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朗阁海外考试研究中心 黄蓉
大家都知道，托福写作考试中独立作文题目有许多都是非常抽象的话题，如：幸福感（happiness），成功（success），金钱（money），社会地位（social status），公共认同（public recognition），乐观精神（optimism），计划和整理（plan and organize），创新（creativity），充满野心的梦想和实际的目标（ambitious dreams and realistic goals），美丽的事物（beautiful things）等等。很多考生遇到此类话题就没有了头绪，因为对他们来说这些东西非常抽象，看不见，摸不着，只是一个概念，因此文章就不知道如何下手，也不知道如何确立观点，并且很想知道考官是不是有偏向性的观点。下面笔者就给大家分析一下对于抽象类话题如何有效的去破解。
关于幸福感（happiness）的话题
1) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People who do not have to work because they have enough money are barely happy.（抽象类，快乐与钱）2007.11.3 因为有很多钱所以不用工作的人们，很少有开心的。
2) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People are happier when they finish a challenging or difficult job than when they complete an easy task.（抽象类，快乐与工作）2008.1.18 人们完成了一项加困难的工作比完成一项简单的任务加开心。
3) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? To remain happy and optimistic when you fail is more important than achieving success. （抽象类，成功的因素）2009.3.21 当你失败时候持开心和乐观比获得成功加重要。
4) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People would be happier with fewer possessions.（抽象类，快乐的因素）2009.12.19 人们拥有越少越开心。
5) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? In order to make ourselves happy, we should learn how to make others happy first.（抽象类，快乐的因素）2010.3.27 为了让我们自己开心，得先学会让别人开心。
6) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The world is changing quickly. People are less happy than before.（抽象类，快乐的因素）2011.1.29 世界变化很快，人们没有以前开心了。
这6道题目前两道题目的开心是比较具体的，至少是放在某种情境下的开心，而后几题的开心就加抽象了，所以要破题，我们首先得搞清楚什么叫做幸福感，老外是如何定义幸福感的（从维基百科上看看大神们是如何定义开心的）。
Psychologist Martin Seligman asserts that happiness is not solely derived from external, momentary pleasures, and provides the acronym PERMA to summarize Positive Psychology's correlational findings: humans seem happiest when they have
1. Pleasure (tasty food, warm baths, etc.) People with enough money to make ends meet are happier than people who are poor, but beyond that more money doesn’t make much difference.,
2. Engagement (or flow, the absorption of an enjoyed yet challenging activity),
3. Relationships (social ties have turned out to be extremely reliable indicator of happiness),
4. Meaning (a perceived quest or belonging to something bigger), and
5. Accomplishments (having realized tangible goals).
6. Giving (A Harvard Business School study found that "spending money on others actually makes us happier than spending it on ourselves".
综上所述，我们会发现幸福感不仅仅来源于外在的快感，如好吃的食物，温暖的淋浴，多的来源于具有挑战性的活动，社交生活或者人际关系，有意义的生活，以及获得成功之后的成就感，从这几点看我们很快会判断出刚才几个题目老外的倾向性，如题，第二题。第五题：因为有很多钱所以不用工作的人们，很少有开心的，或是人们完成了一项加困难的工作比完成一项简单的任务加开心。的确是这样，因为幸福感除了衣食住行的质量可能和金钱有关，其他关系都不大，也就是有了很多钱，人们也不一定开心，而相反，做一件具有挑战性的工作却能带来幸福感，并且在工作的过程中形成相对稳定的人际关系，以及在工作中获得的成就感和社会归属感与幸福关系加密切，并且是直接导致一个人开不开心的因素，所以这几道题目都偏向于同意会好写很多，并且加符合常理。
而对于第三道题目，当你失败的时候持乐观和开心重要，这个老外又是如何解释的呢？先来看看这一段：
Failure is the big “F” word that everyone fears. It doesn’t have to be a scary concept, though. Ultimately, it depends on your attitude to failure. If you see failure as not being perfect, you’re going to be permanently miserable. A more realistic idea of failure is not giving up. If you haven’t given up, you haven’t failed. See failure as a learning curve, a trial and error process. See failure as your friend – it’s no big deal unless you allow it to be.
如果因为失败了你就失望沮丧失落，那么你就会放弃，而放弃了那么你就离成功越来越远了，而一个人人生中是不可能一直成功的，总有失败的时候，所以态度加重要，失败了之后的不放弃，乐观和持心情愉悦这才是比获得成功重要的品质。
而对于第四个题目和第六题，同学们就加难判断了，因为一般的常识好像是我们现在拥有的越多，会越开心，比如说房子，车子，女朋友，多多益善，但是为什么老外会出这样的题目呢？
我们来看两段背景段落： According to a survey by the Simplicity Institute, an organization that surveyed 2,500 people across various countries who self-identified themselves as living with fewer possessions, 87 percent of respondents indicated they were happier now than when they owned more possessions.
This may sound contrary to everything we’ve been told growing up. But when we begin to consider the benefits of living with less (less debt, less stress, less cleaning), it begins to make sense why these statistics would hold true. Happiness is not found in owning as many possessions as possible; it’s found living life consistent with your greatest passions.
原来他们认为的是拥有的越多遇到的困难和压力越大（现在的问题越来越多），所以会有这样的想法，但是又考虑到幸福感的来源是多挑战的工作，这个题目两面都成立，就看大家如何去辩论了。
记住关于幸福感的一些词汇：Gratitude, Serenity, Joy, Interest, Hope, Pride, Amusement, Inspiration, Awe, Love。
(责任编辑：admin) |
