单个单词能掌控的范围实在是太有限了，真正懂得词汇妙用的考生必须从词组方面着手。像have … in common, prevent … from doing …, be responsible for, be (more/less) likely to …, take … to the next level of … 等动词词组或形容词词组，它们不仅应用范围很广，而且可以控制整个句子的结构及说话的节奏，将其比喻为“有权有势”的贵族词汇一点都不为过。

【真题实例】What are the main differences between living in the city and living in the countryside?

【答题思路】城市生活和乡村生活之间的区别是一个仁者见仁、智者见智的话题。不管你的答题思路是老套的、还是具有新意的、甚至是较为另类的，关键还在于你的用词水平，特别是你运用词组的能力高下。

【参考答案】I hate to say some bad things about the countryside, but I do think that living in the city enables you to enjoy many benefits that are unavailable in the country. First of all, city residents are more likely to take the convenient public transport to work, to school and to shopping, while rural residents often have no choice but to drive their own cars and deal with the terrible traffic, parking problems and even car accidents. In terms of opportunities, the countryside also has the twin disadvantages of not offering enough new jobs and business opportunities.

这里的五个词组中，有动词词组enable … to …（使 … 能 …），have no choice but to …（没有其它选择，只能 …），has the twin disadvantages of …（具有双重缺点）；有形容词词组be more likely to …（更有可能 …）；也有介词词组in terms of …（就 … 来说）。整段回答通过城市与乡村的优缺点对比，来说明两者间的差异。

词汇妙用法四：形象、生动、趣味

英文口语中充满了形象化的表达方法，比如讲成天看电视的人叫couch potato，喜欢乱说话的人叫a big mouth，工作刚上手叫learn the ropes，做了很多无用功叫bark up the wrong tree，装作没听见或置之不理叫turn a deaf ear to，讨人嫌的人叫a pain in the neck，等等。如果能在你的回答中显露一二，考官一定会喜出望外！

【真题实例】Describe an interesting family in your neighborhood

What kind of family it is

Who are in this family

How did you get to know them

And explain why you think it is interesting.

【答题思路】既然题目要求我们描述一个有趣的家庭，我们不妨多用一些生动趣味的词汇来突出该家庭的特别之处。很多Part 2的描述问题其实都是编故事，因此考生必须具备现场现编的能力。

【参考答案】The most interesting family in my neighborhood is a very large family of eight people. Can you believe that? Four generations living under the same roof! The most senior person in this family is Old John, who is almost 90 and whose potbelly and rosy cheeks bring a lot of fun to our community. His son Little John and his wife Mary are both nice people, and they have four children: Jack, Rose, Terry and Alice. While their second son Terry is a big mouth who is determined to talk your head off, their little daughter Alice is a real pain in the neck because her favorite hobby is play pranks on the neighbors. In contrast, the eldest child Jack is a yes-man, and he takes orders from almost everyone in the family – his father, his wife his younger sister Rose and even his 7-year-old son Raymond, who is a typical “little emperor” of a big family. It is hard to miss this really interesting family because it is always in the spotlight by appearing on the community newspaper every other day or two.

 这里以集团军形式出现的形象化表达方式给这个有趣的大家庭增添了无穷的色彩：live under the same roof（同住在一个屋檐下），potbelly（啤酒肚），rosy cheeks（红润的脸颊），a big mouth（爱说是非的大嘴巴），talk your head off（把人给烦死），a real pain in the neck（令人讨厌的主），a yes-man（老好人），little emperor（小皇帝），in the spotlight（备受关注）。因此强烈建议考生在平时多积累这样的生动词藻，以便在考场中随机应变地发挥一下。