词汇大师-- Step Two in Writing a College Essay

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: more advice about writing a personal statement for an American college or university. Rachel Toor is the author of "Admissions Confidential¹: An Insider's Account of the Elite² College Selection Process."

　　RACHEL TOOR: "What I do when I work with students is say 'You know what, don't think that you're writing a college application essay.' Because that feels like a big, important thing, and when they think that, they get into these fits of proclaiming 'This is the way the world is and this is what I'm going to do.' And it sounds very declamatory and lofty and not very interesting or personal.
"What I tell them to do is, say, just write a letter to me: 'Dear Rachel, this is who I am, this is what I care about.' Or think about, as if you're writing to your parents or a friend, so that they write in a way that is much more natural and conversational³."
AA: "But what if they're not a natural writer? What if they're more technically⁴ inclined?"
RACHEL TOOR: "That's a big problem, because in the United States, kids tend to join the same kinds of clubs. So they're all, all these kids who are applying are president of the National Honor Society, captain of the debate team, they play three varsity sports, they do all the same stuff.
"So the problem for the admissions people is these kids all look the same. Now, for international students applying to American colleges and universities, it's a little bit different. But what they can assume is that, if they're applying to schools that get lots of applicants⁵ from their countries, there are going to be things that are going to be typical.
"So my suggestion is always for them to think 'Well, you know what, what's interesting about me?' And kids who are seventeen often don't really know. Sometimes their parents know, but they don't really know."
AA: "Well, you know, I read now that on the personal statement, some parents are actually hiring writing consultants⁷. I just read the term D.W.I., which ordinarily refers to Driving While Intoxicated⁸, but I guess it means Daddy Wrote It. Have you heard that term?"
RACHEL TOOR: "[Laughter] No. I'm actually -- I mean, I'm one of those consultants. People hire me and what I do is I work with them on their essays. I have never written an essay for a student. Right now, it's big business, and the range of what people charge is from nothing to forty thousand dollars -- "
RS: "Forty thousand dollars?"
RACHEL TOOR: "Forty thousand dollars."
RS: "For a college essay?"
RACHEL TOOR: "For help with the college admissions process."
RACHEL TOOR: "One of the things I always used to say when I was in admissions is that I'm a pretty good reader, and I can tell the difference between prose that's been written by a seventeen-year-old and prose that's been written by a fifty-year-old.
"And there are also other checks. You have the teacher recommendations who say 'This is a really smart kid and she's really creative. She has a little problem with writing.' And if that student sends in a perfectly⁹ pristine¹⁰, beautifully written essay, it raises some red flags.
"What I work with students on is helping¹¹ them come up with the right topic, and then pointing out to them the tics and bad habits in their writing."
RS: "Let's focus a little bit more on the foreign student. To strengthen their writing skills before they come to an American university, what advice would you have for them?"
RACHEL TOOR: "Read contemporary American novels. Read novels written in English. Good writers become good writers because they're readers. I think the specific advice about applying is to understand that this is a process, and it's not true for the state universities, which are much more quantitatively¹² driven, so their TOEFL scores and their curriculum that they've taken, that's going to matter more; their G.P.A. is going to matter more.
"But (if they're applying to) the private schools, then what they really need to do is understand that there is a person who is going to be reading their application, who's going to be responding to them as a person, so to make it less formal. And that doesn't mean they have to write about themselves necessarily. They can write about a love of architecture. They can write about cricket. They can write about anything they want. They just have to do it in a way that's going to be interesting and revealing of who they are."
AA: Rachel Toor is an assistant professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University. She's also a college consultant⁶ and author. If you missed the first part of our interview with her, it's at voanews.com/wordmaster. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

2 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

3 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

4 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

5 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

6 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

7 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

8 intoxicated   

喝醉的，极其兴奋的

参考例句：

• She was intoxicated with success. 她为成功所陶醉。
• They became deeply intoxicated and totally disoriented. 他们酩酊大醉，东南西北全然不辨。

9 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

10 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 quantitatively   

adv.数量上

参考例句：

• With the ease, radiation detectors can be used semi-quantitatively in the field. 使用射线探测器可以很方便地进行野外半定量测定。 来自辞典例句
• In other words, you are to analyze them quantitatively and qualitatively. 换句话说，你们要对它们进行量和质的分析。 来自辞典例句