谈托福独立写作主体段的论证模式

谈托福独立写作主体段的论证模式

作者：王君

来源：《新东方英语》2015年第01期

托福独立写作的主体段是独立写作最为核心的部分，主体段的论证质量决定了整个独立写作的质量和成败。《新托福考试官方指南》对于独立写作论证（development）部分的说明指出：Development is the amount and kinds of support （examples， details， reasons） for your ideas that you present in your essay. To get a top score， your essay should be， according to the rater guidelines，“well developed， using clearly appropriate explanations， exemplifications，and/or details.”这段话中的引号部分是《新托福考试官方指南》中最高档的评分标准对论证的要求，即要求“通过清晰且恰当的解释、例证和/或细节来充分论证观点”。那么如何才能达到论证充分的要求呢？本文笔者就提供一些实用的托福独立写作主体段的论证展开模式，供考生参考和学习。

“因果+例证”模式

这种模式是最为常用的一种主体段展开方式。因果论证是指通过前因后果的关系来解释为什么段落分论点能够支撑全文总论点。在运用因果论证时，考生可以使用一些表达因果关系的词汇和短语来加强因果逻辑，比如表示原因的有because、as、since、now that、considering that、given that、in that、this is because、due to、owing to、thanks to、because of、on account of、as a result of、as a consequence of、“the reason why … is that”等;表示从因到果的有cause、lead to、result in、contribute to、give rise to、give birth to等;表示前果后因的有result from、attribute A to B、ascribe A to B等;表示结果的有so、thus、hence、therefore、as a result、as a consequence、consequently、accordingly、this is why等。例证是指运用更加具体的例子和细节来细化因果说理部分，且段落主题句、因果说理部分以及例子和细节之间必须相互呼应，这样才能够达到主体段论证充分的要求。

下面这个段落是一位考生在考前限时训练时写的。写作的题目是：父母应不应该限制孩子看电视的时间？该考生选择的观点是父母应该限制孩子看电视的时间，该段落阐述的理由是“看电视会影响孩子的学习”。

The first reason why I prefer to hold this position is that children may get addicted to TV as they are too young to organize their study and free time. Without limit on the amount of time spent watching TV， children may watch TV all day long， which is very harmful for their studies. As a consequence， the time they spend studying is insufficient and it is impossible for them to achieve well at school. Take my neighbor’s daughter Jessica as an example. As her father didn’t care much about how much time she spent watching TV， Jessica watched it for about six hours per day. Considering she had to go to school，there wasn’t enough time for her to finish all her homework

and review what she had learned at school. After becoming addicted to TV， Jessica failed the final exams in three courses. Cases like this abound among teenagers. So I believe if parents want their children to do well at school， they have to limit the amount of time they can watch TV.

该考生首先通过因果说理解释了为什么看电视会影响孩子的学习，然后举出了一个具体的例子，将说理部分加以细化，表明看电视的确会影响学习。例子和说理之间互相印证，从而证明了段落的主题句。

“因果+例证+对比”模式

除了因果说理和例证之外，有时候为了充实段落内容，更为详尽地证明主题句，考生可以结合对比论证的手法，将对比论证和因果、举例相结合。考生可以利用on the contrary、by contrast、however等表达引出对比的内容。对比论证又可以分为一事物和另一事物的对比、现在和过去的对比、有和无的对比等几种情况，下面分别来具体说明。

1 一事物和另一事物的对比

托福独立写作的某些题目会涉及一件事和另一件事的对比，或是一种做法和另一种做法的对比，或是一个物体和另一个物体的对比。为了充分凸显自己选择的一方的好处，考生除了证明自己选择的一方如何好，还可以使用对比手法，证明另一方不好。

下面这个段落是一位考生在考前限时训练时写的。写作的题目是：学生一个学期学3～4门课程好呢，还是更多课程好？该考生认为学习3～4门课程更好，不应该学习太多课程。这个段落阐述的理由是“课程少一点，学习效率更高”。

First and foremost， not taking too many subjects contributes to effective study. Students have limited time. If they take too many subjects， there will be less time for each one. If a student studies eight hours per day and takes four subjects， he/she would have two hours to study and revise each one. However， if this student takes eight subjects， he/she can only spend one hour on each one. Obviously， two hours of study time for each subject is much better than one hour of study time，since students can understand the topic more deeply and do more practice.

该考生在论证中使用了对比论证的方法，对比了学习3～4门课程和学习更多课程的效果差别，从而有效地证明了学习更多课程不利于学习效果的提升。

2 现在和过去的对比

托福独立写作的题目中有一类题目涉及过去和现在的对比，或是涉及科技带来的改变，比如：“Do you agree or disagree with the following statement？ Technology makes peopl e’s lives