变革: inequality, megacities and internal migration since 1978

Translate into English. 一般认为, 中国的改革开放是从 1978 年 12 月开始的. 最早的变化发生在农村: 农民可以在完成任务以后自己支配剩下的产品, 积极性因此明显提高. 八十年代初, 政府又在南方设立了几个经济特区, 希望通过外资和出口带动整个经济. 不过, 关于这些政策在多大程度上是事先设计好的, 学者们至今没有一致的答案.

1. 01一般认为, 中国的改革开放是从 1978 年 12 月开始的

   一般认为 is an impersonal attribution - it is generally held that - and it is the single most useful opening in this whole theme, because it lets you state a convention without asserting it as fact. 是…的 is the emphatic frame here bracketing 从 1978 年 12 月开始: it was from December 1978 that it began. The date order runs large to small, year then month, the reverse of British convention.

2. 02最早的变化发生在农村

   最早的 is the superlative attributive with 的. 发生在 is verb plus locative complement: took place in. Note that Chinese puts 在农村 after 发生 because it is a complement of location for an event, not a coverb phrase before the verb - one of the few places where a place expression follows the verb, and worth noticing precisely because it is the exception.

3. 03农民可以在完成任务以后自己支配剩下的产品

   在…以后 brackets the time clause and stands before the verb. 完成任务 is to complete the quota or assignment. 自己 is the reflexive from the Appendix 3 pronoun list, here meaning for themselves. 支配 is to dispose of or have control over. 剩下的产品 is a pre-nominal attributive built on a verb: the produce that was left over.

4. 04积极性因此明显提高

   积极性 is a noun formed with the Appendix 3 suffix 性 - literally activeness, best rendered as motivation or willingness to work. 因此 is the formal therefore. 明显 (markedly) is an adverb before the verb. 提高 is to rise or be raised; English will usually need rose markedly or increased noticeably. This is a four-word sentence carrying a causal claim, and the compression is characteristic of the register.

5. 05八十年代初, 政府又在南方设立了几个经济特区, 希望通过外资和出口带动整个经济

   八十年代初 is the early 1980s, with 初 as the beginning of a period. 又 marks a further step in a sequence. 在南方 is a coverb phrase before the verb, the normal position. 设立了 with 了 is completed. 几个 is the indefinite small number with its measure word. 通过…带动 is by means of X, to drive Y - 通过 is a coverb and 带动 a verb of impelling.

6. 06不过, 关于这些政策在多大程度上是事先设计好的, 学者们至今没有一致的答案

   关于 is the coverb regarding, and here it introduces a long nominalised question that is the object of the whole sentence. 在多大程度上 is to what extent, an adverbial phrase before the verb. 事先设计好的 is designed in advance, with 好 as a resultative complement of completion. 至今 is up to now, pre-verbal. 一致的答案 is an agreed answer. Render: scholars still have no agreed answer as to how far these policies were designed in advance.

7. 07Where the marks are

   The examinable joints are 一般认为 as an impersonal attribution, the 是…的 emphatic frame, 发生在 as a post-verbal locative, the 性 nominalisation in 积极性, 通过…带动 as a means-and-effect pair, and the long nominalised clause under 关于. Note also what the passage models: it states dates flatly, describes a mechanism, and then reports a scholarly disagreement rather than resolving it. That is exactly the register this whole theme should be written in.

Result: It is generally held that China's reform and opening-up began in December 1978. The earliest changes took place in the countryside: once farmers had met their quota, they could dispose of the remaining produce themselves, and their motivation consequently rose markedly. In the early 1980s the government went on to establish several special economic zones in the south, hoping to drive the economy as a whole through foreign investment and exports. Scholars still have no agreed answer, however, as to how far these policies were designed in advance.

You want to say that the gap between coastal cities and inland regions is large and persistent. Write the claim five ways, from the weakest to the strongest, and see what each version costs you.

1. 01Version 1 - the fabricated number

   沿海地区的收入比内陆高百分之四十. Do not write this. You do not know the figure, it varies by year and by measure, and a marker who doubts it will doubt everything around it. The AO4 grid rewards evidence that is pertinent, and an unverifiable number is not pertinent evidence - it is a liability.

2. 02Version 2 - the vague hedge, which is almost as weak

   沿海地区的收入好像比内陆高一些. 好像 (it seems) and 一些 (somewhat) together produce a sentence that commits to nothing. Hedging is not the same as being careful. A claim that cannot be wrong cannot be right either, and the grid's word for this is generalised.

3. 03Version 3 - the comparative with a degree complement

   沿海地区的收入明显比内陆高. 明显 (markedly) states strength without stating size. This is already defensible and already better than either of the first two. The structure is 比 plus the standard plus the adjective, with the adverb before 比 - a placement worth fixing, because 比内陆明显高 is also possible but shifts the emphasis.

4. 04Version 4 - add persistence, which is the real claim

   沿海和内陆之间的差距长期存在, 而且到现在仍然明显. 长期 (over a long period) and 仍然 (still) turn a snapshot into a claim about time, and time is what makes inequality interesting. 而且 escalates. Note 之间 for between, which requires the two terms in front of it: 沿海和内陆之间.

5. 05Version 5 - add the mechanism, which is what earns the top band

   沿海和内陆之间的差距长期存在, 主要是因为好的学校, 医院和工作机会都集中在少数城市, 而这些资源很难在短时间内重新分配. Now there is a stated mechanism - concentration of schools, hospitals and jobs - and a reason it persists. 集中在 is verb plus locative complement; 重新分配 is to redistribute. The claim is strong, specific, mechanistic and contains no number at all.

6. 06Why this counts as argument

   Version 5 is 55 characters and would sit in the top band of AO4 on this point, while version 1 might not survive the examiner's first follow-up. The general rule this exercise teaches applies across the whole subject: when you feel the pull towards a statistic, reach instead for a comparative, then for a time word, then for a mechanism. Those three moves say more than the number would have, and all three are things you actually know.

Result: 沿海和内陆之间的差距长期存在, 而且到现在仍然明显. 主要是因为好的学校, 医院和工作机会都集中在少数城市, 而这些资源很难在短时间内重新分配.

Translate into Chinese. High-speed rail has made travel between the big cities much faster than it used to be. Nevertheless, for a young person who has just graduated, house prices in a first-tier city may still be the biggest problem. Quite a few therefore decide to work in a new first-tier city instead, where the cost of living is lower.

1. 01High-speed rail has made travel between the big cities much faster than it used to be

   高铁使大城市之间的交通比过去快得多. 使 is the causative from the Appendix 3 list and takes a clause. 之间 requires its two terms in front: 大城市之间. 交通 is the traffic or communications between places. The comparison is 比过去 plus 快 plus the degree complement 得多. Note that 得多 must follow the adjective; 比过去很快 is one of the most common learner errors and would cost the mark.

2. 02Nevertheless, for a young person who has just graduated

   不过, 对一个刚毕业的年轻人来说. 不过 opens the concession at the head. 对…来说 brackets the person for whom the claim holds, and both halves are obligatory - 对…说 alone is wrong. 刚毕业的 is a pre-nominal attributive with the adverb 刚 (just now) inside it; English post-modification who has just graduated must move in front of the noun.

3. 03house prices in a first-tier city may still be the biggest problem

   一线城市的房价可能仍然是最大的问题. 一线城市的 is a possessive-locative attributive. 可能 and 仍然 are both pre-verbal and their order matters: modality before the temporal adverb. 最大的问题 needs 的 because 大 is being used attributively with a superlative. Note that 是 is required before a noun predicate.

4. 04Quite a few therefore decide to work in a new first-tier city instead

   因此不少人决定改去新一线城市工作. 因此 concludes. 不少人 is the plurality quantifier. 改 as a verb prefix means instead, switching to - 改去 is to go somewhere else instead, which renders English instead far more idiomatically than 而不是. 去新一线城市工作 is a serial verb construction: go to X to work. The place phrase sits between 去 and the second verb, not after it.

5. 05where the cost of living is lower

   那里的生活成本比较低. English uses a relative clause with where; Chinese normally starts a new clause with 那里的 (of that place). Do not attempt a pre-nominal relative here - 生活成本比较低的新一线城市 is grammatical but changes the emphasis, turning the reason into part of the name of the destination. 比较低 is a bare comparative; if you want an explicit standard you must supply it.

6. 06Where the points-based marks sit

   The awardable sections here are the 使 causative, 之间 with its two terms in front, 比…得多 with the complement after the adjective, the obligatory pair 对…来说, the pre-nominal attributive 刚毕业的, the adverb order 可能仍然, 改去 for instead, and the new clause with 那里的 where English used where. Seven of the eight are word-order or structure marks, which is the pattern across the whole of Section A.

Result: 高铁使大城市之间的交通比过去快得多. 不过, 对一个刚毕业的年轻人来说, 一线城市的房价可能仍然是最大的问题. 因此不少人决定改去新一线城市工作, 那里的生活成本比较低.

The card statement reads: 城市移民对中国的发展利大于弊 - urban migration has done China more good than harm. The two compulsory questions are 你同意吗? and 你能说明一个具体的影响吗? Build the opening answer.

1. 01Refuse the binary, but answer the question

   我同意利大于弊, 不过我认为要看对谁来说. 利大于弊 is the card's own four-character phrase and using it back shows you understood it. 要看…来说 - it depends on whom you mean - is the qualification the whole answer will develop, and stating it in sentence two rather than sentence six is what makes the answer feel controlled.

2. 02The benefit, with a named mechanism

   对整个国家来说, 城市需要劳动力, 农村家庭也需要收入, 两方面都得到了好处. 劳动力 is the workforce; 得到好处 is to gain a benefit. Naming both sides of the exchange in one sentence is more persuasive than asserting that migration helped, and 两方面 keeps it symmetrical.

3. 03The cost, made specific and human

   但是对具体的家庭来说, 代价可能很大. 很多孩子成了留守儿童, 一年只能见到父母一两次. 一两次 is the numeral-juxtaposition approximation. 见到 is verb plus resultative - manage to see. This is the sentence that will be remembered, and it is remembered because it is concrete rather than because it is emotive.

4. 04Name the institution accurately, not dramatically

   这和户口制度有关: 孩子的上学和父母的登记地方有关系, 所以很多父母只能把孩子留在老家. 和…有关 states a connection without over-claiming causation. 把…留在… is the disposal construction with a locative complement, and it is exactly the right structure for leave someone somewhere. Accuracy about the institution is what keeps the answer from being contradicted.

5. 05Judge conditionally and hand over

   所以我觉得, 只有在教育和医疗上做出改变, 才能说利真的大于弊. 您觉得英国有没有类似的情况, 比如说搬到伦敦工作的人? 只有…才… conditions the judgement. The closing question is on topic, invites the examiner's own view, and offers a comparison the examiner can actually answer.

6. 06What the grids saw

   AO4: an accurate account of 户口 that does not over-claim, a named consequence, both sides of the exchange, a conditional judgement. AO3: 利大于弊, 对…来说 twice, 得到好处, 一两次, 见到 as a resultative, 把…留在…, 和…有关, 只有…才…. AO1: took the lead, developed without prompting, elicited a view. The whole answer runs about seventy seconds and leaves five minutes of Task 1 to develop under questioning.

Result: 我同意利大于弊, 不过我认为要看对谁来说. 对整个国家来说, 城市需要劳动力, 农村家庭也需要收入, 两方面都得到了好处. 但是对具体的家庭来说, 代价可能很大: 很多孩子成了留守儿童, 一年只能见到父母一两次. 这和户口制度有关, 因为孩子的上学和父母登记的地方有关系, 所以很多父母只能把孩子留在老家. 所以我觉得, 只有在教育和医疗上做出改变, 才能说利真的大于弊. 您觉得英国有没有类似的情况?

Here is a paragraph a candidate might write under pressure. Audit it for unverifiable claims and unattributed opinions, then rebuild it so that everything in it can be defended.

1. 01The original, with its problems marked

   改革开放以后, 中国有百分之七十的人搬到了城市. 沿海地区的收入是内陆的三倍. 户口制度是不公平的, 应该马上取消. 现在留守儿童有六千万. Four sentences, three invented figures and one unattributed verdict. Every one of them is a place where an examiner can stop believing you, and the fourth is a policy judgement stated as if it were a fact.

2. 02Fix one: replace the migration figure with direction and time

   改革开放以后, 越来越多的人从农村搬到城市, 这个过程到现在还在继续. 越来越多的 gives direction, 从…到… gives the movement, 到现在还在继续 gives the time. The sentence now says something true and something interesting - that the process is ongoing - which the original number did not.

3. 03Fix two: replace the ratio with a comparative and a mechanism

   沿海地区的收入明显比内陆高, 主要是因为工厂, 港口和高科技公司都集中在沿海. 明显比…高 gives strength without size; 集中在 gives the mechanism. Note that the mechanism sentence is also more useful to you later, because it can be extended, whereas a ratio can only be repeated.

4. 04Fix three: turn the verdict into an attributed debate plus your own conditional view

   关于户口制度, 有人认为它保证了城市服务不被压垮, 也有人认为它让在城市工作的人得不到同样的待遇. 在我看来, 只有先增加学校和医院, 才可能真正放开. Two attributed positions, then a conditional judgement of your own. 待遇 is treatment or provision; 放开 is to liberalise. The paragraph now argues instead of pronouncing.

5. 05Fix four: replace the headcount with a qualitative claim

   留守儿童的数量一直很大, 这个问题近年来受到越来越多的关注. 一直很大 gives persistence without a figure; 受到关注 (to receive attention) is a 受到 passive construction and a genuinely useful one. If you happen to have read a specific and recent figure and can say where, you may cite it - but you must be able to say where, and under examination pressure it is rarely worth it.

6. 06Why this counts as argument

   The rebuilt paragraph is longer than the original by about a third and contains no number at all. It has two attributed positions, three mechanisms, one conditional judgement of the candidate's own and eight Appendix 3 structures. Every sentence in it would survive a follow-up question, which is the practical test the AO4 grid's word justified is really applying.

Result: 改革开放以后, 越来越多的人从农村搬到城市, 这个过程到现在还在继续. 沿海地区的收入明显比内陆高, 主要是因为工厂, 港口和高科技公司都集中在沿海. 关于户口制度, 有人认为它保证了城市的服务不被压垮, 也有人认为它让在城市工作的人得不到同样的待遇. 留守儿童的数量一直很大, 这个问题近年来受到越来越多的关注. 在我看来, 只有先增加学校和医院, 才可能真正放开.