无论是国外语言类官方考试例如雅思(IELTS)、托福(TOFEL),还是国内四、六级(CET)考试,在此类考试的口语考试范畴内,总会考到这样一种题型-----Description,即描述类话题。描述类话题出题细致广泛,大致可分为四类,人物类,物品类,事件类,地点类四大类。
学生们在描述时普遍会出现以下问题,不知道说什么,不知道怎么说,或者能说的比较少,思路不够清晰,逻辑不够严谨。事实上,在留学预备听说阶段,很多听力材料可以帮助我们解决“思路”问题,合理利用听力材料,解决“怎么说—说什么”的问题。本文主要通过听力文章描述物品类话题,帮助学生扩展思路,知道怎么说,说什么。
留学预备听说并进课本二级unit 4 Size listening 2 Miniature medical devices (二级P40-41)的听力以对话的形式呈现,主持人和Dr.Singh对高科技的新产品药丸相机进行了描述。根据听力内容和书上global listening 的题目,我们可以很快发现二者从以下方面对高科技医疗装置Pill Camera进行了一个详细的描述。
A description of the camera
How the camera works
What the camera is used for
Earlier technology
Advantages and disadvantage of the camera
这与之前雅思口语part 2中的物品类描述话题Descrbe a piece of technology 非常的相似。尽管书上是以对话而非独白类型呈现,但是文章框架给了我们一个非常好的思路。在描述一个物品时,首先,我们可以介绍物品的名称(name)、尺寸(size)、形状(shape)进行一个简单的描述(即What it is),如果觉得不够详细,我们还可以描述我们是如何的知道这个物品的(How did we know it)。其次,我们可以描述它的功能以及作用(how it used and what it used for)。除此之外,我们可以描述它与早期科技的对比(earlier technology)突出该物品的优缺点(advantages)。最后描述它的不足之处(disadvantages)。那么如何将对话类型的听力文章改成我们想要的描述类口语陈述呢,下面我们一起来探索一下吧。
以听力文章为例。
一、首先对pill camera的介绍,原文为
Interviewer: To begin, I see you're holding something in your hand. It's a tiny device, about three centimeters long and one centimeter wide, and it's similar in shape to a large pill. Can you tell us what it is? (这是一个小装置,大约三厘米长,1厘米宽,形状像一个大的药丸。可以告诉我们是什么吗?)
Dr. Singh: Certainly. Believe it or not, it's a miniature camera, a so-called "pill camera or Pill Cam, that patients can actually swallow. We use it to find problems in the small intestine. (你信不信由你,这是一个小型的照相机,叫做药丸相机,病人可以吞下去。我们用它来检查小肠内的问题。)
我们可以使用常见的口语开头的句型修改为:
When it comes to a technology equipment I’m interested in, I’d like to describe a miniature camera, a so-called "pill camera or Pill Cam. (当提及我感兴趣的科技装备时,我想要描述的是药丸相机。)To begin, it's a tiny device, about three centimeters long and one centimeter wide, and it's similar in shape to a large pill, which patients can actually swallow to find problems in the small intestine.(首先,它是一个小型的装置。。。。。介绍尺寸形状及用途)
二、其次是描述物品的用途。口语有一项评分标准是coherence,也就是说,在不同的描述内容之间,我们要加上合适的连接词,部分我们借鉴了原文的 To begin with进行开头,那么之后为了更加连贯,我们要加上合适的逻辑连接词,常见的逻辑连接词有
将Interviewer: That's amazing. Tell us how it works.(如何工作)
Dr. Singh: It's quite simple, really.
修改为 :Meanwhile,about its function, actually , is quite simple.(同时,关于它的用途,非常简单。)再加上后面的内容。
The patient swallows the Pill Cam with water. And then, for the next eight hours, while the patient is doing his or her regular activities, the camera travels through the body, taking pictures and sending them to a recording device. After eight hours, the patient takes the recording device to the doctor. The images are downloaded to a computer, and the doctor looks at them in order to find the patient's problem.(病人用水吞下,在接下来的8个小时里,人们可以正常活动,照相机在体内穿行拍照,发送到记录装置中,医生用电脑下载图片观察病人的问题。)
三、下一部分,对比早期科技突出优点。
将Interviewer: How is this better than earlier technology? (怎样比早期科技好呢)
Dr. Singh: In the past, if doctors wanted to see the small intestine, the only way was to take an enormous number of X-rays. The patient had to lie down without moving for a long time. Unlike the Pill Cam, one danger is X-rays, because of its radiation. Plus the X-rays themselves were not very clear. The advantage of the Pill Cam is beautiful, clear images we get, and there's no radiation or discomfort to the patient.
修改为 Honestly speaking, contrast with earlier technology X-rays, pill camera without no radiation is really safer. (事实上,与早期科技X射线相比,因为没有辐射,药丸相机更加安全。)The advantage of the Pill Cam is that it’s easier to get beautiful, clear images with no radiation or discomfort to the patient.(优点。)
四、最后补充缺点。
Interviewer: Are there any disadvantages? (有缺点吗?)
Dr. Singh: A few.
修改为At last,it still have few disadvantages that it is expensive, and it takes time for the doctor to look at the pictures. (最后,它仍然有些缺点,昂贵而且医生需要时间查看照片。)But the main disadvantage is that after the patient swallows the device, we can't control it, for instance, if the doctor wants to look closely at one particular part of the intestine. (但是主要的缺点是无法控制它在体内的轨迹。)However, researchers are now developing a new camera that doctors can control from outside the body.(然而,研究者已经研究出医生可以从体外控制的照相机了。) In short, it's going to be a huge improvement. (总之,这将是一项非常重要的进步。)
最后总结出的物品类口语sample为
看到这里大家是不是觉得多了一种新的思路呢,豁然开朗有木有? 口语话题其实就是这样,当我们对于某一类话题不够了解的时候,我们可以思考一下之前有没有听过类似的听力,那么即合理的利用了听力,也提高了学习的效率。除此之外,一个话题的思路和素材可以运用在多个话题上,也就是常说的举一反三啦。希望大家能够在平时的练习中多加积累和总结,真正的做到举一反三。
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