GRE英语考试作文点评：尝试用问句开头
Issue 19
"Creating an appealing image has become more important in contemporary society than is the reality or truth behind that image."
Has creating an image become more important in our society than the reality or truth behind the image? I agree that image has become a more central concern, at least where short-term business or political success is at stake (＝at risk). Nevertheless, I think that in the longer term mage ultimately yields to substance and fact.
个人认为以问句为开头是一种百用不厌的好方式，一来吸引了阅卷者的注意，二来又容易抓住中心。
精华：a central concern
be at stake
yield to = give up the position to...让位于，被……主宰
The important role of image is particularly evident in the business world. Consider, for example, today's automobile industry. American cars are becoming essentially identical to competing Japanese cars in nearly every mechanical and structural respect, as well as in price. Thus to compete effectively auto companies must now differentiate their products largelythrough image advertising, by conjuring up(＝create) certain illusory benefits--such as machismo, status, sensibility, or fun. The increasing focus on image is also evident in the book-publishing business. Publishers are relying more and more on the power of their brands rather than the content of their books. Today mass-market books are supplanted within a year with products that are essential the same---except with fresh faces, rifles, and other promotional angles. I find quite telling the fact that today more and more book publishers are being acquired by large media companies. And the increasing importance of image is especially evident in the music industry, where originality, artistic interpretation, and technical proficiency have yielded almost entirely to sex appeal.
这一段主要是举例说明ima