Issue-4. Scandals are useful because they act as a catalyst, focusing public attention on problems and motivating social change in ways that speakers or reformers rarely can.

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满分范文赏析

Wherever there are people, there are scandals. Once the public recognizes that the figure they adored is a fraud, reactions may be anger, sorrow and depression. After these initial reactions, rational consideration and remediation can take place. Following a scandal, greater progress than any other catalyst for change can sometimes be achieved.

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文章首段。第一句点明了本文围绕的中心——scandals；接下来的两句简述了人们对丑闻的通常反应过程，以及丑闻发生后出现的思考和补救，引出了本段尾句，同时亦是本文论点——丑闻有时可以带来比其他任何催化剂更大的进步。  

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首段，简单陈述背景后提出本文论点。  

 Scandals can illuminate hidden unreasonable and unjust regulations. Once identified, administrators or the public can adjust or even correct those errors. After the political debacle following Watergate, not only did President Nixon lose his job, but also further political reform was ushered in by the public. The public realized that abuse of power, which was unchecked in the past, needed to be checked. As a result, the public more carefully scrutinized government officials preventing them from abusing their power as easily as they had in the past.

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第二段采用总分结构论述了第一个论点，即本段首句。作者认为丑闻可以揭露隐藏的不合理不公正管理，可见作者是支持题干观点的。支持此论点的例子选取了很典型的水门事件，告诉读者该丑闻不仅令尼克松总统落马，并且检讨了权力滥用的现象，推进了政治改革，使得政府的官员及其工作置于公众监督之下。  

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论点一。作者表达了对题干观点前半部分的看法，即丑闻可以“focusing public attention on problems and motivating social changes”。  

  Recently, it was discovered that the Juventus football Club and several referee was publicized, shocking the world of football drawing attention to the large holes in the institution regulations. The scandal drew attention and closer scrutiny to the issue, forcing the Italia Football Association to take actions against Juventus, referees and other involved parties. While Juventus has been stripped of the former championship, a series of more appropriate regulations have at last been instituted into the systems.  This scandal kicked off a major reform, without which, the game might still be unknowingly plagued by cheats It was the scandal, a necessary evil, that got the changes underway, bringing improvements to the game of football.

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第三段使用意大利尤文图斯足球俱乐部的相关丑闻作为例证，指出这个丑闻令足球界关注机构制度的重大漏洞，并且做出相应制裁和改进，促进了足球运动的健康发展。与上一段一同作为论点一的论据，可以说二、三两段合在一起是一个大的总分结构。  

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同为论点一，作为对上一段的补充，继续论证了丑闻可以揭露隐藏的不合理不公正管理，使问题公布于众，推进社会变化。  

   Furthermore, compared with the accomplishments achieved by professional speakers and reformers, progress produced in the aftermath of scandals is often quicker and more significant. The subject of a scandal usually has a position of high status, which grants him power great enough to make his scandalous behavior so harmful and astonishing that it can be called a scandal. Before their scandals become known to the public, the individuals are widely admired, trusted and respected. Speakers and reformers, on the other hand, are less often as widely recognized. Therefore, speakers or reformers, if their message doesn’t reflect the masses, achieve less of an effect. Scandals play a more vital role in initiating change than reformers.

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第四段同样使用总分结构，段首提出了论点二：与演讲者和改革家相比，丑闻余波带来的进步经常更加迅速且重大。作者指出丑闻主角有地位，被信任，被尊重，被羡慕，公共关注度往往高于不太广为人知的演讲者和改革家，因此前者的丑闻有时影响力较后者要高。段尾句也总结道，与改革家相比，丑闻在引发变化上扮演着更重要的角色。  

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论点二，通过比较题干后半部分提到的speakers和reformers与丑闻主角的区别，论述了丑闻的催化作用，进一步表示对题干观点的支持。  

Despite their positive contributing factors, of scandals are not without their unique problems. Scandals often breach trust, and trust being an emotion can cause people to become hypersensitive. This hypersensitivity has, in the past, led to an excessive desire to reveal all about important public figures. Watchdogs stepped in to monitor people. As a result, some public figures have been unable to effectively work. To satisfy the curiosity of the public, watchdogs interfered with distracting behaviors, sometimes even illegal themselves. Secondly, scandals are so meaningful and widespread in their effect that the wrongdoing may overshadow the contributions of the public figure. For example, although Bill Clinton was dedicated and successful in his efforts to resuscitate America's economy during his term of office, his having engaged in sexual relations with an employee and his having lied about it repeatedly to the entire world made him seem unfit to govern. At that time, America lost the good with the bad.    

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第五段，总分结构，论述了丑闻的消极影响。作者认为丑闻令人们太想窥探公众人物的隐私，以至干涉到他人正常生活，有时不惜犯法。本段用曾任美国总统的比尔·克林顿为例，尽管他在任期间贡献卓越，但其色情丑闻的放大令其无法继续保持公众的信任。段尾句指出，克林顿在失去总统职务的同时，美国也“lost the good with the bad”。  

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论点三，丑闻的弊端。丑闻毕竟不是解决所有问题的法宝，在承认它具有题干中所说的正面催化作用之外，还需指出丑闻的消极影响，保证逻辑的严密和完整。  

To be just, I acknowledge that most people hate to witness scandals happening around them. What is more, recessions and the private violations always come along with scandals. Nevertheless, from another angle, if the scandals are in fact beneficial, it may be wiser to bravely face them.    

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第六段，承接上一段对丑闻消极作用的论述，前两句作者承认丑闻并不是人们喜闻乐见的，而且丑闻也常伴随着侵犯隐私和经济衰退。最后一句用Nevertheless转折，与文章的前两个论点呼应，提醒读者注意到丑闻积极的催化作用，建议人们用正确态度对待丑闻。  

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结尾段，对全文论述做了简短总结，表明作者立场。  

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满分要素剖析

一、语言表达
本文在语言表达方面的优点之一在于行文流畅，因为作者使用了很多诸如furthermore，despite，on the other hand, nevertheless等连接词语，使不同内容没有生硬拼凑，而是自然地连为一体。除此之外，作者也用到了不少GRE级别的词汇和表达，语法选择得当，句型变化充分，赋予了文章可读感。

1、Following a scandal, greater progress than any other catalyst for change can sometimes be achieved. 这一句使用不规则语序的比较级说明scandal有时可以达成更大的进步，将than any other catalyst for change放在主语greater progress之后，起到了强调scandal的作用，毕竟scandal是本文论述的中心，而不是any other catalyst for change。

2、After the political debacle following Watergate, not only did President Nixon lose his job, but also further political reform was ushered in by the public. 这个长句不仅使用了not only…but also句型，而且选用的词汇和表达很贴切。Debacle表示大溃败、垮台，远比failure一词能表现事件的影响；usher in意为迎来，后接的宾语多为改革、新时代等抽象概念，用在此处也很合适。

3、Recently, it was discovered that the Juventus football Club and several referee was publicized, shocking the world of football, drawing attention to the large holes in the institution regulations. 本句的主语是that后引导的从句，因从句表达的内容较长较复杂，因此作者选用it作为形式主语，避免了句子产生头重脚轻之感。现在分词shocking和drawing引导的从句作为本句的结果状语，使本句成为一个长长的复杂句。

4、The subject of a scandal usually has a position of high status, which grants him power great enough to make his scandalous behavior so harmful and astonishing that it can be called a scandal. 此句中的which引导的是定语从句，修饰high status；从句中还是用so…that…（如此…以致…）句型令句子增添色彩。

二、逻辑结构
本文论证的逻辑完整而严密，作者采用总分总的结构支撑全文。第一段分析背景，提出论点，接下来第二到五段分别提出了三个论点来表达作者的立场，最后一段简单进行总结。作者的观点是支持了题中观点，并且用第二、三和第四段分别解释了题中观点所给理由的前半部分和后半部分；为了使逻辑完整，作者在第五段提到了丑闻的弊端作为补充。每一点论证作者都提出了合适的例子，比如最典型的水门事件，和尤文图斯俱乐部事件，比尔·克林顿桃色新闻等等，都是广为世人所知，并且与所提论点关联密切。整个文章线索清晰，作者对题中观点的理解也很全面。