Describe a time when your computer broke down

You should say:

When it was

What you were doing

What you did about it

And explain how you felt about it

之所以这么多学生会让我写这篇话题的解析，我觉得主要原因还是在于大家比较害怕科技类的词汇，尤其“故障类”的词汇。也正是如此，还没开始，学生已经先自行撤退了。

不过对于这道题而言，除了词汇以外，大家还比较纠结的就是它内容—电脑究竟可以怎么罢工？我相信有很多同学会脑子里瞬间蹦出的画面就是电脑进水然后坏掉的画面，但其实为什么罢工不是我们核心的思考点，因为它可以莫名其妙就坏掉了。真正需要我们思考的是“电脑罢工的类型”。按电脑组成来看，我们可以把“罢工形式”分成两大类：硬件+软件。

也就是说，电脑罢工可能是它机子某一个硬件部分坏掉了，比如：耳机口坏了/显示器碎了/键盘失灵了/插口无效了/硬盘损坏了等；它也可以是某一个软件失灵了，比如：wps软件打不开了/ 网端连不上了/ 软件中病毒了。在这两者中，我个人比较偏软件的罢工。

明确以上内容后，我们将来明确每个小问的答题逻辑。

1.When it was

面对事件类话题，拓展好“when”类型问题是一件至关重要的事情。就跟讲故事一样，我们需要在时间的阐述上娓娓道来，最终引最核心的故事。针对“when”具体时间点的拓展，我在以往的推送中也有时常在强调，它主要包括“Year-Month-Date-Hour”这些时间信息。以上信息不需要全包，差不多2-3个时间点信息即可，比如：“Year-Date”/ “Month-Date-Hour”。

在阐述“Date”时，你也可以给出一定的天气信息来烘托当下的气氛；在阐述“Hour”时，你可以用“before/after/while”来给出大概的时间点信息，比如：“after having my breakfast”。

Example one：

I bought a new laptop a couple of months ago and I have had so many problems with it, it is so frustrating. I clearly remember the first time it stopped working. 

It was a Sunday morning and  I had got up at the crack of dawn 早起, as I had planned to finish my assignment as the deadline was looming 阴森地逼近. After having a short breakfast, I started typing.

Example two：

Last month I was working hard to meet a deadline for work.  It was a really important project for one of our top clients. It was a rainy Saturday morning. Even though it was raining heavily outside, I still chose to go to my office to finish my work, as I can never get anything done at home

2.What you were doing

在小问里，我们已经明确给出了使用电脑的场景。这个问题则需要我们阐述当电脑坏的时候，你正在干什么。多数同学一般给出的回答都会比较直接，比如：“I was writing up the final report when all of a sudden the screen went blank and the computer shut down.”

这样的回答并非不可，但我觉得戏剧要想更有张力，“学会适当应用转折”是一件重要的事情。为此，在回答的时候，你可以有个前后变化。

Example ：

Everything was fine and I managed to finish 1/3 of it within half an hour. However, when I decided to check some references online to support my article, I suddenly found that I was unable to access the internet. No matter how many times I tried, it always said that the internet was not available.

3.What you did about it

我们可以把这道题放大到“当一个东西出现问题的时候，你会怎么做？” 基本分为两种途径：自己解决 & 求助他人。接着你就可以思考，自己如何去解决（徒手寻找问题点还是上网搜索资料）；找别人帮忙的话，这个人又是谁，接着你便可从人的维度着手对其进行细节的拓展。

Example ：

I started to panic as I only had 5 hours to submit 提交 my assignment, or I would fail the term. I tried hard to keep calm and started to find a way to solve the problem. At first, I checked whether there was something wrong with my internet connector 互联网连接器, but as my phone still had WiFi, I knew it was ok. 

After trying many different diagnostic tests 诊断试验, I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I gave up as I was running out of time. I went to my cousin’s home and finished it there

Example ：

I tried desperately to turn it back on but it was completely dead. I thought it must be the battery so I plugged in the charger 插入电源 and left it for a few minutes but there was still nothing. By this stage I was freaking out as not only was I against the clock, I hadn't backed up 备份 my report. I tried to stay calm so I could decide what to do. 

Luckily my office is right in the city centre so I dashed out 冲出去 with my computer and found the nearest computer repair shop. The man was very kind and agreed to take a look at it for me there and then. After about 15 mins of examining the computer, he told me that a virus had caused the problem.  He would need to clean the hard drive fully and then it should be ok. 

4.How you felt about it

这里的心情可以来自不同的方向。它可以是你对科技这回事的看法，比如：电脑坏掉带来的问题；它也可以是你对电脑坏了这件事的看法，比如：电脑坏时的焦虑到电脑修完以后的彻底释放。

Example one：

Even though technology brings convenience and makes our lives easier, it can also be incredibly stressful when it doesn't work. You need to have a Plan B just in case.  I was lucky I had a backup at my cousin's house but without that, I would have been in a lot of trouble. 

Example two：

I let out the biggest sigh of relief 松了口气 because  If I had lost that report my boss would have been furious 生气 and my job would have been in jeopardy 危险.  In just over an hour, it was fixed. I was so grateful to the man and left him a generous tip. I ran back to the office and managed to get the report in just in time. 

看完四小问的拆分，你有想好自己要说啥了不？