6、“A long vacation is a great boon to the economy or not?”(Unit 7)
7、“Should different cultures merge into each other or maintain their unique features?”(Unit 10)。 I 州大学第四届大学英语辩论赛程序及用时规定 1、正方一辩陈述本方观点（用时不超过2分钟）。 2、反方一辩陈述本方观点（用时不超过2分钟）。
3、反方二辩向正方二、三辩手各提一个问题，采用一问一答的形式，提问前必须指明回答者（任意次序）。每次
提问时间不超过30秒钟，正方二位辩手的累计回答 用时不得多于2分30秒。
4、正方二辩向反方二、三辩手各提一个问题，采用一问一答的形式，提问前必须指明回答者（任意次序）。每次
提问时间不超过30秒钟，正方二位辩手的累计回答用时不得多于2分30秒。 5、双方四辩可在本方二、三辩手回答问题后进行补充发言，时间不得超过1分钟。 6、反方二辩小结（用时不超过1分30秒）。 7、正方二辩小结（用时不超过1分30秒）。
8、自由辩论：由双方一、二、三、四辩完成。双方交替发言，正方先开始，各队累计用时4分钟。 9、反方四辩总结陈词（用时不超过3分钟）。 10、正方四辩总结陈词（用时不超过3分钟）。
11.当每位辩手陈词时间剩下15秒时，主席将提示，铃响表示发言时间已用尽，辩手须即刻停止发言。 12.评分采用10分制，评委打分到小数点后1位，计算分数到小数点后4位。
Should people improve their appearance through plastic surgery?”(Unit 2)
Pros Cons
反：We live in a world that is image obsessed, and this kind of procedure panders to that. We should promote the idea that appearance is not as important as character. People should be content with themselves and not be so hung up on their looks.
正：That’s nice. But given that the reality is that we’re judged on our appearance all the time, it’s perfectly rational to want to look good. Nobody’s forcing anyone to have cosmetic surgery – the market is driven by demand.
反：There are dangers involved in any kind of surgery. Sometimes we must accept those dangers, as they come in the course of necessary medical procedures. But with elective surgery – procedures people don’t need, but rather merely want – the risks can’t be justified. These risks
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apply both to the surgery itself, and to the long term. For example, leaking silicone breast implants have been a widespread problem and can lead to death. Once, paraffin was often injected into the face to smooth wrinkles, with disastrous effects. Silicon often finds its way into other parts of the body, such as the lymph glands, and can prevent the early detection of breast cancer as doctors often think real lumps are silicon leakage. Who today knows the full future implications of injecting the highly dangerous poison Botox into one’s face?
We should not restrict freedom of choice. Certainly there’s an element of danger involved. But we let people box. We let people bungee jump. They undertake these dangers for fun or for money. Why shouldn’t we let people undertake dangers in the pursuit of beauty, and higher self esteem?Furthermore, cosmetic surgery is becoming safer and safer. It is increasingly strictly policed and sky-high legal pay-outs by bad surgeons have ensured that practitioners take more and more care. Technology in surgery and in implants and so forth is forever improving. The scare stories the proposition talk about are the worst examples of thirty years ago – they’re nothing to do with cosmetic surgery today.
反：The pressures of appearance apply particularly to women. Pregnancy and ageing have predictable effects: they should be accepted with grace, not fought against. The messages sent when some women have procedures are firstly that the prejudices some have about appearance are valid, and secondly that those women secure enough not to contemplate going under the knife are “letting themselves go.”
If women or anyone else are secure enough not to bother with cosmetic surgery, then fine. But there are many who find that their appearance truly troubles them and that improving it would greatly enhance their quality of life. If they can afford it, let them.
反：If the opposition is right and plastic surgery is desirable, then such surgery is unfair. Only those that can pay for it get it. So if it has the advantages the opposition claims, the rich will look good, and the poor will not. 正：
You can spend your money how you like. Why shouldn’t people be allowed to make the personal choice to change their appearance with their own cash? Better that than ask others to contribute through the state. Furthermore, the appearance division the proposition seeks to suggest between rich and poor is much more dependent on quality of diet. Diet is a universal factor that affects complexion, height, etc, while cosmetic surgery is a relatively insignificant factor in statistical terms and one that only affects the particular thing on which surgery is conducted.
反：In fact, often, people look appalling after plastic surgery. Celebrities with “trout pout” overblown lips, or absurd, balloon-like breasts, are only the most well known examples. 正：
That might be true. Let people choose what happens to their bodies for themselves. For every horror story, there are hundreds of people who are happier with their appearance after surgery – whether you prefer their new appearance or not.
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Cosmetic surgery is something that should not be entered into lightly. It is considered a surgical procedure and therefore will carry risks.
But if you are in good general health and decide that cosmetic surgery is something that you want to do then it is important that you do research on the procedure so that you are able to make an informed and responsible decision. The advantages of plastic surgery can be many in the right circumstances.
Cosmetic surgery can be exactly what you need to enhance your self image. Having a positive self image can give you the self confidence that you need to get a better job, try new things and it will give you a general overall feeling of well being.
Another advantage of plastic surgery is the ability to correct physical defects. These patients may have physical defects that have resulted from an accident or a bad case of acne as a teenager. Some people are born with physical defects that have plagued them since birth and cosmetic surgery can finally give them a shot at a normal life. If you have decided to get any type of procedure, choose your surgeon wisely. Get recommendations from your doctor. If possible, talk to former patients to get their input on a particular cosmetic surgeon. If you know of anyone who has had surgery, ask them for a recommendation.
Another thing that you need to take into consideration is the cost of your cosmetic surgery. Insurance plans will most likely not cover the costs for these procedures, so you will have to foot the bill yourself. There are places that will give you a loan specifically for cosmetic surgery, but be sure to research them carefully. Make sure that the cost of the surgery is not going to cause financial hardship upon yourself or your family. Cosmetic surgery can be exactly what the doctor ordered if you are dealing with self esteem issues. Do research on the particular procedures that you are interested in so you know what you are getting into. Make sure you can afford it financially and choose your doctor or surgeon carefully. All in all, the advantages of cosmetic surgery can outweigh the risks if it can change your life for the better. Everyone deserves to look their best.
正方总结陈词：Nowadays, plastic surgery is no longer a social taboo, and it is not rare or astonishing to hear people around us have operations on their faces or bodies. Despite its high costs, possible risks, and short-term side efforts, plastic surgery is a great thing in many cases and its benefits can be both physical and emotional, both external and internal.
正方：there is an old sayinginchina:everyone wants beauty',and given the reality that we’re often judged on our appearance all the time, it’s perfectly rational to want to look good.Exactly speaking，Cosmetic surgery mainly benefits us in two ways,firstly it can be exactly enhance our self image. Having a positive self image can give us the self confidence that we need to get a better job, try new things and it will give us a general overall feeling of well being. In fact, often, people look appalling after plastic surgery. Celebrities with “trout pout” overblown lips, or absurd, balloon-like breasts, are only the most well known examples. . For every horror story, there are hundreds of people who are happier with their appearance after surgery – whether you prefer their new appearance or not
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反：i'm afraid i don't agree with you. There are dangers involved in any kind of surgery. Sometimes we must accept those dangers, as they come in the course of necessary medical procedures. But with cosmetic surgery –the procedures people don’t need – the risks can’t be justified. These risks apply both to the surgery itself, and to the long term. Who today knows the full future implications of injecting the highly dangerous poison Botox into one’s face?
SO We should promote the idea that appearance is not as important as character. People should be content with themselves and not be so hung up on their looks. 正： Technology in surgery and in implants and so forth is forever improving. The scare stories the proposition talk about are the worst examples of thirty years ago – they’re nothing to do with cosmetic surgery today.
Cosmetic surgery can be exactly what the doctor ordered if you are dealing with self esteem issues. Do research on the particular procedures that you are interested in so you know what you are getting into. Make sure you can afford it financially and choose your doctor or surgeon carefully. All in all, the advantages of cosmetic surgery can outweigh the risks if it can change your life for the better. Everyone deserves to look their best.
反：Another thing that you need to take into consideration is the cost of your cosmetic surgery. Insurance plans will most likely not cover the costs for these procedures, so you will have to foot the bill yourself. There are places that will give you a loan specifically for cosmetic surgery, but be sure to research them carefully. Make sure that the cost of the surgery is not going to cause financial hardship upon yourself or your family。
二、Should students be given homework tasks to complete outside school? Or are
such tasks pointless?
Pros
Homework has little educational worth and adds nothing to the time spent in school. Some schools and some countries don’t bother with homework at all, and their results do not seem to suffer from it. Studies show that homework adds nothing to
Cons
Homework is a vital and valuable part of education. There are only a few hours in each school day – not enough time to cover properly all the subjects children need to study. Setting homework extends study beyond school hours, allowing a wider and deeper
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standardised test scores for primary/ elementary pupils. International comparisons of older students have found no positive relationship between the amount of homework set and average test scores. If anything, countries with more homework got worse results!
Homework is almost always done when a child is already tired from a long day at school. As a result few students are at their best when they sit down in the evening to yet more work. Homework ends up being done in a hurry, by students fighting fatigue, and
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education. It also makes the best use of teachers, who can spend lesson time teaching rather than just supervising individual work that could be done at home. Tasks such as reading, writing essays, researching, doing maths problems, etc. are best done at home, away from the distractions of other students.
Having homework also allows students to really fix in their heads work they have done in school. Doing tasks linked to
recent lessons helps students strengthen their understanding and become more confident in using new knowledge and skills. For younger children this
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poor quality work is produced. Worse still, students who have been up late trying to finish off their homework, then come tired into school the next day, and so are less ready to learn. Really, what is the point?
Setting homework does little to develop good study skills. It is hard to check whether the homework students produce is really their own. Some students have always copied off others or got their parents to help them. But today there is so much material available on the internet that teachers can never be sure. It would be better to have a mixture of activities in the classroom which help
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could be practising reading or multiplication tables. For older ones it might be writing up an experiment, revising for a test, reading in preparation for the next topic, etc.
Homework prepares students to work more independently, as they will have to at college and in the workplace. Everyone needs to develop skills in personal organisation, working
to deadlines, being able to research, etc. If students are always “spoon-fed” topics at school they will never develop study skills and self-discipline for the future.
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students to develop a whole range of skills, including independent learning.
Homework produces large amount of pointless work of little educational value, but marking it ties up much of teachers’ time. This leaves teachers tired and with little time to prepare more effective, inspiring lessons. The heavy workload also puts young graduates off becoming teachers, and so reduces the talent pool from which schools can recruit.
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Teachers accept that marking student work is an important part of their job. Well planned homework should not take so long to mark that the rest of their job suffers, and it can inform their understanding of their students, helping them design new activities to engage and stretch them. As for recruitment, although teachers do often work in the evenings, they are not alone in this and they get long holidays to compensate.
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Homework puts students off learning. Studies have shown that many children find doing homework very stressful, boring and tiring. Often teachers underestimate how long a task will take, or set an unrealistic deadline. Sometimes because a teacher has not explained something new well
in class, the homework task is impossible. So children end up paying with their free time for the failings of their teachers. They also suffer punishments if work is done badly or late. After years of bad homework experiences, it is no wonder that many children come to dislike education and switch
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If homework puts students off learning, then it has been badly planned by the teacher. The best homework tasks engage and stretch students, encouraging them to think for themselves and follow through ideas which interest them. Over time, well planned homework can help students develop good habits, such as reading for pleasure or creative writing.
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off, or drop out too early.
Homework takes a lot of time up. Being young is not just about doing school work. It should also about being physically active, exploring the environment through play, doing creative things like music and art, and playing a part in the community. It is also important for young people to build bonds with others, especially family and friends, but homework often squeezes the time available for all these things.
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Again, just because some teachers are bad at setting homework that is not a reason to scrap it altogether. Homework needs to be well designed and should not take up all of students’ spare time. Recent American surveys found that most students in the USA spent no more than an hour a night on homework. That suggests there does not seem to be a terrible problem with the amount being set.
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Homework is a class issue. In school everyone is equal, but at home some people have advantages because of their family background. Middle-class families with books and computers will be able to help their children much more than poorer ones can. This can mean working class
children end up with worse grades and more punishments for undone or badly done homework. On the other hand pushy parents may even end up doing their kids’ homework for them – cheating. And homework is one of the most common causes of family arguments.
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Education is a partnership between the child, the school and the home. Homework is one of the main ways in which the student’s family can be involved with their learning. Many parents value the chance to see what their child is studying and to support them in it. And schools need parents’ support in encouraging students to read at home, to help with the practising of tables, and to give them opportunities to research new topics.
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三、
Academic qualification ensures success in life?
The definition of success differs from person to person and field to field. One could take economic success as a touchstone to label a person successful in life, ignoring his of her other failures, like divorce, health, inefficiency, etc. Others may look at a capacity for overcoming challenges, irrespective of what someone earns and the nature of their private life. So who is a successful person and who is a failure? Do school and college grades and examination results provide a way of predicting or ensuring future success? If that is true, then we should encourage as many young people as possible to go to university and work hard to gain formal qualifications. But is it true? Aren’t some college drop-outs like Bill Gates and Richard Branson hugely successful icons of success? And should we automatically consider the millions of young people who have not had the opportunity to gain academic certificates to be failures in life?
P: Whether one is proposing marriage, applying for a job or looking for a new business partner, the first thing people ask is, \"what do you do?\" In other words they judge you by your academic qualifications. No bio-data résumé or curriculum vitae is acceptable without the inclusion of education qualifications. Therefore it is an unannounced rule of both the corporate world and the social world that a man's acquisition of academic qualifications is a giant leap towards opportunities in every walk of life.
C: Success never depends upon grades. If success and opportunities were measured by grades then the corporate world and potential marriage partners would not ask for biodata in résumés, where other qualifications are also mentioned. Nor would they interview the prospects in order to find out what they are like as people, rather they would give a blind appointment to the people with the best paper qualifications. So qualifications alone are never enough, success depends upon physical characteristics, personality, and a willingness to work hard.
Academic qualifications ensure you have the basics in learning. If your basic grounding in Maths,
Science and Languages is strong, you can get success in life because mastering these subjects allows you to calculate, to innovate and to communicate. These essentials for success cannot be learned without professional help – in schools and colleges. And in order to prove that someone has acquired this knowledge, they are tested. If their learning is satisfactory, then they are given a certificate to indicate their competence – an academic qualification.
Success is not getting a grade or a degree, if that was it then why aren't all the graduates from
Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge uniformly successful? The rule of success is hard work and destiny of course. If a student of engineering gets good grades but he is not practically effective in relationship-buildings and solving crises or proper planning, even though he may be successful in getting a job but it will not lead him far. On the way he is sure to fade out.
There may be a few people like Bill Gates and others who have made it, in spite of their drop-out
background and lack of academic qualifications, but can this be generalized? Should I tell my child to leave schooling because if Bill Gates can do it they can also do it? A few exceptions cannot be taken as a general rule.
And even for those few high-profile people who have made it without academic qualifications, let’s ask a simple question - if you look at a global directory of successful people you might find a few hundred like -
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Bill Gates, but what about those millions of doctors, engineers, IT professionals, lawyers, and advocates who rely upon their formal education? Can you run a country without them? And could even Bill Gates have prospered without the skills of these IT professionals and engineers?
If you look into a directory of successful people who are doctors, engineers and IT professionals,
then you will notice that many of them dream to be employed by people like Bill Gates or Richard Branson, who are prosperous despite not having college degrees. In other words, prosperity does not depend upon academic qualifications but upon opportunities provided by entrepreneurs who may not be necessarily be highly educated. Successful entrepreneurs even benefit from not having academic qualifications, because going to college and taking examinations forces people to learn and think like millions of other graduates. This actually makes it less likely that they will come up with the truly mould-breaking insights and “disruptive” ideas on which successful innovations and new business models are built.
We spend ten years of schooling and several more years of our precious life in college, and
then one fine morning someone comes and says that this is not required for success. When asked for proof, they say \"look at Bill Gates!\" But success isn’t a just matter of building a huge firm from scratch and making billions of dollars – by that definition, only a tiny number of people in the world could be considered successful. No, success is about making the most of your talents and abilities, and that requires dedication and study in academic institutions that will stretch you intellectually.
Unfortunately the materialistic world has changed the concept of success. It has become a
rat-race where every student chases grades and therefore the entire perception of success and prosperity has changed. Rather than studying to reach our full potential, we do it because we think it is necessary for a successful career. So we spend ten years in school and a few more years of our precious life in college to get educated, then more time is passed in hunting for jobs. Even after that we may find ourselves in the wrong profession and lacking job satisfaction. And then recession comes along, when we are told that our wealth has been blown away by the foolishness of expensive fat-salaried CEOs. Now comes a time when we go to work with a constant fear of losing the job we don’t enjoy. Is this the correct understanding of prosperity? So now the definition of success is changed. If you are able to save your job then you are successful!
An academic education gives people a rounded experience of life, with opportunities to meet
people from a wide range of backgrounds and to consider the importance in life of values and culture. These are necessary things required to label a person successful in all aspects of life. More broadly, widespread further education makes us a civilized nation. It uplifts our morals and ethics by exposing us to the great thinkers of the past. It makes us aware of our rights and liberties, and helps entrench a liberal democracy with active citizens and a lively media.
Can academic qualification stop us from becoming a civilization of drunkards, rapists and
war-mongers, marked by broken families, domestic violence and crime? If you look at countries where the largest number of people have higher academic qualifications, they are the ones most affected by social breakdown. And would you call the conduct of the US wars on Iraq and Afghanistan a successful example of the superiority of the US economy and society? In fact true success is shown in having the moral courage to speak out against atrocities and injustice, showing generosity towards the poor, and respecting our parents. These are characteristics which are found in people from all social and educational backgrounds, but often absent in many educated Americans and Europeans, in spite of the universities they have been to and the grades they have achieved.
Academic qualifications may not be enough on their own to ensure success, but they indicate
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that their possessor has got what it takes. Imagine a new world order in education, where people don't study but join their business or look for jobs straight from school, with no qualifications to prove their worth. How would employers choose between them? Academic grades are important, because in order to gain good exam grades or a degree, students have to work hard, master demanding skills and learn a great deal of specialist knowledge. These are valuable attributes for success in any field of endeavour, which is why employers value academic qualifications. Simply getting into a good college indicates to a future employer that the student is out of the ordinary
Often academic qualifications have no real relevance to the jobs graduates are employed to do.
A few decades ago employers in areas such as banking, engineering, management and government service recruited people straight from school at the age of 15 or 16, training them on the job and promoting them to higher levels of responsibility according to their ability. Today none of these jobs has changed very much, but all now require applicants have a university degree. Why has this changed? One reason is that the upper and middle classes are trying to protect their own jobs – demanding new recruits have expensive academic qualifications excludes many talented young people from poorer backgrounds
“Which should receive priority in China, economic growth or environmental protection?”(Unit 3)
Is the economic development of developing countries more important than protecting the environment? 正方：Good morning, everyone we are the objective part. I am debater 1 han .I am debater 2 Jone 反方：We are the negative part. I am debater 1 ding. I am debater 2 Li .
The issue of economic growth versus environmental conservation can also be seen as developed countries vs developing ones. Industrial countries such as the USA and Germany have depended upon polluting industries for their wealth. Now they fear that uncontrolled economic development in the Third World will lead to environmental disaster. They point out that massive clearing of tropical rainforest for farming threatens biodiversity and may affect the global climate. At the same time relying upon heavy industry adds more pollution to the air, soil and water sources, while a richer population demands more energy, often produced from burning dirty fossil fuels such as coal. Developing countries such as China and Brazil point out that they must make industrialisation and economic development a priority because they have to support their growing populations. Developing countries must address current problems; they cannot afford to worry about the distant future. They also point out that as First World countries are most to blame for current environmental damage, it is unfair to demand that developing nations limit their own growth to solve these problems.
Taking care of millions of people who are starving is more important than saving natural resources, most of which are renewable anyway. We cannot expect developing nations to share the green concerns of developed countries when they are faced with dire poverty and a constant battle for survival.
We have already wasted and destroyed vast amounts of natural resources, and in so doing have put earth at risk. We must preserve the earth for our children and grandchildren. In any case, poverty and environmental damage are often linked. Destroying the rainforest gives native peoples nowhere to go except urban slums. Polluted water can lead to crop failures. Climate change will turn fertile fields into desert and flood coastal areas where hundreds of millions live. Developing countries have to choose sustainable development if they want a future for their people.
The industrialised world’s emphasis on green issues holds back developing countries. Because this is seen as interference in their affairs, it also contributes to a greater divide between the First and Third worlds. Many also believe it is a deliberate attempt to stop possible economic competitors. After all, the -
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USA and EU already put high tariffs (import taxes) on products made cheaply in developing countries (e.g. canned tomatoes, shoes) which could be sold in America or Europe. By limiting the development of profitable but polluting industries like steel or oil refineries we are forcing nations to remain economically backward.
No one wants to stop economic progress that could give millions better lives. But we must insist on sustainable development that combines environmental care, social justice and economic growth. Earth cannot support unrestricted growth. Companies in developed countries already have higher costs of production because of rules to protect the environment. It is unfair if they then see their prices undercut by goods produced cheaply in developing countries at the cost of great pollution.
Economic development is vital for meeting the basic needs of the growing populations of
developing countries. If we do not allow them to industrialise, these nations will have to bring in measures to limit population growth just to preserve vital resources such as water.
Unchecked population growth has a negative impact on any nation, as well as on the whole
planet. Both the poverty and the environmental problems of sub-Saharan Africa are largely the result of rapid population growth putting pressure on limited resources. At the same time China has become wealthy while following a “one-child” per couple policy. Limiting population growth will result in a higher standard of living and will preserve the environment.
Obviously the world would be better if all nations stuck to strict environmental rules. The reality
is that for many nations such rules are not in their interests. For example, closing China’s huge Capital Iron and Steelworks, a major source of pollution, would cost 40 000 jobs. The equal application of strict environmental policies would create huge barriers to economic progress, at a risk to political stability
Nations are losing more from pollution than they are gaining from industrialisation. China is a
perfect example. Twenty years of uncontrolled economic development have created serious, chronic air and water pollution. This has increased health problems and resulted in annual losses to farmers of crops worth billions of dollars. So uncontrolled growth is not only bad for the environment, it is also makes no economic sense.
Rapid industrialisation does not have to put more pressure on the environment. Scientific
advances have made industries much less polluting. And developing countries can learn from the environmental mistakes of the developed world’s industrial revolution, and from more recent disasters in communist countries such as China and the USSR. For example, efficient new steelworks use much less water, raw materials and power, while producing much less pollution than traditional factories. And nuclear generating plants can provide more energy than coal while contributing far less to global warming. We are also exploring alternative, renewable types of energy such as solar, wind and hydro-power.
Scientific progress has made people too confident in their abilities to control their environment.
In just half a century the world’s nuclear industry has had at least three serious accidents: Windscale (UK, 1957), Three Mile Island (USA, 1979), and Chernobyl (USSR, 1986). In addition, the nuclear power industry still cannot store its waste safely. Hydro-power sounds great but damming rivers is itself damaging to the environment. It also forces huge numbers of people off their land – as in China’s 3 Gorges project.
It is hypocritical (two-faced and unfair) for rich developed countries to demand that poorer
nations make conservation their priority. After all, they became rich in the first place by destroying their environment in the industrial revolution. Now that they have cut down their own trees, polluted their water sources and poured billions of tons of carbon into the air, they are in no position to tell others to behave differently. In any case, as countries become richer they become more concerned about the environment,
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and can afford to do something about it. For developing countries conservation can therefore wait until they are richer.
Looking after our fragile world has to be a partnership. Climate change will affect the whole
planet, not just the developed world. In fact it is likely to have particularly terrible effects on developing countries as sea levels rise, deserts advance, and natural disasters become more common. It is no use Europe trying to cut its emissions into the atmosphere if unchecked growth in China and India leads to much greater overall pollution. Instead, developed countries need to transfer greener technologies to the developing world, paying for environmental protection and making sustainability a condition for aid.
The “Green Revolution” has doubled the size of grain harvests. Thus, cutting down more forests
to provide more space for crops is no longer necessary. We now have the knowledge to feed the world’s increasing population without harming the environment. Genetically modified crops can also benefit the developing world by requiring much less water, fertiliser or pesticide use while giving better yields. This is another example of economic development leading to environmental benefits.
The Green Revolution is threatening the biodiversity of the Third World by replacing native
seeds with hybrids. We do not know what the long-term environmental or economic consequences will be. We do know that in the short run, such hybrid crops can cause environmental problems by crowding out native plants and the wildlife which relies on them. The farmer growing hybrid crops must buy costly new seed every year because it cannot be saved to plant the following year’s crops. Farmers using hybrid seeds in what was the richest part of India went bankrupt. As a result, fertile lands lay idle and unploughed, resulting in droughts and desertification
五、Is outsourcing (and “offshoring”) a positive phenomenon? International trade has always depended to some extent on countries basing their exchange on
their own competitive advantage. For example, a developed country might import raw materials from an underdeveloped country and export finished consumer goods. Recently there has been an accelerated shift towards outsourcing, where companies contract with third parties to perform functions for them, for example manufacturing goods on their behalf, managing their payroll, providing data services and IT support, and even providing customer support or billing services. This has been especially evident in “offshoring”, where jobs which were previously done in the West are done in a lower-wage country (e.g. in China or India) by workers employed by the same company or, increasingly often, by a contractor. This is a politically sensitive issue, for example in job protection in some U.S. swing states such as Ohio
Offshoring lowers the cost of goods and services. Not all goods and services which are
consumed in a high-cost economy need to be produced in that economy. There is long-standing tacit recognition of this domestically within most countries – for example, only certain activities tend to be carried out in central urban areas where land and operating costs may be higher than elsewhere. Offshoring simply applies this logic on a larger scale, by allowing the comparative benefit of a lower cost of production to be passed on worldwide.
Offshoring is simply a way of unfairly exploiting cheap foreign labour. By shifting production to
low-wage economies, companies are able to profit from paying substandard wages and sometimes offering appalling working conditions. The fact that there are so many poor, underdeveloped countries with substantial unemployment means that countries will “race to the bottom” in a desperate attempt to undercut each other and so make themselves more attractive for offshoring investment.
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Offshoring encourages efficiency. Offshoring increases transparency between companies and
countries through a more ruthless display of pricing competitiveness. This means that there is a freer market between companies and those who are not efficient are less likely to succeed. This is good for consumers and the economy more generally, because goods and services will be produced more cheaply and efficiently. This does not necessarily mean that corners will be cut or jobs lost – the threat of overseas competition may serve to sharpen a company’s own focus on efficiency, or else to innovate in ways which set it apart from offshoring companies.
Offshoring leads to ruthless competition. Those who favour offshoring peddle an “efficiency
myth” which ignores the human cost of some market forces. Efficiencies are not necessarily passed on to end consumers. Instead, the most vulnerable people in the supply chain (typically workers but also small businesses) are forced into a viciously competitive, no-win situation. Meanwhile, consumers pay much the same price as before, perhaps for a worse product or service, while the company involved inflates its profits at their expense.
Offshoring helps development of underdeveloped countries. Offshoring relies on a basic
industrial base and the necessary supporting infrastructure, including some sort of education system. This will be present in most developed countries but may be partially or wholly absent in underdeveloped countries. The prospect of profiting from outsourcing contracts will encourage both public and private investment in infrastructure, both physical and social. In addition, offshoring provides bigger markets than would ever be possible domestically for an underdeveloped country, which allows it to benefit from economies of scale and capital inflow to develop more rapidly. And over time, the demands of companies for accountable, non-arbitrary government will encourage the rule of law and democracy, as will rising education levels and a growing middle class
Offshoring undermines liberal democratic values. Offshoring involves a focus on cost at the
expense of all else. It favours regimes where cheap, consistent labour is available even where this is because of poverty or government authoritarianism (e.g. the banning of trade unions). Therefore, the sorts of social systems seen in developed countries are seen as costly and lose out in comparison to low-wage economies which also support far less social infrastructure. This is doubly damaging, as it leads to a spiral effect in developed economies whereby a diminishing number of workers thus must support an increasing number of social claims, which accelerates the economy’s competitive decline.
Offshoring can grow the total production of the developed world. Offshoring allows more
developed countries to focus their economic activity on more highly skilled, value-adding processes which may be more financially profitable than, for example, low-end manufacturing. Additionally, they create large numbers of newly affluent middle class consumers in underdeveloped countries which can provide substantial new export markets.
Many countries do not gain from offshoring. It is fallacious to suggest that everybody wins –
many developed countries suffer increased unemployment and/or lower quality as a result of offshoring. Nor do developing countries necessarily all gain at their expense, as multinational corporations are footloose, frequently withdrawing investment and switching contracts in a restless search for the next dirt-cheap source of labour.
Offshoring reflects the positive elements of globalisation. Some critics talk of “globalisation” as
automatically part of the excesses of global capitalism. However, globalisation includes such things as more rapid, cheaper and stable cross-border interaction. These elements both encourage and are further encouraged by offshoring. This helps to cement globalisation and its attendant benefits.
Offshoring is a form of economic and cultural imperialism. Offshoring portrays underdeveloped
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countries as being cheap sources of support for the developed economies. The focus is not on helping the poorer countries to develop strong economies, but to exploit their weaknesses to satisfy the consumer culture of richer countries. In doing this, the mass export of roles which depend on cultural knowledge (for example, call centre jobs) imposes an alien and patronising cultural framework onto local workers.
二、Man can do little in the face of natural disasters？
Good morning, everyone we are the objective part. I am debater 1 Han Bing . I am debater 2 Du Fa liang .
We are the negative part. I am debater 1 Ding Wenpeng. I am debater 2 Li Junhao. 正方立论：
Human survival and development of the Earth's environment has led to the environment worse, the earth's animal and plant extinction, which are necessary for human survival? Human more want to overcome nature, the more subject to nature's counterattack. In the face of nature's counterattack, humanity will become more helpless. Therefore, we believe that nature can not be conquered. That’s all, thank you.
反方立论：
We firmly believe that as long as human technology can be advanced enough, we can do much for the nature disasters. We say that the defeat is not forced to rely on the strength of contrary to the laws of nature. Ever since human beings come into being, we had never stopped the action to put our feet on each inch of land we can find. We fight against nature, at first, for survival. In the face of the different kinds of disasters, we can find the appropriate measures to overcome it. That’s all, thank you. 提问 反方:
Wen chuan earthquake killed more than 60000, because human technology isn’t advanced enough. We think we can reduce the loss as long as human technology advanced enough. Do you agree? Thank you. 正方：
Can it indicate that man can conquer the nature? In the several millions of years from human birth, but we still suffer a lot when the disaster comes, why? Is there a disaster which people know before it happens and prevent it? Thank you. 反方：
It is true that we suffer a lot in the several millions of years from human birth. But while human developing, we can do more and more for the natural disasters. Do you agree? Thank you. 正方：
There are some effects, but only a little. We can do something because of it is not big enough. If someday it takes a disaster which like bring the dinosaur dying out, what can we do? And how can we do after we all killed. 自由： 反方：
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You are said we can do little in face of the natural disasters .I want to ask a question” when you suffer a downpour, what would you do? Stand here? 正方：
We are discussing the nature disasters, not a downpour.
反方：
The downpour is a nature disaster, isn’t it? A light rain can become a downpour, can’t a downpour become flood. 正方：
You are kidding, In Sichuan and its surrounding areas it’s suffered a serious disaster killed more than 40,000. People realize that even if the development of human technology is so advanced to the extent they can’t be able to overcome nature. 正方总结：
There is a gold chain runs through the universe, there is a red line links all living things, it is the things in the course of development of natural formation and the rules of the law - the law of life and death. The law forms natural, can not be easily changed, nor transfer with the people’s will. People can only obey the rulers, not change the law. So we insist on that nature can not be conquered. Thank you. 反方总结：
In the face of the different kinds of disasters, we can find the appropriate measures to overcome it. During this earthquake, our government does much for it and gets some achievement. We firmly believe that with the development of technology, we can accurately predict earthquakes. At that time, we are faced with natural disasters and able to leisurely. Therefore, we firmly believe that we can do much for the nature disasters. Thank you.
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