下定义，在托福写作中是一种有用的“出字”工具，尤其是对那些面对闪烁的光标一筹莫展无从写起的同学，或是日夜挣扎在独立300字数线的盆友。

如能勤快一点，记十个八个（独立作文题目涉及的）常用概念的定义，考试的时候凡能用到某个这样的定义句，噼里啪啦先打出来，看着这一两行甚至三四行文字，心里自然能踏实许多。因此，这样的句子就被称为“镇魂句”了。

在此，我整理了若干托福独立题目中常涉及到的概念并给出难易适度的定义，分享给同学们。

常在托福独立写作的课程体系中讲到“下定义”这个工具，无论是开头（“天下大势”型）还是主体段落（“explanation”部分中的“下定义”工具）都能祭出这招，而且用的得当的话，效果非常不错，也可以有效填充文章内容。最近，给小黄子上课的时候重提了这个工具。这一次，干脆把概念变成实践，整理出一个basic catalogue of basic concepts。

整理这些定义的时候，原则是“用户友好型”，也就是常用、好懂、好记、难易适中。这些定义句的内容参考了字典、百科、网上资料等处的释义，但是删掉了过于技术化和学术化的描述，必要时调整和改写之。一些不容易找到“接地气”或“托福化”解释的定义句，男哥就自己动手丰衣足食地“创造”了。

接下来就是这个定义句的list，其中，有阴影的部分就是这些常用概念名词（如telephone ），而整个句子就是对这一概念的定义。每个定义句的后面，有该句可能用到的独立作文题目举例，都出自近期托福机经，极有实用性。

“科技”定义：

Technology is the activity or study of using scientific knowledge for practical purposes in industry, farming, medicine, business, etc.

可能用到的题目：

Technology designed to make our life simpler actually makes our life more complicated.

“电话”定义：

The telephone is a technology of communication that makes it possible for people to talk directly to someone else in a different place.

可能用到的题目：

Telephone has had greater effects on people's lives than television.

“电视”定义：

Television, a communicative medium sending and receiving pictures and sounds by electrical signals, has become a traditional form of mass media and part of the modern culture.

可能用到的题目：

The purpose of television should be all educative, not entertaining.

“电影”定义：

Movies, moving pictures that can tell stories or show reality, have become a mainstream form of art and an important way of entertainment.

可能用到的题目：

Movies and TV have more negative effects than positive effects on the way young people behave.

“电子书”定义：

An electronic book refers to a book-length publication in digital form.

可能用到的题目：

In twenty years from now, students will not use printed books anymore.

“旅行”定义：

Travel means one’s moving from a familiar place to another or to several places.

可能用到的题目：

Which way is the best for students to make new friends: joining a sport team, participating in community activities, or travelling?

“体育运动”定义：

Sports are games such as football, tennis and other activities which need physical effort and skill.

可能用到的题目：

Sports can teach people important lessons on the understanding of life.

“社会生活”定义：

Social life consists of the activities in which people socialize, for example in their houses or at parties.

可能用到的题目：

It is more important for schools to fund their students’ social activities than to improve students’ meals.

“社交技能”定义：

Social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others.

可能用到的题目：

Students should not take part-time jobs while they are studying in universities.

“建议”定义：

If people give you advice, they tell you what they think you should do in a particular situation.

可能用到的题目：

Getting advice from people who are older than you is more valuable than from people of your age.

“政府”定义：

A government is the group of people who are responsible for governing a country for a particular time.

可能用到的题目：

People can solve important problems by themselves or with the help from their family members so there's no need for the government to help them.

“教育”定义：

Education is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research.

可能用到的题目：

Improving schools is the most important factor in the successful development of a country.

“大学”定义：

A university is an institution where students study for degrees and where academic research is done.

可能用到的题目：

For the successful development of a county, a government should focus its budget more on the education of very young children (5—10 years old) rather than on university.

“教授”定义：

A professor is a scholarly teacher whose duty consists of both teaching and doing research.

可能用到的题目：

It is more important for professor to teach students than to do researches.

“艺术”和“艺术家”定义：

Art is the creation and production of paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc., when these things are considered to be beautiful or to express in a unique way a particular idea or meaning.

Artists are people who create and produce works of art as their jobs or hobbies.

可能用到的题目：

The government should support artists rather than let them support themselves.

“经济”定义：

版本一：An economy is the system according to which the money, industry, and trade of a country or region are organized.

版本二：A country’s economy is the wealth that it gets from business and industry.

可能用到的题目：

Governments should focus more on preservation of environment rather than economic development.

“医疗”定义：

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, etc. in humans.

可能用到的题目：

When in times of economy crisis, government should spend less money on which part? Education, Health Care or support for unemployed?

“音乐”定义：

Music consists of sounds that are put together in a pattern and performed by people either using instruments or singing in order to give them pleasure.

可能用到的题目：

Young children (aged 5-10) should be required to learn music and art in addition to math, science, history and language.

“工作”定义：

A job is an activity one does regularly for payment.

可能用到的题目：

A secure job with lower pay is better than a job with higher pay but easy to lose.

“社会”定义：

版本一：A society is the people who live in a country or region, their organizations, and their way of life.

版本二：Society is people in general, thought of as a large organized group.

可能用到的题目：

The most important problems affecting our society today could be solved within our lifetime.

“文化”定义：

Culture consists of the ideas, customs, and art that are produced or shared by a particular society.

可能用到的题目：

Movies and TV programs produced in our own country are more interesting than foreign ones.

“环境”定义：

The environment is the natural surroundings in which people live.

可能用到的题目：

Environmental issues are too complex for individuals to deal with.

“乐观”定义：

Optimism is the feeling of being hopeful about the future and the belief that a particular situation or course of action will be successful.

可能用到的题目：

Do you think success is important, or it is more important to remain happy and optimistic when you fail?

“耐心”定义：

Patience is one’s ability to control his/her feelings so that he/she does not get annoyed, even in situations which other people would find annoying or frustrating.

可能用到的题目：

Patience is usually not a good strategy. We should take action now rather than later.

“交流”定义：

Communication is the activity or process of giving information to other people, using signals such as speech, body movements, or online messages.

可能用到的题目：

Communication skill is the most important characteristic of successful leadership.

“公司”定义：

A company is a business organization that exists in order to make money by selling goods or services.

可能用到的题目：

Businesses should hire their employees for their entire life.

“广告”定义：

Advertising is the activities of showing products, events or jobs in public in order to encourage people to buy the products, go to the events, or apply for the jobs.

可能用到的题目：

In order to succeed, a company should invest a great amount of money in advertising.

“父母”定义：

Our parents are people who give us life, parenting and upbringing.

可能用到的题目：

Parents spend too much time in deciding what their children do in the future; children should make their own choices.

“家庭教育”定义：

Family education is the first education one receives, and in large part determines his/her characters and capabilities.

可能用到的题目：

Parents today are more involved in their children’s education than in the past.

“博物馆”定义：

A museum is a building where a large number of interesting and valuable objects, such as works of art or historical items, are kept, studied, and displayed to the public.

可能用到的题目：

Visiting museums is the best way to learn about a country.

“宠物”定义：

A pet is an animal that you keep in your home to give you company and pleasure.

可能用到的题目：

The best way to teach a child responsibility is to let him/her keep an animal.

这就是目前整理出来的全部的托福写作镇魂句。那么，这么多的句子，要都背下来吗？关于镇魂句的使用方法，还要补充说明一下：

假如能完整记忆下所有句子，自然是最理想状态，但是也不用非得费劲这么做。