提炼GRE考试之Argument写作要点

    What is an Argument?

    A strong argument attempts to persuade the reader to accept a point of view. As such, it consists of a proposition, a declarative statement which is capable of being argued, and a proof, a reason or ground which is supported by evidence. The evidence, in turn, is composed of relevant facts, opinions based on facts and careful reasoning. If you are analyzing an argument, you should look for both of these: a proposition and the evidence supporting the proposition.

    Attack the Argument

    Each argument''s stimulus has been intentionally "loaded" with flaws (fallacies) that you should acknowledge and discuss. If you fail to see the more fundamental problems in the argument, you will not get a high score.

    The purpose of the essay is for you to critique the reasoning in the argument (the stimulus will tell you to make this evaluation). Your personal opinions are not relevant. Your essay needs to focus on flaws in the argument. While in the Analysis of Issue you write your opinion on a subject, in the Analysis of Argument you write a logical critique of a flawed argument. Thus, the approaches to the two essays should be different.

    纵观整个GRE作文考试，似乎应该概括为“Issue让我们变得广博，Argument让我们成为辩手”，Argument也是我在新东方课堂上最喜欢的一个教学环节，因为我喜欢辩论，过去参加辩论赛是和人在进行辩论，现在讲GRE，是在和一篇又一篇的文章进行文字辩论，他们之间存在极大的共性，那么如何去“辩”，如何让我们能如同当年在辩论赛上征服对方辩手一样地去征服GRE的Argument写作呢？ ETS对这部分的要求体现在：第一，要求考试敏锐的洞察出一篇文章的主要的几点逻辑错误（没有必要把所有的逻辑错误全部找出）；第二，既然是攻击对方文章的逻辑错误，那么考生本生所写的文章要有逻辑性，或者说逻辑合理性；第三，一篇Argument的用词用句有他特定的风格（和Issue有所区别），因此考生要选择准确恰当的词句表达。Argument的结构比较固定，易于掌握，一般都能写出个标准的“经典5段式”，为了写好这种模式，这种文章的关键是抓住逻辑错误，这是拿到高分的第一点，最重要的一点。如果写了很多，没抓住要害，语言再好也拿不到高分。攻击的语言可以不专业化，但是抓住错误最关键。如果文字色彩很专业化，可以表现出逻辑修养，攻击的很地道，当然可以增加分值，写作时间为30分钟。