字神帝國英語天地

法國啟蒙思想家伏爾泰曾經說過：“我不同意你的觀點，但是我誓死捍衛你說話的權利。”這句經典的名言，很能夠說明托福寫作的特點。寫托福作文時，你完全可以把自己看成是絕對權威。也就是說，托福考官並不會質疑你文章中的觀點，只要你能夠用恰當的例子自圓其說就好了。但是，請注意，你一定要用例子來自圓其說。否則托福的考官是看不懂你在說什麼的，因為他們無法理解過於抽象的概念和論證。換句話說，你要用例子來說服考官相信你的觀點。

但是，GRE寫作就不同了。如果你要考GRE寫作，那就別信伏爾泰那一套。相反，你得成為一個像蘇格拉底一樣的哲學家。蘇格拉底之所以被雅典公民判處了死刑，就是因為他至死不渝的懷疑精神。GRE寫作絕對屬於理性世界，它需要考生具有辯證思維，無論題目說了什麼，我們都要盡力找出其中的邏輯漏洞，然後用嚴密的論證予以反駁。在論述的過程中，是否有例子來支撐自己的觀點，其實並不是特別重要，只要邏輯合理就可以了。

例如，在托福獨立寫作中，有這樣一道題目：

If the people have the opportunity to get a secure job, they should take it right away rather than wait for a job that would be more satisfying.

以下是這道題目的高分範文節選：

In contemporary society, due to the fierce competition among human resources, it is becoming increasingly difficult for one to find a satisfying job. Even job vacancy is scarce due to the increasing number of human population. Many people, if not most, are strong believers in the claim that one should immediately accept his job offer as soon as he gets one, especially a secure job. From my point of view, however, I firmly hold that one should never hesitate to seek for opportunity of getting a great career and should stick to his own dream.

First of all, the more fiercely competitive the society is, the more opportunities you will meet. Thus instead of locking yourself in a secure job with limited payment and doubtful prospect, you should reject the “secure” offer full of confidence and head for your bright future. Probably few people know that Steve Jobs was once offered a research assistant position in his mother university in his early career. It was a safe position at that time. But we all know that Jobs is so brilliant that a small research assistant position will not fit him at all. It was because he smelt the delicate demand of user-friendly high-technology devices that he was immersed in his own developing and prototyping instead of taking the tedious work. No one will cast doubt on the decision Jobs made, but few of them will be confident enough to take the risk. Remember, Jobs is only a typical example while there are huge numbers of success behind us, as well as large amounts of opportunities ahead of us. So never hesitate to decline a tedious job and start your bright career.

從以上範文節選中我們可以看出，作者在論證“人們不應該立即接受工作機會，而是應該不斷尋找令自己滿意的工作機會”這一觀點時，使用了史蒂夫·賈伯斯的例子。這種論證方式比較符合托福考官的期望，因此能夠拿到一個較高的分數。

但是，GRE寫作就略有不同了。我們來看GRE Issue中的一道題目：

The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones.

以下是一份高分範文節選對此話題的論述：

The recommendation presents a view that I would agree most of the time, but one that I cannot fully support due to the “all or nothing” impression it gives.

Certainly as an educator I agree fully that the best way to elicit positive response from students is to make use of students’ positive energy and then encourage actions that you would like to see repeated. It is human nature that we all want to be accepted and achieve on some level, and when people in authority provide feedback that we have done something well, the drive to repeat the action that was praised is bound to be particularly strong.

......

To expand on this point, it is important for teachers to be careful when working with the second half of this statement, only ignoring negative actions that are not serious. If the negative actions are really serious, ignoring them might, in fact, would be absurd and negligent. You are allowing a problem to persist, one that could potentially lead to much bigger and more dangerous issues. In a more serious situation, addressing the negative actions quickly and properly could stop the problem in its tracks. It is for reasons like this that I do not advocate the idea that a teacher can be successful by simply ignoring negative actions.

在這篇高分範文節選中，作者一開始就用了辯證思維，同意話題的一部分，但也反對其中的一些細節點。之後，作者分別從正面和反面展開論證，也體現了一定的辯證思維。而在整個行文過程中，作者較少用到實際例子進行論證。但是，在GRE的寫作中，這樣並不妨礙考生拿到一個較高的分數。相反，如果考生沒有使用這種辯證式的論證，則很難說服考官給出高分。因此，GRE寫作相比於托福寫作更強調行文的條理性和思路的清晰性，對於使用例子來論證則要求不是太高。