不少同学在托福独立写作中遇到困难,下面这道题目是2014年3月15日托福独立写作真题，面对这样一个题目，新东方老师提供一篇参考范文,供同学们参考。
托福独立写作题目：Which do you think is the best way for a student to make friends: joining a sports team participating in community activities, or traveling?Use specific examples to support your answer.
参考范文：Making friends as a student can still be a difficult prospect. Given a choice between joining a sports team, participating in community activities, or traveling, I'd say the best way to make friends is probably getting involved in some community activities.
First of all, not everyone was born to play sports. Some people just aren't sports people, and while I'd certainly encourage everyone to be physically active, for many, trying to join a sports team will just make of them feel bad about their own lack of ability. In these sorts of cases, whether or not they can feel comfortable enough to make friends depends largely on how supportive the social environment is. As a teenager I played lacrosse in highschool, and despite being lanky and ill-suited for the sport, I had a great time and made many new friends because the people were fun and not overly competitive. But I also played on a soccer team at the time, and the experience was far worse due to the personalities of the other players.
I think most people would have better luck with making friends while traveling, though here you encounter the problem of staying in touch. Making friends on the road has several advantages: You get to meet a wider variety of people than if you had just joined a sport team, and since there's no competitive pressure, getting to know people can be a much more relaxed process. You also have stories of your travels to relate to people you meet along the way. However, there wouldn't be that camaraderie that comes from working towards a common goal, and a lot of the people you meet you'll probably never see again.
That's why I think getting into community activities is the best of the three options. Similar to what you'd experience in a sports team, you have opportunities to forge bonds while working towards a common goal, but without the high athletic demands of a competitive sport. You also get to meet a larger variety of people than you might find while playing sports time, because they won't all be athletes. Also, you're much more likely to see them again compared to people you meet while travelling. And finally, since you'll likely be doing a range of activities, you'll have plenty of things to talk about with the new people you meet.
Joining a sports team and traveling can both be helpful if you're a student looking to make new friends. However, participating in community activities is a balanced compromise between the two, and in my mind that makes it the best option. (486)
