雅思大作文是很多考生过不去的坎。它之所以这么难,是因为考官所关注的点较多,除了考生可以用英语表达,还要求考生从思维上和语言习惯上都尽量向native speakers靠近。而思维和语言习惯其实是互通的,两者一起筑起了一座多数考生无法理解也无法逾越的大山。其中一座大山叫做“Tentative Language“。
什么叫做Tentative Language?先让我们感受一下下面两句话的区别:
I think Britain is not doing enough to combat Coronavirus.
It seems that Britainis not doing enough to combat Coronavirus.
大多数考生比较习惯使用句的表达方式,但是熟悉英国人讲话套路的考生可能会发现,很多时候他们却喜欢第二种方式。因为相对于种的直接和强烈,第二种语言明显更为委婉, 也给自己和对方留了一些余地。这就是Tentative Language的作用。
Tentative的意思大致是说一件事情可能是对的或者可能发生, 而不是说这件事情永远正确总是会发生。这在Academic English中非常重要, 因为这种语言形式表示考生理解生活中的情势具有复杂性和不确定性,永远有例外。考生如果在大作文中合理使用相关表达,那么他们的大作文分数会相对得到提高。
Tentative Language都有哪些呢?给大家简单列举一些。
情态动词:can be/might be/maybe/could/would等。请注意will不算tentative language。
表示可能的副词:perhaps/probably/possibly/likely等。
其他:tend to/should consider doing sth/seem/appear等。
如何在英语写作中使用这些语言呢?请看下面两段内容,节选自剑桥考官团队的范文。
While many young people aspire to attending University, the
expense involved can be prohibitive in some cases.The causes of this appear to be focused on three areas, and a number of solutions also appear to be possible.
这一段使用到的tentative language是can be/appear to be。句中, 如果改成the expense involved is prohibitive的话就过于, 好像陈述事实一样, 不符合学术精神。后面的causes以及solutions都是作者自己的建议, 所以用appear to be有一种谦虚的语气, 比用are要好一些。
Perhaps the major factor here is the reduction in government subsidy for University courses.For instance, in the UK, such courses were virtually free to the student until recently, but now cost around 30, 000per year.This pattern appears to be global, with the result that students and their families need to meet the costs directly·
Another cause is the increasing cost of living in many countries,meaning that the cost of day today life(in addition to fees) can be almost overwhelming for students.A third factor is the difficulty in finding part-time work while a student is studying.Such work tends to be poorly paid, while taking uptime that students should use for their studies.
第二段的主要内容是陈述事情的三个原因。这里除了can be/appear to be之外, 作者也使用了perhaps以及tends to be。考生如果直接说the major factor here is也缺乏对情况的复杂性的考虑, 所以需要加入perhaps弥补一下。最后针对part-time job的解释也是一样的道理。
此外,考生在建议解决办法的时候,也需要在应该XX的句型中尝试加入tentative language.比如与其这样说The policy should have guns, because this protects them, 考生不如尝试:The policy should consider having guns, because this tends to protect them.后者比前者的优势在于, 言谈之间表现了having guns这件事情虽然可以保护人们,但是也有例外(see America)
总结
中文的口语和写作差别不像英语这么大,所以很多考生无法体会英语中情态动词、虚拟语气以及今天所讲的Tentative Language的作用。建议考生多看看native speakers的讲座以及自己专业的英文读物,体会一下这些语言的使用。阅读剑桥考官范文的时候,也多关注这些语言的使用方法。
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