第4题:
问答题
Animal rights are a controversial topic right now. Actually, the debate is focused mainly on animal testing. The following are opinions from both sides. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the opinions from both sides, and then 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Animals are used for research in a variety of settings, including tests to determine the safety of drugs, cosmetics and other substances. Whether or not humans should use animals for testing purposes, however, is a controversial subject. Dr. Bob Miller, a medical researcher from Michigan State University, states that one of the primary advantages of animal testing is that it allows researchers to develop new medications and treatments, advancing the field of medicine and enhancing the health of society. For instance, many drugs used to treat or prevent cancer, HIV, diabetes, infections and other medical maladies have resulted from tests performed on animals. Moreover, animal testing enables scientists and researchers to test the safety of medications and other substances with which humans have regular contact. Drugs, for instance, may pose significant risks to humans, so testing them on animals fast gives researchers a chance to determine drugs’ safety before human trials are performed. While scientists are cognizant of the differences between humans and animals, the similarities are considered significant enough to produce relevant, useful data that they can then apply to humans. Thus, animal testing reduces harm to humans and saves lives. However, Prof. Abhay Shina, a leading critic of animal testing, points out that the major disadvantage to animal testing is that a significant number of animals are harmed or die as a result of experiments and testing. Unfortunately, many of the substances used on animal subjects never receive approval for human use or consumption. Humans receive no direct benefits as a result of the deaths of these animals. He also argues that animals are dissimilar enough from humans to make the results of animal tests unreliable. A related criticism is that testing induces stress in the animals, meaning that the subjects do not react to experimental substances in the same way that they might in more natural circumstances, making the results of experiments less valid. Using animals as research subjects is also expensive, because the animals require food, shelter, care and treatment in addition to the costs of experimental substances. Long-term or multi-phase tests can increase the costs of the practice as well. The actual price paid for the animals is also worth consideration; there are companies that breed and sell animals specifically for testing purposes.
正确答案:
【参考范文】
My View on Animal Testing Animal rights has gained more and more attention nowadays. The debate on animal testing is increasingly heated. When asked whether animal testing should be allowed or not, different people have different views. Supporters believe that animal testing help develop new medications and treatments, advancing the field of medicine and enhancing the health of society and reducing risks to humans and saving lives. However, some people criticize animal testing. They argue that animal testing is expensive and harms or kills a significant number of animals, bringing no direct benefits and the results may be not reliable.
From my point of view, a limited amount of animal experimentation is necessary in spite of its shortcomings. First, it indeed contributes to the development of medicine and health. Many medical treatments and procedures have been developed from experiments on animals. Since animals share many features with humans, scientists use animals to test the safety and effectiveness of newly developed drugs before pilot testing on small groups of patients. Medical teams also practice new operating techniques such as transplants on animals. Without animal testing, many procedures or new drugs would be extremely unsafe. Second, we simply do not have alternative methods of testing. Computer models are not advanced enough and tests on plants are much less applicable to humans than tests on animals such as monkeys. Until we have a better system, we can only use animal testing.
In conclusion, I am convinced that animal testing is necessary, and that it will continue to benefit humans in new and wonderful ways. But we need to make sure that millions of animals who are used for testing new products have the minimum of suffering. Although some animal testing may be unavoidable at present, treating our fellow creatures as mercifully as possible will demonstrate our humanity.
解析:
【审题构思】
本题的题目要求是就动物试验发表自己的看法。对此可以表示支持,也可以表示反对,言之有理即可。考生首先要总结材料中双方观点,然后明确陈述自己的观点。接下来提供一个或者两个理由支持自己的观点。以支持动物试验为例,可从两方面进行论证:第一,利于医学的发展,第二,尚无其他可行办法。最后总结全文,重申观点;也可进一步补充观点,深化主题。