Key Features—Pair and Switch 细节特点——配对与换位
The best way to understand the difference between main features and key features is to imagine an old man panning for gold in a river.To begin with,he stands in the running water,and dips his pan into the rocks and pebbles on the riverbed.Once he pulls it out,he immediately glances to see whether or not he has a gold nugget.They are big and easy to see.There may be other big stones,but he'll throw them away.As he shakes the pan he is left with sand which he sifts until he finds tiny specks of gold dust.This is exactly how you need to think about task achievement.
为了让考生更好地理解突出特点和细节特点之间的差异，我们想象一个场景：一位老人在河里筛金子。起初，他站在水流中，把盆放在河床的石头上，让流动的河水来冲刷盆里的沙砾。当他把盆从水里拎出来时，一眼就能发现里面有没有金块，因为金块大而显眼很容易看见。也许里面会混有其他石块，他会把它们扔掉。接着他继续筛盆里留下的沙子，随着沙子流到河水里，他也就能发现混在其中的金砂了。这就是我们在理解任务完成度时的思维模式。
Firstly,you need to quickly glance around for your gold nuggets,which are your main features,then you look more carefully for your gold dust,which are your key features.The only difference here is that your gold dust is often more valuable than your gold nuggets.Moving away from this metaphor,your TA should be structured like an upside-down triangle,putting your main features,which are big and obvious at the beginning,in your overview,and your finer details,which are smaller and harder to find,in the body of your response.
首先，你要快速浏览以发现你的 “金块”，也就是突出特点。然后你在沙砾中仔细寻找“金砂”，也就是细节特点。不过此处仅有的不同是，在我们的文章里，“金砂” 要比 “金块”更重要。抛开这个比喻，回到正题，从任务完成度来说，文章的结构应该是一个倒三角，大而显眼的 “突出特点” 在总览的最上面，更小更不易发现的 “细节特点” 放在文章的正中间。
Key features are the details that the examiner is expecting you to find in the task.No matter what your level of English,the more key features you find,the higher your TA score is going to be.A good way to think about it is like when Sherlock Holmes enters a crime scene.He already has a good idea of what has happened.The police have already taped off the crime scene.There is the outline of a man's dead body on the floor,a gun on the floor,and an open window.Those obvious things are like your main features.
细节特点就是考官希望在你的文章中读到的细节信息。不论你的英语语言水平如何，你找到的细节信息越多，任务完成度的得分就越高。为了加深考生对这一点的理解，可以想象夏洛克·福尔摩斯进入犯罪现场的场景。在进去之前，他已经大概知道发生了什么，警察已经封锁了犯罪现场，受害人躺在地上，地板上有一把枪，窗户大开。这些显眼的特点就是我们文章中的突出特点。
Once Sherlock Holmes starts looking in-depth,finding the ti-ny details like strands of the murderer's hair,fingerprints and other clues,those are more like our key features.Like the crime scene,key features are difficult to find,and some of the key features that take you to higher scores are very well-hidden.In this section,we'll take a look at a quick and easy method to find the most common kinds of key features as quickly as possible.Once you know where the key features are hidden,you will never be afraid of Task 1 again.
当夏洛克·福尔摩斯开始进行深入调查时，会采集一些细微的物件，例如凶手的头发、指纹或其他线索，这就类似于我们文章中的细节特点。图表就类似于案发现场，在案发现场找细微的物件很难，在图表中找细节特点也一样，但是一旦你找到就会得到高分。在这个部分，我们将学习如何尽快找到细节特点的简单方法。当你掌握了这个技巧，你就不会再对写作任务一心生畏惧。
The first method is called Pair and Switch.It has four stages:
第一个方法是 “配对与换位”，一共四个步骤：
1) find pairs
2) find orders
3) find switches
4) establish patterns
1） 给相同的数据配对
2） 给数据排序
3） 根据排序换位
4） 发现数据的规律
Finding pairs comes first because it is the easiest to spot right away.Take a look at the table below.Don't panic!Just calmly think about the card game Pairs,where you have to turn over random cards to find a pair.
配对放在第一位因为它是最容易立即就发现的。看看下面的图，不要大惊小怪哦！只是通过扑克牌中的 “对子” 来让大家了解什么叫作配对。
What pairs can you see in the table below?
在下面的表格中，大家看到哪些“对子” 了？
Hopefully,you've noticed that there are four significant pairs in this table.They are:
你应该注意到了这个表格中一共有四组重要的 “对子”，分别是：
Once we have our pairs,the next step is to look for order,literally the order in which the information appears for each year.You can see that in the chart below:
找 “对子” 完毕后，下一步就是给对子 “排序”，以年份为单位对四项数据进行排序。如下：
By figuring out the order for each year,you can start to see where the switches are.Switches are figures that have changed places.In the chart above we can see that there were three switches that happened in 2001:
以年份为单位对四项数据排序完毕后，就可以清晰地发现哪几项数据的名次 “换位” 了。“换位” 也就是数据的排序变化了。从上表看出，2001年有三组数据的名次发生了变化：
Semi-detached switched from 3 rd to 4 th place.
“半独立式住宅” 从第三变成第四。
Terraced switched from 2 nd to 3 rd place.
“连栋房屋” 从第二变成第三。
Flats switched from 4 th place to 3 rd place.
“公寓” 从第四变成第三。
Mentioning those two or three key features,your score immediately jumps to a 7 for TA.The final step is to choose which of our pairs and switches to combine to make patterns:
在文中提及以上两到三点细节信息，你的任务完成度得分将迅速增长到7分。接下来最后一步是筛选几组 “配对” 并进行 “换位” 来找到规律：
Flats took fourth place in 1999,with 1,100 new homes being built.By 2002,semi-detached replaced flats for fourth place at the same level of flats in 1999.
Terraced houses and flats stood at second and fourth places of homes built for the three years between 1999 and 2001,but then in 2002,they took joint third place at 1,600 new homes being built.
VOCABULARY&PHRASES 词汇&短语
Take first place Take second place
Stand at first place Stand at second place
Take top place Take bottom place
Stand at top place Stand at bottom place
Take joint second place Stand in joint second place
You can see in these paragraphs we do not rely on numbers too much.At the end of the day,IELTS is an English exam,not a mathematics exam,and examiners are looking at your ability to describe patterns.Finally,adding the main feature in the overview that demand for detached houses remained in first position for years,as well as some trend language,we have a final answer which would score a solid 8 for TA.
在上面的范文中，大家会发现并没有使用太多数字。毕竟雅思是一项英语考试而非数学考试，考官希望看到的是你用英语描述规律的能力。最后，在总览中加上突出特点，即独立式住宅连年保持第一，以及一些描述趋势的语言，最终就能在任务完成度上稳拿8 分。
The chart shown displays the number of four different kinds of homes built between 1999 and 2002.It is immediately clear that the number of detached houses being built was the greatest,and was increasing.Flats showed an obvious rise,while the number of semi-detached and terraced houses built decreased.
Flats took fourth place in 1999,with 1,100 new homes being built.By 2002,semi-detached replaced flats for fourth place at the same level of flats in 1999.Terraced houses and flats stood at second and fourth places of homes built for the three years between 1999 and 2001,but then in 2002,they took joint third place at 1,600 new homes being built.
We have already learned that like Sherlock Holmes,we must look for clues.Our clues are pairs and switches,leading to the patterns which reveal our key features.Fortunately,unlike Holmes,we do not have to make a deduction and say who the killer is.It is enough for us to lay out the clues and the patterns.
前面我们提到考生要像夏洛克·福尔摩斯一样寻找线索，我们的线索就是 “配对” 和 “换位”，它们指引着我们揭示细节特点的规律。幸运的是，我们不用像福尔摩斯一样必须做出推断、找出凶手是谁，我们只需要找到线索、发现规律就足矣。
Let's take a look at another example.You will be relieved to learn that this time it is just a regular table question.Be careful though,it's a nasty one:
我们再看另一个样题，这次你可以松口气了，因为它是一个常规的表格题。不过要小心一点，这个题目并不好对付：
The table shows the results of surveys of people in a European country,carried out in three different years.It shows the percentage of people who said they were interested in certain sports.
Percentage of People Showing an Interest in Certain Sports
The first step is to identify the pairs.You don't have to worry about the figures being exactly the same;approximations are fine.There are six pairs in this chart:
第一步，给数据进行 “配对”。不用要求数字完全一样，近似值就可以。该表格中一共六组数据 “配对”成功：
Also,both Volleyball and Rugby doubled between 1999 and 2009.
这里我们能够清晰地看到对排球和橄榄球感兴趣的人数在1999 年和2009年之间翻倍了。
Step two is to identify the orders in the table:
第二步，给表格中的数据进行“排序”：
Now,we can look for the switches,which are the figures that have changed places.At this point,just concentrate on the first and last year,and ignore the middle year.
现在，我们来看哪些项目的数据排名发生了变化。着重看第一年和最后一年即可，中间的一年可以略去不看。
Football,Cycling,Tennis,and Swimming,all remained in 1st to 4th place respectively.
足球、自行车、网球和游泳，分别保持着第一到第四的名次。
Volleyball switched from 5 th place to joint 3 rd place.
排球的排名从第五升至并列第三。
Rugby switched from 7 th place to 5 th place.
橄榄球的排名从第七降到了第五。
To score TA 7 we're going to need to mention all these points.A great phrase we can use to introduce these main points is "At first glance…" Notice how it is used below:
为了在任务完成度上拿到7 分，我们需要在文中提及以上所有信息。这里为大家推荐一个文章开篇介绍突出特点的绝佳短语 “At first glance…”。下面看看这个短语是如何使用的：
Shown in the table are the seven sports people in a European country were most interested in for 1999,2004,and 2009. At first glance,it can be seen the top four sports,football,cycling,tennis,and swimming showed no change in position,but there were significant changes for the bottom three,volleyball,golf and rugby.
Once these main features have been identified,we need to concentrate on details which are both relevant and outstanding.A phrase we can use here is "What really stands out…":
在介绍完突出特点后，下面就要集中精力来介绍重要的相关细节信息了。在该部分推荐使用这个短语“What really stands out…”：
What really stands out is although the top four sports did not change,they either decreased in popularity like football,which dropped almost 10%in popularity,or remained stable like cycling,tennis and swimming.In contrast,the bottom three sports all increased.
In this process,we have gone from the broad points,to the larger details,but now we are going to include the smaller details with the phrase"In greater detail…":
进行到这一步，我们已经介绍了突出特点，并过渡到了大体细节，但接下来我们还要进一步细化地去介绍细节特点，推荐的开篇短语是 “In greater detail…”：
In greater detail,volleyball rose from fifth most popular in 1999 at 12%,to joint third with tennis in 2009 at 24%.This was the largest increase.Similarly,interest in rugby also doubled from 8%to 17%.Golf remained relatively stable.
The examiner does not expect you to mention every detail you can see in the chart,so be choosy and select the key features which you think are interesting.
考官不会苛求你提及表格中的每一个细节特点，所以选择性地摘取你认为有趣的部分即可。
VOCABULARY&PHRASES 词汇&短语
MAIN FEATURES突出特点 At first glance…
KEY FEATURES 细节特点 What really stands out is…
What jumps out is…
CONNECTIONS关联性 In greater detail…
In finer detail…