prepration dairy

Today I bought official guide and longman prepration  at ebay, And decided to write down my prepration for Toefl.

Thesedays, I read many posts here, and downloaded lots of preparation materials.

July 19

I am so lazy that it is 10 am when I get up in the morning . In the afternoon， I write an essay. It is hard to write. It takes me 3 hours to finish. Read sample essays and write down something I think  I can use in my own essay, then write. I wonder if 300 words are enough for an independent writing?

At 4pm, I will watch TV. I hope I can insist on spending 2 hours on watching TV. News \drama\ episode, any program is ok.  Actually, I don't know the meaning of most sentences. Just guess what is playing. Although there are text on the screen, I turn off the text. Because I hear nothing once  I focus on the text.

MM, it is good for you to start your writing. But I think 300 words for independent writing are not enough to get a high score on writing part. Try you best to write as many as you can, especially using some examples to support your point. I suggest to write 350-400 words.

作文（独立写作）的话，建议准备一个“理由库”。

张红岩在《十天搞定TOEFL作文中》，列举了十四条“万能理由”：

与事物相关话题：效率、方便、经济、耐久、安全、空间

与人物相关话题：健康、乐趣、成就、性格、情感、交流、经验、他人

诸如在家吃饭还是在外吃饭、学校应该优先投资图书馆还是体育设施、你喜欢室内运动还是是外运动、生活中合作重要还是竞争重要等二选一的话题，都可以从这些“万能理由”的角度来衡量，即给出每个角度上不同选择的优劣（实际考试至少写3个角度，5－6个应该足够了）。

以下是引用nebelstreif在2006-7-20 9:18:00的发言：

真是不赖，我也觉得最要紧的不在乎练多少篇，而是要练一个思维出来一个应变能力，所谓万变不离其中，这个作文和口语一二题是一样的。我们这里有这本书吗？或者对于这几个理由的拓展？

托福考试相关复习书籍，可以到当当网或卓越网购买，海外网友应该也可以从这两个网上购买（虽然要支付高额邮费，但总体价格应该比仍比国外同类原版书便宜）。

不过张这本书的内容，其实是新东方很多作文老师都会引用、讲解的，毕竟是一本以短期突破为指导思想编的书，也可以说此书很多内容已经有被“用滥”的趋势。要得高分，目前已知的考友经验反馈是最好准备一些自己生活中的具体事例，少用罗列式的抽象说理结构。

看电视节目对于提高听力很有帮助，关掉字幕很重要的。不过看电视不要盲目的看，新闻节目中出现的词汇大多很有用的，要着重听。此外仍需要看一些带英文字幕的东西，对于提高语言的准确性很有帮助。可以下在friends 带中英文字幕版的，反复看，模仿其中的对话，都是美国人口语中常用的表达法。

I have downloaded friends all seasons. But I don't like such episodes because there are so much laugh. American are used to laugh. When I went to cinema, many americans laughed during the film. At first, I thought I did not catch what the actors said. Later, some friends who are good in English and have been in US for many years told me they did not know either. It is one of the american culture. Faint!!

I have done another two listening tests. The score are even worse. PartB&C 10 wrong out of 20. The long converstion is better . At least, I can usually catch the main meaning. The lecture is so awful that I can not know what is said. In many cases, all questions are wrong. 8 wrong out of 12 is not occational.

如果楼主时间很充裕（离考试还有3个月以上，每天有除了保证4－6个小时高效率复习以外还有时间），建议利用北美的环境多多泛听、泛读。

（电视、广播）新闻、报纸、杂志都可以，影视剧的话，friends是不错的学习材料，另外还有Orange County，讲美国高中生故事的，比较贴近托福那种校园生活，不过也是情景喜剧。至于楼主觉得情景喜剧可能过于搞笑无聊的话，怎么说呢，这应该是美国（大众）文化的一个重要部分，渗入老美骨子里了。这些情景喜剧把生活夸张化了，但里面的内容对学语言，尤其是口语挺有帮助的，其实学语言的背后就是了解相应的文化。

如果楼主想接触一些非喜剧类的材料，推荐两本经典著作The Art of Being Human和The story of mankind，不过两本书可能对于考托福来说难了点（是新东方G班老师推荐的泛读材料）。

不过以上都是有关泛听泛读材料，扯远了些，备考还是要以练习题目为主。

听力长段子可以参考http://forum.chasedream.com/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=19&ID=180732&replyID=&skin=1