序 言
做一件很酷的事
记得多年前曾经和英籍外教Iain Chalmers 老师讨论“cool”这个英文单词的含义,以及在西方人眼中哪个国家的人或文化酷、什么样的行为酷等问题。后来我们一致觉得写一本超级牛的雅思写作范文书是一件非常酷的事情,于是为了扮酷,我们一拍即合就着手创作了。
一千个老师眼中有一千种雅思写作
本书内容可以说是结合我和Iain老师各自多年的教学经验以及雅思官方资料对雅思写作所做的拓展性解读。书中很多对雅思写作规则的解释是以第一人称的视角来叙述的,还有些地方是个人教学经验的总结。有些人觉得这样做对雅思的分析可能不够学术、客观和专业。但我想说的是:不同的老师对官方公布的公众版(Public version)雅思写作评分标准以及剑桥雅思真题中的考官范文和考官评语会做不同的解读和理解,在适用同一条评分法则来评判考生作文时不同的老师也会有所不同。所以对于雅思写作的很多问题,老师除了从官方公布的评分法则、考官范文、考官评语中寻找答案之外,还要结合自己的教学经验、考生的考试成绩等诸多方面因素做出进一步的解读。正是因为雅思写作的这些特点,本书中很多地方在做解读分析时都保留了第一人称,这样不会让考生误以为这是雅思官方的硬性规定,并且能让他们明白本书中提供的方法或分析可能只是诸多可行方法中最优或较优的一个。我和Iain老师一致认为这样才能最大限度地体现本书的科学性和价值所在。
十年磨一剑
从读研究生期间的兼职教雅思到2008年之后的全职教雅思,我从事这个行业也快十年了。其实早在几年前就有了出一本范文书的想法,而当时也尝试创作了不少雅思作文,其中不少作文是我精心创作并经过反复修改的,自以为这些作文已经接近9分水平。但每有机会拿给考官或资深外教看时总是又会发现这样或那样的问题,其中大多是关于语言表达的精确性的,而产生这些问题的原因就是受母语(汉语)表达方式的影响。自以为满分的作文在考官眼里并非如此,所以出书的计划一再推迟。直到2011年初遇到Iain Chalmers老师之后,我们开始以双人授课的形式教授雅思写作,我对于英语表述的准确性和逻辑性有了更深层次的理解。在和他共同执教雅思写作课程一段时间之后,我们开始合作创作雅思作文,并反复修改,精益求精,力求每篇作文都是高质量的范文,作品大多收录于本书中,力争能在中国同类出版物当中脱颖而出,对得起每一位读者。
曹 伟
Preface
When my good friend Mr Cao Wei first proposed writing a book together I couldn’t agree quickly enough. Writing a book is never an easy task, especially one for the crowded IELTS market, but I had reason to be confident. In more than 5 years of teaching English in China, without question the most effective classes I have taught have been those alongside Mr Cao. With his vast experience, intimate knowledge of students’ needs and comprehensive understanding of IELTS, students would always be in good hands. However, when combined with the eye for detail that I bring as a native speaker, it really made for a strong combination. Our “double-act” has been the highlight of my teaching career in China, and it was extremely rewarding to witness the progress that students made.
This book in many ways is a reproduction of that winning formula. I deploy my native-level writing skills to create essays of a high standard, while Mr Cao provides professional translation and incisive analysis. We have both put an enormous amount of time and effort into producing something that we can be proud of. When casting my critical eye over other IELTS writing textbooks on the market I constantly find mistakes and imperfections, something I was very keen to avoid in this book. I spent hours agonising over tiny details, rewrote sentences again and again to try to make them perfect and enlisted the help of others to always get a second opinion. Thanks are due to my brother, Colin, who provided considerable input in the early stages of the project, and also my sister, Fiona, who helped with proofreading. It really was a family effort! The end result is hopefully something of consistently high quality that students can depend on.
Writing this book has been a rewarding experience which has no doubt improved me as a teacher. If it can be of help for even a small number of students I will be delighted.
Iain Chalmers