随着机器翻译技术的发展，孩子需要学习外语吗?

　　Some people think that machine translation is highly developed in today’s society. Therefore it is not necessary for children to learn a foreign language. What’s your opinion?

　　(Sample 1)

　　With the rapid development of modern science, computers have been playing a more important role in our daily lives. It is such a worldwide trend that there is no exception for Chinese.

　　Many people regard the computer as the magic machine. It can solve many problems quickly and efficiently, and best of all, it can translate all kinds of languages. By using the computer you can just put ail the original versions into it and then you will get the fast translation. So some parents raise doubts about the necessity for their children to learn foreign languages so hard any more.

　　At first thought, it seems that the computers can really help us to do so. But if you look in- sue the matter deeply, you may find a different answer. First of all, machines can never replace mankind. Computers are created by man and are controlled by human brains. We can never rely too much on machines; otherwise we will become the slave of them one day. On the contrary, we need to enrich our knowledge as much as possible so that we can catch up with the fast pace of the world. It is very necessary to learn more languages so as to upgrade our abilities to follow the progress of the world.

　　And furthermore, it will do good to children if they learn more languages. Both their brain and their thinking modules can benefit from it. When they grow up, they can easily accept various kinds of cultures and communicate with foreigners, which can favorably enhance the mutual understanding and develop international brotherhood.

　　So, we can clearly see that, though computers can be good translators, people still need to learn more languages with a view to improving their abilities and facilitating their future communication with people from other cultures.

　　An argument occasionally these days is that some people often think machine translation can take place of the children's study of a foreign language. As far as I am concerned, I can't totally agree with this opinion.

　　It first comes to the point that machine translation is not high efficiency. The human language is so complex that nowadays no such machine can translate one language to another sufficiently and totally. The machine can only provide some words or pieces of half-baked sentences. So we human beings, especially children, may not rely on this kind of machine, at least recently.

　　On the other hand, if the real machine that the whole sentence can be translated completely turn to reality, children should not be taught not study a foreign language. The reason is the language (especially speaking) is made up of not only the grammar and words but also tones and mood. And when children are studying a language, he is not discovering an unknown area, but wild his logic and ideation. Additionally, even if the machine will be out of work one day occasionally in future, he can talk with other foreigners freely.

　　Frankly, the loss of language sensitivity is much popular these days. Many people's speaking and grammar is terrible. Children often study wrong speaking from annoying TV programs and untrained broadcasters. The invention of translation machine will make it worse. The problem whether to teach the boys and girls foreign languages or not needs to be treated seriously.

　　In a word, in modern society the translation machine is stealing our sensitivity of the language. People should do something to prevent the loss of language ability, especially in the childhood.