作者：王诗雅 新航道英联邦考试院雅思写作讲师，英语翻译专业学士，英国约克大学 tesol专业硕士。授课风格清新活泼，善于对不同程度和目标的考生进行针对性教学。
雅思考试分为A类和G类，A指academic, G指general training。前者是申请英联邦国家本科和研究生课程的考生需要选择的考试类型，其中写作部分的默认要求是文章属于academic writing。然而，很多考生并不清楚学术文章应具备哪些特征，因此很难达到academic的要求。此文通过分析两篇文章的节选，旨在帮助大家增强雅思作文的学术性。
首先，我们来对比同一话题下两篇文章的开头段和主体段（胡敏七代雅思写作强化版, p37），找出主要的不同点。
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Response 1 |
Response 2 |
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If you look at it that way, it’s true that humans and animals have conflicting interests. People have always exploited animals for food and clothing, and farmers have brought bigger and bigger areas of wild land under cultivation. But should we keep on doing this?
In regions of the world where the population is growing, and there aren’t enough resources, the conflict between humans and animals is really bad. If you go to Africa, for example, you can see large nature reserves alongside really poor human settlements. I love the idea of elephants and lions living in the wild. But often it’s the poor farmers living nearby who’s got to pay the cost in terms of land and lost earnings.
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Looked at from a broad historical perspective, it is true that humans and animals have had conflicting interests. People have always exploited animals for food and clothing, whilst farmers have brought ever increasing areas of wild land under cultivation. Whether this process should continue is a question that requires careful consideration.
In regions of the world where the population is growing and resources are scarce，the conflict between humans and animals is particularly problematic. This can be seen in parts of Africa, for example, where large nature reserves alongside very poor human settlements. people living thousands of miles away may value the idea of elephants and lions living in the wild. However, often it is the poor farmers living nearby who have to pay the cost in terms of land and lost earnings. |
和response1相比，我们直观的感受是response 2 更学术。经过分析后，不难发现，这种学术性主要体现在以下四个方面：
1. 学术文章避免过度使用人称代词
人称代词包含三种，分别是、第二和第三人称。在学术文章中人称使用较少，一般表观点时可用，但是其他情况若使用人称（I，we等）会过于主观。至于第二人称（you，your），并不建议出现在学术文章中，因为作者在进行写作时，是客观行为，并非要与读者进行对话而去直接称呼读者。第三人称可以出现，但在选用第三人称时，多用第三人称复数（they等），少用第三人称单数(he, she等)。在上述response1中，出现了we, I 和you，然而response 2避免了这些词的出现。
2. 学术文章往往避免使用饱含情感及意义较为夸张的词
英文中有些词的情感比较强烈，例如 adore, fantastic, terrible, horrible, immortal 等, 而且，有些词的意义过于夸张，例如 extremely，totally，perfect等。这些词的使用往往会使文章过于突出主观情感而非客观事实。所以在输出学术文章时，注意避免为好。上述response 1中的really bad和love这两个表达就过于情绪化，所以response2 采用了particularly problematic和 may value来替代。
3. 学术文章少用连词，多用从属连词和连接副词
不可否认，学术文章在句式上往往会相对复杂，所以用来写复合句的从属连词（whereas, because 等）和用来连接完整句子的连接副词(however, nevertheless, therefore 等) 的使用频度更高，而非我们在口语表达中更倾向于用的一些连词（如 and, but, so 等 ）。再回到我们的例子中，response 1中的and和but 则分别被response2的 whilst 和however所取代。
4. 学术文章无缩写、无双重比较、且需避免口语化表达
这个特征相对于前面几个更容易被发现。缩写，例如isn’t，won’t, can’t, 不能出现，尤其要注意can’t在学术文章中一般以 cannot的形式出现；双重比较，例如more and more, 很少出现，考生经常喜欢写的 more and more people, 如若能表达成 an increasing number of people会更学术；一些口语化表达，例如break out, lots of，同样也很少出现在学术写作中。所以，上述response 2并没有出现response1中的缩写it’s, aren’t 和 have got to，同时将bigger and bigger areas 替换为increasingly areas以增强学术性。
另一个在上述两个文本中体现不明显但是值得提及的特点是，学术文章倾向使用委婉语，从而使语言表达更缜密。下面我们通过阅读以下两个剑桥考官范文中的段落，可以发现一些使文章更委婉严密的方式。
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These are often electronic games that tend to be very intense and rather violent. The player is usually the ‘hero’ of the game and too much exposure can encourage children to be self-centered and insensitive to others. （剑桥雅思6，p172） |
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Some young adults may end up never returning to their studies or finding it difficult to readapt to an academic environment. They may think that it is better to continue in a particular job, or to do something completely different from a university course. （剑桥雅思5，p165） |
通过以上分析及相应总结，常见的委婉语的表达方式，基本可以分为以下五种:
1. 限定词some, many, most等
2. 副词（频度及推测）often, usually, constantly，possibly, probably
3. 情态动词can, may, could, might
4. 特定动词短语appear to, tend to, be likely to, seem to
5. 特定句型 Sb. find it difficult to do, It is possible that…, It is said that…
综上所述，学术文章具备的基本特征可以总结为：一，少人称；二，低情感；三，少连词；四，无缩写、无口语；五，多委婉语。建议考生在备考习作中，多多留意这五个方面，从而更高效输出更加学术的文章，这同时也有利于占50%分值的两方面评分标准，包括词汇(lexical resource)和语法(grammatical range and accuracy)，的双重加分。
参考文献：
1 胡敏七代雅思写作强化版
2 剑桥雅思真题系列
