When research priorities are being set for science, education, or any other area, the most important question to consider is: How many people's lives will be improved if the results are successful. The speaker asserts that the when we determine the priority of researches in the scientific, educational, or any other area, how many people's lives will be improved due to the success of the result is the most important question to consider. I find this statement problematic. Although researches are done to benefit human beings, there are other considerations worthy of equally importance, such as the bad effect of the research. Besides, there may be other effects that the researcher did not think of when the research was done. Admittedly, the goal of any research is to bring benefits to people. The society develops because of all forms of researches that create something valuable or solve some tough problems. In the field of science, for example, the invention of electricity has driven the world forward. Researches in the medical field have made us more healthy. Similarly, studies of educational issues seldom come to an end, because education is both an art and a science. To explain how children learn, many theories were therefore proposed, such as behaviorism and humanism. As these issues continue, many teachers have find some solutions to their problems and then make their instruction effective. However, how many benefits the research brings to people is at most one of the reasons when we think of the priority of researches. Researches do not always lead to positive results. History has shown that some researches and experiment resulted in great suffering to human beings. An instance in science is the researches of nuclear weapons. While they are not allowed to use in wars, many countries still spend a great amount of fees and efforts to develop better ones. In this respective, we should consider the possible danger of the result prior to its advantage. Likewise, researches in the wrong direction may lead to the harm of education. A great number of students are used to testify some hypothesis before we have further understanding of the research. As a result, many of the students suffered from the failure of the research. The result is so influential that these students may have problems learning all their lives. Additionally, if we had to know the improvements the research might bring about before doing it, many great achievement would not be reached. Many researchers do the research not because it will have good influences, but out of creativity, interest or curiosity. Think of Edison. He is so passionate about his experiment that he could not think of the possible change that it will lead to. Not knowing that the use of telephone will be so common now, Edison still contributed to the world with his researches and inventions. It can be seen as a counterexample to the speaker's assertion. On balance, the question suggested by the speaker is partially right. While we think of the possible benefit a research could bring to people as a criterion to decide whether it is valuable, we should consider its negative effects as well. Furthermore, a research may have an influential effect which is beyond the understanding of the people at that time. 發現自己的同義字能力嚴重不足，寫來寫去還是這幾個字。 四十五分鐘也超級不夠用... 看來還需要很多練習啊... --

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