20. Sample Essay 1:
      The issue of whether machines are an advantage or disadvantage to humans is a
controversial one. On the one hand, humans are more and more dependent on machines.
On the other hand, machines are making our lives better and better. However, in the
final analysis, I believe that the advantages of machines outweigh¹ their disadvantages.
      One reason for my belief is that machines have made our lives much easier than
before. For example, with help of my computer, I can navigate² on the internet everyday,
searching for the information I need, while my automatic washing machine is doing my
laundry for me. My mobile phone connects me with my friends and my office wherever
I go. I cannot image what my life would be like without all these machines and devices.
      Another reason for my belief is that machines can do many dangerous work for us.
For example, a robot bomb expert can dismantle³ a bomb for the police so that no one
will be hurt. Other robots can work under extreme weather conditions.
      Perhaps the best reason for my belief is that machines have opened more and more
possibilities for humans. For instance, a spaceship can take us to outer space where we
had never dared to go. Likewise, a submarine can bring us to the bottom of the ocean,
which used to be forbidden area to humans. I believe that there will be more machines
doing hazardous⁴ jobs.
      For all these reasons, I therefore believe that machines are so important to humans
that we cannot do without them. Of course, machines have also brought with it many
disadvantages. Such machines as calculators, cars, typewriters have made some people
lazy, stupid, weak, and clumsy. However, whether machines are beneficial to humans
depends on how you use them. We can use machines to save us time and then use the
time to do more creative work or to enjoy life. Anyway, there are still more advantages
than disadvantages. (326 words)
 
Sample Essay 2:
      In some respects humans serve machines, while in other respects machines serve
us by enhancing our lives. While mechanical automation may have diminished our
quality of life on balance, digital automation is doing more to improve our lives than to
undermine our autonomy.
      Consider first mechanical automation, particularly assembly line manufacturing.
With automation came a loss of pride in and alienation⁵ from one's work. In this sense,
automation both diminished our quality of life and rendered us slaves to machines in
our inability to reverse "progress." Admittedly, mechanical automation spawned⁶ entire
industries, creating jobs, stimulating⁷ economic growth, and supplying a plethora⁸ of
innovative⁹ conveniences. Nevertheless, the sociological and environmental price of
progress may have outweighed¹⁰ its benefits.
      Digital automation has brought its own brand of alienation. Computer automation,
and especially the Internet, breeds information overload¹¹ and steals our time and
attention away from family, community, and coworkers. In these respects, digital
automation tends to diminish our quality of life and create its own legion of human
slaves. On the other hand, by relegating¹² repetitive tasks to computers, digital technology
has spawned great advances in medicine and physics, helping¹³ us to better understand the
world, to enhance our health, and to prolong our lives. Digital automation has also
emancipated¹⁴ architects, artists, designers, and musicians, by opening up creative
possibilities and by saving time. Perhaps most important, however, information
technology makes possible universal access to information, thereby¹⁵ providing a
democratizing influence on our culture.
      In sum, while mechanical automation may have created a society of slaves to
modem¹⁶ conveniences and unfulfilling work, digital automation holds more promise for
improving our lives without enslaving us to the technology.

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