Source: Voice of China, China Central Radio and Television Corporation
# 2021 College Entrance Examination #
The 2021 national college entrance examination is about to kick off, and as the first subject to "go to war", composition is often "the place where soldiers must fight". Every year during the college entrance examination, the composition topics of the language papers in various provinces and cities will trigger heated discussions.
What is the "way to break the problem" of the college entrance examination language composition? Around this topic, Luo Min, a reporter from the Central Broadcasting Corporation of the General Taiwan Bureau, recently interviewed Liu Daxian, a doctor of literature and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Liu Daxian has participated in the college entrance examination three times, in his eyes, what kind of composition will make the reader's eyes light up? What writing ideas do he want to share with the majority of candidates?
△ Liu Daxian, doctor of literature and researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, provided a picture by the interviewee
The college entrance examination is very important, but life is open
The interview begins with memories of the college entrance examination.
Reporter: Do you still have an impression of the scene when you took the college entrance examination?
Liu Daxian: My college entrance examination is too far away, the 1996 thing. Particularly distant.
Reporter: Is there a big difference between the college entrance examination at that time and the college entrance examination at present? How did you feel when you took the college entrance examination?
Liu Daxian: I feel that the college entrance examination at that time was not as fiercely competitive as it is now, and parents did not have a particularly strong sense of anxiety. I remember that I needed to go from the town to the city to take the exam, lived alone in the hotel, did not pay much attention to the results, and after the exam I went to Shanghai to work and travel. Maybe everyone's family is different. We were rural families at the time, and there were certainly many urban families who were particularly concerned. I know that the college entrance examination is more important, but I think life is open, there is no tension, it may also be related to my personality. I remember that it was raining when the college entrance examination was over, I did not bring an umbrella, I ran all the way over, after the exam, the school arranged for everyone to eat in a hotel, everyone was more relaxed and happy, because the intense high school study was over.
Reporter: How did you do with your language test at that time?
Liu Daxian: My Chinese language test was really good, and the single subject score of chinese was the first in our city at that time.
Reporter: Do you remember what the essay was written in those days?
Liu Daxian: The essay is to write an explanatory essay of about 200 words based on two cartoons, and then write an argumentative essay on which comic you prefer and why, and make a comment on it. This theme has been retained in the form of college entrance examination essays until now.
What should a high-scoring essay look like?
For college entrance examination essays, the tight time means that candidates must make trade-offs, and it is impossible to cover all aspects, so which part of the essay is the most important for candidates to grasp? As a grading teacher, Liu Daxian gave some practical advice.
Reporter: For many students, argumentative essays are still more afraid of encountering, right?
Liu Daxian: The probability of an argumentative essay in the college entrance examination is relatively large. Because the criteria for judging prose or narrative and poetry are not easy to grasp, argumentative essays have some points that must be mastered, and the scoring will be more objective. Because the argumentative essay should have arguments and arguments, the main idea should be clear, the hierarchy should be relatively clear, and finally there must be a conclusion, that is, the candidate's point of view. After the level is clear, the teacher's judgment paper is clear at a glance, and it is easy to score. If it is a narrative or descriptive prose, it is more troublesome to judge. I have participated in the college entrance examination three times, and the time when reading the examination paper is very tight, and it is unlikely to be read from beginning to end.
Reporter: When you took the college entrance examination, what was your biggest feeling?
Liu Daxian: The first impression is very important, the text must be neat and beautiful, the handwriting should be clear, even if the writing is not very good, but the level must be clear. Then you have to read the article, what is the intention? Is the expression language fluent? Is the point of view clear? Is the interpretation of the point of view in place? These are actually all quick sweeps of ten lines at a glance. My feeling is that if a student's handwriting is clear and the paragraphs are clear, then he is taking a big advantage.
Reporter: Now there is a view that the first and last paragraphs of the essay are particularly important, do you agree?
Liu Daxian: Yes, this is indeed. The beginning of the writing must make the grading teacher shine, and then the end should be strong. Because the grading procedure of the grading teacher is to look at the beginning and end first, and quickly read the past in the middle. In this way, the beginning and end are particularly important.
△ Liu Daxian at Inner Mongolia University Provided by the interviewee
Reporter: Many people say that the language subjects of the college entrance examination are "to write, to get the world", what do you think of this sentence?
Liu Daxian: You can say so, but it is not very complete. Composition is a comprehensive embodiment of the candidate's language proficiency, and the proportion of scores in the language test paper is also large, so from a technical point of view, compared with other question types, the composition is very "pulling points". On another level, if the candidate's comprehensive ability is good, the essay must be well written.
Reporter: In the process of reading the papers, have you ever given a high score for composition? What standards do you think need to be met for high-scoring essays?
Liu Daxian: In the Qing Dynasty, there was a literati named Ye Xie, who in the "Original Poems" boiled down a good article into three key words, one called reason - the "reason" of reason, one called "thing" of things, and one is the "love" of emotion - emotion. These three words basically summarize the important elements of a good article. "Reason" is the idea, viewpoint and argument of the article, which is the backbone of the article. The importance of "things" to narratives is, of course, self-evident. For argumentative essays, "things" are examples, and examples should be written flexibly and vividly, and they must be in line with "reason". "Love" means that writing articles must have emotions infused into it. A good article is not a mechanical product specification, nor is it an objective and fair legal document, even if it is an argumentative essay, it must have the author's emotional attitude. The combination of "reason, matter, and emotion" is a very good article.
Reporter: Now many students will recite some "universal sentences", hoping to be able to quote from the sidelines when writing. We do not deny that writing needs inspiration, in your opinion, is inspiration important when writing, or is the accumulation of ordinary time more important?
Liu Daxian: Most people are ordinary people in terms of talent, and inspiration cannot be relied on for ordinary people. And what can you rely on? It is the accumulation of usual, a lot of reading. Reading allows students to accumulate unconsciously and become part of their own knowledge and ideas. When you need to use it, you can extract it from memory. I think the accumulation of reading is particularly important. When writing articles, rhetoric is very important; for college entrance examination essays, the beauty of the words also occupies a great advantage. Even if sometimes the candidate may not be able to meet the words or the words are not exhausted, but the beautiful words will also add points. Because for the grading teacher, it is too late to think deeply about logic when reading quickly.
Thinking is the most basic and fundamental ability to improve the level of writing
In life, we can always hear praise about someone's "good writing, talented writing", what does good writing mean? For ordinary people, how to improve the level of writing?
Liu Daxian believes that good writing can be divided into two types. One is amazing talent and gorgeous rhetoric. Another aspect refers to touching people with emotion, even if the text of the article is simple, but it can touch the reader. The words written by the author can be connected with the reader's experience, feelings, and emotions to achieve emotional communication with the reader, which can also be called good writing. Liu Daxian said, "The writing of the latter level is more important than the previous level. The former level is the primary stage, and the latter level is 'luxury to see the truth'. The former level can be achieved by reading excerpts, but the latter level needs to be experienced and experienced. Whether it is contact with the outside society or what is seen and heard in travel, it is a process of unconscious accumulation. ”
△ Liu Daxian in the bookstore Interviewee provided a picture
"Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles". Liu Daxian suggested that in the process of traveling thousands of miles, when the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue come into contact with the natural environment and social environment of the outside world, they should learn to think. Thinking is the most basic and fundamental ability to improve the level of writing. "Even if your thinking ability is not yet complete, but in the continuous accumulation of time, slowly your overall aesthetic ability and ideological insight will be improved, and then further melt into your words." 」
"Words are the voices of the heart." In Liu Daxian's view, articles are not only a pile of words and words, but also the expression of emotions and the expression of opinions. Confucius said that "literary quality is polite", "wen" is the beauty of the literary style; "quality" is the truth and emotion behind the text, and is the support of "wen". The best article must be polite and polite, and "text" and "quality" promote each other and promote each other.
The creation of each era carries the traces of the passage of this era
△ Liu Daxian in China Internet Literature + Conference interviewee courtesy of the image
Reporter: You wrote in "Literature Also Expects Still Water to Flow Deeply", "From the perspective of the interaction between literature and life, real life undoubtedly determines the form of literature." Does each era have a popular literary style, or writing style and technique?
Liu Daxian: Yes, from the perspective of literary history, there is a saying called "an era has an era of literature", and the mainstream social situation of an era and its atmosphere and aesthetic fashion will definitely be refracted and reflected in literary works. From the popularity of idealism and romanticism in the 1980s to the return of Western modernism, avant-garde novels, and realism in the late 1980s, these reflect the themes of the times in China today. Since the new century, science fiction has become a very important literary genre. Why? Because scientific and technological innovation has become the big theme of the times, it will inevitably be reflected in literature. Therefore, an era is indeed popular in the literary style of an era.
Reporter: From the perspective of the college entrance examination, compared with the college entrance examination writing style of your time, will the current college entrance examination essay be more inclined to another style?
Liu Daxian: This is also related to the educational background. Nowadays, children have many ways to accept culture, no longer limited to paper reading, and too much information will obviously affect the way they feel the world and the way words are expressed. Candidates who read classical literature out, his expression will be closer to traditional written literature. Today's children write, the knowledge will be wider, the way of expression will be more diverse, more free, which is actually a reflection of the improvement of technology.
Reporter: In your opinion, the creation of compositions in each era carries traces of the passage of this era, right?
Liu Daxian: Yes, the expression of modern people can certainly not be exactly like the expression of people during the Han Dynasty. In recent years, there have also been full marks for writing in chinese, but this is only a case, there is no universality. For most ordinary students, it is still necessary to write in the current way, in line with the times. For example, when giving examples, we must be able to keep abreast of the times, such as rural revitalization, smart cities or artificial intelligence and other major trends of the times.
Reporter: In your opinion, what kind of discipline is literature? What do you have to say to aspiring literature candidates?
Liu Daxian: Literary disciplines, frankly speaking, may seem less practical. We can call it a "meta-discipline", but studying literature has greatly improved the work of humanities and social sciences. Literature is actually a discipline that touches all aspects of life, its influence is subtle, you can't tell its function concretely, but it permeates every bit of your life.
Producer 丨Bai Zhonghua
Reporter 丨 Luo Min
Editor 丨 Chen Ming Luo Min