Official Guide: Practice Test #4
The old saying, be careful what you wish for, may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow ones perspective and encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of lifes difficulties. In fact, success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward the achievement of one goal often find that their lives are worse once success is achieved than they were before.
Assignment: Can success be disastrous? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Sample Essay - Score of 6
The power of success can be disastrous when placed in the wrong hands. Naturally, there are those who will always choose to manipulate conditions to succeed in their own endeavors, not taking into consideration the lives of those around them. On the other hand, there may be those who do not necessarily pursue selfish ends, but simply do not know where to take success once it has been achieved, thus resulting in their own self-sabotage.
Throughout history, we have seen success used wrongfully in the hands of the unworthy. Powerful leaders of nations, kingdoms, and empires, having succeeded in gaining leadership, have then used their influence wrongfully in achieving their own selfish goals. Nero, the Roman emperor who beat his pregnant wife to death and has been suspected of instigating the great fire of Rome in an attempt to boost his own political influence. Henry VIII of England, for whom women were beheaded for not bearing him a son, and who is rumored to have eaten eight chickens a night while English peasants starved. The notorious Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who carried out the Spanish Inquisition. The list is endless. Even in literature, we see the corruption and downfall of society and mankind as a whole as a result of the abuse of success in the possession of those who do not deserve it, as seen in William Shake- speares tragedy of King Lear. In the story, societal order is replaced with chaos when there is a power shift from Lear to his evil daughters, Regan and Goneril. This order only returns to a slight degree when virtue returns to England. Success is hazardous when awarded to the unvirtuous.
However, there may be those who are not necessarily evil of greedy in their pursuits, but merely do not know how to handle success. This proves to be just more disastrous to the individual than to anyone else, since it is the individual who will then sabotage his own success to return to his former comfort zone. Success is meant to be grown upon, not exploited or feared.
Success, when achieved by the unworthy or inexperienced, is a most disastrous element. Success is not about being happy at the expense of those about you it is about using ones newly gained happiness to improve the lives of others. If one reflects on the wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one will never go astray: To know that one person has breathed easier because you have lived -this is to have succeeded.
精选英语美文阅读:如何拥有幸福的婚姻
精选英语美文阅读:朋友的祈祷
精选英语美文阅读:你见或者不见我(中英对照)
Love Your Life 热爱生活
精选英语美文阅读:初吻 The First Kiss (双语)
浪漫英文情书精选:Boundless Love无边的爱
英文《小王子》温情语录
啊,我讨厌英语 Gullia Oops Jaime Pas Langlais 这首歌是不是也唱出你的心声了
浪漫英文情书精选:Is It Love?这是爱么?
2011年商务英语BEC初级口语词汇详解(29)
精选英语散文欣赏:月亮和井
浪漫英文情书精选:True Love Of My Life我的真爱
精美散文:感悟幸福
爱情英语十句
美文:爱的奇迹
精选英语散文欣赏:微笑挽救生命
精选英语美文阅读:无雨的梅雨天 (双语)
浪漫英文情书精选:The Best Surprise最好的惊喜
浪漫英文情书精选:Be In My Heart在我心中
精美散文:我就是我
精选英语美文阅读:爱他就把他留下来 (双语)
浪漫英文情书精选:Need You With Me需要你爱我
精选英语美文阅读:木鱼声声
浪漫英文情书精选:To Be Close To You Again再次靠近你
精美散文:抬起头来 希望就在眼前
浪漫英文情书精选:I'll Be Waiting我会等你
美文阅读:青春物语
双语美文:I Wish I Could believe
美文美诗:仙女对牧羊人的回答
浪漫英文情书精选:My Heart And Soul我的灵魂
| 不限 |
| 英语教案 |
| 英语课件 |
| 英语试题 |
| 不限 |
| 不限 |
| 上册 |
| 下册 |
| 不限 |