本书第二部分收录了College Board(美国大学理事会)的七套官方样题,每套题均提供了一篇注释和四篇范文。考生应该利用2-3周左右时间反复研习这七套官方样题的原文、注释和范文。在目前还无法接触到新SAT写作真题“庐山真貌”的情况下,考生应该如数家珍般地认真对待美国大学理事会提供的样题,把握样题的特点和风格。比如,就样题的来源来看,基本上都来自国外主流报刊中的议论性文章,如The New York Times(纽约时报),或是来自名人演讲,如美国总统Jimmy Carter(吉米·卡特)关于国家野生动物保护区的演讲。如有可能,考生应该利用平时的零散时间多阅读美国主流报纸中的此类文章以及一些名人的演讲等。
下面是一套题为Stop Bullying The ‘Soft’ Sciences. (来源于Los Angeles Times)的新SAT Essay样题,题后配有注释和满分范文各一篇。笔者将以这套样题为例,从新SAT Essay 评分规则、满分作文特点、写作分析技巧、考试时间分配策略入手,为大家提供全面的综合性指导方案。现在,让我们开始新SAT Essay 备考的冲刺之旅吧!
As you
read the passage below, consider how Timothy D. Wilson uses
evidence, such as facts or examples, to
support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect
claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as
word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.
Adapted from Timothy D. Wilson, “Stop Bullying The ‘Soft’ Sciences.”
2012 by the Los Angeles Times. Originally published July 12, 2012.
111
Once, during a meeting at my university, a
biologist mentioned that he was the only faculty member present from a science
department. When I corrected him, noting that I was from the Department of
Psychology, he waved his hand dismissively, as if I were a Little Leaguer
telling a member of the New York Yankees that I too played baseball.
2
There has long been snobbery in the sciences,
with the “hard” ones physics, chemistry, biology considering themselves to be
more legitimate than the “soft” ones psychology, sociology. It is thus no
surprise that many members of the general public feel the same way. But of
late, skepticism about the rigors of social science has reached absurd heights.
3
The U.S. House of Representatives
recently voted to eliminate funding for political science research through the
National Science Foundation. In the wake of that action, an opinion writer for
the Washington Post suggested that the House didn’t go far enough. The NSF
should not fund any research in the social sciences, wrote Charles Lane,
because “unlike hypotheses in the hard sciences, hypotheses about society usually
can’t be proven or disproven by experimentation.”