【要求】
在一次主題為“電腦時代”的學校征文活動中，你計畫以“The Computer”為題寫一篇文章參加評選，你的輔導老師幫助你製訂了一個寫作綱要，如下：
電腦正廣泛被用于各行各業。
在過去的五十年中，電腦得到了迅猛的發展。
電腦最終還是由人來設計和控製。
【範文】
The Computer
The computer is widely used in all phases of society. In industry, business, education, medicine, nearly all walks of life, computers have made their appearance, providing great speed and accuracy for our work. Computers have been used in the home, offices, laboratories and research institutions, functioning as the most efficient and versatile instruments for calculating, sorting, filing, recording and distributing. Computers are indispensable to modern civilization. Without computers, our life and our society will undoubtedly suffer a big regression.
During the past five decades the computer has been rapidly advanced. Ever since the computer came into being, it has experienced the development of several generations, which are based respectively on vacuum tube, transistor and integrated circuit. Early computers were of great size, and had no match for the latest electronic computers in speed and accuracy. The Latter is capable of processing the most complicated information and reaching solution to problems in a fraction of time. At present, efforts are being made not only to bring the hardware to perfection, but also to improve the quality of the software.
作文的內容千變萬化，這就要求我們豐富自己的知識，特別是各行業的最新動態。隻有這樣，才能自如地處理各種題材和內容。
Computers must be instructed and programmed by people. In spite of the remarkable skill of the computer, men can never become its slave. Computers are not creative. They work according to men's instructions. So the development of computers and their use will depend upon the ingenuity of men. Although there are times when computers seem to operate like a mechanical “brain”,their achievements are not comparable to what the minds of men are able to do.
【評語】
全文按照題目所給主題共分三段，以說明為主，第三段具有議論性質。本文層次清楚，表達準確，句與句之間聯系緊密。該文題材涉及當今熱門話題，許多與電腦有關的辭彙和表達法對同學們有參考價值。