Question

　　Your professor is teaching a class on environment. Write a post responding to the professor’s question.

　　In your response, you should do the following.

　　- Express and support your opinion.

　　- Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.

　　An effective response will contain at least 100 words.

　　Doctor Achebe

　　This week, we'll be discussing ways to address air pollution. One idea is introducing environmental taxes on air travel. Such taxes, also referred to as ecological taxes or green taxes, are extra charges that get added to the price of airplane tickets. Money collected from these taxes could be invested in environmentally friendly technologies or in promoting other, cleaner modes of transportation. Do you think there should be an environmental tax on air travel? Why or why not?

　　Andrew

　　We should impose environmental taxes on air travel. These taxes might encourage people to find cheaper, more eco-friendly ways to get to places. In my country many people use planes to fly a short distance because flights are relatively cheap, when they could just as easily take a less polluting form of transportation.

　　Claire

　　Additional taxes on air travel will do little to solve the problem of air pollution. Airplane tickets would become more expensive, punishing passengers without incentiving airlines to become more environmentally friendly. The airlines should pay the price to protect the environment not their customers.

　　范文正文

　　I do not believe it is reasonable to tax passengers and airlines for the environmental impact of air travel. As Claire mentioned, green taxes do not incentivize newer and greener technologies—such as Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and hydrogen—that could mitigate the environmental effects of air travel, since the revenue generated from these taxes often goes into a state’s general fiscal budget rather than supporting the industry’s decarbonization efforts.【定语从句+原因状语从句】 Additionally, as fewer people opt to fly, the financial burden of a tax on airlines will restrict their ability to invest in newer, cleaner, and quieter aircraft and technologies, ultimately delaying and diminishing the associated environmental benefits.【原因状语从句+现在分词作状语】 While some researchers have demonstrated that taxation can have positive effects on environmental protection, these effects are primarily observed in budget airlines, whose passengers tend to travel shorter distances and are more price-sensitive.【定语从句】 In contrast, wealthier clients who fly more frequently are largely unaffected by the additional tax. Therefore, although the overarching goal of such taxation may seem laudable, it is actually an ineffective policy choice that negatively impacts both aviation companies and passengers.

　　写作思路和特色

　　本题是2024年9月1日的托福学术写作真题，也重复了2023年8月23日的原题。题中的教授问学生是否应该对乘坐飞机旅行征收环境税。Andrew认为应该对航空旅行征收环境税，因为这可能会让人们使用更便宜、更环保的交通工具出行。然而Claire说对航空旅行额外收税无法解决空气污染问题。这是因为更昂贵的飞机票只会惩罚乘客，却并不会让航空公司变得更环保。她认为应该让航空公司而不是他们的乘客为环境保护付出代价。

　　“政府对航空业收取环境税”或“政府收税减少某种产品的消费”之类的题目在托福写作考试中屡见不鲜。从早期的托福独立写作，比如2015年12月12日、2019年9月22日，到现如今的学术讨论题目，都经常能看到这类话题的身影。但是，很多同学仍然对它感到束手无策，这可能是因为这类话题离同学们的生活较远，以前没有关注过相关问题，所以既没有观点和思路、也没有话题词汇的积累。

　　其实，越是感到陌生的话题，就越应该引起我们的重视，也越应该让我们感到兴奋，因为正是这样的话题才能锻炼思维、让我们收获得更多。笔者在写这篇作文之前，也曾感到困惑，但通过查阅相关英语论文和研究数据，最终还是了解了话题的背景、理清了写作思路。大家平时练习时，也可以多查阅网上的英文原版资料，既能让我们了解题目的出题背景，也能扩充写作思路和地道的话题词汇，实在是一个一举多得的好方法。

　　这篇文章采用了“总论点+解释1+解释2+让步反驳”的结构。针对“是否应该对乘坐飞机旅行征收环境税”的问题，我的观点是“不应该”，并从两个角度来阐述我的想法。其一，正如Claire提到的，环境税并不促进环保技术的更新，比如可持续航空燃料(SAF)和氢气。这是因为环境税的收入经常被纳入国家的一般性财政预算，而不是直接用于航空业的脱碳事业中。其二，由于选择乘坐飞机出行的人变少，对航空公司征税带来的经济负担会限制公司投资更新、更干净和更安静的飞机，最终推迟甚至减少这一措施所带来的环境效益。接下来，文章对Andrew的观点做了让步反驳：虽然一些研究已经证明，税收对环境保护有积极影响，但这些影响主要存在于廉价航空公司的航线，因为这些航空公司的乘客往往旅行距离较短，且对价格更为敏感。相比之下，飞行频率较高、经济条件较好的客户基本上不会受到额外税收的影响。因此，对航空业征收环境税实际上带来的好处并不多，却会对航空公司和乘客都产生负面影响。

　　用词用语整理

　　incentivize v. 刺激，鼓励

　　例句：An example is retirement plans, which often offer tax advantages to incentivize savings for retirement.例如退休计划，该计划通常提供税收优惠，以鼓励人们为退休储蓄。

　　mitigate v. 使缓和、减轻(危害等)

　　例句：It is unclear how to mitigate the effects of tourism on the island.还不清楚如何缓解旅游业对这个岛屿的影响。

　　fiscal budget n. 财政预算

　　decarbonization n. 脱碳(停止或减少含碳气体，尤指二氧化碳排放)

　　budget airline n. 廉价航空公司(廉航)

　　price-sensitive adj. (商品销售)对价格敏感的，易受价格变化影响的

　　例句：Milk is a price-sensitive commodity for many families.很多家庭都对牛奶的价格变化很敏感。

　　We know that cigarette consumption is extremely price-sensitive.

　　众所周知，人们对香烟的价格变化极为敏感。

　　laudable adj. (行为)值得赞扬的，值得称赞的

　　例句：While all of these methods are laudable, the effectiveness of some depends on a number of factors.尽管所有这些措施都值得称赞，但是有些措施的有效性取决于很多因素。

　　aviation n. 航空，航空工业

　　【定语从句+原因状语从句】

　　As Claire mentioned, green taxes do not incentivize newer and greener technologies—such as Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and hydrogen—that could mitigate the environmental effects of air travel, since the revenue generated from these taxes often goes into a state’s general fiscal budget rather than supporting the industry’s decarbonization efforts.

　　这句话的主句是“green taxes do not incentivize newer and greener technologies”，后面的“such as Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and hydrogen”是对“newer and greener technologies”的举例。“that”引导的定语从句修饰的是technologies。后面的since引导的原因状语从句解释说明了环境税不能促进环保技术发展的原因。

　　【原因状语从句+现在分词作状语】

　　As fewer people opt to fly, the financial burden of a tax on airlines will restrict their ability to invest in newer, cleaner, and quieter aircraft and technologies, ultimately delaying and diminishing the associated environmental benefits.

　　这句话构成了因果论证。环境税会限制公司对更先进的飞机和技术的投资，这件事的原因是“更少的人坐飞机(因为机票价格上涨)”，导致的结果是“推迟和消除了随之而来的对环境的好处”。

　　【定语从句】

　　These effects are primarily observed in budget airlines, whose passengers tend to travel shorter distances and are more price-sensitive.

　　这句话中的定语从句解释说明了廉价航空公司的主要客户群体可能存在的特点。由于passengers与budget airlines之间存在从属关系，所以选择的关系代词是whose。

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