英语写作100句【汇编20篇】

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）

"I like honest men of all colors."我喜欢所有诚实的人。

"I start out by believing the worst."我凡事先做好最坏的打算。

"It requires more courage to suffer than to die."茍活比牺牲需要更多的勇气。 。

"I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest."我已做了所有的打算，其余就交给上帝了。

"Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined."生死有命，没有人能要求多活一秒钟。

"If I had not been born Napoleon, I would have liked to have been born Alexander."如果今天我不是拿破仑的话，我想成为亚历山大。

"The great proof of madness is the disproportion of ones designs to ones means."一个人的计划与实践存在太大的落差即是疯狂的表现。

"The stupid speak of the past, the wise of the present, and fools of the future."聪明的人谈现在，愚蠢的人谈过去，傻子才谈未来。

"We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him. "与其后来替一个人婉惜，不如先嘲笑他算了。

"When you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna."一旦你着手要攻下维也纳，就把她拿下吧﹗

"What I did is immense. What I had decided to do, and what I had projected werestill more so"我所做的是大事业，而我当初的决定与计划亦是如此。

"The word impossible is not in my dictionary."在我的字典里找不到「不可能」这个字。

"I wished to found a European system, a European Code of Laws, a European judiciary; there would be but one people in Europe."我想建立一个整合的欧洲体系，包含了法律，法庭，与人种。

"The French complain of everything, and always."法国人终其一生都在抱怨所有的事。

"He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat."害怕被征服的人，注定要失败。

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."坚持必将成功。

"Adversity is the midwife of genius." 逆境造就天才。

"Circumstances? I make circumstances!" 英雄造时势。

"Men take only their needs into consideration, never their abilities."人们常只想到自己的需要，而没考虑自己的能力。

"Men are moved by only two levers: fear and self interest."恐惧和兴趣能激励人。

1 天空没有翅膀的痕迹，而鸟儿已飞过

there are no trails of the wings in the sky, while the birds has flied away。

2 没有谁对不起谁，只有谁不懂得珍惜谁。

no one indebted for others,while many people dont know how to cherish others。

3 我的世界不允许你的消失，不管结局是否完美。

no matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world。

4 凋谢是真实的 盛开只是一种过去

fading is true while flowering is past。

5 为什么幸福总是擦肩而过，偶尔想你的时候…。就让…。回忆来陪我。

why i have never catched the happiness? whenever i want you ,i will be accompanyed by the memory of.。。

6 如果你为着错过夕阳而哭泣，那么你就要错群星了

if you weeped for the missing sunset,you would miss all the shining stars

7 如果只是遇见，不能停留，不如不遇见

if we can only encounter each other rather than stay with each other,then i wish we had never encountered 。

8 宁愿笑著流泪，也不哭著说后悔 心碎了，还需再补吗？

i would like weeping with the smile rather than repenting with the cry,when my heart is broken ,is it needed to fix?

9 爱情是一个精心设计的谎言

love is a carefully designed lie。

10 当香烟爱上火柴时，就注定受到伤害

when a cigarette falls in love with a match,it is destined to be hurt。

11 人活着 总是要得罪一些人的 就要看那些人是否值得得罪

when alive ,we may probably offend some people.however, we must think about whether they are deserved offended。

12 命里有时终需有 命里无时莫强求

you will have it if it belongs to you,whereas you dont kveth for it if it doesnt appear in your life。

13 爱情就像一只蝴蝶，它喜欢飞到哪里，就把欢乐带到哪里。

love is like a butterfly. it goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes。

14 永远不是一种距离，而是一种决定。

eternity is not a distance but a decision。

15 在回忆里继续梦幻不如在地狱里等待天堂

dreaming in the memory is not as good as waiting for the paradise in the hell。

16 哪里有真爱存在，哪里就有奇迹

where there is great love, there are always miracles。

17 每一个沐浴在爱河中的人都是诗人

at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet。

18 假如每次想起你我都会得到一朵鲜花，那么我将永远在花丛中徜徉。

if i had a single flower for every time i think about you, i could walk forever in my garden。

19 有了你，我迷失了自我；失去你，我多么希望自己再度迷失。

within you i lose myself, without you i find myself wanting to be lost again。

20 承诺常常很像蝴蝶，美丽的飞盘旋然后不见

promises are often like the butterfly, which disappear after beautiful hover。

[优美英语写作段落句子摘抄中英互译

H1N1 influenza, since the claws reached into the earth and stuck it into our world caused great sensation. From Moscow, the United States, Japan, ... ... to China, have spared, showing the speed of its spread. While we use some of the medical technology we have can be prevented, you can cure, but it is still scary. The most laughable thing is that some people thus do not eat pork. However, these are not the focus of my concern, I am concerned, I am sad is:

When we state the first to be infected were found, one who returned from abroad Sichuanese, I heard mostly blame everyone, it makes me sad exception. Had returned from abroad is a good thing, is between the happy event. But because even not aware of being infected was a complete mess of things hands and become pieces of sad things. At first, I think we should sorry for him, should go to help him. However, many people said: "In the U.S., do not come back Well!" "We also are engaged in a state of panic." ... ...

So I write this, would like to call everyone together for their fuel.

Unfortunately, they are infected, and now has been isolated, they can not see their loved ones, they have lost freedom, they are very painful, very unwilling. So let us give them the courage to give them strength! Let us wish them a speedy recovery!

H1N1流感，自从这个魔爪伸进地球，伸进我们的世界就引起了极大的轰动。从莫斯科，美国，学习英语的网站，日本……到我们中国，无一幸免，可见其传播速度之快。虽然我们利用我们己有的医学技术，可以预防，可以根治，但是却还是令人恐慌。最可笑的是，有人因此而不吃猪肉。然而，这些都不是我关注的焦点，令我关注的，令我伤心的是：

当我们国家的第一个被传染者被发现时，就是那个从国外回来的四川人，我听到的大部分都是大家的苛责，这令我异常难过。原本从国外回来，是件好事，是间喜事。却因为连自己也不知道被传染的事搅的得一塌糊涂，成了件悲事。原本我想我们应该为他难过，应该去帮助他。然而，很多人却说：“在国外就不要回来嘛!”“还搞的我们人心惶惶的。”……

所以我写这篇，学英语的好网站，想呼吁大家，一起为他们加油。

他们不幸感染上了，现在被隔离，他们不能见到自己的亲人，好的英语学习网站，他们失去了自由，他们也很痛苦，很不甘。所以让我们给他们勇气，给他们力量!让我们一起祝愿他们早日康复!

健康：中药能够战胜甲流吗？

英语写作：Freedom in my Dream

书面表达历来是英语教学中一个难点，要想在限定的时间内写出一篇质量上乘的文章，非一日之功。纵观几年来的高考书面表达，我们可以看出，高考英语写作越来越重视情景的设置，要求考生总结自己的感受和见解，给出自己的观点。书面表达又是全面衡量学生英语综合水平的一种测试形式，因此，我们不得不重视。

第一步，写作的内容，要求做到两点— 内容完整、相关。这两点只要考生不粗心，基本都能做到。比如陕西考区的题目，要求写暑假的安排，是一篇正反观点类的议论文。必须注意题目的要求，第一要提出讨论话题，Recently there has been a heated discussion about what the students should do during the summer vacation.(这是一个经典的模版开篇句型)。第二要写出一方面的观点，然后是另一方面的观点，最后提出自己的看法，根据要求缺一不可，否则就会被扣掉相应的分数，这就是完整。再比如，2005年广东考区的成语寓言故事，不仅要描写整个守株待兔的过程，还应该根据要求点名寓意，否则也是不完整，这点只要在课堂上强调，学生是很容易做到的。所谓相关，也就是不要过多出现文中没有的信息，不能过分发挥，一般学生犯此类错误的较少。

第二步，写作中的语法。在阅卷中，一般三个小的语法错误会被扣掉一分，一个大的语法错误(关于谓语的错误)会被扣掉一分。所以，学生应该尽量避免犯语法错误。我在课堂中会强调，对于语法基础薄弱的同学，除了加强自己的语法功底外，就是去背诵我给出的50个最高频用到的句法结构。这些结构不仅正确，而且一定是高考中的有效得分点，即使语法偏弱，记住这些句子然后在考试中使用也能避免学生自己造句中的语法错误，一举两得。比如，倒装句在考试中就很少有同学主动启用，但是一旦正确启用就会收到意想不到的效果，所以我会给出四组倒装句，然后让学生加强运用和练习。这些句子包括：

1、Only when we realize the importance of environmental protection, can we solve the problem of pollution.

2、So precious is time that we can’t afford to waste it.

3、Diligent as he was, he failed in passing the exam.

4、By no means should teenagers get into the habit of smocking.

第三步，连接词的运用，使文章连贯、流畅。我把这些词分为8类，叫做“畅词”，往往学生由于中西方语言的差异，会忽视这一点，所以在授课中会通过大量的练习巩固和加强学生的印象。而且不仅要写，还写出高水平的畅词，因为高考是选拔性考试，要做到“人无我有,人有我优”。比如，“首先”这个表示次序的畅词，一般同学一定想到的是firstly 或者first of all。可是我建议学生启用to begin with, 或者initially (这个是建议水平较好的启用)。“然而”，绝大部分启用but, however，我建议学生采用on the contrary 或者oppositely。

第四步，也是整个课程的核心部分，要强化“复杂、高级”两个概念。为什么是核心呢?因为学生在这一部分没有正确的认识，在平时的学习中老师也没有有意识灌输和训练总结。大部分学生以为只要写出来、写正确就可以拿到高分，其实80-120个单词包括大概10个句子，如果全部是简单的词汇和句型没有办法达到最高档作文的要求。因此，我们强调高级的词汇和高级复杂的句型，不是说全部必须高级，而是必须出现一些才能符合高考作文大纲的要求。在这一步中，我总结的“高分词汇选择原则”、“简单句到复杂句的瞬间转换”、“高分句子写作策略”以及“钻石得分50句”，通过这些理论和实践结合的讲解，学生会感觉成绩的快速提升，效果明显。

一、审题

我们拿到作文后第一件要做的事就是审题。审题的作用在于使你写作不跑题(如果跑题，条理和语言再好，也得不到及格分，甚至0分。)那末审题要审什麽呢?

1.体裁(议论文，说明文，描述文)

审题就是要审作文的题材和体裁。因为什末样的体裁就会用什末样的题材去写。那末体裁包括那些呢?它包括议论文，说明文和描述文。从近些年看，四级作文不是单一的体裁，而是几种体裁的杂合体。例如： Directions: For this part ,your are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topicTrying to Be A Good University Student .You should write at least 100 words and you shouldbase your composition on the outline (given in Chinese ) below :

1.做合格大学生的必要性

2.做合格大学生的必备条件(可以从德智体方面谈)

3.我计划这样做

很多人说这种类型的作文是议论文。这是片面的，因为，第一段要求写"...必要性"，这说明本段体裁是议论文;第二段要求写"

...必备条件"，这说明本段要求写说明文;儿地三段要求写"...这样做"，这说明本段要求写描述文。所以在大多数情形下，四级作文是三种体裁的杂合体。

2.根据不同体裁确定写作方法

我们审题的目的就是根据不同体裁确定不同的写作方法。通过审题，我们可以看出四级作文大都是三段式。如上例第一段为议论体，第二段为说明体，地三段为描述体。而各种文体又不同的写作方式： 议论文;要有论点和论据，而且往往从正反两方面来论述。例如上面第一段的思路是：做合格大学生，会怎末样(这是从正面论述);不能做合格的大学生，会怎末样(从反面论述);所以我们要做合格的大学生(结了论)。

说明文：可以从几方面或几条来说明一个问题，就上作文而言，可以从方面(德智体)来说明合格大学生的必要性。

描述文：一"人"为中心描述一个"做"的过程。与上两段相比，本段的主语多为人称代词，他要与第二段相互应进行描述。 二 确定主题句

通过审题，我们知道该如何确定正确的写作思路。下边我们就谈如何些。第一部就是要写主题句。主题句是确保不跑题的前提，只有不跑题才有可得及格分。写主题句嘴保险的方法就是把中文提纲的各句译成英语。例如上述三段主题句分别为：

1.It is very necessary to be a good university student . (议论体的主题句)

2.There are several respects of necessities to be a good university student .(说明体的主题句)

3.What I will do in the future is the following .(描述体主题句)

如果要求句是英语就可以把它变成主题句，例如这样一篇作文：

Good Health

1.Importance of good health

2.Ways to keep fit

3.My own practice

这样的作文的要求句就可以扩充成主题句。扩充后三段的主题句分别为：

1.It is very important to have good health .(将名词 importance变成形容词important)

2.There are four ways to keep fit for me .(用 there be 句型)

3.My own practices are the following .(采用原词)

二、条理清楚

保证不跑提示写作当中第一任务，第二个重要任务就是要做到条理清楚。对于议论文来说，正反面要清楚，对于说明文来说条理要清楚，对于描述文来说，谁干什么要清楚。就拿上例Good health 来说，第一段保持正反面要清楚救应这样写：正面(With good health ,we can...)，反面(Without good health ,we cando nothing .We cant do...)

为了使文章更具有条理性，我们可以用first(ly) second(ly) third(ly)等副词，他们可以是文章的条例性更加突出。作文是主观题，想得告分就必须引起老师的主意，老师的时间很短(每篇作文只有一两分钟就要阅完)，所以我们在列调试最好不用: To be with,... after that ,...And then, ... The next , ... Thefollowing , ... As last ... 。因为用这样的词语不利于老师看出你作文的条理性。

三、保证作文符合字数要求的十二句作文法

考生一般都希望作文达到字数而又不至于写得太多，因为写得太多一方面暴露自己语言上的弱点，另一方面又会占用过多的时间。写得太多还易跑题，一个有效的方法就是十二句作文法。

我们知道，四级作文都是三段式。我们算一下，如果我们在每一段中写上四句，即主题句加两三句扩展句和一个结论句就可以了。这样全片在十二句左右，每一句十多个词，就又120-150个字。大家可以试图找一些作文题练一练。

中考马上就要到来了，语文迷小编为大家整理提供中考英语写作万能句子，赶紧来看看吧。

1. 不用说…… It goes without saying that … = (It is) needless to say (that) …

= It is obvious that …

例：不用说早睡早起是值得的。

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

2. 在各种……之中，…… Among various kinds of …， … /= Of all the …， …

例︰在各种运动中我尤其喜欢慢跑。

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

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.

就我的看法打电动玩具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 Taiwans 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：我们不应该在我们不感兴趣的事情上花太多的时间。

We shouldnt spend too much time on something we arent interested in.

7. how 引导的感叹句

例：那至少可以证明你很诚实。

At least it will prove how honest you are.

8. 状语从句

A)如果你不……，你就会…… If you dont …， youll …

例︰If you dont keep working hard, youll lose the chance.

如果你不坚持努力工作，你就会失去这次机会。

B) 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。

9. 宾语从句

我认为，…… / 我认为……不 I think / I dont think that …

我想知道是否…… I wonder whether …

例：He doesnt 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。

改写，就是把原有的一篇文章改变形式、长短的一种写作类型。下面是英语写作基础改写病句的技巧，欢迎参考阅读！

改写，包括改写、缩写、扩写、写摘要等多种形式：或改头换面，或削足适履，或海阔天空，或归纳总括，让你有足够的内容、机会和样式适应要求，施展才华。

改写是用不同形式表达同一内容的方法，使之成为与原文意思相同而表现方式、文体不同的作品。改写可以变换文章的人称、顺序，可以改变原文的体裁、结构，可以灵活运用自己的语言，尽可能用多种方法来表达、替换原文语句的内容。比如，我们可以把对话改写成散文，可以把记叙文变成通讯报导、新闻特写，反之亦然。

缩写是根据词数、字数的要求对原文加以压缩、概括，从而达到缩短篇幅、简化内容、突出中心等目的的写作形式。简言之，缩写是原文的“高度浓缩”。缩写时要忠实于原文，保留原文体裁、题材、主要内容、主要思想、结构顺序、语言风格、人称视角和表现方法等；既要使篇幅缩短，结构紧凑，又要使内容简明扼要，重点突出；不能对原文加入个人的认识、体会或对原文进行评论，也不能加入原文中没有的内容。

扩写则与缩写相反，是把篇幅短小的内容扩展成为篇幅较长的文章。扩写时，可以施展个人的想像力，在不离原文核心内容的前提下海阔天空，任意发挥，从而使细节更加充实、生动，使情节更加具有感染力，使解释、说明、论证更加充分有力。

摘要是一篇文章或一本书的梗概，多指论文或报告内容的提要。一些期刊、杂志上论文的“提要”、“摘要”，某些报纸、杂志在一篇文章前面写的“编者按”，一本书的前言等均属此列。写摘要就是简明扼要地向读者介绍一篇文章，一本书，一篇论文或一个报告的主要内容，使读者用较少的时间阅读后，能了解文章或书的来龙去脉。摘要可以改变体裁。写摘要时，笔者可以用原文的人称、语气、也可以用第三人称，即笔者的语气，但是不能改变原文的事实和观点，也不能丢掉原文的要点，应写成连贯的文章而不能写成提纲。

总之，改写、缩写、扩写、摘要都是对原有的文章进行适合某种需要的裁剪或放大，选取原文的精要而和盘托出，对其要点和实质容不得偷换和贪污。这些写作形式对学习写作的学生来说，是一种练习综合分析、归纳概括能力的好方法；对成人来说，是工作中的很好的帮手。

一个作家可以把一本小说改写成剧本，把一则简短的消息扩展为一部短篇或长篇小说；一名记者可以把一段会谈改写成一篇通讯报导或特写；一个编辑可以把收到的稿件根据版面大小或缩或扩写成适当的文章；我们在听领导人、某方面的专家做报告时要作点笔记，然后写出摘要文章；我们写成一篇论文后，可以给它写一段简短的摘要，等等。这些都是人们在生活、工作中必不可少的书面表达形式。所以，学会这些写作技巧，能使我们适应各方面的需要。

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。

修辞手段一般主要用于文学性写作中。但在大学英语的英文写作中有时也需要运用一定的具有英文特征的修辞手段，而且运用得好，会使语句生动从而增添语句亮点。因此，掌握一些一般常用修辞手段对于实现语句亮点也是非常必要的。对于大学英语写作来说，主要应该掌握以下修辞手段，又称语句辞格，包括结构辞格与语义辞格。对比、排比、重复、倒装等为结构辞格，转义、双关、矛盾等则为语义辞格。

1.对比正反对比就是要巧妙地运用对称的英文句式来表达互为补充的意思，因此恰当地运用反义词语往往是必不可少的。如果一旦所要表达的内容具有这种情况，就应尽力选用这种对称的句式并选用适当的反义词语来加强语句，实现语句的亮点。

1)如“很多人很快就会发现，他们在物质上是富裕了，精神上却很贫乏”，可以这样达：

Many people will soon find themselves rich in goods，but ragged in spirit.(注：句中rich in与ragged in，goods与spirit具有正反对比的关系和效果。)

2)如“利远远大于弊”，可以这样表达：

The advantages for outweigh the disadvantages.(注：句中the advantages与the disadvantages具有正反对比的关系和效果。)

3)如“他们注意到了这些说法中的一些道理，但他们却忽视了一个重要的事实”，可以这样表达：

They have noticed a grain of truth in the statements，but have ignored a more important fact.(注：句中have noticed与have ignored，a grain of truth in the statements与a more important fact具有正反对比的关系和效果。)

4)如“这样做既有积极效果也有消极效果”，可以这样表达：

It will have both negative and positive effects by so doing.(注：句中negative与positive具有正反对比的关系和效果)

5)如“我们既有与我们很为相似的朋友，又有与我们很为不同的朋友”，可以这样表达：

We have friends similar to us and friends different from us.(注：句中similar to与different from具有正反对比的关系和效果)

2.排比英文中有时也使用排比句式，这种句式整齐而有气势，又不会使人感到单调。例如，如“读书使我们聪明，锻炼使我们强健”，可以这样表达：

Reading makes us wise while exercises make us strong. 3.重复英文一般讲求简洁，因此为表达强调偶尔使用重复可以使语句的强调内容得到突出。英文的重复又根据被重复词语在语句中的位置分为句首重复、句尾重复、首尾重复、尾首重复等。

1)如“现在是忘掉过去一切的时候了。现在是言归正传的时候了。现在是为未来而奋斗的时候了”，可以这样表达：

Now is the time to forget everything in the past. Now is the time to get down to the business. Now is the time to work hard for the future.(注：此句为句首重复，重复部分为句首的now it the time to)

2)如“我们渴望成功，而且正在为成功而努力工作”，可以这样表达：

We long for success and we are working hard for success.(注：此句为句尾重复，重复的部分为句尾的for success.)

3)如“我相信我们能够成功，我相信我们也一定会成功”，可以这样表达：

I am convinced that we can succeed，and Iam convinced that we must succeed.(注：and所连接的两个语句的句首与句尾部分同时重复，重复的部分为句首的I am convinced that与句尾的succeed)

4)如“我们现在生活在一个新的时代，而一个改革充满着风险与机遇”，可以这样表达：

We are now living in a new era，and a new era of reform is always full of ventures and chances.(注：and之前的句尾与and之后的句首重复，重复部分为a new era.)

4.倒装这里说的倒装不同于前述非修辞性的语法结构倒装。非修辞性的语法结构倒装是语句的语法结构所限定的，没有自由选择的余地，只要运用需要倒装结构的句型就要采用倒装结构。这里所说的倒装是指修辞性语义结构倒装，是进行强调的一种手段，它利用了语句句首(或句尾)的特殊位置。例如，如“充满着风险与机遇的改革的新时代正向我们走来”，可以这样表达：

Now on coming to us is the new era of reform full of ventures and chances. 5.转义转义是一种对词语灵活运用的修辞手段，主要有比喻、拟人、夸张、反语、婉转等，比喻又包括明喻、暗喻、换喻、提喻等。

1)如要表达“过去的经历就像图片一样总是在脑海中萦绕”，英文可为：

What had been experienced in the past was always looming in memory like a picture.(注：此句采用明喻，明喻的特点是使用了like一词)

2)如要表达“我们的英语老师就是我们最好的英语辞典”，英文可为：

Our English teacher is our best English dictionary.(注：此句采用暗喻，暗喻的特点是利用事物之间的相似之处进行比喻，与明喻不同之处在于不使用like一词)

3)如要表达“我正在读莎土比亚的书呢”，英文可为：

I am reading Shakespeare.(注：此句采用换喻，换喻的特点是直接借用一事物的名称宋代替另一事物的名称，使用通过联想理解其含义，但不是所有的事物都是可以用换喻来表达的)

4)如要表达“这里需要一个帮手”，英文可为：

A hand is needed here.(注：此句采用提喻，提喻的特点是用一个事物的部分来代表事物的整体或用一个事物的整体来代表事物的部分。这里用hand一词代表整个人)

5)如要表达“巨大的不幸笼罩着整个城市”，英文可为：

A great misfortune crept over the whole city.(注：此句采用拟人。拟人的特点是将事物人格化)

6)如要表达“这种想法可真是伟大的愚蠢”，英文可为：

This is really a great stupid idea.(注：此句采用反语。反语的特点是故意将话反说，具有讽刺意味)

7)如要表达“我太渴望成功了。听到成功的消息我欣喜若狂”，英文可为：

I was mad for success and on the news of success I went mad with joy.(注：此句采用夸张。夸张的特点是为表现事物的特征故意夸大其词)

财富，指具有价值的东西就称之为财富，包括自然财富、物质财富、精神财富等。下面是语文迷为大家整理的关于财富的英语名言，希望对你写作文有帮助。

Betrand Russell, British philosopher 乞丐并不羡慕百万富翁，尽管他们一定会羡慕比他们乞讨得多的乞丐。

英国哲学家罗素.B.

He that has a full purse never lacks a friend. Even in a busy market, nobody cares to know a poor person.

Anonymors 富在深山有远亲;贫在闹市无人识。

无名氏

All good things are cheap, all bad things are very dear.

Henry David Thoreau, Ameican writer 一切好的东西都是便宜的，所有坏的东西都是非常贵的。

美国作家梭罗。H.D.

Apply yourself to true riches; it is shameful to depend upon silver and gold for a happy life.

Lrcius Annaeus Seneca, Ancient Roman Philosopher 要争取真正的财富，靠金银谋取幸福是不光彩的。

古罗马哲学家西尼加.L.A.

I would rather have my people laugh at my economies than weep for my extravagance.

Oscar ll, Swedish king 我宁愿让我的人民嘲笑我的的小气也不愿让他们为我的挥霍而哭泣。

瑞典国王奥斯卡二世

A penny saved is a penny gained.

Richard Brckminster Fuller.American srchitect 省下一分钱等于得到一分钱。

美国建筑师富勒.R.B.

Beggars cannot be choosers.

Du Bose Heywood, American writer 乞丐不能挑肥拣瘦。

美国作家海伍德.D.B.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Benjamin Franklin. American president 放债的比借债记性好。

美国总统富兰克林。B.

Economy is in itself a source of great revenue.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Ancient Roman Philosopher 节约本身就是最大的收入 .

罗马哲学家 西尼加，L.A.

Economy is the poor man s mint; and extravagance the rich man s pitfall. 节约是穷人的造币厂，浪费是富翁的陷阱。

英国作家 塔泊.M

Few rich men own their property.The property owns them.

Robert Green Ingersoll. American Iawyer 极少富人拥有他们的财产，是财产拥有他们。

美国律师英格索尔.R.G.

If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.

Benjamin Franklin, American presudent 要想知道钱的价值，就想办法去借钱试试。

美国总统富兰克林.B.

I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts:financial worries.

Jules Renard, French playwright 我终于明白人与野兽的区别在于：人为钱而担忧。

法国剧作家勒纳尔.J.

If rich, it is easy enough to conceal our wealth, but, if poor, it is not so easy to conceal our poverty. We shall find it less difficult to hide a thousand guineas, than one hole in our coat.

Charles C. Colton, British clergyman 如果富有，藏富很容易;如果贫穷，掩饰贫穷却很难。我们不难发现隐藏1000个金币比遮盖衣服上的一个破洞来得容易。

英国画妆师科尔顿.C.C

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of gold.

Tobias Smollett, British writer 一盎司谨慎抵得上一磅黄金。

英国作家 .斯摩莱特 .T.

All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.

Voltaire, French thinker 人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

法国思想家伏尔泰

关于财富的英语谚语

A bashful dog never fattens.害羞的狗养不胖。(bashful:害羞的)

A beggar can never be bankrupt,乞丐永远不会破产。

A beggar s purse is a I ways empty.乞弓存不住钱。

A borrowed loan should come laughing home.向人借贷应微笑返还。(借钱乐还，再借不难)。 读书笔记

A clear fast is better than a dirty breakfast.宁为清贫，不为法富。 内容来自

A covetous man does nothing that he should till he dies,贪娶之人，死后方尽其义务。

A covetous man is good to none, but worst to himself,贪娶之人，对人无益，对己更损。 读后感

A covetous woman deserves a swindling gallant,贪娶女郎的绝配就是负心汉。

A fool and his money are soon parted,傻子存不了钱。 内容来自

A heavy purse makes a light heart,钱袋沉甸甸，人就轻飘。

A lamb is as dear to a poor man as an ox to the rich,的黑羊比富人的牛更珍贵。

A light purse makes a heavy heart.?中无钱心事重。

A man does not wander far from where his corn is roast i ng.人不会远离财富的来源。 内容来自

A man has no more goods then he has good of.只有享用财富，才算真正拥有财舍田。 读后感

A man may love his house we I I without riding on the ridge.有宝何必人前夸。

A man without money is a bow without an arrow.人无钱，犹如弓无箭。 读后感

A man without money is no man at all. 一分钱难倒英雄汉。

A man’ s wealth is his enemy,财富是人之患也。

对于我们农村地区的学生来说，英语写作非常困难。尤其在每一次的英语考试中，英语写作题型总是必不可少的，小编收集了初中期末英语作文的写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

一、学生写作过程中出现的现状

1.词汇量太少

词汇是英语写作必不可少的基本要素，要写好一篇作文以表达自己的思想，必须以足够的词汇量为基础，但实际上大多数学生掌握的词汇量都达不到规定的要求，因而在写作时也就不能随心所欲地表达自己的思想。出现的问题往往有拼写错误，影响理解;词语误用，表达不准确;某一词语反复使用，语言表达缺乏变式，文章显得单调乏味;文章中出现大量“造词”，让人看了啼笑皆非等。

语法规则和句型句式是英语写作涉及的另一基本要素。学生英语写作中出现的“大错”又多半是由语法错误引起的，学生在写作中语法不规范、句子结构混乱、含义不清等情况屡见不鲜，Chinese English现象更是不乏其中，所以词汇量和语法问题是中学生英语写作时首先要解决的问题。

2.词汇错误较多

学生在写作的时候，中式英语Chinglish ：如There are many people would like to go on a vacation. I by bike to school every day. 2、词汇错误：错别字、近义词混淆、词性误用3、词组、句型使用不正确，缺乏重点句型的使用：如I spent one hour to read the book yesterday. 4、时态、语态、人称把握不正确(审题不正确)。思维模式总是先汉语，后转化为英语，可能他想到了句子该怎样写，句型也知道的，但却有个别单词不会。如：“对我来说学英语是困难的”这个句子可能他想到了，句子结构“it is+adj for sb to do sth”也知道，但里面的形容词difficult不会写，导致句子表达含糊，以至于整篇文章错词百出，面目全非。

3.写出的长句达不到表达效果

一般的英语应试作文，总会给出汉语提示，学生写作也是从提示上入手，有的提示意思较长，所以学生写的时候会直接翻译，但对太长的句子又没有驾驭的能力，导致整个句子错误。

4.听力较弱影响写作能力

我们所面临的是一群农村学生，他们没有特别好的条件练习听力，每次的练习时间仅仅是每节英语课上，听听力的时间是在太少。有位作家说过：“不写没有读过的语言，不读没有说

的语言，不说没有听过的语言”。很明显，通过听的渠道获得语言信息及语言感受在英语学习中基础的基础。听不来也就写不上。

5.单词书写不规范，卷面书写较乱

对于大多数学生来说，格式、大小写、标点，书写不规范：句首字母大写不注意，使用从句时不会使用标点、大小写等)。如：After he went back home. He cooked supper.，考试时把单词写整齐的很少，学生普遍认为只要把单词写正确就可以得分，虽然觉得自己写的作文还可以，但卷子发下之后却没有得到期望的分数，而有的同学写作能力较差但书写整齐，写作得分也不是很低。

二、提高写作的方法

1.词汇的积累

初中学生在阅读理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。

同时拟定时以单选、完型、阅读等形式考察学生对这些单词的掌握情况，通过测试和竞赛的方式进一步激发大家学习词汇的热情。不过，由于课程的时间安排问题，测试的工作开展较少，这也是实验工作中的一个不足。

2.熟练记住单词

( 1.) 巩固单词拼写，培养组句能力。 词汇匮乏是妨碍英语写作的最大障碍之一，有话想说，无词可写是大部分学生的苦恼。因此，我要求学生坚持每天听写、默写、循环记忆单词，掌握巩固词汇。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. 还以某一词为中心，写出该词的不同形式或词性，组成典型的句型，从而不断丰富词汇和句型。如拼写单词die 时，不但要写出其过去式过去分词died，而且要写出其他词性(death, dead, dying), 再分别组句，如：The old man died two years ago. He has been dead for two years. His death made his dog very sad. It is dying.又如写到易混淆的词pay, spend, cost, take 时，可以多种方式表达句意。He paid 20 yuan for the book. He spent 20 yuan on the book. He spent 20 yuan buying the book. The book cost him 20 yuan. It takes him 20 minutes to read the book every day.等等。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。以上这些机械操练虽然枯燥，但很有必要，它是能力培养的基础。在词句落实的基础上，可向学生提出稍高的要求，如写出高质量的句子： What a happy family I have ! (I have a happy family.) The story is so interesting that everyone likes it.( The story is very interesting. Everyone likes it. ) He didn’t come to school, because he was ill. (He was ill. He didn’t come to school.) I am good at not only English but also math.(I am good at English and I am good at math ，too. )( 2、) 阅读背诵精彩段落，围绕单元话题设计书面表达。 阅读是写作的 熟练记住每一话题的单词。熟记单词后让他们能够熟练的运用，能够把重点单词用来造句。然后熟记词组，特别是能够熟练的运用词组，能够用词组熟练造句。用词组和单词连成简单句，只要学生将句子表达清楚，语意连贯，就是一篇好的英语文章。

3.熟练使用简单句

简单句对学生来说相对好掌握些，可以要求学生们能够熟练划分主语、谓语、宾语。 正确掌握并列连词andbutor等词。在写作中要求学生不能随意发挥，也不能逐字逐句的翻译所给的文章，要求学生能抓住题中所给的条件，只要考生能将题中所给的要点全部表达清楚，而没有遗漏，在写作中并且注意到语言的连贯，那么就是一篇很好的英语文章。

4.加强听力训练，促进写作

目前英语听力教材使用的具体做法是：事先提出每课生词，教师领读几遍。排除生词障碍后，第一遍学生主让学生在课后反复听课文内容，并逐字逐句写下。每周星期五布置，星期一用课堂时间，教师将该文念一、二遍，让学生听写，教师收上来查阅，加以评讲。通过这种训练，提高学生的听力水平和表达能力。

5.书写规范，促进写作

关于书写的卷面整洁与否，字体如何，是老生常谈话题。可是由于印象分数的一分半分之差，很可能影响一生。在此处丢分纯属不值得，这也是笔者把它放在第一位的原因。在教学过程中，应坚持要求学生书写规范，写好匀笔斜体行书，注意连写，以及文面美观。可以采用出专刊的形式，让全班同学都参加英语书法评比，从而激发学生练习英语书写的兴趣，养成良好的书写习惯。

综上所述，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，是与英语的听说读是不可分割的，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“五分钟课前训练”：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悍的文章，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。

美国作家舒伯特指出:“Reading is writing”，即：阅读能够促进写作，因为对学生而言,他们对生活的体验、对人生的认识大多是从书本上获得，从大量的阅读中获取的，阅读不仅能帮助学生积累思想,也能帮助他们积累语言素材。“You ought to read very carefully. Not only very carefully，but also aloud，and that again and again till you know the passage by heart and write it as if it were your own.” 这就清楚地说明了熟读成诵对写作是多么重要。所以要想写出好文章,就必须大量读书，它是写作的基础。

阅读对写作固然重要，但其它形式写作训练同样不可忽视，英语写作实践是英语写作理论转化为写作能力的“中介”。英语写作要突出实践，正如学习游泳一样，写作的能力是练出来的。课外练笔是课堂写作训练最有益的补充，因为课堂时间有限，仅靠课堂写作训练培养学生的写作能力是不够的。作文不是“学”出来的，而是“写”出来的。学生必须进行大量的写作练习才能掌握并且灵活运用各种写作技能，而且写作技能只有在不断写作的过程中才能逐步得到提高和完善。

此外,学生的英语语言意识和英语思维能力的培养也需要大量的练习。可见,课外练笔非常必要，应该给予重视。课外练笔的形式多种多样，可采用让学生写英语日记、写英语周记，教师也可有意识地给学生提供一些尽量贴近生活的时尚话题，如奥运会、环境保护等，让学生在课外习作。

春华秋实，颗粒满仓。下面语文迷收集了秋天的英文句子，欢迎阅读。

1. 我认为秋天是一年中最美的季节。

I think autumn is the most beautiful season in a year.

2. 秋天时叶子变黄。

The leaves turn yellow in autumn.

3. 在秋天的晚上，我感到一丝凉意。

I feel a little cool in the autumnal night.

4. 秋天里树木都是光秃秃的。

The trees were naked during autumn.

5. 今天的天气已露出了一丝秋天的气息。

There is a breath of autumn in the air today.

6. 九月的天气确实像秋天了。

The weather in September was positively autumnal.

7. 我喜欢收集秋天赤褐色的叶子。

I like to collect russet autumn leaves.

8. 我们欣赏着秋天里新英格兰树林的瑰丽色彩。

We are enjoying the resplendent colors of the New England woods in the autumn.

9.夜半酒醒人不觉，满池荷叶动秋风

Wake up to drink ,people feel the middle of the night, moving wind over a lotus leaf pond

10.生命如此简单，如秋，如落叶。

Life is so si-mp-le, such as the autumn, such as fallen leaves.

11.秋中，有些感情便如落叶般凋零了，有些影子却挥之不去，只在网络虚缈中才有熟悉的名字。凋零就凋零吧，倦缩也好，成灰亦好，管它感情如一树红叶般怎样盛开，怎样凋零。我站在川流不息的时间里，谈笑风生，任凭满天的叶子飞舞，最终覆盖苍凉的生命。

In autumn, some emotions, such as fallen leaves as they decline, some have lingering shadow, only in the virtual network is indistinct in the familiar names. It withered on the decline,ashes are also good, regardleof the feelings of like how the leaves like a tree in full bloom and how to decline. I was standing on the flow of time, laughing, even if the sky flying leaves, eventually covering the lives of desolation.

12.那是一幅描绘秋天景色的油画。

That is an oil painting of a landscape in spring.

用介词短语替代从句，例：

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.

1.individuals,characters, folks替换(people ,persons)

2: positive, favorable, rosy (美好的)，promising

(有希望的)，perfect, pleasurable , excellent, outstanding, superior替换good

3:dreadful, unfavorable, poor, adverse, ill (有害的)替换bad

如果bad做表语，可以有be less impressive替换

eg.An army of college students indulge themselves in playing games, enjoying romance with girls/boys or killing time passively in their dorms. When it approaches to graduation ,as a result, they records are less impressive.

4.(an army of, an ocean of, a sea of, a multitude of ,a host of, many, if not most)替换many.

注：用many, if not most 一定要小心，many后一定要有词。

Eg. Many individuals, if not most, harbor the idea that….同理 用most, if not all ,替换most.

5: a slice of, quiet a few , several替换some

6:harbor the idea that, take the attitude that,

hold the view that, it is widely shared that,

it is universally acknowledged that)替think

(因为是书面语，所以要加that)

7:affair ,business ,matter 替换thing

8: shared 代 common

9.reap huge fruits 替换get many benefits )

10:for my part ,from my own perspective 替换 in my opinion

11:Increasing(ly),growing 替换more and more( 注意没有growingly这种形式。所以当修饰名词时用increasing/growing.修饰形容词，副词用increasingly.

Eg.sth has gained growing popularity.

popular with the advancement of sth.

12.little if anything, 或little or nothing替换hardly

13..beneficial, rewarding替换helpful,

14.shopper,client,consumer,purchaser, 替换customer

15.exceedingly,extremely, intensely 替换very

16.hardly necessary, hardly inevitable ... 替换 unnecessary, avoidable

17.sth appeals to sb, sth exerts a tremendous fascination on sb 替换sb take interest in / sb. be interested in

18.capture ones attention替换attract ones attention.

19.facet,demension,sphere代aspect

20.be indicative of ,be suggestive of ,be fearful of代 indicate, suggest ,fear

21.give rise to, lead to, result in, trigger 替换cause.

22. There are several reasons behind sth 替换..reasons for sth

23.desire 替换want.

24.pour attention into 替换pay attention to

25.bear in mind that 替换remember

26. enjoy, possess 替换have(注意process是过程的意思)

27. interaction替换communication

28.frown on sth替换 be against , disagree with sth

29.to name only a few, as an example替换 for example, for instance

30. next to / virtually impossible,替换nearly / almost impossible

1、思想重视的不够

随着各种教学法涌入我国，对我国英语教学影响最大的当数“听说法”和&ldquo,日记;视听法”。这些教学法提倡将英语作为一门工具来对待，侧重学生语言技能的训练。然而，我们在着意于口头技能培养的同时却忽略了书面阅读和写作，在强调语言结构形式的反复操练的同时却忽略了学生语言能力的培养，从而导致教师和学生轻视英语写作现象的产生。

2、写作素材的缺乏

教师对小学英语写作究竟要写些什么缺乏明确的认识。大部分写作练习表现为简单机械的抄写，学生容易完成，老师易于批改，但写作内容与学生生活缺乏练习。

3、母语文法的束缚

小学生刚刚接触英语，在表达的过程中难免受到母语的构词法、语法和思维方式的影响，用汉语的方式组词或组句，以至于出现大量的文法错误，让人啼笑皆非。

导语：英语作文是最容易拿分，也是最容易丢分的题型。写作上面有什么技巧呢?下面是yjbs作文网小编为您收集整理的资料，希望能够对您有所帮助。

一：开头

句子的开头方式，不要一味地都是主语开头，接着是谓语、宾语，最后再加一个状语。可以把状语置于句首，或用分词做状语等。

〔原文〕We met at the school gate and went there together early in the morning.

〔修正〕Early in the morning we met at the school gate and went there together.

〔原文〕The young man couldn’t help crying when he heard the bad news.

〔修正〕Hearing the bad news， the young man couldn’t help crying.

二：经过

2.在整篇文章中，避免只使用一两个句式，要灵活运用诸如倒装句、强调句、主从复合句、分词状语等。

①强调句

〔原文〕I met him in the street yesterday.

〔修正〕It was in the street that I met him yesterday.

It was yesterday that I met him in the street.

②由with或without引导的短语。如:

He sat in a chair with a newspaper in the hand.

③分词短语。如:

Satisfied with the result，He decided to go on with a new experiment.

④倒装句。如:

Only in this way can we achieve our goal.

Never before have I seen such a wonderful film.

Not only should we study in the college, but also learn how to be a decent person.

⑤省略句。如:

If so，victory will be ours.

You can make some changes wherever necessary.

3.通过分句和合句，增强句子的连贯性和表现力。

〔原文〕He stopped us half an hour ago. He made us catch the next offender.

〔修正〕He stopped us half an hour ago and made us catch the next offender.

〔原文〕We had a short rest. Then we began to play happily. We sang and danced.

Some told stories. Some played chess.

〔修正〕After a short rest， we had great fun singing and dancing， telling jokes and playing chess.注意使用不同长度的句子，要结合使用，不能只用短句或只用长句。

4.学会使用过渡词。如:

①递进: then(然后)， besides(还有)， furthermore(而且)， moreover(此外)等。

②转折: however(然而)， but(但是)， on the contrary (相反)， after all(毕竟)等。

③总结: finally(最后)， at last(最后)， in brief(总之)， in conclusion(最后)等。

④强调: indeed(确实)， certainly(一定)， surely(确定)， above all(尤其)等。

⑤对比: in the same way(同样地)， just as(正如)， on the one hand…on the other hand(一方面……另一方面……)等。

相似的比较： similarly, in the same manner 相反的比较： on the other hand, conversely, whereas, while, instead, nevertheless, in contrast, on the contrary, compared with …,

5.注意使用词组、习语来代替一些单词，以增加文采。如:

〔原文〕A new railway is being built in my hometown.

〔修正〕A new railway is under construction in my hometown.

6.避免重复使用某一单词或短语。如:

〔原文〕I like reading while my brother likes watching television.

〔修正〕I like reading while my brother enjoys watching television.

I like reading while watching television appeals to my brother.

三、 结尾

1、 All in all, what really matters is, in fact, that……(比如说到和谐社会 All in all, what really matters is, in fact, that we should build our society a harmonious society.)

2、 Therefore, it’s not difficult to draw a conclusion that……

3、 As a result , we should take effective measures to do sth.(我们必须采取一些有效的措施来做些什么)

4、 From what has been discussed above , we may conclude that ……

5、 Obviously(此为过渡短语), we can draw the conclusion that good manners arise from politeness and respect for others.

1.经济的快速发展 the rapid development of economy

2.人民生活水平的显著提高/ 稳步增长the remarkable improvement/ steady growth of people’s living standard

3.先进的科学技术 advanced science and technology

4.面临新的机遇和挑战 be faced with new opportunities and challenges

5.人们普遍认为 It is commonly believed/ recognized that…

6.社会发展的必然结果 the inevitable result of social development

7.引起了广泛的公众关注 arouse wide public concern/ draw public attention

8.不可否认 It is undeniable that…/ There is no denying that…

9.热烈的讨论/ 争论 a heated discussion/ debate

10. 有争议性的问题 a controversial issue

11.完全不同的观点 a totally different argument

12.一些人 …而另外一些人 … Some people… while others…

13. 就我而言/ 就个人而言 As far as I am concerned, / Personally,

14.就…达到绝对的一致 reach an absolute consensus on…

15.有充分的理由支持 be supported by sound reasons

16.双方的论点 argument on both sides

17.发挥着日益重要的作用 play an increasingly important role in…

18.对…必不可少 be indispensable to …

19.正如谚语所说 As the proverb goes:

20.…也不例外 …be no exception

21.对…产生有利/不利的影响 exert positive/ negative effects on…

22.利远远大于弊 the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages。

23.导致，引起 lead to/ give rise to/ contribute to/ result in

24.复杂的社会现象 a complicated social phenomenon

25.责任感 / 成就感 sense of responsibility/ sense of achievement

26. 竞争与合作精神 sense of competition and cooperation

27. 开阔眼界 widen one’s horizon/ broaden one’s vision

28.学习知识和技能 acquire knowledge and skills

29.经济/心理负担 financial burden / psychological burden

30.考虑到诸多因素 take many factors into account/ consideration

31. 从另一个角度 from another perspective

32.做出共同努力 make joint efforts

33. 对…有益 be beneficial / conducive to…

34.为社会做贡献 make contributions to the society

35.打下坚实的基础 lay a solid foundation for…

36.综合素质 comprehensive quality

37.无可非议 blameless / beyond reproach

39.致力于/ 投身于 be committed / devoted to…

40. 应当承认 Admittedly,

41.不可推卸的义务 unshakable duty

42. 满足需求 satisfy/ meet the needs of…

43.可靠的信息源 a reliable source of information

44.宝贵的自然资源 valuable natural resources

45.因特网 the Internet (一定要由冠词，字母I 大写)

46.方便快捷 convenient and efficient

47.在人类生活的方方面面 in all aspects of human life

48.环保(的) environmental protection / environmentally friendly

49.社会进步的体现 a symbol of society progress

50.科技的飞速更新 the ever-accelerated updating of science and technology

51.对这一问题持有不同态度 hold different attitudes towards this issue

52.支持前/后种观点的人 people / those in fovor of the former/ latteropinion

53.有/ 提供如下理由/ 证据 have/ provide the following reasons/ evidence

54.在一定程度上 to some extent/ degree / in some way

55. 理论和实践相结合 integrate theory with practice

56. …必然趋势 an irresistible trend of…

57.日益激烈的社会竞争 the increasingly fierce social competition

58.眼前利益 immediate interest/ short-term interest

59.长远利益. interest in the long run

60.…有其自身的优缺点 … has its merits and demerits/ advantages and disadvantages

61.扬长避短 Exploit to the full one’s favorable conditions and avoid unfavorable ones

62.取其精髓，取其糟粕 Take the essence and discard the dregs。

63.对…有害 do harm to / be harmful to/ be detrimental to

64.交流思想/ 情感/ 信息 exchange ideas/ emotions/ information

65.跟上…的最新发展 keep pace with / catch up with/ keep abreast with the latest development of …

66.采取有效措施来… take effective measures to do sth

67.…的健康发展 the healthy development of …

68.有利有弊 Every coin has its two sides。

No garden without weeds。

69.对…观点因人而异 Views on …vary from person to person。

70.重视 attach great importance to…

71.社会地位 social status

72.把时间和精力放在…上 focus time and energy on…

73.扩大知识面 expand one’s scope of knowledge

74.身心两方面 both physically and mentally

75.有直接/间接关系 be directly / indirectly related to…

76. 提出折中提议 set forth a compromise proposal

77. 可以取代 “think”的词 believe, claim, maintain, argue, insist, hold the opinion/ belief that

78.缓解压力/ 减轻负担 relieve stress/ burden

79.优先考虑/发展… give (top) priority to sth。

80.与…比较 compared with…/ in comparison with

81. 相反 in contrast / on the contrary。

82.代替 replace/ substitute / take the place of

83.经不起推敲 cannot bear closer analysis / cannot hold water

84.提供就业机会 offer job opportunities

85. 社会进步的反映 mirror of social progress

86.毫无疑问 Undoubtedly, / There is no doubt that…

87.增进相互了解 enhance/ promote mutual understanding

88.充分利用 make full use of / take advantage of

记叙文是记人叙事的文章，它主要是用于说明事件的时间、背景、起因、过程及结果，即我们通常所说的五个“ W ”( what, who, when, where, why )和一个“ H ”( how )。记叙文的重点在于“述说”和“描写”，因此一篇好的记叙文要叙述条理清楚，描写生动形象。下面就谈谈英语记叙文的特点和写好记叙文的基本要领。

一、记叙文的特点

1. 叙述的人称

英语的记叙文一般是以第一或第三人称的角度来叙述的。用第一称表示的是由叙述者亲眼所见、亲耳所闻的经历。它的优点在于能把故事的情节通过“我”来传达给读者，使人读后感到真实可信，如身临其境。如：

The other day, I was driving along the street. Suddenly, a car lost its control and ran directly towards me fast. I was so frightened that I quickly turned to the left side. But it was too late. The car hit my bike and I fell off it.

用第三人称叙述，优点在于叙述者不受“我”活动范围以内的人和事物的限制，而是通过作者与读者之外的第三者，直接把故事中的情节展现在读者面前，文章的客观性很强。如：

Little Tom was going to school with an umbrella, for it was raining hard. On the way, he saw an old woman walking in the rain with nothing to cover. Tom went up to the old woman and wanted to share the umbrella with her, but he was too short. What could he do? Then he had a good idea.

2. 动词的时态

在记叙文中，记和叙都离不开动词。所以动词出现率最高，且富于变化。记叙文中用得最多的是动词的过去的，这是英语记叙文区别于汉语记叙文的关键之处。英语写作的优美之处就在于这些动词时态的变化，正是这一点才使得所记、所叙有鲜活的动态感、鲜明的层次感和立体感。

3. 叙述的顺序

记叙一件事要有一定的顺序。无论是顺叙、倒叙、插叙还是补叙，都要让读者能弄清事情的来龙去脉。顺叙最容易操作，较容易给读者提供有关事情的空间和时间线索。但这种方法也容易使文章显得平铺直叙，读起来平淡乏味。倒叙、插叙、补叙等叙述方法能有效地提高文章的结构效果，让所叙之事跌宕起伏，使读者在阅读时思维产生较大的跳跃，从而为文章所吸引，深入其中。但这些方法如果使用不当，则容易弄巧成拙，使文章结构散乱，头绪不清，让读者不知所云。

4. 叙述的过渡

过渡在上下文中起着承上启下、融会贯通的作用。过渡往往用在地点转移或时间、事件转换以及由概括说明到具体叙述时。如：

In my summer holidays, I did a lot of things. Apart form doing my homework, reading an English novel, watching TV and doing some housework, I went on a trip to Qingdao. It is really a beautiful city. There are many places of interest to see. But what impressed me most was the sunrise.

The next morning I got up early. I was very happy because it was a fine day. By the time I got to the beach, the clouds on the horizon were turning red. In a little while, a small part of the sun was gradually appearing. The sun was very red, not shining. It rose slowly. At last it broke through the red clouds and jumped above the sea, just like a deep-red ball. At the same time the clouds and the sea water became red and bright.

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

一.概念

记叙文也称叙述文，是一种以记叙/叙述的手法来表述人物、事件的文体。常见的属于记叙文文体的作品有：故事、游记、通讯、新闻报道、历史、 人物传记、日记和回忆录等。记叙文大致可以分为两大类：以记人为主的记叙文和以叙事为主的记叙文。前者主要是对人物的经历、活动或者性格特征进行叙述;后者则是对某一事件的发生、发展过程和结果进行叙述。前者重在描述人物的活动，而后者则重在表述事件的发生发展过程。

二.六大要素

记叙文的写作要注意交待清楚六大要素，即时间(time)、地点(place)、 人物( character)、事件的原因(cause)、经过(process)和结果( effect)。

由于记叙文中所涉及的要素比其他文体相对要多、要复杂，所以整篇文章的结构安排就显得尤其重要，安排不合理就会使读者产生混乱的感觉。

记叙文的展开一般都是以时间为主线来组织所要叙述的内容，使读者对文章中的人物或事件有一个比较清晰的了解。记叙文的结构安排通常有三种形式:正叙、倒叙和插叙。正叙是英语叙述文中最常用的一种结构，即以人物出现、活动或事件开始发生的时间点作为记叙的起点，然后按照人物活动的展开、事件发生发展的自然顺序进行叙述。倒叙则是在文章的开头就交待人物活动或事件发展的结果。插叙这一结构在我们的英文写作中很少用到。

三.时态

记叙文讲述的大多是过去已经发生的活动或事件，因此用过去时态(一般过去时、过去进行时、过去将来时、过去完成时)的作品比较多。但有时为了使文章显得更加真实、亲切和生动，也可以使用现在时态(一般现在时、 现在进行时、现在将来时、现在完成时)。

四.人称

记叙某个人物的经历、活动或某件事情的经过离不开叙述的主体，即 “人称”。记叙文中的人称大多采用第一人称或第三人称的形式。第一人称的叙述主观色彩较浓，可以增强文章的真实感，有利于表述细腻的情感和细节的过程;第三人称的叙述可以超越时空的限制，更加真实、客观地表述某一人物活动或事件的全过程。

无论采用第一人称，还是采用第二人称，都要保持全文叙述主体的人称的一致性。注意：句式尽量要多变，不要通篇文章的句子都以人称代词开头，否则文章会显得单调沉闷。例如: I loved the book first because of its beautiful heroine. Then I found it a romantic love story which greatly moved me. I now find that it is better taken as the growth story of a naive girl into a strong-willed woman. I realize that it is the essence of the book that attracts such big number of faithful readers.

这一段描述在用词、内容、逻辑上都不错，但过多地使用了以“I”开头的句子，使文章略显单调乏昧，给读者的印象大打折扣。

五.措辞与表达

在全国大学英语四级考试的各种作文体裁中，记叙文需要应试者具有更全面的语言技能与篇章组织能力。四级考试中常见的议论文和说明文分别要求语言的准确性和论证的合理性、可信性;而记叙文的语言则以生动、真实、 贴切为准则。同一个记叙文题目，不同的人会描述不同的人物经历或事件，又很少有固定的表达或句式可供参考，这时作者的综合语言水平就会表现出来，对能否取得高分起到了相当重要的作用。 这就要求考生平时要多注意语言的磨练和积累。

六.记叙文写作技巧

1. 仔细审题，明确主题，选准素材，罗列提纲。

2. 写好第一段

最好能采用一个复句并且用上几个四级水平的单词或词组。这样的文章开篇方式会使读者或阅卷人确信接下来的文章也一样精彩。

我们来看这样一段文章的开头:

The results of the college entrance examination came. I tore open the envelope. As soon as I saw the score，tears streamed down my face. I fell into my bed and did not get up the whole day. All was over. What is the meaning to live on earth? For the first time， I thought of death， of being a vagrant and of being single all my life. I was only seventeen. Wasn’t it cruel to me? My father was hurt and he could not stand it that his son was a disgrace. He was angry beyond words. My mother kept silent，and often I saw her in tears. Horror filled the house.

怎么样，你自己是否也被一种失落与绝望的气氛所笼罩，并且期待着看到作者接下来会做些什么呢?

3. 结构要清晰

下笔之前一定要对整篇文章的结构有一个完整的构想，作文的框架、主题和脉络是最重要的采分点。要清楚每一段要陈述哪些内容，这样不仅可以增强文章的逻辑性和可接受性，还可以使整篇作文的行文水到渠成，不会有凑字数的烦恼。

4. 尽量多使用表示转折、顺接、因果和时间的连接词

如first、second、moreover、for one thing…for another、on the one hand…on the other hand等。这样既可以显示语言功底，又增强了记叙内容的连贯性和生动性。

5. 文章不要写得太长

有的考生遇到触动自己内心情感的记叙文题目时就“一发不可收拾”，但由于时间有限，结果草草收尾，甚至没有结尾。四级作文毕竟是应试作文， 只要充分发挥出自己的英语语言水平，表述出所规定的内容就可以了。

6. 要多用四级词汇，要使句式多样化

没有语言错误并不是高分作文的保障(基本没有语言错误只是8分的基本要求) ;作文想达到11分以上，四级词汇和句型必须达到一定的比例。如，表示“重视”的词汇有stress，emphasize等，但选用短语attach importance to更能吸引阅卷人的注意;disagree和frown on sth. 都表示反对或不赞成，前者就平淡，后者表达意思很生动，更能引起阅卷老师的注意。

简单句和复合句合理搭配，长短句交替使用，会增强文章的节奏感，使描写更生动，给阅卷老师留下深刻印象。如：

(1) 名词化手段：用名词或名词词组替换一个句子或句子的主要部分，然后使这个名词或名词短语成为另外一个句子的组成部分，以达到合并句子的目的。如：

We were very much surprised. Mary refused the invitation.

We were very much surprised at/by Mary’s refusal of the invitation.

(2) 定语化手段：根据语义关系，可以把其中一句转换成形容词或形容词性成分、分词短语、定语从句等，如：

The winnerwas in no mood for speeches. The winner was hot and tired.

Thewinner，hot and tired，was in no mood for speeches.(转换成形容词短语) 7. 字迹清楚，卷面整洁。尽量不涂抹。 8. 最后的2—3分钟，进行修改检查。

检查的内容不是“大处着眼”，而是“小处着手”;不是考虑作文的框架结构，而是留心细枝末节。