广州学校

      雅思写作常考话题：Is appearance important？外表是否重要？

　　More and more people are choosing cosmetic surgery. Why do people want to change the way they look? Do you think is it a positive or negative development for the individuals and society?

　　老师开课啦

　　这道题其实相当仁慈，其实只要认真读题，回答好就不是太难的事。虽然开头有个“cosmetic surgery”, 很多同学都不知道是什么，但后面马上有个“change the way they look” , 大概可以猜到是“整形手术”的意思。

　　而且它有后面还很贴心地提醒了考生可以回答对个人和对社会的好处和坏处。它其实已经疯狂暗示这篇文章的基本框架要怎么写了。

　　不少同学在回答这道题时，认为好就好，不好就是不好，怎么能当个两面派呢？于是只回答１个方面，整容就是不好的，于是写完后，发现不够字数，又给考官贡献了2170元。其实在学术研究里，改变自己的观点是非常常见的事，所以科学家才要做实验，以便用实验数据支持或推翻自己的理论。

　　名人语录

“I had, also, during many years, followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from memory than favorable ones. “

　　-Darwin Autobiography

　　“我很多年来都有一个雷打不动的习惯，每当我看到一个最新研究或发现, 与我平常的看法相冲突时，我都会把它立马记录下来。通过经验，我也会发现，这些事实和想法 ，很容易从记忆里消失不见”。

　　-摘录自 《达尔文自传》

　　科学家通过实验，验证、修正 、放弃或改变了自己的理论，其实是再正常不过的事。所以自己最好要能明白自己支持什么，反对什么。在学术写作， 第一段最后一句，通常也叫 thesis statement , 即全文概述，这句话，专家学者通常会一开始就写，但最后才写完 ，以便时刻提醒自己在写什么，并时刻准备更改自己的观点。

　　写学术文章比较接近这一思路，不是像在菜市场和大爷大妈砍价那样，一定要赢对方；而是要有理有据分析其中利弊。有些事，例如整容，利弊就是会同时出现的，只支持其中一种，反而很难说服读者。

　　另外根据“美国美容协会”官网，cosmetic surgery 和 plastic surgery 是有点不一样的，其区别和中文的“整形”和“美容”差不多，cosmetic 可以增强特征（enhance）, 而 plastic 在于维持（maintain）。

　　官网网址：https://www.americanboardcosmeticsurgery.org/patient-resources/cosmetic-surgery-vs-plastic-surgery/

　　当然对于题目类型不太熟悉的学生来说，其实有个小小的坑，这其实是个混合型题目，它白纸黑字地问到了“Why do people want to change the way they look?“，我还是会正儿八经、煞有介事地在文章里回答的，并且尽量要跟后文有些区别。

　　ARTICLE

　　文章结构

　　第一段：引出话题+文章概述

　　第二段：为什么一些人想改变外貌。

　　第三段：整容对个人的好处。

　　第四段：整容对个人的坏处。Furthermore, 对社会的坏处。

　　第五段：To conclude.

　　范文参考

　　In the past millenniums, beauty is an ever-lasting topic. Many people have spent a fortune on cosmetic surgery, while more are planning to. What has coincided with this development is the increasing controversy of changing one’s appearance, and this article will analyze the pros and cons below.

People change their look for different reasons. Some of them may suffer from injuries, like scratching or burning, and cosmetic surgeries help them to get back the confidence that they used to have. Moreover, many people choose cosmetic surgery simply because they are not satisfied with some of their facial characteristics, such as a birthmark on the face.

It cannot be denied that when one person looks different, he/she may need to face a lot of malicious mocking or discrimination in their daily life.  Many of them do not have a strong heart, which is not a mistake, and cosmetic surgeries can help them to dodge a lot of meaningless, unnecessary and unexpected insults. Furthermore, it is not a secret that when one person looks more attractive, he/she can have a better chance to be employed, such as being an actor or a model. If one person can afford the price and risk, it is completely their freedom to choose whatever way they look.

However, some of the risks cannot be ignored. Cosmetic surgery is still a new medical business, compared with other medical fields. It is not a surprise to see that some of the doctors or nurses are not professionally trained, because different countries have different standards to supervise this new-born industry.  In the long run, if it is not strictly regulated, I do believe that this trend will become harmful to the society, because some of the potential danger is not difficult to be foreseen.  People may suffer from the side effects, like infections, and they need to visit the hospitals regularly in order to maintain the surgical results. More frighteningly, people may change their look for immoral reasons. Because the idea to connect “identity” with facial features has long been implanted in people’s mind, it is possible to cause chaos in the society.  It is possible for criminals, such as serial killers, to have such “cosmetic” surgeries to swap their faces with other people, so that they can have the alibi in court.

To conclude, people can change the way they look as long as they wish, but it needs to be under strict supervisions, or else it might be harmful to the society in the future.