OWL在线实验室谢振礼原创

》真题模糊：（Topic）

Some people think that news reports in the media have no connections with people's lives. Therefore, it is a waste of time reading newspapers or watching TV news programs. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.


》实验写作：（Essay）
By Jeenn Lee Hsieh

If you think that watching television news programs or reading newspapers is a waste of time, you could be right because it is the way most people may want to digest their leisure hours. If you believe that news reports have no connections with people's lives, you could not be more wrong. The media and the public can mutually influence each other through the advertising businesses, although it is not at all clear how much the media can influence public opinion and how much public opinion can influence the media.

The news industry connects people's minds by manipulating public opinion. In this Information Age, whoever controls the news media controls the minds of the masses as well as consumers' pockets. In reporting news to the public, there is no denying that television is the most influential medium, followed by the radio, the Internet, and printed circulations, all of which making people stay connected constantly. You may say that it is connection that people are after in most media since such relationship is based on the popular desire to be informed about almost anything that feeds news desire--crimes, wars, drugs, diseases, and natural disasters, side by side with breaking news, world events, sports, businesses, weather and so on. As the mainstream media has become increasingly dependent on advertising revenues for support, you could not fail to realize that news is actually the bait to attract buyers.

Relatively, much less is addressed regarding how much public opinion can influence the media through ratings. In their daily lives, most people habitually connect themselves with the current rumors, speculations, predictions, and especially bad news. You can see that it is exactly what the news media outlets are doing in order to please the public. For that matter, it is not entirely the media's fault that they are, for the most part, the bringers of bad news since bad news gets higher ratings and sells more advertisements than good news, and therefore produces more commercial connections Trying to calculate the extent to which this relationship reaches is irrelevant, and what is certain is that the two do have inevitable links. However, it is worth mentioning that about 99.99 percent of what happens on earth is not on the news because it is not worthy enough to motivate the audience to "waste" their money and time.

Contrary views are of course understandable; nevertheless, news reporting in the media maintains invisible connections with people's lives. Apart from that, the question whether watching or reading news is a waste of time may depend on who you ask. What really matters then is that the media can deliver news and give the public what is wanted and desired; and the public can give amazing ratings in return.

》猫头鹰说：心图大纲【起3承6转6合3】

起：申论主题——（有趣）：News reporting and people's lives are connected through advertising, with the one influencing the other mutually. A waste of time is irrelevant. >Introduction

承：支持主题——（有理）：The news media can influence public opinion. (Evidence--connection) >Body A

转：支持主题——（有理）：Public opinion can influence the news media. (Evidence--connection) >Body B

合：重申主题——（有力）：The media outlets need people's support for income from advertising while people want to be informed and entertained. A waste of time is not important. >Conclusion


》入门破题

This essay topic seems tricky. In fact, two questions appear to be involved and must be addressed. Here are the writer's views. (There are no correct or wrong answers.)

问题 1. Do the news media and people's lives have connections? (The answer is yes. 极有关联 Evidence is provided in Body Paragraphs A and B)

问题 2. Is watching TV news or reading newspapers a waste of time? (The answer depends on who you ask.因人而异)

申论主题时尽量避免选择站不住脚的立场，免得后来束手无策而寸步难行。反正哪方面的立场好写，那么也就将就现实。任何立场都是可行，但不牵涉道德，政治，宗教，歧视。当然也不语怪力乱神。至于吹牛搞笑则无伤大雅，因为议论文写作本来就是这么一回事。

以下五句话为猫头鹰举例中体论证的一些套话（接近废话，可用来凑字数）：

1#Those who disagree may have some reasons, but none of which is essential.
2#Those who are against have a point, but it may be far from reality.
3#To a certain extent they are right, but things usually do not happen that way.
4#Their evidence is irrelevant because there is no way to prove.
5#To a certain degree, such opinion to the contrary is understandable; however, this is usually not the case.

又造句又论证，写作真叫人头痛，贵能习惯成正常。大原则是中体论证要有理。开头申论主题要有趣。结尾重申主题要有力。说来说去写作好像轻松容易，其实做起来却是困难重重，但也极为好玩。猫头鹰海外心急，夜深在线应急义工速写2012年6月9日雅思实验范文"News Media"，但愿分享实验心得。