对于独立写作困扰大部分考生的我想应该是开头部分。很多考生开始时可以就会报怨没有思路,无从下笔。以至于以I agree或I disagree…一句话引出自己立场来搞定开头的同学不在少数。有的同学甚至会受之前汉语写作的影响,比如“好的开头,会影响整篇文章”,于是不敢动笔写开头。其实这一点大可不必多虑,毕竟托福写作风格以议论文为主,也就是说在文章中我们要做到清晰无误的表达自己的想法,特别是首段的主要任务,要明确地表达自己的立场,最好的方式建议:背景铺垫+个人立场。
对于开头部分的构思,很多同学首先会想到模版。模版会提供现成的思路甚至套句,我们直接将自己的观点带入即可。比如:
模版开头一
when it comes to the topic that…, opinions of the public are of great variety. Admittedly, some people would claim that….. However, I still insist that… My reasons will be listed as follows.
又比如在涉及到A和B两个对象的影响类的题目里,常见模版开头二:
Nowadays, the influence of A on B is a matter for debate for a long time. some people claim that… However, I disagree with them. In my viewpoint, … and the following is my reasons.
模版可以用,但是不建议同学们拿到题目就直接带入模版,一来语言会显得呆板,二来托福官方对模版的态度为“不扣分,不加分”,因此模版对于想要高分的同学学来说并没有太大优势。所以还是希望同学们看到话题之后可以进行一定独立思考。今天我们一起看下常见的开头破冰法之一:定义法引入。
所谓“定义法”,就是下定义,对题目中的某些名词或概念进行解释,比如题目所涉及的success, responsibility, independence,social skills,part-time jobs等,我们可以直接解释这些概念是什么,或者大家对这些事物的看法等,还有可能涉及到重要性或者其影响等词,比如importance, benefits, advantageous,exert positive/negative influence on,一般一句话带过即可。下面我们结合具体题目带入“定义法引入”的具体应用。
例如:
D/A: One ofthe best ways that parents can help their teenager children prepare for adult life is to encourage them to take a part-time job.
在这个题目中,所涉及到的名词有parents, teenager children, adult life, 和a part-time job四个名词及词组,也就是说这个题目我们可以从四个角度进行开头段的构思。但我们应该优先从最好把握的入手。不难发现,a part-time job属于话题的关键词眼,所以[第一步]我们可以直接针对a part-timejob进行解释,比如Part-time jobs, which act as a warm-up for the future career, can provide children with a general image of the society. 或者Part-time jobs is of great importance in helping children better understand the society they are live in.定义法解释过之后,[第二步]我们要引出题目中的其它对象,最后第三步引出自己立场。比如上边紧接着a part-time job 这一句可以For most parents, it is really an ideal choice to help their children prepare for adult life.[第三步]在点明观点时,我们可以紧接着提出,Thus I agree with the opinion in the statement.甚至最后可以加一句,比如:my reasons will be detailed as follows. 或者my reasons are as follows.