这是孙远先生建议优先用英文全文习作的题目。来自于孙先生个人网站 [b][b] 第一类 ------------------------------ [b][b]The following was written as a part of an application for a small business [b]loan by a group of developers in the city of Monroe. [b][b]"A jazz music club in Monroe would be a tremendously profitable enterprise. [b]Currently, the nearest jazz club is 65 miles away; thus, our proposed club, [b]the C Note, would have the local market all to itself. Plus, jazz is [b]extremely popular in Monroe: over 100,000 people attended Monroe's jazz [b]festival last summer, several well-known jazz musicians live in Monroe, and [b]the highest-rated radio program in Monroe is 'Jazz Nightly,' which airs [b]every weeknight. Finally, a nationwide study indicates that the typical [b]jazz fan spends close to $1,000 per year on jazz entertainment. It is clear [b]that the C Note cannot help but make money." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]----------------------------- [b][b]The following appeared in a memo from the president of Viva-Tech, a [b]manufacturer of high-tech medical equipment. [b][b]"In order to reduce costs, we should close some of our existing small [b]assembly plants and build a large central plant. Grandview would be an [b]ideal location for this new plant. First, of the locations that we have [b]considered, Grandview has the largest adult population, so that we will be [b]able to staff our plant quickly and easily. Second, since the average wage [b]earned by workers in Grandview is less than that in the other locations, we [b]should be able to keep production costs low. Last, as an inducement for us [b]to build there, Grandview's town council has offered to allow us to operate [b]for the first three years without paying city taxes." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]Typically, as people age, their bone mass decreases, making them more [b]vulnerable to bone fractures. A recent study concludes that the most [b]effective way to reduce the risk of fractures in later life is to take [b]twice the recommended dose of vitamin D and calcium daily. The three-year [b]study followed a group of French women in their eighties who were nursing- [b]home residents. The women were given daily supplements of twice the [b]recommended dose of vitamin D and calcium. In addition, the women [b]participated in a light weightlifting program. After three years, these [b]women showed a much lower rate of hip fractures than is average for their [b]age. [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a memo from the president of a company that [b]builds and sells new homes in Steel City. [b][b]"Over the past five years, the population of Steel City has increased by [b]more than 20 percent, and family incomes in Steel City have risen much [b]faster than the national average. Nationwide, sales of houses priced above [b]$150,000 have increased more than have sales of lower-priced houses. Such [b]data indicate that we should make changes in our business to increase [b]company profits. First, we should build fewer low-priced houses than we did [b]last year and focus instead on building houses designed to sell at above [b]$150,000. Second, we should hire additional workers so that we can build a [b]larger total number of houses than we did last year." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Hyper-Go Toy [b]Company. [b][b]"Last year, sales of our Fierce Fighter toy airplane declined sharply, even [b]though the toy had been a top seller for three years. Our customer surveys [b]show that parents are now more worried about youthful violence and are [b]concerned about better education for their children. Therefore, to maintain [b]profits we should discontinue all our action toys and focus exclusively on [b]a new line of educational toys. Several other toy companies have already [b]begun marketing educational toys and report sales increases last year of [b]200 percent. And since the average family income is growing, sales of new [b]Hyper-Go toys should also increase." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Excello Food [b]Markets. [b][b]"In 90 towns where Excello has food markets, natural-food stores [b]specializing in organic food products—products containing no chemical [b]preservatives and made with foods grown without pesticides—have opened [b]nearby as competitors. Surveys of our own customers reveal a growing [b]concern about foods grown using pesticides or preserved with chemicals. [b]Recently our market in Sun City participated in a local food tasting fair, [b]and 75 percent of the fair goers who visited the Excello booth requested [b]free samples of organic fruit. Such evidence indicates that to increase our [b]profits, we should begin to stock a full line of organic food products in [b]all our markets." [b][b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a report by the School District of Eyleria. [b][b]"Nationally, the average ratio of computers to students in kindergarten [b]through grade 12 (K-12) is 1:5. Educators indicate that this is very good [b]ratio. This means that across the country, all students have access to and [b]can use computers daily in their classrooms. In Eyleria's K-12 schools, the [b]ratio of computers to students is 1:7. This number is sufficient to ensure [b]that all of Eyleria's students, by the time they graduate from high school, [b]will be fully proficient in the use of computer technology. Thus, there is [b]no reason to spend any of the schools' budget on computers or other [b]technology in the next few years." [b][b]----------------------------- [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a magazine for the trucking industry. [b][b]"The Longhaul trucking company was concerned that its annual accident rate [b](the number of accidents per mile driven) was too high. It granted a [b]significant pay increase to its drivers and increased its training [b]standards. It also put strict limits on the number of hours per week each [b]driver could drive. The following year, its trucks were involved in half [b]the number of accidents as before the changes were implemented. A survey of [b]other trucking companies found that the highest-paid drivers were the least [b]likely to have had an accident. Therefore, trucking companies wishing to [b]reduce their accident rate can do so simply by raising their drivers' pay [b]and limiting the overall number of hours they drive." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following editorial appeared in a newspaper in the country of Solaria. [b][b]"The Eliot Valley region was primarily agricultural twenty years ago. In [b]the past twenty years, however, many computer-chip manufacturers have [b]opened factories there. A recent study found that water pollution in the [b]region was worse than in any other region in the country. Moreover, the [b]computer-chip factories, which use large quantities of water to manufacture [b]the chips, are probably responsible for the low levels of water in the [b]region's lakes and reservoirs. Therefore, if the region's computer-chip [b]makers had limits placed on the amount of water they could use, water [b]quality would improve." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a local Solano [b]newspaper. [b][b]"The Solano school district should do away with its music education [b]programs. After all, music programs are not especially popular in our [b]schools: only 20 percent of our high school students participated in music [b]programs last year. Furthermore, very few of the Solano district's college- [b]bound students are interested in majoring in music at the university level. [b]Also, when the school district of our neighboring town of Rutherford [b]eliminated its music programs two years ago, the overall grade point [b]average in the high school increased by 10 percent the next year. Surely [b]the money spent on Solano music programs could be better used to improve [b]the quality of traditional academic courses." [b][b][b][b]二类----------------------------- [b][b]The following appeared in a newsletter from a national astronomy [b]association. [b][b]"Various sources are predicting higher-than-average temperatures across the [b]country next winter, including in Sun City, the traditional location of our [b]yearly winter conference. Higher winter temperatures are sure to result in [b]higher-than-usual tourism in Sun City, a location already known for its [b]attractive beaches and good weather. Hotels will have fewer rooms [b]available, transportation will be more difficult to reserve, and public [b]places such as parks and restaurants will be more crowded. These conditions [b]are likely to significantly reduce attendance at the conference. We should [b]therefore move our conference to a city less popular with winter tourists." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]----------------------------- [b][b]The following appeared in a newsletter about health published in the [b]country of Sauria. [b][b]"According to Sauria's leading nutritional experts, a diet high in complex [b]carbohydrates, and low in fat is optimal for good health and longevity. [b]Because this was the diet of the people who lived in ancient Sauria, one [b]would expect them to have had long and healthy lives. Yet the mummified [b]remains of Sauria's ruling classes from two to three thousand years ago [b]show the existence of many medical problems among the ancient Saurians, [b]including dental problems, elevated blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, [b]and early mortality. Clearly, the diet of the ancient Saurians was [b]responsible for these problems. The high incidence of high blood pressure, [b]obesity, and heart disease in Sauria today even among those who have tried [b]low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets further proves that Sauria's leading [b]nutritional experts are wrong." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of a large, highly [b]diversified company. [b][b]"Ten years ago our company had two new regional office buildings built in [b]two different regions. The buildings were erected by two different [b]construction companies—Alpha and Zeta. Even though the two buildings had [b]virtually identical floor plans, the building constructed by Zeta cost 30 [b]percent more to build, and its expenses for maintenance last year were [b]twice those of the building constructed by Alpha. Furthermore, the energy [b]consumption of the Zeta building has been higher than that of the Alpha [b]building every year since its construction. Such data, plus the fact that [b]Alpha has a stable workforce with little employee turnover, indicate that [b]we should use Alpha Construction Company, rather than Zeta, for all future [b]building projects." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]---------------------------- [b][b]The following appeared in a memo to the human resources manager at Baobob [b]Inc., a large architectural firm. [b][b]"Several well-known, retired architects were interviewed in Architecture [b]Today about changes in the field. Only one had earned a college degree in [b]architecture. All others had come into the field at an early age by serving [b]apprenticeships that required them to work under the direct supervision of [b]an experienced architect. Several of the colleges that we recruit from [b]report that many promising architecture students leave school early in [b]their undergraduate career. Therefore, because finding talented [b]architecture graduates is becoming more difficult, Baobob Inc. should start [b]an aggressive apprenticeship program and hire students who express an [b]interest in architecture directly out of high school rather than wait for [b]them to get out of college." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in the business section of a newspaper. [b][b]"Given that the number of people in our country with some form of arthritis [b]is expected to rise from 40 million to 60 million over the next twenty [b]years, pharmaceutical companies that produce drugs for the treatment of [b]arthritis should be very profitable. Many analysts believe that in ten [b]years Becton Pharmaceuticals, which makes Xenon, the best-selling drug [b]treatment for arthritis, will be the most profitable pharmaceutical [b]company. But the patent on Xenon expires in three years, and other [b]companies will then be able to produce a cheaper version of the drug. Thus, [b]it is more likely that in ten years the most profitable pharmaceutical [b]company will be Perkins Pharmaceuticals, maker of a new drug called Xylan, [b]which clinical studies show is preferred over Xenon by seven out of ten [b]patients suffering from the most extreme cases of arthritis." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Mira Vista [b]College to the college's board of trustees. [b][b]"At nearby Green Mountain College, which has more business courses and more [b]job counselors than does Mira Vista College, 90 percent of last year's [b]graduating seniors had job offers from prospective employers. But at Mira [b]Vista College last year, only 70 percent of the seniors who informed the [b]placement office that they would be seeking employment had found full-time [b]jobs within three months after graduation, and only half of these graduates [b]were employed in their major field of study. To help Mira Vista's graduates [b]find employment, we must offer more courses in business and computer [b]technology and hire additional job counselors to help students with their [b]resumès and interviewing skills." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Parkville Daily [b]Newspaper. [b][b]"Throughout the country last year, as more and more children below the age [b]of nine participated in youth-league softball and soccer, over 80,000 of [b]these young players suffered injuries. When interviewed for a recent study, [b]youth-league softball players in several major cities also reported [b]psychological pressure from coaches and parents to win games. Furthermore, [b]education experts say that long practice sessions for these sports take [b]away time that could be used for academic activities. Since the [b]disadvantages apparently outweigh any advantages, we in Parkville should [b]discontinue organized athletic competition for children under nine." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]The following is a letter that recently appeared in the Oak City Gazette, a [b]local newspaper. [b][b]"Membership in Oak City's Civic Club—a club whose primary objective is to [b]discuss local issues—should continue to be restricted to people who live [b]in Oak City. People who work in Oak City but who live elsewhere cannot [b]truly understand the business and politics of the city. It is important to [b]restrict membership to city residents because only residents pay city taxes [b]and therefore only residents understand how the money could best be used to [b]improve the city. At any rate, restricting membership in this way is [b]unlikely to disappoint many of the nonresidents employed in Oak City, since [b]neighboring Elm City's Civic Club has always had an open membership policy, [b]and only twenty-five nonresidents have joined Elm City's Club in the last [b]ten years." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following is from an editorial in the Midvale Observer, a local [b]newspaper. [b][b]"Ever since the 1950's, when television sets began to appear in the average [b]home, the rate of crimes committed by teenagers in the country of Alta has [b]steadily increased. This increase in teenage crime parallels the increase [b]in violence shown on television. According to several national studies, [b]even very young children who watch a great number of television shows [b]featuring violent scenes display more violent behavior within their home [b]environment than do children who do not watch violent shows. Furthermore, [b]in a survey conducted by the Observer, over 90 percent of the respondents [b]were parents who indicated that prime-time television—programs that are [b]shown between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.—should show less violence. Therefore, in [b]order to lower the rate of teenage crime in Alta, television viewers should [b]demand that television programmers reduce the amount of violence shown [b]during prime time." [b][b]------------------------------ [b]------------------------------ [b][b]The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Walnut Grove town [b]newspaper. [b][b]"Walnut Grove's town council has advocated switching from EZ Disposal [b](which has had the contract for trash collection services in Walnut Grove [b]for the past ten years) to ABC Waste, because EZ recently raised its [b]monthly fee from $2,000 to $2,500 a month, whereas ABC's fee is still [b]$2,000. But the town council is mistaken; we should continue using EZ. EZ [b]collects trash twice a week, while ABC collects only once. Moreover, EZ— [b]which, like ABC, currently has a fleet of 20 trucks—has ordered additional [b]trucks. Finally, EZ provides exceptional service: 80 percent of respondents [b]to last year's town survey agreed that they were 'satisfied' with EZ's [b]performance." [b]