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原标题：托福写作话题之朋友类的应对策略
对于新托福独立写作的部分，只要稍有准备的考生都会熟悉教育类和生活类相关话题，往往在考试前也准备好了相应素材和词汇，但这并不意味着写作高分就能唾手可得。原因很简单：新托福独立写作的话题类型五花八门，既有考生相对熟悉的教育和生活场景，也有一些相对陌生的场景，如朋友类的话题。在过去的几年里，朋友类话题出现的频率并不高，往往一年才出现2-4次；然而在2017年的第二季度（4月-6月），该类话题已经出现了四次之高，值得广大考生在备战过程中重视并做好充足的准备。那么，朋友类话题如何准备呢？朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师将会结合该类真题，给出解题答题的宝贵建议，助更多的考生在写作上更上一层楼。
一切源于生活
有很多考生在遇到朋友类话题时，觉得非常苦恼，既为选择什么样的观点苦恼，也为缺少论证的理由、素材而发愁。这里，朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师提醒考生们要了解ETS的出题源泉和出题目标。首先独立写作的题目来源基本都是学生教育和生活过程中的场景，这样才能很好地测试学生将来对海外的学习和生活场景的适应力。在清楚了这一点后，我们在看待朋友类话题时，就应该谨记：一切源于生活。选择个人的观点，选择合适有效的论证，都应该从生活中来，从生活中选取合适的角度来思考，做分析。
2017年6月3日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
One can learn a lot about a person from the type of friends this person has.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
以上的托福独立写作完全重复2011年11月13日考题，考查了解一个人的方法，大意是从一个人所交朋友的种类可以了解很多关于他/她的情况。题目是支持反对类型，选择哪一方支持呢？在回答这个问题之前，需要思考一个人所交朋友类型和一个人的性格、兴趣、生活环境之间是否有关联。如果两者有关系，就大可以选择支持，认为一个人所结识的朋友能体现他/她的性格、兴趣、生活环境。反之，如果认为两者之间没有关联，就可以给出个人所交朋友并不能提供一个人的性格、兴趣、生活环境的信息。不管是哪种回答，我们都可以很清楚地看到在解答过程中，性格、兴趣、生活环境这些关键词在朋友类的话题中的重要意义。性格，具体表现为一个人待人接物的方式和生活态度。兴趣，不言而喻是个人喜欢做的事或关注的领域。而生活环境则可以指的是一个人的居住、学习、工作的环境和氛围。在理解了这三大要素之后，我们发现这道真题的解题过程就变得相当有趣和轻松了。
选择支持：Social life boosts personal happiness, however, it has been recently raised whether the type of one person's friends can help others to know this person. Personally, I am firmly convinced that friend type can be a good indicator of one person’s life outlook, the interest, and the profession.
1. 首先，一个人所交朋友的类型可以折射出来这个人的生活态度。朋友们的行为方式一定程度上可以体现这个人的人生态度和处世方式。更别说，朋友间的情绪和人生态度是能相互影响的。In the first place, the type of one’s friends can inform us of the attitude towards life. It is universally acknowledged that the people who a person aspires to communicate with usually have some in common especially the life goal, the way they associate with others, the approaches they would like to deal with specific problems in life. All consist of a person’s distinctive life outlook. It is not difficult to find that optimistic ones are fond of establishing relationship with those can confidently deal with the hardship arising in life. It is also noteworthy that the attitudes and emotion of one’s friend can highly affect the person, which is termed as interaction. Therefore, the friend type serves as an indicator of one’s outlook towards life.
2. 此外，朋友类型可以告诉我们这个人真正感兴趣的领域或事情。物以类聚，人以群分。往往一个人的喜好和与他兴趣爱好相似的人接近。
What is more, the type of friends one socializes with can indicate the true things that can ignite his/ her passion in life. If one person has a considerable number of friends who can and enjoy playing one instrument like the saxophone, it can tell us that this person at least shows great enthusiasm in music performed by saxophone. As the old saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Those who are zealous in playing tennis incline to establish connection with those who play tennis or have the same interest since they would like to participate in this sport activity and absorb information relevant to the sport. This inclination further validates my viewpoint.
3. 由于时间和精力有限，一个成人的朋友类型还有可能提供与他工作相关的信息。Finally, provided that one has many friends who have the identical profession, it presents that this person is interested in this domain. It is highly possible that the profession he/ she undertakes is loosely or tightly related with this field. For example, my uncle is a doctor himself, whose time is mostly devoted to medicine and surgery. As for him, he barely had time to socialize with people outside the hospital. Therefore, my uncle makes friends with other doctors and nurses, which justifies my propensity that friend type can be an effective factor to suggest one’s profession.
4. 最后，还原到生活，做出一个小让步，即：只是依靠一个人的朋友类型判断得出的有关信息，有时也会存在些谬误；但是不管怎样，一个人的朋友类型确实在很多情况下能给予很多宝贵的信息。
It is undeniable that solely relying on the type of one’s friends can lead to erroneous deduction of one’s character or temperament. However, it must be noted that friend type can afford valuable information on one person’s life attitude, interest and profession.
从以上的分析和论证示范可以看到，朋友类话题虽然剑走偏锋，出其不意，但题目场景还是源于生活，所以解题思路也须从生活中找到相对应的法门，就像之前本文提到的三大要素：性格、兴趣、生活环境。
图片源于网络跟着“感觉”走(follow your heart)
在对朋友类话题有了最初的了解之后，相信大家还是能够找到一些解题的方向的。而这个单元则是针对有观点选择困难的考生，对于选择哪边更有利这一问题，朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师则建议大家，哪边的观点更合自己的心意，就选择哪边。因为在朋友类话题中没有所谓好和不好的观点，只有愿不愿意选择。换句话说，大多数话题的争议双方都有一定的道理，无论选择哪一方，只要证明合理，表达清楚，合乎要求即可。那既然如此，何不听从自己的内心，选择一个让自己乐于、愿意支持的一方呢。
2017年4月1日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
When you have been friends with someone for a long time, it is important to continue your friendship with that person even if he or she does something you do not like.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
这道题目重复了2015年5月30日的独立写作题目。从题型上来看，还是属于支持反对话题。题目大意是：是否支持以下命题——你的老朋友做了一些你不喜欢的事情，你仍然选择继续友谊。其实中断关系或继续友谊都是个人选择，没有人会指责，也没有对错之分。在独立写作任务的完成中，考生只需要遵从内心的声音，follow your heart选择即可。
可以采取这样的写作思路：
1. 首先，与做了一些让自己不喜的事的人继续做朋友，可以让一个人学到更多，开拓视野。一个人不喜欢的事很多时候是因为这个人以前没有尝试过类似的事情，或者和自己之前的看法观点完全不同。比如：一个视游戏为眼中钉、肉中刺的人，有天突然发现，他的朋友开始沉浸在游戏的世界中。这件事当然会让他不快，不爽，不认可。但是如果可以打开心扉，继续交流，他说不定会发现，游戏并不是全部都是不好的，玩游戏的人也并不是都是一事无成的。这样就让自己开阔了视野，学到更多以前所不知道的知识。
2. 其次，那些曾经让自己不喜欢的事最终会增进自己和朋友的友谊。因为不同，不喜欢，我们会有分歧。在解决分歧的过程中，会带来更深入的了解和理解。比如，之前所讲的打游戏的例子。与朋友沟通了解，会让自己更了解朋友打游戏的初衷，理解他的行为。也能让对方了解到他的行为可能会产生的后果，进而对另一方的担忧产生感动。在这些过程中，双方都更理解对方，展现了更多的关心，从而增进友谊。
3. 最后，如果只因为老友做了一次你不喜欢的事，你就结束友谊，这会让我们痛失好多朋友，痛失许多美好时光。因为人无完人，每个人都会做错一些决定，或做过一些“蠢”事儿，如果只是因为某一个无关痛痒的细节，就终止友谊，这无疑是滑稽荒唐的。
再使用五段式结构，将以上思路转换成合乎要求的独立作文，来帮助广大考生更好地理解这道题。以下为朗阁海外考试研究中心老师的原创范文：
Fellowship has played an increasingly instrumental role in people’s life, regardless of different age brackets. It has been raised that one should show no tolerance towards different actions or even the dislikes by one’s friend with whom a long-lasting friendship has been developed. Many people intuitively side with this viewpoint. However, I insist forgiving some actions of an old friend that you dislike might widen your horizon, consolidate the relationship and create more chances to stay happy.
First and foremost, one’s vision can by expanded by maintaining a relationship with people who did something we do not like. Friends sometime may behave in an unexpectedly different way and arouse certain degrees of dislike. This can be explained by individuality which defines and features a person. If everyone around us think alike and act alike, what our world is going to be? Are you still meant to make friends with these people who always have identical behaviors and thus cause no repulsiveness. I’m afraid the answer is negative. The logic behind is that it will be tedious and unfavorable for us to obtain the very specific knowledge in other fields or domains that we are not familiar with, if we inclined to make friends with the people having similar outlooks. My friend Tony lately was preoccupied with playing phone games which at first triggered my misunderstanding and dislike because in my opinion playing video games was tightly connected with skipping classes and poor academic performance. Yet, I chose to continue our relationship as I saw Tony’s success in balancing learning and playing. To my surprise, later communication reveals properly playing games can not only refresh mind but also teach one to adopt different strategies to win games and earn credits. As a result, accepting the dislikes may provide a different outlook, get rid of the bias, and enlarge the vision.
Another reason why I opt for continuing friendship lies in that some time things one doesn’t like can provide opportunities to enhance the emotional bonds between the two. One prefers to do things in a way that one another dislikes or hates, then divergence ensues. It is universally acknowledged that when there is a divergence there is a way out to deal with this divergence. In the attempt to eliminate such divergence, both parties need to clarify one’s own standpoint and know what is the bottom line of the other which was not known by one before. All contributes to a better relationship. Tony’s enthusiasm in phone game indeed created a highly favorable condition for us to deepen mutual understanding. Further communication makes me know Tony was capable of behaving himself and phone games are not necessarily a hazard while Tony realized too much playing is risky. Therefore, the bond between us was consolidated by further understanding.
Finally, if we changed the attitude to friends just because our friends did something we dislike, it would be difficult for us to develop ever-lasting relationship, let alone enjoying the quality time spent with friends. As is said before, individuality defines a person. Though we have common interests or outlooks, differences still take place when we think, learn, play. We might be resistant or averse to the difference, nevertheless, it is the friends’ choice that deserves equal respect which is the foundation of all sorts of relationship. Thereby, tolerating the differences or dislikes can help build lifelong relationship. Otherwise, a long friendship was discontinued and an old friend was lost. Sooner or later, one has to live a solitary life without companions. Friendship is fragile which needs toleration and forgiveness. Toleration can nourish the friendship and brings more chances to be happy. If we forgave what our friends did, and continued to participate in some social activities or sports with them, we would be delightful to find the dislike barely had an influence on the relationship and we would have listeners to the annoyances, companions in travel, team members in soccer team.
All in all, I am firmly convinced that existence of the difference or dislike is conducive to development of lifelong friendship and we should hold an open and tolerant attitude to friends even if their different action is a bit repulsive.
其实在阅读了以上范文之后，大家都能清楚地看到选择继续友谊是完全行得通的。那么对于另外一边：中断友谊，是否也是好的选择呢？朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师认为，只要能证明合理性，就完全可以写。想选择中断友谊的同学也可以尝试对应的思路：
1. 首先，朋友的基础是共同的兴趣，喜好。如果两个朋友，一个最近喜欢上酒吧，而另外一个很讨厌这种行为，试想他们会有多大的分歧，甚至会出现争吵。至少不会像以前那么亲密，一起度过那么多的空余时间，渐渐地，两者的关系就疏远和中断了。
2. 其次，当一个人发现自己讨厌另一个人的某个行为，往往会发展成为讨厌这个人的其他行为。以前不曾发觉的不喜，会不断毁坏心目中另外一个人的良好印象。就像一个朋友在你面前讲别人如何如何不堪，胡乱地评价别人，在那之后，你就会越来越多地注意到这个人的其他缺点，如尖酸刻薄，爱慕虚荣。所以合则来，不合则去，当发现你不喜的行为时，就及时远离吧。
3. 另外，有些行为虽小却可以体现一个人的品质和修养。如果一个朋友对你撒谎，对别人也撒谎，那么最好还是发现这样不诚信的行为之后，就及时中断两者的友谊，从而避免更多的谎言。
所以，大多数的朋友类的支持反对类型，选择无对错，只要心之所向，能证明合理，就是可行的选择。
万事无绝对
另外，在朋友类话题中也存在一些比较特殊的题型，这些题型会包含一些比较绝对的词汇，如：“completely”, “always”, “cannot”等。对于这类题目，朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师建议：不要支持绝对化的观点，以减轻开拓思路所带来的压力。如：
2017年5月6日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It is impossible to always be completely honest with your friends.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
这道题重复了2013年7月21日和2011年12月17日的独立写作题目。从题型上来看，还是属于支持反对这一经典题型。题目大意是：是否支持以下命题——对朋友不可能做到一直诚实。不难发现，在题目中包含了“always”（一直，总是），“completely honest”（完全诚实）这样绝对化的字眼。设想一下，如果考生认为“always be completely honest with your friends”是可行的，在接下去的主体段中，势必会遇到超高思维难度。即使最终考生能在考场上硬挤出一、两点原因，但是时间和产出肯定是不成正比的。因此，在面对包含绝对化表达的朋友类话题时，我们还是秉承“万事无绝对”这一原则来处理。再来看2017年5月6日的独立写作题目，此时我们就会发现持有这个观点“It is impossible to always be completely honest with your friends”要稳妥得多，避免绝对词给答题带来过多的干扰和困难。可以从“completely honest”的对立面“telling some white lies”来寻求破解思路。而“telling lies”还是“telling truth”是ETS早在新托福OG模拟题就出现过的经典话题。
OG sample question:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Always telling the truth is the most important consideration in any relationship.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
因此，我们可以轻松找到经典话题，结合“telling some white lies”的具体实例，对这道题有效地进行解答。可以采取这样的写作思路：
1. Telling white lies could better help the friends to gain more confidence. 比如一个朋友在比赛之前问你，今天的衣服漂亮吗？最好的答案自然是夸赞她的衣服漂亮，给予她足够的鼓励和信心。
2. Sometimes hiding something can produce more surprises and provide impressive reminiscence and recollection. 有时候不告诉朋友实情会制造出意想不到的惊喜。For example, I once helped prepare birthday party for a friend without telling her in advance.
3. There is no denying that always being dishonest to friends is baneful to the relationship which definitely disagrees with my propensity. We sometimes can tell white lies either to encourage or surprise a friend and keep the relationship intact. 当然，不可否认，一直撒谎是不对的，但只要目标单纯，不会破坏友谊就可以了。
从以上的真题我们可以看出，绝对化的观点相对不安全。而遵循“万事无绝对”原则，进行对应客观性的论述，会比较有利于考生在考场上获得更充裕的时间来清楚优质地表达自我的想法。下面我们再来看一道真题，帮助大家进一步理解。
2012年2月25日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Two persons cannot be friends if one is richer than the other.
Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
这道题目依然是支持反对类型，考察考生是否支持“如果两人贫富差距明显，是不能成为朋友的”这一观点。如果还是无视题中“cannot”这一绝对化词汇，不少考生就会走上一条崎岖小路，认为“富人和穷人之间不可能发展出友谊”。然后却会发现，论述过程很辛苦，理由匮乏，例子奇缺，可想而知，这样的考试注定不会有太满意的结果。所以，朗阁海外考试研究中心的老师还是建议大家坚持“万事无绝对”，选择相对安全和客观的观点。比如刚才这道题，如果选择该题的对立面，认为“富人和穷人也能成为朋友”，思路就会宽阔很多，至少生活中，书本中，影视作品和历史人物都可以提供一些写作素材和例子，然后很快成文。主体段如下：
Truthfully, the phenomenon that wealth may be one of the barriers to make friends is existing under some circumstances. People who are in the lower or less disadvantageous stratum in economy would not like to have rich friends for their inferiority complex. They are worried to be looked down by the rich and their self-dignity may be hurt and they are over-sensitive when they are getting along with the rich. On the other hand, the rich are not willing to have poorer friends for pride and prejudice.
However, it needs to be noted that friendship development relies on common interest, trust, fidelity and mutual benefit instead of wealth equity. Those things I have mentioned above can be viewed as money is far less than important in a healthy friendship. What real friends can give us is that they are always there. A lot of my friends are working in careers such as freelance writing and mountain climbing. They don’t make as much money as I do. But when we get together and have a couple of drink, we never ever consider who is richer. Actually, this is the only moment when I am able to take off the mask and demonstrate a real me. One day, one of my best friends claimed that he went bankruptcy and he decided to pack up to go wandering first. He didn’t want any money from me but told me that he made friends with me not because of my wealth but my personality.
In addition, two good friends with one of them richer are actually more likely to maintain a stable relationship than those who possess more equal wealth. When the relatively less rich person gets into financial trouble, he could easily turn to his friend who will help him through hardship financially. There was a well-known legend, dating back to the Spring and Autumn period which was approximately three thousand years ago, about Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya’s friendship. Guan was poor but very talented and Bao took a tremendous amount of money to assist him to study and pursue his career. Years later, their friendship still was maintained so well even if Guan became the prime minister of the enemy state of Bao’s.
不同朋友，各有优势
之前所看到的题目都是支持反对类型的，那么下面我们就来看看关于朋友类的另外一种重要题型--双边对比题型。新托福考官对于这类话题也是情有独钟，常需要大家在不同类型的朋友间进行选择。如：
2017年4月15日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It’s better to make friends with intelligent people than with people who have a good sense of humor.
Use specific examples to support your answer.
2012年12月22日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It is better to choose a friend with whom you can have fun than to choose a friend that will help you when you are in need.
Use specific examples to support your answer.
通过审题，我们可以发现常考的几个高频朋友类型，如：intelligent people（聪明人），people who have a good sense of humor（幽默的人），a friend with whom you can have fun（让你快乐的人），a friend that will help you when you are in need（会帮助你的人），似乎每一个都很不错，值得交往。那么遇到了这些选项，我们怎么进行选择呢？其实，应对这种题目也并不难，只要谨记“不同朋友，各有优势”，做到两碗水端平即可。详细一些，也就是A朋友有优势、重要的，但这不意味着B朋友不重要，B也有很多重要的贡献。下面我们来看一下具体解决方法：
2017年4月15日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It’s better to make friends with intelligent people than with people who have a good sense of humor.
Use specific examples to support your answer.
这道题的意思是是否跟聪明的人交朋友比跟幽默的人交朋友更好，典型的观点对比型题目，这里需要申明的是：观点对比型话题，并非对立型，非得要选择一方。很多时候可以是双方都有道理，如这道题问的是：是否同意跟聪明的人交朋友比跟幽默的人交朋友更好？我不同意，也可以是因为我认为两者都好。这样的话，就很好地解释了“不同朋友，各有优势”的含义，思路也就豁然开朗了。如下：
1. Firstly, making friends with the intelligent ones can facilitate us to solve problems and help harvest more. 首先，我们可以通过跟聪明的人交朋友提升自己。一般来说，聪明的人总会在某一方面或者某些方面是突出的，我们可以向他们学习他们的长处，以此提升自己的能力。
2. Secondly, intelligent friends can offer immediate and practical advice to us when we went stuck in dilemma. 第二，聪明的人在我们遇到困难的时候能够提供的帮助很多。我们在遇到困难的时候一般都会向聪明的人求助，因为我们相信他们提供的建议会是比较有理的(rational)，一般来说，聪明的人思维逻辑是很清晰的，可以帮助我们分析我们遇到的问题，然后针对性地提出对策(countermeasures), 让我们更快地从难题中走出来，并且我们在这个过程中可以学习到他们逻辑思维的方法，以后自己在遇到一些问题的时候可以自己解决。
3. Intelligent friends being important does not mean that making friends with humorous people is less important. In fact, having friends with good sense of humor can provide an effective outlet for negative emotion, for example, the stress. 当然，幽默的朋友也是非常重要的，因为他们可以给我们的生活带来欢乐和正能量，让我们在有压力的时候帮助我们缓解压力。压力缓解，就会让我们能够更好地寻找解决方法。所以如果聪明的朋友可以帮助我们去解决这件事情，对我们压力的释放是会更加有效的。
当然，对于两者“intelligent people”和“humorous people”, 他们的位置先后和段落比例都是可以变化的。如果考生对于“humorous people”的优势，能拥有两点，如：. 幽默的人其实都是大智慧的人，也能给予很多帮助；‚. 与幽默的人相处很轻松，让人放松，有助身心健康。那么“humorous people”也是可以写两段的。总之，面对朋友类的双边观点类题目时，“不同朋友，各有优势”是我们迅速有效的解题关键。
下面我们一起看一下，如果运用这点，是否会对我们解其他题目有所帮助。
2012年12月22日新托福独立写作真题
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
It is better to choose a friend with whom you can have fun than to choose a friend that will help you when you are in need.
Use specific examples to support your answer.
这道题提出两个不同对象：“a friend with whom you can have fun”, “a friend that will help you when you are in need”, 似乎很难选择。其实不然，只需记住之前提到的“不同朋友，各有优势”这一关键，在解题答题过程中给出双方对应都有优势，并不是“让你快乐的朋友”就不好，或者没有“帮助你的朋友”好。
老师的原创范文如下：
Friends are priceless treasure in our life. Different friends play different but meaning roles in our life. Some can afford happiness, some can teach us valuable lessons while other friends always are ready to help us out. A dispute has been raised whether a friend with whom one can have fun is more important than a friend that will help. From my perspective, both types of friends are of great significance and we cannot live without either party.
Firstly, friends we can have fun with give us many chances to be happy. To illustrate it more precisely, loving parties and activities is an important indicator to suggest these friends are optimistic, easy-going and mostly humorous. In other words, they are those who can brighten our life and drive away the gloomy days. People all need someone to share their happiness. Out of the time spent with these friends, we can get a lot of pleasure and relief from the difficulties by doing something we all show an interest in. Take my friends for example, I knew them on campus. During college life, we often play basketball, go to cinema, and enjoy the delectable food which I had never tasted. We have so great fun together that they have been my close friends who I treasure a lot.
Another point I’d like to highlight is that these friends are not necessarily infamous and repulsive. Friends, if one treats them with honesty, will repay the same loyalty, even more. For example, I started to take an interest in playing tennis one year ago and made a friend called Tim who was also interested in playing tennis. Moreover, Tim is talented in telling jokes. His jokes always are appropriate without hurting others. The time I spent with him taught me a lot, for example, how to start conversation, how to get rid of embarrassment by telling jokes. I don’t think a friend like Tim is less important because such a friend can afford tons of useful information and skills. Also, it is noteworthy that such a friend can make his/ her idea more easily accepted by others under relaxing atmosphere.
It must be admitted that one will help us out of adversity is a reliable and important friend. Numerous examples can verify this. As an old saying goes, “a friend in need is a friend indeed”. Therefore, friends that we can get help from are just as precious as those friends with whom we are happy. They may not necessarily be with us all the time, but they are those whom we can always trust in and turn to when we need help. Since we cannot manage to tackle all difficulties in our life, friends who are ready to offer help are people we cannot live without.
To put all into a nutshell, the friends we can have fun with and the friends that are willing to help are of equal significance and neither should be ignored by us.
因此，从以上朋友类的真题分析中，我们可以发现该类型题目源于生活、贴近生活，只要在考前结合以上复习建议，做好充足的准备和练习，相信在独立写作中肯定会有不错的发挥。
本文转载自《海口朗阁英语培训中心》的新浪博客，点击阅读原文。
小编注：本文为转载新浪博客文章，观点只代表作者本人，不能代表新浪立场，新浪尊重原创。
责任编辑：润琰
