BC英语10年级省考的作文,强调了“originality, creativity and individuality”。我戏称这3个以“ty”(谐音tea)为英语作文的“三杯茶”。

第一杯茶——originality(原创性):

考试作文的大忌就是剽窃抄袭。学生平时可以尽可能多地接触优秀范文,可以刻意模仿优秀范文的思路,风格,修辞技巧,但必须将这些优秀的因素消化成自己的东西,而不是机械地依样画葫芦甚至大段大段地照抄。

第二杯茶——creativity(创造性):

作文的创作性,可以体现在文章结构的构思上(比如是论说文还是记叙文,用哪种开篇哪种结尾);笔调风格上(比如是抒情,幽默,还是思辨);遣词造句上(比如用何种修辞手段,用难度稍高一点的词汇)。

第三杯茶——individuality(个性):

学生要慢慢地形成自己独特鲜明的个性和风格。读者能够从作文中感受到作者的秉性,情绪,修养,思想的深度,知识面的广度,还能够从行文风格上和遣词造句上有一种似曾相似的感觉,很容易把它与芸芸众生的作文一下子就区别开来。

原创性,创造性和个性,其实离不开对优秀范文长期不断的学习,模仿,以至消化成自己的东西。

下面是一篇风格独特的中学生作文,该作者当年就凭这篇牛文,被纽约大学录取。从中,大家可以斟酌品味到上面提到的英语作文“三杯茶”:

QUESTION: ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR
ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A
PERSON?

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I
have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making
them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic
slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time
efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot
bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook
Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a
veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly
defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious
army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the
subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large
suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On
Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of
charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie.
Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear.
I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I
have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last
summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force
demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me
fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy.
I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day
and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I
know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have
performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week;
when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I
successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a
small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On
weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami.
Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down.
I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a
toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San
Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the
Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and
I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

该文作者那种天马行空匪夷所思的想象力,张扬恣肆的夸张手段,排山倒海的排比句式咄咄逼人扑面而来,让读者有点招架不住。作者活泼好动敢作敢为的性格跃然纸上,自己的兴趣才能一目了然。任何学校的考官都会喜欢这样的学生。

这就是英语作文“三杯茶”的醇厚与甘甜。