PTE写作SWT技巧讲解：附例题

各位正在备考PTE的同学们大家好，今天给大家带来的福利是PTE写作SWT的技巧讲解，例题：The nature-nurture controversy of language。文章主要从生难词积累、分析原文、找出关键句和重要句子组成答案几个方面进行拆解。

原文：

When people start thinking about language, the first question which often occurs to them is this: is language natural to humans? - in the same way that grunting is natural to pigs, and barking comes naturally to dogs. Or is it just something we happen to have learned? - in the same way that dogs may learn to beg, or elephants may learn to waltz, or humans may learn to play the guitar.

Clearly, in one sense, children 'learn' whatever language they are exposed to, be it Chinese, Nootka or English. So no one would deny that 'learning' is very important. But the crucial question is whether children are born with 'blank sheets' in their head as far as language is concerned - or whether humans are 'programmed' with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general.

This question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, and has been discussed for centuries. For example, it was the topic of one of Plato's dialogues, the Cratylus. Controversies which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion. They lie dormant for a while, then break out fiercely. This particular issue resurfaced in linguistics in 1959 when the linguist Noam Chomsky wrote a devastating and witty review of Verbal Behavior, a book by the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (Skinner 1957; Chomsky 1959). This book claimed to 'explain' language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years. According to Skinner, no complicated innate or mental mechanisms are needed. All that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter sounds.

答案：

 The crucial question is whether children are born with blank sheets in their head as far as language is concerned or whether humans are 'programmed' with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general, and as the nature-nurture controversy, and all the necessary thing is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter sounds. (64 words)

翻译：

When people start thinking about language, the first question which often occurs to them is this: is language natural to humans?

当人们开始思考语言时，第一个经常出现的问题是:语言对人类来说是自然的吗?

- in the same way that grunting is natural to pigs, and barking comes naturally to dogs.

——就像猪天生会发出呼噜声，狗天生会叫一样。

Or is it just something we happen to have learned?

或者这只是我们碰巧学到的东西?

- in the same way that dogs may learn to beg, or elephants may learn to waltz, or humans may learn to play the guitar.

——就像狗可能学会乞求，大象可能学会华尔兹，人类可能学会弹吉他一样。

Clearly, in one sense, children 'learn' whatever language they are exposed to, be it Chinese, Nootka or English.

显然，从某种意义上说，孩子们“学习”的是他们接触到的任何语言，无论是汉语、努特卡语还是英语。

So no one would deny that 'learning' is very important.

所以没有人会否认“学习”是非常重要的。

But the crucial question is whether children are born with 'blank sheets' in their head as far as language is concerned - or whether humans are 'programmed' with an outline knowledge of the structure of languages in general.

但关键的问题是，就语言而言，孩子们的大脑中是否生来就有一张“白纸”，还是人类对于语言结构的大致知识“被编程”了。

This question of whether language is partly due to nature or wholly due to learning or nurture is often referred to as the nature-nurture controversy, and has been discussed for centuries.

语言是先天的，还是后天的，还是后天的，这个问题通常被称为先天-后天之争，已经讨论了几个世纪。

For example, it was the topic of one of Plato's dialogues, the Cratylus.

例如，这是柏拉图的一篇对话的主题，《克拉特拉斯》。

Controversies which have been going on for literally ages tend to behave in a characteristic fashion.

已经持续了很长时间的争论倾向于以一种特有的方式表现出来。

They lie dormant for a while, then break out fiercely.

它们潜伏了一段时间，然后猛烈地爆发。

This particular issue resurfaced in linguistics in 1959 when the linguist Noam Chomsky wrote a devastating and witty review of Verbal Behavior, a book by the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (Skinner 1957;

1959年，语言学家诺姆›乔姆斯基(Noam Chomsky)对哈佛大学心理学家B.F.斯金纳(B.F. Skinner, 1957;

Chomsky 1959).

乔姆斯基1959)。

This book claimed to 'explain' language as a set of habits gradually built up over the years.

这本书声称“解释”语言是多年来逐渐形成的一套习惯。

According to Skinner, no complicated innate or mental mechanisms are needed.

根据斯金纳的说法，不需要复杂的先天或心理机制。

All that is necessary is the systematic observation of the events in the external world which prompt the speaker to utter sounds.

所需要的只是对促使说话人发出声音的外部世界的事件进行系统的观察。

第一部分：难词积累

1、今天我们要讲的是the nature natureur controversy of language, 其实nature我们可以考虑的就是它是先天还是后天的，Nature是自然的，Nature是养育，其实就是先天还是后天的。

2、首先我们看一下难词Nootka啊，努特卡语，这篇文章讲的并不是某个语言的分类，所以你看到它，大概知道这是某种语言就可以了；Blank sheet, 空白的纸， 形容词加名词，Blank是名词做形容词化；Programmed, 程序化的，或者是编程编好的东西；Controversy, 争议，什么叫争议？就是大家对这个地方是有持有不同看法的才叫争议；Characterversy，特点、特色；Linguistics语言学。

第二部分：原文解析

1、People start thinking about language the first question，当人们想到语言的时候，第一个问题是which often occurs to them is this？This language natural to humans.对于人类而言，语言是natural的吗？它是自发的吗？它是自然而然就有的东西吗？In the same way，the granting is natural to pigs baring comes naturally to dogs ground，单词可能不认识的话，但bark是汪汪汪。对狗来说，它天生来就是汪，对猪来说，它天生就会发出这样的声音。or is it just something we happen to have learn, 或者，难道语言它不是天生的？它可能碰巧是人类在进化的过程中所学习到的东西吗？In the dog way the same way that dogs may learn to or elephant may tos or humans may learn to play the guitar，是不是跟人类学弹吉他是一样的呢？所以他其实问的就是语言对人类而言，到底是像狗天生会叫，还是狗通过后天去学习？

2、很明显的是，在某种情况之下，Children learn whatever language they are expos to beat Chinese English。小孩子长大的时候，你生在哪个国家，你就会学哪个国家的语言，So noone would deny the learning very, 没有人会否认学习很重要，But the crucial question is whether children born with black in their head as first language concern or what the people program with。一堆东西其实还是回到第一段所问的问题，我们都知道学习很重要，但是小孩子生下来之后，他学会的语言是大脑天生就会语言这个东西，只是辅助了一些语言的这种学习的技能。

3、第三段就告诉你，这是一个争议的东西，It's discuss for centuries已经有几百年了，大家都在讨论这个事情。All that is necessary the systematic observation of events in the external world or PRO the speaker to other sound, 它所需要只是历史性的观察，促使说话者发出声音，这是不同人的不同看法，但是本身语言到底是天生的还是后天的？真的没有人知道。全文的主旨已经很明显了，就是它到底是自然的还是后天的。

4、所以在我的答案当中，语言是肯定要的，Nature是肯定要的，然后这是一个controversy，具有争议性的话题，。酌情在里面去删就可以了。反正你只要把我刚才所提到的这些重要信息带出来，答案就已经形成了。