individuals and countries to think about future rather than focus on present? (重复2019/4/27)

（2019/4/27）Task 2: Some people say that it is a waste of time to plan for the future and that it is more important to focus on the present. Do you agree or disagree?

如上是最近考试中被很多考生公认的一些比较难写的大作文题目，这类题目的特点就是挺抽象的，让人似懂非懂。其实抽象类话题是近几年雅思频考的一类话题，这类话题的特点就在于题目中会出现一些非常抽象让人摸不着头脑的词，从而让考生陷入一种无法下笔的困境，最终只能泛泛而谈，相应的，得分情况也就非常一般。遇到这类题目，很多考生都只能给出有限的观点，论证方法总是使用一些跟题目一样抽象的词，论述空洞而无法具体展开。但从雅思大作文评分标准Task Response（也就是我们常常说的TR）这一项可以获知，一篇不低于7分的文章必须具备的一条是：present, extend and support your main ideas, 那么我们今天就简单来讲解一下如何破解这一类话题。

拿到这一类题，我们首先要做到是识别题目中的抽象词汇，这是解题的关键点之一。那么什么是抽象词汇？

一个抽象型的词汇比较难指出具体代表什么，比如：

像一种感觉 satisfied,

像一个概念 happiness,

或者是一个包括型词汇 bad situation, environment,

我们会发现这一类词的特征就是可以指代的东西或者可能性有很多，可以谈论指代的范围也很大，频繁在文章中使用这样的词汇很容易让读者觉得非常含糊，比如：

I had a wonderful time. There was a lot of excitement. Everything was great.

阅读这几个句子，我们会发现，根本无法获知到底是看到了什么，闻到了什么，感受到了什么会让他excited的事。而如果我们改成以下的句子，又会有非常大的不同：

I had a wonderful time. I went to the hilltop, from where we saw the blue ocean below. The breeze was so sweet that I am some sometime awakened by it in the night.

这样的变化，其实是更多使用一些更为具象的词汇比如hilltop，ocean and breeze，而就是更为具象的词汇告诉了我们让作者exciting的所有东西，还有让他exciting的事情。其实几乎所有真正想把事情说清楚的文章，都会需要有从抽象转换到具体的能力。那么问题来了，如何具象化呢？

其实大作文的话题无外乎跟人有关，那么从人的角度，我们可以想的角度有，比如作为一个学生，我的学习，或者作为一个工作了的人，我的工作，甚至是家庭或者对生活的期望，都可以是我们可以入手谈论的点。比如，当我们的观点就是 planing for future is important的时候，我们可以举例证明，比如从一个学生的角度，工作的角度，如何重要。就像：

Planing for future is important. For example, creating a master plan for the times ahead encourages a person to save money for investment in future projects such as buying a house or their children’s education.

诸如此类的具象的例子可以帮助我们去有力的论证自己的观点，而不是宽泛地崇重复性的不停地只能说plan重要，要plan.

在最后，附上完整的2020/9/20考试文章给大家作为参考：

Whether we should plan for future or not has become a frequent topic of discussion. From my perspective, I think it is important for both individuals and countries to plan for the future.

Though many would argue that the future is unpredictable that we do not know what will happen in the future until that day, however, when we take time to plan, we are actually taking steps necessary to not only identify and reach our desired goal, but also to do so in the most efficient manner. It helps keep us from spending time on tasks that will not bring us closer to our goal. Compared with those who neglect to plan for their lives and then get disappointed and discouraged when they do not attain what they want, having a plan ensures that we will have no regret when we get to the end.

Planing is important for individuals. While people are making plans, they will break the ultimate goal in several short-term goals which are much more easier to be accomplished that long-time one. For example, in order to finish a dissertation on time, a student should schedule his or her time into different sessions for material gathering, proposal writing and dissertation writing. Also, creating a master plan for the times ahead encourages a person to save money for investment in future projects such as buying a house or their children’s education.

In addition to that, countries can enjoy the benefits of planing as well. For example, if a country planed to improve its healthcare system, it would be more likely to survive from an unexpected outburst of lethal diseases, such as the COVID-19. In fact, a good plan will make it easier for politicians to say “no” to things or fields that are not as important or urgent to a country’s development. Once the government outlined the goals in the plan, it will be easy to decide which polices are the important ones to be made or which areas are of great need to be spent money on. In other words, if a problem is not aligned with the plan, then it is not wroth government funding or resources right now.

In conclusion, I fully support the idea that we, both the public and countries, should make good plans ahead for undesirable incidents and I believe as long as we stick to our plan, we can be confident that we will not be looking back and asking ourselves “what if”.

好啦，这个就是今天要和大家分享的内容，那么留下一道思考题来考验一下今天你学会了吗？

(2020/10/31) Task 2: Whether or not a person achieves his aims in life is mostly a question of luck?