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

純粹為了個人的利益而去追求他們自己學術興趣的人，比那些試圖為了公眾利益而采取行動的人，更有可能對世界上的其他人做出貢獻

那些純粹出于個人利益而去追求他們自己的興趣的人，無論他們是知識分子還是黎民百姓，很少會熱心于對社會做出貢獻。我們說這些人相對于那些為了公眾的利益而采取行動的人更可能對世界做出貢獻，是假定這些為了自己個人的利益而行動之人所做出的發(fā)明、發(fā)現(xiàn)或其它的創(chuàng)造，將會應用于全體人類，且整體結果會有利于人類進步。無疑有些成果已成為公共的知識，因為他們個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。但總的說來，追求為公共事業(yè)做貢獻之人更有可能為社會做出有益的事情。

首先，一個人完全為了個人的利益追求知識，仍有一些積極的因素。即使僅僅為了自我滿足，這個人也可能被一種內在的學習愿望或發(fā)現(xiàn)愿望所驅動。這一內在的動機，有時會非常強烈，因而導致對知識不倦的追求以滿足這種內心欲望。這樣所獲得的知識，是否能夠有益于社會，完全取決于這個人是自私地持有他/她所學的知識，還是稍有將其知識應用于社會之心思。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，但是他懷抱著他的主要成就進入墳墓。倘若他真有造福于公眾利益之心，這些知識肯定會在某時為世界所共享，從而為人類做出無數(shù)的甚至是超乎想象的貢獻。

另一方面，為造福于公眾利益這一思想所驅動之人，具有幫助他人的內心愿望。這一愿望可以同自私自利之人的野心一樣強烈。勿需贅言，把個人對知識的追求建立在無私的目標之上，公眾就有更大的機會最終從中獲益。這樣的人目光對準社會的需要。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，不是由個人的欲望所界定。一位以公眾利益作為行為動機的實例是圣女Teresa，一位有著崇高動機的社會工作者。她的追求幾乎全部基于幫助他人的強烈愿望，無論是在小事上幫助個人還是在大事上幫助一個地區(qū)的人。毫無疑問，她為社會所做出的具有永久意義的貢獻，遠遠大于那些或許做了同樣的事情但其動機源于個人利益之人。

總之，重要的不是一個人是由個人的、自私的動機所激勵，還是完全以對公眾利益做貢獻為其動機。然而合乎情理的是：一個以改善環(huán)境為動機之人，比諸于一個以滿足個人愿望為目的之人，有更多的機會改善那個環(huán)境。