Unit 1: Claims, Evidence, and the Rhetorical Situation
AP English Language and Composition Topic 1 6:20 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
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Transcript
Here is the single most common weak answer in this whole course.
这是整门课程中 最常见的一种薄弱答案。
"The writer uses a rhetorical question."
"作者使用了一个反问句。
That sentence earns nothing, and it is what most students write.
" 这句话拿不到分， 而这正是多数学生写的。
AP English Language is not a literature course.
AP 英语语言不是一门文学课。
It is a course in how texts do work on readers — and the rhetorical situation is what turns a device into an argument.
它研究的是 文本如何对读者起作用， 而修辞情境 正是把一个修辞手法 变成一个论证的东西。
This writer, prompted by this exigence, made this choice, to move this audience, toward this purpose.
这位作者， 因这一促因而动笔， 做出了这一选择， 为了打动这一受众， 走向这一目的。
The CED defines the rhetorical situation as the exigence, purpose, audience, writer, context and message taken together.
课程大纲把修辞情境定义为 促因、目的、受众、作者、语境与讯息 的总和。
Learn those six by name, and use the names — precision here is directly rewarded.
要按名称记住这六项， 并且使用这些名称， 这里的精确性会直接得到奖励。
Each has a precise meaning.
每一项都有确切的含义。
The exigence is the part of the situation that inspires, stimulates, provokes or prompts a writer to create a text.
促因是情境中 激发、刺激、促使 作者创作文本的那一部分。
It is the reason this text exists now.
它是这个文本此刻存在的理由。
The purpose is what the writer hopes to accomplish, and a text may have more than one purpose.
目的是作者希望达成的事情， 而一个文本可以有不止一个目的。
Note that exigence and purpose are not the same thing: exigence is what prompted the text, purpose is what the writer wants to achieve.
注意，促因与目的不是同一回事： 促因是促使文本产生的东西， 目的是作者想要达成的东西。
The audience has shared as well as individual beliefs, values, needs and backgrounds — so "the audience" is never a single uniform thing.
受众既有共同的、 也有各自不同的 信念、价值、需求与背景， 所以"受众"从来不是 一个单一均质的东西。
The context includes the time, place and occasion in which the text was created.
语境包括文本被创作时的 时间、地点与场合。
And the message is what the text actually says and does.
而讯息是文本实际说了什么、做了什么。
Identifying claims and evidence is the second skill, and it has a shape: claim-plus-evidence.
辨认主张与证据是第二项技能，它有一个固定形状：主张加证据。
Writers convey their positions through one or more claims that require a defence, and they defend those claims with evidence and reasoning.
作者通过 一个或多个需要辩护的主张 来表达自己的立场， 并用证据与推理为这些主张辩护。
Effective claims provoke interest and require a defence, rather than stating an obvious known fact that requires no proof.
有效的主张能引起兴趣、 需要被辩护， 而不是陈述一个 显而易见、无需证明的事实。
That gives you the most useful test in the course.
这给了你本课程中最有用的检验方法。
Ask of any sentence: could a reasonable person disagree?
对任何一句话都问： 一个讲道理的人 会不会不同意？
If not, it is not a claim.
如果不会，它就不是主张。
It is a fact, and building a paragraph on it produces writing with nothing to prove.
它是事实， 而在事实之上搭一个段落， 写出来的东西没有什么可证明的。
And the CED's list of evidence types is deliberately wide: facts, anecdotes, analogies, statistics, examples, details, illustrations, expert opinions and personal experience.
而课程大纲的证据类型清单 故意列得很宽： 事实、轶事、类比、统计、 例子、细节、插图、 专家意见与个人经历。
Recognising an anecdote or an analogy as evidence is itself a skill.
能把一则轶事或一个类比 认作证据， 本身就是一项能力。
Unit 1's writing objective is deliberately small: write one paragraph containing a claim and evidence that supports it.
第一单元的写作目标故意定得很小： 写一个段落， 包含一个主张 与支持它的证据。
Everything later in the course is an elaboration of this.
课程后面的一切 都是对它的展开。
A working shape has three parts.
一个可用的结构有三部分。
A claim that requires defence — arguable, specific, and narrower than the whole thesis.
一个需要辩护的主张， 可争议、具体， 而且比整篇论点更窄。
Evidence chosen because it supports this claim, and embedded syntactically rather than dropped in: writers relate source material to their own argument by syntactically embedding quoted, paraphrased or summarised material into their own sentences.
因为支持这一主张而选出的证据， 并且在句法上被嵌入， 而不是随手放进去： 作者通过在句法上 把引用、转述或概述的材料 嵌入自己的句子， 使源材料与自己的论证发生关系。
The evidence is not placed beside your sentence; it is built into it.
证据不是放在你的句子旁边， 而是被建构进句子里。
And then commentary explaining how the evidence supports the claim.
然后是评述， 说明证据如何支持主张。
That third step is the one students skip, and it carries most of the marks.
第三步正是学生会跳过的一步， 而它承载了大部分分数。
The single most common failure on these essays is a paragraph in which the evidence is present and the explanation is absent.
这些作文最常见的失败， 就是一个段落里 证据在场而解释缺席。
The reader can see the quotation.
读者看得见引文。
What they cannot see is why you think it proves your point.
他们看不见的 是你为什么认为它证明了你的观点。
The free-response section has three questions, and they use the same skills in different arrangements.
自由作答部分有三道题， 它们以不同的组合 使用同样的能力。
Question one, synthesis: you are given several sources and must build your own argument, using the sources as evidence rather than summarising them.
第一题，综合写作： 给你若干材料， 你必须建立自己的论证， 把材料当作证据来用， 而不是复述它们。
Question two, rhetorical analysis: you are given one text and must explain the choices the writer makes and how those choices contribute to purpose — which is the rhetorical situation applied.
第二题，修辞分析： 给你一篇文本， 你必须说明作者所做的选择 以及这些选择如何服务于目的， 这就是修辞情境的应用。
Question three, argument: you are given a claim or a scenario and must argue a position from your own knowledge and experience.
第三题，论证写作： 给你一个主张或情境， 你必须依据自己的知识与经历 为一个立场辩护。
All three are marked on a six-point rubric with the same three rows: thesis, one point; evidence and commentary, four points; and sophistication, one point.
三道题都按六分制评分， 有相同的三行： 论点一分； 证据与评述四分； 精深度一分。
Knowing that from Unit 1 tells you where the marks are.
从第一单元就知道这一点， 你就知道分数在哪里。
Four of the six come from evidence and the commentary on it, so a plan that produces evidence without explanation caps you at low marks no matter how good the writing sounds.
六分中有四分 来自证据以及对证据的评述， 所以一个只产出证据、 不作解释的写作计划， 无论文字听上去多好， 分数都会被限制在低位。
Here is what that looks like on a real task.
在真实的题目上， 这看起来是这样。
A rhetorical analysis prompt asks you to explain the writer's rhetorical choices in a passage.
一道修辞分析题 要求你说明作者在一段文字中的修辞选择。
A row-scoring answer does not say "the writer uses a rhetorical question."
能拿到该行分数的答案 不会说"作者使用了一个反问句"。
It says: faced with an audience that already agrees on the problem but not on its urgency, the writer opens with a question rather than a statement, forcing readers to supply the answer themselves and so to feel the conclusion as their own rather than as one imposed on them.
它会说： 面对一群 对问题本身已有共识、 但对其紧迫性尚无共识的受众， 作者以问句而非陈述句开篇， 迫使读者自己给出答案， 从而把结论感受为自己的， 而不是被强加的。
Notice what earns the points.
注意是什么在得分。
The audience, the choice, and the effect on purpose — the rhetorical situation, used.
受众、选择， 以及对目的的效果， 也就是被使用起来的修辞情境。
Never name a device without saying what it does to the audience.
绝不要只说出一个手法的名字 而不说它对受众做了什么。
A device with no effect earns nothing.
没有效果的手法拿不到分。
Five things to carry out.
带走五件事。
First, learn the six components by name and use the names — exigence, purpose, audience, writer, context, and message.
第一，按名称记住六个组成部分， 并使用这些名称： 促因、目的、受众、作者、语境与信息。
Second, exigence is not purpose: exigence prompted the text; purpose is what the writer wants.
第二，促因不是目的： 促因催生了这篇文本， 目的是作者想达到的。
Third, test every claim: could a reasonable person disagree? If not, it is a fact.
第三，检验每一个主张： 一个讲道理的人会不会不同意？
Fourth, embed evidence in your own sentence; dropped quotations read as unprocessed.
如果不会，它就是事实。 第四，把证据嵌入你自己的句子； 扔进去的引文读起来像没处理过。
Fifth, four of six points are evidence and commentary — write the commentary, and never name a device without saying what it does to the audience. A device with no effect earns nothing.
第五，六分中有四分 是证据与评述， 所以要把评述写出来， 而且绝不要只说出手法的名字 而不说它对受众做了什么。