如何征服雅思口语之Trees话题详解

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在近期的雅思口语考试中，Part I有一道题同学们听了不免头疼：trees。虽然大家平日里对于树木是再熟悉不过，可是如果真让烤鸭们就树木的名称进行一番列举恐怕大多数烤鸭是没有这方面的素材的。所以如果考生一旦遇到了这个话题，如果之前毫无准备的话，可能会毫无头绪，而且就算是用汉语来回答，也不一定就意味着能答得比较好。那么我们就先来看看，这个话题下面会有哪些问题。

Do you like trees?

What kind of trees is popular in your country?

Do trees have special meaning in your country?

Are there many trees or forests in your hometown?

What are the benefits of trees for human being?

Do you think it is necessary for us to plant more trees?

纵观这些问题，我们发现，其实它主要就在考察烤鸭们对树木种类和树木对人类的好处发问。那么我们先来看看树木种类的一些名称。我们知道，中国南北方因为气候（climate）不同，普遍种植的树木也是不同的。比如说，北方多种pine trees（松树）、cypress（柏树）、willow（柳树）、cedar（杉树）；南方多种阔叶树，banana trees（橡胶树）、coconut trees（可可树）、palm trees（棕榈树）、rubber trees（橡胶树）。当然，大家还应该知道，树的构造其实很简单，除了leaf（叶子），就是branch（树枝）、trunk（树干）。

其次，关于树木对人类的好处也非常多。首先，树木作为一种观赏性植物，是非常漂亮的，很多、很多城市把树种在街道两旁或者公园及建筑物周围就是为了美观。也就是说，树木是我们城市和生活中的一道风景线，用英语来表达就是：Beautiful trees are an amazing scenery in the parks and our cities, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. 同时，我们喜欢在看了许久的电脑或者电视之后，远眺森林或者树木，因为绿色可以帮助缓解我们的眼疲劳。用英语来表达就是：Looking at trees or having a walk in the forest can help relieve our eyes’ strain and fatigue. 第三，我们知道，树木可以通过光合作用制造氧气（oxygen），是我们人类生存所必备的条件。也就是没有树木，人类将无法生存。Without trees, we won’t have enough oxygen, which is the top import resource for us to survive. 第四，我们在城市道路上种很多树是因为树能够吸尘，降低噪声，减少尾气对环境的影响，极大地帮助我们改善污染状况。这个意思用英语表达就是Trees, especially those planted along the road, are excellent at absorbing the noise, dust and tail gas from the cars. It can greatly help us to reduce the pollution. 最后，树木还是我们制作家具和很多产品的重要原料。伐木业和制木业都为很多人提供了工作岗位，在不断地促进经济增长。因此我们可以把这个意义表述成：Woods are important materials for us to make all kinds of furniture and other products, which offer a large number of job opportunities and promote the economic development of countries in the world.

除此之外，同学们应该知道的是，关于树木，尤其是几种有代表性的树木来说，在中国是有特殊意义的。以pine trees为例，它是一种常青树，即四季皆绿，那么这个意义如何表达呢，大家可以用ever-green。正因为四季常青，所以它被中国古代的诗人、词人歌颂为高尚品质的代表。这个怎么表述呢，大家可以这样说：Pine trees, as one of the most famous ever-green plants, have been considered as the symbol of noble sentiment and person charm. 再以willow为例，因为“柳”的读音和“留”极其相似，所以古代中国人在送别好友的时候，喜欢折柳送行，以示离别的不舍。那么如果想表述这种文化涵义，应该怎么说呢，我们可以说成：Since willow’s Chinese pronunciation sounds similar to that of “stay” in Chinese, ancient Chinese would like to break a part of willow and sent it to their friends as a gift to say “I wish you could stay”.

尽管树木是人类珍贵的财富，但是现在乱砍乱伐（deforestation/ chop down too many trees）过重，加剧全球变暖（global warming），直接导致全球环境（global environment）恶化，空气质量（air condition）下降，所以我们要拯救树木，节制（control）砍伐，多种树，以改善（improve）环境。

有了这些基本词汇之后，我们试着来回答一下文章开始处的几个重点问题。

Do you like trees?

Yes, definitely. Trees are green and beautiful. We have a lot of tree along the road, making our city look amazing.

What kind of trees is popular in your country?

Due to the different climate in northern and southern China, different kinds of trees are popular in these two parts. For example, some trees with broad leaves are quite popular in southern China, banana trees and coconut trees, while some thin/needle-leave trees are popular in northern China, such as pine trees and willow.

Do trees have special meaning in your country?

这个问题在文中已有举例，此处不再赘述。

Are there many trees or forests in your hometown?

Not really. There used to be a large area of forest in the urban area of my hometown, Liaoning province, which is located in northeast of China. But in recent years, due to the over chopping, the number of trees keeps reducing. We are kind of worried about this situation.

What are the benefits of trees for human being?

There are so many benefits of trees for us. For example, it is an important resource for us to survive. Trees are the major producer of oxygen. Furthermore, a lot of furniture and chopsticks are made from tress, and this industry also produces a lot of jobs for people. More importantly, trees make our environment better through absorbing the noise and tail gas.

Do you think it is necessary for us to plant more trees?

Yes, definitely. Since trees are important for our environment, without tree, we cannot breathe because we could not produce oxygen ourselves. Even without enough trees, we have to suffer from the poor air condition and the terrible environment. We all know that our environment is getting worse because we have chopped down too many trees in the last century in order to produce more and earn more. Now it is highly necessary to plant more trees for the sake of the well-being of we human being. Also, trees are important materials for producing furniture, and some valuable woods can even be produced into medicine. All in all, we should plant more trees.

有了这些素材，同学们在回答树木类相关问题时基本就可以非常自如了。当然，不必完全按照参考答案中去回答，只要合情合理，大家提出必要的思路和词汇就完全可以组成自己的答案了。