英语写作中选词的重要性（汇集20篇）

纵观历年的高考书面表达，其文体题材各异，有书信、口头通知、简介、日记、自我介绍、记叙文、描写文、说明文、看图作文等，不同的体裁需要考生应用适当的篇章结构，将题目所提供的信息清晰、明了、准确，逻辑合理地表达出来。

篇章结构在语言表达中起着非常重要的作用，同样的信息点会因为不同的表达顺序传达出不同的信息。层次分明，逻辑合理的篇章结构会让读者在很短的时间内获得并准确理解题目所规定的信息;而叙述顺序混乱，前言不搭后语的篇章则让人一头雾水，不知所云何物。当然，后者是失败的表达，即使作者在写作的过程中使用了再漂亮的词汇和句型，混乱的文章结构也不会让读者准确领悟作者的意图。

记叙文主要是记叙所发生的事情和经历。常见的形式有：故事、日记、新闻报道、游记等。

记叙文的写作要素：

1 要交待清楚五要素的内容，即where, when, what, who ,how，给读者一个内容完整、细节清晰的故事。

2. 事情的叙述可以按时间或空间的顺序叙述，让读者易于把握所叙述内容之间的内在关联，从而理解文章主题。

3. 时态通常使用与过去有关的时态，如一般过去时。

记叙文的篇章结构：

开头 the beginning——交待必要的背景。如：时间、地点、人物等。

中间 the middle——交待故事情节(事情的主体)。如：事件的发生、发展和前因后果。(可以使用表示时间或空间的连接词，使文章连贯。 如：at first…then…few minutes later…)

结尾 the ending——事情的结果或感想、愿望等。(所表达的感想或愿望应与所记叙的内容有关系，起到扣题或点题的作用，使文章结构紧凑)。

例如NEMT2000

假设你是李华，正在美国探亲。2000年2月8日清晨，你目击了一起交通事故。警察局让你写一份材料，报告当时的所见情况。请根据下列图画写出报告。

注意：1. 目击者应该准确报告事实

2. 词数100左右

3. 结尾已为你写好

现在是各大学校放寒假的时间，年后要参加中考的同学们要注意了，趁着假期要好好恶补一下英语哦，下面是小编收集整理的中考英语作文写作指导，希望对您有所帮助。

最近几年的中考英语当中，很多省市已经摆脱了单一作文模式，采用一大一小两个作文相结合的模式。例如，去年辽宁沈阳中考英语作文就是一个小作文，应用文-写假条，加上一个大作文，汉语提示作文构成。今年，北京中考英语作文也将是两个，一个看图作文在加上一个提示作文构成。这一讲，我们先来学习一下看图作文的写法。

看图作文要求考生按照所给图画，通过合理的联想将一组画面的内容正确地表达出来。看图作文与其他类型作文的不同之处在于，它除了要求考生有英语语言表达能力，还要求考生有观察能力、分析能力和想象能力。

写好看图作文应注意的事项1、结合文字提示，正确理解图意。一般情况下，看图作文在提供图画的同时也附带有简要的文字提示，我们可以利用文字提示去正确地理解图意，得到要点。切忌孤立地看图而忽视文字提示。

写作从图画的细节出发。所谓细节，就是指图画中的人物、事件、地点、环境、时间、动作等。依据图画细节，就可以把图画的内容用英语具体而生动地表达出来了。

例题分析(例题)

同学们，看到下面的四幅图片及相应的报道后，你感到最担忧的是哪两种情形?请简述你担忧的理由并提出建议或希望。

要求：

⒈ 从所给素材中任选两种情形进行阐述，不可多选或少选。

⒉ 条理清楚，意思连贯，语句通顺，标点正确;

⒊ 词数 80 ～ 100。

参考词汇： 建议 suggest v. suggestion n.

气体 gas n. 污染 pollution n.

THE POLLUTIONS

① One third of the worlds people dont have enough clean water.

② More and more diseases are caused by polluted air.

③ People are disturbed quite often by kinds of noises.

④ Every person in our city makes about 1.8 kilos of rubbish every day.

这道看图作文题，主题和图片连接得不是很紧密。从考查的形式上来说，虽是看图，实质上却属于提示性的作文。这个作文应该结合个人的观点，选择的余地还是很大的。做这个题应该注意几个方面：

1、认真读题。注意，题目虽然给了四幅图，但是却只要求写其中的两个就行。

2、题意要求的是阐述个人的观点-最担忧的两种情形。而不是对图片进行描述。

3、结合所给的提示。提示中，对每种污染都进行了阐述，考生可以这些描述进行写作。

4、注意字数，语法，拼写等，避免错误。

下面是两个例文，大家可以参考一下。

One possible version:

The environment is becoming worse and worse. There are many kinds of pollution I worry about. The most serious two are water pollution and air pollution, because people cant live healthily with dirty water and polluted air, nor can animals. More and more diseases are caused by polluted air.

I think factories should not pour dirty water into the river directly or produce more waste gas. Wed better go on foot or by like instead of by car, because more cars mean more waste gas. We should make our world more and more beautiful.

Another possible version:

The first fact I worry about is noise pollution. People cant sleep well if there is too much noise. Thats why so many people prefer to live in the countryside rather than live in the noisy city. I suggest all the factories and cars shouldnt make terrible noises. If they make terrible noise that isnt allowed, they will be fined, and we can also produce the cars which cant make terrible noise.

The other pollution is rubbish pollution. If everyone makes so much rubbish, one day we may live in a world filled with rubbish. Some people throw the waste paper about. I suggest rubbish should be put into different kinds of dustbins or paper bags.

下面，我们来看看这道题的评分标准。一般来说，各地的评分标准都和下面的这个标准差不多。这个最高的标准，实际上也就是我们写作的目标。

评分标准：

1. 内容完整，语句流畅，无语法错误，书写规范，给9-10分;

2. 内容较完整，语句较流畅，基本无语法错误，书写较规范，给6-8分;

3. 内容不完整，语句欠流畅，语法错误较多，书写较规范，给3-5分;

4. 只写出个别要点，语法错误较多，书写欠规范，只有个别句子可读或不知所云，给0-2分。

看图作文不可小视。希望大家掌握答好这种题型的要点，并积累词汇。

一、单项选择题

(1)先易后难：一些考题的答案比较容易选定，可以先从这些考题入手。平时练习时，应以基础为主，主要精力不应放在偏题、怪题上。

(2)分析考查意图、运用相关知识：应学会分析出题者考查的意图，明确相关题的测试点是什么，然后运用所学知识，进行分析、判断，再进行选择。

(3)利用暗示进行选择：注意考题涉及的语境范围。平时应注重对习惯用语表达、惯用法和中英文化差别等方面知识的积累。

(4)运用排除法：可采取语言排除、逻辑排除、语法排除或选择排除等方法。先排除较容易、较明显的错误选项，缩小范围，而后对剩余的选项进行比较分析，最后确定答案。

二、完形填空题

1、搭配判断法。

根据对以往试题的分析，搭配型考题在完形填空题中占的比例最高。搭配型问题主要测试常见搭配的熟练程度，比如说哪些词要搭配不定式、动名词或某种从句，哪些词必须与某个介词搭配。我们在复习时要特别注意短语动词和介词的固定搭配。

2、结构判断法。

结构型问题主要包括句型、句式、连接词的选择等，解题时要运用句法知识，把握关键词，从而做出迅速正确的判断。完形填空题中有很多是利用语法的正确性与逻辑的排斥性间的矛盾来设计的。因此考生应结合上下文的合理性及意义关系的逻辑性选择最佳答案。完形填空中常考的逻辑关系主要有：

(1)转折、让步关系：这种关系表明后一种观点或事实与前一种观点或事实相比有些出乎意料。

常见的表示转折、让步的词或词组有：but，still，yet，however，though，although，no matter，in spite of，anyway，even if等。

(2)因果关系：

表示原因的连词或词组有：because (of )，due to，owing to，thanks to，since，for，as等。

表示结果的词或词组有：so，therefore，then，as a result，in consequence，consequently，thus等。

(3)递进、补充关系：这种关系表示对前一事实或观点做进一步阐述。

常用的词、词组有：moreover，likewise，besides，in addition，also，too，not only…but also，apart from，what‘s more 等。

(4)对比、比较关系：对比观点或事物间的差异性，比较观点或事物间的同一性。

表示对比的词或词组有：in contrast，by contrast，on the contrary，conversely，unlike，oppositely 等。表示比较的词或词组有：like，in comparison，compare…with，as，just as等。

3、词义判断法。

词汇型问题也是完形填空的一个考点，主要测试考生在段落语篇中把握语义连贯性的能力，提供选择的词可能是近义词、近形词也可能是随意拼凑的四个选项，遇到这类题，既要联系上下文，又要具有扎实的词汇基础，有时还须根据自己的文化背景知识做出判断、选择答案。

三、阅读理解

在做阅读理解题时，除了掌握前面介绍的基本题型、基本法则外，还要进行有意识的阅读训练。提高阅读能力的训练主要可以从下面几个方面入手：词汇、方法、侧重点。

1、词汇：猜词的技巧。

在阅读过程中，不可避免地会碰到不认识的单词，考试中又不允许查词典，有些不认识的单词对文章的理解影响不大，可以忽略。但有些不认识的单词则会影响阅读者对文章理解的正确性。在这种情况下，必需猜测词的含义，这就需要利用猜词的技巧了。

最基本的猜词技巧有两种：一是根据构词法的规则猜，构词法的规则在前面的章节中已有介绍，这里就不重复了;另一种猜词的技巧是根据上下文的描述、解释、列举、比较等，运用已有的知识，分析、推断该词的含义。常用的猜词技巧可归纳为以下几种：

(1)利用词根、词缀构词法推测词义。通过构词法推测词义是最常用的方法之一。

(2)分析文中对该词的直接定义推测词义。

作者在行文中有时不得不使用某些难词、偏词，为使读者理解，作者常常会在文章中直接解释该词语。作者或通过同位语，或使用定语从句加以阐明，或用冒号、破折号、括号给出，或用语篇标志词引出，这类语篇标志词有：that is (to say); e.g.;oor，in other words;to put it in another way等。如：

She is bilingual.In other words，she speaks English and French equally well.(bilingual：会说两种语言的)。

(3)分析文中对该词的近义复述推测词义。

同一短文中前后两个句子、短语或单词通常有互释作用，可以从上下文的复述中获取与某一单词或短语相关的信息以猜测词义。如：

It is difficult t

o list all of my fathe‘s attributes because he has so many different talents and abilities.(attribute：特质;才能)

(4)分析文中对该词的对比和并列表述推测词义。

利用上下文中的对比或并列表述猜测词义是最常用、最可靠的方法。有不少句子会在上下文中给出某个生词(尤其是偏词、难词)的同义词或反义词，运用对比或并列表达对这些生词加以推测。通过了解词与词之间的连接关系，特别是一些语篇标志词，如：however;on the other hand;nevertheless等，我们不难推断这些生词的词义。如：

If you agree，write “yes”;if you dissent，write “no”。(dissent：不同意）

想要在20xx年英语四级考试中作文拿高分，遵循以下技巧就行。

20xx年英语四级考试作文技巧一：

总体原则：六个字：先结构后表达。

总体做法：三步法

1. 审题：两项内容：1)英文标题+2)汉语提纲 (如果汉语提纲不是三条，则将其转化为三条提纲)

2. 将三个汉语提纲转化为一个英文表达，充当该段主题句。(首尾段可无主题句，但中间段落最好有)

3. 将主题句扩展成一个英文段落。(方法：举例、数据、对比、列举、补充说明、因果法等)

20xx年英语四级考试作文技巧二：实例及具体时间分配

第1、2步为准备工作 时间控制在三分钟以内：

(注：建议考生带上手表，以便掌握写作时间分配，超过三分钟按照已经列出的关键词的内容展开文章的开头部分)

如一道六级的写作考题为：

directions: for this part, you are allowed thirty minutes to write a composition on the topic college students" part-time jobs. you should write at least 150 words, and base your composition on the outline (given in chinese) below:

1. 有些人赞成大学生做兼职, 有人反对

2. 我的看法

审题：1. 题目：college students" part-time jobs

2. 提纲：1. 有些人赞成大学生做兼职, 有人反对;2. 我的看法

题目关键词为: part-time jobs

3. 提纲转化为三条：

1. 有些人持相反意见

2. 有些人赞成大学生做兼职

3. 我的看法 (无需写出)

20xx年英语四级考试作文技巧三：先结构：

联想课堂所讲：三段或四段式结构，且每段只写一项内容。

以“三段式”为例：

后表达：(三方面：句、词、衔接)关键词罗列

1. 联想开篇句式：when it comes to …, people" opinions differ/vary. 或者it is a common phenomenon for … to do sth, 或者 it can be noticed that an increasing number of …

将这些表达以关键词的形式列出：如： when… 或者 it is …

2. 转化主题句：

1) 有些人持反对意见- others hold the opposite view.

理由：1. main task- academic study, 2. society complex- cheated

2) 有些人赞成大学生做兼职- hold the positive view

理由：1. ease financial burden 2. enrich experience

3) 我的看法- both right …….

3. 扩展成文

最后，请检查基本语音错误：1， 单词拼写 2， 时态， 3， 单复数，4，关联词

对未来不懈追求，是理想形成的动力和源泉。下面是关于理想的英语名言，供大家写作参考。

1.And love, young men, and venerate the ideal. The ideal is the word of God. High above every country, high above humanity, is the country of the spirit, the city of the soul.

青年人啊，热爱理想吧，崇敬理想吧。理想是上帝的语言。高于一切国家和全人类的，是精神的王国，是灵魂的故乡。

2.Between the ideal and the reality, between the motion and the act, falls the shadow.

理想与现实之间，动机与行为之间，总有一道阴影。

3.Ideals are like the stars... we never reach them, but like mariners, we chart our course by them.

理想就像是星星...我们永远够不着它，但是我们像水手一样，靠星星指引航程。

4.The ideal is in thyself, the impediment too is thyself.

理想存乎已心，障碍亦是如此

5.Its is the most pleasant thing in the world to struggle for a noble ideal.

世界上最快乐的事，就是为理想而奋斗

6.Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.

但凡人能想像到的事物，必定有人能将它实现。

7.Ideal is the beacon. Without ideal, there is no secure direction; without direction, there is no life.

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

8.The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

实现明天理想的惟一障碍是今天的疑虑。

9.High expectation are the key to every thing.

远大理想是开启万物的钥匙。

10.The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it.

人生重要的事情就是确定一个伟大的目标，并决心实现它。

11.Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass.

生活没有目标就像航海没有指南针。

12.Life is not all beer and skittles.

人生并不全是吃喝玩乐。

13.Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

不要放弃你的幻想。当幻想没有了以后，你还可以生存，但虽生犹死

14.No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies.

凡按自己的方式追求理想者，无不树敌。

15.How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

我们怎样打发日子，当然，也就是我们怎样度过这一生。

16.If you doubt yourself, then indeed you stand on shaky ground. (Ibsen, Norwegian dramatist )

如果你怀疑自己，那么你的立足点确实不稳固了。 (挪威剧作家 易卜生)

17.If you would go up high, then use your own legs ! Do not let yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people’s backs and heads. (F. W. Nietzsche, German Philosopher)

如果你想走到高处，就要使用自己的两条腿!不要让别人把你抬到高处;不要坐在别人的背上和头上。(德国哲学家 尼采. F. W.)

18.It is at our mother’s 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)

19.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.)

20.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.)

21.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.)

22.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)

23.When an end is lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means to is are also lawful and obligatory. (Abraham Lincoln, American statesman)

如果一个目的是正当而必须做的，则达到这个目的的必要手段也是正当而必须采取的。(美国政治家 林肯. A.)

24.The dream is a kind of desire, think it is a kind of action. Dream is the dream and want to crystallization.梦是一种欲望，想是一种行动。梦想是梦与想的结晶。

25.A realization of dream, is a successful person.一个实现梦想的人，就是一个成功的人。

26.Dream no matter how vague, the total hidden in our hearts, our feelings never be quiet, until the dream become a reality.梦想无论怎样模糊，总潜伏在我们心底，使我们的心境永远得不到宁静，直到这些梦想成为事实。

27.Dream is the soul, is our secret truth ( Truman Capote )梦是心灵的思想，是我们的秘密真情(杜鲁门·卡波特)

28.Once the dream into action, will become sacred (, Ann Procter )梦想一旦被付诸行动，就会变得神圣(阿·安·普罗克特)

29.The dreamer is afraid of Destiny ( Thomas Phillips )梦想家的缺点是害怕命运(斯·菲利普斯)

30.A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. (J. Barrymore) 只要一个人还有追求，他就没有老。直到后悔取代了梦想，一个人才算老。(巴里摩尔)

31.If you would go up high , then use your own legs! Do not let yourselves carried aloft; do not seat yourselves on other people’s backs and heads . (F. W . Nietzsche , German Philosopher) 如果你想走到高处，就要使用自己的两条腿!不要让别人把你抬到高处;不要坐在别人的背上和头上。(德国哲学家 尼采. F. W.)

32.Have an aim in life, or your energies will be wasted.没有目标的一生注定碌碌无为，确定一个目标吧。——R.Peters

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

In our life, trees are important. They make streets more beautiful and less noisy. They can give a lot of help to people. Trees can used to make differet things. They can slso take in harmful gases and release oxygen into the air for people and other living things to breathe. Trees cool the air as well as clean it.They are natural air conditioners. However, trees are in great danger now. Some people are cutting more and more trees for money. So we should try our best to protect trees and plant more trees. Let’s act together at once!

在我们的生活中，树是重要的。他们让街道更美丽和减少噪音。他们可以提供很多帮助的人。树可以用来做不同的事情。他们可以重新吸收有害气体，释放氧气，为人类和其他生物的呼吸空气。树凉爽的空气以及清洁它。他们是天然的空调。然而，树很危险，现在。有些人是切割越来越多的树木赚钱。所以我们应该尽力保护树木，多植树。让我们一起行动，马上!

[树的重要性英语作文

一、勤读、多背词汇，好精句

要想写好一篇文章，没有充足的词汇量是不行的。课文中的俗语和谚语的识记是通过背诵来完成。背诵是语言学习的重要手段，也是语言学习的必经之路。

1.背词句，背诵课文中的重点句型和短语尤其是课文中的俗语、谚语和经典句子。

2.背范文，将近几年高考中的作文和课文中好的段落以及报刊上的各种各样的体裁和优秀文章让学生多背，这样学生才能在自己的脑子中形成一定的写作框架，做到心中有数。

3.多读书，用英语进行思维。为了培养学生用英语思维的定势，增加对英语国家文化、社会风俗、风土人情、思维方式的了解，扩大视野，选择课外阅读，提高学生分析、判断、猜测、推理和领悟的能力。部分学生在写作时习惯用汉语思维，然后再逐句译成英语，结果写出来的文章是汉语式的英语。要想学会用英语进行思维，就要有计划、有目的地培养学生的语感。一个重要的方法就是大量阅读，选择精彩的词句、文章和佳句，引导学生阅读，摘抄或背诵来培养语感。

二、亲自动手，自己写作

教师应注重基本功训练，严格要求学生正确，工整，熟练地书写字母，单词和句子，同时注意大小写和标点符号。进行组词造句，组句成段练习时，要学生写出最简单的短句，为以后英语作文打好扎实的基础。这种练习可以安排在刚开始的训练中，要求学生能够用最基本的时态去完成写作。另外结合高中英语基础知识的复习，对学生提出较高写作能力的要求。

1.范例引路

学生在进行短文写作训练时，教师应提供各种文体的范文，讲明各种文体的写作要求和注意事项，如日记，便条，书信，通知的格式等，并给予必要的提示，并掌握各种体裁文章的格式。在平时的教学中，教师应该指导学生应对高考中各种体裁文章。

2.限时训练

教师当场发题，限时交卷。这样能促使学生瞬间接受信息，快速理解信息，迅速表达信息，提高实际应用和应试能力。这一步是关键，也是学生的的难关。必须要求学生在写作过程中牢牢记住以下口诀：“先读提示，要点与格式要弄清;时态语态要当心，前后呼应要一致;结构搭配，莫违背;文章写好细检查，点滴小错别忽视”。学生明确目的，并掌握要领后，要严格在规定时间内完成作业。

3.多想精炼

在平时的教学中，教师要求学生多看、多听、多想，用心体验和感悟身边的人和事，然后将自己的体验和感受用英语写出来。教师可要求学生每周写两篇，有话则长，无话可短。对不同水平的学生作不同的要求。鼓励表达自己的看法和体会。

此外，有时根据所学单元知识布置一篇作文，或给学生提供一些与时事或与学生学习活动和生活有关的材料。此类话题的现实性能诱发学生的写作兴趣，使其有话可写，有感而发;还能增强其信心，使其写作能力、技巧得到充分的锻炼和提高。对于有待进步的学生要及时励，激发其写作热情，增强其自信心。

4.自改互改

对照范文，学生先对已查出的表达有误的地方进行初改。范文不可能把各种表达方式都包括进去，况且学生作业中的错误也不尽相同，因此，还可安排学生互改。以同桌两人为宜，这样同时进行了改错训练。

三、培养学生良好的写作习惯

写作教学是一项“由简单到复杂，循环往复不断上升的”过程。不是一蹴而就的，需要教师在教学中由浅入深、由简入繁、由易到难、循序渐进。起始阶段，培养学生良好的写作习惯是非常重要的。要求学生做到以下几点：

1.认真审题。要求学生认真审读图表或提纲，领会意图，捕捉信息，确定文章时态及体裁。

2.写提纲。教师引导学生构思文章要点，写出每个段落主题句、关键词，然后确定细节和内容要点。

3.写初稿。经过审题和列提纲后，学生开始写作，教师指导学有意识地使用固定句型，使用关联词，把段落按逻辑顺序连成一体，形成基本连贯的初稿。

4.检查错误。检查是书面表达不可缺少的环节，学生完成初稿后，老师指导学生从以下六个方面进行修改和查错：(1)看要点是否齐全，有无遗漏;(2)体裁是否恰当，有无偏题;(3)内容是否连贯，有无缺词;(4)语法是否正确，人称、时态、语态、冠词及名词单复数等有无错误;(5)用词是否得当，有无习语及固定搭配等方面的错误(6)最后注意句与句、段与段之间有无合适的连接及过渡，经过有效的训练，学生犯的错误会逐渐减少，同时学生的书面表达能力会逐步提高。

总之，教学有法，教无定法。教师面对的教育对象是多样化的，因此在教学中一定要关注学生的个体差异，采取相应的措施，激发学生写作的兴趣。让学生参与实践，体验成功的快乐，循序引导，学生点滴积累，不断磨练，这样能达到理想的效果。

与其他文体相比，英治议论文的结构一般较为固定，有下列几个部分组成：

1.提出需要议论的议题;

2.摆出正反两方面的观点;

3.表明作者持何种态度;

4.论证自己观点的正确性从而使读者接受自己的观点;

5.小结。

在具体写作中要注意下列几点：

1.议题的提出要开门见山，不要拖泥带水，啰啰唆唆

2.正反两方面的观点一般都要摆出，有时也有只强调一种观点的，那么这就等于将上述第二点和第三点合在一起了

3.作者的观点必须鲜明，不能模棱两可

4.论证自己的观点是议论文的最关键的部分。论证手段与英语说明文中的一些写作手法相同，常用的有罗列法、举例法、因果法、比较法等等。

5.对于较长的英语议论文还可以在文章结尾时对全文要点作一小结。

下面这篇学生作文是较为典型的一篇英语议论文：

Should Examination Be Abolished (取消)?

The examination system has come to be the main theme (主题)of modern education. One should take an examination andsucceed in passing it before he could be admitted， promoted or graduated. As it plays so important a role in the realm of education (教育的领域) it is under much criticism (评论) as to its validity (有效性) . People who are in favour of it try to develop this system more; those who are against it believe that such a system should be abolished. Should examination be abolished? In my opinion it should be.

Many people think that an examination is the only means to test knowledge， but， in fact， that is not true. A few questions given in an examination could by no means cover the whole field of the subject. Thus those who are able to answer them may be the poorest of the students and yet happen to know just a few points about that subject.

Id like to say that， because of the existence of the examination system， students pay so much attention to gaining high marks， that they often forget the chief purpose of education. The so-called clever students devote (贡献) themselves to the study of textbooks only. They， of course， know nothing but the skeleton (梗概) of knowledge. The end and aim of education， however， is to enable students to learn how to live. To do this， students must get themselves to do all kinds of training， physicalas well as mental. The present examination system has discouraged students from making such an attempt.

Moreover， since the students try so hard to put their lessons into memory in as short a time as possible， psychologically (心理上来看)， they soon forget the whole subject as soon as the examination is over. Surely this is one of the greatest wastes ever made in the history of civilization.

Lastly， in order to get high marks， there is a great temptation (诱惑) for students to cheat (作弊) in an examination. Indeed， such a practice becomes the means to the end. They cheat their teachers， their parents and also themselves. Such a tendency would impair (损害) our moral standards (道德标准) .

Therefore， I am of the opinion， in conclusion， that the examination system should be abolished.

1. 关于……人们有不同的观点。一些人认为……

There are different opinions among people as to ____ 。Some people suggest that ____。

2. 俗话说(常言道)……，它是我们前辈的经历，但是，即使在今天，它在许多场合仍然适用。bbs.xschu.com

There is an old saying______。 Its the experience of our forefathers，however，it is correct in many cases even today.

xschu.com

3. 现在，……，它们给我们的日常生活带来了许多危害。首先，……;其次，……。更为糟糕的是……。

Today， ____， which have brought a lot of harms in our daily life. First， ____ Second，____。 What makes things worse is that______。

4. 现在，……很普遍，许多人喜欢……，因为……，另外(而且)……。bbs.xschu.com

Nowadays，it is common to ______。 Many people like ______ because ______。 Besides，______。

xschu.com

5. 任何事物都是有两面性，……也不例外。它既有有利的一面，也有不利的一面。

Everything has two sides and ______ is not an exception，it has both advantages and disadvantages.www.xschu.com

6. 关于……人们的观点各不相同，一些人认为(说)……，在他们看来，……bbs.xschu.com

People’s opinions about ______ vary from person to person.Some people say that ______。To them，_____。

xschu.com

7. 人类正面临着一个严重的问题……，这个问题变得越来越严重。

Man is now facing a big problem ______ which is becoming more and more serious.www.xschu.com

8. ……已成为人的关注的热门话题，特别是在年青人当中，将引发激烈的辩论。bbs.xschu.com

______ has become a hot topic among people，especially among the young and heated debates are right on their way.

xschu.com

9. ……在我们的日常生活中起着越来越重要的作用，它给我们带来了许多好处，但同时也引发一些严重的问题。

______ has been playing an increasingly important role in our day-to-day life.it has brought us a lot of benefits but has created some serious problems as well.www.xschu.com

10. 根据图表/数字/统计数字/表格中的百分比/图表/条形图/成形图可以看出……。很显然……，但是为什么呢?bbs.xschu.com

According to the figure/number/statistics/percentages in the /chart/bar

英语书面表达是体现个人水平的一个主要因素，也是各种考试考查的重要内容。怎样才能提高英语写作能力呢?方法是多种多样的，但最重要的是夯实学生的语言基本功，打好坚实的基础。语言的基本功在写作教学中体现为准确应用词汇和正确使用句型结构的能力，语句的组织衔接和谋篇布局的能力。在学生真正地掌握语汇用法的前提下，比较行之有效的方法是把句型教学放在写作情景中进行教授，培养学生的应用和运用能力。

在句型结构教学中，应尽多设计一些写作情景，使句型结构服务于教学，这样不仅提高了学生的写作兴趣，也加强了教学的目的性和针对性。为了提高写作能力和写作水平，本文主要归纳和总结了英语写作中常用的一些重点句型。希望能给同行们在教学中，学生在学习上有一些帮助。

以形式主语it引导的句型。

句型1.

It (so) happened(chanced) that +clause. = sb. happened /chanced to do sth. =sb.did sth. by chance. 如：

It happened that he was out when I got there. 当我到那儿时，碰巧他不在。=He happened to be out when I got there.= It chanced that he was out when I got there= He was out by chance when I got there.

句型2.

It seems that sb. do/ be doing/ have done/ had done= Sb. seems to do/ be doing/ have done/to be done/to have been done(还有动词appear等可这样使用)如:

It seemed that he had been to Beijing before.他好象以前去过北京。=He seemed to have been to Beijing before.

句型3.

It is / was+被强调的部分+that(who)+剩余的部分.如：

It wasn’t until he came back that I went to bed.直到他回来我才睡觉。(一定要注意被强调句型中的谓语动词否定的转移)。 It was because he was ill that he didn’t come to school today.只因为他有病了今天没有来上学。(只能用because而不能用for, as 或since)

It is I who am a student. 我确实是个学生。(句中am不能用are来代替。)

句型4.

It is high time (time/ about time)+ (that) 主语+should do / did+其它。(从句中的谓语动词用的是虚拟语气。)如:

It is high time that we should go / went home.我们该回家了。

句型5.

It is / was said ( reported…)+that+从句. 如：

It was said that he had read this novel.据说他读过这篇小说。=He was said to have read this novel.

句型6.

It is impossible / necessary/ strange…that clause.(从句中的谓语用should+do / should have done，其形式是虚拟语气。)如：

It is strange that he should have failed in this exam.真奇怪，他这次考试没有及格。

句型7.

It is + a pity/ a shame…that clause.(注意从句中的谓语动词用should do或should have done的形式，但should可以省略。)如：

He didn’t come back until the film ended. It was a pity that he should have missed this film. 他直到电影结束才回来。他没有看到这部电影真可惜。

句型8.

It is suggested / ordered/ commanded /…that +clause.(从句的谓语动词用should do, 但should可以省略。)如：

It is suggested that the meeting should be put off.有人建议推迟会议。

句型9.

It is/was+表示地点的名词+where+从句。(注意本句不是强调句型，而是以where引导的定语从句。)如：

It was this house where I was born.请比较：It was in this house that I was born.(后一句是强调句型。)

句型10.

It is / was +表示时间的名词+when+从句。(注意本句型也不是强调句型，而是以when引导的定语从句。)如：

It was 1999 when he came back from the United States. 请比较：It was in 1999 that he came back from the United States.

句型11.

It is well-known that+从句。如：

It is well-known that she is a learned woman.众所周知，她是个知识渊博的妇女。

句型12.

It is +段时间+since+主语+did. 请比较：

It was +段时间+since+主语+had done. 如：

It is five years since he left here.他已经离开这儿五年了。

It was five years since he left here.(同上)

注意下列句型的翻译:It is five years since he lived here.他从这儿搬走已经有五年了。

句型13.

It +谓语+段时间+before+主语+谓语.( before引导的是时间状语从句。) 如：

It wasn’t long before the people in that country rose up.没有多久那个国家的人民就起义了。

It will be three hours before he comes back.三个小时之后他才能回来。

句型14.

It is +形容词(possible, impossible, necessary等) +for+ sb.+ to do. 如：

It is impossible for me to finish this work before tomorrow.我明天之前完成此工作是不可能的。

句型15.

It is +(心理品质方面的)形容词+of + sb. +to do.= 主语+ be +形容词+to do.(常用的形容词有：kind, stupid; foolish, good, wise等。)如：

It is kind of you to help me.=You are kind to help me.你真好给我提供了帮助。

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．词语选择的重要性

在The Right Word at the Right Time的“序言”中，编者对词语选用的重要性作了一个很好的比喻：“Using the right word at the right time is rather like wearing appropriate clothing for the occasion：

it is a courtesy to others，and a favor to yourself-a matter of presenting yourself well in the eyes of the world."

显然，说话或写文章时用词适当比穿着适当难度大得多，因而也具有更大的重要性。在我国，古人写文章时常为一个词语的选用具思苦想，因而有“语不惊人死不休”的说法。

成语“一字值千金”也说明了选择词语的极端重要性。有时“一字之差”造成令人遗憾的败笔，或招致成千上万的经济损失。这些反面的教训也告诉我们必须重视词语选用的问题。

2．词语选择的可能性

实际上，我们每个人的脑子里都有了一个或大或小的词库，只要我们肯去发掘，往往可以得到更好的表达方式。这是我们做好词语选用的主观条件。

从客观条件广看，我们有各种类型的词典和参考书，只要我们平时多翻译、多阅读，写作时勤查考，就会在词语选用上不断进步。当然，一部好词典也不会毫无缺点，更难以面面俱到，因此在这里我们应牢牢记住著名英国作家、评论家和辞书编纂家Johson的话：

一.开头用语：

良好的开端等于成功的一半.在写作文时，通常以最简单也最常用的方式---开门见山法。也就是说, 直截了当地提出你对这个问题的看法或要求，点出文章的中心思想。

1.议论论文：

A. Just as every coin has two sides, cars have both advantages and disadvantages.

B. Compared to/ In comparison with letters, e-mails are more convenient.

C. When it comes to computers, some people think they have brought us a lot of convenience. However,...

D. Opinions are divided on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city and in the countryside.

E. As is known to all/ As we all know, computers have played an important role/part in our daily life.

F. Why do you go to university? Different people have different points of view.

2. 书信：

A. I am writing to you to apply for admission to your university as a visiting scholar.

B. I read an advertisement in today’s China Daily and I apply for the job...

C. Thank you for your letter of May 5.D. How happy I am to receive your letter of January 9.

E. How nice to hear from you again.

3. 口头通知或介绍情况：

A. Ladies and gentlemen, May I have your attention, please. I have an announcement to make.

B. Attention, please. I have something important to tell you.

C. Mr. Green, Welcome to our school. To begin with, let me introduce Mr. Wang to you.

4. 演讲稿：

A. Ladies and gentlemen, I feel very much honored to have a chance here to make a speech on the subject -- A Balance Diet and Health.

B. Good morning everyone! Allow me, first of all, on behalf of all present here, to extend our warm welcome and cordial greeting to our distinguished guest.

二.并列用语：

as well as, not only…but (also), including,

A. Not only do computers play an important part in science and technology, but also play an informative role in our daily life.

B. All of us, including the teachers / the teachers included, will attend the lecture.

C. He speaks French as well as English.=He speaks English, and French as well.=He speaks not only English but also French.

D. E-mail, as well as telephones, is playing an important part in daily communication.

三.对比用语：

on one hand ,on the other hand, on the contrary/contrary to ..., though, for one thing ;for another, nevertheless

A. I know the Internet can only be used at home or in the office, but on the other hand, it is becoming more and more popular for much information as well as clear and vivid pictures.

B. It is hard work; I enjoy it though.

C. Contrary to what I had originally thought, the trip turned out to be fun.

四. 递进用语：

even, besides, what’s more, as for, so…that…, worse still, moreover, furthermore; but for, in addition, to make matters worse

A. The house is too small for a family of four, and furthermore/besides/what’s more/moreover /in addition/worse still , it is in a bad location.

五. 例证用语：

in one’s opinion, that is to say, for example, for instance, as a matter of fact, in fact, namely

A. As a matter of fact, advertisement plays an informative role in our daily life.

B. There is one more topic to discuss, namely/that is ( to say ), the question of education.

六. 时序用语：

first/firstly, meanwhile, before long, ever since, while, at the same time

in the meantime, shortly after, nowadays,

A. They will be here soon. Meanwhile, let’s have coffee.

B. Firstly, let me deal with the most important difficulty.

七. 强调用语：

especially, indeed, at least, at the most, What in the world/on earth.. , not at all ,

A. Noise is unpleasant, especially when you are trying to sleep.

B What in the world/on earth are you doing?

八. 因果用语：

thanks to, because, as a result, because of/as a result of , without, with the help of..., owe ...to...

A. The company has a successful year, thanks mainly to the improvement in export sales.

B. As a result, many of us succeeded in passing the College Entrance Examinations.

九. 总结用语：

in short; briefly/ in brief ; generally speaking, in a word, as you know, as is known to all

A. Generally speaking, sending an e-mail is more convenient than sending letters.

B. In short, measures must be taken to prevent the environment being polluted.

常用句型

(一)段首句

1. 关于……人们有不同的观点。一些人认为……

There are different opinions among people as to……Some people suggest that ……

2. 俗话说(常言道)……，它是我们前辈的经历，但是，即使在今天，它在许多场合仍然适用。

There is an old saying……Its the experience of our forefathers，however，it is correct in many cases even today.

3. 现在，……，它们给我们的日常生活带来了许多危害。首先，……;其次，……。更为糟糕的是……。

Today, …… which have brought a lot of harms in our daily life. First, ……Second,……What makes things worse is that…….

4. 现在，……很普遍，许多人喜欢……，因为……，另外(而且)……。

Nowadays，it is common to ……. Many people like …… because …… Besides，……

5. 任何事物都是有两面性，……也不例外。它既有有利的一面，也有不利的一面。

Everything has two sides and …… is not an exception，it has both advantages

and disadvantages.

6. 关于……人们的观点各不相同，一些人认为(说)……，在他们看来，……

People’s opinions about …… vary from person to person. Some people say that ……To them,……

7. 人类正面临着一个严重的问题……，这个问题变得越来越严重。

Man is now facing a big problem …… which is becoming more and more serious.

8. ……已成为人的关注的热门话题，特别是在年青人当中，将引发激烈的辩论。

……has become a hot topic among people，especially among the young and heated debates are right on their way.

9. ……在我们的日常生活中起着越来越重要的作用，它给我们带来了许多好处，但同时也引发一些严重的问题。

……has been playing an increasingly important role in our day-to-day life.it has brought us a lot of benefits but has created some serious problems as well.

10. 根据图表/数字/统计数字/表格中的百分比/图表/条形图/成形图可以看出……。很显然……，但是为什么呢?

According to the figure/number/statistics/percentages in the /chart/bar graph/line/graph，it can be seen that……while. Obviously，……but why?

(二)中间段落句

1. 相反，有一些人赞成……，他们相信……，而且，他们认为……。

On the contrary，there are some people in favor of……t the same time，they say……

2. 但是，我认为这不是解决……的好方法，比如……。最糟糕的是……。

But I dont think it is a very good way to solve …….For example，……Worst of all，…….

3. ……对我们国家的发展和建设是必不可少的，(也是)非常重要的。首先，……。而且……，最重要的是……

……is necessary and important to our countrys development and construction. First，……Whats more, ……Most important of all,……

4. 有几个可供我们采纳的方法。首先，我们可以……。

There are several measures for us to adopt. First, we can……

5. 面临……，我们应该采取一系列行之有效的方法来……。一方面……，另一方面，

Confronted with……we should take a series of effective measures to…….

For one thing，For another，

6. 早就应该拿出行动了。比如说……，另外……。所有这些方法肯定会……。

It is high time that something was done about it. For example. ……In addition.……All these measures will certainly…….

7. 为什么……?第一个原因是……;第二个原因是……;第三个原因是……。总的来说，……的主要原因是由于……

Why…… The first reason is that ……The second reason is ……The third is…….For all this, the main cause of ……use to …….

8. 然而，正如任何事物都有好坏两个方面一样，……也有它的不利的一面，象……。

However, just like everything has both its good and bad sides, ……also has its own disadvantages, such as ……

9. 尽管如此，我相信……更有利。

Nonetheless, I believe that ……is more advantageous.

10. 完全同意……这种观点(陈述)，主要理由如下：

I fully agree with the statement that ……because…….

(三)结尾句

1. 至于我，在某种程度上我同意后面的观点，我认为……

As far as I am concerned, I agree with the latter opinion to some extent. I think that ……

2. 总而言之，整个社会应该密切关注……这个问题。只有这样，我们才能在将来……。

In a word, the whole society should pay close attention to the problem of ……Only in this way can ……in the future.

3. 但是，……和……都有它们各自的优势(好处)。例如，……，而……。然而，把这两者相比较，我更倾向于(喜欢)……

But ……and……have heir own advantages. For example, …… while……

Comparing this with that, however, I prefer to……

4. 就我个人而言，我相信……，因此，我坚信美好的未来正等着我们。因为……

Personally, I believe that…… Consequently, I’m confident that a bright future is awaiting us because……

5. 随着社会的发展，……。因此，迫切需要……。如果每个人都愿为社会贡献自己的一份力量，这个社会将要变得越来越好。

With the development of society, ……So its urgent and necessary to ……If every member is willing to contribute himself to the society, it will be better and better.

6. 至于我(对我来说，就我而言)，我认为……更合理。只有这样，我们才能……

For my part, I think it reasonable to…… Only in this way can you……

7. 对我来说，我认为有必要……。原因如下：第一，……; 第二，……;最后……但同样重要的是……

In my opinion, I think it necessary to……The reasons are as follows. First ……second …… Last but not least,……

8. 在总体上很难说……是好还是坏，因为它在很大程度上取决于……的形势。然而，就我个人而言，我发现……。

It is difficult to say whether ……is good or not in general as it depends very much on the situation of…….however, from a personal point of view find……

9. 综上所述，我们可以清楚地得出结论……

From what has been discussed above, we may reasonably arrive at the conclusion that……

10. 如果我们不采取有效的方法，就可能控制不了这种趋势，就会出现一些意想不到的不良后果，所以，我们应该做的是……

If we can not take useful means, we may not control this trend, and some undesirable result may come out unexpectedly, so what we should do is

常用句型：

开头：

When it comes to ..., some think ...

There is a public debate today that ...

A is a commen way of ..., but is it a wise one?

Recentaly the problem has been brought into focus.

提出观点：

Now there is a growing awareness that...

It is time we explore the truth of ...

Nowhere in history has the issue been more visible.

进一步提出观点：

... but that is only part of the history.

Another equally important aspect is ...

A is but one of the many effects. Another is ... Besides, other reasons are...

提出假想例子的方式：

Suppose that...

Just imagine what would be like if...

It is reasonable to expect...

It is not surprising that...

举普通例子：

For example(instance),...

... such as A,B,C and so on (so forth)

A good case in point is...

A particular example for this is...

引用：

One of the greatest early writers said ...

"Knowledge is power", such is the remard of ...

"......". That is how sb comment ( criticize/ praise...).

"......". How often we hear such words like there.

讲故事

(先说故事主体)，this story is not rare.

..., such delimma we often meet in daily life.

..., the story still has a realistic significance.

提出原因：

There are many reasons for ...

Why .... , for one thing,...

The answer to this problem involves many factors.

Any discussion about this problem would inevitably involves ...

The first reason can be obiviously seen.

Most people would agree that...

Some people may neglect that in fact ...

Others suggest that...

Part of the explanation is ...

进行对比：

The advantages for A for outweigh the disadvantages of...

Although A enjoys a distinct advantage ...

Indeed , A carries much weight than B when sth is concerned.

A maybe ... , but it suffers from the disadvantage that...

承上启下：

To understand the truth of ..., it is also important to see...

A study of ... will make this point clear

让步：

Certainly, B has its own advantages, such as...

I do not deny that A has its own merits.

结尾：

From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw

the conclusion that ...

In summary, it is wiser ...

In short...

通过对近些年英语作文出题的趋势来看，中考对英语写作的考察更偏重于交际情景设置和不同体裁的要求，但是由于客观和种种主观原因，很多同学的作文容易走入种种误区，这些误区主要体现在以下方面：

构思、准备不充分，匆忙下笔。任何一篇作文出题都是有它独特的道理的，所以提前审题和构思就显得必不可少了。文新学堂教学专家提醒，很多学生目 前存在一个情况，想到哪写到哪，这也造成了作文杂乱无章，毫无条理，同时容易出现写错单词和用错句型的情况。针对这种情况可以从以下几个方面予以解 决：

1、认真审题，审题的重点放在写作体裁、格式、字数方面，确保第一遍审题就能保证得到基本分。

2、确定文体和时态，因为不同的文体要求的写作格式也是 不同的

3、列提纲，打草稿，然后修改。这样可以保证错误降低至最少或者没有错误，同时也能保持卷面整洁。

中心重点不突出，切题不准确。英语写作不是语文散文(形散神不散)，写英语作文，尤其是在中考大压力下短时内写出高分作文一定要注意这一点。造 成这种情况的主要原因是动笔前并没有认真审题和思考，对出题者希望得到的预期尚未揣摩透彻，这也就造成了一些同学虽然语言功底非常不错，但是最终的结果还 是没有拿到一个自己预期的心理分数，最大的问题就出在切题不准确或者不够突出中心上了。

忽视文化差异。要时刻牢记一点，中英文表达方式有很大的差异，所以体现在作文表达上也常常会出现生硬的中国式作文表达，降低了作文质量。所以注重中英语言差异，并努力找到两者之间的表达方式上的共通点，并且有意识的运用就能避免类似的问题。

忽视细节，无谓失分。很多学生在写作文时常常感觉"下笔如有神"，但最终结果出来后大惑不解。这方面的问题主要体现在忽视标点、书写、段落安排、大小写的问题，所以只要更加注重细节，这些无谓失分就可以解决。

原句：While they were playing tennis, she started an argument that lasted all morning.

修改后：During tennis she started an argument that lasted all morning.

原句：When you come to the second traffic light, turn right.

修改后：At the second traffic light turn left.

We live in a fast-paced, increasingly tedious society, working everyday, daily life. Off work, in order to relax the mood, in order to alleviate the pressure, often want to bubble, alcohol and tobacco, or all night to lai on the chair to be a professional net worm, or looking for the feet to go to the Great Wall of build by laying bricks or stones...

How long, but found that my spirit is getting worse and worse. The physical strength is getting worse and worse. The body is getting worse and worse, and the fat is constantly spreading; The skin is getting worse and worse. It looks dull and pale. The body is getting worse and worse, and all kinds of problems are pouring in...

So there is a cure, beauty, weight loss, medicine...

Some businesses also see the opportunity, use the techniques of tenderloin is big, but as a result, many people are often struggled in vain, because those are the way take temporary solution not effect a permanent cure, not fundamentally improve the human body. In fact, the keys to health and beauty are in our hands - thats fitness. The benefits that fitness can bring to us:

A, improve body shape: fitness most basic function is to change shape, through exercise can make any part of the body (as long as it is the part of the muscle tissue) increase/decrease and effectively change their shape, to form a beautiful effect, and this process can be controlled.

Health benefits: fitness of the human body muscle, bone and blood circulation system, respiratory system, endocrine geometric average movement have stronger stimulation, to improve the health of human body more effective.

3. Delaying senescence: by exercising, you can make your hormone secrete at a higher level, so as to delay the effects of aging. Those who keep exercising are some men in their 60s who can maintain good sexual function and energy. Some women reach the skin of the whole body in their fifties, the whole body without a bit of proud flesh, everywhere exudes youth.

Energetic: with a strong body, the whole person becomes energetic and can have the best mental state any time.

Five, full of confidence: the key is a lot of people dont know the fitness of a persons psychological face have how old influence, when you after fitness exercise, you will feel there is a power, a confident, almost can let have you deal with all things, the feeling of ability to challenge everything. Other peoples eyes can also make you feel passionate and do things more enthusiastically.

一、写作常用谚语

1.A friend in need is a friend indeed.患难见真情。

2.Easier said than done.说来容易做时难。

3.Honesty is the best policy.诚实为上策。

4.One swallow does not make a summer.一燕不成夏。

5.To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.学而不思，犹如食而未化。

6.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.只工作不玩耍，聪明的孩子也变傻。

7.Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.早睡早起使人健康、富裕、聪明。

二、写作常用词组(政治类)

1.review the course of struggle回顾奋斗历程

2.integrate theory with practice把理论和实际结合起来

3.practice new policies实行新政策

4.urge governments of all countries to take action主张各国政府采取行动

5.enhance the rally power增强凝聚力

三、写作常用词组(经济类)

1.handicap( hamper ) the economic development阻碍经济发展

2.speed up efforts to加快努力

3.prepare oneself against possible risks加强风险防范

4.form/ pose a threat to…对……造成/构成威胁

5.deepen the reform深化改革

6.be accused of accepting bribes被指控接受贿赂

7.cause a loss to造成损失

8.accelerate the competition加快竞争步伐

9.occupy( take/ account for ) 10 percent of the market占领市场10%

10.list…as fundamental national policies把……列为基本国策

四、写作常用词组(文化类)

1.carry out mass activities on culture开展群众性文化活动

2.push forward human civilization推动人类文明进步

3.enter the new century with a brand-new colorful look以全新面貌进入新世纪

4.exchange visiting scholars互派访问学者

5.give a big push to the development of education有力地推动教育发展

6.hold an annual academic meeting举行每年一次学术会议

7.improve teaching and learning改进教学

五、写作常用词组(生态环保类)

1.prevent and control pollution防治污染

2.advocate green activities开展绿色活动

3.perfect the construction of urban infrastructure完善城市基础设施建设

4.implement strict vehicle emission standards实行严格机动车排放标准

5.participate in the reconstruction of the city参加城市重建

6.enjoy first-class protection of the State享受国家一级保护

7.result in a series of problems引发一系列问题

六、写作常用词组(人口类)

1.reflect people’s private lives反映人们私生活

2.undermine the authority of the older generation逐渐削弱长辈权威

3.damage the morality of human society损害人类社会道德观

4.respect and guarantee human rights尊重和保障人权

5.the population of urban residents rise by…城市人口比例上升

5.encourage the idea of “ civilized families”鼓励创建文明家庭

Possible version

As a saying goes, “Attitude is everything.” It means our attitude will decide whether we will succeed or not in the future. If we take a positive attitude and keep on trying , we will achieve our goals in the end.

I can’t agree more with this view. At one time I was not good at English, which made me very depressed. Then I realized that I had to do well in English to go to my favorite university. I talked with my teacher about my problem, who offered some valuable advice to me. With my teacher’s help, I improved my English gradually.

My story shows that if we have a good attitude and keep on trying, we will be able to overcome difficulty and move on. It is our attitude that plays a key role in our life. 【相关阅读：学习英语的重要性英语作文】

The importance of learning Englishi

With the progress and development of society . The importance of English has become increasingly increased . As the most important carrier of information , English has become the most widely used language in our daily life . English is

the most popular language in the world, and it is also most widely spoken of all the language. Many people speak English as a second language . If you dont understand English , how can you know more about the world , how can you get more knowledge . At international conferences , English is also used as the official language . In China , English is spoken as an important and useful foreign language . Without good English , you cannot express your ideas well at such conferences , neither can you introduce China to the outside world .

English becomes one of your advantage . learnning english well make you feel just like a fish in water . At the same time , you will be more Confident and have more opportunities to contact with more knowledge .

[态度的重要性英语作文

Today mother took me to skate. I was very happy. But I hadnt expected I fell down as soon as I got in. Today I didnt know why my two feet were out of control. If I wanted to head east， they would head the opposite. I fell down from time to time. My hands and face were all dirty. I thought maybe it was because that I hadnt skated for a long time.

On my way home， I thought that whatever one wants to do， he must work hard at it， so he can make progress. Skating is like this， so it study.

不少同学在问了，英语作文怎么写?如何写好英语作文，下面是小编为大家收集的初中英语作文的写作方法，欢迎阅读。

初一英语写作题，题材一般是写人、写事、写物、写景、日记、书信、通知、便条等文体。一般来说，不同的写作题材，它的人物，时间，写作的重点也是不尽相同的。下面结合一些常见的题型介绍一下写作的注意事项以及写作技巧。

各地的评分标准略有差异，但是都包括以下几个方面：整体印象、语言表达、词数规定等几方面内容。我们在写作中要尽量避免扣分，争取有加分点。当然用英文写作不同于用母语那样得心应手，常常会受到生词、语法、惯用法的限制，只要同学们平时注意两种语言的异同性，抓住写作要点，也可妙笔生花。

1、为了保证文章层次分明、条理清楚，要把时间固定下来，如：记叙一件事要用过去时;写经常发生的事或对人物的描写，要用一般现在时。整个文章中的人称要一致，首尾呼应，不要随意改动，以免造成误解。

2、不要为了追求“一鸣惊人”而去找一些生冷的词汇，对这些一知半解的词你不会用，不知道如何搭配，结果可能适得其反，使文章显的生硬、不协调，甚至错误百出，所以要使用有把握的词，避免不必要的失分。比如说发生了一起意外事件，我们通常用“have an accident ”来表示，不要错误的使用“have an incident”。

3、注意不同语言的表达习惯，也是写好英语作文的重要环节，如“我的理想是做一名歌手”，很多同学写成“My ambition is to do/make a singer，” “to do”表示“做”或者“干”，“to make”表示“制作”，而“做一名歌手”则表示“成为一名歌手”应该用“be/become a singer”;又如“看书、看报”应用“read a book/newspaper”，而不是“see a book/newspaper”。因此，平时应该注意不同语言的表达习惯，切忌望文生义或一味生搬硬套。

4、有些同学因怕出错而只写短句或简单句，写出的文章过于幼稚、空洞乏味。要使文章有血有肉就要把平时学的知识用进去，如：定语从句、宾语从句、非谓语动词和比较等句型，关键时用上一、二个，就能使文章不同凡响，更有文采，特别是对关联词的使用，如“so that”、“not…but ”“not only...but also”等，会使你的文章逻辑结构紧密、层次鲜明、条理清楚，更能显示出你的英文功底，但要做到这些并非一日之功，要靠平时的不断训练和积累。

5、最简单的增分点就是认真的书写。工整漂亮的书写会给评卷老师留下美好的第一印象，在扣分时自然会“手下留情”，而且很多地区都在写作上有1分的书写分。只要平时多下点功夫，得到这一分并不难。

注意事项

最后将英语写作的基本步骤和技巧归纳为以下几个环节：

1、细心审题细读题目中每一项提示或观察所给的每一幅画，明确文章的中心思想，弄清题意，确定写作体裁，掌握所要表达的要点做到心中有数，避免随心所欲，文不对题。

2、理顺要点在所给提示或图上标出要点，然后按事件先后的顺序或各要点之间的内在联系排序，分出层次。如果是看图作文，则要按图构思，这样做既可避免要点遗漏，又可使表达内容条理清楚。

3、构成框架将理顺的要点或每幅图画的含义加以连贯，构成写作的整体框架，进一步定人称、定时态语态、定顺序、定段落、定开头结尾。基本框架构成后，写作就有了把握。

4、组织句子用自己最熟悉的短语或句型将理顺的要点逐句表达出来，多用简单句，用有把握的复合句。要扬长避短，避难就易。若遇到表达障碍，可换一种说法，将一句变成两、三句，只求达意。

5、串句成篇将写好的句子连贯地组织起来，注意上下句的逻辑关系，适当采用递进、让步、转折、因果等关联词语，使短文浑然一体，层次分明，过渡自然。6、检查修改文章草成后，默读1～2遍，检查修改，尤其要注意人称、大小写、拼写、习惯用语、格式有无错误，要点有无遗漏，文句有无语病，词数是否恰当，行文是否连贯。

英语写作水平的提高是一个渐进的过程，只要同学们在平时多加训练，多读文章，做一个有心人，就能在英语作文中取得理想的成绩