BEC段落写作训练（三）

　　8）

　　A sane person should be at peace both with himself and with others. At work， for example， the successful businessman first creates ideas in his own mind， and then presents his plans to a committee where they can be improved upon by the wisdom of them. I believe that study also comprises the two sides of solitary work and group activity.

　　Wisdom always recognizes the worth of others. Firstly， there is so much to be learned from the expertise of a genuinely knowledgeable teacher. Secondly， other students can offer different perspectives of a topic. On a practical basis， friends can be useful for recommending the perfect textbook and so forth. In learning a foreign language， the student should always try to find friends who are native speakers of the target language. It is with sadness， contempt and cynical disbelief that I see a certain type of foreign student departing from a host country： by slavishly working in the library the student is awarded with high academic marks， but he or she has never spoken to a native speaker for any other reason than for petty power and financial gain. The insular academic student should remember the English saying that “no man is an island”。

　　There is no substitute for self-study， for the solitary labor of reading and reflective thought. If a person is to master any academic subject， he must first read extensively. Until he does so， he can only contribute superficially to the group. Quiet reading encourages the student to think for himself. By thought and reflection the student begins to understand the world. Self-study （as the word implies） is also an inward 30urnev. When the student re-emerges from the forest of his own character， he gains one of the highest forms of learning-that of self-knowledge. Free from self-deceit， he is only then truly ready to create within the collective economy.

　　Overall， although I have argued for both methods， I prefer self-study to group interaction. Too much conversation can lapse into idleness； and weaker students sometimes attempt to take more than they contribute. Self-study is at the base of learning. Most important of all is the fact that a person has to learn about and control himself before he is prepared to present his opinions to others. Just as the businessman requires many years of experience to learn about commerce and industry so the student requires many years of reading.