美国高考作文Essay的文体特征、命题指向及其启示——兼评2012年中国各地高考作文

Stylistic Features,Topic Design Orientation of Essay in the College Entrance Examination of the U.S. and the Enlightenment——Comment on the Compositions in the College Entrance Examination in 2012 of Chinese Mainland

美国高考作文Essay是一种评论体，有别于记叙文、说明文、写景文之类文体，旨在释放考生的思想和心智，主观特色鲜明；它与中国高考中的议论文之间也存在着显著的区分度，突出表现为给考生提供宽松、多元的精神空间。Essay“提示”中的话题材料充满不确定性，其“任务”的开放性设计将考生导向理性的自由思维境界。Essay的启示是，中国高考作文命题与教学的改革需持续深化，即要凸显评论体、高标思想力，并提供开放话题、催生多元思维。

The Essay in the college entrance exam of the U. S is of a critical style, different from.narration, exposition or scenery description, etc. It is designed to give students＇ thoughts and intelligence into full play with significant subjective characteristics. And it is quite different from the argumentation in the college entrance examination of Chinese mainland, with an outstanding feature in offering the examinees a liberal, pluralistic mental-space. The topic materials given in the ＂tips＂ of the Essay are full of uncertainty, and the open design of the ＂task＂ leads the examinees to some rational freethinking realm. The design of Essay inspired further reform of the composition topics design in Chinese college entrance exam and teaching, to highlight the critical writing style, to encourage a higher standard of thinking, and to supply open topic for pluralistic thinking.