知道考过托福口语的同学们有没有一种感觉，独立口语Task 1&2总是让咱们陷入很尴尬的境地，这两题要得分其实并不难，它们可以看做是基础较弱同学的救命稻草，让口语分数不至于跌破10分以下；但也正是它们成了口语高手的致命毒药，令得分停滞不前，始终无法摆脱24分的桎梏。为了帮助同学们更好地应对Task 1&2，咱们今天就简单地探讨一下在托福口语独立题答案中常见的四种错误。
通常在回答Task 1&2时，同学们会无意识地犯如下四种错误：
No. 1 Off Topic Response
No. 2 Overstated Opinion
No. 3 Lack of Topic Development
No. 4 Lack of Subjectivity
下面咱们就通过具体的例子来详细阐释这四种错误：
Prompt:
In your view, what was the greatest invention of the twentieth century? Why? Give examples and reasons to support your argument.
Answer:
Personally, I believe that the greatest invention of the twentieth century was women developing and winning many special rights they never had before from countries that didn’t care about them, and I believe this is a good thing for all women.
For example, women were very successful. They did a lot of very important things that changed their lives. They won many rights they never had before.
Women winning rights was the greatest invention of the twentieth century because it helped them so much.
Words: 84
No. 1 Off Topic Response
所谓Off Topic Response就是咱们通常说的偏题或者跑题，不知大家有没有注意，题目要求说明“the greatest invention of the twentieth century”，而答案却是“women’s rights”，显然与题目要求大相径庭，因此同学们在回答Task 1&2切记跑题或偏题，否则下文的努力就只能付诸东流了。
No.2 Overstated Opinion
所谓Overstated Opinion指的是观点说得过多，答题时占用太多时间。显然如上例子，Speaker的观点句较长较复杂，表达观点不够干净利落，占用下文时间，致使例子缺少足够时间展开，内容较空洞，因此例子中的观点句可以直接改为“Personally, I believe that the greatest invention of the twentieth century was women winning many rights.”
No. 3 Lack of Topic Development
所谓Lack of Topic Development指的是话题缺乏展开，这是导致同学们在回答Task 1&2时失分的最主要原因，主要体现在同学们的例子缺乏具体的信息，内容空洞，细节抽象。如上“For example, women were very successful. They did a lot of very important things that changed their lives. They won many rights they never had before.”其中successful就是一个较抽象的形容词，例子中并没有具体的内容体现出women如何成功，然后important things也没有明确指出到底是哪些事情，因此在缺乏具体内容和信息的情况下，该例子也无法支撑Speaker的观点。通常为了避免这个问题，同学们在说例子的时候可以遵循“general—specific—general”的思考方法，运用到这一题即保留“women were very successful”，将“important things”换成具体事件，如庆祝妇女节，获得选举权，获得自由选择职业的权利等等，最后用“They won many rights they never had before.”作为总结。
No. 4 Lack of Subjectivity
所谓Lack of Subjectivity指的是缺乏主观性，这里需要澄清的是，笔者的意思并不是说Task 1&2不可以用客观的例子，只是当咱们客观表述时，很容易走入抽象的死胡同，让例子变得空泛无味，缺少说服力，并且在语言上不可避免会带来表达上的难度，因此为了规避这个问题，通常建议同学们以自己或者身边的人为例子，尽管平凡，但依旧可以化腐朽为神奇。