一道腦洞略大的托福作文題 | 人人都能寫Essay

04-24

使用說明書：

文章序號：第02篇原創
寫作任務：托福獨立寫作
技能模塊：話題|結構|展開|句法|詞伙|綜合

〇、題記

寫作就是不斷寫、不斷改。是的，哪怕辭彙匱乏、句式重複，甚至不知道essay的結構要怎麼擺。也要現在就動筆寫。把字數寫夠，就是勝利。托福的標準是，30分鐘，寫300字。

只要你開始寫，所有關於寫作的迷霧就會消散。起碼，你會意識到兩件事情：

寫作不可能速成
寫作沒有那麼難

不要在寫作「理論」上浪費太多時間。就寫作而言，「實踐」是掌握「理論」的唯一方法。這跟開車很像。你知道加速要踩油門、減速要踩剎車。但是，真的去做，你未必就能踩對。初學者把油門當剎車踩，並不少見。所以，知道跟做到，是兩個完全不同的事情。

所以，「寫作課」跟「寫作題」會一起更新。前者解決理論問題，後者提供實踐機會。但是，也只是機會而已。

對了，「人人都能寫Essay」這個名字的創意來自《人人都能用英語》。李笑來的這本書，乾貨十足，找來讀一下，肯定不會後悔。

一、審題

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The most important problems affecting our society today could be solved within our lifetime. (20121027)

你同不同意下面的陳述？影響當今社會最重要的問題，都可以在我們的有生之年被解決？

這道2012年的題，是「社會發展」這個小話題的重點題目。很古老的題目，卻也十分有趣。小話題「社會發展」在「話題地圖」上的坐標如下：

這個題目，對腦洞不大的小夥伴，估計比較難寫。我把自己的思路分享一下。

首先，我的立場是disagree。第一個理由，我們無法確定什麼是「影響當今社會最重要的問題」。不同發展階段的國家，最重要的問題是不一樣的。既然沒辦法確定，就很難同意這些問題「都可以在我們的有生之年被解決」。第二個理由，社會不是靜止不變的，新的問題會不斷冒出來。上面兩個idea各寫一個段落，構成這篇essay的「主體論證」部分。

接著，我會從agree的角度再想一下。萬一人工智慧有了長足進步，人類發明出「超級人工智慧」了呢？這樣的話，人類面臨的那些嚴峻問題，就都可以解決了。當然，目前看來，這還是跟科幻小說一樣。所以，我的主要立場還是disagree。上面整個邏輯鏈條寫一個段落，構成這篇essay的「讓步論證」部分。

上面3個段落，加上開頭段、結尾段，整篇essay一共5個段落。

「讓步論證」部分的idea來自Tim Urban的一篇文章；文章巨長，分成上下兩部分，Part 1是The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence，Part 2是The AI Revolution: Our Immortality or Extinction。這是我讀過的最棒的原創文章之一，已經翻譯成中文，羅輯思維還做過一期節目，有興趣的人搜索一下，找來讀讀，非常燒腦。

繼續閱讀之前，請花3分鐘時間，思考下面的問題：

你的主要立場是什麼？

你會怎樣構建自己的「主體論證」部分？

你會怎樣構建自己的「讓步論證」部分？

二、提綱

Disagree 1

difficult to define "the most important problems" - for developing countries - improve living standards - e.g. China is determined to build a "moderately prosperous society" - for western countries - narrow the gap between the wealthy and the poor - without clarifying what "the most important problems" refers to, impossible to say that they can be solved within our lifetime

Disagree 2

new problems will emerge - technologies develop rapidly - eradicate diseases and poverty - all citizens live longer and more happily - however, machines replace workers - unemployment

Agree

development of technologies accelerates - it is possible to invent artificial super intelligence - breakthroughs in a variety of areas
however, in the foreseeable future, highly unlikely

三、練習

Citizens in the twenty-first century have witnessed so many exhilarating inventions that some of them even suggest that the most crucial issues threatening modern society can be addressed within our lifetime. Personally, I find it hardly convincing to argue for such point of view.

To begin with, the term "most important problems" in the statement is difficult to define in real life. This is because different societies are at different stages of development, and are confronted with different challenges. As for developing countries, their top priority is to improve peoples living standards. For example, for years, China has been striving to achieve the aim of building a "moderately prosperous society". By contrast, the average level of income in western countries is relatively high and their major issue is how to narrow the gap between the wealthy and the poor. Therefore, without clarifying what "most important problems" specifically refers to, it is impossible to say that all of them can be solved within our lifetime.

請撰寫本文的第2個「主體論證」段落。
可以參考「提綱」中的idea，也可以另起爐灶自己想。

On the other hand, due to the fact that the development of technologies has been accelerating, it is probable that some day artificial super intelligence may be invented, which enables human beings to easily achieve breakthroughs in a variety of areas. However, in the foreseeable future, such exciting events still remain in science fiction novels.

To conclude, although the possibility still remains that human beings are finally able to build a paradise on earth, from a more practical perspective, it is difficult to believe that all the major problems will be solved in the next several decades.

四、說明

這篇essay的難度是中上。
由於能力、時間有限，這篇essay在邏輯上和語言上，肯定有值得商榷的地方。歡迎指正。