"我这条命是空调给的"--

雅思口语话题Describe an important invention that has changed the world

大暑已至，最近很多城市的气温都飙升至40℃上下，以至于有了一系列的网络流行语及段子诞生，诸如"我这条命都是空调给的"，"不和温度在40℃以下城市的人交朋友。不熟"等等。

在同各大网友们一样看到这些及能引起共鸣的流行语会心一笑时，Melanie老师也心系仍在辛苦准备雅思口语的同学们，咦，空调不就是一项很伟大的发明嘛，这不正好符合我们当季题库内一道较为热门的雅思口语Part 2题目"Describe an important invention that has changed the world"。空调 （AC，air-conditioner）同易受大多数考生青睐的素材Internet，mobile phone一样，属于我们日常生活中必不可少的一部分，而越是我们熟悉的素材，在准备起来就越容易一些，因为你对于它的功能已经非常熟悉啦。那么好，我们现在就来看看如何利用 "lifesaver空调君"来准备这道雅思口语热门题目。

在大家看下面这篇sample answer之前，可以先考虑以下几个小问题：

1. "我这条命是空调给的"英文怎么说？

2. 形容天气非常闷热，可以有哪些词？

3. 准备一篇Part 2的口语话题大概思路是怎么样的?

Describe an invention that has changed the world. You should say: what it is; how it's changed our life; how popular it is among different age groups;

and explain how you feel about it.

This topic surely got me thinking! I mean, I can think of many revolutionary inventions like smart phone, computer, camera and something like that, but considering the hot, sweaty weather conditions we are suffering lately, what I truly want to share with you is the air-conditioner, which has largely freed us from this suffocating high temperature very recently.

To be honest, hardly can I imagine how people managed to stay cool before the invention of AC. What I've heard from my grandparents is that they used to sit on the porch in front of the house and to feel the breeze back to decades ago, or they used fans of some sort. Obviously, that doesn't sound tempting at all. That's probably why the AC has now become an essential household appliance for most families in my country once it had come out. The guy who invented it is surely a genius.

As for how I feel about this important invention, well, it's something, right?  It even feels like I've owned my life to the air-conditioner. The heat wave is so strong that it doesn't make any difference whether I go outside or say indoors. Sweat poured from my forehead even if I sit still and do nothing. However, thanks to AC, it's much easier for us to fall asleep at night and to maintain high productively under sweltering weather outside.

OK, 看完这篇例文之后，各位烤鸭对于先前我提出的三个小问题有答案了吗？我们这里来总结一下:

1. I've owned my life to the air-conditioner. 我这条命是空调给的。Own sth.to sb./sth. 这个短语我们大家都应该较为熟悉，"把某事归功于某人"，那么这里我们为了夸张的表示有下对空调君的感谢之情，就可以这样使用，说我的这条命都是归功于空调。同理，在掌握了这个短语的基础之上，咱们尝试举一反三，是不是就可以说 "我的雅思高分都是考官给的"-I've owned my high score on IELTS to the examiners. "对亏了父母，才有了我今天的成就"??- "I've owned my achievement to my parents."??

2. 表达"天气炎热"，除了常见的hot 之外，我们可以多积累一些地道且less common的词汇，例如stuffy, sweltering, strong heat wave等。雅思考官对于口语的评分标准之一就在于词汇的灵活多样性上，换言之，多使用一些不是太显老生常谈的表达也可以为自己在考官那里刷一下印象分呢。

3. 对于正在备考的雅思考生来说，一篇Part 2题目需要在接近2分钟的时间内流利度的用15-20句话描述一个特定话题，更为重要的是，所言须有条理性，所以在准备这道口语话题时，大家可以先引出一个自己认为重要的发明，比如在罗列几个反面之后挑一个最为个人认为很好拓展开来的说明【Tip1:先罗列再挑一展开】；接下来，可以重点解释一下这项发明的功能是什么的，比如该项发明之前生活怎样，而有了它之后又是如何【Tip2:对比方式展开更有逻辑性噢】；最后，给出自己的主观评价感受【Tip3:有了前面的客观功能描述，自己的主观展开才更加言之有物】。

根据这样的一个结构分析，我们现在再来看一下刚才那篇例文：

This topic surely got me thinking! I mean, I can think of many revolutionary inventions like smart phone, camera, penicillin and something like that【罗列发明】, but considering the hot, sweaty weather conditions we are suffering lately, what I truly want to share with you is the air-conditioner, which has largely freed us from this suffocating high temperature very recently 【引出主题】.

To be honest, hardly can I imagine how people managed to stay cool before the invention of AC. What I've heard from my grandparents is that they used to sit on the porch in front of the house and to feel the breeze back to decades ago, or they used fans of some sort 【过去】. Obviously, that doesn't sound tempting at all. That's probably why the AC has now become an essential household appliance for most families in my country once it had come out 【现在】. The guy who invented it is surely a genius.

【主观段落过渡感受】As for how I feel about this important invention, well, it's something, right?  It even feels like I've owned my life to the air-conditioner. The heat wave is so strong that it doesn't make any difference whether I go outside or say indoors. Sweat poured from my forehead even if I sit still and do nothing. However, thanks to AC, it's much easier for us to fall asleep at night and to maintain high productively under sweltering weather outside.

这样看来，是不是准备一篇有逻辑有条理的话题素材也不难了呢？炎炎夏日，希望在空调君的陪伴下烤鸭们能早入刷出高分~