GRE作文范文 Issue-25

"People who pursue their own intellectual interests for purely personal reasons are more likely to benefit the rest of the world than are people who try to act for the public good."

嘉文博譯Sample Essay

People who pursue whatever interests they have, be they intellectual or otherwise, for purely personal reasons are rarely interested in making a contribution to society. To say that these people are more likely to benefit the rest of the world than those acting for the public good is to assume that the positive innovations, discoveries or other findings of those acting for only personal reasons will be made available to the population in general, and that the overall results will be better for the world. There may certainly be some consequences that become public knowledge because their selfish interests also require that the researcher sell his or her ideas to make money or to become famous, but on the whole, people in pursuit of benefiting the public welfare are more likely to make a positive contribution to society.

First of all, there is something positive to be said about a person that is engaged in intellectual pursuits for entirely selfish reasons. That person is likely to be highly motivated by an inner desire to learn and to discover even if only for self-satisfaction. This inner motivation can sometimes be very strong, leading to an almost tireless quest for more knowledge to feed this inner fire. Whether the knowledge gained benefits society as a whole depends entirely on whether that individual is actually selfish in keeping the knowledge learned to him or herself, or whether he or she is at least ambivalent about whether the knowledge goes out to the rest of the world. As one example, although Nikolai Tesla shared much of his knowledge with the world, he died with some of his main achievements known only to himself. Had he truly been acting for the public good, this knowledge would have been shared with the world at some point in time, supplying countless and perhaps unimaginable benefits to mankind.

On the other hand, people who are motivated by the idea of improving the public good have the internal desire to help others. This aspiration can be every bit as strong as the ambition of a person acting for wholly selfish reasons. It is axiomatic that by basing one's pursuit of intellectual interests on altruistic goals, the public stands a much greater chance of benefiting in the end. Rather than focusing on one's individual (and therefore selfish) needs, this type of person looks outward to see what is needed in a society. The pathway to success for this individual is thus defined by the wants and needs of the general population as a whole, rather than one's personal desires. A great example of one motivated by the public good was personified in Mother Teresa, the highly motivated social worker. Her pursuits were almost entirely based on an intense internal desire to help others, whether with individual people on a small scale or with entire regions of a country on a larger scale. Surely the lasting benefits that she has given to society are greater than those of anyone who has perhaps made similar contributions but based them on purely personal interests.

In conclusion, what really matters is not whether the individual was motivated by personal, selfish reasons or if they were motivated entirely by a desire to contribute to the public welfare. But it would stand to reason that one who is motivated to make a situation better has a better chance of improving that given situation than does someone motivated by his or her own desires.

(577 words)

參考譯文

純粹為了個(gè)人的利益而去追求他們自己學(xué)術(shù)興趣的人，比那些試圖為了公眾利益而采取行動(dòng)的人，更有可能對(duì)世界上的其他人做出貢獻(xiàn)

那些純粹出于個(gè)人利益而去追求他們自己的興趣的人，無(wú)論他們是知識(shí)分子還是黎民百姓，很少會(huì)熱心于對(duì)社會(huì)做出貢獻(xiàn)。我們說(shuō)這些人相對(duì)于那些為了公眾的利益而采取行動(dòng)的人更可能對(duì)世界做出貢獻(xiàn)，是假定這些為了自己個(gè)人的利益而行動(dòng)之人所做出的發(fā)明、發(fā)現(xiàn)或其它的創(chuàng)造，將會(huì)應(yīng)用于全體人類，且整體結(jié)果會(huì)有利于人類進(jìn)步。無(wú)疑有些成果已成為公共的知識(shí)，因?yàn)樗麄儌€(gè)體的利益同樣需要研究人員將他/她的思想出售以掙錢糊口，或使自己名聞遐邇。但總的說(shuō)來(lái)，追求為公共事業(yè)做貢獻(xiàn)之人更有可能為社會(huì)做出有益的事情。

首先，一個(gè)人完全為了個(gè)人的利益追求知識(shí)，仍有一些積極的因素。即使僅僅為了自我滿足，這個(gè)人也可能被一種內(nèi)在的學(xué)習(xí)愿望或發(fā)現(xiàn)愿望所驅(qū)動(dòng)。這一內(nèi)在的動(dòng)機(jī)，有時(shí)會(huì)非常強(qiáng)烈，因而導(dǎo)致對(duì)知識(shí)不倦的追求以滿足這種內(nèi)心欲望。這樣所獲得的知識(shí)，是否能夠有益于社會(huì)，完全取決于這個(gè)人是自私地持有他/她所學(xué)的知識(shí)，還是稍有將其知識(shí)應(yīng)用于社會(huì)之心思。這方面的例子之一是Nikolai Tesla。盡管Nikolai Tesla與世界分享他的大部分知識(shí)，但是他懷抱著他的主要成就進(jìn)入墳?zāi)埂Ｌ热羲嬗性旄Ｓ诠娎嬷?，這些知識(shí)肯定會(huì)在某時(shí)為世界所共享，從而為人類做出無(wú)數(shù)的甚至是超乎想象的貢獻(xiàn)。

另一方面，為造福于公眾利益這一思想所驅(qū)動(dòng)之人，具有幫助他人的內(nèi)心愿望。這一愿望可以同自私自利之人的野心一樣強(qiáng)烈。勿需贅言，把個(gè)人對(duì)知識(shí)的追求建立在無(wú)私的目標(biāo)之上，公眾就有更大的機(jī)會(huì)最終從中獲益。這樣的人目光對(duì)準(zhǔn)社會(huì)的需要。這樣的人之通往成功的通路，是由廣大民眾的所急所需而決定，不是由個(gè)人的欲望所界定。一位以公眾利益作為行為動(dòng)機(jī)的實(shí)例是圣女Teresa，一位有著崇高動(dòng)機(jī)的社會(huì)工作者。她的追求幾乎全部基于幫助他人的強(qiáng)烈愿望，無(wú)論是在小事上幫助個(gè)人還是在大事上幫助一個(gè)地區(qū)的人。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，她為社會(huì)所做出的具有永久意義的貢獻(xiàn)，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于那些或許做了同樣的事情但其動(dòng)機(jī)源于個(gè)人利益之人。

總之，重要的不是一個(gè)人是由個(gè)人的、自私的動(dòng)機(jī)所激勵(lì)，還是完全以對(duì)公眾利益做貢獻(xiàn)為其動(dòng)機(jī)。然而合乎情理的是：一個(gè)以改善環(huán)境為動(dòng)機(jī)之人，比諸于一個(gè)以滿足個(gè)人愿望為目的之人，有更多的機(jī)會(huì)改善那個(gè)環(huán)境。