GMAT考试写作指导：Issue写作范文二十

　　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.