2019.9.21（下午） 独立写作题目:Which way do you think is the most effective way to deal with homesickness:
1. Do activities or eat foods that remind you of home;
2. Maintain contact with people from home;
3. Make new friends;
4. Try activities and foods that are special to the place you are in.
【其实，“四选一”不过是唬人的小把戏。论证示范如下：】
Introduction
It is perfectly normal that people away from home miss their hometowns and the folks. To beat homesickness, it makes no sense that people do activities that remind them of home or eat foods that provoke the feeling. Nor does it make any sense that we call or text people from home because, the conversations may further agitate us.
Body
论证技巧：先赶紧否定两个，就只剩“二选一”了：
举例论证：Imaging that a Chinese student eats in the Chinatown of Philadelphia, the dishes will not dispel her feeling of missing mum’ s cooking but instead are more likely to aggravate it. The dishes may be not so good as mum’s dishes. They can also be as good as mum’s cooking. Either way, home will be missed, since the student will be reminded that mum cooks better or that mum cooks this way. 巧妙设计：顺延说到第二个选项：What will happen next? It is highly likely that the girl calls her mum and tells how much home is missed, and she will probably burst into tears. Admittedly, the girl may call a friend from home instead, because she knows that she will cry on the phone if she calls her mother. However, as the conversation with the friend goes on, home may be mentioned at some point since the friend is from home, and the emotional outburst is inevitable. Do we still believe that anything related to home is a wise choice?
“二选一”时的比较论证就是“常规操作”了：
It is therefore better to make new friends or to try activities and foods that are unique in the places where we are, and hopefully, we are overwhelmed by those people, activities and foods and thus forget, even temporarily, our displacement. In fact, many of those new people and things may eventually become long-term and stable pleasures, and making new friendships may be a choice better than food or activities. This is simple psychology. If new friendships are good replacements, we may not be fixated on the past times – the goods times we spent at home or with those people from home. Our attention may be well diverted. Meanwhile, people can provide 24/7 company that no activities or food can either make possible. When homesickness strikes, it does not have a clock but happens any time, and we need a new friend to talk to at late nights or the dawn time in the morning. Those are the times we cannot find activities or food to soothe our anxiety.
Conclusion
The point may be clear now. It is inadvisable that people do activities or eats food related to home, or contact friends from home when there is a feeling of missing home. Instead, making new friends and trying the local activities or food can better deal with the feeling, and between these two options, a new friendship is preferable.
