雅思口语考试的part2部分经常让考生感到头疼,在这个环节中,考生通常要对一件事物或者一个生活场景进行两分钟的阐述,这些话题可能包括动植物、风景名胜、兴趣爱好、体育运动等等。
这类题目的共同特点是:它们都涉及日常生活场景,而这正是让很多人感到困难的原因。
我们从小到大接触到的英语学习材料(比如教材、外刊和原版书)大多与科技、教育、政治、经济和环境这类“严肃话题”相关,但这些话题与日常生活场景存在脱节。
举个例子,你可能会发现谈论气候变暖和教育公平话题会比介绍一种植物或者描述一种室内游戏要容易,这是因为对于后者所属的生活英语,我们平时接触到的机会并不多。
怎样解决这个问题呢?
一个可行的方法是:多接触与这些日常生活场景相关的英语材料,通过学习这些材料积累相应的表达。
这里推荐一个网站:www.wikihow.com
wikihow可能是世界上最大的how-to指南网站。
你可以在网站上看到大量教你“怎么做某事”的文章,比如 how to wash a motorcycle, how to become a dentist, how to play basketball, how to fish 等等。
目前网站上有超过5万6千篇文章,几乎涵盖了所有你能想到的主题。而且更重要的一点是,这些文章绝大多数都是用英文写的,用词和句式都非常简单自然,是非常理想的学习日常生活表达的材料。我们可以用wikihow来准备口语话题。
举个例子,假如你现在拿到了一道口语题目:
Describe an indoor game that you enjoyed as a child.
你想介绍一种室内游戏:国际象棋(chess),但你对于国际象棋的规则和各个棋子的英文表达不熟悉。这个时候就可以用上wikihow了。
在网站上搜索How to play chess
在返回的结果中选择阅读量最高的文章:How to Play Chess for Beginners: Rules and Strategies
在这篇国际象棋入门教程里面,我们可以找到很多有用的信息,比如对象棋的总体介绍:
Chess is a very popular game and is widely accepted as one of the oldest games still played. Although it has a set of easily comprehended rules, it requires a lot of practice to win against skilled opponents. To win, a player must use his pieces to create a situation where the opponent's King is unable to avoid capture (a condition known as checkmate).
以及对棋盘和棋子的介绍:
The board is an 8x8 grid and each space is uniquely identified by a letter followed by a number using a notation called the rank and file system. Each piece has a specific name, an abbreviation (in chess notation), and specific move capabilities.
从上面这些介绍中我们可以知道,国际象棋的规则是:
To win, a player must use his pieces to create a situation where the opponent's King is unable to avoid capture (a condition known as checkmate)
棋盘的英文介绍是:
The board is an 8x8 grid and each space is uniquely identified by a letter followed by a number using a notation called the rank and file system.
棋子的英文说法是piece,在教程里面我们还可以找到各种棋子的数量以及称呼:one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns.
综合以上这些信息,我们可以给出这样的回答:
I enjoyed playing chess when I was a child. Chess is a two-player strategy game, and it is played on a chess board, which is an 8x8 grid. The rules of the game go like this: in order to win, a player must use his pieces to create a situation where the opponent's King is unable to avoid capture, a condition known as checkmate. Each player begins with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns, and each of the six piece types has specific move capabilities…
后面再谈谈自己下象棋的经历以及喜欢下国际象棋的原因,就可以顺利完成这道口语题目。
除了下象棋之外,很多口语话题都可以在网站上找到素材,比如对于话题:
Describe a leisure activity near the sea.
你可以说在海边烧烤(barbecue),怎么描述烧烤的过程呢?在wikihow上搜索how to barbecue,你会看到非常完整的教程。
同理,对于其他各种各样的活动你都可以在wikihow上找到指南,这些指南用到的英文可能简单到可怕,但它们都有力地传达出了丰富的信息,这也是我们需要学习的地方。
除了参考wikihow之外,要学习日常生活词汇,还可以借助一些专门的书籍,比如下面这本《朗文日常情景单词书》
这是朗文推出的一本图解词典,全书一共收录了4000多个常见的生活单词,并有配图说明:
书中列出的场景词汇非常丰富,从衣食住行到世界宇宙,几乎无所不包,这些词汇无论是对于考试还是日常生活都很实用,推荐感兴趣的同学阅读学习。
【本文转载自微信公众号“英文悦读”(ID:read_the_economist),作者魏剑峰。本文已获转载授权,版权归作者所有,如需转载,请联系原公众号“英文悦读”。】