赶due人的雅思口语：讲好你的匆忙故事

嘿，亲爱的赶due人！

凌晨三点，你的书桌是什么样子？是不是左手边是一杯已经凉透了的美式，右手边是叠成山的参考书，屏幕上闪烁的光标，在空白的Word文档上像你的心跳一样，焦灼地跳动着。窗外是整个城市沉睡的宁静，而你的世界里，只有deadline倒计时的滴答声，和CPU风扇的嗡嗡声。

这一幕，是不是熟悉到让你想哭？每个留学生，都有一部由无数个这样的夜晚组成的血泪史。我们吐槽它，憎恨它，发誓下个学期一定洗心革面，告别拖延症。但当雅思口考官微笑着问你：“Could you describe a time you were very busy?” 或者 “Tell me about a challenge you faced.” 的时候，你脑子里第一个跳出来的，恐怕还是这段“爆肝”的经历。

很多人下意识地想回避它，觉得这太“惨”了，不够“高大上”。于是开始现场编造一些参加商业竞赛、组织慈善活动的光辉事迹。结果呢？因为不熟悉，讲得磕磕巴巴，细节漏洞百出，情感虚假空洞，最后分数自然不理想。

今天，我就想跟你聊聊，别再嫌弃你的赶due故事了！它不是你的黑历史，而是你雅思口语的“秘密武器”。这篇文章，就是你的deadline救星，手把手教你如何把这段最真实的挣扎，包装成一个逻辑清晰、有血有肉、能让考官眼前一亮的高分答案。

为什么你的“赶due”故事是座金矿？

我们先来掰扯掰扯，为啥这个故事这么好用。

首先，它绝对真实。真实意味着你对每一个细节都了如指掌。你不需要去记那些编出来的公司名、活动流程。你只需要回忆。你记得当时查资料时喝的是什么牌子的能量饮料，记得在图书馆坐到闭馆音乐响起的绝望，记得第二天清晨看到第一缕阳光时的恍惚。这些真实的细节和情感，是你最强大的武器，能让你的讲述充满说服力和感染力，这恰恰是雅思口语评分标准里“流利度与连贯性”所看重的自然表达。

其次，它足够独特。虽然大家都在赶due，但你赶的due、你的心路历程、你解决问题的方式，都是独一无二的。你可能是在写一篇关于莎士比亚的文学评论，他可能是在做一个关于金融衍生品的模型，她可能是在画一张建筑设计的最终图纸。这避免了你和成千上万考生一样，都在讲那个千篇一律的“组织校园活动”的故事。

最后，它的内容太丰富了！一个完整的赶due故事，天然地包含了一个好故事需要的所有元素：明确的目标（完成论文）、巨大的障碍（时间紧、任务重）、紧张的氛围（deadline逼近）、解决问题的行动（熬夜、查资料、寻求帮助），以及最终的结果和反思（获得好成绩、学到时间管理）。这里面能挖掘的词汇和句式，简直不要太多！从描述压力（overwhelmed, swamped）到展现决心（buckle down, determined），再到表达成就感（a sense of accomplishment），一整个流程下来，你的词汇量和表达能力自然就秀出来了。

你不是一个人在战斗。根据英国高等教育统计局（HESA）近两年的数据，非欧盟国际学生的数量持续增长，仅2021/22学年就超过了67万。这么庞大的留学生群体，面临的学业压力是普遍性的。一项针对英国大学生的调查显示，超过70%的学生表示曾因学业压力而感到“不堪重负”。所以，你的故事，考官不仅能理解，甚至可能已经听过无数个版本，而你的任务，就是讲出那个最精彩、最真诚的版本。

万能公式：一个故事，应对N个话题

这个故事最妙的地方在于它的“万金油”属性。你精心准备好一个版本，稍作调整，就能轻松应对口语题库里的半壁江山。不信你看：

• Describe a time you were very busy. (这简直是送分题，直接套用就行)
• Describe a challenge you faced. (Deadline和高难度的学术要求，就是最大的挑战)
• Describe a situation that made you feel stressed. (还有比赶due更stressful的吗？)
• Describe a time you worked hard to achieve a goal. (目标就是完成论文/项目，你的“爆肝”就是work hard的过程)
• Describe a time you learned something important. (结尾反思一下，学到了时间管理、抗压能力等等)
• Describe a project you worked on. (你的毕业论文、课程大作业，就是一个project)

看到没？准备一个故事，就像有了一把万能钥匙。考场上无论碰到哪扇门，你都能从容不迫地打开它。这对于分秒必争的备考来说，简直是最高效的策略。

四步叙事法：把辛酸史讲成“逆袭剧”

好了，现在我们知道了这个故事的价值，那具体该怎么讲呢？死记硬背一个模板肯定不行。我们要学会一个叙事框架，把你的亲身经历填进去。这个框架，我称之为“逆袭四步法”，其实就是大家熟知的STAR模型的一个口语化版本。

第一步：铺垫背景 (Situation) - 制造悬念和紧张感

故事的开头要迅速抓住考官。你需要用一两句话，把背景交代清楚，并立刻建立起一种“大事不妙”的氛围。

不要平铺直叙地说：“Last semester, I had a paper to write.” 太无聊了！

试试这样：

“I vividly remember this one time during my final year. I was taking this incredibly demanding module on Macroeconomics, and the final research paper accounted for a staggering 40% of my total grade. The pressure was immense from day one.”

看，这里面有几个关键信息点：“final year”（毕业季，压力大）、“incredibly demanding module”（课程本身就难）、“a staggering 40% of my total grade”（利害关系重大）。“Staggering”（惊人的）这个词用得就很好，一下子就把那种沉重的压力感传递出去了。在英美大学的学分体系里，一门课的最终考核占比如此之高是很常见的，这让你的故事背景非常可信。

第二步：明确任务 (Task) - 把困难具体化

背景铺好了，接下来就要告诉考官，你面临的具体挑战是什么。不要笼统地说“it was a difficult paper”。你要把这个“difficult”拆解开来，让考官能真实地感受到难度。

你可以从这几个方面入手：

• 篇幅要求：“It wasn't just a standard essay; it was a 5,000-word critical analysis, which was way beyond anything I'd written before.”
• 研究深度：“The topic was quite niche, and I was required to use at least 20 academic sources, including some very recent journal articles that were hard to access.”
• 时间限制：“And to make matters worse, due to my poor time management and a couple of other deadlines clashing, I found myself with only 72 hours left to pull it all together from scratch.”

通过这些具体的数字（5000 words, 20 sources, 72 hours），你的挑战立刻变得立体、真实，考官能马上get到你当时有多绝望。

第三步：讲述行动 (Action) - 故事的核心，展现你的闪光点

这是整个故事的高潮部分，也是你展示自己能力和品质的关键。考官最想听的就是“So, what did you do about it?”。这部分一定要详细，要有层次。

千万不要只说“I stayed up all night and worked very hard.” 这太空洞了。你要展示一个清晰的、有策略的行动过程。

1. 制定紧急计划 (Making a plan)：

“Realizing that panic wouldn't help, the first thing I did was to take a deep breath and map out a survival plan. I broke down the entire task into smaller, manageable chunks: four hours for literature research, eight hours for outlining, twelve hours for drafting, and so on. I literally timetabled my every waking hour for the next three days.”

这里展示了你的逻辑思维和计划能力，而不是一个无头苍蝇式的蛮干。

2. 描述执行过程中的困难与坚持 (The process and struggle)：

“The first night was a total blur of caffeine and desperation. I remember staring at a mountain of academic papers on my screen, feeling completely overwhelmed. To stay focused, I used the Pomodoro Technique, working in 25-minute sprints with short breaks in between. I also had to be ruthless with distractions – my phone was switched off and put in another room. It was a real battle against mental fatigue and the temptation to just give up.”

这里可以加入一些生动的细节，比如“a total blur of caffeine and desperation”（咖啡因和绝望交织的模糊记忆），“ruthless with distractions”（对干扰毫不留情），这些都能让你的讲述更有画面感。提到Pomodoro Technique（番茄工作法）这样具体的方法，也会让考官觉得你是一个懂得高效学习的人。

3. 寻求帮助或灵光一闪的时刻 (The turning point)：

“At one point, I hit a wall. I couldn't structure my main argument. I felt stuck. I decided to take a short walk just to clear my head. And then, it just clicked. While I was outside, I suddenly saw the connection between two theories I was reading. That was my 'eureka' moment, the breakthrough I desperately needed.”

一个好的故事需要有转折。这个“hit a wall”（撞墙了）和“eureka moment”（尤里卡时刻）的对比，就制造了叙事上的波澜，让故事更好听。

第四步：点亮结局 (Result) - 升华主题，强调个人成长

故事的结尾至关重要。它决定了你这个故事的“格局”。

当然，你可以说你拿了个好分数：“In the end, I managed to submit the paper just minutes before the deadline. And you know what? I got a Distinction for it. I was over the moon.” 这很好，但还不够。

高分的结尾，一定要有反思和升华。你要告诉考官，通过这次经历，你学到了什么，获得了怎样的成长。

试试这样升华一下：

“But honestly, the grade wasn't the most important takeaway. That intense 72-hour marathon taught me a crucial lesson about my own resilience. I discovered that I could perform under immense pressure and produce high-quality work. It was a huge confidence booster. More importantly, it was a painful but effective lesson in time management. Since then, I’ve become much better at planning my schedule and I’ve never had to pull an all-nighter like that again. It was a tough experience, but weirdly, I'm grateful for it.”

看到区别了吗？这样的结尾，你展现的就不再是一个单纯为成绩挣扎的学生，而是一个懂得反思、从逆境中汲取力量的成熟个体。你谈论的是“resilience”（韧性）、“confidence booster”（增强自信的事物）和长远的改变。这才是考官真正想看到的品质。

词汇弹药库：让你的故事“听起来很贵”

有了框架，我们还需要用精准地道的词汇来填充血肉。下面是一些你可以直接用在赶due故事里的“弹药”。

描述压力和忙碌：

• be swamped with...: 被…淹没，忙得不可开交。
  "I was completely swamped with assignments from other courses."
• be up to my ears/eyes in work: 忙得焦头烂额。
  "For that whole week, I was up to my ears in research."
• feel the crunch: 感到压力，通常指时间或金钱上的。
  "As the deadline approached, I really started to feel the crunch."
• a daunting task: 一项艰巨的任务。
  "Writing a 5000-word paper in three days was a daunting task."
• overwhelming: 让人无法承受的，压倒性的。
  "The sheer volume of reading was overwhelming at first."

描述努力和行动：

• pull an all-nighter: 通宵工作/学习。
  "I had to pull two all-nighters in a row to finish it."
• burn the midnight oil: 熬夜工作。
  "I was burning the midnight oil for the entire weekend."
• buckle down: 下定决心努力干。
  "I knew I had to buckle down and focus."
• put one's nose to the grindstone: 埋头苦干。
  "I just put my nose to the grindstone and wrote non-stop."
• laser-focused: 像激光一样专注。
  "For those hours, I was laser-focused on the task."

描述结果和感受：

• a huge weight off my shoulders: 如释重负。
  "When I finally clicked 'submit', it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders."
*a great sense of accomplishment/achievement: 巨大的成就感。
"Finishing it gave me a great sense of accomplishment."
• exhilarating: 令人振奋的，极度兴奋的。
  "Seeing the final product was an exhilarating experience."
• it was a real confidence booster: 这极大地增强了我的自信。
  "Getting a good grade after all that hard work was a real confidence booster."
• a blessing in disguise: 因祸得福。
  "The whole stressful experience turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I learned so much from it."

从Part 2到Part 3的华丽转身

当你精彩地讲完Part 2的故事，考官很可能会顺着你的故事，在Part 3提出一些更宏大、更抽象的问题。这正是你展示思辨能力的好机会。

比如，考官可能会问：

"Do you think young people today are under more pressure than in the past?"

你可以很自然地从你的个人经历过渡到更广泛的社会现象：

“That’s a great question. Based on my own experience, which I just shared, the academic pressure is certainly intense. But I believe it’s part of a bigger picture. Young people today face pressure from multiple fronts – not just academically, but also from social media, which creates this constant need for comparison, and a highly competitive job market. In my parents' generation, the path to success seemed more linear. Now, we're expected to excel in everything, all the time. So yes, I do think the overall pressure is significantly higher now.”

看到这个衔接了吗？“Based on my own experience, which I just shared...” 这句话就像一个桥梁，把你Part 2的个人故事和Part 3的社会观察完美地连接起来，让你的回答显得既有个人体验的温度，又有宏观思考的深度。

所以，下次当你又一次陷入赶due的深渊时，别光顾着沮丧和抱怨。试着换个角度，把自己当成一个故事的亲历者和记录者。

你每一次的心跳加速，每一杯灌下去的咖啡，每一次在绝望中找到希望的瞬间，都是你未来在考场上闪闪发光的素材。你的挣扎不是你的弱点，而是你故事里最动人的弧光。

别再害怕讲述这段经历了。把它整理好，练习好，然后充满自信地告诉考官：是的，我经历过巨大的压力，但我扛过来了，而且我因此变得更强。这，才是雅思口语真正想要听到的好故事。

加油，赶due人！祝你不仅due能安然度过，雅思也能一战功成！