SAT经典范文赏析

第二次世界大战World War II
Armeen K. One compelling illustration that appearances are deceptive occurs in the Battle of Iwo Jima between the US Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan. The Marines arrived at Iwo Jima with 70,000 men while the Japanese only had 22,000. Early reconnaissance of the island showed little defense and activity on the island, creating the belief that the island was not well defended. However, this was because the 20,000 Japanese soldiers had dug massive expanses of tunnels throughout the island. The Americans were tricked yet again when they initially tried to bomb the island. Since no Japanese guns fired at planes or ships, the Americans thought that they had silenced their defenses, but this was obviously not the case when the Americans invaded the island. Japanese defenses unleashed mass barrages of fire on to the venerable Americans. After two months of ruthless fighting the Americans had killed 21,800 of the Japanese embedded in the island and lost over 7,000 and had 19,000 wounded. When interviewed by a reporter after the war, Marine Corps Major Stephen Callgary stated, "For every inch of land above the island, the Japanese had dug 10 inches under.”This example of appearances and reality cost two nations over 28,000 men.
点评：

虽然文章似乎使用了太多数据，看起来有点繁杂，但作者对二战中日本的战略行动有独到的见解，强调了 “表面看到的不一定是真相”。