Urgently seeking an essay of about 2000 words

Even though we live in a capitalist society, I still have to believe that people's motivation to achieve success comes more from personal fulfillment than wealth, despite my cynicism. In Chekhov's short story "The Bet," a man agrees to spend fifteen years of his life in prison in exchange for a million dollars. Obviously, the motivation for such an extreme bet is money, but by the time the sentence is over, the man no longer cares about money. After years of reflection and reading Shakespeare, the Bible, and textbooks, he actually turned his nose up at the money he had so assiduously sought, the money he had spent fifteen years of his life for. Instead of going to the banker's to get his money, he continued to live the solitary life he had fallen in love with, and stopped worrying about money and wealth.

In the psychology classroom, when it comes to motivation, one of the first things that students study is the relationship between external stimuli and the internal tendencies of the individual. Any textbook will tell you that studies have shown that if a task makes a child happy, it is more likely to make the child give the task his or her best effort than it is to give the child an external reward. If getting good grades in school makes a child feel better about himself, that promotes good grades more than a parent rewarding a child every time he makes the honor roll. I agree with this theory of motivation because it is reflected in every day life. Every night, documentary television shows tell us about the importance of money and honor, but if my sister cared about money and honor, then she would have gone to college after high school. However, she knew that school studies would not bring her happiness, and she was not going to go to school and suffer for four more years because a college degree would lead to a better job. Right now, she doesn't make a lot of money from her job, but she loves life and enjoys the way she lives it. She gets much more joy from answering the phone and dealing with people at work than she does from sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture. Last year, I myself was forced to look at my priorities in life. I grew up working hard in school and was an honor roll student every semester because I enjoyed it. I didn't force subjects I didn't like into my schedule because taking Calculus and Economics would make colleges look good for you. With my grade point average in all subjects, I was perfectly qualified to join the National Merit Scholarship Association, but I decided against it because while it would have impressed a lot of college admissions officers, it wouldn't have given me pleasure. Instead, I spent my time studying creative writing, art history, and other subjects that I truly loved.

There is a pleasure principle in psychology, which basically means that people will do what makes them feel the most pleasure or the least pain. I think this is true, and I get the impression that the happiness most people seek has nothing to do with money or luxury. That may not be true in terms of the media, as advertisements say that people dream of being like Trump, the real estate magnate, but that's not real life. Real life is that my neighbor has made tending to other people's gardens his second career, and even though it pays poorly, he enjoys working outdoors with two hands when the weather is nice. I'm sure there's no one who wouldn't care about winning the lottery, but it's sad and unrealistic to suggest that winning the lottery is the main motivation in life. Someone who is paid a pittance but is happy will live longer than someone who works 64 hours a week in an intense job all year round and earns a lot of money. Aren't there people who are intensely driven by money? Literature, psychology, and our own life experiences tell us this is never the case, and I'm sure it will be in the future.

Let's start with A Cup of Ocean.

The question clearly suggests that the candidates "require a comprehensive understanding of the material", "do not detach from the content of the material and its meaning of the composition". The content of the material can be summarized in three aspects: (a) China's national book reading rate continues to go down; (b) literate people do not read the reasons: "no time" "not accustomed to" "can not afford to buy ", "no place to borrow"; (iii) the online reading rate is growing rapidly. Material meaning (implied information, that is, the scope of the main idea of writing) also has three points: (a) analyze the national book rate continues to go down the trend, the rapid growth of online reading reasons, pros and cons, etc., as well as the relationship between the two; (b) literate people do not read for the reasons (one or more) to say that the view; (c) these two aspects of the meaning of the writing can be combined, or you can write only one of the aspects, or one of the aspects (c) The two meanings can be combined, or only one of them can be written, or one of them can be written. The so-called choice "a side (including positive, negative), a perspective", is this meaning. So, what is written in A Cup of Ocean?

First, it says that "today's reading seems to have been "buried with the grass", faded out of people's field of vision", that is, fewer people read; as for why fewer people read, the author said that "people are used to the busyness of the day". As to why the book will be less, the author said that "people are used to the whole day's busyness", the result is "no one yearn for a moment of leisure", and "only to steal a moment of leisure people can be in the mood to appreciate the fragrance of a book, chewing a cup of water hidden in the sea". From these few sentences, this essay mainly holds the content of the material "no time" "not accustomed to", from the opposite side that people are now accustomed to "busy all day". But the reader can not help but ask: what are people busy? All day rubbing mahjong, play poker, often catch dinner, play games, these people are indeed very "busy", which can indeed be a "no time" as a reason to read, but this reason is sufficient? But is this a good reason? Is it only reading that is "leisurely"? Lying on the soft sofa listening to music, watching TV is not "leisure"? How can I "steal a moment of leisure" to read a little book? ......

This paragraph is not off-topic, but the author of his own point of view is not developed in depth and fully discussed, leaving the reader a series of questions.

Secondly, the author says, "Even if technology is so advanced that all books become electronic and online, people who read still exist, because life goes on, and because you learn to read in order to learn to live. On the surface, this sentence holds the relationship between book reading and online reading in the content (a), but in essence, it obliterates the difference between the two: book (paper) reading and online reading are the same, are readers of reading, no more books (paper), "people who read still exist". --This is more or less deviated from the material implied by the substance of the connotation. Of course, if you can say a good reason to prove that the words are reasonable, "rebound pipa", can also be considered to fit the topic, but the reason? "Because life goes on, because learning to read is the only way to learn to live"? This reason itself is false "learn to read to learn to live", there are so many illiterate people in history, they can not read how to read? Have they never lived in this world? Also, do people who have "learned to live" still need to read? What is the relationship between reading and life? According to the author's understanding, reading is an inseparable part of the life of those who like to read, or even a very important part, and those who don't read still live their lives, only that their spiritual life may not be as rich as those who like to read.

How can a false justification prove an argument?

Not only this, the paragraph just before the "who is not in the company of the book more and more full of life, more and more beautiful," followed by "refused to read people may still be wandering, still looking for," this is not self-contradictory? (There are similar places, limited space, no longer listed.)

In addition to these two paragraphs, almost all of them are centered on the topic of "reading", with little connection to the meaning of the material.

These two paragraphs are almost entirely devoted to the topic of "reading", with little connection to the meaning of the material.

The first paragraph of the three prose that "a book" is "a cup of sea". --But what is the implication of this statement (the same as "a leaf knows the fall")? One book is enough!

The first sentence of the second paragraph: "The ancients said, 'Know the books and attain the rites'." Said the purpose or result of reading books of the ancients. According to this first sentence should be the center of this paragraph, at least also play a transitional role, but the following is written, and the sentence has nothing to do.

What does the fourth paragraph mean? It seems to be: no matter what is read, and no matter how to read, as long as read, you can learn "'a flower a world' of splendor, and that 'look back to the place of depression, but also no wind and rain is no sunshine' of the tranquil ". (This seems to be "on topic", but is it realistic? I'm not sure if I've ever been to the same place before.)

I don't understand what the sixth paragraph says. There are so many things in this essay that make it hard to understand! The only thing I know is that I've been talking about "reading" and "life" over and over again.

Looking at the whole text, "a book, is a life" is repeated four times, it looks like this is the main theme of the article, right? What is the meaning of this sentence? Does it match the meaning of the material?

- The material composition is different from the topic of the composition, from the theory, we all know what to say, but when it comes to the specific composition is blind. You see, even the most on-topic two paragraphs are hardly self-explanatory, so how did the essay give full marks? Mr. Cao Wenxuan, a well-known professor at Peking University, knows that the college entrance examination essay can be "masked" and "cheated" by the "cats and dogs", and frankly speaking: I myself am a literary person, and I feel that no matter what, I have to Help your son to get a good grade in the language exam of the college entrance examination. What to do? I drilled a week for the child, made six model essays, and then give the child "lessons", told the child a variety of essay sets are no more than these six: three narrative essays, three argumentative essays, the college entrance examination essay, no matter how to change are not the same. I let my child spend a week memorizing them, and mastered the countermeasures to cope with the changes. In the end, my child's essay score in the college entrance examination was close to a perfect score. (Quoted from "Children's Composition and Life" in Creative Composition - Junior High School Edition, October 2005) "A Cup of Sea Water" is just such a "memorized" composition spelled out according to the test questions.

This kind of composition in the full score of the composition and a lot, as long as a little attention can be found.

I don't need to ramble on about the American candidates' essays, which are a glass of pure water that can be read at a glance, unlike the Chinese candidates' essays, which are so cloudy and confusing. They were given only 25 minutes to write (unimaginable.)! (although here is the advantage of the ease of writing in English and not having to formulate a question). From the American students' essays, we know what is meant by frankness, sincerity, individuality, and independence of character; that it is "my word", that it is "written like a person", that it is "tightly sewn", that it is "like a man", that it is "like a man", that it is "like a woman", that it is "like a man", that it is "like a man".

If you want to say, "I'm not sure what you're talking about," I'd like to say, "I'm not sure what you're talking about.

If we make an analogy, the former is a transsexual plastic surgery fashion model, the latter is Jian Jun simple western cowboys; the former is a golden lotus, the latter is the foot of the sky; the former is a light white reed, the latter is a heavy red sorghum; the former is a balloon, the latter is a lead balloon. Isn't it obvious which is true, which is false, which is beautiful, which is ugly, which is important?

Another analogy: if the test questions compared to the sea, the United States candidates are free to swim in the sea, while the Chinese candidates are like a dragonfly, always fluttering on the water surface, just from time to time with the tail point of the water (point); the United States candidates to play seriously, play tired, Chinese candidates to play the "dashing", play the "beauty". American candidates play seriously and tiredly, while Chinese candidates play "dashingly" and "beautifully". Why is there such a big difference? "The wheel band makes it so! Please read the comments from different tutors:

Chinese side

Side comments:

① The poetic prose is intriguing. The opening of the text that is full of personalized elegance, is really a great skill of the examination room essay, because it is easy to preempt the momentum of the teacher's heart at once grabbed.

② book metaphor for life is not new, but this leisurely fit the title, can not say that the technique is not skillful.

③ to the book is "fading out of people's vision" alludes to the "national book reading rate continues to decline", so the topic, really high.

④ aptly categorize the readers, to see the big picture in a small way refractive life, quite a drop of water to hide the sea of the wonderful.

⑤ "Learning to read is the only way to learn to live", and this kind of realization is difficult to have without deep experience.

⑥ in the police in the metaphor to deepen the main idea and respond to the title, there is really a two birds with one stone.

Comment:

A cup of sea water! This chic title, immediately with the quantitative dislocation technique to whet the reader's appetite, so people can not help but look into it, which is the beauty of a well-drafted title. Then, the candidates open for comparison, that is, to Bo metaphors on the book interesting, alert and incisive; Cheng next, the writing style steeply turned, cut into reality, - readers see its less, cleverly alluded to the requirements of the "choose a side, a perspective"! -- "six years China's national book reading rate continues to decline", really wonderful with no trace, but also let people in its staccato pen, exquisite quotes, neat structure within the novel metaphor to appreciate the candidate's insights --Learning to read is the only way to learn to live". The last is still a metaphor to end, both echoing the beginning, deepening the main idea, but also make the whole text rounded natural, integrated.

The American side

The author focuses on examples from "literature, psychology, and our own life experiences" to make a powerful and insightful point: "Even though we live in a capitalist society, I have to believe that people are motivated to succeed more by personal fulfillment than by a sense of accomplishment. Even though we live in a capitalist society, I have to believe that people are motivated to succeed more by personal fulfillment than by wealth." The author demonstrates excellent critical skills by focusing on examples from "literature, psychology, and our own life experiences" to support this point of view. The essay begins with the example of the main character in Chekhov's short story "The Bet" who changes his life's pursuits, and continues with the psychological principle of "external stimuli and internal tendencies of the individual", and how it is reflected in the author and his sister, demonstrating once again an excellent critical thinking ability. The essay concludes with another psychological reference to the concept of the "pleasure principle," which reinforces the idea that "the happiness that most people seek is not about money or luxury," but rather about "personal fulfillment gained from doing good things. It is the "personal fulfillment that comes from doing good things". The text is well structured and focused, with a high degree of wholeness, consistency and fluency in the presentation of ideas. The author's use of language is skillful, and the sentences she uses are varied and appropriate.

To summarize, the author's writing ability is clearly and fully demonstrated in this paper, thus earning full marks.

Note: The SAT Writing Test is scored by experienced high school teachers, college teachers who teach English, writing, and language arts, and teachers of other subjects that involve a great deal of writing. Raters base their scoring on scoring rules and model essays. Each essay is scored individually by two raters on a scale of 1-6, with 6 being the highest score.

The above comments show that teachers in China and the United States have completely different grading standards for college entrance exam essays. The Chinese side emphasizes rhetoric, appreciates skill, encourages showing off, and instigates charm; the U.S. side appreciates knowledge, emphasizes rationality, stresses individuality, and respects independent personality.

From the content of the essay, American students' essays are also quite "alternative": the opening paragraph says "I am cynical" - the ideas in the text do not conform to the mainstream of social consciousness! --"Documentary TV programs tell us about the importance of money and honor", but the candidate said "no"; one of the reasons for his argument can be One of the reasons for his argument could be "to live longer", which may not be in line with the values of most markers. However, the American markers were understanding and tolerant, and they highly appreciated the essay and gave it full marks. From this we can see that this American candidate is lucky - of course he will not be the only one who is lucky. In contrast, the fate of our Chinese candidates' "alternative" essays can be described as one in the clouds and one in the dust: zero points! Not only to "kill the chicken", but also to "scare the monkey" (to show it to the public): whoever is "alternative" again, will be killed! --And it's done every year. Of course, the intention is to kill all, but the result is always contrary to the wish: "Wildfire can't be eliminated, but it grows again in the spring." What can teachers do?

Needless to say, the U.S. candidates in the "alternative" in the U.S. teachers, the performance is extremely natural, calm, and used to normal, so the marking teacher will not be stimulated; and the Chinese candidates in the "alternative" in the gas over the words, its language, techniques or exaggeration, or irony, word ridicule, sentence "humor", such as a dagger, like a shotgun, stab you "no negotiation" (this is actually the late Qing Dynasty condemnation of the novels and Lu Xun's tradition of miscellaneous writings); the mainstream social consciousness and the authority of the marking teacher by a public The mainstream social consciousness and the authority of the markers are openly challenged, and the markers often can't stand it, so they take revenge by marking zero. Obviously, the American candidates and examiners are rational and sensible, while China is more emotional and emotional, the candidates are so, and the examiners are not necessarily more rational and cultured. Therefore, if the American teachers to assess China's zero points essay, never give zero points - in their rules, as long as they are not off-topic, can not give zero points, but very likely to give high marks; if you let the American teachers to assess China's full-point essay, it is likely that more than half of them will not be full marks, and some will even be in the passing line below. On the other hand, if Chinese teachers were to grade American perfect essays, they would surely downgrade a large number (or even the vast majority) of them. This is inevitable, because in their view, these essays lack literary merit.

Why the contrast? The reasons are both historical and practical.

From the political background, China has a history of more than two thousand years of feudal autocracy, and the idea of political autocracy is y rooted. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Qingyu's "Boudoir Ideas Dedicated to Zhang Shuibu" said, "Last night, the red candle was stopped in the cave room, and I was waiting for the dawn to pay my respects to my aunt and uncle in front of the hall. I asked my husband in a low voice after I had made up, "Is there any time to draw eyebrows?" It is this ideology that is reflected. Although history has entered the twenty-first century, but, whether it is people's ideology, or social reality, when Mr. Lu Xun denounced and hated the "masters" are still taking the "master" frame, "lackeys" still have to be servile. "still have to be slavish, lowly life, examiners and candidates always maintain an ambiguous "mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship", or even master and maid relationship - master teachers of those sprawling college entrance examination essay guide The masterpieces are the proof; the composition that does not allow anti-social mainstream consciousness is also a mirror of this social reality. In this political context, the teachers who hold the power of marking are always "standing at the height of the times", with a strong sense of "political responsibility for the society" to formulate marking standards, and to strengthen the orthodox and orthopedic nature of the "theme". "orthodoxy and importance, and according to this standard" strict check "; and general teachers, according to the established" scoring standards "scoring is already" familiar ", a see "alternative" essay, a wave of the pen: zero points! Both save time and trouble, why not? Of course, there are always arguments, but "small witch" can not fight "big witch", not to mention that most of the "small witch" is still standing in the "big witch" side. What is more, most of the "little wizards" are on the side of the "big wizards". The United States is the first country in the world to enter a democratic society, although it is still "capitalist", but their teachers do not have to have a strong sense of "political responsibility" like us, they can downplay the ideology, strictly from the disciplinary and academic point of view to grade.

In terms of cultural background, China is an ancient country with a history of civilization that spans thousands of years, and is rich in traditional cultural deposits. These cultural deposits have both essence and dregs. From the source, there is the realism of the Book of Songs, the romanticism of the Li Sao; later, there is the pursuit of the beauty of the form of the fugue, but also pay attention to the "sinews" of the Tongcheng School of prose. From Qu Yuan to Sima Xiangru to Wang Bo, a lineage of literary talent has a long history and has been loved by literati of all times; and from the Poetry Scriptures to the ancient literary movement to the Tongcheng School, a lineage of quality and realism has been continued and stretched (continuously). Liang Shiqiu said his own article "there is a little bit of hard and upright air", should be attributed to the year of a Chinese teacher (Liang Shiqiu, "one of my Chinese teacher") is an example. Only in the literati, the former more marketable, more popular, often forming a strong, so that the latter can not be defeated. The following joke reflects this state of affairs:

Xi Ning (the year of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty) did not change the section (the reform of the imperial examinations) before the Wu Companions Xianliang Luzhou (now Hefei, Anhui Province) Professor, tasted teach the students essay must be used inverted language, such as "the name of the Yanran of the Le," and so on, then the power of the text. Luzhou scholars then made a mockery of the fugue said "Professor in Lu, the name of the friends surnamed Wu, a large part of the intention of the head of no, all of the Ba Nose (from) of no." --A Cup of Canghai" is exactly the inverse of "A Cup of Canghai", and the whole article is also a specimen of "a large part of no intention" and "all without Ba Niao And the whole essay is a specimen of "a big paragraph with no meaning" and "a whole lot of nothing": how similar history is!

There are many such jokes. According to the "ear Tan":

"The eunuchs have a history of students, meet the big than, but also the supervision of the examination, the class sent to the countryside test. A danno (danno, eunuchs crown, here borrowed eunuchs) is not deep book of righteousness, said: 'This is not necessary to essay on, only a pair of good will take.' Because of the pair of cloud 'Zi Lu ride fat horse'. The students bowed their heads and laughed anonymously, and a crafty person responded: 'Yao Shun rode a sick pig.' Danno said, "Good." -- "A cup of sea water" is not also because of the literally unintelligible platitudes, bo metaphors favored it!

Since the ancient examiner more pedantic, never crafty always first, no wonder the learned man again and again lamented: "Heng Wen, know what the article? The first time I saw this was when I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and the second time I was a student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Throughout the ages, almost all of the scholarly successes have been based on literary merit, and the reason for this is that the main reason may be that successive "professors" are mostly shallow and pedantic "quasi-talents" "quasi-experts". The reason. These "quasi-talents" "quasi-experts" on the eight-legged text as well as gorgeous words have a special predilection for their own predilections to take the text, of course, the result can only be a "fallacy of the circulation of the" The result will only be "the spread of falsehoods" and "infinite harm". If it is to let Wang Bo and other real talent to assess the paper, I think they must not like the fake show of literary style; if it is to let Ye Shengtao, Lv Shuxiang these real experts to assess the paper, I think even more will not give those fake show of "literary style" of the essay to full marks. The United States is an immigrant country with a history much younger than ours. In their history and culture, they do not have the tradition of showing off their "literary talent" like we do, and it is not necessary for me to expand on this. This is why American professors are so dissatisfied with the lack of rationality in the writing of Chinese students: "It's not easy to be lyrical" [see Sun Shaozhen's "Problems of Emotional Propositions and Intellectual Potential - Comment on the 2006 Gao Kao Essay Questions" in Language Learning (2006, 7-8)].

The Chinese language is the treasure of the Chinese nation, the pride of the Chinese people, but in another sense, it has been the shackle and shroud of generations of Chinese schoolchildren. Difficult word shape, a lot of word meaning, complicated word sound,...... all tortured the readers. Ten or so years of reading time, a lot of time spent in this kind of difficult to recognize the memory. As I said in Mr. Nanxiang's "Fish in the Throat", which I just quoted in my "Open Letter to Mr. Xu Jiang" (see Language Teaching and Research - Teachers' Edition, Issue 10, 2006), the content that students "forget after the exams" and that "neither adds to the amount of knowledge nor has any value in terms of application, but is a complete waste of time", is full of problems and difficulties for readers. The content of "no increase in the amount of knowledge, no application value, a complete waste of time" is filled with homework and test papers. This "knowledge" that is "useless and not considered as knowledge is a waste of students' time as well as their brain power and eyesight". (May 1998 issue of the "Essays") In addition, there are endless "reading analysis", a lot of plausible things forced on the students, the introduction of the students even teachers themselves can not come out of the "labyrinth"; there is even more writing in endless The "counseling" of teaching writing "secrets", coupled with the "orientation" of the college entrance examination essay, wrapping the student's feet into "three-inch golden lotus! The "guidance" of the college entrance examination essay has wrapped the students' feet into a "three-inch golden lotus". --Can you say that Chinese students are not suffering? Mr. Lu Shuxiang has raised the question of why the efficiency of Chinese language teaching is not high, and I think the fundamental reason is here.

- seems to be far away, or back to the main topic: I really hope that the college entrance examination in the "alternative" composition to play the history of zero points on this draws a period; I really hope that the Chinese students to the sky foot, and the American students, the same freedom to run!