新托福独立写作解析：规则的束缚

新托福独立写作解析：规则的束缚

　　托福写作题目：

　　Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Society has created too many rules for young people.

　　托福写作思路指导：

　　How do you go about writing better sentences? The answer is simple. You learn the same way you learn almost every other skill: by imitating the examples of those who have that skill. You probably have already discovered that it its easier to master anything---jumping hurdles, doing a swan dive, or playing the guitar------if you IMITATE a MODEL

　　William Strunk

　　托福写作范文仿写练习：

　　▶ 大声朗读，通读全文

　　Young people today are bound by a myriad of social and legal conventions, and it seems to me that these rules are excessive and often ineffective. Young people are governed by too many rules.

　　First are social conventions. In my country, young people are expected to follow a fairly standardized and linear path on the road to adulthood. ‘Responsibility’ is the operative word. Schooling follows a certain road: K-12 education to prepare you for college, college to prepare you for work, work to prepare you for a respectable career and a brief period of independence before settling down as an adult. Deviating from this is generally frowned upon. It sounds terribly irresponsible to drop out of college and go backpacking through India, for example, and for many young people, it probably is. Then again, this is exactly what Steve Jobs did, and nobody can argue with those results. The problem here is that, while we meanwhile in enforcing these rules, they’re highly inflexible and box the creativity of youth at a critical stage in their development. Social conventions, which were originally intended to anchor young people, instead end up restricting their paths of development.

　　Second are legal conventions. The laws governing the behavior of young people are not really commensurate with the physical and emotional realities of youth. For example, in my country, you must be 18 in order to buy cigarettes and 21 to buy alcohol, but for some reason you only have to be 17 to go to war. This means that those too young to be trusted with the responsibility of vices like smoking and drinking might still be old enough to experience the trauma of military combat. Vices like smoking and drinking are irresponsible uses of time, because they tend to derail you from the life trajectory that society prescribes. Serving in the military, however, is not, because soldiering is the epitome of a standardized, linear, and responsible life. These laws only add up to an unclear message to youth about how they must be responsible but that we don’t trust them to be responsible. Such contradictory ideas are not beneficial to youth and their role in society.

　　Now, admittedly, young people do need guidelines when growing up. It’s an oftentimes scary and confusing process. Without the right type of guidance, it can be very easy for young people to go down the wrong path. But sometimes the right type of guidance is no guidance, and sometimes taking the wrong path can teach you how to find the one you’re meant for. The problem with the rules confronting young people today is they’re too many and too inflexible. They don’t encourage young people to learn , to adapt, or to find their own way. And they don’t trust young people. All they do is stunt the growth of a generation of youths, who then go on to foist the same lousy system on the next generation. To me, this isn’t a system that begets ‘responsibility.’

　　So yes, I think society has created too many rules for young people. The only way things will improve is if we give them a little more freedom and trust in finding their own way, while still being there to provide guidance should they want it. When they finally do acquire a sense of responsibility, it’ll be because they grasped the concept themselves.

　　▶学习重点词汇表达

　　Are bound by 受约束，束缚

　　Are governed by 受管束

　　The operative word 有效的字眼

　　Deviating from 偏离

　　Box the creativity 遏制创造力

　　Anchor 引导

　　commensurate with 相符，一致

　　experience the trauma of military combat 经历战争的创伤

　　derail you from the life trajectory 脱离预设的轨道

　　the epitome of a standardized, linear, and responsible life 标准化，线性上升和责任人生的典范

　　begets responsibility 产生责任感

　　acquire a sense of responsibility 获得责任感

　　▶ 边读边填，加深印象

　　Young people today (_________)受约束 a myriad of social and legal conventions, and it seems to me that these rules are excessive and often ineffective. Young people (___________)受管束 too many rules.

　　First are social conventions. In my country, young people are expected to follow a fairly standardized and linear path on the road to adulthood. ‘Responsibility’ is (_____________) 有效地字眼. Schooling follows a certain road: K-12 education to prepare you for college, college to prepare you for work, work to prepare you for a respectable career and a brief period of independence before settling down as an adult. (______________)偏离 this is generally frowned upon. It sounds terribly irresponsible to drop out of college and go backpacking through India, for example, and for many young people, it probably is. Then again, this is exactly what Steve Jobs did, and nobody can argue with those results. The problem here is that, while we meanwhile in enforcing these rules, they’re highly inflexible and (____________) 遏制创造力 of youth at a critical stage in their development. Social conventions, which were originally intended to (________)引导 young people, instead end up restricting their paths of development.

　　Second are legal conventions. The laws governing the behavior of young people are not really (__________)一致 the physical and emotional realities of youth. For example, in my country, you must be 18 in order to buy cigarettes and 21 to buy alcohol, but for some reason you only have to be 17 to go to war. This means that those too young to be trusted with the responsibility of vices like smoking and drinking might still be old enough to(___________)经历战争的创伤. Vices like smoking and drinking are irresponsible uses of time, because they tend to (_________)脱离预设的轨道 that society prescribes. Serving in the military, however, is not, because soldiering is (__________)标准化，线性上升和责任人生的典范. These laws only add up to an unclear message to youth about how they must be responsible but that we don’t trust them to be responsible. Such contradictory ideas are not beneficial to youth and their role in society.

　　Now, admittedly, young people do need guidelines when growing up. It’s an oftentimes scary and confusing process. Without the right type of guidance, it can be very easy for young people to go down the wrong path. But sometimes the right type of guidance is no guidance, and sometimes taking the wrong path can teach you how to find the one you’re meant for. The problem with the rules confronting young people today is they’re too many and too inflexible. They don’t encourage young people to learn , to adapt, or to find their own way. And they don’t trust young people. All they do is stunt the growth of a generation of youths, who then go on to foist the same lousy system on the next generation. To me, this isn’t a system that (_________________)产生责任感。

　　So yes, I think society has created too many rules for young people. The only way things will improve is if we give them a little more freedom and trust in finding their own way, while still being there to provide guidance should they want it. When they finally do (________________)获得责任感, it’ll be because they grasped the concept themselves.

　　▶ 打开电脑，开始仿写(原英文输出-汉译英)

　　当下的年青人受制于数不清的社会习俗和法律规则的捆绑。我觉得这些规则种类繁多且无效。年轻人被规则过度束缚。

　　首先是社会习俗。 年轻人被期盼遵循一条标准化和线性攀升的道路迈入成年。责任是个有效的字眼。求学的道路是既定的：K-12是为上大学作准备，上大学是为找工作做准备，工作赋予你体面的职业和独立生活，随即你便成人了。偏离这条轨道，往往是众矢之的。比如：大学辍学，游走印度听起来是极不负责任的事，对多数年青人来说也确实如此，但是，Steve Jobs就是这么做的啊，没有人会对今天他取得的成就而指责他年轻时的所为。问题在于，这些规则非常僵化，束缚年轻人在他们成长关键期的创造力，而我们仍然在强化这些规则的束缚力。社会习俗，初衷是为了引导青年人，而事实是局限了他们发展的道路。

　　其次是法律规则。法律规则对年轻人行为的束缚与青年人真实的情感和身体状况并不一致。比如，在我的国家，你需要年满18岁可以购买香烟，年满21岁可以购买烈酒，但是出于这样或是那样的原因，你只需要年满17岁就可以参加战斗了。这意味着那些太年轻无法驾驭香烟和烈酒的人却足够成熟到可以去经历战争的创伤。吸烟喝酒是对时间的辜负，因为它会使你偏离社会预设给年青人成长的轨迹。应征入伍却不是辜负时间，因为军人是标准化，线性上升和承担责任的典范。这些法律规则传递给青年人关于责任的信息是不清楚的，与此同时，年轻人并不被信任。这种矛盾的做法对于青年人和他们在社会上的角色并无益处。

　　当下，诚然青年人确实在成长的路上需要指引。成长通常是一个让人害怕和满是困惑的过程。没有正确的引导，青年人容易误入歧途。有时候，正确的引导也许并不是引导，有时候，走弯路让你有机会发现真正的自己。当下年轻人所面对的问题是繁多和僵化的各种规则束缚。这些规则并不鼓励青年人去学习，适应和找到他们自己的路。这些规则设定的初衷并没有基于信任青年人的基础之上。规则制定人所做的无非是威慑青年人，这些青年人又再一次将这个同样糟糕的制度传递给下一代。与我来说，这样的规则束缚并不会产生‘责任感’。

　　所以，我确实认为社会设置了太多的条条框框约束青年人。如果我们给他们一些自由，一些信任，相信他们可以找到自己在社会上的位置，这是唯一改善现状的机会。同时，如果青年人需要的话，社会确保给予他们及时的引导。如果说青年人理解到责任的含义，那也是源于他们自发的捕捉到了这个概念的真正含义。