BC英語10年級省考的作文,強調了「originality,
creativity and individuality」。我戲稱這3個以「ty」(諧音tea)為英語作文的「三杯茶」。
第一杯茶——originality(原創性):
考試作文的大忌就是剽竊抄襲。學生平時可以儘可能多地接觸優秀範文,可以刻意模仿優秀範文的思路,風格,修辭技巧,但必須將這些優秀的因素消化成自己的東西,而不是機械地依樣畫葫蘆甚至大段大段地照抄。
第二杯茶——creativity(創造性):
作文的創作性,可以體現在文章結構的構思上(比如是論說文還是記敘文,用哪種開篇哪種結尾);筆調風格上(比如是抒情,幽默,還是思辨);遣詞造句上(比如用何種修辭手段,用難度稍高一點的辭彙)。
第三杯茶——individuality(個性):
學生要慢慢地形成自己獨特鮮明的個性和風格。讀者能夠從作文中感受到作者的秉性,情緒,修養,思想的深度,知識面的廣度,還能夠從行文風格上和遣詞造句上有一種似曾相似的感覺,很容易把它與芸芸眾生的作文一下子就區別開來。
原創性,創造性和個性,其實離不開對優秀範文長期不斷的學習,模仿,以至消化成自己的東西。
下面是一篇風格獨特的中學生作文,該作者當年就憑這篇牛文,被紐約大學錄取。從中,大家可以斟酌品味到上面提到的英語作文「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.
該文作者那種天馬行空匪夷所思的想象力,張揚恣肆的誇張手段,排山倒海的排比句式咄咄逼人撲面而來,讓讀者有點招架不住。作者活潑好動敢作敢為的性格躍然紙上,自己的興趣才能一目了然。任何學校的考官都會喜歡這樣的學生。
這就是英語作文「三杯茶」的醇厚與甘甜。