A Thesis for a Given Prompt · 给定题目的论点
On the exam the interpretation is asked for
- A thesis still expresses an interpretation and still requires defense through textual evidence and a line of reasoning.
- What changes on an exam is that a prompt tells you what the interpretation must be about.
- A brilliant thesis about something the prompt did not ask scores as if it were not there.
An exam thesis is not a generic greeting card; it has to answer the prompt in front of you.
在考试中,阐释是被要求的
- 论点依然表达一种阐释,依然需要通过文本证据与推理线索加以捍卫。
- 在考试中变化的是:题目告诉你这个阐释必须关于什么。
- 一个关于题目没问之事的精彩论点,得分如同它不存在。
考场论点不是通用贺卡；它得回答眼前的这道题。
The habit that prevents a good reading of the wrong thing is... · 防止误读的好习惯是……
Every literature prompt names what you must interpret. · 每一道文学题目都指出了你必须解读的内容。
Read the prompt for its noun
- Every literature prompt contains a noun naming what you must interpret: a relationship, a shift, a complexity, an attitude.
- Underline it, and make sure that noun appears in your thesis.
- That single habit prevents the commonest zero-earning essay: a good reading of the wrong thing.
从题目中读出它的名词
- 每一道文学题目里都有一个名词,点明你必须阐释什么:一段关系、一次转变、一处复杂性、一种态度。
- 把它画出来,并确保这个名词出现在你的论点里。
- 仅这一个习惯,就能避免最常见的零分文章:对错误对象的一次很好的解读。
Restating the prompt in your own words makes a serviceable thesis. · 用自己的话重述题目可以形成一个合格的论点。
It is relevant and undisputable — and defensibility is what earns the point. · 它是相关且无可争议的——可辩护性正是得分的关键。
Defensible, not just relevant
- Relevance gets you into the question; defensibility earns the point.
- The poem presents a complex attitude is relevant and undisputable — it restates the prompt.
- Name what the complexity consists of, and the thesis becomes something a reader could argue with.
可被捍卫,而不只是切题
- 切题让你进入这道题;可被捍卫才使你得分。
- 这首诗呈现了一种复杂的态度既切题又无可争议——它只是复述了题目。
- 说出这种复杂性由什么构成,论点就变成读者可以与之争辩的东西了。
Thesis, restatement, or off-prompt? · 论点、重述还是偏题？
Sort each opening for a prompt about a speaker's attitude to her childhood home. · 根据关于说话人对童年故居态度的题目，对每个开头进行分类。
Name what the complexity ____ of, rather than asserting that it is complex. · 指出复杂性____了什么，而不是断言它具有复杂性。
That is the interpretation the rubric is looking for. · 这正是评分标准所期望的解读。
Restating the prompt is not a thesis. The poem conveys a complex attitude toward the past uses the prompt's own words and asserts nothing a reader could dispute. Name what the complexity consists of — that is the interpretation the rubric is looking for.
复述题目不是论点。 这首诗传达了对过去的一种复杂态度用的是题目自己的字眼,没有断言任何读者可以争议的东西。要说出这种复杂性由什么构成——那才是评分标准要找的阐释。
A list of devices counts as previewing a line of reasoning. · 列举手法相当于预告了一条推理线索。
It never did — a preview names claims, not techniques. · 它从未真正做过——预告指的是论点，而非技巧。
Previewing is still optional
- A thesis may preview the line of reasoning; the CED still does not require a list.
- Under time pressure a short preview helps you as much as the reader — it fixes the paragraph order before you start.
- But a list of devices is not a preview of reasoning, and never was.
预示线索依然是可选的
- 论点可以预示推理线索;CED 依然不要求罗列。
- 在时间压力下,一句简短的预示对你和读者同样有用——它在动笔前就固定了段落顺序。
- 但一份手法清单不是对推理的预示,从来都不是。
Select all · 所有 the questions in the sixty-second prompt-thesis check. · 选择 所有 第六十二题论点检查中的问题。
Three checks, each catching a different way an essay fails at the first sentence. · 三个检查点，分别捕捉论文在第一句失败的三种不同方式。
A prompt-thesis check, in sixty seconds
- Does the prompt's noun appear in my thesis?
- Could a careful reader of this text disagree with it?
- Can I name, in order, the two or three claims that will defend it?
六十秒内完成的题目论点检查
- 题目的那个名词是否出现在我的论点里?
- 读过这个文本的细心读者会不会不同意它?
- 我能否按顺序说出将要捍卫它的那两三个主张?
Prompt noun: the speaker's complex attitude toward her childhood home. Restatement: the speaker's attitude is complex. Thesis: the speaker can praise the house only in the past tense, so her affection depends on the house being unrecoverable. Same subject, and only the second can be argued with.
题目的名词:说话者对童年故居的复杂态度。复述:说话者的态度是复杂的。论点:*说话者只能用过去时来称赞这所房子,因此她的眷恋依赖于这所房子已无法收回。*同一个主题,而只有后者可以与之争辩。
On an exam, the prompt names what the interpretation must be about — put that noun in your thesis. Relevance gets you into the question; defensibility earns the point, so name what the complexity or shift consists of rather than restating the prompt. Previewing the reasoning is still optional.
在考试中,题目点明了阐释必须关于什么——把那个名词放进你的论点。切题让你进入这道题;可被捍卫才使你得分,因此要说出那种复杂性或转变由什么构成,而不是复述题目。预示推理线索依然是可选的。