2. Do advertisements play a positive or negative role in society?
提到广告，不仅会考查学生喜欢什么样的广告，自然还会问到广告在我们社会生活中发挥的作用。现代社会人们获取信息的渠道越来越宽泛，也无时不刻不在捕捉着广告带给我们的信息。那么广告在我们的生活中到底起了肯定作用还是否定作用？考生的观点可以鲜明，也可以指出广告既有优点也有缺点。只要自圆其说即可，切忌自相矛盾。

Candidate 1: It's really hard to say whether advertisements play a positive or negative role in society because their role is very complex.

The main function of advertisements is spreading information. Every coin has two sides. Whether advertisements are positive or negative rests on how we treat and use them. It's impossible if we except advertisements are propitious(吉祥的，顺利的，有利的) to society only. Though some advertisements only tell consumers the advantages of the product, lead people to buy something they don't need at all or even cheat people, these kinds of circumstances are only minority after all. In addition, people should be to blame.

As a matter of fact, we get more profits from advertisements. Were there no advertisement, how can we know where computers are being sold, which shop provides computer at a lower price or what kind of computer is better. With advertisements providing so much information, we can make the better decision.

Were there no advertisement, manufacturers couldn't sell their products well, and we would make more efforts to collect information and our life was not as colorful as that at the present time. So advertisements have more positive than negative influences on society.

Candidate 2: As is often discussed by both professional and common people, the advertisement has become a part of people's life. At the same time, it is also an important means for the company to introduce their products. It's a fact that advertisement is playing a necessary role in our daily life.

It is evident that advertisement is the most visible activity of business. Defenders of advertising think it is safer to buy the products being advertised than those not, for the producers will keep their promises to guarantee(保证) the quality. On the other hand, some critics say that advertising is downright(十足地，彻底地) untruthful. Even others say that advertising manipulates(运用，处理，操纵) people psychologically to buy things they can't afford.

And in my opinion, every coin has two sides. What we should do is to take the advantages of the advertisements and try to avoid their negative impacts.

Candidate 3: As we all know, advertisements are becoming increasingly common. However, how many impacts will the ads bring to us? Now, I want to talk about this question.

On one hand, the ads are the main income for the ads agency companies. The Ad is a big business in our world with many products using them to attract our attention. Advertisers use our weaknesses to tell us what is new, what we should be like, what is cool, and what is hot. You know if you are very familiar with a brand you will choose it firstly when you go shopping.

On the other hand, more and more ads make us confused. We always can't distinguish whether they are good or bad because there are many false(假的) ads. In a way, we are the victims of the ads.

In a word, we can't draw a conclusion whether ads play a positive or negative role in society. But I can say ads can do well to the economy and the development of the product.

这三位考生的回答都颇具匠心，没有直接断言广告在社会生活中是起肯定作用还是否定作用。凡事都是有两面性，广告作为一种传播信息的媒介也是如此，给人们的生活带来方便的同时也带来了一定的负面影响。Candidate 1开头的hard, complex 一语道破自己的观点，坦言有些广告名不副实，但这只是少数。接着从消费者和供应商两方面点明广告的确给我们带来很大益处。最后下结论，广告在社会生活中的积极作用远远大于消极作用；Candidate 2指出了社会大众的两种观点，即积极和消极两面，最后点明，事物都是有两面性的，我们应该扬长避短；Candidate 3也是分析了广告的两面性，最后才下结论我们不能断言广告到底是起什么作用，但是广告促进了经济和产品的发展这是肯定的。