2009年美国高考写作真题(整理版)

1、2009年1月SAT考试写作真题 /waiyu/sat/ Prompt 1Planning lets people impose order on the chaotic processes of making or doing something new. Too much planning, however, can lead people to follow the same predetermined course of action, to do things the same way they were done before. Creative t

2、hinking is about breaking free from the way that things have always been. That is why it is vital for people to know the difference between good planning and too much planning.Adapted from Twyla Tharp, The Creative HabitAssignment:Does planning interfere with creativity? Plan and write an essay in w

3、hich you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 2()Most people underestimate their own abilities. They tend to remember their failures more vividly than their succe

4、sses, and for this reason they have unrealistically low expectations about what they are capable of. Those individuals who distinguish themselves through great accomplishments are usually no more talented than the average person: they simply set higher tandards for themselves, since they have higher

5、 expectations about what they can do.Assignment:Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because they expect more of themselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your readi

6、ng, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3People are taught that they should not go back on their decisions.In fact,our society supports the notion that to change your mind is evidence of weakness and unreliability,leading many people to say,Once I decide,I decide!But why do people make such

7、a statement?If factors,feelings,and ideas change,isnt the ability to make a new decision evidence of lexibility,adaptability,and strength?satAdapted from Theodore I.Rubin,Compassion and Self-HateAssignment:Should people change their decisions when cirsumstances change,or is it best for them to stick

8、 with their original ecisions?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading,studies,experience,or observations.( )Prompt 4The history of human achievement is filled with stor

9、ies of people who persevere, refusing to give up in the struggle to meet their goals. Artists and scientists, for instance, may struggle for years without any apparent progress or reward before they finally succeed. .( ) However, it is important to recognize that perseverance doe

10、s not always yield beneficial results.Adapted from Robert H. Lauer and Jeanette C. Lauer, WatershedsAssignment:Is striving to achieve a goal always the best course of action, or should people give up if they are not making progress? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on

11、this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations2009年1月SAT考试写作真题Prompt 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment belowMany people believe that being honest and honorable limits the

12、ir options, their opportunities, their very ability to succeed. Unfortunately, in todays me-first culture, ethics may be the only thing people choose to live without! They believe they have only two choices: (1) to win by doing whatever it takes, even if it is wrong, or (2) to be ethical and therefo

13、re lose. Few people set out to be dishonest, but nobody wants to lose.satAdapted from John C. Maxwell, Theres No Such Thing as Business EthicsAssignment:Does being ethical make it hard to be successful? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your posit

14、ion with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 2Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Whatever happened to good manners? Many books and articles have been written about the lack of common cour

15、tesy and old-fashioned politeness in todays society. From spoiled children acting out in restaurants to so-called experts yelling at each other on cable news shows, people seem less concerned with good manners and civilized behavior than ever before. On the other hand, if people really want to chang

16、e the world for the better, they have to risk being seen as impolite or uncivil.Assignment:Is it sometimes necessary to be impolite? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, expe

17、rience, or observations.2009年5月SAT考试写作真题Prompt 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.There are good reasons to pay attention to people who are older or more experienced than we are, even if their opinions on important issues are very different f

18、rom ours. Of course, not every person older than us is worth learning from, while many young people are. But if the only people we listen to are our age and are likely to see things the same way we do, we will miss out on something important.Assignment:Should we pay more attention to people who are

19、older and more experienced than we are? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.satPrompt 2Think carefully about the issue presented in the following

20、 excerpt and the assignment below.Good decision making generally requires people to think carefully and logically and to pay attention to practical details. However, people who depend on their feelings and emotions to make important decisions are not likely to spend hours gathering information, maki

21、ng lists, considering all possible outcomes, and so forth. When comparing the advantages or disadvantages of one course of action to another, these people ask themselves, What do my feelings tell me? ()Assignment:Should people let their feelings guide them when they make importan

22、t decisions? ()Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerp

23、t and the assignment below.Thanks to great advancements in technology, we live today in a world in which knowledge is more readily available to greater numbers of people than ever before in history. Having more and better technology, however, has not made people wiser or more understanding. Indeed,

24、people are so overloaded with information today that they have become less, rather than more, able to make sense of the world around them than our ancestors ever were.()Assignment:Has todays abundance of information only made it more difficult for us to understand the world aroun

25、d us? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 4Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Peo

26、ple define themselves by work, by what they do. When one person asks another, What do you do? the answer always refers to a job or profession: Im a doctor, an accountant, a farmer. Ive often wondered what would happen if we changed the question to, Who are you? or, What kind of person are you? or ev

27、en, What do you do for fun?Adapted from Stephan Rechtschaffen, Time ShiftingAssignment:Are people best defined by what they do? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experienc

28、e, or observations.2009年6月SAT考试写作真题Prompt 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.The discovery that someone we admire has done something wrong is always disappointing and disillusioning. Yet even when people we consider heroes have been tarnished

29、 by their faults, they are no less valuable than people who appear perfect. When we learn that an admired person, even one who is seemingly perfect, has behaved in less than admirable ways, we discover a complex truth: great ideas and great deeds come from imperfect people like ourselves.Assignment:

30、Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 2Think carefully about th

31、e issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Some people say you should be content with what you have and accept who you are. But it is possible that too much self-acceptance can turn into self-satisfied lack of ambition. People should always strive to improve themselves and t

32、o have more in their livesfriends, things, opportunities. After all, where would we be if great people, both in history and in our own time, did not try to have more and to improve themselves?Assignment:Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people always strive t

33、o better themselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assi

34、gnment below.So-called common sense determines what people should wear, whom they should respect, which rules they should follow, and what kind of life they should lead. Common sense is considered obvious and natural, too sensible to question. url= ButBut/url peoples common sense

35、 decisions may turn out to be wrong, even if they are thought to be correct according to the judgment of vast majorities of people.Adapted from Alain de Botton, The Consolations of PhilosophyAssignment:Can common sense be trusted and accepted, or should it be questioned? Plan and write an essay in w

36、hich you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Winning does not

37、 require people to be against someone else; people can reach their goals through cooperation just as well as they can through competition. Winning is not always the result of selfish individualism. People achieve happiness by cooperating with others to increase the happiness of all, rather than by w

38、inning at others expense. Ours is not a world in which the price of one persons happiness is someone elses unhappiness.Adapted from Gilbert Brim, AmbitionAssignment:When some people win, must others lose, or are there situations in which everyone wins? Plan and write an essay in which you develop yo

39、ur point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.2009年10月sat考试落下帷幕 5184sat考试网将陆续发布最新的考题信息,2009年10月SAT写作真题SATEssay October 2009If you took the October 2009 SAT, you had one of the essay prompts below:Prompt

40、 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Both in society and in our own lives, todays problems are serious and require serious solutions. Increasingly, however, people are taught to laugh at things that arent usually funny and to cope with difficu

41、lt situations by using humor. They are even advised to surround themselves with funny people. There is strong evidence that laughter can actually improve health and help fight disease.Adapted from Marshall Brain, How Laughter WorksAssignment:Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situatio

42、ns and problems? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 2Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignmen

43、t below.(from )Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. You need one because you are human. You didnt come from nowhere. Before you, around you, and, presumably, after you, there are others. Even if you live alone and eve

44、n if your solitude is by your own choice, you still cannot do without a network or a family.Adapted from Jane Howard, All Happy Clans Are Alike: In Search of the Good FamilyAssignment:Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network or family? Plan and write an essay in which you

45、develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.2009年10月sat考试落下帷幕 5184sat考试网将陆续发布最新的考题信息,欢迎广大考友留意!2009年11月SAT考试写作真题Prompt 1Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and

46、the assignment below.Popular culture refers to television shows, movies, books, musical selections, artworks, products, activities, and events that appeal to the interests and desires of large numbers of people. Popular culture tells us a lot about the people of a society. Some people may criticize

47、popular culture or deny its influence on their lives, but one thing is clear: popular culture typically displays the ideas and principles that people value most.Assignment:Are the values of a society most clearly revealed in its popular culture? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your poin

48、t of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 2Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Some people ruin their chances of achieving success or refrain

49、from attaining a goal because they have learned that success is selfish. But they should not feel guilty about trying to achieve their own goals. People who act on their inner desirestheir greatest wishes and ambitionsonly make their own and other peoples lives better and are more likely to benefit

50、society. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone could be happy and fulfilled.Adapted from Sheri O. Zampelli, From Sabotage to SuccesAssignment:Do society and other people benefit when individuals pursue their own goals? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view

51、on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.No matter how much people try and how much they believe in themselves, e

52、veryone encounters situations in which it is impossible to succeed. People are often advised, Never give up, but sometimes, when it seems as though success will not be achieved, they should stop trying, learn from the experience, and move on.Adapted from Phyllis George, Never Say NeverAssignment:Is

53、it better for people to stop trying when they feel certain they will not succeed? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.2009年12月SAT考试写作真题Prompt 1Th

54、ink carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Thanks to the Internet, the word friendship now has a much broader meaning. No longer are the bonds of friendship limited to telephone conversations, shared activities, or speaking face-to-face. In this day and

55、 age, very close friendships can be formed without the people ever meeting and by simply typing words on a Adapted from Sharon Hendricks, A Broader Definition of FriendshipAssignment:Is it easier now to form friendships than ever before? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this is