者提出的核能给人类带来的两大威胁（核战争、核污染）的有力驳斥。综上所述，整篇文章中作者紧扣主题句，先破后立，驳斥时针对性强、有理有据，结构安排合理，很好地完成了题目的要求。