雅思写作：搞不懂小作文中的“overview” 别想上6分
我在强化班首节课做的第一件事就是解析写作的四项评分标准，并且一再强调：即便你付出了再多，只要和这四项评分无关，那么都是徒劳。四项中的Task Achievement始终是我讲解的重点，虽然我本将心向明月，无奈明月照沟渠。一些同学勤勤恳恳做着笔记，但是对于TA的理解，还是没有上升到应有的层面。简单点，Task Achievement包括了三个方面：
summarize general figures/trends. Select important information.Compare and contrast date.
因此，TA决定了我们在小作文写作过程中，要对整幅图表的信息(figures and/or trends)做出summary。这个summary就是所谓的overview了
【一】
先来明确一下: overview不同于conclusion:
1. 首先，conclusion指a judgment or decision reached by reasoning，即通过推理论证所得来的结论，往往是一种观点。用在Tasks2 大作文写作中。而Task1小作文则要求我们只做不夹杂主管分析的描述，overview即是the description of main points。
2. 其次，conclusion一定要放在文章的最后。而overview既可以放置在文章最后，也可以写在开头段之后。
【二】
接下来说一说overview具体需要我们做什么，考官很偷懒，只是建议考生去思考what are the most noticeable features in the graph/chart? 但我会告诉我的学生，通常你可以做的是：
总结趋势的异同。总结数字大小的差异，通常可以复述极值，其中最大值必然给出，最小值看脸。挑出数字大小差异最大的一组数据对象。
【三】
我列举一些题目：
此题选自剑7Test2。纵览全图，最大的特征在于四种肉类消耗量的趋势呈现出了上升和下降两类鲜明的差异，因此考官范文的overview写道：Overall, the graph shows how the consumption of chicken increased dramatically while the popularity of these other foods decreased over the period.
此题选自剑5Test1。最高和最低的老龄人口占比都没有恒定于某一国家，且趋势并不像上一题那样有明显差异，最鲜明的特征不过在于趋势都经历上升。范文结尾的overview如是：In spite of some fluctuation in the expected percentages, the proportion of older people will probably continue to increase in the next two decades in the three countries. A more dramatic rise is predicted to between 2030 and 2040 in Japan, by which time it is though that the proportion of elderly people will be similar in the three countries.
此题出自剑4Test3。由于是静态图，因此趋势不会列入讨论， 不同学历男女占比差异才是题点。分析全图可知，在较高和较低学历方面，男性毕业生占比高于女生，比例差异的最大和最小分别在于职业技校文凭和硕士学位上。因此，范文两处overview分别为：We can see immediately that there were substantial difference in the proportion of men and women at different levels. The biggest gender difference is at the lowest post-school level. 和Thus we can see that more men than women hold qualifications at the lower and higher levels of education, while more women reach undergraduate diploma level than men. The gender difference is smallest at the level of Bachelor’s degree, however.