作文題目

People are frequently confronted with huge amounts of advertisements from competing companies.
To what extent do you think the advertising industry exerts an influence upon people's lives? And what measures could be adopted to counter the risk of the disastrous effects?

題目翻譯

應對競爭，不同公司打出各式各樣的廣告，霎時間，鋪天蓋地的廣告向人們席卷而來!
廣告在多大程度上影響了人們的生活?應該采取哪些措施應對廣告所帶來的不良影響?

題目講解

【題目關鍵詞】
advertisements; exert an influence upon; adopt measures
【寫作小貼士】
此類題目是典型的blended essay的寫法，開頭結尾相對容易，body paragraphs分為兩段展開，按照題目提問的先后順序:首先，第一問可以寫廣告所帶來的諸多benefits，比如:廣告讓我們更加清晰了解產品特點getting a better understanding of how the products work;成為大多數企業的收入來源sources of revenue;部分廣告向人們宣傳健康生活方式，讓人們生活更加幸福快樂more contented。當然也可以寫drawbacks，例如:很多商業廣告的虛假宣傳誤導了消費者消費misleading customers;部分廣告內容低俗，對青少年的身心發展不利negative effects on mental health;廣告泛濫使廣告形象大打折扣contribute to a bad self-image。其次，針對問題提出解決的solutions，這里可以從政府的角度切入，廣告利弊兼有，政府應當積極引導，以便廣告更好地服務于民眾。
【寫作語匯一覽表】
1.in response to an advertisement回應廣告
2.commercials商業廣告
3.informative傳遞信息
4.hooks圈套
5.tricks and catchy phrases花言巧語
6.Advertising is now a circus-show.廣告現在就像是在進行馬戲表演。
7.be immune to the influence of advertising不受廣告的影響
8.subtle不易察覺
9.a great variety of beautiful products玲瑯滿目的商品
【寫作例句推薦】
1. The effect advertising has on our society may be subtle, and most of us remain unaware of how it molds us to fill in the particular company's needs.
2.While advertising is useful for a host of things, from selling products, to putting public announcements on the air, some of the effects are detrimental as they can intentionally misrepresent “real” people in their commercials.

范文

The extent to which people are influenced by advertisements can be measured in terms of the high sales of popular consumer goods, many of them being unnecessary or completely useless. Mainly through the media, advertisements on products and services are able to penetrate the public mind with half truth and half lying. In many cases, consumers are becoming so greedy that they are not only buying things they really do not need but also spending the money they do not have.
Although advertising gives people a chance as consumers, actually most advertisements tend to cause them to desire for something worthless. Under such circumstances, it is easy to change people's need into greed. So much so, they are constantly encouraged to want things--want this and want that. This human behavior is haunted by the media from all fronts: on radio, on television, and online, not to mention printed circulations such as newspapers and magazines. Obviously, a great number of "impulsive" buyers are persuaded under the illusion that new products or services could make a difference in their lives. Despite all the benefits of the free market economy, the effects of unreliable advertising are particularly negative in that the power of advertising does not reflect the real needs of the society in which products and services are sold.
Worse still, many consumers are convinced to waste money they do not have. Surrounded by advertisements, people are too unwise to perform a balanced act between income and expenditure. Increasingly, what seems to be good for economy begins to backfire because advertising is misleading consumers deeply into commercial debts which they probably could not afford to pay in due time. Thus, instead of improving people's lives, advertising may be considered as a "necessary evil" in modern time. Furthermore, as manufacturing and service companies are competing to have a larger share of the market, it is next to impossible to expect the media to reduce the amount of dishonest advertising. Besides, when it comes to making money, companies and the media are in the same religion.
After all, greed being a human instinct, consumers have only themselves to blame for their foolishness toward advertisements. Since outlawing commercial advertising is out of the question, people should educate themselves to be more prudent in buying and spending behaviors. As for consumers, what better measures can be taken to protect themselves other than self-control?