同學們在備考GMAT考試的寫作部分時經常會遇到以下幾個問題的困擾:
1、AA部分要求我們寫一篇什么樣的文章?
Analysis of an Argument 是分析一個論證過程,所以我們需要寫出一篇評論。由于題目所給的Argument一般是不完整因而不可信的,所以我們的文章是以削弱為主要形式的評論型文章
2、什么是Argument?
Argument譯為論證過程,指的是作者為了說服他人而使用一個前提——結論式結構得出自己觀點的推理過程
一個完整的Argument包含以下四個要素
l Premise——前提,能直接退出結論的一個條件
l Assumption——假設,為了使論證更可信而額外設定的條件
l Evidence——論據,為了使論證更可信而引用的客觀事實
l Conclusion——結論,作者最終用于說服他人而得出的觀點、立場
一個說服力較強的,完整的argument通常包含多個Assumption+Evidence來支持P——C結構。
3、為什么要寫Analysis
從Argument結構角度來講:我們題庫中的Argument文章一般是Assumption和Evidence大量缺失甚至出現錯誤,導致原文的結論很容易無法得出的文章。
所有的AA文章的基本表現形式為:“原文作者無法得出結論(因為)——削弱條件1+削弱條件2+削弱條件3——因此作者結論無法得出,如果想得出結論,就必須考慮到可能的削弱條件(123)”。
明確了這些問題我們就可以很好地進行Argument的解題了。
【例題解析】
The following appears as part of an article in the travel section of a newspaper.
“Over the past decade, the restaurant industry in the country of Spiessa has experienced unprecedented growth. This surge can be expected to continue in the coming years, fueled by recent social changes: personal incomes are rising, more leisure time is available, single-person households are more common, and people have a greater interest in gourmet food, as evidenced by a proliferation of publications on the subject.”
在這道題中我們看到了一篇論證文章,所以首先需要梳理的是原文邏輯結構:作者認為本國正在發生一系列變化,這些變化“會在未來十年中一定促進本國餐飲業發展”。
所以我們作為讀者可以根據原文信息進行如下質疑:
1. 社會發生變化不一定會帶來作者所預期的發展
2. 作者預測未來十年的變化是一定發生的,根據何在
3. 作者所預測的發展發生在本國,有沒有其他的可能性導致餐飲業不會發展
【例文】
This article cites that as a result of the increasing personal incomes, and the rising leisure time, the growing universality of single-person households, and the increasing interest in gourmet food, the surge of the restaurant industry in the country of Spiessa can be expected to continue in the coming years. However, careful scrutiny of these evidences reveals numerous potential problems and critical flaws that render its author’s position untenable.
It is mentioned in the article that the personal incomes in the country of Spiessa has been increasing. By this factor, the speaker is attempting to inform us that citizens will spend most of their increased incomes having dinner in the restaurants. However, this belief has distorted a plain truth. Consider, for example, people in this country tend to pay more attention on education, rather than eating, and they are more likely to invest their extra money on their children’s education. Under such circumstances, it is unlikely for the restaurant industry to meet a continue surge.
Except for the four reasons, the author also guaranteed that the surge of increasing food industry will "continue" within the next years. The basis of his prediction is simple: all aspects concerned with food industry would remain during this period. But it might turn out that his expectation could be vague. The development of certain industries depends on complex issues, such as the cost of raw materials or market condition. If either of the elements tends to be worse, the food industry could suffer from the crash and would not continue the surge of "unprecedented growth".
The article made its own view for local R industry based on interest of local residents in a travel section of magazine. This lead us to believe domestic consumption is a major portion within S r industry. But if overseas travellers spend more money on gourmet food in S, and they simply became less willing to visit S for food in the coming years, we can expect these visitors as major consumer for S. Perhaps even domestic consumption couldn't make any contribution to boosting local R industry.
By way of conclusion, this argument has not succeeded in providing compelling reasons to support the relationship described by the author. To strengthen the conclusion, the author should have to provide additional evidences to support that the increase in all the four areas will have direct proportional relationship with the sales of restaurants, and MAKE FURTHER STATEMENT THAT more information linking the sales and the cost of the restaurants.
點評:這篇文章就是簡單敘述了原文作者沒法達成論證目的的一個情形,因此比起Issue,Argument文章的難度會低一些,但是考生一定要理解,兩篇文章的本質是一樣的——在文章中體現批判性思維。
總之,作文需要注意的最重要的一個知識體系就是批判性思維的靈活熟練應用,在此基礎上進行文章架設,同學們會發現寫作能夠變得很輕松,所以在復習的時候,請注意批判性思維的體系我們是否已經熟練掌握和理解,以及我們是否做到了知無不言,言無不盡。我們相信,有了這一知識體系,各位在復習GMAT的道路上會感覺更加輕松。