很多烤鸭们发现写作是他们的硬伤，有学生考了很多次的雅思，总是会卡在写作上。有一个学生为了达到国外高校四项不低于六的要求考了四次雅思，每次都是写作过不了。当然也有些总分可以考到七分以上的高分考生也总出现写作只有五分的情况。可以说写作能考高分的学生总分一般不会差，因此得写作者，得雅思考试。除此之外，写作也是同学们在海外学习的重点和难点，无数的essay, dissertation,动辄要求几千字，到了研究生阶段还需要上万字，还需要要求思想深度，很多海外学子就因为这个而难以毕业。所以就有人戏称在国外学习，我要么是在写essay,要么是在去写essay的路上。
那如何才能提高写作成绩和写作水平呢?雅思写作评分标准有一项叫做LR,其中7分的评分标准要求需要写出less common lexical items，因此很多想要冲击高分的考生会去准备很多又长又复杂的单词，但背过之后发现也不会用，自己写出的文章还是非常简单。那这究竟是怎么回事呢?因为我们知道写作口语都是输出型的测试，只有足够的输入才有可能进行有效的输出。而写作的输入就是阅读，只有经过充分的阅读，拥有了足够的素材，在写作的时候才能够游刃有余。那到底要读什么呢?考雅思的学生一定会做剑桥雅思的阅读，其实这些阅读文章有很多都可以成为我们写作的良好素材。举个例子给大家示范一下：
比如剑桥雅思5Test1 Reading P3 The Truth about the Environment
Many people nurture the belief that environmental standards are declining and four factors seem to cause this disjunction between perception and reality.
这句话里的nurture这个词就用的非常巧妙，很多学生只会说many people think
可以学习一下这里nurture的用法：Nurture: to have a feeling, an idea, a plan, etc. for a long time and encourage it to develop 滋长，助长
正所谓He owns a gifted pen, who reads tremendously，因此多读才能写好。除了剑桥雅思里的阅读文章外，要想去得雅思写作高分或者提高写作水平的学生还可以去读一些英文的报刊杂志，比如Economist, Time等等。不仅是学习英语，还可以扩大视野了解西方文化环境，加深对西方社会的了解。尤其对于广大学习经济、金融、传媒、国际关系等专业的同学们来说更是非常有必要的。
从本期开始，就请大家跟我一起读英文，练写作吧!今天我们用Economist的一篇文章做例子，给大家讲一下雅思写作大作文中一个常考的话题Globalisation。
比如这几个雅思真题：
2012.1.7 Some people think developing countries should invite large foreign companies to open offices and factories to grow their economies. Others think the developing countries should keep large companies out and develop local companies instead. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
2012.2.9 The spread of multinational companies and the resulting increase of globalization produce positive effects to everyone. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
在雅思写作中，经常会考察全球化的影响，由于很多学生不会用英语表达，导致写的文章也不够生动。那么我们就一起来看看Economist中是怎么写的吧?
1 GLOBALISATION has become the buzzword of the last two decades.
Buzzword:流行词
2 The sudden increase in the exchange of knowledge, trade and capital around the world, driven by technological innovation, from the internet to shipping containers, thrust the term into the limelight.
这句话对全球化的定义做了解释，也就是我们写作中的解释说明的论证方法。其中，driven by technological innovation, 是插入语，这也是写作中非常好的表达方法。thrust the term into the limelight 指的是将其推入了人们的视野当中，也就是说全球化变得流行起来，可以替换同学们经常使用的become popular这个表达。
3 Globalisation has enriched the world scientifically and culturally, and benefited many people economically as well. The United Nations has even predicted that the forces of globalisation may have the power to eradicate poverty in the 21st century.
这句话最大的特色就是动词和副词的使用。很多学生在写作的时候受母语汉语的迁移影响，总是会首先想到do/make/let等动词，这在英语中是不够地道地表达，因此我们要学习英语中各种动词的丰富使用，比如这句话中的enrich，benefit，eradicate。在论证方法上，这两句是在讲全球化的有利之处，第二句话是进一步的解释论证，而且使用了UN的预测，很多学生在进行举例论证的时候总是列举个人的小例子，很没有说服力。
4 Globalisation has been attacked by critics of free market economics, for perpetuating inequality in the world rather than reducing it. The International Monetary Fund admitted in 2007 that inequality levels may have been increased by the introduction of new technology and the investment of foreign capital in developing countries.
这一句话说的是全球化的不利影响，开头使用的be attacked by critics 表示被批评和指责，比起同学们常用的disagree要好多了，可以借鉴学习。第二句话使用了IMF的例子论证了全球化加剧了不平等性这个坏处。
5 However, economic historians reckon the question of whether the benefits of globalisation outweigh the downsides is more complicated than this. For them, the answer depends on when you say the process of globalisation started. But why does it matter whether globalisation started 20, 200, or even 2,000 years ago? Their answer is that it is impossible to say how much of a good thing a process is in history without first defining for how long it has been going on.
这句话表明了全球化这个问题的复杂性，其中reckon这个词用来表示观点也非常好。
6 But it is clear that globalisation is not simply a process that started in the last two decades or even the last two centuries. It has a history that stretches thousands of years, starting with Smiths primitive hunter-gatherers trading with the next village, and eventually developing into the globally interconnected societies of today. Whether you think globalisation is a good thing or not, it appears to be an essential element of the economic history of mankind.
这篇文章从亚当斯密的《国富论》开始讲起，回顾了全球化的历史，最后得出结论它已经是人类经济发展史的一个不可分割的组成部分。如果希望对全球化这个问题有更深入了解的同学，可以看一下这篇文章的原文。另外，文章的结尾还附上了一些参考文献，有很多都是我在伦敦政经求学期间学习全球化理论时教授推荐阅读的经典文章，比如Fisher, D.， Bateman, V. N.，Hopkins, A. G.等的著作。
相信通过补充上述素材，同学们不仅对全球化问题相关的英文表达又有了进一步提高，而且对这个热门话题也有了更深层次的认识和体会。
参考资料：
剑桥雅思5，Cambridge University Press,2006.
Economist
Bateman, V. N. . Markets and Growth in Early Modern Europe. Pickering Chatto.
Fisher, D. The Price Revolution: A Monetary Interpretation.The Journal of Economic History,49, 883-902.
Hopkins, A. G. . . Globalization in World History.W. W. Norton.
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