Chris托福寫作心態|寫作的本質

大家好,我是SK2 衝刺班顧問Chris。

最近,許多同學跑來問我一個很有趣的問題。
「Chris, 什麼叫做內化work bank?」
「Chris, 有些題目我用word bank 好難套,寫得四不像。」

我請同學拿題目來給我看:
Some young adults want independence from their parents as soon as possible. Other young adults prefer to live with their families for a longer time. Which of these situations do you think is better?(上週顧問時間題目選材)

看到題目,我就聯想到這題背後,不就是那種美式思維經常討論到「你同不同意那種,剛滿18歲的小大人,要不要被父母打包趕出去家門自己謀生」的問題嗎?

事實上,同學審題時,除了我們上課教的技巧,who, what,是誰, why是什麼之外,試試看用宏觀的角度,進一步思考,考官為什麼要出這種題目?是衝撞你生活當中的什麼價值觀?你真正的想法是什麼?

我看了看同學的擬答。
First of all, young adults tend to be outgoing, and living away from their family can help them make more friends.

嗯,這題的主題句很多我們上課教過的理由都可以套,沒什麼問題,接著進例子:
For example, when I lived in my dorm, I always hung out with others. Then, I would eat lunch with my classmates. Moreover, we would talk about some common topics. As a result, I made a lot of friends. On the other hand, if I lived with my parents, they would order me to stay home. Therefore, I cannot make friends at all.

我們來分析看看同學的答案:
1. 正反例架構都有 ✔
2. word bank也有 ✔
3. clarity, transition words ✔

然而,如果考試三段都只有長這樣,還是只有22,23分,為什麼?
因為「沒故事、沒畫面、沒靈魂」

我問同學:「你在大學的時候喜歡交朋友嗎?」
同學可愛的說:「我都待在宿舍打遊戲,哈哈。」
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啊我就問了,你為什麼要去寫一個對主題句沒想法、沒故事的例子呢?

任何一個主題句,在英文的世界裡,是要對自己的想法好好負責,用一個故事講清楚說明白,而非用交差了事的思維、或硬套word bank的思維來寫作。你自己都無法說服自己了,怎麼還會自己期望得到高分呢?

稍微回想一下我的大學經歷,我幫同學修改成以下:
For example, when I was in college, I had three roommates in our dormitory. Without my parents‘ intervention, I could always do some fun activities with them, such as riding up a mountain with our scooters, going to karaoke in the middle of the night. Because we seized the happy moment together, these memories cemented our friendship forever. On the other hand, if I still lived at home, my mom would keep nagging me for having my friends’ bad influence. Therefore, I would never have such tight bonds with those guys.

這到底怎麼想出來的?

因為你經歷過、有感觸、有想法,再透過文字帶出讓考官身歷其境,這就是我想要和大家分享的心態:「你自己能感受到你的文字嗎?」還是你在顧問時間的作文裡頭,只想要標標1-6,畫畫線,再看看顧問會給你幾分呢?

其實,我覺得好的寫作,中文跟英文都是一樣的。Chris在八月的時候,在自己私人臉書,寫了一篇關於家母奮鬥帕運的故事,引發了不小的迴響,獲得1.2萬個讚和眾多媒體的轉發,大家可以觀察看看,一篇好文章的本質,不就是「讓文字與人連結」嗎?https://reurl.cc/dx7dE2

在托福的世界也是一樣,請盡量讓你的文字「與考官連結、說服他。」Chris理解托福最終還是一場考試,但是你觀察寫作的本質,練到的會是你一輩子受用的能力,答應我,轉換個心態,再面對托福寫作好嗎?相信你實戰能表現得更好的。

給,還在卡關的你
Chris
Until then