GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-16

Topic:

Public buildings reveal much about the attitudes and values of the society that builds them. Today's new schools, court houses, airports, and libraries, for example, reflect the attitudes and values of today's society."

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

The extent to which new public buildings reflect societal values and attitudes depends on whether one considers a building’s intended function or its design. In the former sense, new public buildings do mirror society, while in the latter sense they do not.

The intended uses of the new public buildings say something about our priorities and values as a society. For example, proliferation of public cultural centers and schools reflects a societal concern for the arts and education, respectively, while new prison construction indicates a heightened concern for safety and security.

The design of new buildings, however, fails to mirror society, for two reasons. First, modern democratic states do not have the luxury of making cultural "statements" at any expense. Functionality and fiscal accountability dictate the face of public architecture today. Second, public participation in the process is limited. New buildings typically reflect the architect’s eccentric vision or the preference of a few public officials, not the populace’s values and attitudes. In England, for example, Prince Charles oversees and approves the design of new public buildings. The resulting conventional designs suggest his unwillingness to break from tradition. Yet it would seem unfair to assign his lack of vision to English society. In Denver, the controversial design of a new airport met with public outcry for its appearance, expense, and lack of functionality. Does the airport reflect the values of Denver’s denizens? Probably not.

In conclusion, while modern public buildings seem to reflect the values and attitudes of a society in their function, they do not necessarily do so in their design.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-17

Topic:

Some people believe that the best approach to effective time management is to make detailed daily and long-term plans and then to adhere to them. However, this highly structured approach to work is counterproductive. Time management needs to be flexible so that employees can respond to unexpected problems as they arise.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

The speaker claims that a detailed time-management plan fails to afford adequate flexibility to deal with the unexpected at the workplace. He seems to offer an either/or choice between planning ones claim is overly simplistic, since it is possible for a detailed time-management plan to also provide flexibility.

Working at any job-without a detailed road map for the immediate and longer-term can trivialize the efforts of both employees and organizational units so that all their efforts become aimless. The only sensible way to proceed is to consider first onset really contribute to long-term job goals or to organizational objectives.

A detailed time-management system need not be inflexible. Knowing which items to eliminate from a “to-do”list gives a time-management plan its flexibility. When the unexpected arises, it can be judged according to its role in fulfilling long-term goals. If what at first seemed urgent turns out not to be important, it can be deferred to another time or ignored altogether. But if something unexpected needs handling in order to fulfill an important business or life plan， it will take priority over lesser activities in the daily or weekly schedule. For instance， I might have a meeting planned for one o’clock with coworkers to decide the location of an awards banquet， and find out at noon that an important client is thinking of switching to our competitor but wants to talk with me first. I can easily discern that the banquet meeting is less important than a critical meeting with a valuable client.

In conclusion, effective time management must involve a detailed scheduling of tasks. But it also requires determining which tasks are more central than others to the satisfaction of long-term objectives. This way, the daily or weekly schedule becomes not just a list of tasks to check off， but a flexible plan that can accommodate important urgencies while allowing us to bypass less significant scheduled tasks and ignore unimportant interruptions.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-18

Topic:

If the primary duty and concern of a corporation is to make money, then conflict is inevitable when the corporation must also acknowledge a duty to serve society.

Instructions:

From your perspective, how accurate is the above statement? Support your position with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

We take for granted that a primary objective and obligation of a corporation is to maximize profits. But does this mean a corporation cannot also fulfill its obligations to society? The speaker claims that the two duties necessarily conflict. In my view, however, a corporation‘s duties to maximize shareholder wealth and to serve society will at times coincide and at times-conflict; and when they do conflict, neither takes automatic precedence over the other.

Beyond the obvious duty to maximize shareholder wealth，corporations indeed owe a duty to serve society，especially the immediate community，which permits corporations to operate in exchange for an implicit promise that the corporations will do no harm and will bring some benefit to the community. These duties can often be fulfilled together. For example，a successful corporation brings jobs and related economic benefit to the community. And，by contributing to community activities and changes in other ways，the corporation gains a reputation for social responsibility that often helps it become even more successful.

However， at times these duties do conflict. Consider，for instance，a company that unknowingly leaks into the ground a toxic substance that threatens to contaminate local groundwater. While the company may favor an inexpensive containment program，community leaders may want the company to go further by cleaning up and restoring their environment—even if the expense will force the company to leave and take jobs from the community. Whatever the company decides，it should not assume that protecting profits automatically outweighs social obligation. In many instances it does not，as highly visible tobacco，automobile safety，and asbestos liability cases aptly illustrate. Such examples reveal a limit as to how far a corporation can ethically go in trading off the well being of the community for the sake of its own profits.

In sum，corporations have duties both to do well and to do good. Although conflict between these duties is not inevitable，it does occur. Determining which duty takes precedence in time of conflict requires careful consideration of all the ethical ramifications of each alternative.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-19

Topic:

Some employers who recruit recent college graduates for entry-level jobs evaluate applicants only on their performance in business courses such as accounting, marketing and economics. However, other employers also expect applicants to have a broad background in such courses as history, literature and philosophy.

Instructions:

Do you think that, in the application process, employers should emphasize one type of background - either specialization in business courses or a more varied academic preparation - over the other? Why or why not? Develop your position by using reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

In recruiting for entry-level jobs, should employers stress a broad liberal arts education, a technical business background, or should employers favor neither one over the other? In my view, while the ideal job candidate has significant academic experience in both realms, whether employers should favor one type of background over the other depends on the nature of the particular job and the anticipated length of employment.

First, a strong business background is more critical for some entry-level jobs than for others. Fledgling accountants, financial analysts, and loan officers cannot perform optimally without a solid academic background in accounting, finance, and banking. Even in sales of financial products and services, new employees need extensive technical knowledge to educate the customer and to be effective salespeople. However, in other entry-level positions—such as personnel, advertising and marketing—technical business knowledge may not be as critical as a broad experience with various types of people and an enlightened view of different cultures.

Second, the employer's hiring decision should also depend on the anticipated length of employment. In recruiting short-term workers, especially for positions that are labor intensive and where judgment and experience are not of paramount importance, the applicant who is strongly business-oriented may be the better choice. On the job, this applicant will probably be more pragmatic, and spend less time pondering the job and more time doing it. However, an employer looking for a long-term employee may be better served by hiring an applicant with a strong liberal arts background. By way of their more general education, these applicants have acquired a variety of general, transferable skills. They may be more adept than their colleagues with business-only backgrounds at recognizing and solving management problems, dealing with business associates from different cultures, and viewing-issues from a variety of perspectives. All of these skills contribute to a person's lifelong ability to adapt to and even anticipate changes that affect the company, and to move easily into new positions as such changes demand.

In sum, recruiters for entry-level jobs should avoid preferring one type of applicant over another in all cases. Instead, recruiters should consider the immediate technical demands of the job as well as the prospect of advancement and long-term employment within the company.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-20

Topic:

In this age of automation, many people complain that humans are becoming subservient to machines. But, in fact, machines are continually improving our lives.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

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 one’s 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.

嘉文博译郑重声明：