人的一生总是要面临各种各样的取舍: 最新最好用的电子产品价格总是高的惊人，价格心仪的商品又感觉没有那么适合自己。我们总是要在比较中平衡利弊做出最合适的选择。在托福独立口语当中，也有这样一些题目，每个选择都不是那么完美，考生往往绞尽脑汁也选不出最完美的答案。今天就让我们一起来看看如何扬长避短，完美选择。
我们拿TPO61 Task1作为例题：
Imagine that you must decide between two homes to live in. One place is very large and is brand new; but it is very far from your place of work or university. The second place is very small and is very old, but you would be able to get to work or university in less than five minutes Which place would you prefer to live in? Explain why
这是一道选择住所的题目，通过审题我们可以看出，这两个选择截然相反：一个是“远大新“——特别远特别大特别新，另一个是 “近小破”——特别近特别小特别破，各自的优缺点在“very”一词的加持下，显得尤为明显。在回答这道问题时，考生的重点不应放在房子的状态上，即房子并没有那么远、那么破，因为“very”一词作为已知条件不容反驳。此时，我们可以采取扬长避短的方法，即放大优点的影响、缩小缺点的影响。
如选择“远大新”，放大优点影响——大而新的房子提供适宜的居住环境，让人心情愉悦进而提高每天的工作及学习效率;缩小缺点影响——可以利用较长的通勤时间看书背单词，高效利用，或者对远程学习办公的影响不太大;而选择“近小破”，放大优点影响——住的近可以省去通勤时间，每天可以晚起一些或利用这些时间高效学习;缩小缺点影响——每天大部分时间在学校度过，在家里的时间不多，即使又小又破也没有太大影响。这样扬长避短双保险后，答案自然而然就非常有说服性了。
我们来看一下sample answer:
As a senior student, I prefer the second place for two reasons:
First of all, I’m a completely night person, who has been used to sleeping late in the morning. It will kill me if I have to get up early to catch the early bus every morning. Also, I may use the hours in the morning to have breakfast or even have morning reading, which will definitely make the whole day efficient.
Secondly, living in small and old place is not so awful for me. I mean, I’m a senior student, so I spent at least 18 hours in the laboratory every day. To me, home is just a place for sleeping, therefore there are not any differences between a big house or small place.
最后我们再留一道家庭作业，看看大家有没有掌握扬长避短这一方法：
TPO 58 Task1:
Imagine you are looking for a new place to live near your university. You have two choices The first place is in a house, which you would share with several other students. The second place is a small apartment, which you would not have to share with others Which would you choose? Explain why.
想象你正在寻找一处新的住所，面临着两种选择：一种是和其他学生合住在一栋大房子里;另一种则是独居在小公寓里。你更想要住在哪里?
赶快用扬长避短的方法试试吧。 |
