GRE Argument 系列(1) 想要作文写得好，开头段落不能少

　　原标题：GRE Argument 系列(1) 想要作文写得好，开头段落不能少

　　在从本科迈入研究生的道路上，必不可少的一项 硬性指标就是GRE。 GRE, 全称Graduate Record Examination, 是世界各地大学研究生院校要求申请者提供的 入学考试成绩，分为 Verbal/Math/Essay三个大项。

　　而在Essay中，又分为 argument和issue这两大写作任务。本系列将围绕Argument展开。

　　作为GRE新手小白的你，可能会对以下问题感兴趣：Argument的评分标准长啥样？考试形式是什么？俗话说，万事开头难， 那么Argument的第一段通常该如何下笔呢？

　　评分标准

　　GRE写作满分6分， Issue和 Argument分开评分，再取平均值，以0.5分为一个档次。一般偏理工科的学校，对学生的作文分数要求在 3-3.5之间；对于人文社科类则略高，在 4-4.5左右。

　　相比于verbal和math而言，由于写作技能和逻辑思维上的匮乏，作文一直是大部分中国学生的薄弱环节，历年来的平均分数都在 3分左右徘徊。 想要打破所谓的3分魔咒，让我们先从了解argument essay的考试形式开始。

　　考试形式

　　Argument Essay，俗称驳论文，由1.议论文段 2.题目指示构成

　　学生将首先阅读屏幕上的一段议论文，根据题目指示要求， 找出这段话中的逻辑错误，并进行驳斥，最终写成一篇文章， 以证明原结论推理的不合理性。（你想得没错，就是让你做杠精！）

　　01

　　议论文段

　　议论文段变化多种多样，这里给大家看一个来自官方的举例：

　　In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. The Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits, however, and the city park department devotes little of its budget to maintaining riverside recreational facilities. For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell. In response, the state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increase. The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities.

　　02

　　题目指示

　　这里的题目指示，主要分为 四大类（Evidence/Question/Assumption/Explanation), 具体表现形式如下：

　　evidence 类:

　　Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

　　question 类:

　　Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

　　assumption 类:

　　Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

　　explanation 类:

　　Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.

　　这里需要注意的一点是，一定要区分不同的题目指示类别。问evidence的题目，就一定要 指出所需要的论据；而问assumption的题目，则要 正面讨论各种有可能的假设，以此类推。千万不要答非所问噢！

　　开头段的写法

　　小编在采访各路大佬后，为大家总结出argument开头段的3个关键步骤

　　（1）梳理原议论文段的结论、论据

　　所谓议论文，一定有一个明确的论点，而在论点前后，必然有具体、详尽的论据支持。在进行驳斥之前，我们必须要先读懂题目中提供的议论文段。常规来说议论文段由一个论点 + 3个论据构成。话不多说，我们用前文官方的例子给大家做一个示范：

　　论点：The city government should for that reason devote more money in this year's budget to riverside recreational facilities. 市政府应投入大量资金以改造河边的娱乐设施

　　论据1：In surveys Mason City residents rank water sports (swimming, boating and fishing) among their favorite recreational activities. However, the Mason River flowing through the city is rarely used for these pursuits. Mason城的人很喜欢水上运动，但是流经城市的水流却很少使用。

　　论据2：For years there have been complaints from residents about the quality of the river's water and the river's smell. 很多市民抱怨水流质量和气味。

　　论据3：The state has recently announced plans to clean up Mason River. Use of the river for water sports is therefore sure to increase. 政府决定清理河道，所以用作水上运动的河流使用会增加。

　　（2）改写原议论文段，概括argument

　　读懂议论文段，并且找出1个论点+ 3个论据后，我们接下来要做的就是改写，并概括这个argument。所谓改写，要遵循的原则是 “结构改变，语意不变”，范例如下：

　　According to the author, the city government should allocate increased funding to improve riverside recreational facilities due to a few reasons, including the city’s resident’s love of water sports, the harmful environmental condition, and the clean-up announcement. On account of the three reasons above, the author argues the Mason City government ought to devote more money to riverside recreational facilities.

　　(3)根据题目指示写主旨句

　　在前文介绍题目指示的时候，我们已然重点强调过4大题目指示类型。当我们完成 梳理+改写过后，我们要正式提出自己的反驳主旨，用一个主旨句来统领全文。针对四大题目类型，小编贴心为你整理了四大主旨句的万能模版，一起来看看吧！

　　Evidence类：

　　in order to fully evaluate this argument, we need to have a significant amount of additional evidence. The argument could end up being much weaker than it seems, or it might actually be quite valid. In order to make that determination, we need to know more then analyze what we learn.

　　举例：

　　The following appeared in a memo from the director of student housing at Buckingham College. "To serve the housing needs of our students, Buckingham College should build a number of new dormitories. Buckingham's enrollment is growing and, based on current trends, will double over the next 50 years, thus making existing dormitory space inadequate. Moreover, the average rent for an apartment in our town has risen in recent years. Consequently, students will find it increasingly difficult to afford off-campus housing. Finally, attractive new dormitories would make prospective students more likely to enroll at Buckingham."

　　Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

　　在这里，结论是Buckingham College should build a number of new dormitories，

　　而论据包含

　　(1)“Buckingham's enrollment is growing…inadequate”;

　　(2)“the average rent for an apartment …to afford off-campus housing”

　　(3)“attractive new dormitories…to enroll at Buckingham.

　　而在题目指示上我们可以看出它属于evidence类问法，在万能模版的基础上，我们可以考虑这样写主旨句：

　　In order to evaluate the recommendation, we need more information about the enrollment trend of Buckingham College, the exact rents of the off-campus housing, students’ financial background and how prospective students make their choices. We could analyze what we learn and then make the final decision.

　　注意：这里的 about 后有四个宾语，其中三个是名词短语、最后一个是宾语从句。而后面的中间段则会按照这四个点展开来写。

　　Question类：

　　To evaluate the soundness of the recommendation, we need to ask a number of questions related to different aspects of the arguments.

　　举例:

　　The following appeared in a memo from the mayor of Brindleburg to the city council. Two years ago, the town of Seaside Vista opened a new municipal golf course and resort hotel. Since then, the Seaside Vista Tourism Board has reported a 20% increase in visitors. In addition, local banks reported a steep rise in the number of new business loan applications they received this year. The amount of tax money collected by Seaside Vista has also increased, allowing the town to announce plans to improve Seaside Vista's roads and bridges. We recommend building a similar golf course and resort hotel in Brindleburg. We predict that this project will generate additional tax revenue that the city can use to fund much-needed public improvements.

　　Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

　　这里的结论是“We recommend building a similar golf course and resort hotel in Brindleburg”，而论据则是 ：

　　（1）a 20% increase in visitors & a steep rise in the number of new business

　　（2）announcement to improve infrastructure;

　　（3）generation of tax revenue

　　主旨句：

　　The mayor recommends the construction of a golf course and a resort hotel in town to generate more tax revenue for financing infrastructure improvements. By citing the example of the town Seaside Vista who made similar moves, he argues that the projects will attract more visitors, stimulate local business activities and help the local government collect more money. To evaluate the soundness of the recommendation, we need to ask a number of questions related to different aspects of the arguments, including the resources for tourism, the economic structure and the taxation policies of Brindleburg to evaluate the argument.

　　这里的“resources for tourism” 、“economic structure” 、“taxation policy of Brindleburg”就很好的一一对应了原议论文段里的论据。

　　Assumption 类：

　　A number of assumptions have been made explicitly or implicitly throughout the argument and we need to examine such assumptions critically to decide if the argument is convincing.

　　举例:

　　Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.

　　在这里的结论是“if you want to sell your home quickly and at a good price, you should use Adams Realty”

　　而论据则为

　　（1）“Adams has 40 real estate agents; in contrast, Fitch has 25, many of whom work only part-time”

　　（2）“Adams' revenue last year was twice as high as that of Fitch”

　　（3）“Homes listed with Adams sell faster as well”

　　主旨句示例：

　　According to the friend of the homeowner, Adams is a better real estate firm and should be used in order to sell the home fast and get a good deal because it has more full-time agents, better home sales records. To assess this argument, we need to examine critically a number of assumptions about the workforce size and full-time or part-time mode, the average prices and the time required to sell a home.

　　这里的workforce size，average price和time required to sell a home，分别对应了论据中列出的三点，也是后文中我们重点攻击的对象。

　　Explanation类：

　　There are a number of rival explanations that we need to explore before we can assess the strength of the argument.

　　Recently, butter has been replaced by margarine in Happy Pancake House restaurants throughout the southwestern United States. This change, however, has had little impact on our customers. In fact, only about 2 percent of customers have complained, indicating that an average of 98 people out of 100 are happy with the change. Furthermore, many servers have reported that a number of customers who ask for butter do not complain when they are given margarine instead. Clearly, either these customers do not distinguish butter from margarine or they use the term 'butter' to refer to either butter or margarine." Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.

　　这里的结论是“replacing butter with margarine has had little impact on our customers”，

　　而论据则是

　　（1）only about 2 percent of customers have complained；

　　（2）servers report a number of customers who ask for butter do not complain when they are given margarine instead。

　　这里和上面的举例不同，我们只能找到2个论据，但是主旨句的格式却是一样的，我们一起来看一看：

　　The business manager of HPH argues that replacing butter with margarine had little influence on their customers based on his interpretations and explanations of two observations: 1) only 2% of customers complained; 2) customers did not complain about the replacement according to the servers. There are a number of rival explanations that we need to explore before we can assess the strength of the argument.

　　当这步完成过后，我们根据对应的题目提示加在前面改写好的议论文段后，GRE Argument Essay的开头就完成啦！怎么样，一步步慢慢来，是不是没有你想象中的那么难？

　　在下一篇干货分享中，我们将运用逻辑思维，探索argument的中间段该如何写作，假如你也想拿高分的话，可千万别错过哇！

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