2015年5月SAT寫作范文及解析(北美第二道題)
“Do people feel truly happy when their achievements benefit others?”
之前對College Board 命題所涉范圍與概念有所了解的同學們對本題應不覺陌生，因為 “happy”和“happiness”是SAT作文考試題庫中最常被討論的話題之一。在過去近十年的考卷中，“happy” 曾以各種方式被提及或考察，例如 “Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy?”、“Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goals other than their own happiness?”、“Is it best to determine how wise people are by how happy they are?”、“Do material possessions make us truly happy?”， 等等?？偟膩碚f，同學們在復習備考的過程中，需要對“happy”的涵義、人與“happy”的關系、影響“happy”的各種客觀主觀因素有事先的思考與積累，才能夠自如應對這類題目。
單就本次考試而言，題目要求考生探討 “happy” 與一個客觀因素——“人的成就對他人的助益”之間的關系。由于 “happy” 本身是一種主觀感受，因此對其影響因素的判斷也是見仁見智?？忌瓤梢粤⒄?“快樂是自己的，與能否幫到別人無關，只與自己的成就或享受有關”，當然也可以持“對于立志于澤及大眾的人而言，只有自己的成就對別人有益，才能真正感受到快樂”。由于考生平日積累的素材多為對社會有所貢獻的名人事例，因此對多數考生而言，選擇后一種觀點在素材選擇上的自由度更大?，F僅就第二種觀點進行簡單的寫法解析，輔以范文，供廣大考生參考。
每一段例證的前半部分比較簡單，只要運用所積累的名人案例，論證“他(她)的成就是如何惠及他人”即可。難點是后半部分，即論證“對他人的幫助是如何為自己帶來真正的快樂的”。這里最好對例子主人公的價值觀作簡要的闡述，說明“他(她)就是以幫助他人為自我價值實現方式的人”。這樣的話，后半部分的邏輯就能夠建立了。具體示例，請參考以下范文。
2015年5月SAT寫作范文
When questioned about “how will you get truly happy”, not every one may come up with a quick answer, since there’s a reasonable amount of accuracy to equal “happiness” to “the ultimate goal of one’s life”, and it is not easy to find the surest path to that goal. However, one thing is clear that the way leading people to happiness varies. For those who favor possession or consumption, a check may satiate all. For those who enjoy the process of “strive and achieve”, a golden medal is the best reward. For those who maintain that their life value may only be measured by how much they have contributed to their community, it is not their achievements, but the benefit others could reap from those achievements that really matters. Gao Xingjian and Sam Walton are among the third group of people and could best embody their spirits.
For Gao Xingjian, the Nobel Prize has brought him to his readers and then happiness back to himself. Gao is the first writer in mainland China who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unlike other winners who may receive the reward with the cheers of their long-time fans, Gao remains as a nobody to the general public until he went to Sweden. Recording something that may cast rocks to the authority, most of Gao’s literature works are banned in his home country. Fortunately, the Nobel Prize becomes the best introduction for him and tons of readers get to access his unique insight into the contemporary life in China by reading his thoughts. When talking about how the Nobel Prize has brought him happiness, Gao said, “I won’t be this happy if I’m a ‘public writer’ and receive the prize with that identity. To tell the truth, I don't really care if I have produced some masterpiece or get any trophy for it. What counts is how many readers have ever read my words and how many of those characters have stirred something in their heart. And now the prize grants me that chance. I dare to say no Nobel winner will be more delightful and thankful than me.” As a writer who weighs the sheer piece of illumination he may serve to others than the overwhelming sea of wisdom he can explore only by himself, Gao has found true happiness by “going public”.
Similar to the giant in the field of literature, Sam Walton, a business tycoon, feels truly happy when he has brought fortune to his employees. Walton, as his family name implies, is the head of the Walmart Store and the one who has realized the miracle of “you can always find a Walmart store to help you find what you want”. Thanks to his successful business, Walton has accumulated a titanic amount of wealth and won world reputation. However, being a billionaire seemingly cannot satisfy Walton. He dreams of realizing himself by realizing the dream of a lot of others. To be specific, he tried to share wealth with his employees through a big plan which may look bold at that time—he sold the stocks of Walmart to the ordinary workers in the store in a relatively low price during the process of IPO. Owing to the magic of time, the store expanded to an unimaginable extent and all the employees who have received the initial benefit become rich. Although Walton’s pool of wealth has shrunk because of sharing, a fact which may drive most of people to depression, Walton is on the contrary happy about that, since his money may have enabled a father to send his son to college, or saved a patient’s life whose medication is unaffordable to ordinary people—in a word, truly benefited others. For him, it is this true beneficence that brings true happiness.
In short, some people treat benefiting others as their life goal and they can gain true happiness if they could realize it.
