2014年12月6日北美SAT作文题目：
Is it better to be passionate in something or emotionally detached?
2014年12月6日北美SAT作文解析：
题目问凡事应全情投入还是冷静客观?针对题目考生可以根据自己的例子素材选择一方观点进行论述。如果选择be emotionally detached, 可以从emotional detachment可以帮助人们在遇到压力困难不幸或者他人的批评的时候，保持清醒的头脑，做出正确的判断。同样，它也可以使人们enjoy a state of inner peace and equanimity or free people from worries, fears, and anxiety。如果选择be passionate, 考生可以讨论作为一种积极乐观的生活态度，热情可以鼓励和激励人们以更加积极的态度面对生活，迎接生活的每一次挑战，最后帮助人们排除万难，实现梦想，找到生命的意义。若从热情这个角度展开，考生可选择的例子素材相对比较广泛。无论选择哪方观点只要言之有理论之有据即可。
2014年12月6日北美SAT作文范文：
Oprah Winfrey once said, “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” This profound saying emphasizes the importance of passion in life. Passion acts like “rocket fuel” that keeps us going, and fills our life with meaning and happiness. It also accelerates us to go through any difficulties, and drives us to accomplish anything we set our mind to. To experience a meaningful and successful life, being passionate in something is of much more significance.
By being passionate and establishing goals towards that end, people will be able to discover the true happiness. Florence Nightingale, the Mother of Modern Nursing, experienced her life and work to the fullest extent by discovering her passion for nursing and allowing it to lead her to do great work. Born in a rich and upper-class family, Nightingale always suffered from depression and the feeling of unworthiness as the upper class, and attempted to discern the purpose of life at a young age. Defying her parents’ desire that she married into a socially prominent family, Nightingale wished for meaningful work and began to imagine herself caring for others. It was by the age of 25 that Nightingale found her true passion in nursing as the means to fulfill her goal. Despite the fact that nursing was an unpaid and unpromising career in Victoria London, Nightingale was passionate in helping the sick and making a change to their lives. During the Crimean War, Nightingale worked tirelessly to tend to the wounded British soldiers and was dubbed “The Lady with the Lamp” after her habit of making rounds at night. Because of her devotion and dedication, Nightingale successfully improved the plight of the wounded, reducing the mortality rate from 42.7% to 2.2%. On her return from the Crimea, Nightingale also devoted her fervent passion into developing nursing as an essential and educated component of healthcare. She established the Nightingale School in London, and published books such as Notes On Nursing which sparked the worldwide health care reform. It was her passion of helping and serving others as a nurse that propelled Nightingale to find the true meaning in life, and to obtain the deep and lasting happiness by making significant changes to nursing practice.
In addition to providing people with happiness and fulfillment, having passion towards work and life will drive people to strive for their goals in spite of any overwhelming obstacles. Amy Purdy, the double-amputee snowboarder, followed her true passion in life and ultimately triumphed over difficulties and achieved greatness. At a young age, Purdy developed a passion for snowboarding and dreamed of traveling all around the world with her board in hand. However, at age 19,she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, causing her to lose circulation to her extremities, and this meant both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee. Faced with this unforeseen lose, Purdy was frustrated and tried to escape from the reality for a while. However, the strong desire to fulfill her dream and the passion in snowboarding finally lifted her spirit and led her to enter a new phase of life. Six months after the accident, Purdy returned to snowboarding again with her prosthetic feet. Despite any pains and difficulties, Purdy never gave up and her passion and confidence combined propelled her to go beyond personal limit. To find the right feet to snowboard, she designed a pair herself; to discover ways to attack the slope, she experienced numerous failed attempts; to move the prosthetic feet the right way, she spent hours in practicing every day. Eventually, Purdy transcended her disability and won three Paralympic World Cup gold medals, which made her the highest ranked adaptive female snowboarder in the world. Far more than this, out of her passion in snowboarding, Purdy also cofounded Adaptive Action Sports to support and guide amputees with an interest in action sports. Rising from disability to a world-class snowboarder, Purdy has followed her passion in life, and this passion helped Purdy to tap into her full potentials and pushed her to work harder to improve herself, and to overcome any challenges and limitations that may arouse in the process. Therefore, being passionate in something paves the way for people to produce significant and lasting accomplishment.
Obviously, the above examples of Nightingale and Purdy demonstrate that passion, the strong and powerful feeling, is the driving force behind happiness and success. Ensuring we are passionate in something will allow us to continuously get better and work harder to attain our goals, and ultimately provide us with an extraordinary and meaningful life.
(编辑：Kitty)