托福写作范例二三则
质疑与遵从/独立与从众：Roosevelt, Copernicus
创新与继承：Roosevelt, Copernicus, James Cameron
学校与学生：Bill Gates, James Cameron, Edison
合作与竞争/个人与他人/个人与集体：Bill Gates, Edison
领导与群众：Roosevelt, Mandela
成功根源/忠诚坚持：Edison, James Cameron
快乐源泉：Roosevelt, Edison
行为动机(帮助别人)：Bill Gates, Mandela
个人与命运/现实与理想：Bill Gates, James Cameron
真实与谎言/表象与实质：The Last Leaf, The Great Gatsby
(成功与失败：Roosevelt, Edison)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
◇ Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of United States, was a successful leader to guide American citizens to walk out of the shadow of the Great Depression.
◇ On October 29, 1929, the stock market crash triggered the Great Depression. Overnight, people lost everything. And the unemployment went up to 25%.
◇ Herbert Clark Hoover, then President of United States, insisted on the principles of classical economics, then widely considered correct by economists. They believed that the market had the ability to correct itself, so no major government intervention was needed. However, this time, that policy did not work.
◇ After analyzing the situation, Roosevelt found that this economic policy could generate a series of problems. For example, some industries would be monopolized by big companies and so on. He realized that government intervention was necessary to save the economy.
◇ With the slogan, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Roosevelt was elected as the president of the United States. Those words brought confidence and strength for American people to overcome the unprecedented financial crises.
◇ Roosevelt enacted the New Deal, which was categorized by historians as “relief, recovery and reform”.
◇ One of the most successful projects of the New Deal was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This giant public power project in the valley of the Tennessee River could not only regulate floods, but also provide cheaper electricity for residents along the Tennessee River.
Bill Gates
◇ Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is one of the richest people in the world.
◇ Through his hard work, Bill Gates earned billions of dollars.
◇ However, instead of living a luxurious life, Bill Gates donates 98% of his property to build up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
◇ The Foundation is made up of three main program areas: Global Development, Global Health, and the United States Program. With the belief that every life has equal value, the Foundation aims to enhance health care, reduce extreme poverty and expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in America.
◇ The Foundation has offered money to build 67 schools for national minorities and poor children and has donated 1.68 billion dollars to help African countries fight diseases. Now, with the help of the Foundation, nearly 2000 children can receive an education, and more than 10000 African children could be free of famine, poverty and diseases.
◇ Paul Allen was his partner.
◇ Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who knew each other from high school, were both interested in computer. They first got in touch with a mainframe in high school and quickly became known for their ability as programmers. Later, although Bill Gates started his new life in Harvard University while Paul Allen worked for Honeywell, they set up Microsoft with the belief to bring computers into the homes of everyday Americans. After writing BASIC, a simple programming language, for Altair together, Gates and Allen became more confident in their products. Based on the success with Altair, they designed a new strategy to gain widespread acceptance for their products by "bundling" their software with computers, rather than selling to consumers directly. With their hard work, Bill Gates and Paul Allen finally made their company worldwide and got succeed.
Nicolaus Copernicus
◇ In the field of astronomy, Copernicus pioneered the theory of heliocentrism.
◇ At that time, common sense dictated that the earth was at the center of the universe. Yet, with doubts about the conventional idea, Copernicus refused to accept what most people believed. He rejected the prevailing theory of geocentrism.
◇ Copernicus observed and calculated the position of the stars every night.
◇ Finally, he discovered that the sun, instead of the earth, was the center of the universe.
Thomas Edison
◇ Thomas Edison, an American inventor, scientist and businessman, invented thousands of apparatuses which had a great influence on people’s lives.
◇ One of his best inventions was the electric light bulb. The old electric bulb used carbon rod as filament but it produced glaring light and could not last for a long time. In order to improve it, Edison tried over 6000 kinds of materials to replace carbon rod, from various metal wires to hair. Having made more than 7000 experiments, Edison found that cotton threads could be used as filaments. However, cotton threads could only last for 45 hours. After 3 months, Edison successfully discovered carbonized bamboo filament as a suitable material. This perfect filament could last for 1200 hours and produced better light than those former bulbs.
◇ Every time he failed to choose a proper replacement for carbon rod, he did not lose heart but instead sought the reasons why he was wrong. Edison categorized different materials and in this way, he cut down some unnecessary work.
◇ Thomas Edison had brilliant ideas, but he had no time to deal with all the small details. Therefore, Edison hired a group of talented assistants, who were able to find proper materials to match Edison’s ideas. With the help of those talented assistants, Thomas Edison successfully found the appropriate material to use for filament and invented electric light bulbs that could last over 1200 hours. Also, every assistant had a different function. For example, Samuel Mott was a draftsman, who was in charge of sending official drawings to the United States Patent Office. Grosvenor Lowery, a lawyer, was responsible for raising money for Edison’s laboratory so that Edison would have the equipment to continue his experiments.
James Cameron
◇ James Cameron did not abandon his dream after a long struggle and in the end, he succeeded.
◇ When he was 14 years old, James Cameron was obsessed with the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. From then on, he had the idea to make his own science fiction films.
◇ By 1995, James Cameron had written the screenplay of Avatar himself. However, technology then was not advanced enough to make Avatar. In order to develop the techniques of science fiction film, James Cameron disappeared for 10 years after making his famous film, Titanic. During those 10 years, James Cameron gathered information and worked on improving the equipment used to create 3D animation. Finally, he invented a set of instruments, which was easy to carry, to shoot 3D animation. But not everything went as smoothly as he thought; James Cameron confronted the indifference of investors, the complaints of workers and other frustrations in those 10 years. Nevertheless, he did not give up because of those difficulties. Finally, in 2009, the movie Avatar was released. The film made use of cutting-edge 3D animation, going to the top of the world’s box office ranks and achieving great success.
◇ The former stereoscopic cameras, weighed four hundred and fifty pounds, were as large as washing machines. This giant camera was so cumbersome that stuntm.
