托福寫作技巧：句型變化

　　作為一種語言測試方式，托福考試的重點(diǎn)是檢測考生的英語語言水平，如何寫出正確流暢的語言是得到托福寫作單項(xiàng)高分的關(guān)鍵要素。在托福官方指南中(以下簡稱OG)，對于語言部分的要求是這樣描述的：

　　Language use is the third criterion on which your essay will be judged. To get a top score, an essay must display "consistent facility in the use of language." There should be a variety of sentence structures, and word choice should be appropriate. If your essay includes a few minor lexical or grammar errors, you can still get a high score. However, if you make a lot of grammar errors and if those errors make it hard to understand your meaning, you will get a lower score. Raters will also judge your essay based on the complexity of sentence structures and on the quality and complexity of your vocabulary. If you use very simple sentences and very basic vocabulary, you will probably not be able to express very complex ideas. If your language is hard to follow, your sentences are overly simple, and your vocabulary is limited, you may score no higher than a 3 no matter how impressive your ideas may be.

　　從上面這段文字中可以看出來，托福獨(dú)立寫作部分對于我們寫作的總體要求是consistent facility in the use of language，給我們的具體建議是a variety of sentence structures和word choice should be appropriate，在這篇文章中我們將談一談如何做到句子結(jié)構(gòu)的多樣化。

　　首先我們需要知道什么樣的句子是沒有變化的，大家可以閱讀下面學(xué)生寫的一段文字：

　　My cousin, Jimmy, is a good example. Jimmy lived in the country with his grandparents for twelve years. He went to the city when he grew up. He studied in a middle school there. When Jimmy was living in the countryside, he seldom fell ill. He enjoyed himself in the nature every day. When he went to the city, he gradually felt his throat sore and often coughed.

　　這一小段話中，大多數(shù)句子都是簡單句，而且句子的主語都是Jimmy或he，讀起來非常單調(diào)，這時候就需要改變句子結(jié)構(gòu)，使得表達(dá)方式多樣化。常見的句子變化手法有如下幾種：

　　1：長短句結(jié)合

　　英語作文中句子的質(zhì)量通常會與句子的長度有很大的關(guān)系，但并不是說所有的句子越長越好。在寫作中，以簡單句為代表的短句能夠清晰明了地用來表達(dá)觀點(diǎn)，如“主語+謂語+賓語+賓語”結(jié)構(gòu)：Sports teachpeople the spirit of cooperation;或“主語+謂語+賓語+賓語補(bǔ)足語”結(jié)構(gòu)：The development of public transportationmakes travel convenient. 而以復(fù)合句結(jié)構(gòu)或復(fù)雜句結(jié)構(gòu)為代表的長句通常適合表達(dá)非常復(fù)雜的邏輯關(guān)系，如：Many teenagers complain that they try to communicate with theirparents and are eager to get some advice from them; however, it is alwaysfutile to do so.

　　由于長句和短句的不同功能，在托福寫作中，我們常用短句來表達(dá)關(guān)鍵信息，用長句來描述引言段中的背景信息和對主體段的主題句進(jìn)行拓展。如果能做到這一點(diǎn)，文章中就會有長短句交替出現(xiàn)，從而避免枯燥乏味的問題。比如下面這個段落中，作者就用一個短句表達(dá)主題思想，然后用了幾個長句來解釋這個思想。

　　Children in modern society become moredifficult to understand than 50 years ago. Children acquire a lot more newinformation and ideas from various resources, such as mass media and theInternet. However, their parents always cannot accept those ideas, because theyalways have a stereotyped mind and are reluctant to take novel concepts.Therefore, generation gap becomes huger between parents and children in modernsociety, which impedes the communication between parents and the children.

　　2：分詞結(jié)構(gòu)

　　即使使用了一些從句，但如果句子的開頭部分都是以名詞開頭會仍然會顯得非常單調(diào)，這時候可以將一些從句變成分詞結(jié)構(gòu):

　　While technology creates new jobs in somesectors of economy, it takes away jobs in others.

　　Children raised in big families can get on well with others.

　　3：狀語前置

　　除了使用分詞改變句子開頭外，還可以將副詞、介詞短語、動詞不定式等構(gòu)成的狀語結(jié)構(gòu)放在句首，這樣不僅對句式進(jìn)行了變化，而且還使句子有長短結(jié)合的節(jié)奏感。

　　Undoubtedly, teenagers are easilyinfluenced by the violent content in those movies.

　　By assigning household chores to these young children, parents helpchildren build their responsibility for the running of the home.