解析
我们对外星人的想像古已有之，但集中爆发于上世纪60年代，到《星球大战》系列达到高潮。在我们的想像中，外星人要么乘飞船横跨天宇，要么在自己的星球建立能量收割器，要么是外星人通过某种奇怪的符号向我们发送信息;在我们的想像中，外星人有时候头颅硕大无比，有时候没有嘴巴，但其心理和动机多少与现代人一样：要么当一个坏人要摧毁世界，要么当一个英雄要保护世界。无论如何，唐老师认为，外星人一定存在，但其存在的方式可能远非人类所能想象，也许与地球上的生命形态完全不同。
那么，人类应该尝试与外星人沟通吗?有人说应该，有人说不应该。本题要求我们讨论双方观点，然后给出自己的观点。ok，如果说应该与外星人沟通，我们能讲出什么理由来?如果说不应该与外星人沟通，我们又能讲出哪些理由?最后，我们依据一个什么标准来判断到底该不该与外星人沟通?
经常读唐老师这个专栏的读者，对唐老师的写作思维模式应该已经不再陌生(如果你刚阅读唐老师这个专栏，请尽快回读唐老师为这个专栏撰写的所有文章!文章最下方有链接噢)，对于任何一个事物或观点，我们都可以从三个层面上去思考：物质层面(包括时间、金钱、身体、外表等)、精神层面(包括情感、心理、精神)、社会层面(包括社会、道德、法律、政治、哲学等)。那么，对于和外星人沟通的好处与坏处，我们可以列举如下：
好处：(1)外星人科技发达，可以学习他们的科技，让地球人生活得更快乐(物质层面);(2)和外星人联系后，我们在这个宇宙就不再孤独(心理层面);(3)地球必将毁灭，联系外星人将为地球人找到新的栖息地(社会层面)。
坏处：(1)联系外星人，需要投入巨大的人力物力(物质层面);(2)联系外星人，可能是一件非常危险的事情(社会层面)。
我的观点：我认为应该努力与外星人沟通。首先，外星人若不及我们地球文明，那他们不会对我们构成威胁，如果外星人比我们的文明更先进，那么他们来破坏地球的可能性就更低，因此所谓威胁论或危险论其实不存在;而与外星人沟通会让我们找到其他星球的朋友，我们可以向他们学习，在地球终点到来之前，外星人甚至可能挽救我们。
7分范文
Our imagination about beings on other planets has never stopped and reached its climax in such movie series like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” in 1960s and 1970s. If other life forms do exist, an idea I strongly support, should we, as human beings on the Earth, try to reach out and communicate with them?
A lot of people do not like the idea of sending messages to aliens “out there”. According to their theory, trying to establish communication with other life forms is extremely expensive because it entails designing complex equipment and apparatus. This will consume tons of money, which should be spent solving more practical problems like medical care or education. More importantly, as these people would claim, once they receive our messages and know about our existence, the aliens may invade the Earth and eliminate us all, just like what they do in many movies and science fiction.
There are others who are very enthusiastic about reaching out for aliens on other planets. They are interested in how these different life forms survive and believe their more advanced technology may well help us human beings solve our existent problems. Having been living in the universe as the only intelligent being for too long, many people find it very attractive to reach their brothers and sisters from other planets. It is significant for another reason, too. As the Earth will surely die and disappear into the black hole as many scientists have speculated, we need to be known by our siblings on other planets so that when that day eventually does come, our future grand, grand children will not perish.
Personally, I do not think much of the “danger” theory. If the aliens are less developed than us, they cannot be a threat to us even if they want to; if they are more developed and civilised, the probability that we are killed by them is still lower. Once the xenophobic danger is removed, I believe most of us will welcome the idea of communicating with the intelligent forms outside the Earth, because they can provide us with the much desired companionshipand may save us when the Earth expires.
老师笔记
Our imagination about beings on other planets has never stopped and reached its climax in such movie series like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” in 1960s and 1970s. If other life forms do exist, an idea I strongly support, should we, as human beings on the Earth, try to reach out and communicate with them?
(1) 本段引出话题，然后重述题目问题：人们关于外星人的想像从未停止，但我们是否应该尝试和外星人沟通呢?(2) climax 高潮;顶点(3) reach out 伸出去;试图沟通。很多学校的学生会都设有一个“外联部”，最恰当的英文翻译就是 “reach out department”。
A lot of people do not like the idea of sending messages to aliens “out there”. According to their theory, trying to establish communication with other life forms is extremely expensive because it entails designing complex equipment and apparatus. This will consume tons of money, which should be spent solving more practical problems like medical care or education. More importantly, as these people would claim, once they receive our messages and know about our existence, the aliens may invade the Earth and eliminate us all, just like what they do in many movies and science fiction.
(1) 本段讨论种观点，即反对与外星人沟通。理由就是沟通需要成本，同时还很危险。(2) 本作文词汇方面的一大难题就是如何用不同的词来替换“外星人”。唐老师这里使用了如下几个替换词：beings on other planets; other life forms; aliens out there; intelligent beings outside the Earth; our sisters and brothers; our siblings，为了避免重复，唐老师真的拼啦!(3) 本段唐老师还使用了一些比较大的词汇。比如：establish 建立;entail 使......成为必要;apparatus 设备;tons of money (= lots of money) 成堆的钱;invade 入侵;eliminate (=kill) 消灭
There are others who are very enthusiastic about reaching out for aliens on other planets. They are interested in how these different life forms survive and believe their more advanced technology may well help us human beings solve our existent problems. Having been living in the universe as the only intelligent being for too long, many people find it very attractive to reach their brothers and sisters from other planets. It is significant for another reason, too. As the Earth will surely die and disappear into the black hole as many scientists have speculated, we need to be known by our siblings on other planets so that when that day eventually does come, our future grand, grand children will not perish.
(1) 本段讨论相反的观点，即赞同与外星人沟通。理由包括：学习外星人的科技;找到伴侣;地球毁灭时外星人可以挽救人类。不知道本专栏读者现在是否已经知道，这三个点是如何构想出来的?如果你已经知道，那么恭喜你，请你继续关注本专栏，看唐老师在以后的范文中如何反复演练这种思维模式，直到你也完全掌握;如果你到现在都还不知道，那么也恭喜你，请你回读本专栏，然后你就明白了：哦，原来雅思写作思维是这个样子的!以前我都白学了!这种顿悟正是唐老师希望通过开辟本专栏带给你们的。(2) be enthusiastic about... 对......很热心(3) existent (= existing) 现有的;现存的 (来自exist 一词)(4) black hole 黑洞 (地球会消失到太阳的黑洞，这个也是唐老师从电视上看到的，这个顺便用出来，给作文增加一些信息量，同时使作文显得更加有个性化，因为唐老师相信，在这篇作文中，能够使用black hole的，可能不足1/1000，这会给阅卷人一种新颖之感。背模板的同学请记住了：当你的作文满篇都是陈词滥调，谁愿意读啊?不要那么折磨阅卷人吧!你折磨他，他就给个低分折磨你!)(5) speculate 猜测，猜想(6) siblings 兄弟姐妹的总称(兄弟brothers, 姐妹 sisters, 兄弟姐妹 sisters and brother, siblings=sis+bro+ling)(7) eventually (=finally; in the long run) 最终;终于(8) perish (=die) 消亡;死亡
Personally, I do not think much of the “danger” theory. If the aliens are less developed than us, they cannot be a threat to us even if they want to; if they are more developed and civilised, the probability that we are killed by them is still lower. Once the xenophobicdanger is removed, I believe most of us will welcome the idea of communicating with the intelligent forms outside the Earth, because they can provide us with the much desiredcompanionship and may save us when the Earth expires.
(1) 本段写自己的观点。首先批驳“危险说”(danger theory)：不厉害的外星人咱不怕，厉害的外星人文明程度高，一般也不会杀戮，因此，怕什么呢?更兼认识外星人有那么多好处，当然要想办法与外星人联系了。(2) do not think much of something 不太赞同......;不太喜欢......(3) probability 概率;可能性(4) xenophobic 仇外的，排外的(唐老师在这里使用了这个大词，xenophobic danger也是创造性使用语言的一个范例，也就是说，认为外星人会给我们带来危险其实是一种仇外的表现，因此这个danger就是xenophobic danger。)(5) provide us with companionship 给我们提供陪伴(6) expire 死亡;过期(相当于die, perish，注意唐老师在本文中光是“死亡”就换用了三个词汇!)
参考译文
我们对外星人的想像从未停止过，在上世纪60、70年代类似《星球大战》的电影系列中达到高峰。如果其他生命形式的确存在(我支持这个观点)，那么，我们作为地球上的人类，是否应该尝试走出去与他们沟通呢?
很多人对给“远处”的外星人发信号这个想法不以为然。按照他们的说法，尝试与其他生命形式建立联系极其昂贵，因为需要设计复杂的设备和仪器。这会耗费成堆成堆的金钱，这些钱应该用来解决更为实际的问题，比如医疗和教育。更重要的是，这些人会认为，一旦外星人接收到我们的信息，知晓了我们的存在，就可能入侵地球，消灭我们，就如他们在很多电影和科幻小说中干的那样。
也有很多人对走出去联系外星人非常有热情。他们很想知道这些不同的生命形式如何生存，相信他们更为发达的科技能够帮助人类解决现存的问题。作为的智能人，在这个宇宙生活得太久，很多人觉得找到外星球的兄弟姐妹非常有意义。这样做还有一个重要的理由。正如很多科学家猜想的那样，地球终将死去并消失在黑洞，因此我们需要外星兄弟姐妹了解我们，这样，当那一天终于来临时，我们未来孩子的孩子也不会消亡。
就个人而言，我不太赞同“危险”论。如果外星人不及我们先进，那他们即使想威胁我们也不可能;如果他们比我们更先进，更文明，那我们被他们消灭的几率就更低。一旦没有了这种仇外的危险论，我相信绝大多数人都欢迎与地球外的智能生命沟通，因为他们可以给我们提供非常必要的陪伴，还可能在地球灭亡的时候拯救我们。
作者：唐伟胜，新航道特约雅思学术顾问广东外语外贸大学教授、博士中国知名英语教育专家。
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