题目
Nowadays many people use social media every day to keep in touch with others and news events. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
解析
本题关键词为social media, to keep in touch with others and news，要求讨论：作为联络他人和看新闻的工具，社交媒体（social media）的利弊。
首先，我们要弄清楚什么是“社交媒体”。社交媒体就是在互联网上的平台，在这些平台上大家可以生产并交换信息，比如微博、微信、论坛、播客、博客，网站等，都属于社交媒体。这是相对于传统媒体而言的，比如报纸、收音机、电视、电话、信件等。
在社交媒体上，我们可以与其他人联络，也可以看各种时事新闻。那么，与传统媒体相比，社交媒体的优势很明显。比如：方便，快捷、便宜。这个很好论证。社交媒体可以发一条信息，所有朋友都能马上看到并回复，而且几乎没有成本；我们可以在社交媒体上一次性发大量信息，包括图文等，这在传统媒体中不可想象。时事新闻传递也更快捷，多样，世界各地发生的任何事情，都能很快看到。
但是，社交媒体也存在问题。比如：在联系别人的时候，你无法确信对方是否已经收到信息；由于可以批量发送，个人隐私无法得到有效保护，有些人甚至利用社交媒体来诬陷别人或从事诈骗，从而造成极坏的影响。此外，社交媒体上的时事新闻传播往往不准确，不全面，读者容易被误导。
总体来说，社交媒体的好处大于坏处。现在是信息时代，越快捷、方便、低成本的信息传递方式越容易受到欢迎，社交媒体的问题可以通过教育、立法等措施得到有效改善。当然，人们也应该学会分辨社交媒体上信息的真伪，从而让社交媒体发挥更大的正面效应。
双语范文
More and more people today give up newspapers, TV, radios and turn to various social media for news about the world and communication with others. I think this trend is both positive and negative.
如今，越来越多的人放弃报纸、电视、信件，转向各种社交媒体，以获取世界新闻和与他人的交流。我认为这种趋势既是积极的，也是消极的。
On the one hand, compared with traditional media, social media can help us reach the world news and other people conveniently and quickly. With the social media, people from any corner of the world can have quick access to what is going on in all places, ranging from big cities such as New York and Shanghai, to some remote villages in Africa. With a few simple clicks, they can send news about themselves to all their friends around the globe instantly instead of having had to wait a few days when they wrote letters. This is an advantage that traditional media such as newspapers and even phone calls do not enjoy.
一方面，与传统媒体相比，社交媒体可以帮助我们方便、快速地接触到世界新闻和他人。有了社交媒体，来自世界任何一个角落的人们都可以快速获知所有地方正在发生的事情，从纽约和上海等大城市，再到非洲的一些偏远村庄。只需简单地点击一下，他们就可以立即把自己的消息发送给世界各地的朋友，而不必像以往写信那样等上几天。这是传统媒体如报纸甚至电话都不具备的优势。
On the other hand, as many of us may have experienced, news given to us through social media is often inaccurate, sometimes even misleading. Many times we have found that the different versions of the same event on social media are contradicting each other and do not know what to believe. Then we have to spend a lot of time confirming the truth of the news, which to some extent offsets the advantage of reading news online. Besides, the wide use of social media also gives rise to crimes such as fraud and blackmail.
另一方面，正如我们很多人可能所经历的那样，社交媒体提供给我们的新闻往往是不准确的，有时甚至具有误导性。很多时候，我们发现社交媒体上同一事件的不同版本相互矛盾，不知道该相信什么。然后我们必须花很多时间来确认新闻的真实性，这在某种程度上抵消了在线读新闻的优势。此外，社交媒体的广泛使用也引发了欺诈、勒索等犯罪行为。
In my view, though reaching news and others through social media may involve certain problems, it is perhaps an irreversible trend and a positive development today in a society that places so much emphasis on speed. That said, the government should try its best to make social media a better place for us to obtain news and make friends, and we should also sharpen our eyes and learn to discern real news from fake news, and good people from bad people.
在我看来，尽管通过社交媒体接触新闻和其他信息可能存在某些问题，但在当今这个如此强调速度的社会中，这可能是一种不可逆转的趋势和积极的发展。也就是说，政府应该尽最大努力让社交媒体成为我们获取新闻和交朋友的好地方，我们也应该擦亮眼睛，学会辨别真实新闻和假新闻，辨别好人和坏人。
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