GRE写作优秀范文：理想和现实

　　In any realm of life—whether academic, social, business, or political—the only way to succeed is to take a practical, rather than an idealistic, point of view. Pragmatic behavior guarantees survival, whereas idealistic views tend to be superceded by simpler, more immediate options.

　　在任何生活领域中——无论是学术、社会、商业还是政治——获得成功的唯一道路就是采取现实的而不是理想化的观点。实用的行为确保了生存，反之理想化的观点正在趋于被更简化的和更直接的选择所取代。

　　As Leo Tolstoy once said, "Ideal is the beacon; without ideal, there is no secure direction, and without direction there is no life", ideal plays an important role in the human race development. Nevertheless, the rapid development of today in both technology and social lives somehow calls for more pragmatic behaviors in certain realms of life. But still, in other disciplines, ideal is still of the most crucial value, while pragmatism is acknowledged by the populus as indispensable as well.

　　Let's start with the business field, one of the most practical realms of our lives, and gradually become the most dominant field of our society. Admittedly, some may argue that in the business realm, there is a superior ideal, that is, to earn money. However,to attain this goal, idealism is at almost all the times useless. Unless the business man take a practical attitude toward the competitive market, it is just impossible for his company to survive and thrive. The price setting, staff enrolling, jobs eliminating, cost reducing, all of these processes, which determine the profits earned, need the managers to check every elements need to be evaluated. It is no use and sometimes even harmful for the administrators of companies to take an idealistic point of view.The market is one of the most practical things in our time, how can one succeed in it with only dreams and fantasies? Ideal may help the corporation to show its supporters a prosperous future, but it won't help the company to stand long in the brutal economy.

　　On regarding the political field, however, we might draw the conclusion that both ideal and pragmatism are indispensible for a successful politician. The ultimate goal of politics is to organize the mass in a most efficient way and to achieve the overall success of the nation. On the road to realize this dream, politicians together with common people, should first take into consideration the immediate problems existed in the society, for without settling these problems, the society will probably collapse into chaos. For example, when Abraham Lincoln began his position as the President of United States, his most important task was to solve the disputes between the North and the South, and to prevent the most democratic nation from perishing. On the other hand, if a society fails to hold an ulterior goal, a final aim, the society will lose its directions, stand still, and be bogged down in the Dead Sea without progress and hope.Certain thrusts may be made in different areas, however, without an ideal, the society as whole is not able to usefully and properly assimilate these advances. The discoveries made become piles of useless discoveries; the potential value behind these discoveries will never come out to be known by the mass. In conclusion, ideal and pragmatism is both needed if the society wants to thrive.