2015年5月份的SAT考试已经结束，这次北美考场的作文题目是：
Does loyalty require unconditional support?
这次5月份北美的作文考题，难度一般，还是符合经典的作文题套路的，同学们的很多经典例子也都可以使用。本题一个逻辑上比较合理的切入点，就是从中文中常说的“愚忠”这一角度入手。很多时候我们虽然忠诚于某些人或事，但是他们的选择很有可能是错的。如果这种情况下还无条件地给予支持，毫无疑问会让他们走上错误的道路最后导致失败。这样这道题目的逻辑就基本上搭建起来了。
在例子方面，对于loyalty的理解，既可以是狭义上，人们对于朋友，家人的忠诚，也可以是广义上，对于国家，事业或者理想的忠诚。这样一拓展思路，相信同学们的例子库里面有不少这样的例子。选出这样的例子，在写例子的过程中按照以下的脉络都可以论证题目：
1、 A和B的背景介绍——B忠诚于A——A有一个错误的决定——B虽然忠诚，但还是对A直言其错误——A意识到错误，避免了失败或获得成功
2、 A和B的背景介绍——B忠诚于A——A有一个错误的决定——B因为忠诚，给予A无条件支持——A因此犯错，导致失败
下面我们来看一篇就这个题目写出的范文。
Loyalty does not necessarily require unconditional support. Whatever and whoever we are loyal to, be it our family members, friends, countries or ideals, it is possible that they make mistakes or are ultimately wrong. True loyalty, which to a great extent equals the intention of leading the people or things we are loyal to to better results, requires us to point out clearly and directly those mistakes instead of giving unconditional support and resulting in their failures. In fact, in various fields, there are many who have demonstrated this point perfectly.
Nelson Mandela, though loyal to his country, stopped his support for it when he found out the country was going on the wrong path. In his autobiography, A Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela expressed his deep love since childhood for his country, South Africa, the place of a long history and beautiful natural sceneries where he was raised by other ordinary people. Undoubtedly, the young Nelson Mandela was loyal to his country. However, when he gradually became a teenager, he realized that his country was doing something disastrously wrong – segregation. The black people in his country were faced with unequal treatment almost everywhere in their lives, and the segregated social system hindered the development of the country in culture, economy and politics. Mandela in such a circumstance did not offer his country unconditional support. Loyal as he was to his nation, he started taking actions to prevent his country from going further in the wrong direction. He organized military forces to fight against the segregated government. Although he failed in the beginning and was tossed in the prison, after 27 years’ persistence, he was released and successfully abolished apartheid in the country by negotiating with the president, leading South Africa to rebirth and booming development. If Nelson Mandela had supported his country blindly, his country would have still been struggling in inequality because of his “loyalty” and such a huge change would never have been possible.
Refusing to provide support can lead to success and likewise, continuing supporting without condition will often give rise to failures, as is illustrated in the experience of Michael Jordan. In 1998, Michael Jordan retired with unprecedented honors: 6 NBA championships and 6 NBA Finals MVPs. His achievement made him universally regarded as the greatest basketball player in human history. Consequently, his earned himself hundreds of millions fans who admired him so much, looking up to him not only for his performance on the basketball court but also what he did in life. This was why when Jordan announced his decision to come back to the league at the age of 38, almost none of his fans showed their disapproval. Although a great number of them had noticed that Jordan was too old to still compete with young and talented players like Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, their loyalty to their idol led them to unconditionally support this irrational decision. Overwhelmed by such support from his fans, Jordan did return, but his two years in the Washington Wizards to some degree was a failure for his glorious career. Not only was his career stats lowered, but he also failed in leading the team into Playoffs. Had his fans in time showed their disapproval instead of blindly supporting him, Michael Jordan would perhaps have corrected himself and spent his time on other more valuable things like starting his management career.
In a word, providing support without conditions will often keep the people or things we are loyal to making wrong decisions. In this way, our loyalty is never true; it is only a poison that lures disasters.
(编辑：Joe)
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