手把手教你三步写好一篇不拿高分没道理的SAT ESSAY

2015年4月，美国大学理事会（collegeboard）发布了sat考试改革说明，而新sat考试也在2016年3月如期推出。新sat明确了现行sat考试未列出的考试大纲，并且考试大纲中清晰地罗列了各科对应的素质能力模块要求，提供了更为清晰的能力模块和多元化的成绩报告以展示考生多方面能力。在新规定出台前，SAT考试的Essay部分常受人诟病，认为旧版的SAT作文形式过于主观，不能准确体现考生的逻辑思辨能力及语言表达能力。而在新出台的规定中，essay部分的要求确实出现了客观化的趋势，但审核标准却更加严苛。但幸运的是，考试作文提示（prompts）风格在新旧两版考试中的变化不大，始终要求考生对指定文章做出结构考究内容详实的分析说明。故此，想要在SAT考试的写作部分取得高分，我们依然有一套固定的行文秘籍可以参考借鉴。究竟该怎样打磨自己的写作技巧，且听小编一一道来。

在准备新SAT写作考试时，无论是日常习作或是考试现场，考生首先要做的一件事都是仔细揣摩作者意图。思考作者是怎样在文中搭建论据论点，并最终为全文逻辑服务的。

而你行文时使用的论点应当同时满足两个条件，一是恰好能为作者的问题给出答案，二是在表意清楚的前提下尽可能地简明扼要，避免为了追求语句华丽而堆叠词句。考生需要始终记住的一点是，一个强有力的论点应当首先是为整篇文章逻辑服务的一部分，其次才是赢取满意分数的工具。

美国大学理事会认为考生在组织语言成文前应当考虑加入文章中的几点是：证据、有逻辑的论据和有说服力的文体风格。在修辞学上，以上几点都是成就一篇文章不可或缺的因素。

以美国大学理事会官网给出的例题为例：

prompt：

As you read the passage below, consider how Paul Bogard uses

evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.

reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.

stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Adapted from Paul Bogard, “Let There Be Dark.” ©2012 by Los Angeles Times. Originally published December 21, 2012.

At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. But now, when 8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way, I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness.

All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights. Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch. And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.

Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for “light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels.” Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn’t a place for this much artificial light in our lives.

The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known—the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs—and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would collapse....

In today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world, night’s darkness can provide solitude, quiet and stillness, qualities increasingly in short supply. Every religious tradition has considered darkness invaluable for a soulful life, and the chance to witness the universe has inspired artists, philosophers and everyday stargazers since time began. In a world awash with electric light...how would Van Gogh have given the world his “Starry Night”? Who knows what this vision of the night sky might inspire in each of us, in our children or grandchildren?

Yet all over the world, our nights are growing brighter. In the United States and Western Europe, the amount of light in the sky increases an average of about 6% every year. Computer images of the United States at night, based on NASA photographs, show that what was a very dark country as recently as the 1950s is now nearly covered with a blanket of light. Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars. Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights. Even the northern lake wher I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve, using new lighting technologies and shielding existing lights. Already, many cities and towns across North America and Europe are changing to LED streetlights, which offer dramatic possibilities for controlling wasted light. Other communities are finding success with simply turning off portions of their public lighting after midnight. Even Paris, the famed “city of light,” which already turns off its monument lighting after 1 a.m., will this summer start to require its shops, offices and public buildings to turn off lights after 2 a.m. Though primarily designed to save energy, such reductions in light will also go far in addressing light pollution. But we will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.

Write an essay in which you explain how Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved. In your essay, analyze how Bogard uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Bogard’s claims, but rather explain how Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience.

 

看完这篇文章，你也许会被Paul Bogard晦涩的行文风格难住，无法理解他究竟是怎么论证自己的观点“Let There Be Dark”。你破题的中心观点也许是Paul Bogard在本文中使用了一些事实来渲染情绪。这个想法看起来有点粗糙，但确实表达了你对文章和作者的理解。值得注意的一点是，这句话并不涉及你是否同意作者的观点，也并不要求你表达自己对黑暗的理解和感受。不同于2016年之前SAT考试中对写作的要求，新版写作的评分体系中考生本人的观点除了分析文章和修辞技巧以外，并没有什么发挥的余地。

你的论点应当是整篇文章的灵魂和支撑点，为全文的主体结构指定了方向。仅就上文提到的例题而言，仅仅摘录原文作为依据提供“动人的语言”和“有据可查的事实”是远远不够的，你还需要分析你自己的例子来佐证作者总领全文的论点。

在“Let There Be Dark”这篇文章的开篇，Bogard回忆了他在明尼苏达州度过的童年，他使用了"meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars."来形容童年记忆中天空的黑暗。

这是一段典型的、十分动人的文字。效用是可以迅速营造场景，同化读者的思绪，让读者从文字里感受到他脑海中再现的童年景致。他描述的场面被文字生动起来，并帮助读者感受到了几十年前，光污染还不甚严重时那个黑漆漆的曼妙夜空。而你可能也需要注意到Bogard使用了sugar这个词，与童年相呼应，强调了仙境的梦幻感。

需要再次重申，一定不要仅仅只是在文中罗列范例，相反，应当提出一个简单明晰的二级论点来总结你的废话。以上文举例，对于上一段我们着意分析的这句话，你可以这样在文中体现你的观点，即，"The author uses powerful imagery that calls readers to imagine a vanishing world of childlike awe rooted in the beauty and mystery of the night sky."

你需要做的是重复作者说了什么，怎么说的，这句话的深意是什么以及这个片段是怎样与全文融为一体的。

而在考试作文提示(prompts)中提及的元素通常是最容易被考生化为己用的行文结构，如果时间实在紧迫，阅读全文有困难，也可以从prompts中敲定你的二级论点，你需要关注的是作者选择了哪些事实来支持他的观点，你的分析就应当主要围绕这些事实展开。

而往下梳理例题线索，我们不难发现作者使用的论据出现了导向分化，所以需要马上为这个现象做一个总结，“Certain facts establish that the night sky is growing brighter and that lack of darkness has a negative impact on health.”

最后，你需要关注的地方则是作者为什么选择这些论据来支持自己的观点，为什么又提到了健康而非只说美学这一个观点?他本可以简单的论证光污染使我们失去了美丽的夜空，但他又提到了光污染对健康的影响，那么根据这些证据判断，他的文章说服力是更强了还是更弱了呢?

这都是考生需要思考并融入文中的。最后，需要考生确保自己留足了时间来撰写一个说服力足够强大的结论，用以收拢前文千头万绪的线索文思。这一点说起来容易做起来却难，考生常常由于时间紧迫或是全局观欠缺等因素，在文章的最后只是简单总结了自己的观点，而忽略了一个点睛之笔对全文的升华作用。

最后，需要考生确保自己留足了时间来撰写一个说服力足够强大的结论，用以收拢前文千头万绪的线索文思。这一点说起来容易做起来却难，考生常常由于时间紧迫或是全局观欠缺等因素，在文章的最后只是简单总结了自己的观点，而忽略了一个点睛之笔对全文的升华作用。

也许会有考生抱怨自己文采不够，很难在有限的时间里想出一个足够耀眼的点睛之笔，那么不如尝试使用一个总结段落来代替。相信我，即使文采不够亮眼，但总结段落的重要性是不言而喻的——这是一个让结论与正文粘合在一起的绝佳方法。

而对于例题来说，结尾段可以这样写："Bogard's essay called on powerful imagery of a magical childhood under assault from a flood of wasteful and unnecessary light. The mix of cold, hard facts with emotionally intense language builds to a whole that is stronger than the sum of its parts."