托福寫作:攻破難題的制勝法寶之拆分法
考場(chǎng)如戰(zhàn)場(chǎng),在托福寫作考試的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上,如何完美解決“奇葩題”,今天小編給大家?guī)砹斯テ啤捌孑忸}”的制勝法寶—拆分法 ,希望能夠幫助到大家,下面小編就和大家分享,來欣賞一下吧。
托福寫作:攻破“奇葩題”的制勝法寶—拆分法
我們先來看以下一個(gè)例子,選用的題目為2016年4月23日真題:Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Playing sports teaches people lessons about life.一拿到這道題,許多同學(xué)會(huì)想當(dāng)然地把題目看成“playing sports的好處”并用萬(wàn)能理由法給出了三個(gè)理由:減少壓力(alleviate pressure)、維持健康的身體狀況(maintain healthy physical condition)以及拓寬人際圈(extend your scope of relationship)。但是重新看題目,才會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)key words限定于“體育是否可以教會(huì)人們生活中的道理”,之前的萬(wàn)能理由也都用不上了。這種情況怎么辦呢?其實(shí),在碰到思路有局限的題目時(shí),拆分法是制勝的不二法門,我們可以選擇讓題目里的key words具體化。比如,這道題當(dāng)中,出現(xiàn)了一個(gè)關(guān)鍵詞叫做 “sports”,運(yùn)用拆分法我們可以先把sports拆成各種運(yùn)動(dòng)種類football、long-distance running、badminton,再給出相應(yīng)的理由——football (realize the importance of cooperating)/ long-distance running(persistence is required in achieving success)/ badminton (find out thesignificance of conducting flexible strategies),最后在根據(jù)分論點(diǎn)進(jìn)行分別的展開和論證,文章就得以成型。
下面我將用四道題由易至難來進(jìn)一步展示如何使用“拆分法”。
丨選用2016年11月12日真題
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: People can solve important problems in their daily life on their own or with the help from families; the help from the government is not necessary.這道題當(dāng)中,不論選前者還是后者,都可以用拆分法解題。比如,我們選擇的thesis為“政府在幫助人們解決日常生活中重要問題方面起到很大的作用”,就可以運(yùn)用拆分法把情況具體化。思路可以為:把”problem”進(jìn)行具體化拆分,思考生活中面臨的什么重大問題是需要政府干預(yù)和解決的。這時(shí)候我們可能就想到醫(yī)療方面需要政府provide basic medical insurance,交通方面improve the construction of urban traffic facilities以及面對(duì)高犯罪率,需要政府come up with strategies to decrease the criminal rate。
丨選用2015年7月11日真題
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Teachers should be paid at least as much as doctors, lawyers or business leaders are paid. 在這道題中,如果一時(shí)想不到合適的思路,可以使用拆分法。題干當(dāng)中,我們可以選擇 “teachers”作為被拆分的主體。按照時(shí)間,可以分為小學(xué)老師、中學(xué)老師以及大學(xué)老師。如果中心論點(diǎn)立意為“老師值得高薪”,則三個(gè)分論點(diǎn)可以分別為:小學(xué)老師play a pivotal role in cultivating children’s initial values of distinguishing right from wrong,中學(xué)老師instill vital theoretical knowledge for high school students to establish their knowledge system,大學(xué)老師provides professional guidance for college students to find out their career path。最后得出結(jié)論,正是因?yàn)檫@三點(diǎn)理由,所以可以得出各個(gè)階段的老師都需要獲得高薪。
丨選用2014年11月11日真題
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: Advertisements make
products seem better than they are.媒體類題對(duì)于同學(xué)們來說可能會(huì)有些生疏,但實(shí)際上運(yùn)用拆分法,也可以很好的解題。面對(duì)這道題目,我們可以很容易地找出關(guān)鍵詞為“廣告”,根據(jù)拆分法,advertisements可以按照廣告的類別進(jìn)行具體化分析,比如分為“廣播廣告”(radio advertisements)、“電視廣告”(TV commercials)、“雜志廣告”(magazine advertisements)。接下來,思考的部分是這三類廣告分別怎樣使得產(chǎn)品比真實(shí)情況看起來更好??赡芸梢越o出的理由比如:廣播廣告通常會(huì)使用專家采訪來提高產(chǎn)品功效的可信度(enhance the reliability of target products’ efficacy) 、電視廣告通過吸引觀眾的廣告語(yǔ)來強(qiáng)化產(chǎn)品的質(zhì)量 (using appealing slogans to emphasize the quality of products) 、雜志廣告里常見的手法是通過處理圖片來強(qiáng)化產(chǎn)品效果 (intensify product effect through processing the images) 。
丨選用2015年1月31日真題
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: The rules that the whole societies today expect to young people to follow and obey are too strict。這道題很多同學(xué)剛拿到的時(shí)候都有種無(wú)從下手的感覺,但是沉著冷靜下來,會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)最優(yōu)的方法是選擇拆分。例如,我們選擇的中心論點(diǎn)為:rules并沒有過于嚴(yán)格。在整個(gè)題干中,我們可以選擇拆分 ”the whole societies”,分析在哪些地方,學(xué)生遇到的rules是必須的。這時(shí)候,我們就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn),在學(xué)校里學(xué)生被要求統(tǒng)一穿校服 (in order to reduce comparison among students from different family backgrounds),在家庭當(dāng)中孩子被要求尊老愛幼 (which is crucial for establishing a harmonious family),在社會(huì)當(dāng)中,法律對(duì)年輕人的飲酒年齡有要求 (for the sake of young people’s well-being)。通過拆分,我們很快可以把這道題的思路拓寬。
相信同學(xué)們通過今天的獨(dú)家托福寫作周報(bào),可以更加了解如何運(yùn)用拆分法來解決托福實(shí)考中不是很容易解答的題目,做到遇到“奇葩題”也可以穩(wěn)操勝券!
托福寫作滿分:留學(xué)生核心能力建設(shè)第一步
寫作能力是語(yǔ)言運(yùn)用的精髓與核心,對(duì)于在外國(guó)留學(xué)的中國(guó)學(xué)生,尤其是有志于進(jìn)入文商科領(lǐng)域的學(xué)生來說,“寫”是一條生命線,直接關(guān)乎課業(yè)和工作的成敗。以寫作形式提交的測(cè)試或者論文占據(jù)了GPA的極大比重,這事實(shí)上對(duì)于母語(yǔ)非英文的亞洲學(xué)生來說是利好的,如果沒有以書面形式呈現(xiàn)的作業(yè),一般來說稍顯內(nèi)向的學(xué)生很難在激烈的英語(yǔ)課堂辯論中占據(jù)任何優(yōu)勢(shì)。從更深層次上來說,“寫”代表了個(gè)人內(nèi)心聲音的傾訴,展現(xiàn)了理解知識(shí)的深度和思考的結(jié)晶,鐫刻了一個(gè)人的思想由青澀到成熟的印記。而到了工作階段,對(duì)于任何與文商科有關(guān)的職業(yè),例如律師,會(huì)計(jì)師,分析師,翻譯,記者等等來說,寫作都是最基本與核心的質(zhì)素,無(wú)論是撰寫報(bào)告,公文,信函……寫作的重要性常常為學(xué)生們所忽視,因此到了大學(xué)和工作之后往往要加倍償還。
以托福寫作為例,大部分的初高中生所展現(xiàn)出來的英文寫作問題主要集中在以下幾點(diǎn):
01 邏輯匱乏
連貫地把一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)言之成理地表達(dá)出來,是完成任何寫作任務(wù)的第一要?jiǎng)?wù),在英文寫作中尤其要注意兩點(diǎn),第一,不要被辭藻的華美和句式的復(fù)雜繞進(jìn)去了,英文應(yīng)該以幾個(gè)關(guān)鍵詞為骨架,再以此為基礎(chǔ)進(jìn)行增刪修飾,所以不要文過飾非,表達(dá)片段化;第二,對(duì)于低齡學(xué)員來說,尤其要注意平行論點(diǎn)之間是否有重疊,交叉的地方,同時(shí),要注意事實(shí),結(jié)果和基準(zhǔn)之間是否處在一條直線上,是否在邏輯上具有一致性。
02 論據(jù)意識(shí)不強(qiáng)
托福寫作評(píng)分標(biāo)準(zhǔn)當(dāng)中對(duì)于“事實(shí)和論據(jù)”有著明確的要求,“口水話”是任何應(yīng)試型寫作的大忌。論據(jù)的積累事實(shí)上也應(yīng)該成為寫作教學(xué)的重要一環(huán),其中理論型的論據(jù)需要教師的講解和提煉,也需要學(xué)生“思接千載,視通萬(wàn)里”,不局限于單一科目,把多門學(xué)科當(dāng)中的原理和事實(shí)融入進(jìn)論點(diǎn)的闡發(fā)過程,比如心理學(xué)中的“延遲滿足”效應(yīng),經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)里“馬太效應(yīng)”等等,都應(yīng)該是寫作可以信手拈來的材料,但是這一塊是傳統(tǒng)的寫作教學(xué)比較忽視的;而事實(shí)論據(jù)也是大有文章可做的,最可靠的是數(shù)字,對(duì)數(shù)字的敏感度的培養(yǎng)應(yīng)該從小開始,不能成為短板;其次是概括性的事實(shí),大部分的低齡學(xué)員在抽象概括能力上需要嚴(yán)格的訓(xùn)練,在初期需要思維模型的打造,比如判定一種行為的利弊,可以借用“個(gè)人-社區(qū)-社會(huì)”的經(jīng)典分層,或者在工作類的話題上,對(duì)不同類型的職業(yè)進(jìn)行單獨(dú)分析……;最后要強(qiáng)調(diào)的是具體事例,此處必須明確的一點(diǎn)是具體事例寫作絕對(duì)不等同把個(gè)人經(jīng)歷做成流水賬,而是要加以概括,把枝枝葉葉的部分砍掉,把意識(shí)流一般的敘事套進(jìn)一個(gè)整飭的模具當(dāng)中,這個(gè)模具就是段落的大意和行文的邏輯。
03 遣詞造句不地道
托福的閱卷人不知道看過多少篇以 “with the development of society”(隨著社會(huì)的發(fā)展)開頭的作文,這種毫無(wú)個(gè)人創(chuàng)建的模板化也只能保證一個(gè)更加平庸的分?jǐn)?shù)。其次,玩弄大詞,不用小詞,不區(qū)分書面語(yǔ)和口語(yǔ),都是由于平時(shí)不閱讀,不積累,所造成的壞賬和惡果。8歲時(shí)就出版?zhèn)€人專著《飛揚(yáng)的手指》,12歲就走上TED演講臺(tái)的美國(guó)華裔神童鄒奇奇(Adora Svitak)從三歲就開始博覽群書,去聽一聽她的那篇名為《成年人能從孩子身上學(xué)到什么》的演講,我們或許可以知道,任何神童和奇跡的產(chǎn)生,都是“積跬步”和“積小流”的結(jié)果。
04 冗余現(xiàn)象嚴(yán)重
如果我們?cè)囍岩欢沃形姆g成英文,再把這段譯文和典范的英文進(jìn)行對(duì)比,就可以發(fā)現(xiàn)大多數(shù)人的翻譯都要比典范英文長(zhǎng)一截。這恰恰是寫作剛剛?cè)腴T,又無(wú)法達(dá)到精通程度的學(xué)生最容易遇到的問題。英文寫作的原則應(yīng)該是“l(fā)ess is more”,寫得精煉遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)好于長(zhǎng)篇大論,如若英文寫作要從中低端邁入高端,這背后需要調(diào)動(dòng)介詞,比如“otherwise”這種介詞,80%的學(xué)生都不會(huì)用,或者害怕用;此外,把從句以合成詞的方式的呈現(xiàn)出來,用上data-driven這樣的結(jié)構(gòu),此處不一一贅述。
綜上所述,英文寫作首先是一種審美教育。審美是任何有效語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)的最佳入門途徑,語(yǔ)文課上,不少人因?yàn)椤洞航ㄔ乱埂贰敖虾稳顺跻娫?,江月何年初照人”這樣讓人震撼的名句而愛上了這門學(xué)科,而英文的審美力量常常為模式化的教學(xué)所忽視。讀原著,是長(zhǎng)期構(gòu)建英文寫作能力的核心所在,例如我們?nèi)绻行易x一讀愛德華·吉本的《羅馬帝國(guó)衰亡史》,會(huì)看到,羅馬帝國(guó)“囊括世上最美之疆域”,在其“古老聲威與嚴(yán)整軍容”的震懾下,敵軍不敢來犯,市民“盡享富庶生活,甚而奢華揮霍”。(The Empire “comprehended the fairest part of the earth”. Rome’s enemies were kept at bay by “ancient renown and disciplined valour”. Citizens “enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury”.)用詞之準(zhǔn)確精妙,如果不經(jīng)過長(zhǎng)期的培養(yǎng)和學(xué)習(xí),是無(wú)論如何也現(xiàn)想不來的。
其次,英文寫作也是一種思維訓(xùn)練。隨著學(xué)力的增長(zhǎng),不同等級(jí)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化考試對(duì)于邏輯的要求也會(huì)越來越高。從托福的角度來說,可能觀點(diǎn)行文言之成理即可,而到了SAT階段,則把明確地提煉出作者態(tài)度,謀篇布局,并對(duì)其高明之處進(jìn)行剖析的能力列入了考察范圍,光靠死記硬背,顯然是難以應(yīng)付這一階段考試的。而到了申請(qǐng)研究生的時(shí)候,GRE,GMAT和LSAT的作文考試,邏輯就成了重中之重,簡(jiǎn)單來說,在分析題干的時(shí)候,對(duì)論斷的合理性和不合理性都應(yīng)該有所論述,并且要分析出在何種情況下和何種程度中該觀點(diǎn)為合理或者不合理,沒有訓(xùn)練過的學(xué)員,一定是在考場(chǎng)上最手足無(wú)措的那一群人。
最后,英文寫作也是一種品質(zhì)訓(xùn)練。寫作能力不是天生的,一定是養(yǎng)成的,任何資質(zhì)的孩子通過適當(dāng)?shù)呐嘤?xùn)和培養(yǎng),都有可能成為一個(gè)合格的寫作者。但是,知易行難,不喜歡動(dòng)筆寫是大多數(shù)人的通病,寫作也是思路整理和思維鍛煉的過程,更是考驗(yàn)人的毅力和定力的時(shí)刻。在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候,將寫作養(yǎng)成習(xí)慣需要借助外力,需要定期的督促和修改。注意到寫作能力的重要性,亡羊補(bǔ)牢,為時(shí)未晚,否則咱們的孩子到了國(guó)外之后,在語(yǔ)言上如何和外國(guó)的同齡人抗衡呢?
托福寫作的10個(gè)核心準(zhǔn)則
Elementary principles of composition
1. Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic
不同的段落構(gòu)成文章,每個(gè)段落僅傳遞一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)
2. As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning
規(guī)則:每個(gè)段落均以主題句開頭,并且首尾呼應(yīng)。
A. the topic sentence comes at or near the beginning;
主題句前置
B. the succeeding sentences explain or establish or develop the statement made in the topic sentence;
段落圍繞主題句展開,后面的句子對(duì)主題句進(jìn)行展開解釋
C. the final sentence either emphasizes the thought of the topic sentence or states some important consequence.
末尾句或者對(duì)主題句進(jìn)行強(qiáng)調(diào),或者闡述主題句帶來的結(jié)果。
3. Use the active voice
主動(dòng)句永遠(yuǎn)比被動(dòng)句直接有力
Eg: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground
= Dead leaves covered the ground. (清晰生動(dòng))
Eg: The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired.
= Failing health compelled him to leave college. (簡(jiǎn)潔有力)
Eg: It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had.
= He soon repented his words. (簡(jiǎn)潔有力)
4. Put statements in positive form
以肯定的形式表達(dá)否定的意思, 避免使用平淡、毫無(wú)色彩,猶豫不決和含糊其辭的語(yǔ)言。
Eg:He was not very often on time.
= He usually came late.
Eg: He did not think that studying Latin was much use.
= He thought the study of Latin useless.
Eg: The taming of the Shrew is rather weak in spots. Shakespeare does not portray Katharine as a very admirable character, nor does Bianca remain long in memory as an important character in Shakespeare’s works.
= The women in The Taming of the Shrew are unattractive. Katharine is disagreeable, Bianca insignificant.
5. Omit needless words
刪除冗詞
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
有力的寫作一定簡(jiǎn)潔。
Owing to the fact that
=Since (because)
In spite of the fact that
=Though (although)
Call your attention to the fact that
=Remind you (notify you)
The fact that he had not succeeded
=His failure
6. Avoid a succession of loose sentences
別寫流水賬,找找語(yǔ)言的邏輯關(guān)系,通過who, which, when, where, and while 這些詞把句子串起來。
7. Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
Parallel structure 平行結(jié)構(gòu)講究對(duì)稱美:內(nèi)容對(duì)等,結(jié)構(gòu)一致。
Eg: Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method, while now the laboratory method is employed.
Parallel structure: Formerly, science was taught by the textbook method; now it is taught by the laboratory method.
8. Keep related words together
詞的位置決定詞的關(guān)系,所以遵循‘物以類聚’,意思關(guān)聯(lián)緊密的詞放在一塊。
A: 主謂之間不分割,補(bǔ)充信息需前置
Eg: Wordsworth, in the fifth book of The Excursion, gives a minute description of this church.
Eg: In the fifth book of the Excursion, Wordsworth gives a minute description of this church. (狀語(yǔ)前置,主謂毗鄰)
B:關(guān)系代詞緊隨先行詞出現(xiàn)
Eg: There was a look in his eye that boded mischief.
Eg: In his eye was a look that boded mischief. (名詞look先行,關(guān)系詞that緊隨)
9. In summaries, keep to one tense
總結(jié)通常使用現(xiàn)在時(shí)態(tài),如果使用過去時(shí),請(qǐng)保持時(shí)態(tài)一致。
10. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end
欲擒故縱的圓周句(periodic sentence)中,強(qiáng)調(diào)信息后置。
Eg: Four centuries ago, Christopher Columbus, one of the Italian mariners whom the decline of their own republics had put at the service of the world and of adventure, seeking for Spain a westward passage to the Indies as setoff against the achievements of Portuguese discoverers, lighted on America.
Eg: With these hopes and in this belief I would urge you, laying aside all hindrance, thrusting away all private aims, to devote yourselves unswervingly and unflinchingly to the vigorous and successful prosecution of this war.
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