SAT作文写作误区唯“洋例子”论_SAT写作

SAT作文写作误区唯“洋例子”论

　　2)You can get a Chinese example a little bit wrong. Lets say you need to write an essay about overcoming hardships. Lets say you cant think of a great historical figure who has overcome hardships. Your American grader will know you are just fabricating a story if you tell him that Bill Clinton spent the first ten years of his life blinded by a childhood illness. If you make the same claim about the Emperor Kangxi, no grader will be the wiser. This gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility to make sure that your examples neatly fit the argument that you are trying to make.

　　3) You dont know American examples as well as you think you do. Time and again, Chinese students overestimate their knowledge of American history. Additionally, even if you have your facts straight, they dont just need to be right, they need to be the same as what Americans learn. I had one student who wrote about the beginning of the American Civil War, and the gruesome toll taken by the Battle of Gettysburg. Knowing that he was a Chinese student, I was very impressed that he knew so much about the war. However, any American who has been through American history knows that the Battle of Gettysburg did not happen until the mid-point of the war, and that the first big battle was actually the Battle of Bull Run. If that seems like I am splitting hairs, it is just another reason to heed this warning. When you use American examples, you are going to need to be much more accurate and that raises your degree of difficulty.