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2021托福口语备考之论证技巧
日期:2021-03-24

  下面是恒星英语网整理的2021托福口语备考之论证技巧,供大家参考。

  我们在《托福考试官方指南第4版》(以下简称《官方指南》)提供的中、低档答案的评语中经常能看到这样的话:"The support for her ideas is vague and unclear"(OG, 4th, 550), "This speaker discusses… in a vague way that is sometimes difficult to understand."(OG, 4th, 558)。从考官的评语来看,考生答口语题时论证的模糊性是一个很大的问题,也是一个失分点。有许多考生英语语音和语法词汇方面都不错,但由于论证无力而没有得到本能够得到的高分。下面我们针对托福口语独立任务题,来探讨一下如何让考生的论证更加有力,在topic develop方面为自己提高分数。

  首先,考生在回答独立任务题目时不要过多侧重叙述、描述、列举的部分,描述简短即可,列举有两到三个层次即可,给论证部分留出更多的时间。我们知道在托福口语的task one中,我们通常要完成description, giving reasons, giving examples and details三个任务。比如《官方指南》在task one 题型讲解中引入了一个题目:"Choose a teacher you admire and explain why you admire him or her. Please include specific examples and details in your explanation."这道题明确要求要先"描述"一下这位老师,再"解释"为什么钦佩他/她,最后用"细节和例子"进行论证。许多同学在此用过长的篇幅来描述这位老师,如身高、年龄、五官等等,占据了一半左右的时间,导致后面解释原因时时间不充分,只能草草结束。而《官方指南》在指导这道题的时候明确说明对老师的描述应该是一种"briefly describing"(OG, 4th, 168),比如简单说一下这位老师所教的科目或者他/她是你哪个年龄段的老师等,剩余更多时间应该说明钦佩这位老师的原因,比如老师身上某一种高贵的品质,而且要提供细节去证明为什么这种品质值得钦佩。一般来说,前面的对象描述部分最好控制在10秒以内,这样有助于用充足的时间展开论证,不会使答案头重脚轻,论证无力。

  另一个影响有力论证的做法是过度列举原因而不做详细说明。比如一道独立任务题就给出四五个原因,没有时间证明每一个原因的可靠性,虽然考生说出了很多内容,但依然不符合ETS的高分标准。《官方指南》明确指出"长列举"现象应避免,每条理由充分阐释才是王道:"When giving descriptions, try to avoid presenting long lists since this will reduce the time you have available to elaborate on the rest of your response"(OG, 4th, p. 167, tip 2)。而且《官方指南》在提供的第三套练习题的task two中刚好举出了反例。这道题要求考生选择喜欢独立完成作业还是在小组中与别人共同完成,《官方指南》指出不可过度列举,应该给出一到两个理由进行充分阐释:"You should not simply give a list of reasons, such as 'I prefer to work in groups because it is more interesting plus many people help and also you can learn from other people…' It's better if you develop one or two reasons fully."(OG, 4th, p. 550)《官方指南》还专门举出例子指出阐释的方法,即给出具体的个人经历:"For example, if you prefer to work in groups, you could say, 'I prefer working in groups because usually in group work, different people know different things about the topic, and because of that, you get a deeper understanding of the assignment. For example, there was a student from Venezuela in a group assignment I had, and we were supposed to describe how crude oil prices are set. She helped us understand problems in oil production in a much deeper way because her parents worked in oil production…'" 可见,符合官方要求的答案,应该是以举例论证为主,论证部分应该详细一些,才能使答案更有说服力。因此,同学们答题时间最好这样分配:10秒钟以内描述对象,然后给出两个理由,每一个理由用实例阐述15秒左右,保证论证充分。

  其次,论证时条理要清晰,按照从一般到具体的顺序进行。用官方的话说,"it is important that you begin by clearly stating what your opinion is."很多同学在答题时认为说话顺序无所谓,只要信息量大就行,其实不然。条理不清晰的论证也会被削弱力量,比如有的同学在亮明观点之前先讲故事,导致考官要费力听完这个故事才能理解观点。如2012年11月24日大陆考试第一题:"Is it good for college students do part time jobs?"有的同学说完" I agree with this statement"之后紧接着讲道:"I once took a part time job as a training teacher, and I…",就这样讲了一下自己的经历之后,才总结道:"This experience proves that part-time job will enhance my social communication skills." 这样的论证顺序虽然道出了完整信息,但是考官需要先听完考生讲完一段故事才能理解考生同意这个观点的原因是什么,造成了考官接受信息的困难。正确的做法应该是先说明认为part-time job好的原因,即可以"enhance my social communication skills",然后再用后面的例子证明,从一般到具体,层层铺开,符合评分标准以及考官接收信息的习惯,逻辑清楚了,论证自然也就清晰有力了。

  最后一点极为重要,就是在给出原因的时候,要避免单独使用以下词汇做理由:good, nice, beautiful, important, wonderful, interesting, 等等,因为这些都是官方给出的反例。《官方指南》在550页一个中档分数的评语中就有对important这个词单独做原因进行了批判。这样的例子还有很多,如《官方指南》提供的第一套练习题task one:"Choose a place you go to often that is important to you and explain why it is important. Please include specific details in your explanation."

  官方就明确指出不能以"I like this place because it is nice"作为理由。而可取的理由是这样的:"I like this place because it is quiet and peaceful"。从官方给出的这组对比来看,好的理由不过是由nice变成了quiet或peaceful,一个更为具体的词,原理很简单,因为这些具体的词更容易由具体例子直接来证明,如官方给出细节证明peaceful时就用了以下细节来发展信息:"Listening to the ocean waves on the beach relaxes me and helps me to relieve stress"(OG,4th, p. 323)。如果原因部分说成nice, 恐怕任何细节和例子都不能非常有针对性地进行阐释。

  同样地,官方给的第二套题目task one:"What kind of reading material, such as novels, magazines, or poetry, do you most like to read in your free time? Explain why you find this kind of reading material interesting"也同样要求不能用笼统词汇直接做理由,反面例子就是:"I like to read magazines because they contain a lot of interesting information"。《官方指南》明确指出这是一个vague的解释,因为interesting这个词太笼统。一个更充分的解释可以是:"I like to read news magazines because they provide more detailed information about current events than television news shows or newspapers can",然后再举例解释为什么杂志里的信息更加细致。说到细节如何给,《官方指南》也建议过给以给出specific occasions或者是personal experience. 如这个喜欢杂志的原因可给出的细节即可以是具体的新闻特色介绍,也可以是个人读新闻的经历。

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