雅思寫作用詞進階—小詞也能拿高分

詞呢是沒有很大差別的，只要用得好，一個good也會讓你的文章增色不少，那究竟要如何合理地將大詞與小詞搭配使用，纔是雅思寫作詞彙進階的關鍵一步呢?

請看本文分解。

讓我們來看一篇雅思寫作考官範文的用詞：

It is important for children to learn the difference between right and wrong at an early age. Punishment is necessary to help them learn this distinction. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? What sort of punishment should parents and teachers be allowed to use to teach good behavior to children?

One important stage in a child’s growth is certainly the development of a conscience, which is linked to the ability to tell right from wrong. This skill comes with time and good parenting, and my conviction is that punishment does not have much of a role to play in this. Therefore I have to disagree almost entirely with the given statement.

To some extent the question depends on the age of the child. To punish a very young child is both wrong and foolish, as an infant will not understand what is happening or why he or she is being punished. Once the age of reason is reached however, a child can be rewarded for good behavior and discouraged from bad. This kind but firm approach will achieve more than harsh punishments, which might entail many negative consequences unintended by the parents.

To help a child learn the difference between right and wrong, teachers and parents should firstly provide good role modelling in their own behavior. After that, if sanctions are needed, the punishment should not be of a physical nature, as that merely sends the message that it is acceptable for larger people to hit smaller ones – an outcome which may well result in the child starting to bully others. Nor should the punishment be in any way cruel.

Rather, teachers and parents can use a variety of methods to discipline their young charges, such as detention, withdrawal of privileges, and time-out. Making the punishment fit the crime as a useful notion, which would see children being made to pick up rubbish they have dropped, clean up graffiti they have drawn, or apologise to someone they have hurt. In these days responsibility is developed in the child, which leads to much better future behavior than does punishment.

這篇文章是雅思寫作教育類的一個話題，其中的關鍵詞就是learn the difference between right and wrong，punishment等，這類大詞在寫文章過程中往往需要找到同義詞進行替換，增加我們表達的多樣性，避免重複率太高。

文章除了使用sanction等近義詞之外，還巧妙地用一些比較具體的小詞來對punishment做了替換，如第三段中用physical nature, hit等來表達體罰，第四段用detention, withdrawal of privileges, time-out等表達具體的懲罰形式，不僅詞彙上多樣化，也給出了具體的例子，比起全文都是空洞地只談punishment一詞要靈活很多。

對於difference between right and wrong這個比較複雜關鍵詞的替換，很多學生都會覺得無從下手，因爲這更難找到一個詞去概括，也很難用句子解釋。文中使用到了good behavior，responsibility等同樣是比較具體的詞去指代“good”，同時用 bully, rubbish, graffiti, hurt等行爲去具體化“bad”，同樣用小詞代替大詞，達到了詞彙的多樣化。

讓我們再來看看一個題目裏的用詞之妙吧：

Countries are becoming more and more similar because people are able to buy the same products anywhere in the world.

Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

針對這樣一道文化和經濟社會以及全球化的題目，核心的一些名詞可能會涉及產品、文化等，而對於像 product, culture這樣抽象的雅思寫作“大詞”，雖然很常見，但往往是很難找到近義詞來替換的，並且也很難用從句的形式來進一步解釋;與此同時，如果重複使用的話，會顯得比較單調。

那考官是怎麼“變變變”的呢?

咱們先來看考官的範文：

It is said that countries are becoming similar to each other because of the global spread of the same products, which are now available for purchase almost anywhere. I strongly believe that this modern development is largely detrimental to culture and traditions worldwide.

A country’s history, language and ethos are all inextricably bound up in its manufactured artefacts. If the relentless advance of international brands into every corner of the world continues, these bland packages might one day completely oust the traditional objects of a nation, which would be a loss of richness and diversity in the world, as well as the sad disappearance of the manifestations of a place’s character. What would a Japanese tea ceremony be without its specially crafted teapot, or a Fijian kava ritual without its bowl made from a certain type of tree bark?

Let us not forget either that traditional products, whether these be medicines, cosmetics, toys, clothes, utensils or food, provide employment for local people. The spread of multinational products can often bring in its wake a loss of jobs, as people turn to buying the new brand, perhaps thinking it more glamorous than the one they are used to. This eventually puts old-school craftspeople out of work.

Finally, tourism numbers may also be affected, as travellers become disillusioned with finding every place just the same as the one they visited previously. To see the same products in shops the world over is boring, and does not impel visitors to open their wallets in the same way that trinkets or souvenirs unique to the particular area do.

Some may argue that all people are entitled to have access to the same products, but I say that local objects suit local conditions best, and that faceless uniformity worldwide is an unwelcome and dreary prospect.

考官在這裏就用了一個列舉的小技巧，用多個具體的“小詞”來替換掉這些抽象的“大詞”。

比如文章在開頭段中提到這樣的發展是對culture 和 traditions 有害的，而在主體段的第一句中作者將文化和商品聯繫起來的時候，用的詞就是history, language and ethos(道德觀)，這三者是文化的三方面，三個名詞的並列又基本足以代表文化。

與之類似的，在文章的第三段和第四段中，作者又用了medicines, cosmetics(化妝品), toys, clothes, utensils(器皿) or food這一系列的詞和trinkets(小裝飾物) or souvenirs來代表與 product 相關的概念。這樣的用法除了避免重複、使詞彙更加豐富多樣之外，還可以針對要表達的論點給出更準確的例證，比如medicines, cosmetics, toys, clothes, utensils or food涵蓋生活的各個方面，體現出對各行各業就業的影響;而trinkets or souvenirs則又與旅遊緊密相關。