杜亮老师从事SAT教学工作6年，帮助超过5万学生获得SAT作文获得10分以上的成绩，其中很多学生获得满分。国内顶级SAT作文专家，独创“例子备考法”。
Assignment: Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others?
(2006.12)
杜亮
Humans are naturally gregarious and social people---we like to be with others of our species. No one wants to be entirely lonely. It is easy, however, to get wrapped up in other people’s opinions; to go with the “in” crowd or be something we aren’t. It seems that with most things in life, moderation is the key to success. While ignoring people’s opinions and input our ideas and very characters can lead to isolation and stagnation, becoming obsessed with our image can and will take away from the more important things in life. Every person must decide for themselves to what extent they are willing to listen and learn from this and how much they will do on their own.
John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, is largely considered the front runner for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination. Some people in the right wing of the GOP, however, question his “maverick” style and Bipartisan approach. McCain is an excellent example of someone faced with the dilemma of how much to let other’s opinions of him sway what he does. If he suddenly begins courting Christian conservatives that have often been suspicious of his moderate social stances, he could be accused of pandering; however, if he doesn’t try to reach out to that group which makes up around 30% of the GOP base, he risks losing the nomination to someone more ideologically inline. Here we see a careful balance is needed; sometimes sacrificing a little of our own ambitions or beliefs can help us accomplish greater things than we could do by ourselves.
In my spare time, I write orchestral music, and I have found that, like John McCain, I must learn to balance the opinions and suggestions of others with my own creative desires. Often I will write music that I really like and am very proud of, but when I show it to my private lesson teacher, he sometimes makes me question what I wrote. He, and other people that have criticized my music, constantly remind me that I need learn to merge my creative insight with effective technique. Nobody will like or want to play my music if it doesn’t follow basic guidelines. However, if I just write formulaic pieces without any heart or emotion, I will run into the same problem. Since the beginning of music, all composers have faced the dilemma of balancing personal creative choice with popular opinion and musical guidelines to create effective, yet beautiful music.
While it is often that we grow the most from listening to other’s advice, we must have the courage to listen to our own hearts---balancing the two for the most effective accomplishments.