在前面两个章节中,我们已经详细介绍了关于写作的内容和要求。在本节中,我们将详细介绍写作步骤。
写作部分会给出两个文体供考生选择:创造性叙述文和议论文。考生可以选择自己最感兴趣的一个题目,并且把所选的样题旁边的小圆圈涂黑。如下所示:
请注意:
1.审题时切勿花费太多时间。迅速看题,理解题目,并在一至两分钟之内想好自己要写的题目。
2.头脑风暴。抛弃传统英语写作中的规则方法——先写提纲,寻找素材,打草稿,然后定稿。写提纲和打草稿这两个过程都需要在大脑中完成。如果选择议论文,迅速想好要用的例子;如果选择创造性叙述文,对于题目中要展开的故事,头脑里要有大概的轮廓或者故事走向。
SSAT议论文通常写4~5段,如下所示:
1.开头段
表明自己的观点,以样题 What do you think the three qualities which good friends should have? Why? (你认为好朋友应该有的三个特质是什么?并解释为什么。)为例。在第一段要说明这三个特质是什么。如: One cannot live without friends in our life. Especially good friends are just like reading a good book which is beneficial to our life. Therefore, in my opinion, I think the qualities of a good friend are composed of honesty,loyalty and warm—heartedness.
2.主干部分(2~3段)
主干部分的每个段落中写一个例子来证明自己的观点,切记引用例子时一定要和自己的观点相结合。针对上面的样题,以下是引用的例子:
According to the first quality: honesty, not only a good friend should have, but also it is the basic moral code. That can be proved by a story "George Washington and cherry tree". This story says when George Washington was 8 years old, his father gave him a hatchet as the birthday present. Nevertheless, George accidentally cut off a cherry tree which was his father’s favorite. Consequentially George told the truth about what he had done, regardless of being penalized by his father, while to his surprised, his father complimented him because of his honesty. So from this story, George should be proud of his honesty which is a good quality of a human being. It is obviously convinced that if a good friend is honest, the friendship must be stable and relied to each other.
在上面的例子中,作者引用了“华盛顿和樱桃树”的故事。首先概括了这个故事的内容,然后说明从这个故事中得出的结论,最后,和自己要证明的观点联系起来,这样,一个例子的引用才是比较完整的。
一个例子占用一个段落,如上面的样题,要引用三个例子,因此主干有三个段落。加上首尾两段,共有五段。
3.结尾段
结尾段的作用是归纳总结,是对上述内容的概括,但切忌对首段内容改写。如上面样题的结尾段:
Above all, we could see clearly that if a good friend has at least three qualities which are honesty, loyalty and warm-heartedness, that friend is deserved to have in one's life.