英文自序
Preface

Precisely four years had gone by since the initial publication of the well-received Pat's Ten-Day Series：A Step-by-Step Guide to the IELTS Writing Test. During this past winter，I finally summoned up enough energy for yet another attempt to unravel the myths about the test.

Pat's Ten-Day Series：The Spectrum of IELTS Writing Questions and Responses is not a mere extension or expansion of the Step-by-Step Guide，which was primarily concerned with“quick-fix solutions”，i. e.，getting its readers acquainted in short order with the essential vocabulary，key sentence patterns，core grammar principles and easy-to-follow techniques needed to score high on the IELTS Writing Test. Rather，the book in your hands is a fresh endeavor to dispel the myths shrouding the official IELTS essay topic pool，which has not been officially publicized so far. This volume is also intended as a stand-alone resource that provides you with both substantive and organizational insights into composing IELTS essays，and demonstrates to you an appropriately mature writing style. Accordingly，it is more concerned with drills and drudgery.

On the other hand，although readers may find rote memorization of the sample essays in this tome highly useful，it should be noted that IELTS Writing examiners do value spontaneity. You would be well-advised to concentrate on how to incorporate the ideas and lines of reasoning that you will find in this book into your own essays，instead of getting bogged down in word-for-word memorization. Do not be too concerned if you find your essays not as polished or thoughtful as the ones you will start reading through shortly. Be realistic about what you can achieve under the time constraints of a testing environment.

My kudos goes out to the amazing people who created the IELTS essay topics which I combed through，pored over，and compared and contrasted. I hope that the production of this book，although much delayed，will serve the purpose for which it is intended.

Pat， New Jersey