第一篇作文：
New findings in scientific areas can examine and challenge previous assumptions. A recent finding concerning the meerkat, a burrow-dwelling animal in the African grasslands, has cast doubt upon the conventional ideas of altruism, the type of behavior in which an animal sacrifices its own interests for the benefit of another.
Meerkats were previously thought to be a typical altruistic animal. When the other meerkats feed, there is usually one meerkat watching out for predators. The sentinel meerkat gains nothing, it seems, for it can neither eat nor escape quickly and successfully after raising an alarm.
However, in the new findings, it's shown that the sentinel meerkat has already eaten food before standing guard, thus contradicting the thought that it has an empty belly while on the lookout. In addition to this, the sentinel is the first to see a predator, so it is the first to escape. It is also placed nearest a burrow, making it relatively easier to flee. Moreover, its alarm calls may cause the group either to gather or to spread rapidly, which may attract the predator's attention, providing the sentinel a better chance to escape.
The same is with supposed human altruistic behavior. Organ donation to strangers may be considered an unselfish act, which provides little reward to the donator. However, by donating his organ, the donator may most probably receive praise and appreciation from others. Isn't this non-material reward, which increases one's self worth, satisfactory to anyone?
第二篇作文：
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Good teachers are more important to a child's development than good parents.
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Parents and teachers are both important people to a child. Some people say, 'Good teachers are more important to a child's development than good parents.' However, I do not agree with this statement.
'Parents are the first educators of a child.' Indeed, when a person is born into this world, the first people he is in contact with everyday are his parents, whereas a teacher can only come during a later stage in the child's life, and may leave him after just a few years.All through the child's childhood and puberty, parents exert a subtle influence on him, teaching him what to look up to and what to become.
In the early years of a child's life, his parents are the ones to teach him the basics of life and the principals of living. They are the ones to teach him how to pronounce the first word, how to stand up and take a few steps, how to greet elders, and in the process of which, they give him the first glimpse of life----how learning, strength of character and etiquette are essential to one person. These are what my father and mother taught me when I was too young to go to school.
Good parents set a good example for a child to abide by, whereas bad parents usually do not have well-behaving children. Isn't it said, 'Like father, like son'? Parents are the first people a child learns to respect, because they are his guardians, his elders tied by blood. Being a good parent doesn't necessarily mean that he or she must be knowledgable, or must be able to speak big, wise words that may be difficult to understand. If a parent can teach the child how to behave by behaving himself, he is a good parent even if he is illiterate, or is poor. Thus, a child's character is usually shaped and molded before he attends school under the influence of his parents, and that is more than a good teacher can do to the child with the bearings of knowledge.
Good parents are essential to a child's development in that they are the first ever to teach him and that what they deliver is more about life and spirit than knowledge. What they can do is more than what a good teacher can. It suffices to say that good parents are the most important people to a child's development, and not good teachers.
