城鄉移民是 Direct Question 經典——2024 出現 3 次變體。Direct Question 題型的關鍵：每一題都要充分回答，不能偏重一邊。

題目

In many parts of the world, large numbers of young people are leaving rural areas to live and work in cities.

Why is this happening, and what problems does it cause?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

題型：Direct Question（雙問）——和 Problem/Solution 不同，後半問的是 problems，不是 solutions。回答必須精準切題。

完整範文（296 字）

¹ Migration from the countryside to towns and cities, once a slow demographic drift, has accelerated sharply across Asia, Africa and parts of Latin America in the last two decades. ² The drivers are largely economic and aspirational, while the consequences ripple back into both the receiving cities and the regions left behind.

³ The principal reason young people relocate is the simple availability of paid work. ⁴ Mechanisation has steadily reduced the number of farm jobs, and the remaining ones often pay less than urban factory or service positions; a 2023 ILO regional study covering eleven Asian countries reported that the average urban-rural earnings gap among workers under 30 had widened from 1.6× in 2010 to 2.4× by 2022. ⁵ Beyond income, cities offer the universities, hospitals and entertainment options that ambitious young adults increasingly regard as basic to a modern life, and digital connectivity has only sharpened those expectations rather than substituted for them.

⁶ This rapid relocation, however, generates significant problems on both ends. ⁷ In growing cities, infrastructure struggles to keep pace: housing prices climb out of reach, informal settlements expand on unsuitable land, and public transport, schools and clinics become chronically congested. ⁸ Sao Paulo's metropolitan region, for example, has added over 4 million residents since 2000, much of which now lives in peripheral districts with limited services. ⁹ Meanwhile, rural communities lose the working-age population needed to sustain agriculture and care for an increasingly elderly residue, with whole villages in parts of Japan and southern Europe now reporting average ages above 60. ¹⁰ Local schools close, businesses shut and the depopulation effectively becomes self-reinforcing.

¹¹ In conclusion, young people leave because cities offer better economic and lifestyle prospects. ¹² The resulting strain on urban infrastructure and the hollowing-out of rural communities are twin consequences that policymakers can ill afford to ignore.

句句解析

§1 — Intro

  • 句 1 (Context + scope): "Migration from the countryside to towns and cities, once a slow demographic drift, has accelerated sharply..." — appositive once a slow demographic drift + 三大洲範圍。
  • 句 2 (Thesis): "The drivers are largely economic and aspirational, while the consequences ripple back into both..." — 預告 §2 雙原因 + §3 雙後果。

§2 — Reasons

  • 句 3 (Topic): "The principal reason... is the simple availability of paid work." — principal reason 強化詞。
  • 句 4 (Evidence): "Mechanisation has steadily reduced... a 2023 ILO regional study... 1.6× in 2010 to 2.4× by 2022." — 機構 + 年代 + 倍數對比。
  • 句 5 (Reason 2): "Beyond income, cities offer the universities, hospitals and entertainment options..." — 三 noun + digital connectivity has only sharpened those expectations 反直覺論述。

§3 — Problems（雙端）

  • 句 6 (Frame): "This rapid relocation, however, generates significant problems on both ends." — both ends 預告雙端結構。
  • 句 7 (Urban side): "In growing cities, infrastructure struggles to keep pace: housing prices climb out of reach, informal settlements expand on unsuitable land, and public transport, schools and clinics become chronically congested." — 冒號展開 + 三 noun parallel + climb out of reach 比喻。
  • 句 8 (Evidence): "Sao Paulo's metropolitan region, for example, has added over 4 million residents since 2000..." — 真實城市 + 數字。
  • 句 9 (Rural side): "Meanwhile, rural communities lose the working-age population needed to... villages in parts of Japan and southern Europe now reporting average ages above 60." — Meanwhile 切換 + 真實地區。
  • 句 10 (Self-reinforcing): "Local schools close, businesses shut and the depopulation effectively becomes self-reinforcing." — 三短句並列 + 升級成系統論述。

§4 — Conclusion

  • 句 11 (Restate cause): "...young people leave because cities offer better economic and lifestyle prospects." — 兩 reason 濃縮。
  • 句 12 (Restate problem): "...twin consequences that policymakers can ill afford to ignore." — twin consequences + can ill afford to ignore 是 Band 7+ idiomatic。

四大評分項證據表

| 評分項 | 本篇證據 | Band | |--------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------| | Task Response | 兩 reason + 兩 problem（urban + rural）；城市範例（Sao Paulo）+ 國家範例（Japan, southern Europe）+ 機構數據（ILO）；自強化結論 | 7 | | Coherence & Cohesion | 段落功能分明；linker 多樣（Beyond income, however, Meanwhile, In conclusion）；referent 穩定（This rapid relocation, those expectations） | 7 | | Lexical Resource | Topic-specific（demographic drift, informal settlements, mechanisation, depopulation, hollowing-out）；搭配（ripple back, climb out of reach, can ill afford to ignore） | 7 | | Grammar Range | Appositive（once a slow demographic drift）；participle（needed to sustain, reporting average ages）；倒裝預告；冒號 expansion | 7 |

三個可複製的動作

1. Direct Question 雙問 嚴格分段

§2 全部處理 why；§3 全部處理 problems——任何混在一起會丟 Task Response。每段段首要有 signpost。

2. both ends / twin consequences

句 6 + 句 12 用「雙端框架」——城市端問題 + 鄉村端問題並列。比只寫城市那邊的擁擠深度立刻翻倍。

3. can ill afford to ignore 結尾

idiom can ill afford to + V 是 Band 7+ 政策語言——比 "should not ignore" 高階兩級，立刻 lexical resource 加分。

延伸閱讀：Task 2 五種題型判斷・Task 2 Problem/Solution Essay 範文・Task 2 常考主題 · 城市與居住