(杨老师教学笔记13）英语作文“三杯茶”

 

BC英语10年级省考的作文，强调了“originality, creativity and individuality”。我戏称这3个以“ty”（谐音tea）为英语作文的“三杯茶”。

 

第一杯茶——originality（原创性）：

 

考试作文的大忌就是剽窃抄袭。学生平时可以尽可能多地接触优秀范文，可以刻意模仿优秀范文的思路，风格，修辞技巧，但必须将这些优秀的因素消化成自己的东西，而不是机械地依样画葫芦甚至大段大段地照抄。

 

第二杯茶——creativity（创造性）：

 

作文的创作性，可以体现在文章结构的构思上（比如是论说文还是记叙文，用哪种开篇哪种结尾）；笔调风格上（比如是抒情，幽默，还是思辨）；遣词造句上（比如用何种修辞手段，用难度稍高一点的词汇）。

 

第三杯茶——individuality（个性）：

 

学生要慢慢地形成自己独特鲜明的个性和风格。读者能够从作文中感受到作者的秉性，情绪，修养，思想的深度，知识面的广度，还能够从行文风格上和遣词造句上有一种似曾相似的感觉，很容易把它与芸芸众生的作文一下子就区别开来。

 

原创性，创造性和个性，其实离不开对优秀范文长期不断的学习，模仿，以至消化成自己的东西。

 

下面是一篇风格独特的中学生作文，该作者当年就凭这篇牛文，被纽约大学录取。从中，大家可以斟酌品味到上面提到的英语作文“三杯茶”：

 

QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR

ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A

PERSON?

 

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I

have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making

them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic

slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time

efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

 

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot

bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook

Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a

veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

 

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly

defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious

army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the

subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large

suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On

Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of

charge.

 

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie.

Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear.

I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I

have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last

summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force

demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me

fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

 

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy.

I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day

and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I

know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have

performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week;

when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I

successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a

small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

 

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On

weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami.

Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down.

I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a

toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San

Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the

Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and

I have spoken with Elvis.

 

But I have not yet gone to college.

 

该文作者那种天马行空匪夷所思的想象力，张扬恣肆的夸张手段，排山倒海的排比句式咄咄逼人扑面而来，让读者有点招架不住。作者活泼好动敢作敢为的性格跃然纸上，自己的兴趣才能一目了然。任何学校的考官都会喜欢这样的学生。

 

这就是英语作文“三杯茶”的醇厚与甘甜。