前 言

准备托福考试的过程中，最为头痛的可能就是作文的准备了。大多数考生明明知道作文成绩非常重要，也每天为此焦急万分，可是看着考试日期慢慢逼近，却偏偏不知所措，到了考试那天才发现自己竟然连一篇作文都没有准备过！

然而，作文部分是最没有理由拿不到高分的。因为，这是一个事先知道考题的作文考试！目前ETS官方发布的题库中有185道题目，而每次的考题都来自于题库，并且保证原封不动！（注意：2006年8月之后，TOEFL® iBT 中的写作分为两部分，综合写作测试以及独立写作测试；而其中的独立写作测试部分依然使用这套题库。）换言之，这是一个几乎可以做到考前百分之百准备的考试，有什么理由不得满分呢?

有些考生并不知道题库的存在，准备考试时犹如无头苍蝇，终日乱打乱撞，最终惨败于考场，这并不奇怪。奇怪的是，很多考生明明清楚题库的存在，却在考场上依然惨败。究其原因，无非是方法不得当、做了很多无用功的缘故。凡事都要讲究方法，方法得当可以事半功倍，方法不当往往事倍功半，更可能付出了很多努力却落得竹篮打水一场空。

最重要的是：获得写作高分不能依靠临场发挥。

有些人这样计划考试时间：考场上一共有30分钟写作文，其中5分钟审题，10分钟打草稿，10分钟誊写，5分钟检查语法错误。这看起来是个不错的计划，然而彻头彻尾地行不通，因为30分钟时间根本不够。不用说让一个普通考生用30分钟写一篇英文作文，就是让他用30分钟抄写一篇300～350词的英语文章都可能时间不够！真正考过一次就知道了，30分钟有多么紧张。所以，在考场上审题是很不现实的。实际上，ETS的题库是完全公开的，为什么不在考前完成所有的审题工作呢？不仅审题工作可以在考前完成，甚至进一步说，事实上，所有的工作都可以在考前完成。

有些考生是非常凶悍的——干脆把题库中的题目全都写了一遍，这样的人有什么理由得不了高分呢？然而不是所有的人都如此凶悍，也不是所有凶悍的人都有那么多的时间和精力。毕竟大多数考生希望能够在3～6个月之间搞定托福考试，因为还有很多其他的事等着他们呢。不要以为时间不够用，只要方法得当，时间还是非常充裕的。

首先，要明白只列大纲是没有意义的。很多考生所谓的准备方法不过是列列大纲，背背模板，然后冲进考场才发现自己的无力和无助。列出来的大纲往往只不过三五句话，只占整个篇幅的1/5不到，其他的4/5实际上也可以事先准备啊！所以，我的建议是：不仅列大纲，还要落实到具体细节，然后去查词典！我很奇怪有些人上考场之前从来没有查过词典，凭什么奢望自己可以获得高分呢？

第二，最初练习的时候不要限定时间。没有人从一开始就可以在30分钟之内轻松地用第二语言写出漂亮的文章。有些考生不明就里，一上来就随机抽取一道题目，然后限时30分钟写一篇作文，并且强迫自己不查词典。于是写出来的文章必然惨不忍睹。其实，第一篇可以用很长时间完成。正常人总会通过练习不断进步的。如果第一篇用N个小时完成，我相信第二篇一定会快一点的，比如用N-1个小时。据观察，一个普通的考生，不限时练习20～30篇之后，都可以做到30分钟内写出比较不错的文章。

第三，如果基础稍微薄弱一些的话，最初的时候不应该创作文章，而是改写文章。正如在练字和学画的时候，我们第一步要临摹一样，我们可以从改写文章开始。一般情况下，改写10～20篇，就能体会到巨大的进步。这个时候已经初步把握一些思维套路，一定数量的表达句型以及相当数量的针对性很强的常用词汇。打下这样的基础，再开始练习独立创作就相对容易了。改写文章，可以从以下几个方面入手：

• 尝试替换某个词汇
• 尝试替换某个句型
• 尝试替换某个例子
• 尝试替换某个理由
• 尝试换一种说法
• 尝试表述对立的观点

方法说起来很简单，操作起来没那么容易。很多时候，我们会发现即便是一个粗略的计划也要比没有计划有效得多。以下是一个简单的6周高分写作准备计划，读者可以酌情修改，而后贯彻实施。

• 第一阶段(1周)：随机阅读10～15篇范文，每天2～3篇。做笔记，背诵其中有用的词汇以及句型。
• 第二阶段(2周)：改写10～20篇范文。每天1～2篇。每天睡觉前背诵当天改写过的作文。这个阶段没必要限定每篇完成的时间。
• 第三阶段(1周)：不限时练习5～10篇，每天1～2篇。一定要不限时，这样才能保证质量。多查词典，反复修改。如果时间充裕，应*该多练5～10篇。
• 第四阶段(2周)：限时练习10篇，每天练习一次，每次限时25分钟完成——只有这样才能在考场上游刃有余。注意：完成之后，有时间的话可以反复修改。最重要的是，睡觉之前，把当天的作文背诵下来，并且在第二天做默写练习。

最后说明一点，为了方便读者检索，编者为英文范文和中文译文一一加上了标题，在实际考试中考生是不需要给出文章标题的。

注：音频文件打包下载链接：

twe-185-mp3.zip，文件大小为 87 M。

###李笑来

目录

• Why people attend college?
• Are parents the best teachers?
• Does easier-prepared food improve the way people live?
• Which is more important, book knowledge or experience?
• The advantages and disadvantages of a new factory near your community
• The most important thing you want to change about your hometown
• The influence of movies or television on people's behavior
• Has television destroyed communication among people?
• Live in a small town or in a big city?
• Does luck have anything to do with success?
• Should universities finance students' sports activities equally as libraries?
• Why people visit museums?
• Eat at home or out?
• Attending classes: required or optional?
• What makes a good neighbor?
• What's your opinion on a new restaurant built in your neighborhood?
• Learn by yourself or with a teacher?
• What makes a good boss?
• Highways or public transportation, which should be given preferential financing?
• Big city or countryside,which is better for children to grow up in?
• The causes of people's longevity today
• What makes a good co-worker?
• Is it advisable for a teenage student to have a part-time job?
• The advantages and disadvantages of my city
• Do you like a large shopping center being built in your neighborhood?
• Do you like a new movie theater being built in your neighborhood?
• Should people sometimes do things that they do not enjoy doing?
• Is it true that media pay too much attention to the personal lives of famous people?
• Does human activity improve or damage the earth?
• Do you like a new high school being built in your community?
• Staying in one place or moving in search of another place?
• Spend your earned money immediately or save it for future?
• How to deal with a gift of money?
• Should businesses hire employees for their entire lives?
• Live performance or television broadcast,which is more enjoyable?
• A transportation vehicle that has changed people's lives
• Is progress always good?
• Does history have any value for people living in the present?
• Technology, students' helper or not?
• Do we need "Never, never give up"?
• Land for human needs or endangered animals
• One skill needed to be successful in the world today
• The attractions of dangerous activities
• Do you travel alone or with a companion?
• Which kind of life do you like, get up early or get up late?
• What makes a good son or daughter?
• A large company or a small one,which do you want to work for?
• Reasons why people work other than earning a living
• Is face-to-face communication better than other types of communication?
• Do what you already do well or try new things?
• What does success come from, taking risks or careful planning?
• How to make your hometown more appealing to people your age?
• Is money the most important aspect of a job?
• Should one judge a person by external appearances?
• Should people make important decisions alone?
• Support the arts or protect the environment?
• Movies: serious or entertaining?
• Should businesses do anything they can to make a profit?
• Live life in a hurry or at a slower pace?
• Are games equally important for adults and children?
• Should adults make important decisions for their older teenage children?
• What do you appreciate most in a friend?
• Can difficult experiences become valuable lessons?
• Be self-employed, work for someone else, or own a business?
• Should historic buildings be preserved or be replaced with modern buildings?
• Are classmates a more important influence than parents on a child's success in school?
• Hire an inexperienced worker with low salary or an experienced one with high salary?
• Is daily homework necessary for students?
• Choose a subject that you have never had the opportunity to study
• Has automobile improved modern life or caused serious problems?
• Choosing a job: high-paying with long working hours, or low-paying with short working hours?
• Do grades encourage students to learn?
• Computers and human life
• Is traveling in a group led by a tour guide the best way to travel?
• Should students be required to take classes in many subjects or to specialize in one subject?
• Should children begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school?
• Should boys and girls attend separate schools?
• Work with a group of people or work independently?
• Whom in your country would you choose to build a statue for?
• A custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt
• Has technology made the world a better place to live?
• Can advertising tell you a lot about a country?
• Is modern technology creating a single world culture?
• Internet information: valuable or problematic?
• Where would you recommend a foreign visitor to go in your country for one day?
• When and where in the past do you want to go?
• What discovery in the last century has been most beneficial for your compatriot?
• Have telephone and e-mail made communication between people less personal?
• What famous person from history would you like to meet?
• What famous entertainer or athlete would you like to meet?
• If you could ask a famous person one question, what would you ask?
• Living in places that have the same weather all year long, or in areas where the weather changes
• What makes a good roommate?
• Does dancing play an important role in a culture?
• Spend money exploring outer space, or for basic needs on Earth?
• What are the best ways of reducing stress?
• Should teachers be paid according to how much their students learn?
• The thing representing your country
• Be assigned a roommate, or choose your own roommate?
• Spend money on developing or buying computer technology, or on more basic needs?
• Doing work: by hand or using machines?
• Should schools ask students to evaluate their teachers?
• The most important characteristic that a person can have to be successful in life
• Artists' contribution or scientists' contribution,which is more valuable?
• Living in university housing or in an apartment in the community?
• What kind of transportation you would choose?
• Should higher education be available to all students or only to good students?
• Learning about life: by listening to the advice of others or through personal experience?
• Follow the customs of the new country you are in, or keep your own customs?
• Spend time alone or with friends?
• Spend time with one or two close friends, or with a large number of friends?
• Should young children spend most of their time on school studies or playing?
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a new university in your community
• Which is the most important influence on young adults, family or friends?
• Planning or not planning for your leisure time?
• What method of learning is best for you?
• Choose friends who are different from you or similar to you?
• Which approach to life do you prefer, life with change or without?
• Does different clothes influence the way people behave?
• Are decisions that people make quickly always wrong?
• Judge people by first impressions: right or wrong?
• Are people never satisfied with what they have?
• Should people read only those books that deal with real matters?
• Is it more important for students to study history and literature than to study science and mat
• Should all students be required to study art and music in secondary school?
• Is there anything that young people can teach older people?
• Is reading fiction more enjoyable than watching movies?
• Should we spend all school day studying or set aside some time for exercising?
• A center for business research or for research in agriculture?
• The advantages and disadvantages of young children spending much time practicing sports
• Only people who earn a lot of money are successful?
• If you could invent something new, what product would you develop?
• Are a person's childhood years the most important years of a person's life?
• Should children be required to help with household tasks as soon as they are able to do so?
• Should high schools require students to wear school uniforms or permit them to decide what to w
• Is playing a game fun only when you win?
• Should high schools allow students to study the courses that students want to study?
• Is it better to be a member of a group than to be the leader of a group?
• What do you think is the most important room in a house?
• Items made by hand or items made by machine, which do you prefer?
• What change do you want to make in a school you attended?
• What gift would you give to help a child develop?
• Should students be given a long vacation or several short vacations?
• Live in a traditional house or in a modern apartment building?
• Do advertisements promote things we do not need or products that may improve our lives?
• Leisure activities: outdoors or indoors?
• The best way the school spends a gift of money
• Does playing games teach us about life?
• How would you use some land given to you?
• Is watching television bad for children?
• What is the most important animal in your country?
• What natural resource that is disappearing needs to be saved?
• Does a zoo have no useful purpose?
• Is banning smoking in public places a good rule or a bad rule?
• A plant that is important in your country
• A foreign country you would like to visit
• Studying at home by using technology or at traditional schools?
• Should we pay attention to the opinions of famous people?
• What is the change that should be remembered about the twentieth century?
• Complain in writing or in person?
• Why people remember special gifts they have received?
• Do famous athletes and entertainers deserve high salaries?
• Is literacy more important today than in the past?
• What do you do for good health?
• What is one thing you will do to improve your community?
• What events make a person an adult?
• Should school buy computers or books?
• Why do some students study abroad?
• Why is music important to many people?
• Why are groups or organizations important to people?
• What would you take when preparing for a one-year trip in addition to personal necessities?
• How can schools help new students with their problems?
• Can borrowing money from a friend harm the friendship?
• How is your generation different from your parents' generation?
• Classes: teachers lecture or students do some of the talking?
• If you could create a new holiday, what person or event would it honor and how would you want p
• The advice you would give your friend on how to use his or her money
• What changes the 21st century will bring?
• What makes a good parent?
• Why movies are so popular all over the world?
• Land in your country: needs to be left in its natural condition or needs to be developed?
• Should pets be treated as family members?
• What have you learned about a country from watching its movies?
• Study alone or with a group of students?
• Buy a house or a business?