美國的long weekend 快到了，放假時別忘了 定時溫書，好好充實自己的腦袋喔！今天我想和大家分享一篇我寫過的範文，你可以一邊閱讀這篇範文，一邊思考這篇作文的審題想點方式。
Question: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is a waste of money for the government to fund space travel and space exploration.
People have always argued on whether space exploration is indeed necessary. Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the moon on 1969.That was a big jump for technology development, and from then on, hundreds of astronauts had tried to investigate in the Universe to look for new scientific discoveries. However, should these acts be the priority of the government? Is space exploration of any importance? In my concerns, it would actually be a waste of money for the government to put big investments into space travel. The following are my arguments.
First, with limited budget, the government should deal with issues more urgent, and space travel is definitely not one of these issues. On this planet, we have problems of starvation and war in developing countries and problems of obesity and cancer in developed countries. In other words, there are lists of challenges for every single country on the globe, and these problems will likely influence the health of citizens and the political power of the country. Compared to these problems, space travel is only an investment made for an unknown future. The payback for this investment is not certain and not guaranteed. This is why space exploration is a waste of money. Compared to funding space travels, putting funds into rebuilding homes for people, for example, would probably be a better act of the government. For people and the government, it is easy to see the good deeds money can bring. We are able to envision how much money will be spent on the project; because of this, it would also be easier for the government to allocate budgets appropriately. In short, because solving problems that happen on the Earth would be more practical and also more urgent, funding space travel would actually be a waste of the government’s money.
Second, the government should put all its citizens into consideration, yet if it decide to put money in space exploration, the government would only benefit a few people in the country. These people, mainly rich people, should not be of the government’s concern because they live life happily without too much worry. Imagine if the government put money in helping astronauts to explore Venus. Few individuals will find this issue interesting. To put it further, even fewer will actually gain benefits from the exploration of Venus. Indeed, people might argue that with these discoveries, the final results of these researches will eventually benefit the society as a whole. However, since research results have to be tested over and over again, that will not happen until probably the next generation. To conclude, if the government put funds into space exploration, it will only be giving benefit to the researcher and the rich. This equals to putting the poor and other ordinary ones in stake, which is why the government should not put importance on funding space travel.
In conclusion, although quite some people will argue that space exploration has its values, I will strongly oppose to this concept. Space exploration does has its benefits, yet these benefits are limited and unpractical. This is why the government should not invest in space travel; instead, it should give attention to problems that do indeed make a difference to our
lives.
讀完這一篇文章，若你有讀過我曾經寫過的其他文章，你應該會覺得有些不一樣吧！平時我們在練習的，其實就是用最簡單的方式和邏輯，將一篇文章寫好、寫滿。 然而，私底下當我自己練習寫作，我也會嘗試交換使用不同的結構、句型、單字。今天我想任性地寫一篇我自己喜歡的文章，透過這篇文章，我也想分享我平時對困難題目的的想點方法。當然，我也用這篇範文，想和大家說，其實所謂的寫作結構或模板，都不應該是拿來死背的，如果你真的想將寫作練好，你應該要學會靈活使用你所學的東西。
這篇文章寫的題目較難：你同不同意政府應投資或用財務支持探索外太空的行為？我特地選了這個題目，因為很多同學都對諸如此類的題目沒想法。
這樣的沒想法情有可原，因為 1)一般人大抵來說對政府都是不太有什麼想法的 2) 我們不是太空人，通常對外太空的探索這類議題根本沒興趣。
其實，我和大家一樣，也有上面所提的兩個大頭症。然而，我還是寫出一篇作文來了！你觀察得出來，是因為什麼原因嗎？
看似艱難的作文題目，先想好立場和想闡述的核心
其實方法很簡單。最簡單的方法，就是先去思考你認為的政府是一個什麼樣的角色，或是他應是什麼樣的一個角色。
下筆前，我會先問自己兩個問題：
1) 政府在我的心中，往往是好的？還是壞的？如此，我可決定我在寫作時的整個筆調。
2) 在我的價值觀中/ 或從我的生命經驗來看，有沒有什麼較重大的議題是我個人比較關心的？
從此，我可以判斷我要將我的例子往哪裡帶。
用比較方法推斷出你對於題目的態度，多著墨自己可以闡述的「議題」
通常，愈有感覺的議題，一個人的論述會愈多、愈豐富，因此，下筆前，你可以盡可能地思考， 哪一個議題是你覺得你比較能夠論述完整的？ 這些議題和外太空的探索有無相關性？如果有，相似在哪？如果沒有，不同點在哪？在上一篇文章中，我就在寫作前想到了這幾個議題： 癌症（因為我朋友的長輩最近得癌症了，心裡掛念著他）、貧窮地區的教育（畢竟我身為老師）、貧富差距（我很在意大家是否平等）、近日的花蓮地震（有許多人因為天災是完全沒有家可以住的，連過年都無法過），以及戰爭和可能致死的疾病（長存大家心中的議題）。
在寫作時，我會將議題拉出來說，然後一個一個對回和「政府」或「外太空探索」的關聯，實際上，就是一場精彩的辯論了。如果你曾經讀過我的其他文章，或是上過我的課，你可能會發現，今天這篇文章裡，我並沒有遵從「嚴格的一段一件事」 [m原則。這是因為，有時候身為作者，真的會在寫作的過程中發現有許多論述可以講，因此人很容易在段落間又提出新的資訊。從
寬而論，實際上我認為這是沒有關係的，因為只要你會歸類、歸檔資訊，很多你所提出的「相似但不同的觀點」，也會因為經過寫作者的整合，而讓讀者特別容易注意到「相似的部分」。 上面的範文中，我就是帶了像這樣的小訣竅，來幫助我的讀者更加理解我的段落重點的。
請再讀一次我的各申論段的元件：
First, with limited budget, the government should deal with issues more urgent, and space travel is definitely not one of these
issues. On this planet, we have problems of starvation and war in developing countries and problems of obesity and cancer in
developed countries. In other words, there are lists of challenges for every single country on the globe, and these problems will likely influence the health of citizens and the political power of the country. Compared to these problems, space travel is only an investment made for an unknown future. The payback for this investment is not certain and not guaranteed. This is why space exploration is a waste of money. Compared to funding space travels, putting funds into rebuilding homes for people, for example, would probably be a better act of the government. For people and the government, it is easy to see the good deeds money can bring. We are able to envision how much money will be spent on the project; because of this, it would also be easier for the government to allocate budgets appropriately. In short, because solving problems that happen on the Earth would be more practical and also more urgent, funding space travel would actually be a waste of the government’s money.
第一段：我帶了政府只有有限預算因此更應著重較緊急的社會議題 – 舉一些影響國家人民較為重大的社會議題（像戰爭、肥胖、癌症、本來想帶低生育率但臨時無法換字變成一個符合文法又有強調出我堅定態度的句型，乾脆犧牲）- 中間帶入「太空探索是不可預期的、不一定有投資報酬率的行為」（寫到一半發現自己沒有延伸緊急，反倒一直在延伸 space exploration 的不可預測性）-趕快帶回大家可以直接聯想到的緊急社會議題（像是地震後的蓋房子）(但省略地震兩個字以避免句子太長失焦）- 帶回對人民的利益- 對回對政府的預算考量（也就是我一開始提到的主題句概念）- 最後，偷放 practical 這個字，以暗示space exploration 真的不urgent, 不practical 又花錢。
Second, the government should put all its citizens into consideration, yet if it decide to put money in space exploration, the government would only benefit a few people in the country. These people, mainly rich people, should not be of the government’s concern because they live life happily without too much worry. Imagine if the government put money in helping astronauts to explore Venus. Few individuals will find this issue interesting. To put it further, even fewer will actually gain benefits from the exploration of Venus. Indeed, people might argue that with these discoveries, the final results of these researches will eventually benefit the society as a whole. However, since research results have to be tested over and over again, that will not happen until probably the next generation. To conclude, if the government put funds into space exploration, it will only be giving benefit to the researcher and the rich. This equals to putting the poor and other ordinary ones in stake, which is why the government should not put importance on funding space travel.
第二段：我主要想帶出一個不一樣的段落結構。因此，我用了清楚的例子— explore Venus 來作為反例。寫出explore Venus 之後，因為第一段在講的是「此探索不是國家較為緊急的議題」，第二段索性就講「太空探索只能幫到極少數人」。段落中，提到自己深有感覺的貧富差距（我有稍微包裝過此概念，讓他變得符合句型以及題目的邏輯），其中，還再提點了一次「太空 [m
科技的好處要很久之後才能實現」，再次呼應我的第一段。最後，整篇文章結尾時，我再次重申自己對太空探索的想法，總結了第一、二段最重要的概念，以強化讀者對我立場的了解。
從這篇文章中，你看得出來，我對太空議題實際上也沒有很深入的了解嗎？也許你看得出來哈哈，但是，寫作中，議題的深入性其實並沒有那麼重要，比較重要的是主考官要知道，你對政府該做的決策有一定的想法。
其實，這樣的論述能力在考托福寫作時，就已經綽綽有餘了。:) 當然，因為我平時練習寫作也會將雅思的一些寫作方法和想點技巧也帶進來，你會發現我在我的作文中會確實有意識地練習抽換單詞、句型以及平時所學的新用語。
舉例來說，在我的範文裡，你會發現：
the people= the society= individuals= ordinary people
funding= put investments in = put budget in= give financial aids (似乎最後一個詞這次沒用到)
總之，如果你想練習這樣的技能， 平時就要多累積你的字庫，並且要常常練習將你學過的字用出來，你的英文造詣能力才會真的進步。
最後，我總結一下，對於托福較困難的題目，我們可以如何審題想點：
1. 先思考出你對這議題大致的看法，即便沒想法，也可以至少想想自己是贊成還是反對？你覺得這件事是 有用還是沒用呢？
2. 在這事件裡的主角是誰呢？你通常對他有什麼既定印象呢？
3. 這件事情的背後，有哪些被影響的人以及決策者呢？這些人會因為這件事得到什麼幫助或是因為這件事而損失什麼嗎？
4. 有沒有什麼類似於這個議題的事，他們為什麼類似？ 你的論述裡，他們扮演什麼功能？
（比如：與太空探索的類似議題是癌症解藥的研究。為什麼他們相類似呢？他們都是研究。那他們不同在哪呢？太空探索幫助比較少人，癌症幫助更多人。因此，我站反對立場）。
5. 提醒大家，論述時，要記得將你的理由、元件等都放在對的結構上，你的段落及申論才會顯得合理、可採信。
在這一篇文章中，我把我的想法大致整理成以下的大綱（草稿）了，有興趣的同學，歡迎參考。
Funding space exploration
Not practical, should not be an immediate concern
Government (budget limited) – should focus on more important problems (these problems influence more people) –
e.g. war (Syria) poverty (African countries) —> poor countries, cancer
(medicine, cure), obesity (rich countries)
Space exploration — like imagining the future, too hard to foresee <—> easy to envision?
e.g. Building houses for people in need
Inequity （我的核心思想）- space exploration only benefit the rich – does not help to make people equal –
(different from 1st), give specific example – Venus. (Time control problems 快速收尾)
在時間有限的情況下，心中的擬稿是很難被全寫出來的。但至少，你可以永保這種精神，用大綱的方式想你的作文，並且隨時練習，在每個主題出現的時候，都有一些單字、元件可以用，可以說。如此，你寫作時，方向將會更明確。希望我今天的分享有幫助到大家！
