“Diction” 在SAT写作中的分析

　　在SAT写作中，普遍同学遇到的瓶颈就是，很难在短时间内辨识出可以被作为分析对象的原文内容，特别是针对一些原文中没有明显证据的文章，这边所指的明显证据是“data”, “example”, “appeal to authority”等。那么今天主要和大家分享一下不是特别直接和明显得能够辨识出来的“diction”, 也就是 “careful choice of words”的分析。

　　一般来说，如果要去分析diction，一般该词汇肯定是能够体现它所在层次的层次大意。在实际操作过程中，最常出现diction分析部分的，一般就是在议论文中，作者表达观点部分的词汇。

　　拿《新SAT写作高分突破》附录部门的一篇文章作例子。文章标题为，“The Case Against Common Core”. 根据文后主旨以及标题本身的理解，很容易理解出来，该文章主要表述了作者对“Common Core”的反对，认为其并不会像其初衷一样，提高美国学生的学术水平。

　　那么根据主旨的理解，我们很轻易的就可以去文章的开头部分去挑选一些表达作者对Common Core不支持的一些态度的词汇作为分析对象。很明显这些词汇有“supposedly”, “In theory”, “hurt”, “overlook”. 挑选完词汇之后，再用“3 W ”的方式去进行该层次的分析，就显得轻而易举了。

　　Sample:

　　In order to expose the author’s attitude towards the application of Common Core, the author starts her article off by utilizing careful choice of words. The author uses the words such as “supposedly” and “in theory” to express her idea that Common core actually fails to live up to its original goal of improving the American students’ academic performance, and successfully conveys her opposition to the adoption of this Initiative. To be more specific, according to the 2012 Program for International Students assessment, the average grade of American students’ grade in science, reading and math is worse than that of other 34 developed nations, further suggesting the failure of the Common Core.  The diction serves as a vehicle to underscore the author’s dissatisfaction to the CC. 更多SAT写作干货敬请关注新航道SAT考试频道