托福写作如何进行“瘦身”训练

 　　托福作文简洁的建议一： 避免空洞的单词和词组

　　1. 一些空洞的单词或词组根本不能为句子带来任何相关的或重要的信息，完全可以被删掉。比如下面的句子：

　　When all things are considered， young adults of today live more satisfying lives than those of their parents， in my opinion.

　　这句话当中的“when all things are considered”和“in my opinion“都显得多余。完全可以去掉。改为：

　　Young adults of today live more satisfying lives than their parents.

　　2. 有些空洞和繁琐的表达方式可以进行替换，例如：

　　Due to the fact that our grandparents were under an obligation¹ to help their parents， they did not have the options that young people have at this point in time.

　　“due to the fact that”就是一个很典型的繁琐的表达方式的例子，可以替换，简化为下面的表达方式：

　　Because our grandparents were obligated to help their parents， they did not have the options that young people have now.

　　托福作文简洁的建议二： 避免重复

　　1. 尽量避免重复使用同样的词汇。或者有的时候虽然词汇没有重复，但意思却有重复。这时候可以做一些简化的工作。

　　2. 有时一个词组可以用一个更简单的单词来替换

　　托福作文简洁的建议建议三：选择最恰当的语法结构

　　选择合适的语法结构可以使句子意思的表达更为精确和简练。虽然语法的多样性也很重要，但选择最恰当的语法结构仍然是更为重要的考虑因素。以下原则是在考虑选择何种语法结构时可以参考的原则：

　　1. 一个句子的主语和谓语动词应该能够反映句子中的最重要的意思。

　　2. 避免频繁使用“there be”结构，

　　3. 把从句改为短语或单词。

　　4. 仅在需要强调宾语而不是主语的时候，才使用被动语态。

　　5. 用更为精确的一个动词来代替动词短语，例如下面这句话：

　　My grandfather didn't have time to stand around doing nothing with his school friends.

　　Stand around doing nothing其实可以用一个动词来表达，即loiter：

　　My grandfather didn't have time to loiter with his school friends.

　　有时两句话的信息经过组合完全可以用一句话来简练地表达，例如：

　　Profits from the farm were not large. Sometimes they were too small to meet the expenses of running a farm. They were not sufficient² to pay for a university degree.

　　两句话的信息可以合并为下面这句更为简洁的句子：

　　Profits from the farm were sometimes too small to meet operational³ expenses， let alone pay for a university degree.

1 obligation   

n.（法律、道德上的）义务，责任

参考例句：

• Every player is under an obligation to keep the rules.每个选手都必须遵守这些规则。
• It is the obligation of citizens to perform military service.服兵役是每个公民的义务。

2 sufficient   

adj.enough充足的，充分的

参考例句：

• His income is sufficient for his needs.他的收入能满足他的需要。
• Have you had sufficient?你吃饱了没有？

3 operational   

adj.运转的，即可使用的；操作上的

参考例句：

• The airport did not become operational until May.机场到五月才可使用。
• The whole system will be fully operational by December 1995.整个系统到1995年12月将可全面投入使用。