2017雅思口語第三部分的深入探討

導語：縱觀2017年的雅思口語考試，我們可以發現眾多精彩紛呈、甚至是驚心動魄的考題或話題：有些成為考試頻率最高的主流話題;有些被列為最新的變化和趨勢;也有一些被許多考生以及雅思研究者視作高難考題—我們將會對此進行案例剖析。

　　一、最in的口語話題

2017年最流行話題排行榜的第一名應當屬於談論“地點(place)”的，這一類的考題不僅數量龐大、極為頻繁，而且正趨向多樣化。除了傳統的考題如hotel, garden, park, library, museum, city, your workplace以外，又出現了一些較為“另類”的題目：swimming pool, a place that has good water resource, a place that has been polluted, a place that makes you happy, a place that you would like to introduce to your friends等等。不過萬變不離其宗，我們對待這些特殊話題仍舊可以按照在某種程度上沿着傳統話題的回答思路去組織我們的語言。舉例來説，在談論a place that makes you happy的時候，你完全可以説a museum that you enjoy very much;在講a place that has been polluted的時候，你又為何不能描述a park in your neighborhood that has become dirty呢?

排名第二的話題是關於“人物(people)”的，該大類也呈現出同樣的'多元化和越來越細化的特徵。原來可能只需要你談an old person，現在卻要你講an interesting old person;原來只是描述a family member，現在可能要解釋how a family member influences you，種種情況不一而足。

最in的話題還包括“體育類”(比如sport, game, physical activity, a sport you played when you were young等)、“事件類”(比如family event, being late, an event that makes you happy, a recent change in your life等)、“媒體類”(比如newspaper, magazine, book, an interesting piece of news, film, TV, performance, website等)、以及“休閒類”(比如shop, shopping, café, tourist attraction, music, gifts, holiday等)。

　　二、新變化與新趨勢

在口語第三部分的深入探討中，我們注意到了一些最新的動態。其中比較明顯的一個趨勢就是話題與話題的結合;換言之，考官會把兩個甚至兩個以上的話題放在一個問題裏面進行提問。請看下面的真實例子：

How would you convince an elderly person to learn to use the Internet if he had never used it before and was resistant to modern technology?

問題相當長，其中至少包含了modern technology , old people’s traditional ideas, computer illiteracy三個話題，可以説是一道綜合性非常強的題目。類似的例子還有：

Are companies responsible for constructing sporting facilities for their staff members?

很明顯，該題融合了corporate responsibility, sporting activity, employees’ benefits三個相關話題。

第二個變化是出題者開始注重人類生活中碰到的許多困境和難題，並對中國的現實發生了越來越濃厚的興趣。這提醒我們在考前準備的時候，必須更多地去關心時事，特別是發生在中國的一些特大新聞、爭議性話題(如最近的“人肉搜索”)和人民羣眾關注的焦點問題(如房價居高不下、股市萎靡不振)。2008年的這類例子有：

In China, is the water people use now different from that in the past?

Should the Chinese government financially assist the preservation of traditional culture?

In the face of rising divorce rate in China, what measures do you think the government should take to consolidatefamilies?

　　三、難點案例分析

在深入探討部分，考官問一些刁鑽、冷門、生僻話題的概率頗高，因此在2017年也出現了不少特難的案例。我就來舉一個例子給大家分析一下：

What is the culture of your country in treating guests? How has this culture changed in recent decades?

談論culture的話題一向都比較難，而講到中國人的待客之道(the Chinese culture of treating guests)，更是一個我們平時不太會去思考的話題。要把這個複雜問題回答好，可以採取以下的兩個策略，以適應不同水平層次的考生：

一)、對於詞彙量較大、口語水平較高的考生，建議從courtesy這一概念出發，先提到the Chinese people have maintained the courtesy of treating guests as part of their traditional culture for thousands of years，再講一些social etiquette in China, such as brewing and offering tea for guests，最後談論 the traditional courtesy of treating guests has declined in recent decades because of Western influences，這樣一氣呵成地講下來，可以把該話題説深説透。

二)、對於詞彙量較小、口語水平不高的考生，可以採取簡約的模糊路線，先大致講一講中國人的好客，用一些較為簡單的表達形式，比如friendly, nice, warm-hearted等，然後從通俗的角度談一下Chinese people treat guests like their family members, 甚至可以搬出我們的一些俗語，比如a helpful neighbor is better than a relativeliving far away(遠親不如近鄰)，最後點到we don’t treat guests as well as we did in the past because everyone is so busy with making money這一殘酷的中國現實。