作者：北美考试院 托福写作组 叶晓轩

本期考题考察综合写作属于比较经典的历史话题，阅读材料中通过罗列一些证据来攻击某个结论，而听力则从反面进行举证，说明这个结论仍然可靠。令人安心的是，在TPO中，这类话题还是比较常见的，比较具有代表性的有TPO 3, TPO 8, TPO 28, TPO 30等。

Keywords: invention; plane; engine; drawings; full-size copy.

可以类比下列这些TPO的综合写作。

TPO 3 Whether the portrait An elderly women in a white bonnet was a painting by Rambrandt

阅读部分：

总观点：这副画不是R画的

• 画中女人的帽子是仆人的linen cap，衣领是个luxurious fur collar，这样的纰漏R作为大师不会出现。

• 画中女人的脸被来自下方的光线照亮了，但是她脸下方的衣领是深色毛领，应该吸光，因此她脸上不应该那么亮，这种光影的基本错误也不是R这个大师会出的问题。

• 这副画的penal是由多块木板拼贴而成，但是R从来不用拼贴而成的penal作画。 

听力反驳：

总观点：阅读说的确实是真的，但是有其他的解释

• 后续的X-ray和analysis of pigments发现毛领是100年后人们为了增加这副画的价值补画上去的，去掉毛领下面就是一个仆人普通的衣领。

• 正如上段所说，去掉毛领之后，下面的仆人衣领就是一个浅色的布，刚好可以反光，因此女人的脸确实应该被反射光线照亮；

• 拼贴上去的木板也是后人为了增加这副画的价值贴上去的。并且分析发现去掉拼贴部分，画板的整体使用的木头和R的另一副画来自同一棵树。

TPO 8 if Checalier’s memoir is reliable and authentic

阅读部分：

总观点：C的回忆录有很多问题

• 回忆录里说自己很有钱，但其实有过借债的历史记录。

• 回忆录中与Voltaire的对话记录不可靠，因为时过境迁不可能把当时的谈话记得那么清楚。

• 回忆录声称自己越狱成功，但其实是朋友贿赂狱警把他救出去的

听力反驳：

总观点：阅读中说的或许对，但C的回忆录整体上来说还是比较准确的。

• 借债不代表他穷。C很好赌，而他的财富很多是以资产的形式体现的，而资产变现需要时间。当他现金赌完了，资产变现钱还没到账的时候，就会产生借债；

• 回忆录中说，每次他们聊完，C回家当晚就会记下他们的谈话内容。因此写回忆录的时候可以回去参考当时做的笔记。

• 如果真的是靠关系贿赂出去的，那其他有关系的狱友为什么没有靠贿赂出狱呢。另外当时那个监狱还有修补屋顶的记录，进一步证明了C是自己从屋顶逃出去的。

题目解析：

1月12日的独立写作可以说是一个非常友好的题目了，从话题类型上看，属于比较常见的个人生活类话题；从新旧特征上来说，是一道在2017年2015年均出现过的老题；从问法上来看，是最不愁没话说的三选一。题目结合人们比较关心的健康问题，给出了三个办法，请考生选择自己喜欢的方式。

因此本题可以采用经典三选一类题目的构思策略：我方选项的优点+对方选项1的缺点+对方选项2的缺点。当然思路比较开阔同学也可以考虑写两个我方选项的优点，加上一个段落讨论对方两个选项的缺点，甚至写3个我方选项的优点。

请参考如下范文：

As people continue to be more concerned about their health condition, more and more approaches have been put forward to address this issue. Some people believe that “we are what we eat”, so that our daily diet plays the most crucial role in maintaining health, while others assert that proper amount of exercise is the best way to keep a balanced body. However, in my opinion, reducing the stress would be better than both of them, according to the following reasons.

First and foremost, it could be extremely hard for us human beings to forego the enjoyment of delicate food. After millions of years of evolvement, the desire for a high-fat and high-sugar diet is written in our gene, since only those who had been able to obtain and intake enough food were able to live long enough to have the offspring, which makes them our ancestors. As a result, all their children – that is to say, us -- have the trait of favoring greasy and sweet foods. If we try to adapt our diet by avoiding fat and sugar, we would inevitably end up with nothing but struggling with the desire for them. Just as numerous studies in the field of eating disturbance show, those who have been striving the most to run counter to their desire for food, are at the highest risk of eating disorder, such as emotional eating, or even compulsive eating. Thus, changing the aspect of food should definitely be ruled out at the first place, due to its risk.

Furthermore, would it be a wiser choice adopting more exercise then? The answer is surely the negative. Exercise occupies time. We lead a way much more hectic life than our counterparts did in the past. Being busying working or studying, the precious leisure time we get after the day would be better spent on some relaxing activities. Who on earth would want to run on the playground or work out in the gym after a whole day’s exhausting work? Besides, in some cases, the time after work does not truly belong to ourselves either: we still have relationships to take care of, such as that with our family, friends, as well as our spouse. Therefore, generally the high-paced world also does not permit the second choice.

Last but not least, to reduce the stress in our life typically resolves both the problems presented above. If we could control the pressure at a lower level, there would be significantly lower chance for us to indulge in gorging. Normally, we eat because our body needs the calories, in which condition they will do no harm at all. But we frequently eat more than we need. Why? It is because when we eat, the brain releases chemicals providing us with happiness. Thus whenever we feel stressed out, by instinct we turn to food for a better mood even though the body does not actually need the food. So if the stress is controlled, undesirable eating behaviors could be prevented. Consequently, without excessive intake of calories, more exercise would not be a need at all, which would also save us more time dealing with our busy work and precious relationships.

Given the above points, I strongly disapprove that people try to control their diet or change their exercising habit for the health’s sake. Instead, more emphasis should be put on controlling the amount of pressure in our life.