GRE作文范文 Issue-20

"In this age of intensive media coverage, it is no longer possible for a society to regard any woman or man as a hero."

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

Media coverage of just about every person and every topic of any interest anywhere in the world has certainly increased over the past few years. As the number of possible ways to broadcast that media coverage continues to increase, it seems likely that the phenomenon of exhaustive media coverage will only intensify further. However, as the saying goes, anything is possible, and that certainly pertains to whether or not a society can regard any man or woman as a hero in today's world. Despite the tendency of society in general and the media in particular to build up a person to hero status and then tear that person back down again, there are certainly people that society can look up to as heroes even today.

A few generations ago, media coverage was limited both in the overall information available and the methods of distribution of that information. Newspapers, radio and to a certain extent, television were the only forms of mass media available. Prior to the electronic age, only the written word, the arts and word of mouth could be used to disseminate information. Due to great distances and a much smaller population, it was much harder to find information then than it is now. People were able to keep a great many more things secret from the rest of the world in the past. There was also a tendency for people to be a little more discreet with what they did know, rather than selling the story to some national tabloid for money.

We now live in what has been termed "the information age" and that would seem to be entirely appropriate. Even if one considers only the Internet as a source of information, there is more information available now than the mind can even comprehend. As information becomes more and more digitalized, it becomes easier to access. People's entire written and recorded history could theoretically be obtained through one method or another (most of them likely illegal). No one is perfect. Many people make one or two mistakes that may involve the law when they are young. Someone intent on "digging up some dirt" can usually find even the most minor violations whether the person in question was underage or not. Because no one is perfect, and the intensity of media coverage tends to overemphasize even small mistakes, it becomes easy to understand then why one might be inclined to believe that there can be no more heroes

But heroes are made and not born. The public, to a certain degree, has learned to ignore that which is irrelevant while focusing more on the heroic qualities of the man or woman who has shown courage in a particular situation. One recent example involves the hundreds of firefighters and policemen that perished while trying to save others in the World Trade Center attacks in New York. No one can question their bravery, and certainly no one can deny that each and every one, no matter what their background, is a hero. The passengers on the airplane that rushed the hijackers and caused the plane to crash short of its target, likely the White House in Washington, D.C., are also each and every one a hero. One could possibly look into each firefighter, policeman or civilian's background and find problems in the past but there is absolutely no denying them their hero status on that day.

The world today is eager to find heroes, which may explain the tendency to prematurely promote a person to hero status and then find out later that maybe they were not so heroic after all. Intensive media coverage may make it harder to remain a hero, but heroes are still around today as evidenced by the courageous events of many on September 11, 2001.

(630 words)

參考譯文

當(dāng)今時代鋪天蓋地的媒體宣傳使社會不再可能將任何一個男人或女人奉為英雄

在過去的幾年中，傳媒所覆蓋的區(qū)域大大拓展，幾乎能涵蓋世界上的任何角落、任何有意義的話題以及任何一個人。隨著傳媒方式的持續(xù)增加，鋪天蓋地的傳媒攻勢看起來亦會愈演愈烈。然而，正如俗話所說：萬事皆有可能，這句話也適用于當(dāng)今世界社會是否還能將任何男人或女人奉為英雄的情況。盡管大到整個社會，具體到媒體宣傳，都有先把某人立為英雄繼而再將其打倒在地的趨勢，但是，即便在當(dāng)今，仍然存在一些社會能將其尊為英雄人物的人存在。

幾代人之前，媒體宣傳涉及的領(lǐng)域就僅僅是獲得信息和通過有限的幾種方式將信息發(fā)送出去。報紙、廣播、電視(在某種程度上)就是大眾傳媒的僅有形式。在進入電子時代之前，只有書寫下來的文字和口頭表達藝術(shù)可以用來發(fā)布信息。由于距離的遙遠和人口的相對稀少，搜集信息遠比現(xiàn)在要難得多。過去，人們能將更多的事情據(jù)為秘密，不讓其他人知道。那時一種趨勢就是人們對他們實際知道的事情持較為謹(jǐn)慎的態(tài)度，而不會將事情透露給本國的小報以謀取錢財。

我們現(xiàn)在所處的時代被稱為"信息時代"，這個稱呼恰如其分。即使一個人只把互聯(lián)網(wǎng)當(dāng)作他唯一的信息來源，那他所能獲得的信息也大大超過了大腦所接受的限度。隨著信息數(shù)字化的發(fā)展，人們獲得信息越來越容易了。人們?nèi)康谋粫鴮懹涗浵聛淼膫€人歷史從理論上來說能夠被其他人通過這樣或那樣的方法獲得(大多數(shù)方法可能并不合法)。沒有人是十全十美的。很多人在年輕時都犯過一兩個觸犯法律的錯誤。一些喜歡"揭別人老底"的人總是能發(fā)現(xiàn)別人最輕微的過失，即使這個過失是發(fā)生在他未成年的時候。人無完人，金無赤金，媒體的強大攻勢總是過分夸大即便是微小的錯誤，因此，我們便能理解為什么人們現(xiàn)在相信不再會有英雄人物了。

然而，英雄不是天生的而是后天形成的。人們?nèi)缃裨谀撤N程度上已漸漸學(xué)會著眼于那些在特定場合下能顯示勇氣的男人或女人所具備的英雄氣質(zhì)，而忽略其他不相關(guān)的事情。那些"9·11"事件后在紐約世貿(mào)中心為搶救他人而喪生的上百名消防員和警察就是很好的例子。沒有人會懷疑他們的勇氣，沒有人會否認(rèn)他們中的每一位都是英雄，無論他的背景如何。那些在飛機上與劫機者搏斗而使劫機者偏離撞擊目標(biāo)(據(jù)信可能是華盛頓特區(qū)的白宮)的乘客每一位也都是英雄。如果審查這些消防員、警察或普通公民的背景，我們可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)他們過去有一些問題，但是在那一天他們都是真真正正的英雄，這是不容置疑的。

當(dāng)今的世界急于發(fā)現(xiàn)英雄，這就是為什么現(xiàn)在有過早地將一個人奉為英雄的趨勢，不久人們就發(fā)現(xiàn)這個人并沒有什么英雄氣概。鋪天蓋地的傳媒可能會使保持英雄形象變得很難，但是英雄在當(dāng)今依然是存在的，2001年9月11日許許多多的英雄壯舉就是例證。