寫作-考場上的"興奮劑"事件

　　注意這個“又”字，心頭永遠的痛啊！既然能拿到閱讀8.5這樣的分數，何以再考一次雅思，果然，他接著說：“作文上次是5.5分。”

　　作文5.5，作文5.5，最近聽到太多這樣的例子，這個分數簡直成了中國雅思考生的魔咒。有多少人在為了這個半分交出白花花的銀子和寶貴的時間。

　　為什么是5.5？源于雅思作文模板，也就是我所說的雅思“興奮劑”。

　　興奮劑，可以讓水平一般的運動員在極短的時間里拿到超乎尋常的成績，國際奧委會對此極度敏感。雅思考官現在也極度敏感，但凡感覺你身上有一絲絲模板的味道，就寧可錯殺一千，不可放過一個。因此英語(論壇)專業作文考5.5分的例子也是屢見不鮮。

　　興奮劑這個東西還是上癮的，一旦讀多了模板，自信就逐漸地消失光光了，一提筆就是 “with the fast development of science and technology…”。

　　Practice makes perfect。練習是王道。

　　1. 大量地廣泛地閱讀。

　　初級：新概念第三冊。課文能背就背，每天早上起早點，到操場上大聲朗讀，喊也可以的。Don’t be afraid to be different. 順便模仿一下磁帶，練練語音。

　　這個是在電騾上找到的珍惜錄音：新概念英語1985和1997竹影無風經典英音版

　　http://www.verycd.com/topics/287131/

　　例如，新概念3第45課節選：

　　In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the press are rightly condemned. However, this freedom can easily be abused. Stories about people often attract far more public attention than political events. Though we may enjoy reading about the lives of others, it is extremely doubtful whether we would equally enjoy reading about ourselves. Acting on the contention that facts are sacred, reporters can cause untold suffering to individuals by publishing details about their private lives. Newspapers exert such tremendous influence that they can not only bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a government.

　　練習一：一句話總結這段話的大意。

　　練習二：嘗試替換劃橫線的詞語。

　　練習三：嘗試改寫斜體字句子。

　　經過這三個小小的改進，這段話就是你的了。

　　如果一個月內，你能對新概念3上任何30篇文章中的任何一段文字做上面的工作，并且背誦下來，成果一定驚人。

　　中級：the Economist

　　吸取量級詞匯的最好方法，用大單詞誰都可以，只要你擁有金山詞霸，但是在正確的時間正確的地點用出恰如其分的大單詞卻不是很容易。這就像同樣一件Valentino禮服，有人穿就是best dressing，有人就能生生穿成地攤貨。

　　MODERN, Western medicine tends to pooh-pooh its herbal cousin. It is true that synthetic pharmaceuticals are purer, more reliable and often more effective than herbs. But many of them have herbal origins, and the sight of pharmacists botanising (collecting herbs from the countryside for sale as medicine) was common in Europe within living memory.

　　India, too, has a long tradition of herbal medicine, and its government is keen that this tradition should be brought into the mainstream, to the profit of the country's burgeoning drug industry. To that end, it is spending about $40m on what is known as the Golden Triangle Partnership, to assess the country's herbs scientifically, and select those suitable for serious investigation.

　　Most Indian herbal remedies are based on the Ayurvedic system of medicine, although Tamil-based Siddha and Unani, which has Persian roots, are also used extensively. Proving their worth is a daunting task. There are 80,000 Ayurvedic treatments alone, involving the products of some 3,000 plants. More than 7,000 firms make herbal compounds for medical use. Establishing the active ingredients and exactly how they work would thus take some time.

　　怎樣才算舒服而且有效的閱讀呢？

　　如果上面這段節選中，只有幾個詞讓你稍微駐足的話，那么你的詞匯量已經基本達到了雅思水平，你正在進行comfortable and effective reading. 兩段文字中對我們有用的詞也不外乎這幾個，下一步就是各個擊破：

　　我們就以daunting 為例：(取自LDCE)

　　對于這個詞，你應該了解的是：Daunting: frightening in a way that makes you feel less confident: 令人畏懼的。

　　例如：Climbing Everest is a daunting challenge for any mountaineer. Excuses vary from difficulties in obtaining payment to the daunting prospect of completing export documentation.

　　同義詞： challenging demanding taxing exacting

　　Daunt : to make someone feel afraid or less confident about something: 使…沮喪；使…畏懼

　　The book is certainly authoritative but may well daunt the uncommitted reader by its relentlessly hard-nosed factuality.

　　Dauntless: confident and not easily frightened 不屈不撓的；無畏的

　　It is here that the dauntless cavalrymen of Ellyrion rest when they return from their long sweeps through their embattled land.

　　如果你能夠每兩天讀一篇ECONOMIST上的文章，對文章中的三個詞作上述工作，兩個月之后，有驚喜。

　　高級：read whatever you want as long as you are doing some reading (in English) every day.