SAT写作之文章的基本结构

  《金字塔原理》一书的作者是毕业于哈佛大学商学院的芭芭拉· 明托(Barbara Minto)，此书已畅销30 余年，被誉为“现代最棒的关于写作与思维逻辑的读物”。书里提到的写作与思维逻辑构建方法是对西方思维方式的总结，同时又潜移默化地影响了西方的知识群体。书的作者芭芭拉· 明托指出：文笔清晰的文章很容易看出来，因为这种文章都具有清晰的金字塔结构(pyramidal structure)，而文笔不清晰的文章则不具备这一结构。因此，要想写出让评分者中意的文章，我们需要在文章里构建金字塔。

  一、 金字塔典型结构

  想要在文章里构建金字塔，就得把文章分为总(开头)—分(主体)—总(结尾)三个部分。这样，顺看、倒看都是金字塔。具体形式请看下图总结：

  通常，文章的开头和结尾各为一段，主体部分由并列的二至四段组成。上图中，虽然显示主体段为三段，但实际操作中，可以根据需要进行调整。

  二、 金字塔范文分析

  下面是一道来自于《SAT 官方指南》的作文题，探讨的是关于“改变(changes)”的话题。

  “让我们生活变得方便的改变能不能也让生活变得更美好呢?”以下这篇范文对这个问题持否定态度，在论述过程中采用了金字塔结构，具体请看文章后的结构图(为了便于理解，在文章中标记出了与结构图相对应的内容)。

  In our modern, technologically advanced world, convenience has trumped over quality in many aspects of daily life. As the pace of life rapidly quickens in developing cities around the world, with people trying to keep up with changes in cosmopolitan hubs like New York and London, the quality of everyday life has gradually decreased. We no longer worry about how to communicate and eat, or how often and quickly we can find food, but must be concerned about the quality of communication and edibles.

  One technological development we generally associate with practicality is the Internet.However, though it may provide convenience, the Internet also undermines the quality and intimacy of our social and emotional lives. For example, increasing numbers of internet users,particularly adolescents, are socially dependent upon chat rooms and virtual communication. American teenagers are reportedly online for an average of four hours each day, while Chinese teenagers spend hours at a time in dark, smoky internet cafes, rather than having face time with peers and their families. Thanks to the World Wide Web, it has become easier to access information and contact others, but the quality of human interactions has decreased. Instead of seriously looking at the expressions, emotions, and connections that form our relationships,socializing has become largely reliant on shallow expressions and phrases epitomized by“LOL,”“ TTYL,” and the like. Thus, technology has increased the means of communication,but not the quality of interpersonal relationships.

  Another aspect of contemporary convenience is food preparation. McDonalds has revolutionized the way society feeds itself, but not necessarily in a beneficial way. Before fast food, preservatives and mass production, humans ate more healthily by consuming fresh, seasonal, unprocessed, and natural ingredients. However, an effect of modernization has been the quickening pace of daily life, leaving mothers and fathers, or yuppies with little time and energy to prepare full meals everyday. Grabbing prepared dinners out of the freezer to heat and serve in a matter of minutes indeed saves hours of cooking time, and is quite cheap as well. However, nutritionally, these TV dinners and takeout entrees are often laden with fat,salt, MSG, and other undesirable ingredients. Humans in developed nations have become increasingly unhealthy due to sedentary lifestyles, and convenient food is a major culprit of this. Fast food and processed goods have contributed to astronomical obesity rates. Therefore, though the weary workforce may find easy-to-prepare packaged food infinitely more practical than cooking from scratch, their arteries and vital organs are suffering from the unnatural, chemically-produced products passing as food, leading to higher rates of heart attacks, heart disease and diabetes than ever.

  Thus, a more convenient lifestyle is not always synonymous with a higher quality one. In order to judge whether convenience truly improves living standards, we must examine the trade-offs between saving time and lesser quality. At times, what we sacrifice for convenience is actually our well-being and quality of life. (488 words)

  此文的大体结构图如下：

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