和对待任何一门语言考试一样，中国的许多托福考生都渴望获得有关托福快速突破的技巧和方法。面对听力和阅读这种输入型考试，快速突破的技巧往往体现在对题型、背景材料以及所谓题库的熟悉及预习上。
而针对口语和写作这种输出型的考试单项大家就只好把焦点集中在模板这个“成也萧何败也萧何”的点上。之所以这么说是因为许多考生因为模板而获得了分数上极大的进步，而也有不少考生因为模板而影响了发挥。因为托福写作对于模板的使用并不像雅思考试那样严格限制，所以考生相对容易掌握。于是大家对于托福考试模板的挑剔与谨慎就全方面的体现在托福口语的模板上。
托福口语考试每次6个题目，第一、第二题学生相对有极大的自由度，可以随意发挥。后四题则要求学生根据录音或者阅读材料进行复述、简述等，考生自己发挥的机会并不太多。
我们今天选择托福口语第五题来为大家讲解口语模板的使用。因为第五题即要求学生听懂录音内容又要求学生帮助录音里的人物进行选择，很突出的体现了托福口语模板的使用范围和盲点。
在第五题听力材料的对话中，一个说话者往往会提出自己的一个困难，这个困难不会只是一句简单的描述，后续会包含对这个困难的解释和说明，一般2-5句话。之后对话中往往会出现针对这个问题的2个解决建议，不过大家千万不要误会，这个建议有时不一定是另一个说话的人给出的，也可能是这个说话者自己自问自答的结果。可能说话者犹豫不决自己应该采用哪一条解决方案。最后，考试明确要求考生帮助问题提出者选择一个更好的解决方案并给出自己的理由。
为了让大家看得更为明确，我们带入TPO（TOEFL Practice Online）30的托福口语考试第五题。因为按照托福OG（Official Guide）的讲述，第五题是典型的问题及解决型题目，考察形势固定，录音思路相仿，所以很适合带入口语模板。
TPO（TOEFL Practice Online）第30套题目第五小题
题目录音材料如下：
TPO 30——Task 5
Narrator：Listen to a conversation betweentwo students.
Man：Hey. Julie, what’s up?
Woman：Oh, hi, George, I am just waitingfor my friend Amy. We are supposed to drive into town together to see a film atone of the movie theaters there.
Man：Sounds great.
Woman：Yeah. Our professor for film classwants us to go see it. It is a film by one of the directors we are studying andwe’ll be discussing the film next week in class.
Man：Cool. Yeah.
Woman：But I am the one with the car andwe were supposed to leave like fifteen minutes ago. And Amy hasn’t showed up.She is really late. If we don’t leave in like the next few minutes, we aregoing to miss the beginning of the movie.
Man：Have you tried calling her?
Woman：Yeah. I’ve called her severaltimes and left voice mails. And she hasn’t responded to any of my messages. So anyway,I don’t know what I should do.
Man：Well, I know Amy is your friendand everything, but if you need to see the film and you have already been waitingfifteen minutes for her, I mean, maybe you should just go by yourself.
Woman：You mean, just leave now withouther? Yeah, I guess she could see it another time. They are showing the film againtomorrow, so Amy could still go see it then. But I’ll be busy tomorrow, so Ineed to go today.
Man：Yeah, so maybe you could justleave Amy a voice mail saying that you had to leave without her.
Woman：That’s true. But …I don’t know.Maybe I should just wait ten more minutes and go late to the film. She might beon her way over here right now. She did mention that she had a lot of otherthings to do first before she met me. And besides, Amy is often late for stuff.
Man：But if you wait another tenminutes for her, you’ll miss the beginning of the movie, right?
Woman：Yup!
录音梗概：
这段对话中女生讲述了自己遇到的问题：
她和一个朋友约定一起开车进城去看一部电影，但是她的朋友已经迟到15分钟，也不接电话。如果她们再不出发就有可能错过电影的开头。而这部电影是学校老师要求观看的，因为她们正在学习这个导演的作品，之后还有可能讨论。这让这个女孩非常为难。因为她有车而她的朋友没有车。
之后对话中出现了女生的两个可能选择：
给朋友电话语音留言后自己先行离开，因为这个朋友明天可以再去看这部电影，但是这个女生自己明天很忙不再有机会了。
继续留在这里等这个朋友，因为这个朋友之前提到过这次会面之前会有许多事情需要完成。而且这个朋友也有迟到的习惯。
题目要求如下：
Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Thenstate which solution you would recommend. Explain the reasons for yourrecommendation.
即简述这个女生的问题，说出两个解决的方案后从中推荐一个解决方案并陈述自己的原因。
现在我们就来一起分析一下托福口语模板在这个题目中以及在第五题这一类题目中的应用？
一般情况下，托福口语第五题的模板是这样的：
According to the listening material, in this conversation, the womanis having a hard time dealing with the problem that_________.
Now there are two possible solutions for her to choose from.
The first one is that _________, which is quite understandable.
The second solution is that_________, which seems to be a very coolidea at the moment.
If I were the woman, I would choose the 1st/2nd solution, because_________.
模板受益人群：基础薄弱的考生
这些考生往往没有很好的英语听说能力，也就是说上面的录音中他们能够听到的点非常有限。因此他们这极短的准备时间里连整理信息都还来不及就更别提把内容理顺然后自己造句了。这些学员在没有模板帮助的情况下去考托福往往因为句法不通顺，信息混乱等原因获得15-18分左右的口语分数。
如果使用模板，学生的准备时间基本可以用来整合信息，然后把内容填进上面模板的横线上，而不需要分精力和时间出来想句型。这样一来学生的答案从逻辑顺序上来说肯定上不止一个台阶。另外，模板中套入了从句结构，所以学生不需要思考句型是否多样。这就为学生更好地把信息表达出来创造了基础和可能。
最后，这样的模板也可以帮助考生的表达达到一定的长度。
因此很多学生因为模板的关系把自己的口语分数提高5分左右都是常见和可能的。
使用模板后学生的表达是这样的：
According to the listening material, in this conversation, the womanis having a hard time dealing with the problem that should she wait for herfriend to go to the movie together or not.
Now there are two possible solutions for her to choose from.
The first one is that she should leave a message on her friend’scellphone and leave early all by herself, which is quite understandable.
The second solution is that she should wait for her friend to comeand go with her together, which seems to be a very cool idea at the moment.
If I were the woman, I would choose the 1st solution, because themovie is really important for her, she needs to discuss it in her class laterwith her classmates and teacher. Also she has already waited for a while. So Ithink she should go now.（共146字）
模板受害人群：基础优秀的考生
这些学生英语基础很好，能够顺利的接收听力材料中的信息。而且自己造句很少出错或者从不出错。没有模板的情况下已经可以考出22-25分左右的口语分数。
这时问题出现了。这些学生能够获取的信息量非常庞大，能够表达的内容很多，而以上模板却限制了学生的说话内容甚至占用了学生的说话时间，导致学生说话超时等不好的情况。因此，我一般建议此类学生尽量少用或不用模板。
这些学生往往会说出以下内容：
The woman has a dilemma. The thing is that they decided to go to themovie together, but her friend is already 10 minutes late and she is notanswering her phone calls. Now she is not sure about waiting for her friend ornot, because she is the one who has the car.
Plan A: She could leave a voice message on her friend’s cellphoneand go by herself. As she needs to discuss the movie in her class and tonightis her only chance to watch it.
Plan B: She could wait for her friend a little bit longer. Since herfriend has told her that she may be busy right before meeting her. Besides, herfriend is not a punctual person.
I think the woman should go early, as she has waited for a while.Besides, her friend could go watch the movie tomorrow, but she couldn’t.（共150字）
对比一下，我们不难发现在几乎同样的字数（150字）里，水平较好的学生往往能够说出非常多的信息，而且句型正确灵活。如果这样的学生去背诵刚才的模板不仅不能帮助到他们，反而会影响他们的发挥并占用他们的时间，导致他们超时。
这时模板不再是帮助他们提分的翅膀而是阻碍他们进步的枷锁。因此我建议这些水平比较出色的学生不要去背诵模板，而更应该把注意力集中在如何改进自己的英语能力上。
但是不可否认，如果学生以前没有接触过托福考试，那么适当的接触和了解口语模板可以帮助他们了解口语考试的形式及答案的结构布局。就算不背诵模板也应该提前接触感受一番，好让自己更快的了解托福口语考试的基本框架。
我们说托福口语模板“成也萧何败萧何”，因为口语模板不是每一个水平的学生都应该背诵或和可以背诵。大家应该根据自己的水平来决定模板的使用方式和多少。
