20. “In this age of automation, many people complain that humans are becoming subservient¹ to machines. But, in fact, machines are continually improving our lives.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
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 outweigh² 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 navigate³ 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 dismantle⁴ 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 hazardous⁵ 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 (adv. 总而言之), 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 alienation⁶ 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 spawned⁷ entire industries, creating jobs, stimulating⁸ economic growth, and supplying a plethora⁹ of innovative¹⁰ conveniences. Nevertheless, the sociological and environmental price of progress may have outweighed¹¹ its benefits.
Digital automation has brought its own brand of alienation. Computer automation, and especially the Internet, breeds information overload¹² 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 relegating¹³ repetitive tasks to computers, digital technology has spawned great advances in medicine and physics, helping¹⁴ us to better understand the world, to enhance our health, and to prolong our lives. Digital automation has also emancipated¹⁵ 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, thereby¹⁶ providing a democratizing influence on our culture.
In sum, while mechanical automation may have created a society of slaves to modem¹⁷ conveniences and unfulfilling work, digital automation holds more promise for improving our lives without enslaving us to the technology.

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