新题陆陆续续的开始出来啦，一月份考试的同学要进入"战时状态"喽。虽然复习时间不会太充裕，但至少你要做到心中有数可以讲什么、该讲什么。1月之后考试的同学则可以关注我的公众号讲解，这段时间我一定不会放你们鸽子，至少一周4篇的更新是不会少的。
那么作为新题的第二弹，我选择了《玩具》这道题。其实它也是一道旧题重返。去年出来的时候，很多同学就认为它是难题，所以我希望通过我的讲解可以帮助大家缕清一整个答题思路。
Describe a toy you had in your childhood
You should say:
? What it was
? How you got it
? How you played with it
? And explain why you liked it
之所以《玩具》这道题有点难度，是因为大家在玩具的选择上很有局限性。女生一般会选择讲各种毛绒玩具，而男生则会选择乐高、汽车和枪，但是这些玩具真的容易讲么？这个问题非常有待商榷。为了可以生产出和别人不一样，同时又很简单的内容，我们不如先从玩具的品类开始聊。
List of Toys
Action figures 公仔手办
Transformer 变形金刚/ Spider-Man 蜘蛛侠/ Batman 蝙蝠侠/ Jumping Jack 弹跳杰克/ Toy soldier 玩具士兵/ Weeble 不倒翁
Animals 动物玩偶
Sock monkey 袜子猴/ Teddy bear 泰迪熊/ Rocking horse 摇摆木马
Creative toys 启发想象力的玩具
Stickers 贴纸/ Silly putty 弹性橡皮泥/ Magna doodle 磁石画板/ Jigsaw puzzle 拼图/ Rubik’s cube 魔方/ Easel 画架
Remote-controlled 无线电控制的
Remote-controlled car 遥控车/ Remote-controlled helicopter 遥控直升机/ Remote-controlled boat 遥控船
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Dolls 玩具娃娃
Barbie 芭比娃娃/ Polly Pocket 芭莉口袋/ Strawberry Shortcake 草莓女孩/ Cabbage Patch Kids 卷心菜宝宝
Educational toys 益智玩具
Ant farm 蚂蚁农场/ Building blocks 积木/ Lego 乐高/ Speak & Spell 拼读玩具
Electronic toys 电子玩具
Tamagotchi pet 电子宠物/ Robot dog 机器狗
Food-related toys 和食物有关的玩具
Easy-bake oven 烤炉玩具/ Tea set 茶具
Games 游戏
Monopoly 大富翁/ Candy Land 糖果乐园/ Chinese Checkers 跳棋/ Ludo 飞行棋/ Snakes and ladders 蛇梯棋 / Uno 优诺牌
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Models 模型玩具
Model aircraft 模型飞机/ Model car 模型车/ Model railway 模型火车
Musical toys 声音玩具
Toy piano 玩具钢琴/ Baby guitar 玩具吉他/ Electronic drum set 电子鼓/ Whistle 口哨/ Toy CD player 玩具CD机/ Karaoke machine 卡拉OK机
Spinning toys 旋转玩具
Yo-yo 悠悠球/ Spinning-top 陀螺/ Pinwheel 风车/ Chinese yo-yo & Diabolo 空竹/ Frisbee 飞盘/ Hula hoop 呼啦圈
Accessories 玩具配饰
Magical wand 魔法棒/ Toy sword 玩具剑/ Masks 面具
从以上13类玩具来看，我相信大家能获取更多的灵感，同时也可以摆脱玩具单一的印象。现在我们就选择一个自己想讲的玩具来完成整个话题，但需要注意的是“玩具=物品”，为此我们需要结合物品的相关维度来拓展小问题的细节内容。
“物品”相关维度：
Type/ Function (可考虑科技性)/ Price/ Quantity (可考虑是否为限量版)/ Quality/ Designer (可考虑这是一个家人或朋友制作的手工玩具)/ Origins/ Brand/ Appearance (size/ color/ decoration/ shape/ material/ style)
History (可考虑是否为旧的二手玩具)/ Popularity/ How you know about it/ When you bought or got it/ Who bought it/ Where you bought it/ Why you bought it/ How often you played with it etc.
01
What it was
第一小问的拓展不是特别难，我们可以从物品类角度中任意选取1-2个角度进行拓展。不过我重点推点的角度有以下几个：
Appearance
因为剩下的三个小问基本不会用到这个角度，所以我们可以在第一问里对它外貌稍作描述。你可以从“颜色、大小、形状、材料、装饰物、风格”里任意挑选1-2个点进行描述。
Example one：Magical wand
I am going to talk about my favorite toy from my childhood. It was a pink magical wand 仙女棒 with a heart-shaped light on the top. When I pressed the button at the bottom, it would shine brightly.
Example two：Lego
I am going to talk about Lego, my favorite toy from my childhood. I had lots of it, about 2000 pieces. I made castles, trucks, animals and many other different things.
Quantity
我们也可以从数量上对玩具进行拓展，尤其是那些限量版的。它们不仅数量有限，同时价格很高
Example ：Transformer
My favorite toy was a limited-edition 限量版 transformer which was really delicate with a lot of detailed parts. It was more expensive than other transformers I had. It cost over 2000 yuan.
Popularity
“受欢迎程度”也是一个极佳的拓展点，我们可以进一步说明它是怎样的受欢迎以及为什么受欢迎。
Example one：Barbie
My favorite toy from my childhood was my Barbie. At the time, they were very popular and all my friends had them. You could buy many different types of Barbies. My favorite was cheerlead Barbie.
Example two：Weeble
The toy I would like to talk about was a Weeble 不倒翁 in the shape of a cute penguin. It was a really popular toy when I was young, but now you never see them.
Price
价格也是可以放在第一问拓展的角度。有同学可能会说小时候的玩具怎么可能记得价格，没有关系，你不记得可以让别人告诉你。
Example one：Yo-Yo
The toy I would like to talk about was a Yo-Yo 悠悠球 that I loved very much when I was in primary school. It would shine when it spun round 旋转 which made it a bit more special than the other ones. I think it cost a lot more than the plain 普通的 Yo-Yos but it was worth saving up for.
Example two：Remote-controlled car
The toy I would like to talk about was my remote-controlled car 遥控车 which was my favorite. I forgot how much it was, but my mum always reminds me that it was the most expensive toy that I had. She said it cost around 500 yuan. I realize I was very lucky to have such a toy.
02
How you got it
至于说你怎么得到这个玩具，这就相当于“Who gave it to you”。针对这个小问题，我们可以有三种解题方式：
How you know about it
我们可以按“How you know about …”的格式来答题，然后在结果部分体现“Who gave it to you”。
Example one：
One day, after school, I went to the toy shop as usual. From the corner of my eye 从眼睛余光处, I saw it sparkling. I was attracted by its lovely appearance, but I didn’t buy it immediately, as I couldn’t afford it.
However, after helping my mum do the housework for a month, I finally had enough to buy it. I was on cloud nine 很高兴 when I brought it home.
Example two：
I saw it in a toy shop when I went shopping with my mum. I liked it so much, however, my mum refused to buy it for me as she thought it was a waste of money.
I was very disappointed. However, on my birthday, I got a wonderful surprise. My mum had bought it secretly, as she knew how much I wanted it. I was so happy and excited.
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直接式
我们也可以非常直接的给出我们的回答，也就是谁买的。但接下去我们可以继续拓展和“买”相关的信息，比如：什么时候买的、哪里买的、为什么要买、和谁一起去买的、花多长时间买的、花了多少钱。如果你在第一问中有拓展过价格的信息，你就可以直接忽略掉“花了多少钱”这个点。
Example one：
I clearly remember my friend, Jack, gave it to me on my 13th birthday. He knew how much I loved the toy. He had saved all his pocket money and even did some chores, so he could afford it.
Example two：
It was given to me by my father. Around 10 years ago, he was in the USA on a business trip, so I called him and asked him to buy it for me. My father always spoiled me, so he bought it for me next day. I was so excited to get it when he returned home.
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猜测
和《别人送你的手工礼物》一样，我们在回答“谁给的”时候也可以通过猜测的方式来给出信息。当你收到礼物的时候，你可能并不是很清楚谁给的。往往这个时候你脑子里会有一个人选，但结果可能事实并非这个人。
Example：
When I went back home, it was sitting on my desk. I was so surprised and thought my mum had bought it for me as she knew how much I wanted one. However, it was actually from my cousin who was studying abroad.
He had shipped it to China a week earlier and then asked my mum to give it to me on my birthday. I couldn't believe how kind and thoughtful he was. I wrote a very nice Thank You letter to show him how much it meant to me.
03
How you played with it
这个小问让很多同学感到迷惑，同时也不知道从何答起。既然如此，我们不如把问题变一变。既然问的是你怎么玩，这也就相当于问“Who you played it with”。这么一看，好像这个问题还是蛮简单的，它的答题格式也是我们所熟知的按“主次”或“时间线”拆分。
按主次拆分
在这个答题格式下，我们把玩具玩的人群分为两波。经常跟谁一起玩，偶尔跟谁一起玩。同时，我们还可以加上具体怎么和他们玩。因为玩具可以和游戏进行结合，所以我们可以考虑游戏的玩法和规则。
Example one：Magical wand
I mostly played with it by myself. I imitated the actions from the cartoon, Sailor Moon 美少女战士, as I thought it would give me magical powers. I, sometimes, took it to school and shared it with my friends. We were all huge fans of Sailor Moon and really enjoyed pretending we were characters during our break.
Example two：Transformer
It was really fun even if I played it alone, because the transformer could be transformed into a small car and I could even put a lot of weapons on it to make it more powerful. I also liked to play it with my friends, as we would have transformer battles.
Each transformer possessed different powers, so we used their individual strength to beat each other. The final winner would always win the respect from everybody else.
按时间线拆分
在这个答题格式下，和我们玩的人群有发生时间上的变化。比如：刚开始你是一个人玩的，但后来觉得无聊，所以开始带到学校去和大家一起玩。
Example one：Transformer
At first, I played with it by myself. Every night after I finished my homework, I would play with it for a while. However, sometimes it was boring playing alone, so my father suggested that I share the toy with my friends, which I did.
I would take it to school everyday in my backpack and during the break, I would play with it with my friends. We were very imaginative and thought of many different ways to play with it.
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Example two：Remote-controlled car
I played with it with my friends and we had a car race every night after school. However, one day, a classmate stamped 用脚踩踏 on it accidentally and it broke. I was so upset.
He apologized profusely and I knew he felt bad. I didn’t want to throw it away, so I put it on my bookshelf as a decoration.
04
Why you liked it
至于我们喜欢一个玩具的原因，虽然会因人而异，但基本上我们可以根据“The benefits of toys”来作出一些常规总结。很多同学在给出观点时，基本都是从“想象力”着手。的确，这是玩具带给我们的主要优点之一。除此以外，其实它的作用还有很多。
Shape one’s personality
玩具可以帮助孩子形成某一种性格，比如：积木类的玩具可以让孩子变得更有耐心，更懂坚持；魔法棒类带有一定能量色彩的玩具可以让孩子变得更具有正义感; 不倒翁系列的玩具则可以教会孩子面对失败要有失败要有重新站起来的勇气。
Example one：
A big but silly reason why I liked the magical wand 仙女棒 so much was it made me feel like a super hero. In the cartoon, the wand is used to protect people and fight evil. When I was young, I was a bit timid, but I always felt brave when I held it in my hand.
I protected girls who were being bullied and scared off the annoying boys. It seemed like I was very dangerous and unsafe, but I really enjoyed the moment as I could protect my friends.
Example two：
I was really into my Lego. Not only was it fun, but it made me a patient and persistent person. When I first got the Lego, I thought it would be a breeze 简单. However, it was not as easy as I thought. You need to use your imagination and be patient to create your own Lego world.
Sometimes, I would get annoyed, but my father told me to keep going and never give up. Over the years, I created some very impressive structures. I think Lego taught me the importance of persistence and gave me the ability to overcome obstacles and challenges.
Example three：
My Weeble 不倒翁 was my favorite toy. I liked watching it wobble and stand up again. My dad always told me it showed the importance of picking yourself up 重振旗鼓 when things get difficult.
Obviously at the time, I was too young to really know what that meant, but now I can see the relevance. Now when I am faced something challenging, I just picture my Weeble.
Discover talents
玩具可以发现孩子独有的才能。比如：画画类的玩具可以展现孩子的绘画天赋；乐高类的玩具也可以展现孩子的建造才能。
Example one：
I loved my easel because it really helped me discover my talent for painting. At first, my mum bought it for me to scribble on 乱涂乱画. However, as time passed, she noticed how my drawings were improving.
As a result, she decided to send me to art classes and that is how I got into art. Thanks to my easel, I am now a successful painter.
Example two：
I loved my lego so much because it helped me discover my talent for construction. When I was young I would build all kinds of buildings and the older I got the more impressive they became. I loved the process from start to finish, so I knew one day I would be a builder or architect.
Develop personal skills
玩具也可以帮助孩子提升个人能力。比如：玩偶类的玩具可以让孩子学会如何照顾人以及如何成为一个有责任感的人； 厨具类的玩具则可以培养孩子的做饭能力。
Example one：
I absolutely loved my doll and I would take her everywhere. I would give her meals and make sure she always had nice clothes. I think this is why I now like looking after others. I really care about people and worry if they are not well looked after.
Example two：
I loved my easy-bake oven very much. Even though it was not a real kitchen, I think it started my love of cooking. I used to enjoy chopping, mixing and serving food. Nowadays, there is nothing more satisfying than preparing and cooking a meal for friends or loved ones. I have dinner parties every month.
Companion
玩具也是孩子童年时候的陪伴。比如：玩偶类的玩具不会让孩子感到孤单，同时还可以缓解孩子的紧张情绪。
Example：
I was afraid of the dark when I was young and I didn’t like to be alone at night. I thought there were ghosts and monsters. That’s why I loved my teddy bear. When I was scared, I would hug him tightly and he would comfort me and protect me from all my fears. I always slept well when he was next to me.
Capture imagination
玩具可以帮助孩子提升想象力，比如：玩偶类的玩具可以让孩子徜徉在自己的世界中，创造不同的人物形象。
Example：
I loved my doll's house because it captured my imagination. It was like my own little world. I would create scenarios 情景 and roles for all the dolls and it would keep me entertained for hours.
I liked dressing up the dolls too and I would make furniture from bits and pieces lying around the house. It was a happy world where only great things happened.
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Popularity
在一定程度上，玩具也可以让一个孩子受到更多人的欢迎，如果这个玩具很稀有或者这个玩具可以让孩子充分展示某方面才能的话。
Example one：
I really liked it, as, at the time, it was the coolest toy to have and made me the most popular person in my class. Hardly anybody had the limited-edition transformer, so everybody was talking about mine. Suddenly, I had a lot more friends.
Example two：
I really liked it because I had the best yo-yo skills at my school. Every time I competed with others, I won. Because of this, everyone knew who I was and liked to challenge me. Even some senior students knew about me. I was known as the yo-yo champion.
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通过对以上四小问的讲解，现在你可以完成属于你自己的话题啦。
参考答案：【玩具】
女生款 （仙女棒）
What it was
I am going to talk about my favorite toy from my childhood. It was a pink magical wand with a heart-shaped light on the top. When I pressed the button at the bottom, it would shine brightly.
How you got it
One day, after school, I went to the toy shop as usual. From the corner of my eye, I saw it sparkling. I was attracted by its lovely appearance, but I didn’t buy it immediately, as I couldn’t afford it.
However, after helping my mum do the housework for a month, I finally had enough to buy it. I was on cloud nine when I brought it home.
How you played with it
I mostly played with it by myself. I imitated the actions from the cartoon, Sailor Moon, as I thought it would give me magical powers. I, sometimes, took it to school and shared it with my friends.
We were all huge fans of Sailor Moon and really enjoyed pretending we were characters during our break.
? Why you liked it
P—A big but silly reason why I liked the magical wand so much was it made me feel like a super hero.
E— In the cartoon, the wand is used to protect people and fight evil. When I was young, I was a bit timid, but I always felt brave when I held it in my hand.
E—I protected girls who were being bullied and scared off the annoying boys. It seemed like I was very dangerous and unsafe, but I really enjoyed the moment as I could protect my friends.
男生款 （变形金刚）
What it was
My favorite toy was a limited-edition transformer which was really delicate with a lot of detailed parts. It was more expensive than other transformers I had. It cost over 2000 yuan.
How you got it
It was given to me by my father. Around 10 years ago, he was in the USA on a business trip, so I called him and asked him to buy it for me. My father always spoiled me, so he bought it for me next day. I was so excited to get it when he returned home.
How you played with it
It was really fun even if I played it alone, because the transformer could be transformed into a small car and I could even put a lot of weapons on it to make it more powerful. I also liked to play it with my friends, as we would have transformer battles.
Each transformer possessed different powers, so we used their individual strength to beat each other. The final winner would always win the respect from everybody else.
? Why you liked it
P—I really liked it, as, at the time, it was the coolest toy to have and made me the most popular person in my class.
E— Hardly anybody had the limited-edition transformer, so everybody was talking about mine. Suddenly, I had a lot more friends.
