托福作文系列#2

來到了小樹的第二篇作文！經過一個星期的思來想去，決定除了把文章寫好然後在這做個紀錄以外，每篇可以外加一些我覺得很實用的英文寫作小技巧、能互相替換的相似相反詞、或是日常生活好用的語句，讓這個托福作文系列更豐富一些😍

托福常見的題目結構是問我們「同意」或「不同意」一個觀點？比方說今天這篇的是問我們同不同意「父母是最好的老師」？我選擇寫「不同意」並列出了三個主要的理由。其實托福作文主要還是在考對英文這個語言的掌握能力，行文者本身的思想高度和內容深度不是特別重要，所以只要能邏輯清楚地寫出幾個理由就好啦！

提到teacher讓我想到平時我們常會需要說「請你教我...」、「老師會指導你...」，於是想來說說關於「教」這個動詞。

當我們迫不得已必須寫英文文章的時候，最痛苦的大概是翻來覆去都用同一個字，需要說到「教」的時候，整篇只好一直出現teach, teach, teach吧！這邊來舉幾個可以貍貓換太子(?)的其他字，下次想要說teach這個動詞的時候就能換一換啦！

（雖然它們都有類似的意思，但沒有百分之百完全相似的雙胞胎，所以沒事我會四處看看各種例句，體會一下他們用的情況）

teach/ show/ guide through/ walk through/ go through

假設我們想請同事示範怎麼用一個新的軟體：

Could you teach me how to use this software?

Could you show me how to use this software?

teach和show基本上直接抽換掉就好了，在請別人演示一下如何操作的意思。但其實日常生活裡更常講的是show，而不是teach！teach實在是太像正襟危坐的小學生，坐在板凳上挺直腰板把一手舉起來問老師能不能教他啦🤣

當這個新軟體實在很難用，我們想請人家一步一步教，帶著我們做的時候：

Could you guide me through each of these steps?

Could you walk me through each of these steps?

Could you go through each steps with me?

不管是上學上班還是日常混日子，有求於人的時候實在太多啦！希望這些好用的動詞在下次必須拜託人家教你東西的時候，可以用上唷！

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Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Nowadays, children have to learn a massive amount of knowledge and skills as the world changes faster than ever before. Teachers in schools and their parents could both guide and teach them. However, I do not agree that parents are the best teachers for the following reasons.

The first reason is that unlike teachers in schools, most parents are not trained adequately to be a teacher. For example, teachers need to be trained to engage the kids through different strategies to capture their attention, a skill that needs a lot of practice to mature. In addition, teachers need to explain complex ideas and concepts in simple language that children at different ages can understand properly. Parents might not have time and enough knowledge to educate themselves on these skills.

The second reason is that teachers in school have the authority to ask children to learn something they are not interested in, a privilege parents could not enjoy. It is easier for children to accept that mathematics is a mandatory course in school because everyone else does it, than to obey their parents’ request on doing the arithmetic at home. When parents are assuming the role of teachers, children might start to dislike them, which leads to more family problems.

The third reason is that teachers have more resources in school that could help children to learn more efficiently. For instance, there are classrooms with different interior designs, the pre- and post-test papers, and textbooks for various topics. These resources are not easily available for individual families.

In conclusion, I disagree that parents are the best teachers because they are not professional and do not have enough resources. Besides, it might not be ideal for parents to assume the role of school teachers who inevitably have to ask children to study something they are not interested in, a challenging mission that may elicit family conflict if carried out by parents.