托福写作方法：名词化
根据Building a Validity Argument for the TOEFL书中给出的The Writing Framework(具体见下图)，integrated text-based task中对语言的要求有‘communicate via another modality these ideas and this information’，也就是说要用另一种方式总结文本所给的信息。再结合第四版TOFEL 官方指南中199页给出的caution(具体见下图)——‘you will receive a score of 0 if all you do is copy words from the reading passage. You will receive a score of 1 if you write only word about the reading passage’，可见用自己的语言和逻辑去组织已给信息在托福考试中国年是一个非常重要的考察点。
那么如何去用自己语言总结呢?笔者认为主要从两方面入手，一是使用不同的句型，二是使用不同的词汇。这里我们来浅谈结合这两个方面的一种方式——名词化。‘名词化’有点像‘打包’，即将原先的词或简单小句(或两三个小句)打包成名词性词组，原来由两个或三个以上的小句表达的概念意义通过一个小句完整表达出来。
可以被名词化的成分：
动作行为( verbs: to hand, to get sick →submission, illness)
I handed my essay in late because my kids got sick.
→ The reason for the late submission of my essay is the illness of my children.
形容词、副词(complex →complexity, longer →duration)
Because the jobs are more complex, programs to train people will take longer.
→ The increased complexity of tasks will lead to the extension of the duration of training programs.
3. 逻辑关系(conjunctions orlogical connectives : because →reason )
Because the jobs are more complex, programs to train people will takelonger.
→The reason why programs to train people will take longer is that the jobs are more complex.
整个分句
You can’t hand your assignment in on time, because something has gone wrong.
→You can’t hand your assignment in on time because of misfortune.
其实同位语从句的使用也可以看作是一种名词化的现象，这在综合写作中非常常见。例：
People doubt if some paintings attributedto Rembrandt were actually painted by him.
→There are doubts whether some paintings attributed to Rembrandt were actually painted by him.
It is unlikely that the great house were ceremonial centers.
→The idea that thegreat houses were ceremonial centers isn’t well supported either.
在韩礼德(Holliday)的系统功能语法书中给出过一个非常好的篇章例子：
Text 1 (unpacked) :
We won't formally extend the timeyou have to do your assignments, / but if you can’t hand your assignment in on time / because something has gone wrong / or because you didn't plan properly, / then you can submit it within the next 14 days ... If it is late / because something happened to disable you / and you couldn't have foreseen/ that that would happen,/ then it will not be penalised,/provided that (i) you attach a document which proves what happened to you to the essay and/ (ii) the Late Essay Committee accepts/ what you say/ you had wrong with you/ and the way you prove that to us ... Look in the booklet about submitting essays and assignments / if you want to find our more about how we penalise you.
Text 1 (packed):
Formal extensions[‘动词’名词化]of time are not granted as such, / but if, through misfortune[‘句子’名词化] or bad planning [‘句子’名词化], anassignment cannot be submitted on time, / it may be submitted within the next 14 days, .. If it is late because of some unforeseen disability[‘句子’名词化] /it will not be penalised, / provided that (i)documentary evidence of the disability[‘句子’名词化]is attached to the essay and /(ii) the nature of the disabilityand of the evidence[‘句子/形容词’名词化] is acceptable to the Late Essay Committee. Fulldetails of penalties [‘句子’名词化 are provided in the ‘Submission[‘动词’名词化] of Essay and Assignments’ document.
那么在托福的综合写作中，我们如何具体的利用名词化这一方法呢?以TPO3综合写作为例。
例1. TPO阅读材料中的第二段中‘First, there is something inconsistent about the way the woman in the portrait is dressed. She is wearing a white linen cap of a kind that only servants would wear-yet the coat she is wearing has a luxurious fur collar that no servant could afford. Rembrandt, who was known for his attention to the details of his subjects' clothing, would not have been guilty of such an inconsistency.’这个段其实可以简要改写为：
‘The inconsistency between the white linen cap and the luxurious fur collar does not fit Rembrandt’s painting style of being very carefulabout details of his subject’s cloth.’( 在其实写作中如果再加一句‘This supports the ideas that Rembrandt did not paint it. ’，文章逻辑会显得更清楚。)
或者也可以改写得更为简单些‘The first contradicting fact is the clothes of the woman in the portrait.’
例2. TPO3的阅读第三段中‘The face appears to be illuminated by light reflected onto it from below. But below the face is the dark fur collar, which would absorb light rather than reflect it. So the face should appear partially in shadow-which is not how it appears.’可以改写为：
‘The illumination of the face by the light reflected from below is inconsistent with the dark fur collar which would absorb light.’
例3. TPO3 的听力第二段‘The fur collar was painted over the top of the original painting about a hundred years after the painting was made. Why? Someone probably wanted to increase the value of the painting by making it look like a formal portrait of an aristocratic lady.’可以改写为：
‘The purpose of painting other layer on the top of the original painting was to increase its value, for a women with a fur collar will be more like a aristocraticlady.’
例4. 在TPO3的听力第三段听中‘Once the paint of the added fur color was removed, the original painting could be seen. In the original painting, the woman is wearing a simple collar of light-colored cloth. The light-colored cloth of this collar reflects light that illuminated part of the woman's face. That's why the face is not in partial shadow.’
可以改写为‘The presence of light-colored collar found after theremoval of the added fur collar can explain the puzzle that the face is not in partial shadow, for it can reflect light which provides illumination to the face.’
或者简洁改为‘The contradiction between light and shadow in the original painting can be explained by the finding that after the removal of the added fur collar the woman wears a light-colored collar. ’
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