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TOEFL Essay：电影教训
China 20090911 托福真题
Movies and Real Life
谢振礼Jeenn Lee Hsieh
通信讲座: about Rewriting
ielts360toefl@hotmail.com
猫头鹰在线写作实验室接到网友来信点题创造范文(回答20090911托福试题)，又问起如何打切题的大纲，又如何要求专业教师批改习作。
拟心图大纲无非是搞定【起承转合】。Introduction: Say what you are going to say. Body Paragraphs (A and B): Say it, with support of examples and details. Conclusion: Say what you have said.
至于批改作文的事不如请老师重写，这样则学生更能够领悟全套英文作文。如果光是改正文法与用字方面的若干错误，还不是等于头痛医头脚痛医脚，此举根本不会使写作的体质达到脱胎换骨之效果。
作文重写可以帮助学生一步到位。作文--主题的焦点，结构的组织， 内容的支持。英文--修辞的效率，句法的变化，词汇的恰当。比较而言，批改着重于找文法的毛病;重写是针对高分的写法。准留学生早已经有文法的知识，最缺乏的是参考老师的范文，同时自己要确实地动手模仿练习。经过高手重写的英文作文就是属于自己的范文，阅读起来感受不一样。
不可能一朝一夕提升个人的英文应用能力，作文倒是可能。英文能力薄弱的考生免不了吃亏在英文造句，千万不要也败在作文的逻辑论证。平日锻炼审题而思维，想想看在引言段中，你想拿什么立场来答题。这就是论说文的主题(Thesis)。因为主题的范围偏大，有必要缩小到一个中心论点，以免行文时跑题。这就是文章的焦点(Focus)。再从中心论点中引出两个分论点作为两个主体段的两个指标(Signposts)。一个指标就是一段的开头引导句(Topic Sentence)。作文可以千篇一律起承转合。论说文的结论段仅仅是后应引言的前呼，无需画蛇添足。
写英文比搞作文头痛。如果造句不灵无计可施则索性抄写和背诵多次现成的好句--清楚，简洁，正确。阅读高分范文很进补;不三不四的读物会中毒。浪费时间在浏览低分范文则真是得不偿失。
P.S. Jeenn Lee Hsieh has produced 360 IELTS+TOEFL sample essays to choose from.
>Essay Topic: 20090911 China
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Only movies that can teach us something about real life are worth watching. Use reasons and specific examples or details (from your knowledge and experience) to support your answer.
>Jeenn Lee Hsieh's Outline: Thesis+Structure+Content
Thesis: You can learn something about real life by watching a good movie as a form of art.
Structure and Content:
>Introduction: (Say what you are going to say.)
Good movies are worth watching if you think art imitates life and life imitates art.
>Body Paragraph A: (Say it.)
Art imitates life.
>Body paragraph B: (Say it.)
Life imitates art.
>Conclusion: (Say what you have said.)
Because art imitates life and life imitates art, a good movie is worth watching.
>Example Writing:
By enjoying a film successfully dramatizing reason and emotion, you can learn something about real life, probably without your knowing it. It is because a movie worth viewing appears to be a double paradox about. Good movies being a form of art about life, there are times when art imitates life and other times when life imitates art.
To begin with, you may believe that art imitates life more than life imitates art. As an illustration, you go to the movies and see a film (e.g. "Godfather III") about violence and corruption. At this point, you would feel depressed emotionally because you realize that what is present is the way life really is: violent and corrupt. Of course, there are some untold stories that need telling, like those which are moving your heart to the point of being almost prophetic, such as a scene in "Love Story"--Ryan O'Neal at the bedside of his dying wife. On the whole, these kinds of films have something to say about real life. They are worth watching, if only you want to escape for a while from life's reality into a make-believe world of fiction.
Nevertheless, if you have seen enough films, you may also think that life imitates art more than the other way. This is particularly true when emotion (anger, perhaps) triumphs over reason, as often is the case. For an example, someone in the audience happens to be thrilled and excited beyond reason by the movie which shows a brutally bullied teenager reacting to the unfair treatment, grabbing a gun and shooting down all in sight. This furious person, therefore, goes out and buys a gun and guns down 20 people, just as the protagonist in the story. Hence, when life imitates art, people like to look for solutions in fiction to their problems in real life. It is as if all of life's riddles could be answered in the movies that are worth your time.
In sum, film and art go both ways, with the one influencing the other, although it is hard to say that only movies that can teach us something about life are worth watching. The important thing is to learn that real life may be as paradoxical as art, both trying to seek balance between reason and emotion. Thus, going to the movies (in willing suspension of disbelief), you can in turn remember, or forget, or dream about something between fiction and reality. (Jeenn Lee Hsieh)
Related TOEFL Essay Topics:
>Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Movies and television should always show audience that good people are being rewarded and bad people are being punished. Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer. (China 20091017)
>Movies are popular all over the world. Explain why movies are so popular. Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer. (TOEFL Topic No. 180/185)
>Some movies are serious, designed to make the audience think. Other movies are designed primarily to amuse and entertain. Which type of movie do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. (TOEFL Topic No. 57/185)
