雅思作文：如何論證？

中國(guó)考生在應(yīng)對(duì)雅思作文時(shí)喜歡通過(guò)講道理來(lái)說(shuō)明問(wèn)題，但話題中并不是所有題目和內(nèi)容都可以通過(guò)道理來(lái)說(shuō)服他人的，比如關(guān)于“anti-social behavior”, 屬于道德范疇的話題，是很難用道理來(lái)講清楚的。所以，建議考生在備考時(shí)需要加強(qiáng)論據(jù)論證的能力，使其能夠很好地支持自己的觀點(diǎn)。

那么，應(yīng)該如何對(duì)大作文進(jìn)行有力的論證呢?最常用的方式就是解釋和例證，幾乎在每一篇雅思大作文中，都可以看見(jiàn)這兩種論證方法的身影。

如下面關(guān)于“work at home or study at home”的一段例證：

IBM, one of the business giants, has saved nearly 70 million US dollars in its northeastern region by promoting telecommuting, which has been a driving force to other enterprises to convert their normal working staff into telecommuters. Companies in Japan are one of them and plan to launch the scheme in 2009, which, in turn, spiritually wins more supports from the existing employees, and attracts new hires. 這段話中的2個(gè)例子(商業(yè)巨頭IBM和日本的企業(yè)計(jì)劃)都較好地完成了“若員工選擇在家上班，會(huì)對(duì)公司帶來(lái)積極的作用”這一證明。

此外，提醒考生們需要注意的是，雅思大作文明確指出“give reasons or examples from your own experience”, 這里的“your own experience”和“your personal experience”是完全不同的概念。前者是指通過(guò)個(gè)人的學(xué)習(xí)和總結(jié)而獲得的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，后者是指?jìng)€(gè)人經(jīng)歷或周圍某個(gè)個(gè)體的故事。如談到“working hard produces better results”, “your own experience”的例子一定是“some 3-year-high school students usually stay up late to review lessons and prepare for next day classes”, 而“your personal experience”的例子則應(yīng)該是“my roommate, Tony has always been working hard on studies and staying up late every night”, 不難看出兩者的區(qū)別。故雅思大作文是不能使用個(gè)人案例的論據(jù)的，這一點(diǎn)與新托福的寫作也是不同的。

另外，數(shù)據(jù)論證也是一個(gè)重要的方法，同時(shí)也是國(guó)外文章中非常常見(jiàn)的。使用這種方式，需要注意兩點(diǎn)：數(shù)據(jù)和數(shù)據(jù)的來(lái)源。數(shù)據(jù)的真實(shí)性不重要，但至少要看上去是“真實(shí)的”。如：A survey by the latest Ministry of Labour’s opinion poll shows that more companies would like to open their doors to disabled people, as long as they can access to modern technology, and the rate has been increasing every year by 5% since 2003.

使用數(shù)據(jù)論證，提醒考生們不要刻意將數(shù)據(jù)夸張，這樣反而會(huì)降低數(shù)據(jù)的真實(shí)可靠性。常見(jiàn)的句型有“a survey by….shows that / a research by….finds out that / a study by….suggests that / Statistics by….conclude that…”省略號(hào)的部分是需要根據(jù)文章的內(nèi)容來(lái)填寫的數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)源出處或機(jī)構(gòu)。常用的機(jī)構(gòu)包括：國(guó)外大學(xué)、學(xué)院、報(bào)紙、雜志、電視臺(tái)、電臺(tái)、網(wǎng)站、研究機(jī)構(gòu)、民意調(diào)查等。我們按順序給大家做一個(gè)示范：the University of Sussex, Business College of several European countries, the USATODAY, state media CNN, BBC Talking Point, Childwise.com, American Institute for Research, Harris Interactive Poll等，考生可按照自己的情況，來(lái)準(zhǔn)備幾個(gè)備選方案以供使用。

第三個(gè)常見(jiàn)的論證方法要數(shù)對(duì)比論證了。對(duì)比論證可以是一個(gè)東西或行為的正反面對(duì)比，也可以是一種現(xiàn)象的時(shí)間前后的論證。如下面關(guān)于“是否moving to regional areas”的例子：

Staffs used to complain about the crowded offices shared with climbing number of colleagues, the acute shortage of parking lots, the expensive luncheon, and the tedious civic landscape filled up with cement, steel rods and ceramic tiles. Now, companies can move to larger spaces, like industrial parks in the regional areas equipped with more personalized facilities, ranging from regular shuttle bus service, areas for relaxation, and more comfortable meeting rooms to hold a larger group of audience.

使用對(duì)比論證法可以讓段落的內(nèi)容和字?jǐn)?shù)大幅度提高。上面的這段論述，完全可以只寫搬遷到郊外辦公后對(duì)員工的利益;但是增加了前面“staff used to…”的內(nèi)容，能夠加倍體現(xiàn)遷移的好處，前后形成一個(gè)鮮明的對(duì)比，增加文章的說(shuō)服力。不過(guò)，需要特別注意的是，若使用不當(dāng)，對(duì)比論證也可能讓文章變得乏味。比如上面的例子中，在“staff used to…”這段文字中講到了員工的種種抱怨(停車車位緊缺、午飯昂貴、辦公室狹小等)，如果在后面的利益中接著談搬遷到郊外后停車車位不緊缺、午飯便宜、辦公室寬敞等內(nèi)容的話，大家不難發(fā)現(xiàn)這樣的論證其實(shí)是很無(wú)趣的。所以選擇對(duì)比論證法一方面可以增加論證的內(nèi)容，另一方面也加大了考生尋找論據(jù)的難度，也就是說(shuō)考生需要找不同方面的內(nèi)容填塞到對(duì)比論證中。

以上介紹了幾種比較常見(jiàn)的論證方法，希望考生們能夠在大作文中以充分的論據(jù)進(jìn)行論證，避免整篇文章都是空洞的大道理。