托福寫作丨幹掉政府類話題必備素材

很多同學在考試時看到政府類的題目總是一籌莫展，似乎政府幹什麼都是對的可是又找不到足夠的理由來反對，寫著寫著又覺著政府只干這些事貌似不夠。於是擰巴著擰巴著時間就沒了，自己寫的文章還入不了萬惡的ETS的眼。

附真題一篇，實戰演練：

It is important for the governments to provide money to things that are beautiful and not just for things that are practical.

對於政府來說，錢應該投入美的事務上而不僅僅是實用的東西。

大家在寫的時候想論點很容易但是在展開的時候就不容易了，美的東西作用太少怎麼撐起300字的文章。即使想到了美的種種優點下一次題目問你政府應該改善網路政府應該發展科技政府應該保護文物政府應該改善環境……，每變一次就要重新想點，在考場上外掛又開不起來，各種糾結各種猙獰。接下來就是漲賤識的時候，政府職能那麼多，咱只要找一個反例就能應對所有的文章了。

比如非洲的埃博拉，席捲了那麼多國家殘害了那麼多同胞，非洲的政府再致力於把國家建設的更美麗那估計得全體人民去天堂參觀了。

也許很多人只是從新聞里聽說說了埃博拉，到底它是什麼，怎麼傳播的還是一知半解，我們可以從新聞大概了解一下：

IN SEPTEMBER 1976 scientists in Antwerp received a Thermos out of Yambuku, in what was then Zaire, with two samples from a nun who was fatally ill. One of the vials had smashed, but after scooping the other out of a pool of icy water, blood and broken glass, they discovered that they were handling a deadly and unknown virus. To spare Yambuku from infamy, they named the infection after a local river, the Ebola.

The next 36 years saw about 20 Ebola epidemics. Each was in a village or small town in central Africa and subsided after claiming fewer than 300 lives.

看完恍然大悟，埃博拉原來是在Yambuku的一位修女率先感染的，為了不讓Yambuku 背黑鍋，科學家把這個病毒以一條河的名字命名：Ebola.

如果想把這個整合到作文段子里似乎還差好多火候。看看新聞里還能給我們什麼素材：

報道里把埃博拉的危害描述的淋漓盡致：

Today』s crisis is of a different order. It has struck down three countries—Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone—with a combined population of over 20m. Almost 4,500 deaths have been recorded: the actual total is much larger. The epidemic is still rampant, destroying communities as it goes. It has spread sporadically to other African countries and to Spain and America.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) fears up to 10,000 new victims a week by December, perhaps 70% of whom will die. Its chief calls the epidemic 「the most severe acute public-health emergency in modern times」. Now that the world has woken up to the danger, the task is to stop the toll reaching hundreds of thousands, if not millions. That is feasible only with sustained international collaboration. And so far, collaboration is something the response has tragically lacked.

官方表示，這個埃博拉死亡人數是大概4,500 人，然而實際的死亡人數比這個數字多很多。更糟糕的是，這個數字還在上升。世界衛生組織擔心，一星期內新增的近一萬的感染者，70%都面臨死亡的結局。

而且，更讓人抓狂的是，這個病毒和以前不一樣了：

This time it』s different

Like any epidemic, Ebola is best stopped early. It kills health workers by exposing them to patients who, by the end, exude up to ten litres of virus-laden fluids a day. The number of infections seems to be doubling every two to four weeks. As health-care workers fall ill and the infection grows exponentially, a society』s defences against Ebola are rapidly overwhelmed.

This time the response has been fatally slow. One reason is that an Ebola epidemic had never been seen in that part of Africa. The disease may also have been helped by urbanisation and development, which strengthen the transport links that shuttle virus from villages to the town and back into uninfected country. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Ebola would find its way into a slum too chaotic and vast to cope.

從這段新聞中我們可以了解到埃博拉的恐怖，每半個月到一個月感染人數就會翻倍。讓人稍感欣慰的是，病毒受困於非洲經濟的落後，尤其是交通，現在的傳播速度竟然還撐不上大規模的肆虐。已然有這麼大的殺傷力，攤上埃博拉的國家還談什麼提高市容之類的空話，抓緊時間去研究靈藥吧。

所以，我們的段子可以簡單的整理為：

對於非洲的政府來說，應該把practical 放在首位。因為有埃博拉的威脅，這個病毒的殺傷力太大，傳播速度快死亡率高。所以非洲的政府應致力於戰勝埃博拉。

There is no denying that governments facing the spread of epidemic, especially when it comes to Africa, should give top priority to practical things. It is hard not to admit that Ebola has triggered quite a stir, which is a fatal virus dating back to few decades ago carried by a nun of Yambuku firstly and then distributed to a cyclopean scale. According to the latest estimate, Ebola has caused more than 4,500 deaths and the actual situation runs deeper than the data has shown.

It is reported that the infections have reached 10,000 a week, among whom, 70% would die eventually and, the number of the infections seems to be doubling two to four weeks. That is to say the draconian mortality rate grows exponentially. The chief of the WHO called the disease the most severe acute public-health emergency in modern times. Besides, the disease may also have been helped by urbanisation and development, which strengthens the transport links that shuttle virus from villages to the town and back into uninfected country. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before Ebola would find its way into a slum too chaotic and vast to cope.

To add salt on the injury, the rampant epidemic even leads to the consequence that the society』s defenses against Ebola are rapidly overwhelmed. If effective measures have not been taken, the whole districts will fail to be represented on the world map. As a result, governments of the disease-rampant areas should blaze every trail to explore the cure of the virus which is the amulet for them to achieve the final triumph.