许多雅思考生们在进行写作时总会有这样的问题:用词不准确,频用简单词。这些词本身是没有什么问题的。但是如果经常性的使用,会给人留下一种“缺乏词汇量,表达不够灵活”的印象。那么有什么方法可以让托福写作变得更活呢?下面小编就通过一些具体的例子来和大家说说这个问题。

1.修改前:Solving trivial problems in the dorm will add your social experience and help you to understand other people’s feelings and learn to be kind.

修改后:Solving trivial problems in the dorm will enrich your social experience and help you to understand other people’s feelings and learn to be considerate.

解析:

修改前的句子中所使用的“add”,“kind”这两个词语的表达通常含义都比较宽泛。“add”既可以指数量上的增加,也可以指程度的加强,而相对的,如果要表达“丰富经验、增加知识”这个意思的时候,用enrich会使表达更准确。再看看“kind”这个词,它从字面意义上讲是“好的、善良的”,但却不能很具体的表现一个人的性格到底“好在哪”,而原句中是想表达的是“考虑周到、体贴入微”的特点,所有需要使用更准确的词,应当使用“considerate”。

2.修改前:Science and technology have greatly influenced our lives and our society is changing very rapidly.

修改后:Science and technology have come to pervade every aspect of our lives and, as a result, society is changing at a speed which is quite unprecedented.

解析:

经过第一题的分析,大家应该也了解了“greatly”,“rapidly”属于常用词,表示程度高、速度快,这样的词在表达效果上不够具体,缺乏说服力,就像大家看文章当然希望能看到的是实实在在的干货啊。所有修改后的句子中用了“pervade every aspect of our lives”就具体生动地表现出科技的影响力到底有多大,其影响力已渗透到我们生活的方方面面,“at a speed which is quite unprecedented”意为“以一种前所未有的速度”,形象地道出了变化速度之快。

3.修改前:Young people tend to think that real life is as nice and interesting as it is in the novels and movies,while more experienced adults think this kind of naive daydream will only be destroyed by later experiences and every one should learn to get used to common everyday life.

修改后:Young people tend to think that real life is as dramatic and fascinating as it is in the novels and movies,while more experienced adults think this kind of naive daydream will only be destroyed by later experiences and every one should learn to get used to tedious everyday life.

解析:

nice,interesting,common都属于普通词汇,nice的意思是“好的,令人愉快的”,interesting是“有趣的”,这两个词都不能准确地描绘出年轻人所憧憬的美好生活,句中想表达的是年轻人认为生活如同小说、电影一般充满戏剧变化,激动人心,要体现这层含义应该用dramatic,fascinating。dramatic表示“刺激的,戏剧性的,给人深刻印象的”,fascinating表示“具有强烈吸引力的,迷人的,使人神魂颠倒的”,这两个词的程度要比nice,interesting深得多,表现力也更强。原句用common表达实际的现实生活的枯燥无味是不准确的,common的意思是“普通的,平常的”,普通平常的东西不一定是枯燥的,tedious是表示“(因过长、过慢或单调)令人厌倦的,烦人的”,恰好传达出现实生活由于琐碎和重复而变得索然无味这种含义。

4.修改前:You should compete to live in this society.

修改后:You should compete for survival;otherwise,you will be thrown out of the tide of society.

解析:

修改前的句子比较平常,只是告诉人们要在社会立足,必须竞争,但这样一句简单的劝告似乎缺乏说服力,修改后的句子用了compete for survival,为了生存而竞争,而且后面又添加了一个并列分句,补充说明了如果不compete的后果就是be thrown out of the tide of society,被社会的浪潮所淘汰,使用这些更加具体深刻的词汇能够形象生动地表现出竞争的惨烈。

5.修改前:I really believe that smoking is harmful to people’s health.

修改后:I have a profound conviction that smoking is harmful to people’s health.

解析:

“conviction”的意思是“坚定的看法或信仰”,“have a profound conclusion”表示对某种看法深信不疑,作文中提出观点的句子用“have a profound conclusion”会比用“believe”态度更坚决,立场更鲜明,而且“believe”这个词非常简单,是英语初学者就应掌握的词汇,换成have a profound conclusion立即增加了句子的复杂程度,体现了较强的语言运用能力。类似表达“提出观点”的句子还有:

I hold a point of view that…

I hold the opinion that…