SAT作文唯“洋例子”论的误区

作者：Jonathan Haagen     翻译：Peter Mu

    从2005年10月SAT I首次将写作列入它考试的一部分，写作就成为中国学生实现高分突破的最大障碍。而学生在写作中面临的最大问题就是采用何种例子能更好地佐证自己的观点。麻省理工大学所做的一项研究表明，使用历史和文学的例子往往得分高于使用个人经历。然而，困惑中国学生的关键的问题是：“我应该用中国还是西方的例子呢？”

   目前几乎所有中国的SAT 培训机构都建议学生只使用西方（甚至是美国）的例子。得出这样结论的原因是多数老师认为美国阅卷人对中国历史和文化并不了解也不感兴趣，它们会引起阅卷人的困惑甚至是反感。乍一听似乎是个非常合理的解释，但我研究的结果与此结论正好相反。事实上，恰当地引用中国文化和历史人物非旦不会影响学生的考试成绩，反而更容易让你的文章脱颖而出。

   我们的学生首先尝试只用西方的例子来支持自己的论文，后来他们采用中西结合例子的文章，学生的得分平均上升1.5分。在一个满分为12分的评判尺度下，这已经是一个不小的提升。

   有四个原因来证明学生使用中国文化和历史的优势：

   1）这些例子更加新颖。你可能会认为，自己掌握的历史资料都是大家所熟悉的，并没有太多新意。那是因为你从小生长在中国，对于西方读者而言已经是奇闻逸事了。想象一下一位美国高中教师在一天之内至少要披阅500份SAT作文，如果每位学生都在大谈爱迪生是如何克服困难发明灯泡的，这为可怜的老师会作何感想。讲述一些中国的故事让你的文章读起来更有新意，同时也让阅卷老师的工作相对愉悦一点。

   2）你的中国故事可以有点偏差。假设你需要写一篇关于克服困难文章。如果在考场你不能迅速想到一个伟大的历史人物的相关经历，你告诉他克林顿人生中的第一个10年是在失明中度过的，阅卷老师马上就知道你在编造故事。但如果你用康熙皇帝举同样的例子，没有阅卷老师敢轻易断定你是在捏造故事。这就为你提供了巨大的灵活性，以确保你的例子能准确地支撑你的观点。

   3）你对美国文化和历史的了解可能非常有限。许多中国学生高估了自己对美国历史的了解程度。即使你所掌握的信息是正确的，它们不仅是需要是正确的，更需要与美国人所了解的完全一致。我的一个学生在SAT 作文中讲到在美国南北战争初期的葛底斯堡战役中成千上万人献出了宝贵的生命。作为一个中国学生，他对这段历史的了解已经让我印象深刻。然而，任何学过历史的美国人都知道，葛底斯堡战役发生在南北战争中期，第一个大战役实际上是布尔朗战役。看起来像是鸡蛋里挑骨头，还是希望同学能记住这个告诫。当你使用美国例子时，你需要更加准确，但也增加了你写作的难度。

   4）中国故事有助于阅卷人意识到你是华人。我们的一个学生曾经写得一篇举中国例子的文章，结果让我很震惊。她的文章得到了7分，尽管他的文章满是拼写错误和语病，结构也非常简单，在我看来这样的文章只有4-5分。为什么评判老师如此慷慨？我举一个发生在自己身上的例子。在中国经常有朋友不吝赞美之词，称赞我蹩脚的汉语多么多么的好，而反过来嘲笑一些美籍华人的汉语说得多么奇怪。原因很简单，对每个人的期望值不同。在一定程度上，华人身份可以改变你的分数。请记住阅卷者并不是机器。

   但要注意即使是中国历史上非常最著名的人物（除了毛主席，孔子或姚明），您需要在讲述故事前交代一些背景资料，因为并不是所有阅卷人都和你一样了解中国历史。其他培训机构可能会告诉你要避开中华文化和历史，但是我强烈建议你学会利用它们来吸引你的美国“读者”。它决不会让你的写作分数大打折扣，结果恰恰相反！ 

What Examples Should You Be Using
 

Since the essay section was first introduced to the SAT Reasoning Test in 2005, it has been a thorn in the side of many Chinese test takers. One of the biggest challenges students face is in knowing what examples will help them make the strongest arguments possible. A study done at MIT revealed that writers who used examples from history and literature tended to score higher than those who used just personal anecdotes. However, for Chinese students a key question has always been: “Should I use Chinese or Western examples?”

Nearly all test prep centers in China currently advise their students to use only Western (sometimes only American) examples. The reasoning for this is that the graders are likely to be confused by or uninterested in Chinese examples. This may seem like a reasonable philosophy, but my research has found just the opposite to be true. Far from hurting them, Chinese students benefited from using Chinese examples.

 When we had our Lucy Haagen Method students try first writing essays that used only Western examples to support their thesis, and then later had them use a combination of Chinese and Western examples, students saw their scores jump by an average of 1.5 points. On a scale of just 12 points, that is a huge difference.

There are four key reasons why using Chinese examples can be greatly advantageous to you.

1)They are fresh and original. You may think that anecdotes about the dynastic period in China are simple and straightforward because you and all your peers know them by heart. However, they will be fresh and interesting to Western readers. Imagine the poor high school teacher who has to grade 500 SAT essays on his or her day off. Imagine how sick he or she must get of reading the millionth reference to Thomas Edison developing the light bulb. By using Chinese examples, you will be writing something a little bit more interesting and creative than what the grader is used to seeing.

2)You can get a Chinese example a little bit wrong. Let's say you need to write an essay about overcoming hardships. Let's say you can't think of a great historical figure who has overcome hardships. Your American grader will know you are just fabricating a story if you tell him that Bill Clinton spent the first ten years of his life blinded by a childhood illness. If you make the same claim about the Emperor Kangxi, no grader will be the wiser. This gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility to make sure that your examples neatly fit the argument that you are trying to make.

3) You don't know American examples as well as you think you do. Time and again, Chinese students overestimate their knowledge of American history. Additionally, even if you have your facts straight, they don't just need to be right, they need to be the same as what Americans learn. I had one student who wrote about the beginning of the American Civil War, and the gruesome toll taken by the Battle of Gettysburg. Knowing that he was a Chinese student, I was very impressed that he knew so much about the war. However, any American who has been through American history knows that the Battle of Gettysburg did not happen until the mid-point of the war, and that the first big battle was actually the Battle of Bull Run. If that seems like I am splitting hairs, it is just another reason to heed this warning. When you use American examples, you are going to need to be much more accurate and that raises your degree of difficulty.

4)It helps to let them know you are Chinese. When one of our students wrote the essay with Chinese examples and submitted it for scoring, the results astounded us. Her essay received a score of 7 despite the fact that it was simply riddled with spelling errors, run-on sentences, and suffered from very poor organization. The reason why the essay was scored so generously is the exact same reason why Chinese people compliment my terrible Mandarin, while they make fun of my Chinese-American friends (even when they speak quite well). The expectations are simply different, and at a small level, that can do much to change your score. Remember these are people doing the grading. They are not machines.

Now, you would be foolish to think that you could simply discuss Chinese examples in your essay in the same way that you could when speaking to people in China. Even for some of the most famous figures in Chinese history (basically everyone who is not named Chairman Mao, Confucius or Yao Ming) you will need to provide some background information before making your point about them. However, that is a simple and easy change to make. Other test prep centers will tell you to shy away from Chinese culture and history. I promise you that it is better to embrace it. You must learn to explain it in a way that resonates with American readers, but never listen to anyone who tells you that Chinese culture and history has no value to Americans. It definitely does!