如何取悅托福寫作E-Rater
首先開宗明義，這里要分享的是寫作在論述內(nèi)容時(shí)(特別是在敘事時(shí))如何合理安排信息的位置以期獲得更高的機(jī)器評(píng)分。
相信同學(xué)們都知道，在托福獨(dú)立寫作這塊，有一個(gè)很不同于其他考試的作文評(píng)分方式，它采取人機(jī)聯(lián)合判分，即人和e-rater電腦程序一起。首先閱卷官和機(jī)器獨(dú)立判分，但他們無法相互看到對(duì)方的評(píng)分。兩者的分差大于動(dòng)態(tài)給定值時(shí)，第一位閱卷者和機(jī)器的分?jǐn)?shù)作廢，引入2位新的閱卷者重新評(píng)分。然而這樣的情況少之又少，人機(jī)的Pearson Correlation已經(jīng)達(dá)到了95%以上，考試的終成績由閱卷者和機(jī)器的成績混合組成，請(qǐng)注意，兩者的權(quán)重并不是50%+50%，而是動(dòng)態(tài)變化，大值會(huì)達(dá)到33.3%人+66%機(jī)或66.6%+33.3%機(jī)。其實(shí)GMAT考試才是早應(yīng)用E–Rater這個(gè)利用自然語言處理技術(shù)與信息擷取技術(shù)的程序來進(jìn)行英語寫作能力測(cè)評(píng)的考試。自1999年起，用e-raterTM 技術(shù)測(cè)評(píng)應(yīng)試者的作文已逾60萬篇，經(jīng)與常規(guī)人工批閱作文的結(jié)果比較，e-raterTM 評(píng)分的準(zhǔn)確率超過百分之九十七。
從上述的情況我們可以看出“取悅”E-rater真的很重要!很多同學(xué)會(huì)說，老師，讓冰冷的機(jī)器滿意，臣妾做不到啊!
機(jī)器的行為都是程序參數(shù)設(shè)定的，它其實(shí)比多愁善感、反復(fù)無常的人類好征服得多。作為碩士階段在自然語言處理有過研究的老師今天來給大家揭開的神秘傲嬌的E-rater面紗的一角，從語篇的角度講講同樣的表達(dá)內(nèi)容如何行文才能有更高分。
我們首先來看來個(gè)對(duì)比，思考下差異在哪里：
(A)The Prince Andrea stepped off the plane.He was immediately surrounded by journalists. He passed through the crowed under the protection of his bodyguards.
(B)The Prince Andrea stepped off the plane. Journalists immediately surrounded him.The bodyguards protected him from the crowed, helping him pass the through.
如果上述句子沒有差異，再比較下下面這組：
(A)We have an old musical instrument.It is called a clavichord.It was made in Germany in 1681.
(B)We have an old musical instrument.People call it a clavichord.Someone made it in Germany in 1681.
不知道大家是否發(fā)現(xiàn)兩個(gè)(A)之間有相同點(diǎn):
(A)The Prince Andrea stepped off the plane.He was immediately surrounded by journalists.He passed through the crowed under the protection of his bodyguards.
(B)The Prince Andrea stepped off the plane.Journalists immediately surrounded him.The bodyguards protected him from the crowed, helping him pass the through.
(A)We have an old musical instrument.Itis called a clavichord.It was made in Germany in 1681.
(B)Wehave an old musical instrument.People call it a clavichord.Someone made it in Germany in 1681.
(猜猜例句中的“clavichord”是圖中的哪個(gè)樂器?)
兩個(gè)(A)句都是以前文提到過的信息做為下一個(gè)新句子的開頭。這樣的行文方式更有利于讀者的信息加工，也被認(rèn)為是更連貫的論述。這篇文章的標(biāo)題“主位推進(jìn)(Thematic progression)”看起來很高級(jí)的樣子，內(nèi)容實(shí)際很簡單。主位(Theme)就是信息的發(fā)出點(diǎn)，一般它都是舊信息(上文已給的)。跟它相對(duì)的還有個(gè)概念，叫述位(Rheme)，它是中心信息，通常是新信息(上文未給的)。在自然語言處理領(lǐng)域完全可以分析出考生作文中每句話主語、賓語等各個(gè)名詞性成分的語法地位(包括短語)，所以主位和述位的推進(jìn)方式可以作為文章“cohesion”的一個(gè)評(píng)判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
在用主位推進(jìn)取悅e-rater 前，首先要明白哪些語法成分/結(jié)構(gòu)可以充當(dāng)主位：
The man in the wilderness said to me.
From house to house I wend my way.
Conversely, possibly, females felt more at ease responding to non-specific female address.
On the other hand maybe on a weekday it would be less crowed.
通過總結(jié)上面四個(gè)例子，可以發(fā)現(xiàn)主位是出現(xiàn)在句首的circumstantial adverbs (表地點(diǎn)，時(shí)間，方式，程度…)，若句首沒有circumstantial adverbs，那么主位就是句子的主語 。主位推進(jìn)一共有三種方式，今天給大家介紹下比較常用的兩種。
(一)主位同一型
例1：
The brain (T1) contains 10 billion nerve cells, making thousands of billions of connection with each other (R1). It (T2=T1) is the most powerful data processor we know (R2). The brain (T3=T1) is also in control of people’s speaking and comprehension ability (R3).
(二) 延續(xù)型
例2：
Outside my window (T1) is a big lawn (R1). In the middle of the lawn (T2=R1) is a flowerbed (R2). This bed (T3=R2) is full of daffodils (R3).
總結(jié)這次的分享：寫作中，在對(duì)信息進(jìn)行推進(jìn)時(shí)，可以每次由”old information” 遞進(jìn)到“new information”，具體方式見上。
下面給大家一個(gè)小練習(xí)，給寫下面的小段落，讓其主位和述位的推進(jìn)方式更通暢。
My father just bought a new house.There are four bed-rooms and two bathrooms.I can see the garden behind the house from my bedroom window.My father has planted fruit trees in the garden.
附參考的修改版：
My family bought a new house.In the house，there are four bedrooms and two bathrooms.From my bedroom window I can see the garden behind the house.In the garden my father has planted fruit trees.