gre考试写作备考误区须知

gre考试写作备考误区须知

gre考试是否被你所认知清楚了呢?今天小编给大家带来gre考试写作备考误区须知，希望能够帮助到大家，下面小编就和大家分享，来欣赏一下吧。

gre考试写作备考误区须知

gre写作考试误区一、无意义和功能的“废话”

考生在gre写作考试备考中经常会写出这样一类句子。它不是阐述理由的观点句，在文章中没有任何功能性且无意义，gre写作技巧,gre考试培训只是对自己将要论述的话题做一个宣告。即没有作者的观点和态度，也不知道作者要从哪个方向去写。比如：“The subject of this essay is purpose of schooling.”或“I would like to write about the causes and solutions of juvenile delinquency.”这类句子不能出现在主体段做论点，也不适合做GRE写作的话题引入。

误区二、观点过于宽泛

在各类教导写作的材料中，大家应该时常会发现关于强调GRE写作论点一定要写的具体，越细越好的指导建议。而考生经常出现的问题就是会出现一些很宽泛的论点句，gre写作能力,gre备考要多久以至于在较短的篇幅里并不能充分展开，甚至有时候会造成观点重叠。比如：“Mobile phones have changed our life greatly. ”这句只是说手机很大程度上改变了人们的生活，但是并未点明从哪些方面上带来了改变，因此把这个观点具化一下：“Mobile phones can serve as a connection to the Internet， which can be extremely convenient for obtaining information wherever you may be.”再比如：“Advertising has bad effects on all of society. ”这一句说广告有不良影响，我们需要写出具体的方面“Advertisements which exaggerate the function of the products may mislead the consumers.”

误区三、论点狭窄无展开

第三种gre考试误区，与第二种误区相反，有写考生的GRE写作论点写的过于狭窄以至于没有展开的空间甚至没有进一步支持的必要。这类句子与其说是观点，倒不如说是事实的陈述或者只是举了个例子而已。比如：“There are more local residents engaged in tourism industry. ”这句陈述了一个事实就是在当地越来越多人开始从事旅游业，并非观点，可改为：“Tourism brings huge economic benefits to local residents.”再比如：“The consumption of fossil fuels increase in recent years. ”这句说化石燃料的消费近年来有增长，需给出论述重点，gre写作技巧,gre考试培训假设我们要论述原因：“The consumption of fossil fuels increasing in recent years results from two factors.”

误区四、一个论点句中包含两个或多个主题

这种现象在让步段的写作中尤为明显，让步段写作要求针对反方一个论点进行反驳论述。如果反方观点或反驳论点出现这种多主题情况，很容易让文章失去统一性和连贯性，从而导致逻辑不清，扣分严重。

从GRE Issue考试的官方陈述看issue写作素材的准备思路

“到底用中国素材还是美国素材好?”

“到底什么样的素材会吸引考官的眼球?”

“法律类的题目我实在没有例子怎么办?”

“像牛顿、爱因斯坦的例子到底能不能用?”

……

我个人认为，要回答上述问题，就要先仔细阅读一下ETS对GRE写作的官方陈述：

“The Analytical Writing Measure tests your critical thinking and analytical writing skills. It assesses your ability to articulate and support complex ideas, construct and evaluate arguments, and sustain a focused and coherent discussion. It does not assess specific content knowledge.

The tasks in the Analytical Writing measure relate to a broad range of subjects — from the fine arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences — but no task requires knowledge of specific content. In fact, each task has been tested by actual GRE® test takers to ensure that it possesses several important characteristics, including the following:

● GRE test takers, regardless of their field of study or special interests, understood the task and could easily respond to it.

● The task elicited the kinds of complex thinking and persuasive writing that university faculty consider important for success in graduate school.

● The responses were varied in content and in the way the writers developed their ideas.”

上述的官方陈述中，我们可以看出以下几点：

1)不考察专业背景。ETS明确指出：“It does not assess specific content knowledge.”“No task requires knowledge of specific content.”既然如此，素材是否足够专业，对考分是没有影响的。也就是说，专业性强的素材不一定能够为考试加分。而普通素材也不一定让考试减分。所以，我个人觉得，我们要彻底摒弃issue素材准备过程中对知识背景的过分依赖。

2)着重考察辩证性思维(critical thinking)和分析性的写作能力(analytical writing skills)。ETS明确指出，GRE写作考试，其实更关注于：你的写作是否体现了辩证性思维，你的写作是否论证性强、具有说服力。因此，我们其实不应该花很多时间在素材上，大量的精力应该放在论证是否说服力强这一点上。

以ETS所给出的官方范文为例，ETS在官方网站和官方指南上都给出了题库第一题的从1分到6分的官方范文。其中那篇6分的官方范文，我们通过剖析不难发现。全文所用的11个例证没有一个是学术性专业性很强的例子。相反，作者所举的例子都是很普通的、平时生活中非常常见的例子。以下段落摘自该文的第一段[注1]：

“The statement linking technology negatively with free thinking plays on recent human experience over the past century. Surely there has been no time in history where the lived lives of people have changed more dramatically. A quick reflection on a typical day reveals how technology has revolutionized the world. Most people commute to work in an automobile that runs on an internal combustion engine. During the workday, chances are high that the employee will interact with a computer that processes information on silicon bridges that are .09 microns wide. Upon leaving home, family members will be reached through wireless networks that utilize satellites orbiting the earth. Each of these common occurrences could have been inconceivable at the turn of the 19th century.”

这其实是一个很值得推敲的issue开头。整个段落中，作者所使用了三个例子(car, computer, mobile phone)，均属很平常很普通的素材。但是，语句的写作非常流畅，让读者阅读之后大脑中产生很强的画面感。由此可见，素材本身不分高低贵贱，用好生活中的很朴实的素材，也能够成就GRE写作高分。

此外，还需要关注的是，普通例子还有一个极其重要的好处，那就是说服力更强。还是拿这个段落举例，作者用“A quick reflection on a typical day reveals how technology has revolutionized the world.”这样一句话把这三个例子串了起来，体现出这些例子的典型性和普适性。一定程度上，这样平常、简单的例子来例证，非但没有让文章“逊色”，反而让这种论证变得具有极强的说服力。相反，如果你在此举的例子很特殊很专业，反而不具有说服力。为什么呢?我们学习argument考试的时候应该都学过一个逻辑错误叫“hasty generalization”(以小推大)。事实上，所有的举例论证，都会有这个问题。Argument中我们要指出这个逻辑漏洞，而在issue写作中，我们就要尽量避免这个逻辑漏洞。如何尽量弥补?就是依靠朴实无华的日常生活中的例子。而尽量避免学术性强，专业性强

为什么要提这一点呢?因为长期以来，GRE issue一直给学生甚至部分老师一种幻觉，那就是：既然是学术考试，就必须要把文章写得很学术。比如，凡是出现法律类的题目，就必须把法律的基本假定、法律的意义这些东西要阐述清楚。这种认识，在很长一段时间内，哪怕是在现在，依然普遍存在。不少GRE写作老师甚至某些GRE写作参考书，对学生的这种认识也起到了推波助澜的作用。普遍地，同学们会选择“难”、“深”的素材来作为写作素材，觉得在考试中所运用的素材越专业越艰深，就越能体现出自己深厚的学术功底。而实际情况并非如此。在我所接触的学生习作中，不乏有使用专业性很强、而写得并不理想的文章。以下为典型的一例：

(学生习作)11. People's behaviour is largely determined by forces not of their own making.

The statement indicates that people behave according to external forces instead of their own idea. However, as the great philosopher Karl Marx said, all the things are determined by inner world, since internal elements are decisive while external factors merely play a role of catalyst. Consider the process of decision making, which people's behaviour depends on. No matter how powerful external forces are, it is people themselves that decide whether they yield to the forces or insist on their own belief or follow their hearts when pressure from external forces and ideas in inner world are controversial. Accordingly, for this matter, I would like to stand the side Marx holds.

To start with, we should acknowledge that behaviour is depended on decision. As Cognitive Behaviour Theory proves, people's behaviour directly results from decision. Only after thinking and decision can people set out to do something. Based on this assumption, therefore, it is necessary for us to have a look on the process of decision making.

People's behaviour can be classified into two groups. One is instinctive behaviour which regareds people as a kind of animal, and the other is social behaviour. However, as people are a kind of social animal with brilliant mind, instinctive behaviour such as seeking for water, food and sacurity, in terms of people, is nevertheless controlled by brains. For instance, soldiers can suffer from thirsty and hunger during wars, students will stop eating when class starts for the sake of respecting teachers, although they may extremely hungry. Thus, despite instinctive behaviour may determined by forces on other kinds of animal, people behaves after their decisions.

Social behaviour, the other group, is more clear to see dependence on decision. Large number of theories study decision making and factors influencing decision. Communication and psychological theorists developed consistency theory, which offers us a powerful testimony on people's own decision when facing conflict choice. All consistency theories begin with the same premise: people are more comfortable with consistency than inconsistency. Therefore, people tend to initially seek mental balance facing conflicts. Even though external pressure does not obviously force one, who is the unique one holds different idea with others, to change idea, but for seeking mentally balance, the individual tends to follow the majority. In this way, decision changes, on one's own making.

Similarly, in terms of economics theory, game theory provides a method of studying decision making, which also strengths people's own tendency to maximum the benefit and minimum the loss .Take laws, a definitely type of forces out of people's mind, for example. Laws forbid people in a variety of aspects. No matter what individuals thinks, laws regulate people's behaviour. And during one's decision making on whether he is going to drive or not after drinking beer, for example, he is bound to weigh benefits and loss. Laws doubtless play a role of affecting his decision.

上文给读者的最大印象是“难懂”。而且作为写作老师，我完全想象得出来，作者写这篇文章的过程也同样是极其痛苦的。作者非常希望自己能够写出一篇很深刻的文章，可是对于一个对英语写作的驾驭能力不是特别高的同学来说，写这样的文章就会出现被“憋”住的情况。即：想表达但不会表达、或者想表达但不知如何表达的情况。本文中，这种例子不计其数。全文从第一段开始，就引用了社会行为学和社会心理学的理论来进行阐述，但是，所有读者在读文章的过程中，几乎要每读一句话就要停顿一下，想一想作者到底要表达什么。比如，第四段第一句话：Social behaviour, the other group, is more clear to see dependence on decision. 这种句子，就是典型的读者大致能够知道作者想表达什么，但就是不会表达的情况。更为典型的就是第四段的倒数第二句：Even though external pressure does not obviously force one, who is the unique one holds different idea with others, to change idea, but for seeking mentally balance, the individual tends to follow the majority. 此句话层次非常不清楚，让读者读后完全不知所云。事实上，这种写作常常会让文章陷入“死局”——作者很痛苦，同时读者也很痛苦。作者想表达但不会表达，读者想弄清楚作者的意思但反复读还是弄不清楚。出现这种情况的主要原因，其实就是文中所使用的写作素材理论性过强，导致过于抽象。我们知道，无论是哪门语言，表达抽象概念的难度要远远大于表达具体事例的难度。这几乎成为了所有人全都认同的常识。因此，如果没有能力来驾驭这样的文章，想办法把文章写得更加“简单”才是明智之举。而且，既然ETS已经明确指出，是否了解专业背景对于文章分数的高低没有任何影响，这就说明把文章写得艰深是完全没有必要的。既然如此，那就索性不要选择理论性专业性强的素材。

很多同学在骨子里害怕GRE issue考试，例子是其中的一个致命问题。而事实上，我们根本不用担心，因为所有的话题，我们其实都有办法用日常生活中的例子就完全能够应付。比如，涉及类似法律领域的题目，就没有生活的例子了吗?当然不是!交通法规、食品安全、网络安全、保护环境、盗版、甚至义务教育法，都是阿!哪一个不可以举例?!为什么一定要举辛普森案件、十四修正案呢?艺术没有生活的例子了吗?文学、影视中的好例子比比皆是，为何一定要举莫扎特、贝多芬呢?如果把这些例子准备好，那是非常棒的。既好写、又具有说服力，何乐而不为呢?

当然，必须要指出的，本文的观点是基于ETS官方陈述的解读和中国学生写作的实际情况入手进行分析的。并不代表所有同学都一定要沿着这条思路走。专业性强的例子不是不可以，而是具有劣势。但这并不表明每一个学生都写不好专业性强的例子。所以，同学们要根据自己的实际情况进行选择。如果某个领域的专业性素材你非常熟悉而且写起来得心应手，当然是可以的。

gre考试写作备考误区须知相关文章：