英语书信格式及写作范文汇总8篇 作文怎么写(最新20篇)

(一)屈原投江

(one) Qu Yuan River

为了纪念爱国诗人屈原，居民为了不让跳下汨罗江的屈原尸体被鱼虾吃掉，所以在江里投下许多用竹叶包裹的米食(粽子)，并且竞相划船(赛龙船)希望找到屈原的尸体。

To commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, residents in order not to let Qu Yuans Miluo River jumped by fish and shrimp to eat, so in the river for the rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with many (dumplings), and race (rowing Dragon Boat Race) to find Qu Yuans body.

(二)曹娥寻父尸

(two) case of seeking father.

东汉孝女曹娥，因曹父溺江而亡，年仅十四岁的她沿江豪哭，经十七日仍不见曹父尸首，乃在五月一日投江，五日后两尸合抱而浮起的感人事迹， 乡人群而祭之。

The Eastern Han Dynasty filial daughter Cao E, drowned himself in a river because Cao father died, only fourteen years old, she cried along the ho, after seventeen days still do not see Cao father body, but in May 1st the river, five days from two dead and floating deeds, people group and sacrifice.

(三)白蛇传

(three) the legend of white snake

传说白蛇白素贞，为了报答许仙的恩惠，与许仙结为夫妻的凄美的爱情故事，传说端午节当天白蛇喝了雄黄酒，差点现出蛇形，加上法海白蛇及水淹金山寺的情节，都是脍炙人口的民间戏曲的曲目。

The legend of white snake and Bai Suzhen, in order to repay the grace of Xu Xian, and Xu Xianjie married the beautiful love story, the legend of the White Snake Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival a male Yellow Wine, almost a snake, white snake and flooded with sea Jinshan Temple of the plot, is a folk opera music win universal praise.

(四)伍子胥的忌日

(four) the anniversary of the death of Wu Zixu

传说伍子胥助吴伐楚后，吴王阖闾逝世，皇子夫差继位，伐越大胜，越王句践请和，伍子胥主战，夫差不听，却听信奸臣言，赐伍子胥自杀，并于于五月五日将尸体投入江中，此后人们于端午节纪祀伍子胥。

Legend has it that Wu Zixu will Fachu Wu, Wu helv Prince died, his successor, the victory of the king, and Wu Zixu battle, the king, do not listen, but listen to a word, give Wu Zixu Dutch act, and on May 5th the bodies into the river, then people in the Dragon Boat Festival worship Wu Zixu ji.

英语写作是语言综合运用能力的具体体现，也是很多高中学生学习中的弱项。如何提高自己的英语写作能力呢?

一、提高英语写作能力的原则

(一)渐进性原则。要坚持“句—段—篇”的训练程序，由易到难，循序渐进。在英语写作的初始阶段，要始终注意培养学生良好的写作习惯，狠抓基本功训练。在学生掌握了基本句型并能写出简单句子后，再要求学生根据一些体例写出小段的文章。在段落写作中要引导学生分析段落的结构、段落的中心句、句与句之间的逻辑关系、写作手法等，这样有利于下一步一篇文章的写作。在文章写作中要教会学生如何构思文章、如何运用正确的写作技巧等。

(二)多样性原则。要坚持训练形式的多样化及写作文体的多样性。从形式上而言，可以用回答提问的口头作文，也可以用续写故事;可以改写课文，也可以仿写课文;可以写提纲训练谋篇布局，也可以写拓展段训练发散思维……。从文体上而言，可以写说明文、议论文、记叙文，也可以写书信、便条、通知等实用文体。

(三)结合性原则。要坚持听说读训练和写训练相结合。根据语言习得理论，学习者在学习时常先通过听和读吸取语言知识，从而了解别人的思想，再通过说和写来表达自己的思想，让别人了解自己。大量的听说训练能促进读写能力的提高。因此，写与听说读紧密结合，进行多元化的能力训练，可使学生的各项能力互相影响、互相渗透、互相促进。

(四)控制性原则。要坚持写作前的指导，控制学生的汉语语言思维，发展英语语言思维。语言学习在很大程度上主要是模仿，而非随心所欲地自由表达。教师要加强写作前的指导，可给出范文让学生模仿，以熟悉其语篇结构。同时要控制其汉语语言思维，尽可能让学生习惯英语语言思维，以便于学生学习和掌握地道、正确的英语。

(五)持久性原则。要坚持长期、正确的写作训练。英语写作能力的提高并非一朝一夕之事，而是一个长期的、艰巨的、渐进的过程。这就要求教师、学生都要有充分的思想准备，要有坚韧不拔的意志和必胜的信心。

二、提高英语写作能力的方法。

(一)通过积累词汇量，提高英语写作能力。犹如土木砖石是建筑的材料一样，词汇是说话写作的必需材料，也是制约写作能力提高的瓶颈。可以想象，如果要写一个句子，10个单词有8个单词拼写错误或拼写不出，有2 个单词用法不当，又怎么能清楚地表达自己的思想呢?因此，在平时的教学中要强调学生记忆单词，记住单词的拼读、用法、意思等。记忆单词的方法有很多，各人有各人的记忆方法和习惯，可因人而异。教师可通过要求学生朗读单词、听写单词、默写单词、遣词造句、词汇竞赛等多种方法促进学生记单词。记忆单词是一个长期的反复的过程，要长期地坚持下去，才能不断积累大量的词汇，为英语写作打下坚实的基础。

(二)通过扩大阅读量，提高英语写作能力。古人云“熟读唐诗三百首，不会作诗也会吟”，这是汉语的一种学习方法，同样可借鉴于英语写作。多阅读是学生增加接触英语语言材料、接受信息、活跃思维、增长智力的一种途径，同时也是培养学生英语思维能力、提高理解力、增强语感、巩固和扩大词汇量的一种好方法，有利于促进英语写作能力的提高。在阅读训练中，教师要注意以下问题：一是指导阅读方法，分析文章结构、中心思想、段落中心句、写作方法等，帮助学生掌握各类文章的结构及写作方法。二要精读与泛读相结合，通过推敲优秀的文章来学会写作方法和选词用词;通过大量的泛读来吸取信息量，扩大词汇量。三要扩大阅读量。提供阅读的材料涉及面要广，才能不断扩大学生的知识面，使学生适应各种题材的写作。

(三)通过提高听说能力，提高英语写作能力。英语听说读写四种能力是相互影响、相互促进的，提高听说能力必定会促进写作能力的提高。要提高听说能力关键在于创设一个良好的英语环境。教师要尽可能地用英语授课，多开展专门的听说训练，同时开展丰富多彩的课外英语活动，让学生沉浸在英语海洋中去领略、去体会、去使用英语，久而久之，学生自然能使用正确的、地道的英语进行交谈与写作。

(四)通过重视写作过程，提高英语写作能力。长期以来，英语写作成果教学法(THE PRODUCT APPROACH)在我国居于主导地位，教师根据写作的终成品来判断写作的成败，重视写作的技术性细节(如格式、拼写、语法等)，忽视写作过程的指导。

1.1词汇方面

如果把写英语作文比作建楼房的话，英语词汇在英语写作中起着砖、瓦的作用，是句子的最基本的组成部分，所以词汇是我们高中英语教学中的重点，单词听写是课堂教学必不可少的一个环节，但学生的词汇量毕竟有限，遇到问题时，便会用汉语词汇去补充英语词汇的空缺。

例如：交通十分繁忙。误：The traffic is busy. 正：The traffic is heavy.

她和一位教授结婚了。误：She married with a professor.

正：She married a professor.

英语词语的词义往往比较复杂，并和汉语有着一定区别。这种不同就会会导致学生仅把写作当作一词一句的翻译来做，结果是事倍功半。

1.2语法方面

英语中难点就是时态，语态的掌握。英语中常用时态共十六种，语态分为主动语态与被动语态，语气有陈述语气与虚拟语气之分。不同的时态有它特有的句法结构。如现在进行时态使用be＋v－ing形式来表示。现在完成时则用have／has ＋p．p来表示。一般将来时则用shall／will／be going to＋v来表示。英语中时间意义的表达是通过动词的时和体来加以反映，而汉语中不存在时、体等，汉语则依靠表示时间的副词（如“曾经”、“正在”、“已经”、“将要”）作状语，或利用虚词“了”、“着”、“过”等作补语这一语法手段来体现，动词本身无任何变化。在英语中，“already”和“ever”常常用在完成时态之中，不能与表示过去的时间状语连用。学生常常把上述句子错译成“Yesterday I have been to the park．”“Five years ago，they have known each other．”又如在英语中，我们常常用否定前置来

1、紧扣主题，短文必须包括提纲中的全部要点;与主题无关或关系不大的字句必须一律删去。

2、文章通顺，前后贯通，语言流畅。

3、句子开头多样化，句型多样化。

4、无句型结构错误，无语法错误和用语造句等方面的错误。

5、短文字数不得少于150个字。

对考研英语短文的策略：

1.分配好短文各部分篇幅比例

根据在40分钟内写150词的《大纲》要求，合理分配各部分篇幅比例显得非常重要。篇幅比例安排大致如下：

(1)开头：可控制在4句话之内，以2——3句较为适宜。该部分约占全文篇幅的10%——15%。

(2)主体：约占全篇短文的70%——80%。

(3)结尾：这部分应控制在2——3句话之内，约占全文篇幅10——15%。

2.合理分配时间

应该切记短文写作时间仅为40分钟，在这较短的时间内考生需完成120——150词的短文。这就要求考生做到有条不紊、忙而不乱，充分发挥自己应有的水平。从而稳操胜券，驾轻就熟，从容应对。建议考生在动笔之前，用5分钟的时间写个提纲理清思路，然后再动笔。此外，要留出5——6分钟来修改抄写。以避免不必要的笔误，给评卷老师留下良好的印象。

3.审题——紧扣主题的关键

所谓审题，就是正确理解题意，所写短文要紧扣题目要求。从每年的英文短文考题可看出，除了题目外，还有开头第一句话和一个写作提纲。这个写作提纲就是短文的写作具体范围。考生必须以指定的句子开头，按写作提纲规定的要点和顺序(通常是3个要点)往下写。

通常3个要点就是写三段话，每段开头(除第一段已给了外)第一句话必须把该段写作提纲中的主要的词或主要意思包括进去，这就是段落中心句。每段其他句子必须紧扣该段的段落中心句，与段落中心句无关的句子或关系不大的句子必须坚决删去。由于写作提纲中所给的3个要点(即关键词)已包括在每段开头的段落中心句(即每段开头的第一句)中，而每段的其他句子又紧扣段落中心句，这就使每段的内容紧扣主题，而不至离开主题去谈别的问题，这就是抓住主题的关键。

1.A great poem is a fountain forever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight.(P.

B. Shelley ， British poet )伟大的诗篇即是永远喷出智慧和欢欣之水的喷泉。(英国诗人 雪莱。 P.B)

2.Art is a lie that tells the truth 。( Picasso ， Spanish painter )美术是揭示真理的谎言。 (西班牙画家 毕加索)

3.Humor has been well defined as thinking in fun while feeling in earnest. (Mark Twain ， American novelist )幽默被人正确地解释为“以诚挚表达感受，寓深思于嬉笑”。(美国小说家 马克·吐温)

4.The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation; the two keep in their downward tendency.( Johan Wolfgang von Goethe ， German poet)文学的衰落表明一个民族的衰落。这两者走下坡路的时间是齐头并进的。(德国诗人歌德 。 J 。 W 。)

5.When one loves one‘s art no service seems too hard 。(O. Henry， American novelist)一旦热爱艺术，什么奉献也不难。 (美国小说家 欧·亨利)

Education 教育篇

6.And gladly would learn ， and gladly teach 。( Chaucer ， British poet)勤于学习的人才能乐意施教。(英国诗人， 乔叟)

7.Better be unborn than untaught ， for ignorance is the root of misfortune.(Plato ， Ancient Greek philosopher)与其不受教育，不如不生，因为无知是不幸的根源。(古希腊哲学家柏拉图)

Friendship 友谊篇

8. Some friends come and go like a season. Others are arranged in our lives for good reason.(Sharita Gadison)一些朋友随季节离去，而另外一些则伴我们度过美好的季节。

9.A true friend is someone you can disagree with and still remain friends. For if not， they weren‘t true friends in the first place.(Sandy Ratliff)真朋友是可以与你有不同见解的，如果不是，首先就不是真朋友。

10.True friendship is felt， not said.(Mariecris Madayag)朋友是说不出的感觉。

11.Friends are like stars，you don‘t always see them， but you know they‘re always there.(Hulali Luta)朋友是感觉不到的存在。

12.Memories last forever， never do they die. Friends stay together， never say goodbye.(Melina Campos)记忆永不死，朋友永不说再见。

Health 健康篇

13.light heart lives long.( William Shakespeare ， British dramatist)豁达者长寿(英国剧作家莎士比亚。 W.)

14.Early to bed and early to rise ， makes a man healthy ， wealthy and wise.(Benjamin Franklin ， American president )早睡早起会使人健康、富有和聪明。 (美国总统 富兰克林。B.)

15.The first wealth is health 。( Ralph Waldo Emerson ， American thinker)健康是人生第一财富。 (美国思想家爱默生。 R. W.)

训练指导者方针的好坏是一个前提条件。合理地设置训练程序，使英语习作从初级到高级沿着一条循序渐进，由简到多的进程发展是成功训练者必须具备的指导思想。本篇认为，在习作训练的初期，应采纳一条从有材料可依的习作方式过渡到脱离本本进行自由写作方式的途径。从有材可依到元材可依的训练过程应包括三个阶段：

一、短文缩写(Summary)阶段。

短文缩写可以是就所学课文进行缩写，也可以采用其它阅读材料，但要求被缩写的材料难易程度不超过所学课本。被用于进行缩写的课文或其它材料必须观点明确，层次分明，叙述有条理。缩写时应做到简明扼要，抓住重点，不要拖泥带水，没有主次。初学阶段的被缩写材料不宜太长，以不超一千词为佳，缩写文以不超过2m词为佳。以下就一篇短文进行缩写，限于篇幅，短文内容有所节略。

Most shops in Britain open at 9.00 a.m. and close at 5.00 or 5.30 in the evening. Small shopsusually close for an hour at lunchtime. On one or two days a week-usually Thursday and/or Friday-some large food shops stay until about 8.00 p.m. for late night shopping.

Many shops are closed in the afternoon on one day a week. The days is usually Wednesday orThursday and it is a different day in different towns. Nearly all shops are closed on Sunday. News-paper shops are open in the morning, and sell sweets and cigarettes as well. But there are legal restrictions on selling many things on Sundays. Many large food shops(supermarkets)are self-service. When you go into one of these shops you take a basket and you put the things you wish to buy into it. You queue up at the cash-desk and pay for everything just before you leave. If anyone tries to take things from a shop without paying they are almost certain to be caught. Most shops have store detectives who have the job of catching shoplifters. Shoplifting is considered a serious crime by the police and the courts. When you are waiting to be served in a shop, itis important to wait your turn. It is important not to try to be served before people who arrived before you. Many people from overseas are astonished at the British habit of queuing.

将短文缩写如下：

This article tells us about British shops. British shops usually open at 9.00 a.m. and close at 5.00or 5.30 p.m. Many shops are closed in the afternoon one day a week. Nearly all shops are closed on Sundays. In Britain, many large food shops are self-service. And when you wait to be served in a shop, you have to wait patiently for your turn.

这是一篇不超过100词的缩写，句子基本上由原文各段落的主要内容构成。个别段落被完全删除以保证缩写重点突出，前后连贯。缩写是一种“依材剪贴”的习作方式，基本上采用原材料中的词语和句子，仅作了部分调整，是最初级的习作方式。

二、短文评论(Brief Comment)阶段。

短评是就所学课文或阅读材料进行评论。通过分析原文中的内容和观点，提出一定的看法。短评可以是对原文观点表示赞同，也可以提出异议或不同看法。如对前文便可作以下评论：

From the article we learned about British shops, about their opening and closing time and their service. But we find that there are something inconvenient with British shop service. First is the time. Shops in Britain open very late and close too early. Second is that there is almost no Sunday service. Where can people go if they suddenly need to buy something? The last is the habit of queuing. It will be a waste of time if the queue is too long.

初学阶段，短文评论的字数一般也应在150字左右，不宜写大多。短评是一种“一半依材一半发挥”的习作方式。在内容上，一部分取自原文，一部分靠自己的思考。在用词上，可以部分地依赖原文，也需使用一些其它词汇。此外，短评的行文布局和用句也是一半模仿，一半创造。短评的这种特点使它非常适合承接短文缩写阶段，而又为后期阶段打下一定的基础。

三、引导写作(Guided Writing)阶段。

引导写作可分为重新编排句子顺序。规定情景作文。看图作文。提纲作文。关键词作文等形式。这些形式均可以用于训练，但以提纲作文和关键词作文多用为佳. 提纲作文是一种给出题目和段落提纲的习作方式，其段落写作提纲可以采用段落主旨句的形式，也可以是短语。关键词作文是一种给出作文题目和一些关键词或词组的命题作文形式。由于有段落写作提纲或主旨句等，进行习作时，减少了审题环节，且写作思路受到引导。在训练初期，引导写作的命题应尽量与所学英语书本的内容挂钩，使学生能够参照一部分课文所学的词汇与结构，避免大多生词。如针对上篇短文便可出一道相关命题引导学生习作：

题目：shops in China

提纲：(1)中国商店的作息时间 (2)中国商店的周未服务情况 (3)中国商店服务态度的好坏 以上是关于英语习作初级阶段的训练步骤。三个步骤的三种形式，相承相继，循序渐进，为进入自由命题写作打下了良好的基础。既适合教师指导学生习作课使用，也适合学习者自我训练。事实证明，这三个步骤是英语习作人门的有效做法。

中国民间的传统节日，在夏历五月初五，也叫“端阳”、“蒲节”、“天中节”、“大长节”、“沐兰节”、“女儿节”、“小儿节”。它是汉族的传统节日之一此外，端午节还有许多别称，如：午日节、重五节，五月节、浴兰节、女儿节，天中节、地腊、诗人节、龙日、艾节、端五、夏节、重午、午日等等。虽然名称不同，但总体上说，各地人民过节的习俗还是同多于异的。 时至今日，端午节仍是中国人民中一个十分盛行的隆重节日。

A traditional Chinese Folk Festival, in the fifth day of the fifth lunar month lunar calendar in May, also called the "Dragon Boat Festival", "Dragon Boat Festival", "day day", "long day", "Mu Lan day", "daughter Festival", "childrens day". It is one of the Chinese traditional festival the Dragon Boat Festival and many another name, such as: Good afternoon, section, section five, May Festival, bath Festival, daughter of festival, festival days, to LA, poet Festival, dragon day, AI Festival, at the end of five, the summer festival, afternoon, afternoon and so on. Although the names are different, but generally speaking, people around the custom of the feast or more than the same. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is the Chinese people is still a very popular in the grand festival.

端午节是全年四大节之一。五月是毒月，五日是毒日，五日的中午又是毒时，居三毒之端。端午节又叫“五月端”。五月是整个热天的开端，五毒蛇开始活跃，鬼魅魍魉也会猖獗，这些都会给人特别是会给无所顾忌又无抵抗能力的孩子带来灾难，必须在五月端这天集中地为孩子消灾防毒，因此，人们又把五月端午节说成是“小孩节”或“娃娃节”。

The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four major festivals throughout the year. May is the month of five days is poison, poison, five noon is poison, poison ranks three in the end. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called "the end of the May". May is the beginning of summer, the beginning of the five active snakes, ghosts and monsters are rampant, these will give people in particular will give no children and no resistance to bring disaster, must focus on that day in May at the end of anti disaster for the children, therefore, the people and the Dragon Boat Festival in May as a "childrens Day" or "doll festival".

过端午节，是中国人二千多年来的传统习惯，由于地域广大，民族众多，部分蒙古、回、藏、苗、彝、壮、布依、朝鲜、侗、瑶、白、土家、哈尼、畲、拉祜、水、纳西族、达斡尔、仫佬、羌、仡佬、锡伯族、普米、鄂温克、裕固、鄂伦春等少数民族也过此节，加上许多故事传说，于是不仅产生了众多相异的节名，而且各地也有着不尽相同的习俗。其内容主要有：女儿回娘家，挂钟馗像，迎鬼船、躲午，帖午叶符，悬挂菖蒲、艾草，游百病，佩香囊，备牲醴，赛龙舟，比武，击球，荡秋千，给小孩涂雄黄，饮用雄黄酒、菖蒲酒，吃五毒饼、咸蛋、粽子和时令鲜果等，除了有迷信色彩的活动渐已消失外，其余至今流传中国各地及邻近诸国。有些活动，如赛龙舟等，已得到新的发展，突破了时间、地域界线，成为了国际性的体育赛事。

The Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional Chinese habits of more than two thousand years, because of the vast territory, numerous nationalities, part of Mongolia, Hui and Tibetan, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Bai, North Korea, Tujia, Hani, Yu, Lahu, water, Naxi, Daur, Mulao, Qiang, Gelao, Xibe, Pumi, Ewenki, Yugur, E Lunchun and other ethnic minorities also have this day, plus many stories, not only have so many different section, but also has the same throughout. The main contents are: his daughter back home, the clock up like, welcome the ghost ship, hide afternoon, with midday leaf character, hang calamus, wormwood, travel sickness, Sachet, prepared sweet wine offerings, dragon boat race, tournament, batting, swing, give the child Tu Xionghuang, drinking realgar wine, sweet wine, eat a cake, salted eggs, dumplings and seasonal fruits, in addition to a superstitious activities have gradually disappear, the other has spread throughout China and neighboring countries. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, has been the development of new, breakthrough time and geographical boundaries, become an international sporting event.

端午祭正式被韩国申请为非物质文化遗产，并已获得成功，这对我们中国人本国文化遗产的保护也是一次深刻的教训。

The Dragon Boat Festival was officially apply for non-material cultural heritage of Korea, and has been successful, which is the Chinese people to protect their cultural heritage is also a profound lesson.

下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。

对于素材中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。

因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now！

1.?????? Proverbs

1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.

2. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s time.

3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

4. The classroom--not the trench--is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.

5. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.

7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesn’t answer questions; it provokes them.

8. People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

9.the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure.

10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.

11. A great teacher never strives to explain his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

12. If you can read and don’, you are an illiterate by choice.

2. Damaging Research

A study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positive that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.

3. Education and Citizenship

An important aspect of education in the United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many incentives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.

Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform young people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the problem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in the case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their children’s education.

Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schooling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-time undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.

Advocates of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the classroom. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.

4. The Teacher’s Role

Given the undeniable importance of classroom experience, sociologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students’ experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single first-grade teacher on her students’ subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in children’s lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching. The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.

Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an important part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classrooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teacher’s authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students and teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.

5. Education Philosophy

For the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the school’s job was to enhance the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.

Consequently, American schools are very enthusiastic about teaching “life skills” –logical thinking, analysis, creative problem--solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teachers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.

In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and are just a few of the modern problems that have appeared on the school curriculum.

This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.

6. Student Life

To the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways, around which thy congregate.

Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activities—sports, clubs, cheerleading, scouts—supposed to inculcate such qualities as leadership, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who don’t become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.

Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show that American parents have lower expectations for their children’s success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “He’s just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their son is on the swim team and doesn’t take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)

What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitted against each other—whether in classroom discussion, spelling bees, reading groups, or tests. Every classroom is expected to produce a scattering of A’s and F’s (teachers often grade A=excellent; B=good; C=average; D=poor; and F=failed). A teacher who gives all A’s looks too soft—so students are aware that they are competing for the limited number of top marks.

Foreign students sometimes don’t understand that copying from other people’s papers or from books is considered wrong and taken seriously. Here, it is important to show that you have done your own work and are displaying your own knowledge. It is more important than helping your friends to pass, whom we think do not deserve to pass unless they can provide their own answers. Group effort goes against the competitive grain, and American students do not study together as many Asians do. Many Asians in this country consider their group study habits a large contributor to their school success.

7. Adult Education

After complaining about many aspects of American life, a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong concluded, “But where else could someone my age go back to school and get a degree in social work? Here you can change your whole life, start a new business, do what you really want to do.”

So at least to this person, school requirements weren’t inhibiting. And to millions of others, adult education is the path to a new career, or if not to a new career, to a new outlook. Schools generally encourage the older person who wants to start anew, and besides regular classes, schedule evening classes in special programs. Today there are so many people of retirement age in college that it is no longer remarkable.

8. Moral Relativism in American

Improving American education requires not doing new things but doing (and remembering) some good old things. At the time of our nation’s founding, Thomas Jefferson listed the requirements for a sound education in the Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia. In this landmark statement on American education, Jefferson wrote of the importance of education and writing, and of reading history, and geography. But he also emphasized the need “to instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests, and duties, as men and citizens.” Jefferson believed education should aim at the improvement of both one’s “morals” and “faculties”. That has been the dominant view of the aims of American education for over two centuries. But a number of changes, most of them unsound, have diverted schools from these great pursuits. And the story of the loss of the school’s original moral mission explains a great deal.

Starting in the early seventies, “values clarification” programs started turning up in schools all over America. According to this philosophy, the schools were not to take part in their time-honored task of transmitting sound moral values; rather, they were to allow the child to “clarify” his own values (which adults, including parents, had no “rights” to criticize). The “values clarification” movement didn’t clarify values; it clarified wants and desires. This form of moral relativism said, in effect, that no set of values was right or wrong; everybody had an equal right to his own values; and all values were subjective, relative, and personal. This destructive view took hold with a vengeance.

In 1985 The York Times published an article quoting New York area educators, in slavish devotion to this new view, proclaiming, “They deliberately avoid trying to tell students what is ethically right and wrong.” The article told of one counseling session involving fifteen high school juniors and seniors. In the course of that session a student concluded that a fellow student had been foolish to return one thousand dollars she found in a purse at school. According to the article, when the youngsters asked the counselor’s opinion, “He told them he believed the girl had done the right thing, but that, of course, he would not try to force his values on them. ‘If I come from the position of what is wrong,’ he explained, ‘then I’m not their counselor.’”

Once upon a time, a counselor offered counselor, and he knew that an adult does not form character in the young by taking a stance of neutrality toward questions of right and wrong or by merely offering “choices” or “options”.

In response to the belief that adults and educators should teach children sound morals, one can expect from some quarters indignant objections (I’ve heard one version of it expressed countless times over the years): “Who are you to say what’s important?” or “Whose standards and judgments do we use?”

The correct response, it seems to me, is, is we ready to do away with standards and judgments? Is anyone going to argue seriously that a life of cheating and swindling is as worthy as a life of honest, hard work? Is anyone (with the exception of some literature professors at our elite universities) going to argue seriously the intellectual corollary, that a Marvel comic book is as good as Macbeth? Unless we are willing to embrace some pretty silly position, we’ve got to admit the need for moral and intellectual standards. The problem is that some people tend to regard anyone who would pronounce a definitive judgment as an unsophisticated Philistine or a closed-minded “elitist” trying to impose his view on everybody else.

The truth of the real world is that without standards and judgments, there can be no progress. Unless we are prepared to say irrational things—that nothing can be proven more valuable than anything else or that everything is equally worthless—we must ask the normative question. It may come, as a surprise to those who fell that to be “progressive” is to be value-neutral. But as Matthew Amold said, “the world is forwarded by having its attention fixed on the best things” and if the world can’t decide what the best things are, at least to some degree, then it follows that progress, and character, is in trouble. We shouldn’t be reluctant to declare that some things, some lives, books, ideas, and values are better than others. It is the responsibility of the schools to teach these better things.

At one time, we weren’t so reluctant to teach them. In the mid-nineteenth century, a diverse, widespread group of crusaders began to work for the public support of what was then called the “common school”, the forerunner of the public school. They were to be charged with the mission of school felt that the nation could fulfill its destiny only if every new generation was taught these values together in a common institution.

The leaders of the common school movement were mainly citizens who were prominent in their communities—businessmen, ministers, local civic and government officials. These people saw the schools as upholders of standards of individual morality and small incubators of civic and personal virtue; the founders of the public schools had faith that public education could teach good moral and civic character from a common ground of American values.

But in the past quarter century or so, some of the so-called experts became experts of value neutrality, and moral education was increasingly left in their hands. The commonsense view of parents and the publicthat schools should reinforce rather than undermine the values of home, family, and country, was increasingly rejected.

There are those today still that claim we are now too diverse a nation, that we consist of too many competing convictions and interests to instill common values. They are wrong. Of course we are a diverse people. We have always been a diverse people. And as Madison wrote in FederalistNo.10, the competing, balancing interests of a diverse people can help ensure the survival of liberty. But there are values that all American citizens share and that we should want all American students to know and to make their own: honesty, fairness, self-discipline, fidelity to task, friends, and family, personal responsibility, love of country, and belief in the principles of liberty, equality, and the freedom to practice one’s faith. The explicit teaching of these values is the legacy of the common schools, and it is a legacy to which we must return.

9. Schools Should Teach Values

People often said, “Yes, we should teach these values, but how do we teach them?” this question deserves a candid response, one that isn’t given often enough. It is by exposing our children to good character and inviting its imitation that we will transmit to them a moral foundation. This happens when teachers and principals, by their words and actions, embody sound convictions. As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written, “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself; and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong.” The theologian Martin Buber wrote that the educator is distinguished from all other influences “by his will to take part in the stamping of character and by his consciousness that he represents in the eyes of the growing person a certain selection of what is, the selection of what is ‘right’, of what should be.” It is in this will, Buber says, in this clear standing for something, that the “vocation as an educator finds its fundamental expression.”

There is no escaping the fact that young people need as example principals and teachers who know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and who themselves exemplify high moral purpose.

As Education Secretary, I visited a class at Waterbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Vermont, and asked the students, “Is this a good school?” They answered, “Yes, this is a good school.” I asked them, “Why?” Among other things, one eight-year-old said, “The principal Mr. Riegel, makes good rules and everybody obeys them.” So I said, “Give me an example.” And another answered, “You can’t climb on the pipes in the bathroom. We don’t climb on the pipes and the principal doesn’t either.”

This example is probably too simple to please a lot of people who want to make the topic of moral education difficult, but there is something profound in the answer of those children, something education should pay more attention to. You can’t expect children to take messages about rules or morality seriously unless they see adults taking those rules seriously in their day-to-day affairs. Certain must be said, certain limits lay down, and certain examples set. There is no other way.

We should also do a better job at curriculum selection. The research shows that most “values education” exercises and separate courses in “moral reasoning” tend not to affect children’s behavior; if anything, they may leave children morally adrift. Where to turn? I believe our literature and our history are a rich quarry of moral literacy. We should mine that quarry. Children should have at their disposal a stock of examples illustrating what we believe to be right and wrong, good and bad—examples illustrating what are morally right and wrong can indeed be known and that there is a difference.

What kind of stories, historical events, and famous lives am I talking about? If we want our children to know about honesty, we should teach them about Abe Lincoln walking three miles to return six cents and conversely, about Aesop’s shepherd boy who cried wolf if we want them to know about courage, we should teach them about Joan of Arc, Horatius at the bridge, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. If we want them to know about persistence in the face of adversity, they should know about the voyages of Columbus and the character of Washington during the Civil War. And our youngest should be told about the Little Engine That Could. If we want them to know about respect for the law, they should understand why Socrates told Crito: “No, I must submit to the decree of Athens.” If we want our children to respect the rights of others, they should read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’ “Letter from Birmingham jail.” From the Bible they should know about Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers, Jonathan’s friendship with David, the Good Samaritan’s kindness toward a stranger, and David’s cleverness and courage in facing Goliath.

These are only a few of the hundreds of examples we can call on. And we need not get into issues like nuclear war, abortion, creationism, or euthanasia. This may come as a disappointment to some people, but the fact is that the formation of character in young people is educationally a task different from, and prior to, the discussion of the great, difficult controversies of the day. First things come first. We should teach values the same way we teach other things: one step at a time. We should not use the fact that there are many difficult and controversial moral questions as an argument against basic instruction in the subject.

After all, we do not argue against teaching physics because laser physics is difficult, against teaching American history because there are heated disputes about the Founders’ intent. Every field has its complexities and its controversies. And every field has its basics, its fundamentals. So they are too with forming character and achieving moral literacy. As any parent knows, teaching character is a difficult task. But it is a crucial task, because we want our children to be healthy, happy, and successful but decent, strong, and good. None of this happens automatically; there is no genetic transmission of virtue. It takes the conscious, committed efforts of adults. It takes careful attention.

10. College Pressures

Mainly I try to remind that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches. They don not want to hear such liberating news. They want a map—right now – that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security and, presumably, a prepaid grave.

What I wish for all students is some release from the clammy grip of the future. I wish them a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. I wish them the right to experiment, to trip and fall, to learn that defeat is as instructive as victory and is not the end of the world.

My wish, of course, is na?ve. One of the national gods venerated in our media—the million-dollar athlete, the wealthy executive—and glorified in our praise of possessions. In the presence of such a potent state religion, the young are growing up old.

I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is easy to look around for villains—to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents for pushing their children too far, and the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no villains: only victims.

“In the late 1960s.” one dean told me. “The typical question that I got from students was ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world’ or ‘how I can make a contribution?’ Today it’s ‘Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major in history and political science, or just majored in one of them?’” many other deans confirmed this pattern. One said: “They are trying to find an edge—the intangible something that will look better on paper if two students are about equal.”

Note the emphasis on looking better. The transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security. How one appears on paper is more important than how one appears in person. A is for Admirable and B is for Borderline, even though, in Yale’s official system of grading, A means “excellent” and B means “very good.” Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school. They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms and better medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh. Yale Law School, for instance, matriculates 170students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000.

It’s all very well for those of us who write letters of recommendation for our students to stress the qualities of humanity that will make them good lawyers or doctors. And it’s nice to think that admission officers are ready reading our letters and looking for the extra dimension of commitment or concern. Still, it would be hard for a student not to visualize these officers shuffling so many transcripts studded with As that they regard a B as positively shameful.

The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. Long gone are the days of the “gentleman’s C.” when students journeyed through college with a certain relaxation, sampling a wide variety of courses-music, art, philosophy, classics, anthropology, poetry, religion—that would send them out as liberally educated men and women. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know countless students whose inquiring minds exhilarate me. I like to hear the play of their ideas. I do not know if they are getting As or Cs, and I do not care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax. They cannot.

Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Tuition, room, and board at most private colleges now come to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees. This might seem to suggest that the colleges are getting rich. But they are equally battered by inflation. Tuition covers only 60 percent of what it costs to educate a student, and ordinarily the remainder comes from what college receives in endowments, grants, and gifts. Now, the remainder keeps being swallowed by the cruel costs—higher every year—of just opening the doors. Heating oil is up. Insurance is up. Postage is up. Health-premium costs are up. Everything is up. Deficits are up. We are witnessing in American the creation of a brotherhood of paupers—colleges, parents, and students, joined by the common bond of debt.

Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $5,000 in loans after four years—loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation. Exhorted at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning? I have used “he,” incidentally, only for brevity. Women at Yale are under no less pressure to justify their expensive education to themselves, their parents, and society. In fact, they are probably under more pressure. For although they leave college superbly equipped to bring fresh leadership to traditionally male jobs, society has not yet caught up with this fact.

Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.

I see many students taking pre-medical courses with joyless tenacity. They go off to their labs as if they were going to the dentist. It saddens me because I know tem in other corners of their life as cheerful people.

“Do you want to medical school?” I asked them.

“I guess so,” they say, without conviction, or “Not really.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Well, my parents want me to be a doctor. They are paying all this money and …”

Poor students, poor parents, they are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean will; they are trying to steer their sons and draughts toward a secure future. But the sons and daughter want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics—an ability to synthesize and relate, to weigh cause and effect, to see events in perspective—are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field. Still, many fathers would rather put their money on courses that point toward specific profession—courses that are pre-law, pre-medical, pre-business, or, as I sometimes heard it put, “pre-rich.”

But the pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obliged to fulfill their parents’ expectations; after all, their parents are older and presumably wiser. Another part tells them that the expectations that are right for their parents are not right for them.

I know a student who wants to be an artist. She is very obviously an artist and will be a good one—she has already had several modest local exhibits. Meanwhile she is growing as a well-round person and taking humanistic subjects that will enrich the inner resources out of which her art will grow. But her father is strongly opposed. He thinks that an artist is a “dumb” thing to be. The student vacillates and tries to please everybody. She keeps up with her art somewhat furtively and takes some of the “dumb” courses her father wants her to take—at least they are dumb courses for her. She is a free spirit on a campus of tense students—no small achievement in it—and she deserves to follow her muse.

Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined, and they begin almost at the beginning of freshman year.

“I had a freshman student I’ll call Linda,” one dean told me, “who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I could not tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda.”

The story is almost funny—except that it is not. It is symptomatic of all the pressure put together. When every student thinks every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. I see students going off to the library every night after dinner and coming back when it closes at midnight. I wish they would sometimes forget about their peers and go to a movie. I hear the clacking of typewriters in the hours before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: “Will I get everything done?”

Probably they won’t. They will get blocked. They will sleep. They will oversleep. They will bug out.

Part of the problem is that they are expected to do. A professor will assign five page papers. Several students will start writing ten page papers to impress him. Then more students will write ten page papers, and a few will raise the ante to fifteen. Pity the poor student who is still just doing the assignment.

“Once you have twenty or thirty percent of the student population deliberately overexerting,” one dean points out, “It’s bad for everybody. When a teacher gets more and more effort from his class, the student who is doing normal work can be perceived as not doing well. The tactic work, psychologically.”

Why cannot the professor just cut back and not accept longer papers? He can, and he probably will. But by then the term will be half over and the damage done. Grade fever is highly contagious and not easily reversed. Besides, the professor’s main concern is with his course. He knows his students only in relation to the course and does not know that they are also overexerting in their other courses. Nor is it really his business. He did not sign up for dealing with the student as a whole person and with all the emotional baggage the student brought along from home. That’s what deans, masters, chaplains, and psychiatrists are for.

To some extent this is nothing new: a certain number of professors have always been self-contained islands of scholarship and shyness, more comfortable with books than with people. But the new pauperism has widened the gap still further, for professors who actually like to spend time with students do not have as much time to spend. They are also overexerting. If they are young, they are busy trying to publish in order not to perish, hanging by their figure nails onto a shrinking profession.

If they are old and tenured, they are buried under the duties of administering departments—as departmental chairmen or members of committees—that have been thinned out by the budgetary axe.

Ultimately it will be the students’ own business to break the circles in which they are trapped. They are too young to be prisoners of their parents’ dreams and their classmates’ fears. They must be jolted into believing into themselves as unique men and women who have the power to shape their own future.

“Violence is being done to the undergraduate experience,” says Carlos Hortas. “College should be open-ended: at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choices narrow as they go along. It’s almost as if they think that the country has been codified in the type of jobs that exist-that they’ve got to fit into certain slots. Therefore, fit into the best paying slot.”

“They ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing.”

I have painted too drab a portrait of today’s students, making them seem a solemn lot. That is only half of their story; if they were so dreary I wouldn’t so thoroughly enjoy their company. The other half is that they are easy to like. They are quick to laugh and to offer friendship. They are not introverts. They are usually kind and are more considerate of one another than any student generation I have known.

Nor are they so obsessed with their studies that they avoid sports and extracurricular activities. On the contrary, they juggle their crowded hours to play on a variety of teams, perform with musical and dramatic groups, and write for campus publications. But this in turn is one more cause of anxiety. There are too many choices. Academically, they have 1,300 courses to select from; outside class they have to decide how much spare time they can spare and how to spend it.

This means that they engage in fewer extracurricular pursuits than their predecessors did. If they want to row on the crew and play in the symphony they will eliminate one; in the ‘60s they would have done both. They also tend to choose activities that are self-limiting. Drama, for instance, is flourishing in all twelve of Yale’s residential colleges, as it never has before. Students hurl themselves into these productions—as actors, directors, carpenters, and technicians—with a dedication to create the best possible play, knowing that the day will come when the run will end and they can get back to their studies.

They also cannot afford to be the willing slave of organizations like the Yale Daily News. Last spring at the one-hundredth anniversary banquet of that paper—who’s past chairmen include such once and future kings as Potter Stewart, Kingman Brewster, and William F. Buckley, Jr.—much was made of the fact that the editorial staff used to be small and totally committed and that “newsies” routinely worked fifty hours a week. In effect they belonged to a club; Newsies is how they defined themselves at Yale. Today’s students will one or two articles a week, when he can, and he defines himself as a student. I’ve never heard the word Newsie except at the banquet.

If I have described the modern undergraduate primarily as a driven creature who is largely ignoring the blithe spirit inside who keeps trying to come out and play, it’s because that’s where the crunch is, not only at Yale but throughout American education. It’s why I think we should all be worried about the values that are nurturing a generation so fearful of risk and so goal-obsessed at such an early age.

I tell students that there is no one “right” way to get ahead—that each of them is a different person, starting from a different point and bound for a different destination. I tell neither them that change is a tonic and that all the slots are not codified nor the frontiers closed. One of my ways of telling them is to invite men and women who have achieved success outside the academic world to come and talk informally with my students during the year. They are heads of companies or ad agencies, editors of magazines, politicians, public officials, television magnates, labor leaders, business executives, Broadway products, artists, writers, economists, photographers, scientists, historians—a mixed bag of achievers.

I asked them to say a few words about how they got started. The students assume that they started in their present profession and knew all along that it was what they wanted to do. Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by a circuitous route, to their surprise, after many detours. The students are startled. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not pre-planned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.

11. To Err Is Wrong

In the summer of 1979, Boston Red Sox first baseman Carl Yastrzemski became the fifteenth player in baseball history to reach the three thousand hit plateaus. This event drew a lot of media attention, and for about a week prior to the attainment of this goal, hundreds of reports covered Yaz’s every more. Finally, one reporter asked, “Hey Yaz, aren’t you afraid all of this attention will go to your head?” Yastrzemski replied, “I look at this way: in my career I’ve been up to bat over ten thousand times. That means I’ve been unsuccessful at the plate over seven thousand times. That fact alone keeps me from getting a swollen head.”?

Most people consider success and failure as opposites, but they are actually both products of the same process. As Yaz suggest, an activity that produces a hit may also produce a miss. It is the same with creative thinking; the same energy that generates good creative ideas also produces errors.

Many people, however, are not comfortable with errors. Our educational system, based on “the right answer” belief, cultivates our thinking in another, more conservative way. From an early age, we are taught that right answers are good and incorrect answers are bad. This value is deeply embedded in the incentive system used in most schools:

Right over 90% of the time = “A”

Right over 80% of the time = “B~”

Right over 70% of the time = “C~” Right over 60% of the time = “D~” Less than 60% correct, you fail.

From this we learn to be right as often as possible and to keep our mistakes to a minimum. We learn, in other words, that “to err is wrong.

Playing It Safe

With this kind of attitude, you aren’t going to be taking too many chances. If you learn that failing even a litter penalizes you (e.g., being wrong only 15% of the time garners you only a “B” performance), you learn not to make mistakes. And more important, you learn not to put yourself to situation where you might fall. This leads to conservative thought pattern designed to avoid the stigma our society puts on “failure”.

I have a friend who recently graduated from college with a Master’s degree in Journalism. For the last six month, she has been trying to find a job, but to no avail. I talked with her about situation, and realized that her problem is that she doesn’t know how to fail. She went through eighteen years of schooling to try any approaches where she might fail. She has been conditioned to believe that failure is bad in and of itself, rather than a potential stepping-stone to new ideas.

Look around. How many middle managers, housewives, administrators, teachers, and other people do you see who are to try anything new because of this failure? Most of us have learned not to make mistakes in public. As a result, we remove ourselves from many learning experience except for those occurring in the most private of circumstances.

Different Logic

From a practical point of view, “to err is wrong” makes sense. Our survival in the everyday world requires us to perform thousand of small tasks without failure. Think about it: you wouldn’t last very long if you were to step out in front of traffic or stick your hand a pot of boiling water. In addition, engineers whose bridges collapse, stock brokers who lose money for their clients, and copywriters whose ad campaigns decrease sales won’t keep their jobs very long.

Nevertheless, too great an adherence to the belief “to err is wrong” can greatly undermine your attempts to generate new ideas. If you are more concerned with producing right answers than generating original ideas, you’ll probably make uncritical use of the rules, formulae, and procedures used to obtain these right answers. By doing this, you’ll by-pass the germinal phase of the creative process, and thus spend litter time testing assumptions, challenging the rules, asking what-if questions, or just playing around with the problem. All of these techniques will produce some incorrect answers, but in the germinal phase errors are viewed as a necessary by-product of creative thinking. As Yaz would put it, “if you want the hits, be prepared for the misses.” That’s the way the game of life goes.

Errors as Stepping Stones

Whenever an error pops up, the usual response is “Jeez, another screw up, what went wrong this time?” the creative thinker, on the other hand, will realize the potential value of errors, and perhaps say something like, “Would you look at that! Where can it lead our thinking?” and then he or she will go on to use the error as a stepping stone to a new idea. As a matter of fact, the whole history of discovery is filed with people who used erroneous assumptions and failed ideas as stepping-stones to new ideas. Columbus thought he was finding a shorter route to India. Johannes Kepler stumbled on to the idea of interplanetary gravity because of assumptions that were right for the wrong reasons. And, Thomas Edison knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb.

The following story about the automotive genius Charles Kettering exemplifies the spirit of working through erroneous assumptions to good ideas. In 1912, when the automobile industry was just beginning to grow, Kettering was interested in improving gasoline engine efficiency. The problem he faced was“knockthe phenomenon in which gasoline takes too long to burn in the cylinder-thereby reducing efficiency.

Kettering began searching for ways to eliminate the “knock.” He thought to him, “How can I get the gasoline to combust in the cylinder at an earlier time?” the key concept here is “early”. Searching for analogous situations, he looked around for models of “things that happen early.” He thought of historical models, physical models, and biological models. Finally, he remembered a particular plant, the trailing arbutus, which “happens early,” i.e., it blooms in the snow (“earlier” than other plants). One of this plant’s chief characteristics is its’ red leaves, which help the plant retain light at certain wavelengths. Kettering figured that it must be the red color, which made the trailing arbutus bloom earlier.

Now came the critical step in Kettering’s chain of thought. He asked himself, “How can I make the gasoline red?” perhaps I’ll put red dye in the gasoline—maybe that’ll make it combust earlier.” He looked around his workshop, and found that he didn’t have any red dye. But he did happen to have some iodine—perhaps that would do. He added the iodine to the gasoline and, lo and behold, the engine didn’t “knock”.

[英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分

这是04年某省的中考题目：根据美国朋友Bob来信的内容写一篇英文回信。

Dear friend,

亲爱的朋友，

Hello, Im your new friend. My name is [ename]Bob[/ename]. Im fifteen. Im American. I live in New York.

你好，我是你的新朋友。我的名字叫鲍勃，我十五岁，是美国人，我住在纽约。

I am a middle school student. Im good at maths. It is very interesting. My favourite sport is basketball. And I am not only a basketball fan but also a good player. I like music. My friend and I often sing pop songs together.

我是一个初中生，我擅长数学，它很有趣。我最喜欢的运动是篮球，我不仅仅是一个篮球迷，也是一个很好的选手。我喜欢音乐，我经常跟我的朋友一起唱流行歌曲。

After school, I am interested in getting on-line. I have known a lot about China from the Internet. Now I am learning Chinese. I hope I will visit your country one day.

放学之后，我喜欢上网，通过网络，我了解了很多关于中国的事情，现在我在学汉语，我希望有一天能去你的国家游览。

Please write to me and tell me something about your life. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

请给我回信说说你的生活吧，我期待着你的来信。

[关于初三英语作文的范例：英语书信

掌握一些常用的句型对高考英语写作尤为重要。下面是语文迷网整理的句型，大家一起来看看吧。

一、开头句型

1.As far as ...is concerned

2.It goes without saying that...

3.It can be said with certainty that...

4.As the proverb says，

5.It has to be noticed that...

6.It`s generally recognized that...

7.It`s likely that ...

8.It`s hardly that...

9.It’s hardly too much to say that...

10.What calls for special attention is that...需要特别注意的是

11.There’s no denying the fact that...毫无疑问，无可否认

12.Nothing is more important than the fact that...

13.what’s far more important is that...

二、衔接句型

A case in point is ...

As is often the case...

As stated in the previous paragraph 如前段所述

But the problem is not so simple. Therefore 然而问题并非如此简单，所以……

But it’s a pity that...

For all that...In spite of the fact that...

Further, we hold opinion that...

However , the difficulty lies in...

Similarly, we should pay attention to...

not(that)...but(that)...不是，而是

In view of the present station.鉴于目前形势

As has been mentioned above...

In this respect, we may as well (say) 从这个角度上我们可以说

However, we have to look at the other side of the coin, that is... 然而我们还得看到事物的另一方面，即 …

三、结尾句型

I will conclude by saying...

Therefore, we have the reason to believe that...

All things considered,总而言之

It may be safely said that...

Therefore, in my opinion, it’s more advisable...

From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that….

The data/statistics/figures lead us to the conclusion that….

It can be concluded from the discussion that...从中我们可以得出这样的结论

From my point of view, it would be better if...在我看来……也许更好

四、举例句型

Let’s take...to illustrate this.试举例以兹证明

let’s take the above chart as an example to illustrate this.

Here is one more example.

Take … for example.

The same is true of….

This offers a typical instance of….

We may quote a common example of….

Just think of….

五、常用于引言段的句型

1. Some people think that …. To be frank, I can not agree with their opinion for the reasons below.

2. For years, … has been seen as …, but things are quite different now.

3. I believe the title statement is valid because….

4. I cannot entirely agree with the idea that …. I believe….

5. My argument for this view goes as follows.

6. Along with the development of…, more and more….

7. There is a long-running debate as to whether….

8. It is commonly/generally/widely/ believed /held/accepted/recognized that….

9. As far as I am concerned, I completely agree with the former/ the latter.

10. Before giving my opinion, I think it is essential to look at the argument of both sides.

六、表示比较和对比的常用句型和表达法

1. A is completely / totally / entirely different from B.

2. A and B are different in some/every way / respect / aspect.

3. A and B differ in….

4. A differs from B in….

5. The difference between A and B is/lies in/exists in….

6. Compared with/In contrast to/Unlike A, B….

7. A…, on the other hand,/in contrast,/while/whereas B….

8. While it is generally believed that A …, I believe B….

9. Despite their similarities, A and B are also different.

10. Both A and B …. However, A…; on the other hand, B….

11. The most striking difference is that A…, while B….

七、演绎法常用的句型

1. There are several reasons for…, but in general, they come down to three major ones.

2. There are many factors that may account for…, but the following are the most typical ones.

3. Many ways can contribute to solving this problem, but the following ones may be most effective.

4. Generally, the advantages can be listed as follows.

5. The reasons are as follows.

八、因果推理法常用句型

1. Because/Since we read the book, we have learned a lot.

2. If we read the book, we would learn a lot.

3. We read the book; as a result / therefore / thus / hence / consequently / for this reason / because of this, we’ve learned a lot.

4. As a result of /Because of/Due to/Owing to reading the book, we’ve learned a lot.

5. The cause of/reason for/overweight is eating too much.

6. Overweight is caused by/due to/because of eating too much.

7. The effect/consequence/result of eating too much is overweight.

8. Eating too much causes/results in/leads to overweight.

想要写好英语作文平常肯定少不了积累，下面是语文迷网整理的关于中考英语作文的句子素材，希望对你有帮助。

1. According to a recent survey， four million people die each year from diseases linked to smoking.

依照最近的一项调查，每年有4，000，000人死于与吸烟有关的疾病。

2. The latest surveys show that quite a few children have unpleasant associations with homework.

最近的调查显示相当多的孩子对家庭作业没什么好感。

3. No invention has received more praise and abuse than Internet.

没有一项发明像互联网一样同时受到如此多的赞扬和批评。

4. People seem to fail to take into account the fact that education does not end with graduation.

人们似乎忽视了教育不应该随着毕业而结束这一事实。

5. An increasing number of people are beginning to realize that education is not complete with graduation.

越来越多的人开始意识到教育不能随着毕业而结束。

6. When it comes to education， the majority of people believe that education is a lifetime study.

说到教育，大部分人认为其是一个终生的学习。

7. Many experts point out that physical exercise contributes directly to a persons physical fitness.

许多专家指出体育锻炼直接有助于身体健康。

8. Proper measures must be taken to limit the number of foreign tourists and the great efforts should be made to protect local environment and history from the harmful effects of international tourism.

应该采取适当的措施限制外国旅游者的数量，努力保护当地环境和历史不受国际旅游业的不利影响。

9. An increasing number of experts believe that migrants will exert positive effects on construction of city. However， this opinion is now being questioned by more and more city residents， who complain that the migrants have brought many serious problems like crime and prostitution.

越来越多的专家相信移民对城市的建设起到积极作用。然而，越来越多的城市居民却怀疑这种说法，他们抱怨民工给城市带来了许多严重的问题，像犯罪和**.

10. Many city residents complain that it is so few buses in their city that they have to spend much more time waiting for a bus， which is usually crowded with a large number of passengers.

许多市民抱怨城市的公交车太少，以至于他们要花很长时间等一辆公交车，而车上可能已满载乘客。

11. There is no denying the fact that air pollution is an extremely serious problem： the city authorities should take strong measures to deal with it.

无可否认，空气污染是一个极其严重的问题：城市当局应该采取有力措施来解决它。

12. An investigation shows that female workers tend to have a favorable attitude toward retirement.

一项调查显示妇女欢迎退休。

13. A proper part-time job does not occupy students too much time. In fact， it is unhealthy for them to spend all of time on their study. As an old saying goes： All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

一份适当的业余工作并不会占用学生太多的时间，事实上，把全部的时间都用到学习上并不健康，正如那句老话：只工作，不玩耍，聪明的孩子会变傻。

14. Any government， which is blind to this point， may pay a heavy price.

任何政府忽视这一点都将付出巨大的代价。

15.Nowadays， many students always go into raptures at the mere mention of the coming life of high school or college they will begin. Unfortunately， for most young people， it is not pleasant experience on their first day on campus.

当前，一提到即将开始的学校生活，许多学生都会兴高采烈。然而，对多数年轻人来说，校园刚开始的日子并不是什么愉快的经历。

16. In view of the seriousness of this problem， effective measures should be taken before things get worse.

考虑到问题的严重性，在事态进一步恶化之前，必须采取有效的措施。

17. The majority of students believe that part-time job will provide them with more opportunities to develop their interpersonal skills， which may put them in a favorable position in the future job markets.

大部分学生相信业余工作会使他们有更多机会发展人际交往能力，而这对他们未来找工作是非常有好处的。

18. It is indisputable that there are millions of people who still have a miserable life and have to face the dangers of starvation and exposure.

无可争辩，现在有成千上万的人仍过着挨饿受冻的痛苦生活。

19. Although this view is wildly held， this is little evidence that education can be obtained at any age and at any place.

尽管这一观点被广泛接受，很少有证据表明教育能够在任何地点、任何年龄进行。

20. No one can deny the fact that a persons education is the most important aspect of his life.

没有人能否认：教育是人生最重要的一方面。

21. People equate success in life with the ability of operating computer.

人们把会使用计算机与人生成功相提并论。

22. In the last decades， advances in medical technology have made it possible for people to live longer than in the past.

在过去的几十年，先进的医疗技术已经使得人们比过去活的时间更长成为可能。

23. In fact， we have to admit the fact that the quality of life is as important as life itself.

事实上，我们必须承认生命的质量和生命本身一样重要。

24. We should spare no effort to beautify our environment.

我们应该不遗余力地美化我们的环境。

25. People believe that computer skills will enhance their job opportunities or promotion opportunities.

人们相信拥有计算机技术可以获得更多工作或提升的机会。

26. The information Ive collected over last few years leads me to believe that this knowledge may be less useful than most people think.

从这几年我搜集的信息来看，这些知识并没有人们想象的那么有用。

27. Now， it is generally accepted that no college or university can educate its students by the time they graduation.

现在，人们普遍认为没有一所大学能够在毕业时候教给学生所有的知识。

28. This is a matter of life and death——a matter no country can afford to ignore.

这是一个关系到生死的问题，任何国家都不能忽视。

29. For my part， I agree with the latter opinion for the following reasons：

我同意后者，有如下理由：

30. Before giving my opinion， I think it is important to look at the arguments on both sides.

在给出我的观点之前，我想看看双方的观点是重要的。

31. This view is now being questioned by more and more people.

这一观点正受到越来越多人的质疑。

32. Although many people claim that， along with the rapidly economic development， the number of people who use bicycle are decreasing and bicycle is bound to die out. The information Ive collected over the recent years leads me to believe that bicycle will continue to play extremely important roles in modern society.

尽管许多人认为随着经济的高速发展，用自行车的人数会减少，自行车可能会消亡， 然而，这几年我收集的一些信息让我相信自行车仍然会继续在现代社会发挥极其重要的作用。

33. Environmental experts point out that increasing pollution not only causes serious problems such as global warming but also could threaten to end human life on our planet.

环境学家指出：持续增加的污染不仅会导致像全球变暖这样严重的问题，而且还将威胁到人类在这个星球的生存。

34. In view of such serious situation， environmental tools of transportation like bicycle are more important than any time before.

考虑到这些严重的状况，我们比以往任何时候更需要像自行车这样的环保型交通工具。

35. Using bicycle contributes greatly to peoples physical fitness as well as easing traffic jams.

使用自行车有助于人们的身体健康，并极大地缓解了交通阻塞。

36. Despite many obvious advantages of bicycle， it is not without its problem.

尽管自行车有许多明显的优点，但是它也存在它的问题。

37. Bicycle cant be compared with other means of transportation like car and train for speed and comfort.

在速度和舒适度方面，自行车是无法和汽车、火车这样的交通工具相比的。

38. From what has been discussed above， we may safely draw the conclusion that advantages of bicycle far outweigh its disadvantages and it will still play essential roles in modern society.

通过以上讨论，我们可以得出结论：自行车的优点远大于缺点，并且在现代社会它仍将发挥重要作用。

39. There is a general discussion these days over education in many colleges and institutes. One of the questions under debate is whether education is a lifetime study.

当前在高校和研究机构对教育存在着大量争论，其中一个问题就是教育是否是个终身学习的过程。

40. This issue has caused wide public concern.

这个问题已经引起了广泛关注。

41. It must be noted that learning must be done by a person himself.

必须指出学习只能靠自己。

42. A large number of people tend to live under the illusion that they had completed their education when they finished their schooling. Obviously， they seem to fail to take into account the basic fact that a persons education is a most important aspect of his life.

许多人存在这样的误解，认为离开学校就意味着结束了他们的教育。显然，他们忽视了教育是人生重要部分这一基本事实。

43. As for me， Im in favor of the opinion that education is not complete with graduation， for the following reasons：

就我而言，我同意教育不应该随着毕业而结束的观点，有以下原因：

44. It is commonly accepted that no college or university can educate its students by the time they graduate.

人们普遍认为高校是不可能在毕业的时候教会他们的学生所有知识的。

45. Even the best possible graduate needs to continue learning before she or he becomes an educated person.

即使最优秀的毕业生，要想成为一个博学的人也要不断地学习。

46. It is commonly thought that our society had dramatically changed by modern science and technology， and human had made extraordinary progress in knowledge and technology over the recent decades.

人们普遍认为我们的现代科技使我们的社会发生了巨大的变化，近几十年人类在科技方面取得了惊人的进步。

47. Now people in growing numbers are beginning to believe that learning new skills and knowledge contributes directly to enhancing their job opportunities or promotion opportunities.

现在越来越多的人开始相信学习新的技术和知识能直接帮助他们获得工作就会或提升的机会。

48. An investigation shows that many older people express a strong desire to continue studying in university or college.

一项调查显示许多老人都有到大学继续学习的愿望。

49. For the majority of people， reading or learning a new skill has become the focus of their lives and the source of their happiness and contentment after their retirement.

对大多数人来讲，退休以后，阅读或学习一项新技术已成为他们生活的中心和快乐的来源。

50. For people who want to adopt a healthy and meaningful life style， it is important to find time to learn certain new knowledge. Just as an old saying goes： it is never too late to learn.

对于那些想过上健康而有意义的生活的人们来说，找时间学习一些新知识是很重要的，正如那句老话：活到老，学到老。

假若你是《21th century》报纸的编辑，有一学生向你写了如下的一封信，请你根据来

信的内容写一封回信，帮他出出主意。字数约为100左右。

Dear Editor,

My physics teacher is very strict with us. I often feel nervous in his classes because we are punished by being made to stand for a few minutes if we cant answer his questions. Its embarrassing (尴尬) to be made to stand in class, so I hate physics classes. However, I really want to do well in physics. What should I do?

Yours sincerely

Zhang Ying

Dear Zhang Ying,

I am sorry you are having difficulty with your physics classes. Teachers have many different ways of encouraging students to put in more effort — it seems as though your physics teacher thinks fear is the best way! He does it because he thinks it will produce results. If you feel that it is stopping you from doing your best then you should tell him. You say you want to do well in physics and if your teacher knows this, he will be pleased. It is only when students are not trying as hard as they can that a teacher is forced to take action. If he is aware of your worries, perhaps he will suggest other ways of helping you improve your work.

Editor

张颖

亲爱的张颖，

我很抱歉你在物理课上遇到了困难。老师们有许多不同的方式鼓励学生投入更多的精力，这似乎是你的物理老师认为恐惧是最好的方式！他这样做是因为他认为这会产生结果。如果你觉得这是阻止你做你最好的，那么你应该告诉他。你说你想在物理方面做得很好，如果你的老师知道这一点，他会很高兴的。只有当学生没有尽可能地努力，他们可以教师被迫采取行动。如果他知道你的担心，也许他会建议其他的方法来帮助你改善工作。

编辑

初中英语写作技巧书面表达，首先要抓住所给的提示，然后运用所学词汇、语法及句型，避繁就简，简明表达要讲的内容。小编整理了初中英语写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

一、充分准备。打好基础。

为了提高书面表达水平，平时应加强阅读，应背诵一些句型、段落甚至短文。只要读得多、背得多，就能出口成章，下笔成文。其实，用英文写信，记日记等都是学生力所能及且行之有效的练习写作的好方法。

二、仔细审题，明确要求。

对题目所提供的信息要认真分析，明确要求，做到心中有数。要对所提供的信息加以分析、整理，使之更加具体化、条理化，为开始动笔做好准备工作，还要搞清题目的要求，以便根据不同的题材、体裁，写出不同格式，风格各异的文章，此外，还要注意人称、时态、地点等信息，避免出错。

三、抓住重点。寻求思路。

根据题目所提供的信息，草拟提纲，寻求逻辑次序，确定如何下手，否则，语无伦次的文章将不会被人接受，也不可能得到高分。

四、遣词造句，表达规范。

用词要适当，不可逐句把提示汉译英，亦不可生拼硬凑，不要硬拿英语单词到中文句子里去对号，否则写出中文式英语，闹出笑话。一般来讲，写作时，应尽量选出你有把握的词，尽量使用短句(简单句)。如果有的单词不会写，有的思想不会用英语表达，你可以设法绕开，最好找一个同义词、同义句，或近义词、词组短语来代替。要正确使用关联词，如and，or，but，so，because，since等，以便行文自然流畅。

五、修改润色，锦上添花。

作文写完之后，应注意检查修改，修改时先从全局修改。首先要检查主题是否明确，表达方式是否恰当，接下来检查所写内容是否切题，该交待的内容是否交待了，最后检查所用时态、人称是否符合要求，最后是否一致。

写完后，还应仔细校阅1—2遍。校阅要逐词逐句进行，注意检查语法、拼写、标点、大小写等方面的错误。校阅是自检的最后一关，应严肃认真的进行，尽可能地消灭一切差错，增强文章的效果。

因此，要写好一篇作文，不仅需要具有丰富的思想内容，掌握扎实的词汇、语法及修辞等方面的语言基本功，而且还需要掌握因不同思维方式和文化背景而形成的英语特有的篇章机构模式 惟有这样才能进行最有效的书面交际活动。

书面表达是近几年初中英语中考的重要题型，是一种反映学生表达、传递信息和解决实际问题的重要的语言测试手段，同时也是用于测试学生的语言交际能力和语言知识活用能力的一项综合性试题。《英语课程标准》对各个年级学生“写”的技能提出了明确目标，它要求学生具有较高的书面语言表达能力。然而，目前初中英语教学的书面表达相对滞后，学生的写作水平提高甚微，一提起写作学生们就犯愁，甚至一字不写，有的干脆放弃。写一篇像样的英语作文对80%的学生来说是“难于上青天”。究其原因是多方面的。学生方面：(1)汉语影响、生词造句;(2)词汇贫乏、搭配不当;(3)句型误用、语法不通;(4)信息不全、条理紊乱。因此，笔者结合新教材的内容，在教学中探索了学生写作训练的方法。

一、积累词汇

初中学生在阅读理解方面最大的障碍就是词汇量的缺乏，而扩大词汇量绝非死记硬背就能做到。最有效的方法就是大量接触各种不同体裁的英语文章，利用“在句中记，在文中记”的方法来积累词汇。因此我们指导学生依据英语报刊的特点，按栏目、话题、题材、体裁归类收集常用词，将出现频率较高的常用词汇积累到单词本子上，查字典写例句，初步学会这些单词的运用，放在身边，利用零散时间反复记忆，加强印象。还要求学生给出与单词有关的同义、近义、反义和词形相似的词，使词汇量得到最大限度的复现。如：反义词appear/disappear， crowded/uncrowded，polite/impolite/rude.词形相似的词except/expect，chance/change/challenge.这样，通过大量的词汇练习不仅仅能有效地积累词汇，还为组句打下了基础，同时还能训练学生的发散性思维和总结、归纳、比较的能力，为学生正确使用词句奠定了良好的基础。

二、活用词句

当学生有了一定的词汇量的时候，教师在教学中可以采用先易后难的方法，让学生用简单的词组成句子，再以句子的构成作为学生进行写作训练的起点，引导学生从对单个句型的掌握，逐渐过渡到多种句型的混用，直到学生能连贯自如地表达思想。一句多译，句型转换，是书面表达能力的关键。总的来说，教师在平时的教学中要将日常生活中经常出现的词、句作为材料让学生训练，使学生乐于接受，轻松完成，享受成功感。

例如：以study为中心组成句子。

I study in No.3 Middle School.I study very hard.My sister studies in the same school.But she studies harder than me.等等。

三、创设情景

例如，学生举行运动会，开“生日聚会”，以“A sports meeting”和“My birthday party”为语境，让学生在活动中仔细观察，亲身体验，然后试着用自己所学的语言知识，表达“A sports meeting”和“My birthday party”这些话题。在我们新教材的每个单元中，都设有写作训练题，它们用英语设置语境，用英语提示内容，这些写的练习，与我们平时用汉语给语境、用英语完成段落的方式相比，更为理想。当然，教师在设立语境话题时要与学生的水平和能力相适应，应从简到难，从浅到深进行。否则，学生会无从下笔，久而久之，他们会失去信心。

四、注重听、说和阅读的培养

在英语写作中听、说、读、写应同步发展。写作是一种语言输出形式，只有语言输入大于语言输出，语言输出才有可能。英语写作训练作为英语综合能力训练之一，是与英语的听说读不可分割的，它们是相互影响、相互作用的有机统一体，必须注重听、说、读、写能力的同步发展。

比如笔者实施多年的“五分钟课前演讲”：在上正课前五分钟里，要学生用英语讲述一个故事(积累素材);或者课前朗读一篇短小精 的文章，让大家课后模仿;或者就大家平时关心的话题写一个发言稿或演讲稿进行课前发言;或者让学生自立主题，围绕自己喜欢的主题写一段话。这种课前训练取得了很好的效果。

五、写英文日记

要养成记英语日记勤练笔的习惯。经常用英语记日记等于天天在练笔，这无疑是提高英语写作行之有效的好办法。在记日记时，不要总是用简单句，要有意识地用一些好的词组、句型和复合句等，使文句更优美生动。对一些所给情景写的文章，写好后要对照一些范文，找出差距，然后再去练习，不仅能促使学生及时巩固所学的知识，还能锻炼他们的恒心和学习毅力，同时对提高英语作文也是很有帮助的。只有这样，学生才能通过多练习提高英语写作水平。

总之，学生英语写作水平的提高不是一朝一夕的事，英语写作能力培养的训练方法也是多方面的，因此需要我们英语教师在教学工作中不断探索、不断研究，总结出一些更富有创新活力的英语写作方法。鼓励学生平时要多积累语素材，要求他们坚持长期写作训练，做到善于思考、勤于训练、勇于探究，充分发挥学生的潜力。久而久之，学生的写作水平就会有大幅度的提高。

1) 主语+ cannot emphasize the importance of … too much.(再怎么强调……的重要性也不为过。)例如：We cannot emphasize the importance of protecting our eyes too much.

2)There is no need for sb to do sth. for sth.(某人没有必要做……)，例如：There is no need for you to bring more food. 不需你拿来更多的食物了。

3)By +doing…，主语can …. (借着……，……能够……)，例如：By taking exercise, we can always stay healthy. 借着做运动，我们能够始终保持健康。

4) … enable + sb.+ to + do…. (……使……能够……)，例如：Listening to music enables us to feel relaxed. 听音乐使我们能够感觉轻松。

5) On no account can we + do…. (我们绝对不能……)，例如：On no account can we ignore the value of knowledge.我们绝对不能忽略知识的价值。

6) What will happen to sb.? (某人将会怎样?), 例如：What will happen to the orphan? 那个孤儿将会怎样?

7)For the past + 时间，主语 + 现在完成式…. (过去……年来，……一直……)例如：For the past two years，I have been busy preparing for the examination. 过去两年来，我一直忙着准备考试。

8)It pays to + do….(……是值得的。)例如：It pays to help others. 帮助别人是值得的。

9)主语+ be based on….(以……为基础)，例如：The progress of thee society is based on harmony.社会的进步是以和谐为基础的。

10)主语 + do one’s best to do….(尽全力去……)，例如：We should do our best to achieve our goal in life.我们应尽全力去达成我们的人生目标

小编导语：英语作文是英语考试中的一个得分点，那么在写作过程中有什么技巧呢，下面是小编收集整理的相关资料，希望对您有所帮助。

1、首尾呼应，画龙点睛在文章的结尾，把含义较深的话放在末尾，以点明主题，深化主题，起到画龙点睛的效果。如“I Cannot Forget Her” (我忘不了她)的结尾：

After her death， I felt as if something were missing in my life. I was sad over her passing away， but I knew she would not have had any regrets at having given her life for the benefit of the people.

2、重复主题，句结尾回到文章开头阐明的中心思想或主题句上，达到强调的效果。如“I Love My Home Town”(我爱家乡)的结尾：

I love my home town， and I love its people. They too have changed. They are going all out to do more for the good of our motherland.

3、自然结尾随着文章的结束，文章自然而然地结尾。如“Fishing”(钓鱼)的结尾：

I caught as many as twenty fish in two hours， but my brother caught many more. Tired from fishing， we lay down on the river bank， bathing in the sun. We returned home very late.

4、含蓄性的结尾

用比喻或含蓄的手法不直接点明作者的看法，而是让读者自己去领会和思考。如“A Day of Harvesting”(收割的日子)的结尾：

Evening came before we realized it. We put down our sickles and looked at each other. Our clothes were wet with sweat， but on every face there was a smile.

5、用反问结尾

虽然形式是问句，但意义却是肯定的，并具有特别的强调作用，引起读者深思。如“Should We Learn to Do Housework?”(我们要不要学做家务?) 的结尾。

Everyone should learn to do housework. Dont you agree， boys and girls?

6、指明方向，激励读者结尾表示对将来的展望，或期待读者投入行动。如“Lets Go in for Sports”(让我们参加体育运动)的结尾：As we have said above， sports can be of great value. They not only make people live happily but also help people to learn virtues and do their work bettter. A sound mind is in a sound body. Lets go in for sports.

高考英语任务型写作训练练习（一）

读写任务（满分25分）

请阅读以下的短文，然后根据提供的任务说明和写作要求， 写一篇150字左右的英语短文。

（任务说明）

1.概括短文的内容要点（该部分的字数大约60-80）；

2.清楚地陈述你自己的看法；

3.提供具有一定说服力的论据或实例来支持你的观点，可以参照文中的内容，但不能抄袭文中的句子；

4.文章体裁不限，但必须结构合理，内容连贯，有条理性。

（阅读材料）

Almost everyone knows that water covers three-fourths of the earths surface. Most of it， however， is in the oceans and is too salty to drink. Also， some of it is frozen and cannot be used. In fact， less than one percent is left for the use of people， animals and plant life. All through history men have tried to build their homes near the sources of fresh water. Now fresh water is becoming scarce， but more and more is needed because of the increasing number of people in the world. Some industries also use large amounts of fresh water in the production of things such as steel， petroleum， paper and rubber and so on. Scientists estimate that the need for fresh water will have doubled by the year 2003. If they are correct， we must find new ways of saving it or producing it. Some nations have worked on the problem and are already sharing their information with others. They are trying to keep their rivers from becoming polluted. Deep wells are also being dug， and rain water is being collected in huge artificial lakes. In one way or another， they hope to provide enough water to satisfy the needs of their people.

参考范文

With the worldwide increase of population， more and more water is needed. Meanwhile，the water sources are getting polluted by human beings in one way or another. Some nations are taking measures to solve this problem. They even communicate with each other hoping to find better ways to save and produce water to meet the needs of their people.

随着世界范围内的人口增长,越来越需要更多的水。与此同时,水源被污染,人类以一种方式或另一种方式。一些国家正在采取措施来解决这个问题。他们甚至相互沟通希望能找到更好的方法来保存并生成水来满足人民的需要。

On a personal level， to solve the problem with fresh water， both the government and inpiduals should make every effort. For example， for the government， it is urgent to make detailed laws that require businesses and inpiduals to stop polluting the environment and to save water while it is not necessarily used. Besides， education should be offered to all the citizens to raise their awareness of the importance of protecting environment and saving water. As inpiduals， we need to take action to play our own part in our everyday life.

在个人层面上,用淡水来解决这个问题,政府和个人都应该尽一切努力。例如,对于政府来说,迫在眉睫的是做出详细的法律,要求企业和个人停止污染环境,节约用水,而不一定是使用它。除此之外,教育应该提供给所有的公民提高他们的意识保护环境和节约用水的重要性。作为个人,我们需要采取行动来扮演自己的角色在我们的日常生活。

名人名言，指为人类发展做出贡献的，富有知识的名人所说的能够让人懂得道理的一句较为出名的话，也是我们常用的写作素材。下面是语文迷整理的有关励志、梦想、坚持的名人名言，希望对你有帮助。

一、励志名人名言

1、All things in their being are good for something.

天生我才必有用。

2、Difficult circumstances serve as a textbook of life for people.

困难坎坷是人们的生活教科书。

3、Failure is the mother of success.——Thomas Paine

失败乃成功之母。

4、For man is man and master of his fate.

人就是人，是自己命运的主人。

5、The unexamined life is not worth living.——Socrates

混混噩噩的生活不值得过。——苏格拉底

6、None is of freedom or of life deserving unless he daily conquers it anew.——Erasmus

只有每天再度战胜生活并夺取自由的人，才配享受生活的自由。

7、Our destiny offers not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity. So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness.——R.M. Nixon

命运给予我们的不是失望之酒，而是机会之杯。因此，让我们毫无畏惧，满心愉 悦地把握命运。——尼克松

8、Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.——John Ruskin

生活没有目标，犹如航海没有罗盘。-- 罗斯金

9、What makes life dreary is the want of motive.——George Eliot

没有了目的，生活便郁闷无光。——乔治·埃略特

10、Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.——Lincoln

卓越的天才不屑走旁人走过的路。他寻找迄今未开拓的地区。

11、There is no such thing as a great talent without great will - power.——Balzac

没有伟大的意志力，便没有雄才大略。——巴尔扎克

12、The good seaman is known in bad weather.

惊涛骇浪，方显英雄本色。(励志名言)

13、Fear not that the life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.——J.H. Newman

不要害怕你的生活将要结束，应该担心你的生活永远不会真正开始。——纽曼

14、Gods determine what youre going to be.——Julius Erving

人生的奋斗目标决定你将成为怎样的人。——欧文

15、An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding.——Robert Louis Stevenson

生活的目标，是唯一值得寻找的财富。-- 史蒂文森

16、While there is life there is hope.

一息若存，希望不灭。——英国谚语

17、Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.——A. Einstein

不要为成功而努力，要为做一个有价值的人而努力。——爱因斯坦

18、You have to believe in yourself. Thats the secret of success.——Charles Chaplin

人必须有自信，这是成功的秘密。——卓别林

19、Pursue your object, be it what it will, steadily and indefatigably.

不管追求什么目标，都应坚持不懈。

20、We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.——Mattin Luther King

我们必须接受失望，因为它是有限的，但千万不可失去希望，因为它是无穷的。——马丁·路德·金

21、Energy and persistence conquer all things.——Benjamin Franklin

能量加毅力可以征服一切。——富兰克林

22、Nothing seek, nothing find.

无所求则无所获。

23、Cease to struggle and you cease to live.——Thomas Carlyle

生命不止，奋斗不息。——卡莱尔

24、A thousand-li journey is started by taking the first step.

千里之行，始于足下。

25、Strength alone knows conflict, weakness is below even defeat, and is born vanquished.——Swetchine

只有强者才懂得斗争;弱者甚至失败都不够资格，而是生来就是被征服的。——斯威特切尼

26、The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, make them.——Bernara Shaw

在这个世界上取得成就的人，都努力去寻找他们想要的机会，如果找不到机会， 他们便自己创造机会。——萧伯纳

27、A strong man will struggle with the storms of fate.——Thomas Addison

强者能同命运的风暴抗争。——爱迪生

28、He who seize the right moment, is the right man.——Goethe

谁把握机遇，谁就心想事成。——歌德

29、Victory wont come to me unless I go to it.——M.Moore

胜利是不会向我们走来的，我必须自己走向胜利。——穆尔

30、Man struggles upwards; water flows downwards.

人往高处走，水往低处流。

二、梦想的名言名言

1、every life is a boat, the dream is the boat sail.每个人的生命都是一只小船，梦想是小船的风帆。

2、it is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday, today is the hope, but also can become tomorrow’s reality.很难说什么是办不到的事情，因为昨天的梦想，可以是今天的希望，并且还可以成为明天的现实。

3、to me, they hide in the depths of your soul; be a distant dream, every dream will exceed your goal.努力向上吧，星星就躲藏在你的灵魂深处;做一个悠远的梦吧，每个梦想都会超越你的目标。

4、how far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerate of the weak and the strong. because someday in life you will have been all of this.你的生活深度取决于你对年幼者的呵护，对年长者的同情，对奋斗者的怜悯体恤，对弱者及强者的包容。因为生命中总有一天你会发现其中每一个角色你都扮演过。(乔治·华盛顿)

5、most of the time, our rich pocket, but poor head; we have a dream, but the lack of thought.很多时候，我们富了口袋，但穷了脑袋;我们有梦想，但缺少了思想。

6、the ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully 19 have been kindness, beauty and truth.(albert einstein, american scientist)有些理想曾为我们引过道路，并不断给我新的勇气以欣然面对人生，那些理想就是--真、善、美。 (美国科学家 爱因斯坦. a.)

7、dont part with your illusions. when they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. (mark twain, american writer)不要放弃你的幻想。当幻想没有了以后，你还可以生存，但是你虽生犹死。(美国作家 马克·吐温)

8、to accomplish great things, in addition to dream, must act.要想成就伟业，除了梦想，必须行动。

9、when you truly want something, all the universe conspires to help you finish it.当你真心渴望一件东西的时候，整个宇宙都会联合起来帮你完成它。

10、everything is now for the future of dream weaving wings, soar to great heights to dream in reality.现在的一切都是为将来的梦想编织翅膀，让梦想在现实中展翅高飞。

11、human nature is the most pathetic: we always dream of the horizon of a wonderful rose garden, not to enjoy today in our window open rose.人性最可怜的就是：我们总是梦想着天边的一座奇妙的玫瑰园，而不去欣赏今天就开在我们窗口的玫瑰。

12、faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. it is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed.当还缺乏产生信仰的足够理由时，要用信念去包涵。模棱两可不足以支持一个信仰。(伏尔泰)

13、the dream is the other shore, the reality is that on this side, action is the bridge connecting.梦想是彼岸，现实是此岸，行动是那座连接的桥。

14、a heart will not be hurt for pursuing a dream, when you truly want something, all the universe conspires to help you complete the.没有一颗心会因为追求梦想而受伤，当你真心想要某样东西时，整个宇宙都会联合起来帮你完成。

15、dreams don’t abandon a painstaking pursuit of the people, as long as you never stop pursuing, you will bathe in the brilliance of the dream.梦想不抛弃苦心追求的人，只要不停止追求，你们会沐浴在梦想的光辉之中。

16、everything i do is just to weave my wings for my dream now so that it can hover in the real world.我所做的一切都是为将来的梦想编织翅膀现在这样可以悬停在现实世界。

17、the man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. (mark twain, american writer)具有新想法的人在其想法实现之前是个怪人。 (美国作家 马克·吐温)

18、youth is to prepare the material, want to build a bridge to the moon, or on the ground and two palaces or temples. middle age, finally decided to put up a shed.青年时准备好材料，想造一座通向月亮的桥，或者在地上造二所宫殿或庙宇。活到中年，终于决定搭一个棚。

19、the important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it. (johan wolfgang von goethe, german poet and dramatist)人生重要的事情就是确定一个伟大的目标，并决心实现它。(德国诗人、戏剧家 歌德. j. m.)

20、the pursuit of a cause of the people, can "dream" doing higher. although at the beginning of a dream, but as long as you keep doing, do not easily give up, dreams can come true.一个有事业追求的人，可以把“梦”做得高些。虽然开始时是梦想，但只要不停地做，不轻易放弃，梦想能成真。

21、the dream is not a dream, the difference between the two usually have a very worth pondering the distance.梦想绝不是梦，两者之间的差别通常都有一段非常值得人们深思的距离。

22、“two gates there are for dreams," said penelope to odysseus after his ten years’ wandering had ended. "one made for horn and one of for ivory. the dreams that pass through the carved ivory delude and bring us tales that turn to naught;those that can come through polished horn accomplish real things whenever seen."“梦想有两扇门，”在奥德修斯结束了十年的漂泊后，潘尼洛对他说，“一扇是号角制成，一扇是象牙制成。通过精雕细缕的象牙门得梦想不过是一场会归于无的海市蜃楼的童话;而那些通过磨砺的号角门的梦想才会成为真实，为人所见。”

23、who has the material to survive, people have a dream only talk about life. you have to understand life and life different animal survival, while others life.人有了物质才能生存，人有了梦想才谈得上生活。你要了解生存与生活的不同吗?动物生存，而人则生活。

24、the dream was always running ahead of me. to catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle.梦想总是跑在我前面，追寻它们，乃至仅有一瞬间的与梦想合而为一，也都是动人的生命奇迹。

25、a person rich money is not certain, but if the man is not a dream, the poor people.一个人有钱没钱不一定，但如果这个人没有了梦想，这个人穷定了。

26、if winter comes, can spring be far behind ?( p. b. shelley, british poet )冬天来了，春天还会远吗?( 英国诗人, 雪莱. p. b.)

27、as wishes may inspire dreams, so dreams may inspire wishes.正如心愿能够激发梦想，梦想也能够激发心愿。

28、ideal is the beacon. without ideal, there is no secure direction; without direction, there is no life.( leo tolstoy, russian writer)理想是指路明灯。没有理想，就没有坚定的方向;没有方向，就没有生活。(俄国作家 托尔斯泰. l.)

29、it is at our mothers knee that we acquire our noblest and truest and highest, but there is seldom any money in them. ( mark twain, american writer )就是在我们母亲的膝上，我们获得了我们的最高尚、最真诚和最远大的理想，但是里面很少有任何金钱。(美国作家 马克·吐温)

30、plain ordinary dream, we used the only adhere to the belief to support the dream.平凡朴实的梦想，我们用那唯一的坚持信念去支撑那梦想。

三、坚持英文名人名言

1、Don’t lose faith, as long as the unremittingly, you will get some fruits. —— Tsien Hsueshen

不要失去信心，只要坚持不懈，就终会有成果。——钱学森

2、With strong will, is equivalent to the feet to a pair of wings.—— Bailey

有了坚定的意志，就等于给双脚添了一对翅膀。——贝利

3、Rome wasn’t built in one day.

伟业非一日建成。

4、Persistence will enable us to succeed, and perseverance of the source is to do not waver in the least, we should take to achieve the necessary means to success.—— Chernyshevsky

只有毅力才会使我们成功，而毅力的来源又在于毫不动摇，坚决采取为达到成功所需要的手段。——车尔尼雪夫斯基

5、Daily good, not afraid of thousands of miles; often do, not do things.

日日行，不怕千万里;常常做，不怕千万事。

6、Once they start they can always continue to cause people is happy.—— Herzen

朝开始便永远能将事业继续下去的人是幸福的。——赫尔岑

7、Although patience and persistence is a painful thing, but it can gradually bring you good.—— Ovid

忍耐和坚持虽是痛苦的事情，但却能渐渐地为你带来好处。——奥维德

8、Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

心之所愿，无事不成。

9、People lack the willpower, rather than strength.—— Hugo

世人缺乏的是毅力，而非气力。——雨果

10、No human can repel a firm hope.—— Kingsley

永远没有人力可以击退一个坚决强毅的希望。——金斯莱

11、Heaven revolves, the gentleman to unremitting self-improvement. —— Wen Tianxiang

天行健，君子以自强不息。——文天祥

12、As long as the continuous efforts, unremitting struggle, there is no things that can not be conquered.—— Seneca

只要持续地努力，不懈地奋斗，就没有征服不了的东西。——塞内加

13、Once you choose your way of life, be brave to stick it out and never return.—— Zola

生活的道路一旦选定，就要勇敢地走到底，决不回头。——左拉

14、No patient who, who has no wisdom.—— he di

谁没有耐心，谁就没有智慧。——萨迪

15、It is dogged does it. The days of easy, but careless people. —— Yuan Mei

天下无难事，只怕有心人。天下天易事，只怕粗心人。——袁枚

16、Poor and stronger, not falling Albatron ambition. —— Wang Bo

穷且益坚，不坠青云之志。——王勃

17、We should have the perseverance, must have the self-confidence especially! We must believe, our talent is used to do something. —— Mrs. Curie

我们应有恒心，尤其要有自信心!我们必须相信，我们的天赋是要用来做某种事情的。——居里夫人

18、Determined to not firm, with nothing.—— Zhu Xi

立志不坚，终不济事。——朱熹

19、One day, the ten day of ten money, money. Little strokes fell great oaks. Dripping water wears through a stone.

一日一钱，十日十钱。绳锯木断，水滴石穿。

20、Pursue your object, be it what it will, steadily and indefatigably.

不管追求什么目标，都应坚持不懈。

1. 不用说……

It goes without saying that …

= (It is) needless to say (that) ….

= It is obvious that ….

例：It goes without saying that it pays off to keep early hours.

不用说早睡早起是值得的。

2. 在各种……之中，……

Among various kinds of …, … /= Of all the …, …

例︰Among various kinds of sports, I like jogging in particular.

在各种运动中我尤其喜欢慢跑。

3. 就我的看法……;我认为……

In my opinion, …

= To my mind, ….

= As far as I am concerned, …

= I am of the opinion that ….

例：In my opinion, playing video games not only takes much time but is also harmful to health.

在我看来，玩电脑游戏既花费时间也有害健康。

4. 随着人口的增加…… With the increase/growth of the population, …

随着科技的进步…… With the advance of science and technology, …

例：With the rapid development of Taiwan’s economy, a lot of social problems have come to pass.

随着台湾经济的快速发展许多社会问题产生了。

5. ……是必要的 It is necessary (for sb.) to do/that …

…… 是重要的 It is important/essential (for sb.) to do / that …

…… 是适当的 It is proper (for sb.) to do / that …

……是紧急的 It is urgent (for sb.) to do / that …

例：It is proper for us to keep the public places clean.

=It is proper that we (should) keep the public places clean.

我们应当保持公共场所清洁。

6. 花费 spend … on sth. / doing sth. …

例：We shouldn’t spend too much time on something we aren’t interested in.

我们不应该在我们不感兴趣的事情上花太多的时间。

7. how 引导的感叹句

例：At least it will prove how honest you are.

那至少可以证明你很诚实。

8. 状语从句

⑴ 如果你不…，你就会… If you don’t ..., you’ll ...

例︰If you don’t keep working hard, you’ll lose the chance.

如果你不坚持努力工作，你就会失去这次机会。

⑵ 如此 ……，以至于…… so … that …

例：At that moment, I was so upset that I wanted to give up.

当时，我非常伤心，最后都想放弃了。

⑶ 每当我听到……我就忍不住感到兴奋。Whenever I hear …, I cannot but feel excited.

每当我做……我就忍不住感到悲伤。 Whenever I do …, I cannot but feel sad.

每当我想到……我就忍不住感到紧张。Whenever I think of …, I cannot but feel nervous.

每当我遭遇……我就忍不住感到害怕。Whenever I meet with …, I cannot but feel frightened.

每当我看到……我就忍不住感到惊讶。Whenever I see …, I cannot but feel surprised.

例：Whenever I think of the clean brook near my home, I cannot but feel sad.

= Every time I think of the clean brook near my home, I cannot help feeling sad.

每当我想到我家附近那一.��清澈的小溪我就忍不住感到悲伤。

9. 宾语从句

我认为，…… / 我认为……不...... I think / I don’t think that …

我想知道是否…… I wonder whether …

例：He doesn’t think I should stop him joining the club.

他认为我不应该阻止他参加这个俱乐部。

10. Since + S + 过去式, S + 现在完成式.

例：Since he went to senior high school, he has worked very hard.

自从他上高中，他就一直很用功。

一、审题要清

看到考题后，先不要急于动笔，要仔细看清题目要求的内容。在自己的头脑中构思出一个框架或画面，确定短文的中心思想，不要匆匆下笔，看懂题意，根据提供的资料和信息来审题。审题要审格式、体裁、人物关系、故事情节、主体时态、活动时间、地点等。

二、要点明确

要点是给分的一个重要因素。为了防止写作过程中遗漏要点，同学们要充分发挥自己的观察力，把情景中给出的各个要点逐一罗列出。

三、列出提纲

为写作做好准备。根据文章要点短文的中心思想将主要句型、关键词语记下，形成提纲。

四、写顺全文

写短文时要做到五个方面：

1.避免使用汉语式英语，尽量使用自己熟悉的句型。

2.多用简单句型，记事、写人一般都不需要复杂的句型。可适当多使用陈述句、一般疑问句、祈使句和感叹句。不用或少用非谓语或独立主格结构等较复杂的句型。

3.注意语法、句法知识的灵活运用。语态、时态要准确无误;主谓语要一致，主语的人称和数要和谓语一致;注意冠词用法，例如：It takes Tom half an hour to go to school by bus.中的an不能写成a;注意拼写，例如：fourteen，forty，ninth等不要写成forteen，fourty，nineth等;注意标点符号和大小写。

4.描写人物时，要生动具体，可以选择使用下列词汇，例如：外形：tall，short，fat，thin，strong，weak，pretty等;颜色：red,yel-low，blue，white，green，brown，black等;心情：glad，happy，sad，excited，anxious，interest-ed等;情感：love，like，hate，feel，laugh，cry，smile，shout等。

5.上下文要连贯。同学们应把写好的句子，根据故事情节，事情发生的先后次序(时间或空间)，使用一些表示并列、递进等过渡词进行加工整理，使文章连贯、自然、流畅。同学们应注意下面过渡的用法：并列关系：and,as well as,or…;转折关系：but,yet,how-ever…;时间关系：when,while,after,before,then,after that…;因果关系：so，there-fore，asaresult…;目的：in order to，in order that，so as to,so that…;列举：for example ,such as…;总结性：in general,in all,in a word,generally speaking…

五、没有病句

中考作文时，由于时间紧、内容多，同学们出错在所难免。因此，改错这一环节必不可少。中考作文评卷是根据要点、语言准确性、上下文的连贯性来给分，根据错误多少来扣分。因此中考时花几分钟时间用来检查错误显得尤为重要。检查错误应从以下几个方面入手：(1)看字数是否达到要求，看有无遗漏要点。

(2)看文体格式是否正确规范。

(3)看有无语法或用词上的错误。

(4)看单词拼写、字母大小写是否有错，标点符号有无遗漏或用错等等。

(5)注意时态、语态、人称是否上下文一致。

六、先打草稿

考试中，书面表达应做到先打草稿，写完后多读几遍，检查是否有误，然后再抄到试卷上，注意字迹要工整，不涂、不画、不勾不抹，避免不必要的扣分。

一、明确作文要求，提高写作能力

一篇好的作文，要有一个主题思想，整篇作文应该是紧扣文章主题，遵循特定的文体格式，选用恰当的语言合理组织文章结构，内容统一、连贯，语法、拼写、标点 正确，用词恰当。很多同学在准备英语写作时找不到方向，一味的想在考研英语写作上面抓分，却又不知道怎么样提高。杨老师在此特别提醒考生首先要学会抓住考研英语写作要领，尤其注意文章逻辑关系在阅读中的运用。逻辑关系散布在文章的句子内部、句句之间、以及段落之间。最基本的逻辑关系有以下几种：

1、因果关系：as a result ，therefore，hence，consequently，because,for, due to, hence, consequently等等。

2、并列、递进关系：and, or, then，in addition，besides，in other words，moreover等等

3、转折关系：however，but, yet, in fact等等。

这些其实是已经很熟悉的逻辑提示词在文章中起的效果，并非仅仅是衔接文章的句子，从阅读的角度来看，其实同时在给我们某种提示，告诉我们哪些句子是有效信息，相对重要的信息，哪些信息是相对不重要的信息，因为我们在英语写作的时候，有一条清晰的思路，你不是为了完整翻译文章而进行阅读，而是为了获取主旨来写作。

二、摆脱无话可说 练习“三段式”思维

在英语作文写作时，无话可说的确让人比较头疼，无话可说是一个极端，有的考生题目看得懂，提纲也一目了然，就是不知道该说什么，在考场上头脑一片空白，想到的也只是空泛的东西，在考试过程当中，这会在很大程度上影响大家的做题效果和做题速度。杨老师表示，当头脑出现空白时，应该从具体的、细小的、琐碎的、微不足道的事物所引发的思考变成观点，再进行论述。例如，领导讲话总是第一部分、、第二部分、第三部分…这样条理比较清楚。考官们看文章也必然要通过这些关键性的“标签”来判定你的文章是否结构清楚，条理自然。破解方法很简单，只要把下面任何一组的词汇加入到你的几个要点前就清楚了。

1）first, second, third, last（不推荐，原因：俗）

2）firstly, secondly, thirdly, finally（不推荐，原因：俗）

3）the first, the second, the third, the last（不推荐，原因：俗）

4）in the first place, in the second place, in the third place, lastly（不推荐，原因：俗）

5）to begin with, then, furthermore, finally（强烈推荐）

6）to start with, next, in addition, finally（强烈推荐）

7）first and foremost, besides, last but not least（强烈推荐）

8）most important of all, moreover, finally

9）on the one hand, on the other hand（适用于两点的情况）

10）for one thing, for another thing（适用于两点的情况）

建议：不仅仅在写作中注意，平时说话的时候也应该条理清楚！

三、用词准确保证语言连贯

考研英语写作中，同样是一篇作文，在没有语法、词汇等基础性错误的前提下，一个考生的句式平平，而另外一个考生的句式灵活多变，非常漂亮，毫无疑问，后者肯定比前者的分数高。但写英语作文时最忌讳的是用一些模棱两可的词，表达不够准确，而且考试时要特别注意语法、词语、语气、标点符号等，避免单词拼写错误、语法错误，不要为了追求词语的华丽而堆积一些自己也没把握的单词，不要刻意追求长句而写一些自己不知对错的有多个从句组成的长句。建议考生考试时，最好选择自己最有把握的词汇、短语和句式。

很多考生习惯背诵模版，在写作文是喜欢套用背诵模版，但由于仓促，紧张等原因，很容易犯一些简单的错误，如语句不通。所以提醒考生选材时切忌胡子眉毛一把抓，词语堆积，不伦不类。前后及段落之间在逻辑关系上要紧密衔接，不能把没有任何逻辑关系的词放在一起，可以用恰当的关联词把思想连贯的表达出来。总之，无论想要套用那个模版，前提都要保证语言通顺，文章思想连贯。此外，要有自己的style，一来通过背诵或研究范文，把握考研英语作文的整体结构特点，以及写作格式，二来要在研究范文的基础上寻找自己的闪光点，比如闪光词汇。如果大家仔细研究真题，就会发现，几乎所有的高分作文都有一个共同点，那就是都具有几个闪光词汇，这个词汇可能并不是什么高级词汇，但是你能把它的延伸意，或者说你能把我它的一词多义，并且应用到你的文章中。

四、长短句巧搭配 精悍短语当亮点

写作时，尤其是在考试时，如果使用短语，有两个好处：其一、用短语会使文章增加亮点，如果老师们看到你的文章太简单，看不到一个自己不认识的短语，必然会看你低一等。相反，如果发现亮点—精彩的短语，那么你的文章定会得高分了。此外短小精辟的句子，也可以起到画龙点睛的作用。而且如果把短句放在段首或者段末，也可以揭示主题：

As a creature, I eat; as a man, I read. Although oneaction is to meet the primary need of my body and the other is to satisfy theintellectual need of mind, they are in a way quite similar.

杨老师强烈建议：在文章第一段（开头）用一长一短，且先长后短；在文章主体部分，要先用一个短句解释主要意思，然后在阐述几个要点的时候采用先短后长的句群形式，定会让主体部分妙笔生辉！文章结尾一般用一长一短就可以了。