海外留学英语写作测试中的小词大用

海外留学英语写作测试中的小词大用

朗阁托福考试研究中心

做海外留学英语写作测试教学那么多年，几乎每次课堂中，只要问到学生关于对写作的感受，基本上都会听到差不多的答案，那就是语法和词汇的问题；也就是说大多数学生都认为只要词汇用的高级、有难度，就一定能够得到很高的分数。其实，这只是一个误区，而这个误区在一定程度上也是由于现在国内的教育状况造成的，当学生们已经习惯了这样的考试模式的时候想要进行改变那是比较难的。其实海外留学考试与国内的四六级考试还是有所区别的，在很多高分甚至是满分的作文中，我们都会发现整篇文章都没有一个生词，所以，问题的关键应该是在于如何灵活地运用这些我们非常熟悉的小词，如何让它们在作文中发挥大作用。在下文中，朗阁托福考试研究中心将给大家列举一些在雅思和托福写作中可以用得很精彩的小词以及它们的具体运用。

1.社会生活类

Skip: The poor tend to smoke more and skip breakfast, two factors which have major stress effects on the body.

Better of: People of the lower end of the social economic status have stress levels in their bodies that worth 3 times higher than those who are better off.

Reputation: Contrary to fears about the violent reputation of some games, there is no firm proof that playing them has a negative impact on children's behavior.

Contribution: Video games have a positive contribution for education.

Tough: The findings are likely to surprise supporters of tougher regulation of computer games.

Midlife review: People need opportunities to make a "midlife review" to adjust to the later stages of employed life, and to plan for the transition to retirement.

Update: Others can do voluntary work more effectively if they can update their

skills and knowledge.

2.科技、媒体类

Access: Innovative technology has transformed how we access and share information, changed the way businesses and institutions operate, and made the world smaller by giving us instant access to people and resources everywhere.

Farewell: Farewell to the out-of-date guidebook and the grubby newspaper.

-like: A paper-like device that can store hundreds of novels, update the news while you browse the headlines.

Screen: Young people today enjoy more and more digital connections, more screen time than ever before.

Come a long way: Trains have come a long way from their grim beginnings.

Driving: New technological products will be the driving force to make work and life easier and entertaining.

3.教育类

Struggle: It’s even a struggle to keep up with the minimum requirement of two hours sport a week.

Fare: Graduates fared better when they came to filling out job applications and reading newspapers.

Advance: The survey shows that more women and minorities are looking to advance their careers with an advanced degree.

Pick up: More people are willing to attend school during a slowdown and hope things will pick up after graduation.

Pretend: As children play pretend, they try to explore the relationship between family members, friends, and learn more about how people interact.

Sharpen: Universities should not only be a place where students learn academic knowledge, but provide courses to sharpen their competitiveness.

类似上面这样的小词，在作文中的使用是非常频繁的，换句话说，构成一篇文章，在词汇的运用上，主要还是靠这些小词起大作用。小词汇，往往给人以更加自然、流畅的感觉，不会因为某个高级词的错误使用反而让这句话变得很突兀。所以，朗阁托福考试研究中心建议要准备雅思或托福考试的同学应该要转变一下传统的单词积累方式，不要一味地从字典A开始背诵到Z, 因为大部分单词都很少会出现在写作中。同国内考试不同，雅思和托福的写作并不是希望看到多么华丽的词汇，而是一篇语言表达自然、流畅的文章。

下面我们就来用一个实际的例子来进行说明：

这道题目是比较简单的，可以说是各位考生非常熟悉的话题。但是，在议论文写作中，越简单的题目往往越不好写，因为考生恐怕并没有很多话可以将文章有序的展开。其次，在观点的选择上，这里建议考生同意。虽然雅思大作文的观点，考生同意或者不同意都可以，但是如果写不同意的话，难度较大，恐怕论证起来考生会感到比较吃力。最后，这个题目有两个重点：除了smoking之外，还有public places, 考生不应该只把重点放在吸烟问题上，同时也应该谈论到在公共场所吸烟的问题。

➢Some people think smoking should be banned in public places. To what extent do you agree or disagree? (2011.08.13)

Pros: (agree)

✓首先，在公共场所吸烟不仅会对吸烟者自己的健康造成伤害，而且还会对别人的健康造成巨大的威胁。吸烟对身体造成的危害不言而喻：目前已有证据证明吸烟会直接导致众多疾病，比如说长时间吸烟会导致肺癌。每年有数以百万的人因为肺癌而死去，其中有一大部分就是因为吸烟所引起的。而且，这个数字还有进一步增长的趋势。其次，吸烟还会导致很多其他与心脏相关的疾病出现，比如说高血压，心脏病，心脑血管疾病等等，这些都会对人们的健康造成巨大的伤害。如果说吸烟是个人选择和自由的话，那还可以理解和接受。但是，在公共场所吸烟，不仅危害到了自己的健康，而且也同时严重的伤害到了别人的健康。很多人非常注重自己的健