各位好，欢迎来到作文专栏的第五期，关于栏目的介绍可见怎样写一篇作文？。
最近有人在后台问到“写作经常离题怎么办”，解决这一问题的关键在于审题以及列提纲。拿到一个作文题目后最好读上三遍到五遍，圈出关键词，确保自己完全理解题目的要求。举个例子：
Some people think the technology makes life complex, so we should make our life simpler without using the technology. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
一些人认为技术让我们的生活变得更加复杂，所以我们应该停止使用这些技术，让生活变得简单。题目的重点在于技术是否让生活变得复杂，以及是否应该停止使用技术上。在行文中应该围绕这一点来写，如果写成技术的发展让人们面对面沟通能力下降，感情变淡，就属于偏题。
此外，在正式开始写作前可以先列一个提纲（中文或英文都可以），列出各个段落的观点以及论据，确保提纲没问题后再行文。这样可以避免出现“想到什么就写什么”的问题，写出来的文章也会更有条理。举个例子，对于上面的题目，我们可以列出这样一个提纲：
1.让步。承认一些技术确实让生活变得更加复杂，比如手机和电脑等办公工具的出现并没有减轻人们的工作负担，反而让他们每天要面对更多事情，比如花费大量的时间处理邮件，几乎24小时都要处理工作信息等，又比如网络上各种虚假信息导致人们寻找需要的内容变得更加困难。
2.反击。大部分技术其实让人们的生活变得更加简单，而不是更加复杂。比如远程视频会议让人们免于长途出差，大大节省了时间和金钱，洗衣机和扫地机器人让人们省去了繁琐的家务活劳动。技术的发展减少了枯燥的重复劳动，极大释放了人们的创造力，给人类带来了巨大好处。
3.进一步说明。部分技术让人们生活变得复杂，往往是不熟悉或者使用不规范造成的，只要合理利用技术，这些问题都会得到解决。比如公司优化邮件流程，减少员工在上面花费的时间，比如政府和商业公司合作打击网上虚假信息，使人们更加容易找到需要的内容等。在过去人们之所以觉得生活简单，是因为技术落后导致的选择匮乏。这种简单的生活其实抑制了人类的创造力，降低了工作效率。我们不能因为新技术带来了问题就倒退回过去的生活方式。相反，我们应该直面新技术带来的问题，设法解决它们，从而让生活变得更加方便，更有创造力。
此外，在学习别人的范文时，可以先根据作文题目自己想观点，然后与范文对比，这样能更加容易发现自己在观点和思维上的问题，以便后期提升。
今天要分析的作文题目是：
In some countries, people are having their first baby at an older age. What are the reasons? Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
这是原始作文版本：
文/小蔡
Having a baby is a prime event for a family, which means a couple prepares themselves for parenthood. Indeed, increasing number of couples are opting to have the first baby in their older age. This rising trend could be attributed to the influence of both feminist movements and competitive pressure, and I consider that the advantages of it outweigh the disadvantages.
Feminist movements have campaigned for rights and equality of women since 1960s. In fact, these equal rights movements have made great progress: it has become normal for women to embrace education and a career like men. To further realize personal ambition, increasing women cannot but delay motherhood. At the same time, under influence of feminism, rising men have valued women as equal individuals and career companions rather than baby-making machines and childcare robots. Therefore, couples have their first baby later, with reason.
Furthermore, facing intense competition in modern society, the majority of young people are forced to pursue higher quality education—not only vocational training but also postgraduate education—in order to beat off stiff competition from the workplace. It is because they are absorbed in acquiring employability and carving out careers that the young have little time to find Mr. or Miss. Right, not to mention the baby.
In my view, the positives of the changes described above outweigh the negatives because older parents tend to be more settled educationally, financially and emotionally. Firstly, most of older parents have completed their education, and tend to be more financially stable and secure in their careers. This means less conflict regarding how to parcel out the time, not having to juggle study or a job with baby and housework like young parents, which affords older couples the opportunity to spend more time with their babies.
Second, older parents tend to be more mature and have more stable marriages, so they are more apt to have greater abilities to communicate with each other and have learned to make the compromise and establish the agreement, which is vital for child rearing, and hard to come by from young parents.
这是点评版本：
Having a baby is a prime event for a family, which means a couple prepares themselves for parenthood. Indeed, increasing number of couples are opting to have the first baby in their older age.(age 前面的介词应该是 at，不是in，此处可以改成 at an older age) This rising trend could be attributed to the influence of both feminist movements and competitive pressure, and I consider that the advantages of it outweigh the disadvantages.
Feminist movements have campaigned for rights and equality of women since 1960s. In fact, these equal rights movements have made great progress: it has become normal for women to embrace an education and a career like men. To further realize personal ambitions, increasing numbers of women cannot but delay motherhood. At the same time, under the influence of feminism, rising (改为 ever more) men have valued women as equal individuals and career companions rather than baby-making machines and childcare robots. Therefore, couples have their first baby later, with reason.
（这一段论证不够充分，女性实现个人志向与推迟生育之间的联系在这里并没有充分说明。）
Furthermore, facing intense competition in modern society, the majority of young people are forced to (改为 have to 比较好) pursue higher quality education—not only vocational training but also postgraduate education—in order to beat off stiff competition from the workplace. It is because they are absorbed in acquiring employability and carving out careers that the young have little time to find Mr. or Miss. Right, not to mention the baby. （这里改为 having a child）
In my view, the positives of the changes described above outweigh the negatives because older parents tend to be more settled educationally, financially and emotionally. Firstly, most of older parents have completed their education, and tend to be more financially stable and secure in their careers. This means less conflict regarding how to parcel out the time, not having to juggle study or a job with baby （此处可改为 child-rearing）and housework like young parents, which affords older couples the opportunity to spend more time with their babies.
Second, older parents tend to be more mature and have more stable marriages, so they are more apt to have greater abilities to communicate with each other and have learned to make the compromise （改为 make compromises）and establish the agreement,（与前面 make compromises 有重复，可删去） which is vital for child-rearing, and hard to come by from young parents.
总结：
作文基本总结了造成晚婚晚育的原因以及好处，但其中第一个论点并没有很好说明女权运动与女性推迟生育之间的联系。完整的逻辑链条应该是：生育孩子会对影响女性追求个人志向，因此很多人选择晚婚晚育。
此外，题目要求是 Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages? 文中只提到了好处，并没有提到坏处，严谨的做法应该是将晚婚晚育的好处与坏处进行对比，得出结论。
思路分析：
In some countries, people are having their first baby at an older age. What are the reasons? Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
这道题相对来说不难写，主要观点以及论据都比较容易想到。年轻人推迟生育的原因主要有以下几个：
1）很多人追求研究生甚至博士教育，这导致他们毕业时间较晚，结婚生育的年龄也随着推迟；
2）越来越多女性进入职场，为了不影响职场晋升，很多人选择了推迟生育；
3）部分年轻人追求生命的更多可能，不愿意过早成家受到约束。
推迟生育的好处有：
1）父母在经济和心理上会更加成熟，能提供给孩子更好的教育；
2）父母此时在职场上会更有优势，能更好平衡家庭和工作。
推迟生育的坏处有：
1）高龄产妇会有一定的健康风险；
2）高龄产妇的生育能力下降，长远来看会造成社会总人口减少。
这里给出我写的一个版本：
文/魏剑峰
A growing number of young people today are putting off parenthood out of socioeconomic and personal reasons, and this will have huge implications for them, mostly for the better.
Several factors are at play when it comes to the delay in motherhood. Ever more women go to college, and more of them are pursuing a master’s or even doctoral degree. That means they will graduate at an older age, and have a family later than previous generations did. The fact that more females enter the workplace also contributes to the increasing age of first-time mothers. Having maternity leave could do harm to women’s career prospects, so many female workers are biding their time before they are high on the corporate ladder. Personal choices matter too. Increasing numbers of young adults opt to explore life’s possibilities instead of having families to tie them down, making the delay in child-rearing all the more commonplace.
Having children late in life yields benefits. Older first-time parents are by and large more financially and emotionally stable, and are therefore able to provide the next generation with good parenting, which can exert a long-term positive impact on the children. Moreover, would-be parents who enter their 30s and 40s often hold a senior position in the corporate hierarchy, thereby enjoying more latitude in achieving work-life balance, be it flexible work schedules or more vacation time, a contributing factor in close family relationships.
Granted, waiting to start a family has its drawbacks. Scientific research reveals that expectant mothers over 30 are liable to miscarriages and pregnancy complications. Age-related decline in fertility also makes it difficult for women to conceive, leading to a dwindling population in decades to come. But overall, as medical technologies advance, such problems will be mitigated.
The trend that many are delaying childbearing is an irresistible one and it could prove to be beneficial. Society should respect people’s choice and offer assistance if necessary, for their sake, and for our own.
预告：
本专栏下期要分析的作文题目是：
Advertising discourages people from being different individuals by making them look the same. Do you agree or disagree?
感兴趣的同学可以先思考如何写，然后对照下期的思路分析。建议有空的同学自己动笔写一篇。
