1999年专八英语作文真题:Competition or Cooperation?

Competition and cooperation seem to be two apparent opposites, which people have to choose between: some claim that the former is more important than the latter, while others think the other way around. However, the contrast between the two is misleading and damaging, for in fact, one may enhance the other in the present-day society. Therefore,in my opinion, competition and cooperation play equally important roles in modem world. Competition has played a fundamental part during the course of evolution of human society. In the earliest days, since the natural resources were too limited to keep all species alive, the stronger and superior groups screened out the weaker and inferior. Thus the fittest survived and the society developed. In modern world, competition still serves as a significant and necessary stimulus for people from all walks of life. In a company, competition helps the able take higher positions; in the field of science, competition helps to distinguish talented scientists from the mediocre; in a nation, competition helps to choose the most ambitious and competent as leaders. In sum, competition really means a lot to the achievement of a human being and his society. However, people who believe that competition is more important than the cooperation partially or completely neglect the importance of cooperation which in my mind contributes equally to the development of human society. In the old days, when competing for survival, even the strong species had to fight together against a great enemy. In the present-day society, cooperation enables varied groups to specialize in one field and then to complement each other. Let me cite the relation between the U. S.and Japan as an example. It is well-known that the U. S. is a nation of abundant natural resources while Japan is one of world-class manufacturing industries. What if they respectively kept a competitive mind and indulged in its own achievement? The U. S.would be a miserable millionaire who could not find a profitable way to invest his money and Japan would be a clever businessman without finances to materialize his ideas. In effect, they have chosen to cooperate. The U. S. imports industrial products such as automobiles from Japan, and as a tradeoff, exports some natural resources to Japan. Thanks to the cooperation, the U.S. can enjoy petroleum-saving but efficient automobiles and Japan is less concerned about its limited resources. In modern world, this is just one of those win-win situations brought by cooperation. All in all, we can safely conclude that competition and co-operation are equally important to the social development. The over-emphasis on or the neglect of either will cause losses and even damages.