浅谈例证法在托福独立写作中的应用

 

我们都知道例证法在学习生活中的应用是非常广泛的，顾名词义，例证法就是文章中亮明观点后举出具体实例证明观点的论证方法，今天交大国际课程许企辉老师就为同学们精心总结了托福考试中例证法的应用，满满的都是干货，赶快来学习吧！

托福独立写作主要测试考生是否有较强的语言表达和观点证明能力，是否能将自己对某个话题的所思、所想用清晰、准确的语言表达出来。因此，采用有效的论证方法显得尤为重要。本文专门讨论了托福独立写作中采用最为广泛的论证方法：例证法。

介绍

 

 JeanWyrick(2008) 曾说过“In reality, you will probably use examples in every essay you write.”托福写作业也不例外。ETS发布的独立写作评分标准最高5分档明确提出：“Is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate explanations, exemplifications and/or details.”（OG, 2012）这就要求考生通清晰、恰当的说理解释、例证和细节来论证自己的观点。另外，在所有托福写作目的题干后面都附有一条要求：“Use specific reasons and examples to support our answer.”有此可见，例证在托福写作的论证中起着至关重要的作用。

 

 

 

近几年托福独立写的题目可以大致分为两类：一类是“支持反对型”，如以下考题：

 

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: After high school, students should have at least one year to work or travel. It's better than attending university straight away.

 

      另外一类是“对比解释型”，如二选一的题目：

 

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement：In modern society, the ability to speak  well  is more important than the ability to write well.

 

 

我们会发现无论哪种题型，我们都可以使用例证法。比如第一个题目我们可以拿美国总统奥巴马大女儿举例，她目前正处于就读哈佛之前的Gap Year阶段；第二个题目我们可以借用通讯科技的进步，如Skype、Wechat等来证明面对面的交流在日常生活中发挥日新月异的作用，这样可以让论证更具说服力，让文章变得更生动，从而提升获得更好成绩的几率。

 

例证的类别

 

从ETS给出的一些范文和以往学生实考结构反馈，相比其他类似的考试如IELTS，托福独立写作给学生发挥的空间更大一些，举例论证就是一个很好的说明。例子来源可以多样，具体包括：

 

1

范例

 

所谓范例是指泛泛地谈论一类人、事或物。范例有它独特的优势，即具备代表性，不是一家之言或个人喜好。在写作中证明自己的观点时范例更具备客观性。如：

 

观点：High school students should do household work after school because it can give them a sense of responsibility.

 

例子： Many parents in China require their children to do dishes after dinner because they think it is a convenient way to teach them to shoulder on their own responsibility as a family member.

 

分析：泛例与观点就好比线与面的关系，很好想，例子中Many parents泛指普通的家长，而非特定的某个家庭。但是要注意不能过于空洞，应该搭配一些因果分析、比较来使用，可以使得论证更有说服力。

2

个例

 

就是落到一个具体的人身上发生的具体的事，就像讲故事一样，涉及到时间、地点、人物、事件，同时需要叙述事件的起因、经过、结果。如在谈论negative effects of private car的这个话题时，可以用上以下个例：

 

 

 

10 years ago, in my childhood memory, the city which I live in now is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. The blue sky and the clean water were quite impressive to me. However, 3 years ago, when I came back to this city again, I was astonished by those changes. The city developed rapidly during those days. There are far more private cars than years ago on the road every day. On average, every household has one or two cars. The city may be described as "developed" now, while the sky here is never as clear as ever.

 

分析：以个人家乡的变化来说明私家车带来的影响，非常鲜活，也更容易写长。但是难度较大，需要平时有意识地积累和练习，考场上才能得心应手。

3

例证方法

 

上下义关系：本文中“上义”是表示对事物或行为进行概括性说明的文字，而“下义”则是对事物或行为的具体形式介绍，两者是包含和被包含的关系。如：first class facilities for students 和modern multimedia teaching facilities, advanced computing equipment etc.；do household 和sweeping the floor,  mowing  the  lawn, cooking  meals。

 

 

 

公共人物或事件：如谈论appearance对于成功的必要性时，考生可以采用：Susan Boyle is one of those. Such an appearance has long been rumored, but her incredible voice and her stunning performance on BGT has won her great popularity.

 

1

个人素材

 

包括亲历或身边发生的事件。在写作这样的个例时，考生可以通过who、when、where、why、how等要素来体现细节，甚至结合具体的数字来体现论证的具体性。如: Back to my high school days, I was the captain of our school basketball team...。

 

2

假设举例

 

如在谈论个人在缓解交通拥堵问题的时候，我们可以使用假设举例的方法。If 30 people get on a public bus instead of 30 individual cars, there will be far fewer automobiles on the road, greatly easing the traffic burden.通过这样的假设，让读者清晰地感受到个人在此问题上可以发挥的作用。

官方报道、数据论证：采用一些有影响力的新闻报道或官方发布的权威数据也可以作为托福独立写作的佐证。如在讨论Nowadays it is easier to get educated than in the past这样的一个话题时，以下素材就可以用于证明自己观点。

 

A 2012-report conducted by Beijing Human Resources Department: the female percentage in the occupations such as professors, doctors, lawyers and engineers grew by 80.3% compared to the days 50 years ago。

结论

托福写作论证方法丰富，不同的例证手法各有其优缺点，考生要学会根据不同的题目类型和自己能力灵活处理，综合运用多样的例证手法，增强对自己观点的支撑力。

 

参考文献：

1. Jean Wyrick，1998，Steps to Writing Well，Peking University Press.

2. ETS, 2012,The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test, Qunyan Press.

3. 王君，2016.11托福独立写作的例证多样化，新东方英语.