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Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Topic: Progress is not possible without sacrifice Sample Essay In order to reach the top of a mountain and for that matter of any professions, one must study and train for years, then even when ready still toil for hours or days before reaching the top. This is true of many of lifes worthwhile challenges. In fact it is often impossible to make progress without sacrifice. For example, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, a small town lawyer, defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. He does this despite being threatened and disparaged by members of his community. The purpose is clear, so is the potential risks, consequence, and sacrifices. Yet because of his willingness to sacrifice his social standing to do the right but unconventional thing, Atticus was able to launch a brilliant defense of his client. The lesson here is loud and clearwithout sacrifice, life would be savaged; without sacrifice, humanity, not just an individual life but the human civilization itself, might be at the verge of devastation and vanish. Ray Bradbury conveys a similar theme in his novel Fahrenheit 451. In this book, Guy Montag, a fireman charged with burning down the houses of book-lovers, sacrifices his wife, his career and his lifestyle in order to have books. Without his great sacrifice, Montag would have continued to live a half-life of boredom and unhappiness. And he never would have known the freedom of thinking and of being challenged intellectually. | 
