外星人再次出现！2016年的10月13日，就有过类似考题和考生们见面。当时，环球教育杨亮老师戏言称肯定是出题考官看了当时热映的电影《独立日》。这一次，恐怕是他们看了电影《降临》。两题之间联系较强，在本文最后，笔者会奉上去年10月13日的考题。

　　原题如下：

　　Some people think governments should spend money in looking for life on other planets, while others believe it is a waste of money as there are many problems on the earth. Discuss both side and give your opinion. 20170225

　　一个双边讨论的提问方式，其实归根结底说的是一个问题。就是大量的资金投入去找所谓的外星人，是不是烧钱。笔者本人较为喜欢科幻片，并且非常愿意相信有外星生命的存在。尽管如此，我也会肯定寻找外星生命绝对是烧钱行为。

　　Scientists in some space research institutes have been sending message to some corners of the universe to seek for aliens since they were able to do that. Projects like this are definitely extremely costly, consequently resulting in the controversy whether governments’ doing so is worth the huge amount of money they have already spent.

　　开头段还是较为常规的写法，通过背景的介绍而引出了题目中讨论的话题。

　　Primarily, tremendous fund is being utilized for related technological research and establishment of some certain facilities instead of being used for solving some livelihood problems. Even though mankind were setting up connection with aliens who are living in a couple of light years away and are obviously less civilized with less advanced technologies, with limited space technology that humans have currently we would be able to do nothing further. Investing billions of dollars for saying hi to someone who might not understand at all is undeniably not a wise decision.

　　主段一说明了这是一个烧钱行为的原因。就算是人类找到了外星人，那么以我们的现有的技术，我们也是只能和他们打个招呼。如果这些外星生命进化的还不如人类，那么他们可能都不懂我们打的招呼。

　　Worse still, unknown creatures that receive humans' greeting are more advanced and intelligent than inhabitants of the earth. What will happen at that time is more likely to be what people often see in science fiction movies nowadays. Intelligent species are not willing to co-exist peacefully or harmoniously with other creatures whose civilization apparently lags way behind. Their greed drives them use wars to make the earth their colony offering whatever they need from this planet. If that happened, humans would be extinct and the only survivors would live their life in zoos of aliens.

　　主段二其实是主段一的递进段。假设这些外星生命的文明和科技程度比我们高，那么我们完全有理由相信，人类和地球要惨了。很多科幻片都是这么演的。“咔嚓”一个UFO横空出世，人类和地球就在垂死边缘了。想想都不寒而栗。

　　In humans’ current habitat, there are a great number of problems to be solved by us one by one in order to make our earth a far more livable place for mankind. For instance, we need fund for researches of alternative energy resources, vaccines for controlling the spread of disease and sustainable development of economy. All those can substantially enhance humans’ living conditions. Hence, it is high time for governments to stop blowing tax payer’s money on looking for life in the space.

　　结尾段再强调一下题干中第二个观点的另一部分，即我们的地球还有很多需要我们投资的地方。在此呼吁政府长点心吧，把钱花在刀刃上吧。

　　2016年10月13日考题如下：

　　Some scientists believe that intelligent life forms may exist on other planets and some want to send message to contact them. Others think it is a bad idea because these life forms may be too dangerous. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. 20161013