Issue-69. It is often necessary for political leaders to withhold information from the public.

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满分范文赏析

It is absolutely necessary for political leaders to withhold certain information from the public. However, a governed body must not allow political leaders undue freedom to withhold all information, otherwise, a people would risk being subjected to abuse of power.

【此段结构】  

本段的两句话分别代表了作者对于本题观点的两个方面。第一句话指出政治领导人应当保留某些信息。第二句话又谈到不能允许政治领导人获得无限的保留信息的自由，否则可能导致权力滥用。  

【此段功能】  

作者直接提出对于题目的看法，包含两方面。  

One of the basic reasons that certain information has to be withheld from the public is because the public, in and of itself, is an irrational beast. In the game of politics, complete forthrightness is a death warrant. The public generally requires certain forms of untruth or some exposed truth with some hidden facts behind it. For example, were all politicians to fully disclose every personal shortcoming, no person would ever get elected. The public has unrealistic expectations and politicians in democratic societies have the responsibility to meet these unrealistic demands if they wish to gain office. It’s a basic, realistic view of the world in which we live.

【此段结构】  

第一句直接指出了政治领导人需要保留部分信息的原因是公众并不理性。第二句进一步谈到公众需要一些untruth或者是隐藏了部分事实的truth。第三句举例说如果政治家都将自己的缺点暴露出来，那么将不会有人被选中了。接下来的两句总结说公众对政治人物有不现实的期待，而政治家们需要满足这份期待。  

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解释政治领导人需要保留部分信息的第一个原因，原因在于公众是非理性的。  

Another reason why the public should not be privy to all information is in cases of safety and security. For example, if the government were forced to disclose security strategies, enemies of the state could quickly defend themselves, risking the immediate safety of soldiers and later on even citizens of the state. Withholding information might also be necessary to avoid public panic. While such cases are rare, they do occur occasionally. For example, during the first few hours of the new millennium the U.S. Pentagon's missile defense system experienced a Y2K- related malfunction. This fact was withheld from the public until later in the day; once the problem had been solved it was immediately disclosed. In order to avoid mass hysteria, it was best to keep the information a state secret.

【此段结构】  

第一句话提出本段论点，解释道不告知公众所有信息的原因还出于国防和安保考虑。第二句举例说如果国家将国防政策昭告天下，国家的敌人将会做出对国家和人民不利的举动。第三句又谈到保留信息是防止公众恐慌的必要措施。接下来以美国在世纪之交遭遇的五角大楼导弹防御系统故障为例，说明了保留部分信息维护了稳定。  

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解释政治领导人需要保留部分信息的第二个原因，是出于国防安全考虑。  

Withholding information from the public is often necessary to serve the interests of that public. However, legitimate political leadership must be clear on its actions and agenda. In history, there are a number of leaders who lack such forthrightness. These leaders often seek illegitimate power. In short, hiding information for personal gain is ok unless that information is important to the state.

【此段结构】  

前两句提出了本段围绕的主题，合理的政治领导权必须是清白的。后面解释说历史上有很多领导人缺少将执政和个人透明化的意识，这些人经常寻求非法权力。作者认为领导人谋取私利可以理解但不应该危害到国家。  

【此段功能】  

解释政治领导的有些信息需要透明化的原因。  

In conclusion, it is safe to say that the public is an immature and irrational creature prone to emotional reactions. This creature needs to be kept in the dark about information that could cause the public to do something that would hurt itself.

【此段结构】  

第一句指出了公众的不理性不成熟特质，第二句补充第一句带来的结果，那就是需要将有些信息保留，以防造成伤害。  

【此段功能】  

总结了全文论述。  

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满分要素剖析

一、语言表达
这篇作文的语言着实优美。整篇读下来，你看得到作者使用了很多地道的词汇和表达，使文章的可读感大大增强。作者的语法基本功也比较扎实，很多语法点的使用都做到了准确得当。

1、However, a governed body must not allow political leaders undue freedom to withhold all information, otherwise, a people would risk being subjected to abuse of power. 我们注意到这句话中的people前面加了冠词a，这表明people在这里是有单复数的“一国人民，民族”之意。Being subjected to这个搭配中，subject是个及物动词，和to连用表示“使遭受”。Subject也有形容词性，和to连用表示“易遭受…的”，但在本句中不是形容词，因为已经后加ed成为动词过去分词。

2、One of the basic reasons that certain information has to be withheld from the public is because the public, in and of itself, is an irrational beast. 这句话中我们来关注“in and of itself”，它是“就其本身而言”的意思。关于itself一词，它有in itself和of itself的搭配，都有“本质上”之意，将词性相同的in和of并列起来形成in and of itself，有一种主观客观都包含的感觉。

3、In the game of politics, complete forthrightness is a death warrant. 这句话末尾的death warrant本指死刑执行令，引申为致命打击、注定要死亡的事物。这个常用的固定搭配用在本文显得很地道。

4、For example, were all politicians to fully disclose every personal shortcoming, no person would ever get elected. 这句话使用了虚拟语气，并且前半句省略了助动词if，将were提前成了倒装语序。这种用法比较特殊，显示了作者雄厚的的语法实力。

5、In conclusion, it is safe to say that the public is an immature and irrational creature prone to emotional reactions. This creature needs to be kept in the dark about information…这两句话中的两个短语用得很好，一个是prone to，一个是be kept in the dark。前者是“易于…；有…倾向”的意思，这一句中是定语从句省略了主谓语that is的用法。后者是“将…蒙在鼓里”的意思，用得很生动

二、逻辑结构
这道作文题要求考生对政治领导人应该保留信息还是让公众完全知情发表看法。作者的观点辩证地分为两个方面——对政治领导人来说，第一，有些信息不需要公布于众；第二，政治领导人不能在保留信息上享有过度的自由。作者用总分总的结构写就本文，在“分”的部分给出了三个理由，前两个是支持第一方面观点，后一个支持第二方面。针对第一方面观点，作者的理由是（1）公众本身是不理性的，对政治和政治领导人有很多理想化的期待，如果公布所有的事实将理想打破，政治领导人很难获得公众的支持，从而导致领导起来有困难；（2）保留某些信息是出于国防安全的考虑。针对第二个方面，作者的理由是领导人过分享有保留信息自由容易使他们滥用权力，谋取私利伤害到国家和民众利益。