优秀英语大写作技巧【汇集20篇】

1)We have (take) pleasure in informing you that......

兹欣告你方......

2)We have the pleasure of informing you that......

兹欣告你方.....

3)We are pleased (glad) to inform you that......

兹欣告你方......

4)Further to our letter of yesterday, we now have (the) pleasure in informing you that......

续谈我方昨日函, 现告你方......

5)We confirm telegrams/fax messages recently exchanged between us and are pleased to say that......

我方确认近来双方往来电报/传真,并欣告......

6)We confirm cables exchanged as per copies (cable confirmation) herewith attached.

我方确认往来电报,参见所附文本.

7)We learn from Messrs......that you are interested and well experienced in ......business, and would like to establish business relationship with us.

我方从...公司获悉,你方对...业务感兴趣且颇有经验,意欲与我方建立业务关系.

8)Although no communication has been exchanged between us for a long time, we trust that you are doing well in business.

虽然久未通讯,谅你方生意兴隆.

9)Although we have not heard from you for quite some time, we hope your business is progressing satisfactorily.

虽然好久没接到你方来信,谅业务进展顺利.

10)We have pleasure in sending you our catalog, which gives full information about our various products.

欣寄我方目录,提供我方各类产品的详细情况。

11)We are pleased to send you by parcel post a package containing...

很高兴寄你一邮包内装...

12)We have the pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your letter dated...

欣获你方...月...日来信.

13)We acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of...

谢谢你方...月...日来信.

14)We have duly received your letter of ...

刚刚收悉你方...月...日来信.

15)We thank you for your letter of ...contents of which have been noted.

谢谢你方...月...日来信,内容已悉.

16) Refering to your letter of ......we are pleased to ....

关于你方...月...日来信,我们很高兴...

17) Reverting to your letter of ...we wish to say that...

再洽你方...月...日来信,令通知...

18)In reply to your letter of ...,we...

兹复你方...月...日来函,我方...

19) We wish to refer to your letter of ...concerning

现复你方...月...日关于...的来信

20) In compliance with the request in your letter of ... we...

按你方...月...日来函要求,我方...

话题作文是一个宽泛的作文命题，很多考生都不易把握，那么写好话题作文呢，下面整理了一些话题作文的写作技巧，希望对大家有所帮助!

一、化一为万

比如读书这个话题，有的同学尽管整日在书海中泛舟，但面对这一话题感觉还是有点单一，似乎无话可说。其实，只要打开思路，挖掘得法，有关读书的话题是一座取之不竭、掘之不尽的丰富宝藏。做到内容丰富是不难的，但你必须善于联想。围绕读书这个话题，你可以讲述读书的故事，奏响想书、买书、借书、偷书、读书中的小插曲;可以记叙读书的经历，见证读书陪伴成长的过程;可以介绍读书的方法，选书、精读与浏览，读书札记，经典诵读，读书与实践;可以品说读书的滋味，酸甜苦辣咸，味道各异，一一道来;可以漫谈读书的感受，读后感仁者见仁，智者见智;可以抒写读书的收获，书中自有为人之道、作文之法;可以渲染读书的陶醉，沉醉书海，自然如入仙境;可以推介所读的好书，或简叙书文内容，或罗列推荐理由;可以鉴评所读的书，赏析精彩片段，评价细小瑕疵;可以评价对书的态度，说长道短自有一番道理。如此等等，你尽可以选择其中一点进行作文

二、化浅为深

如我长大了这个文题，谁也不会在取材上发生困难，看样子真是浅得不能再浅了，但实际上，这个题的关键在于对长大的理解。如果在审题之中认为长大的含义只是生理、身体的变化或是学会了某种生活技能、能够料理自己、胆子变大了，或者能对付别人的欺负等等，那这种理解就很肤浅，写出来的文章在选材立意上也就上不了档次。如果说能够寓理于事，从不同的角度写出正处于花季年龄的初中生成长中的追求、向往、烦恼和困惑，以及对人生的初步认识，写出人生中的各种各样的责任感已经在心中出现，那么，这样的思考就是准确地把握了文题的含义。

三、化实为虚

如以风景为话题写作。写好这个话题，就要去拓宽思路，化实为虚。风景不仅指自然环境，还可指美好的人和事物。如生活中的风景随处可见;校园中寻求知识是一道富有诗意的风景;家庭中感受亲情是一道充满温馨的风景;社会上某一种新的、健康的气象是一道多彩多姿的风景;一个人冥思静想的意识中也会出现一种风景认真地想过这种种新风景后，我们再去构思自己的文章，显然就要高明得多。

四、化整为零

有一类作文命题先出材料再出题，所以必须先读后写。作为议论文，它可以是材料作文，但作为记叙文，它有时候只是暗示着一种作文的角度或者作文的方向，或者说是暗示要求表现的中心思想。请看下面这个作文试题：世界，充满七彩阳光，人生，充满美好向往，在通往理想的攀登之路上，每一步都弹奏着苦与乐的乐章。根据这首小诗的含义，以攀登为题写一篇不少于600字的文章，除诗歌以外文体不限。对这个文题，不论你写哪一种文体的文章，恐怕都得注意苦与乐这三个字，它是材料中暗示的方向。因此你在审题时必须先读懂材料，对材料进行化整为零，然后把材料中隐含的要点审出来。

五、化熟为生

有些看似很熟悉的题目，比如美在课余这个文题，可供取材的内容是不少的。其实这个题目有一个迷惑点，这个迷惑点在那个美字上。稍不注意，就会由于觉得这个文题似曾相识而忽视对美字的品读。由于没有抓住这个美字，就会写出丰富多彩的课余、好玩的课余、有趣的课余、热闹的课余等等内容，而就是没有突出这个美字。要记住，不管命题作文的形式多么复杂，你的眼睛要永远盯着它的题目。在熟悉的题目面前不要激动，不要以为它就是你做过的原题，仍要认真全面地审题。

六、化生为熟

先看试题：数百年前，一位聪明的老国王召集聪明的臣子，交代了一个任务：编一本《各时代智慧录》流传子孙。聪明的臣子工作了很长时间，完成了一本十二卷巨著。国王看后，认为书太厚，要求臣子把它浓缩一下。几经删减，浓缩为一本书。国王还认为太长。聪明的臣子把一本浓缩为一章，又把一章浓缩为一页，又把一页浓缩为一段，最后把一段浓缩为一句。国王看后，十分满意，说：这是各时代智慧的结晶，人们一旦知道了这个道理，我们担心的大部分问题就可以解决了。这句千锤百炼的话是：天下没有免费的午餐。请以天下没有免费的午餐为话题，自拟题目，自择文体，写一篇600字左右的文章。这个话题，是从材料中引出的，但是，材料不能作为作文的内容。原因是话题和材料没有因果关系。命题的这个特点，在审题时要明确，这样才能避免写作的失误。由于话题是一个比喻形式，所以在确定作文立意的时候，要明确比喻的具体含义。免费的午餐，这是西方人常用来说明没有付出就不会有收获的道理，即一切都要靠自己的奋斗才能获取。中国古代的寓言故事《守株待兔》也是说的这个意思。明确了话题的含义，就会化陌生为熟悉，就会有话可说。

以下是由语文迷网小精心整理提供的关于高考的英语写作技巧，一起来看看吧。

一、要善于模仿

一些同学的办法往往是背一堆范文，然后再到考场上进行一个“剪切”、“粘贴”的工作，真正的模仿重点永远要放在一定的句式结构上，而非个别的词汇。有一个句式说：“…for the simple reason that…”表示某种现象的原因是什么，用在高考(课程)写作中，我们就可以拿来解释为什么自行车在中国如此的流行：“The bicycle is very popular in China for the simple reason that…”。然而，很多同学一谈到原因仍然是“…because…”。如果要表示“总是能够”的概念，很多同学提笔就会写can always，但理想的句子应该是用双重否定表示强烈的肯定，用never fail to。

二、要灵活变通

在批改过上万份同学们英语(课程)作文中，经常能发现一些将中文生硬地翻译成英文的表达法。有一句话叫做“立志如山，行道如水”，写英文作文，一定要有决心把它写好，有信心把意思表达清楚，这是“立志如山”;但关键是遇到问题时要有个灵活的态度，能像流水一样变通解决问题。有个翻译界的故事说：在某大型国际会议的招待会上，一道菜是用鸡蛋做的。与会的客人问翻译：“What is it made of”本来是非常简单的一个问题，结果翻译太紧张，忘了“egg”这个词，但是他急中生智，回答：“It is made of Miss Hen’s son.”这里，就是一个灵活变通的范例。绕道表达，是写作中应该常常运用的一种方法。

三、要细心观察

注意英语中一些表达上的习惯。比如在正式文体的写作中，很少用 “it isn’t”这样的略缩形式，而往往是一板一眼地写作 “it is not”。同理，在正式文体中的日期一般不缩写，阿拉伯数字一般会用英文表达(特别长的数字除外)。

许多同学在写作文时，习惯于把 “since” “because” “for”这样的词放在句首引导原因状语从句。事实上，在我们见到的英语报刊杂志文章中，这样的从句一般都是放在主句之后的。另外, “and”也常常被误放在一句话的开头，表示两个句子之间的并列或递进关系。其实，经常留心地道的英语文章能发现，如果是并列关系，完全可以不用连词;如果是递进关系，用 “furthermore” “what is more”更为普遍。

四、要心有全局

英文写作如果结构意识良好，应试写作就简化成为一个填空的过程了，适当地填入观点、素材，文章就自然而然立起来了。

临考在即，同学们要牢记英语写作的基本要领，特编顺口溜如下：细审题，巧构思，列要点，防遗漏。写日记，同汉语;书信，通知格式要牢记。看清图表细梳理，写人记事按顺序;完稿后查遗漏，整洁干净莫忘记。

1

主语＋谓语(不及物动词)：S+V

It will rain tomorrow.

He often runs in the morning.

They cried.

Tom exercises every day.

2

主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋宾语：S+V+O

I miss my mother very much.

She wants to go home now.

The English club is going to hold an English party.

They all love her.

3

主语＋系动词＋表语：S+V+P

The music sounds wonderful.

The leaves have turned red.

She is a student.

We keep silent about that.

4

主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋间接宾语（人）＋直接宾语（物）：S+V+IO+DO

The teacher gave a book to him.=The teacher gave him a book.

They told me an interesting story.

The waitress offered me a bottle of wine.

My father will buy me a bike.=My father will buy a bike for me.

Miss Smith teaches us English.

5

主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋宾语＋宾语补足语：                                      S+V+O+C

They call me Xiao Wang.

I saw him swimming in the river.

We elected him monitor of the class.

看图作文，是起步作文。小学一年级的看图说话，二年级的看图写话，是看图作文的基础。看图作文，一直贯穿于小学阶段作文训练的始终，是培养观察能力、想象能力、思维能力和表达能力的一种行之有效的手段。同时，看图作文也是全国各地小学生历年毕业升学考试的一种常见形式。所以，学会看图作文十分重要。

看图作文是命题作文的基础。写好看图作文，同命题作文一样，首先要学会审题，搞清楚题目的性质。是记事的，还是写人的。是写景的，还是状物的。因为只有弄清文题的性质，才能确定采用什么样的表达方法。例如，《同桌》，主要写人;《师生情》，主要记事;《公园一角》主要写景……看清了文题，把握住题意，就不会跑题了。

看图作文是对提供的一幅或一组图的内容进行描述的习作训练。一幅或一组好的图画，是经过作者对生活的反复观察、分析，然后选取最能反映主题的画面，经过构思创作出来的。因而，进行看图作文的练习，必须认真观察，观察得细致，才能写得具体，抓住了重点，才能把图中的中心思想表达得准确。

看图作文的要求包括看图和作文两个方面。看图，就是观察。观察要有个顺序，要准确、细致、抓住重点，还要合理想象，以便准确地理解图的主要内容和中心。作文就是表达，它要求将观察所得，围绕图的中心，有条理、有重点、具体地写出来。

看图作文就图的内容看，有看单图作文和看连图作文两种。下面，我们结合例文，具体分析一下这两种看图作文形式的写法。

看单图作文，这是看图作文的一种主要形式。它要求：围绕图的中心表达，准确而有层次地写清楚图的内容。单图一般多采用从整体到部分再回到整体的顺序进行观察。比如看景物图，要分清画面景物的主次远近，确定重点，注意描写层次。《公园的一角》就是运用由远及近的写法，再现了公园一角美丽的风光。

Winter solstice is the earliest Chinese festival, call it yesterday, as early as the han dynasty had formed when we are familiar with todays twenty-four solar terms. Twenty-four solar terms, every 15 days for a throttle, a throttle is divided into three. As the winter solstice is divided into "hou earthworms knot; 2 hou elk horn, three HouShuiQuan move." Are the ancients from traditional agricultural production routine. Fade as the farming civilization, modern agriculture is affected by season is not very big, such as the vegetables all the year round in the greenhouses, traditional throttle effect on guidance and restriction of agricultural farming is also a little bit fade.

People now pay more attention to the throttle keeping in good health, in winter it was the season of supplements. After spring, summer, autumn three season, the body organs need to enter a state of rest during the winter, physical consumption in winter supplements in the past. Left the teacher said, so also have "winter signings, dozen tiger next year" the proverb.

冬至是中国最早的节日，称之为冬节，早在汉代时候已经形成了我们今天熟悉的二十四节气。二十四节气，每十五天为一个节气，一个节气分为三候。如冬至分为“一候蚯蚓结;二候麋角解，三候水泉动。”都是以古人从传统农业生产生活规律中总结出来的。随着农耕文明逐渐消退，现代农业受季节的影响不是很大，比如大棚里的菜一年四季都可以吃到，传统节气对农业种田的辅导和制约作用也在一点点消退。

现在的人们更多关注的是节气养生，冬季也是进补的季节。经历春夏秋三季后，身体各个器官在冬季需要进入休息的状态，过去身体上的消耗在冬天进补。左老师说，因此也有“冬季进补，来年打虎”的俗语。

下面是小编整理的的初中生作文写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

一、写作技法的重要性

如果说，“好人出在嘴上，好马出在腿上”，那么我说：好记叙文就出在写作的技法上。写作方法犹如刀上的刃，刃上的钢一样，直接决定着记叙文品质的优劣。忽视写作技法，文章是徒具形体的行尸走肉;充分运用写作技法，就会把文章妆扮得清秀美丽。可以说：一切优秀的记叙文，都是大量使用写作技法的记叙文;极多写作效果较差的记叙文，主因归结在忽视使用写作技法上。

写作技法既然如此重要，那么，写作技法到底有哪些呢?

二、写作技法有哪些

写作技法多得数不胜数，浩如烟海。如果哪个老师说：“同学们，我现在把所有的写作技法都归纳整理给你们”，那只能说明这个老师知识的浅薄而绝不是渊博。因为，写作技法源于在写作实践中，对成功案例，所做的规律性的提炼总结。它与人们在生产劳动实践中摸索劳动技巧相类似。所以说，写作技法，是一个在写作实践中不断地被创生出来，并永远被创生下去，没有止境的东西。在写作技法的大海里，我们只有不断地去探寻、去发现、去认识、去整理、去积累，并谨慎地说，我已经掌握了沧海中的一粟或一桶或一湾水域，但绝不能狂妄地说已掌握了它的全部。

我这样说，只是想让同学们明确：我下面讲的，仅是初中生记叙文写作中，常见并常用的一些写作技法，它仅是整个写作技法中冰山的一角，而不是全部。更多的写作技法，还需要靠同学们自己在阅读大量的文学作品中去探寻，去积累。

(一)修辞手法：比喻、拟人、拟物、排比、夸张、引用、反问、设问、反复、顶真、双关、反语、借代、对偶、对比、仿词、移用等。

(二)表达方式：1、记叙：顺叙、倒叙、插叙、补叙等。2、描写：景物(环境)、场面、间接(侧面)、直接(正面)、特写、动作(行为)、语言、心理、外貌(肖像)、神情等。3、说明。4、议论。5、抒情：直接、间接。

(三)选择句式：陈述句、肯定句、判断句、否定句、双重否定句、疑问句、设问句、反问句、感叹句、祈使句、选择句、排比句、对偶(对仗)句、顶真句、回环句、连动句、整散句、长短句、独词句等。

(四)篇章结构：时间推移式、空间转换式、景物更迭式、串糖葫芦式、起承转合式、线索引导式、一波三折式、思想意识式、逐层推进式、由远及近式、总分总式、悬念式、对照式、套娃式、顶真式、填充式、分列式、插叙式、倒叙式、释疑式、见闻式、引子、题记、附记、后记等。

(五)推敲运用新颖、灵动、精准的动词，恰当使用形象、生动、传神、富有表现力的修饰语。

(六)其他的基础写作技法：开门见山、首尾呼应、卒章显志、先抑后扬、托物言志、点面结合、融情于景、情景交融、虚实相生、以古讽今、以小见大、动静相衬、对比烘托、人称变换、摩拟语气、言近旨远、兴波澜、转动法、剥笋法、拟人法、拟物法、五觉法、详略法、矛盾句、哲理句、中心句、警句、伏笔、线索、过渡、照应、设悬、象征、隐意、升华、点睛、类比、回环、通感、文眼、注释、联想、想像、物品自诉法、动物自诉法、远眺近看法、彩笔描绘法、特征举例法、实验证明法、季节变换法、日内变换法、现场目击法、成长变化法、赞美颂扬法、群体描写法、言已尽意无穷等。

另外，还有异彩纷呈、新颖别致的开头和结尾的众多写作技法，限于翻陈出新太多太快，虽列举些许皮毛，终免不了顾此失彼，举一斑而失全豹，道一足而全象尽失，也就不再罗列了。

三、怎样使用技法

了解一些基础的写作技法，只算完成了一步;如何适当使用这些写作技法，是我们要走好的另一步。走好这一步尤其迫切而关键。

(一)不能无目的地滥用。

初学写作的人，知道了运用写作技法的重要性，并掌握了一些写作技法，就开始在文章中大量地运用了。虽说是无法不成文嘛，这也不是什么坏事;何况，学生能从不去用，到有意识地大量地使用，这本身也是一个巨大的进步，是可喜可贺的事。但作为指导教师来说，发现了问题还是要说问题的。

出现的问题是：一些初始习作的中学生，为了最大限度地追求采用写作技法的效应，就出现了写作技法无目的滥用的情况。表现是：在文章该略写处，也运用大量的写作技法去藻饰、染色，这样，的确是增强了表现力和感染力，增强了生动、形象、传神性，也增强了文采，可惜的是挥拳打错了地方，射箭脱离了靶子。

我们知道，写文章该详处一定要详，该略处也是一定要略的。否则，把该略的写详了，就会出现主旨不明朗，废话有的是，宣宾夺主，不知所云的弊病。要纠正这个弊病，就要求，运用写作技法也一定要注意写作的目的性，一切是为表现中心思想服务，切不可把宜略处写具体详细了。

(二)要用得自然，少一些刻意雕琢之痕。

俗话说：万法皆归自然;历尽沧桑而归淡泊;大智若愚，大勇若钝。这里面包含一个至理：反璞归真。也就是说，道的最高境界是平淡、自然。写作方法的运用就是这样，追求的最高境界应该是：看似平易实则内蕴其法，千山万壑皆敛于平淡自然之中。

晏殊的“无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来”，之所以成为名句，主要原因之一是：看似信手拈来，实则对仗工整。王维的“大漠孤烟直，长河落日圆”脍炙人口，也是由于这两句语言浅易，看似平白无奇，实则意象阔大，内蕴至丰。我也曾拜读过一些语言大师(如叶圣陶、吕淑湘、俞敏等人)的手笔，发现他们存在一个共性，那就是：追求平易、自然。〔注1〕

写作方法要用得巧、用得妙、用得自然、用得浑然天成。而应尽量避免刻意的斧刻雕琢之痕，尽量避免牵强附会，以免产生惺惺作态的令人生厌的反效果。

(三)要善于综合混用，而不必非此即彼，孤立使用。

优美的语句文段，通常都是综合混用了写作技法的。这就像做菜一样：几种菜杂烩在一起，再辅以油、盐、各种调料，做出来后，要远比清炖单一菜的味道好得多。写作技法不必单一孤立使用，而要综合混用，道理就在于此了。〔注2〕

初学习作的中学生，要注意，不必把写作技法孤立地使用，而可以尽量地综合混用它们。

(四)不要墨守成规，宥于定式，提倡有新意。

“文无定法”，没有谁规定文章必须怎样写，而不能怎样写;也没有谁规定写作技法必须这样用，而不能那样用。运用写作技法决不必墨守成规、宥于定式，完全可以不拘一格〔注3〕。老套熟套可以做借鉴用，但不可以做限定用。能有创意，才有新意。

(五)再好，终究是别人的;最好，是自己的。

再好的写作技法，终究是踏着前人的足迹亦步亦趋，这样纵是捷径，终是踩在了巨人的肩上眺望。把我们目光投注到深远，将来我们中学生中的某个人或某些人，若能在文学之路上走向高峰，则我殷切地期望，你能在文学领域，开创出一片全新的天地。再好，终究是别人的;最好，是自己的。我期望你能最终跳下巨人的肩膀，自己做个巨人。

1.巧设悬念

把文章后面将要表现的内容，先在前面作一个提示，但不马上解答，以引起读者的好奇兴趣，产生急于看下去的迫切心情，这样文章的开头，我们称为巧设悬念。它的好处是能避免结构上的单调，使文章的情节波澜起伏，引人入胜。

2.一线串珠

记叙文的线索是贯穿全文、将材料串连起来的一条主线，它把文章的各个部分联结成一个统一、和谐的有机体。如果说丰富而生动的材料是一颗颗珍珠，那么线索就是将这些珍珠串连起来的一条线。

记叙文的线索主要有实物、人物、事件、时间、地点以及以作者的思想感情等。无论采取哪种线索，都必须从表现文章的中心思想和体现各种材料之间的内在联系出发，灵活巧妙地确定。

3.以小见大

以小见大，就是以小题材表现大主题的方法。生活中有些材料看起来似乎很平常，但却包含了深刻的意义。“一滴水也可以反映太阳的光辉”。只要善于透过现象发现本质，小材料同样能反映深刻的主题。如《一件珍贵的衬衫》。

4.穿插流动

5.粗笔勾勒

粗笔勾勒法就是用寥寥的几笔重点勾勒出人物外貌的主要特征。采用粗笔勾勒法描写人物肖像，可以对人物的身材、体型、衣着、容貌、神情、姿态、风度的某一方面或几个方面作简要的勾勒。

运用粗笔勾勒法描写人物肖像要抓住人物的最主要的特征，用朴实的文字简略地写出来，不宜用过多的形容词、过多的比喻。其次要简练传神，通过寥寥几笔勾勒出人物的大致形象。

6.烘托艺术

烘托艺术原是中国画的技法名称，是指渲染某一部分，衬托出另一主要部分来。把这种手法运用到文章的构思中来，就是从侧面通过描绘某件事、景或人的方法来衬托出主要人或事物，又称“衬托法”。衬托，也叫映衬。用类似的或反面的事物，使主要事物意思更加鲜明突出，从而达到强烈的表达效果。如“红花还须绿叶扶”。有了陪衬的事物，被陪衬的事物才会显得突出，才能得到更加充分的说明。

1、衬托，可分正衬和反衬。

正衬，就是用类似的事物，从正面去陪衬。烘托主要事物。如“风萧萧兮易水寒，壮士一去兮不复返。”用冷风寒水来衬托壮士此行的悲壮。又如“蓝天衬着矗立的巨大雪峰”，用蓝天衬雪峰，使雪峰更高大。

反衬，就是利用同主要事物相反或相异的事物作陪衬。如上例中的蓝天的蓝，来衬托雪峰的白，使雪峰更洁白。又 如“蝉噪林愈静，鸟鸣山更幽”，以有声衬无声。

2、运用衬托要爱憎分明，要宾主分明，陪衬事物与被陪衬事物，要让人一看便清楚，不能喧宾夺主。

3、衬托和对比的区别：

对比，是把两种不同的事物或同一事物的两个不同方面放在一起相互比较。它与反衬有些相似，但不同。对比，意在比，突出的对象是双方的，对立两事物无主宾之分。

衬托，意在衬，两事物有主宾之分，突出的是主要一方。如：“先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐”与“已是悬崖百丈冰，犹有花枝俏”，前句是对比，后句是反衬。

7.画龙点睛

画龙点睛是指在适当的时候以一二句议论，点明事物、人物、景物的意义之所在，或揭示作品主题，醒人之耳目，给人以启迪。点睛之处可以是在篇中，也可在篇末。

8.前后照应

前后照应法可以使文章严谨连贯，浑然一体，又突出内容和结构上的内在联系。照应一般有以下几种：

1、内容和标题相照应。这种照应方法常常是内容安排多处和题目照应，或在恰当的地方直接、间接地点明题意。如《背影》，文中多次描写“背影”，既与标题“背影”相照应，又进一步点明题旨，充分表达了作者对父亲深深的思念之情。

2、行文中间照应。这种照应方法就是在文章前面写事，后面行文交代前面所写事的结果，使内容相互补充，层层深入。

3、结尾与开头照应法。在文章的结尾处对开头交代的事情作必要的提及，使文章首尾一致，成为有机的整体。如《白杨礼赞》一文，开头和结尾照应，不但使文章结构显得非常完整，而且使作者的赞美之情得到了淋漓尽致的抒发。

9.卒章显志

在文章结尾时，用一两句话点明中心、主题的手法就叫卒章显志，也叫“篇末点题”，“志”就是指文章的主题、中心。恰当运用这种手法可以增加文章的深刻性、感染力和结构美，有“画龙点睛”的艺术效果。

10.一波三折

记叙性文章要避免平铺直叙，记流水账，如能写得波澜起伏，就能引人入胜，耐看。

俄国作家柯罗连科的写景小品《火光》通篇运用了象征手法，但从字面上看，数百字的短文，由作者的感受引发了一波三折的景物变化，黑夜泛舟，火光又明又亮，好像就在眼前，这是开头展示的基本景象；船夫不以为然，认为还远着呢，兴起一波；自己从不相信到信服，又兴起一波；由“非常遥远”到“毕竟就在前头”，重要的是“必须加劲划桨”再兴一波“一波三折”，“波折”要入情入理，让读者产生情理之中、意料之外的感觉，方能做到引人入胜。而脱离生活，故弄玄虚的“波折”非但不能吸引读者，还会适得其反。

11.欲扬先抑

“欲扬先抑”与“欲抑先扬”是相反的两种布局方法。 采用这种写作手法，要自然合理，切不可牵强生硬。

公基大作文也即公共基础知识中的文章写作部分，下面是小编为大家收集整理的2017公共基础知识写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

2017公共基础知识写作技巧

一、从写作内容角度上看。

公基作文一般是议论性质的文章，字数一般要求在800--1200字之间。公基作文要求结合材料进行写作，属于材料作文类，考生不能脱离材料自行写作。此外，考生在写作的时候一定注意不要跑题，不要脱离总论点。因为作文的阅卷是先定档后给分，这就要求我们一定不能跑题，而且虽然都是议论文但是不能跟高中初中作文那样随意抒发议论，要找到自己的角度，站在报考岗位的角度去思考问题，不能盲目抒情、大发特发议论，此乃作文大忌。

二、从文章标题角度来看。

标题即论点，刚才我们谈到作文阅卷先定档，因此，如果能标题就是论点的话能够大幅度减轻阅卷人的压力，使得自己更容易获得高分。对于标题给大家简单提醒一下，通常情况下标题不建议大家使用标点符号。

三、从文章结构上来看。

一定要保证文章结构的完整性，在阅卷规则当中，有重要一条就是逻辑完整，因此适当运用逻辑结构词就显得特别重要。这里提示广大考生，我们的逻辑词经历过四个阶段，第一个阶段是第一、第二、第三、第N个，这种结构因为第多少个没有上限，因此不建议采用，第二个阶段是首先、其次、再次、最后，第三个阶段是一方面、另一方面、与此同时、此外、加之等。这里推荐大家使用第二第三个阶段，逻辑结构比较完整，第四个阶段是运用过渡句过渡段，这种逻辑不推荐大家使用。

四、公基作文一定要写对策。

考查公基作文的目的就是考查考生进入单位之后分析与解决问题的能力，因此，考生必须在文章中必须有所体现。从文章写作对策段落来说，建议大家在对策段落里面运用“结论+原因+措施”的写作结构，这种结构简单理解就是是什么、为什么、怎么办逻辑，比如说某地的某个行业出现一定的发展问题，那么对于这个行业的发展政府起主要作用，那么我们应该先说政府大概应该如何去做，如政府应该多渠道扶持，此即结论，接下来就应该叙述政府为什么要去扶持，也即原因部分，最后要写明政府如何扶持也即具体措施，如运用宏观调控、减免税收、提供政策支持等。

五、从结尾段落来说，结尾要做到与首段呼应。

浑然一体的结尾与开头要相呼应，写出既呼应开头，又不简单重复的语句，这种结尾方式是各类文章极常见的收束方法。这种收束方法能唤起读者心理上的美感，产生一种首尾圆合，浑然一体的感觉。

公共基础知识写作点拨

第一：理解、分析、研究文体。事业单位写作其实就是议论文写作，因为只有议论文这种文种才能够承载对一个事物的确定观点和论述。所以对议论文来说，要把握一点，就是议论文是围绕一个观点进行展开，这对议论文来说是最重要的，也就是要有确实的观点，即总论点，目前来看事业单位考试的总论点一般都是已经确定的。

第二：确定了总论点之后，再去议论观点。例如：上海是个好地方，那么整个文章展开的核心就是证明观点，也就是为什么说上海是个好地方，再比如：要勤奋，整个文章展开的核心就是论述为什么要勤奋。

近几年来公职类考试的写作命题有了新的变化。首先，会有给定材料，材料围绕着一个主题展开，主题通常是社会问题或者施政要点。例如：要推进民生改革;要提高政府公信力;要推进服务型政府建设;要勇于探路等。其次，针对这样主题的变化，论述的方向也随之有所变化。例如：要提高政府公信力。基于这样的总论点，文章展开的逻辑就是为什么要提高公信力、如何提高政府公信力。再比如：要勇于探路，那么文章展开的逻辑就是为什么要勇于探路、如何探路。通过以上事例，小伙伴们能基本理清两个最重要的内容：议论文就是围绕一个确定的观点展开，整个文章的核心要求就是把观点论述清楚。解决了这两个问题后，接下来就是填充内容了，在此根据情况来说明。

第一：如果平时比较关注新闻、热点时事，自然有内容可写，而且能够做到内容充实、立意高远、理解透彻。如果是这样的情况，就摸索出适合自己表达的语言风格即可。

第二：如果是平时看书比较多，有自己对事物的思考。这样的基础能让写作体现出比较好的人文素养和知识储备，如果是这样的情况，就把看书多的优点发挥出即可。

第三：如果是既不看新闻、也不看书、学习马马虎虎或者工作后没有时间复习，这样的情况比较普遍，如果是这样的情况，就需要找一些捷径了，比如选择培训班等等。

一.开头段常用提出现象句型

1. Nowadays more and more…are commonly and widely…in everyday life.

如今，在日常生活中，越来越多…被广泛…

2. In recent years…is gaining growing popularity with…

近年来，…受到越来越多…的欢迎

3. Recent years have been a boom in…

近年来，出现了迅速增长。

4. Nowadays, there are many…

如今，出现了许多…

5. Nowadays,…has become a very common matter in…

如今，…已经成为在…的常见现象。

6. Nowadays, there is a growing tendency in…

如今，在…方面出现了上升趋势。

7. Recently…has aoused wide concern…/has been brought into focus.

最近，…引起了广泛关注/受到了人们的关注。

8. Most of us may have such experience that…

我们当中许多人可能都有…这种经历。

二. 开头段常用引出他人观点的句型

9. In reaction to the phenomenon of…, some people say…

针对…现象，有人说…

10.When asked about…most people say…

当被问到…，大多数人认为…

11. When it comes to…, some people think…

关于…,有人认为…

12. Now, it is widely believed that…

现在，许多人认为…

三.开头/中间段常用引出两种不同观点的句型

13. There is a public debate today over… some people believed that…Others claim that…

如今社会上出现了关于…的争论。有些人认为…另一些人则声称…

14. When it comes to/talking about…, quite a few people believe that …but other people think differently.

当谈及…时，有相当一部分人认为…然而，另一些人则有不同的想法。

15. People’s opinion wary when they talk about…Some maintain that…Others believe that…

当谈及…时，人们观点不一。有人坚持认为…另有人认为…

四.开头段常用引出故事/事件句型

16.At about…o’clock in the…,when I…, I saw…

…点在…,当我正…的时候，我看见…

17. It was a …morning, when a …suddenly…

五.中间段常用引出优缺点/不足/影响句型

18.The advantages of…lies in many ways.

…有许多有点/好处。

19….as in the case with many issues, has both merits and demetits.

正如许多事物一样，…也是既有优点又有不足的。

20….will bring about an unfavorable effects/influence on…

…会为…造成不好的影响。

21. …may give rise to/result in a number of problems.

…会导致一系列的问题。

六.中间段/结尾段常用引出原因句型

22. Why…? Three factors can explain this. First… Second…Third…

为什么…?有三个因素可以解释。首先，…其次…，第三…

23. As for/Among the factors for…,…counts for the half, the rest depends on…

就导致…的因素而言，…是一部分原因，另一部分原因是…

七.中间/结尾段常用引出解决方法句型

24. How to…? The key words are as follows. To begins with, …Next, …Finally, …

如何…?关键措施如下。首先…其次…最后…

25. Such …would not …if we knew the following ways to handle …First,… Second,…Third…(虚拟语气)

如果我们掌握了以下处理…的方法，如此的…可能不会…第一个方法是…第二个方法是…第三个方法是…

八.结尾段常用引出“我”的个人观点的句型

26. As far as I am concerned, I agree with…

就我个人而言，我支持…

27. As to me, the former/latter opinion is more acceptable.

对我来说，前/后一种观点更可以接受。

28. For my part, I am on the side of…

对我来所，我站在…那边。

29. As I see it, …

就我看来，…

30. From my perspective, I…

就我而言，我…

九.图表作文开头段常用引出总体趋势的句型

31. As can be seen from the line/bar/chart/table that…increased/rose/grew/dramatically from…

从图表可见，自…以来，…出现了极大的增长。

32. It can be seen/concludedfrom the chart that…dropped/declined/fell/reduced slightly to…

依图可见/判断，…小幅下降到了…

小升初是小学当中非常关键的一年，那么我们在小升初的时候怎么去把写作搞好呢，那么我们现在必须要掌握好一些作文技巧，我们在小升初需要掌握那个写作技巧呢?

一、审题

这是写作文首先要做好的事，否则，就会直接导致“文不对题”，“下笔千言，离题万里”。怎样才能审好题呢?根据通常的作文题目的形式来看，一般可分为命题作文和材料作文两大类。对命题作文的审题，就是要审查给定的文章题目确定的具体要求，审清文题意图，明晰题外要求，确定“题眼”。通过审题，明确作文的内容范围、时间范围、数量范围、人称范围、处所范围等。不能超出给定的范围。对材料作文的审题，主要从两个方面去把握：一是与材料的思想内容要“形影不离”，二是与作文形式的要求“丝丝入扣”。

1。命题作文

我们先重点谈一下关于命题作文的审题，要注意做好哪些事情。

确定内容范围

有的题目，对写作内容做出规定。所以，审题时，要确定题目规定的内容范围：记人的，要记什么人;叙事的，要叙什么事;写景的，要写什么景;状物的，要状什么物，等等。

精彩习作-----童年趣事

童年，是一方没有莠草、污秽的净土，是一片无遮无拦明朗的天空。这里流淌的纯真与甜美，总会使人产生难以忘怀的回忆。

记得我4岁那年，迷信的奶奶告诉我：“要是剪掉了胳膊上的毛，会变成疯子。”幼稚而好奇的我听了以后，半信半疑，手痒痒的，老是想试试看，但又怕家人和亲戚为我担心。可是没试，就老是惦记着，越惦记，就越是想试。

于是，我准备马上试。我拿出那可怕的剪刀，用颤抖的右手慢慢地靠近左手胳膊上的一根毫毛。刚要剪，我又停了下来。心想：“我要是真的变成一个疯子，会不会像老鼠过街一样人人喊打?爸爸、妈妈和奶奶会不会不再疼爱这个傻孩子了?”我越想越害怕。我犹豫了许久，才把胳膊上的毛剪掉了。一剪完，我什么都不顾地钻进被窝里，不知不觉就睡着了。醒来时，我发现，我还是原来的我，一个正常的小女孩。于是，我不顾一切，高兴地蹦到奶奶身边，撒娇地说：“奶奶呀，奶奶!我今天剪了胳膊上的一根毫毛，可没变成疯子啊!”奶奶听了以后，笑了笑，摸着我的小脑袋，没说什么。

这件童年趣事已留在我记忆的闸门里。但随着年龄的增长，我懂得了：凡事要相信科学，不能相信迷信。

精彩点击

①小作者通过回忆的方式，记述了剪胳膊毛的故事。这件事既是童年发生的，又十分有趣，符合文题要求。

②事情的过程交代得很清楚，人物心理描写生动、逼真。

③结尾点明从中懂得的道理，深化了文章主题。

Lets prevent H1N1 from happening to usDuring the last few months,H1N1 ful has set off across the whole world.If we have the right way to prevent it ,it wont scare.Here are some suggestions for you:First of all,you should cover your mouth with a napkin whtn you cough re sneeze,Next youd better stay away from the public place if possible, if you have to,please wear a mask.Wash your hands carefully before meals and always keep your windows open so that the air will be fresh.At last,try to do more excisice to make your body strong so that you can stay in health.I think this is the most important.

最近这几个月里，H1N1病毒在全世界引发起来。如果我们用正确的方法预防它，免费学英语网站，它就不会那么可怕。这里有一些为你的建议：首先，当你在咳嗽或者打喷嚏的时候，你应该用手捂着嘴。然后你最好尽可能的离公共场所远一点，如果你必须去，免费英语学习网站，请戴上口罩。饭前仔细洗手，经常打开窗后这样使空气保持清新。最后你应该做更多的运动去使你身体更强壮，这样你就可以保持健康了。我认为这才是最重要的。

英语写作：Freedom in my Dream

一、展开联想法

【特点】

我们看到一棵植物，往往联想到其它事物，这些事物往往与这棵植物有共同之处。例如我们看到棉桃，联想到洁白的雪花，这是因为雪花和棉花的颜色相同;我们看到大西瓜，联想到篮球，这是因为西瓜和篮球的形状相似;我们看到冰在雪地中郁郁葱葱的松树，想起那些在敌人面前不怕严刑拷打，决不屈膝的英雄，那是松树与英雄的品质上有相似之处。采用联想的方法描写植物，要注意抓住植物的主要特点，展开丰富的想象。要提高自己的联想能力，首先要认真读书，了解生活，使自己的头脑储备丰富的知识。其次是勤思勤想，经常训练，使自己有丰富的想象能力。

二、突出重点法

【特点】

植物总是由根、茎、枝、叶、花、果组成。我们在描写植物的时候，可以对植物的根、茎、枝、叶、花、果的各个部分进行描述，也可以只对植物的某一部分进行描述。采用重点突出法描写植物时，首先要找出这棵植物与众不同的地方。其次要对最能体现这棵植物特点的部分从颜色、形状、气味等多方面进行具体描写。此外还可以恰当地运用拟人、比喻等方法。

三、对照比较法

【特点】

俗话说：“不见高山，不知平地。”事物的特点往往在比较中得到显现。我们描写植物时，往往通过对照比较的方法来突出植物的特点。对照比较的方法有两种。一种是把这种植物与另一种植物进行比较;一种是把植物本身两种截然不同的特点放在一起比较。采用对照比较法要注意抓住所要描写的植物最显著的特点与其他植物作比较。这样才能给读者以深刻的印象和启示。采用对照比较法还要注意表达作者自己的思想感情和倾向性。这样才能使文章感人。抓住同一植物不同部位进行比较时，要注意找出矛盾点，这样才能引起读者的注意。

四、移步换形法

【特点】

采用移步换形的方法描写建筑物，可以不断地变换立足点和观察点，对建筑物进行多方面的观察描写。同一个建筑物，从不同的角度去看，得到的印象是不一样的。因此采用移步换形法描写建筑物首先要把观察点和立足点交代清楚，使读者明白你所描述的建筑物形象是从哪一个角度看到的。否则，容易把读者搞糊涂了。其次，采用移步换形法描写建筑物时，一定要抓住建筑物的最主要的特征来写。如果采用面面俱到的方法来描写，文章容易变成一本流水账。

五、说明介绍法

【特点】

采用说明介绍法描写建筑物时，首先要注意紧扣文章确定的中心进行必要的说明介绍，切忌不着边际的东拉西扯。在说明介绍的过程中要简明扼要，切忌拖泥带水。采用说明介绍法描写建筑物时，还要注意整体的连贯性，也就是说在说明介绍完毕以后，文章要返回到描写建筑物上来，并与前文衔接。文章从描写建筑物转到介绍说明，或从介绍说明回到描写建筑物要有过渡词或过渡句。

六、环境衬托法

【特点】

周围都是绿色，中间的一点红色就特别鲜艳夺目，所以说“万绿丛中一点红”。对建筑物周围的景色进行适当描写，建筑物就显得突出。描写建筑物周围景色的目的是为了突出建筑物，因此描写景色时要能衬托建筑物的特点，切忌离开建筑物而大写特写景色。造成喧宾夺主。在描写建筑物周围的景色时，要把观察点和立足点交代清楚，便于读者了解建筑物的位置。

七、彩笔描绘法

【特点】

植物总是由根、茎、叶、花、果组成的。运用彩笔描绘法时，要把根、茎、叶、花、果各个部位的最主要特点写出来，要写出它们的形状，写出它们的颜色。采用这种方法描写植物，要仔细观察。要分辨出植物各个部位的颜色，同样是红色，要分出是火红的，还是粉红的;同样是黄色，要分出是桔黄的，还是金黄的;同样是绿色，要分出是碧绿的，还是嫩绿的……要仔细区分各个部位的形状特点，同样是花，花骨朵与盛开的花就不一样。观察得仔细，描写得具体，读者就好像看到一张植物的彩色照片。采用这种方法描写植物，还要运用恰当的比喻，要写出自己的情感。

八、远近结合法

【特点】

同一棵植物，远看和近看是不一样的。这同照相一样，放在照相机的前面和远离照相机，摄下来的照片是大小不相同的。采用远近结合法描写植物，可以从不同的角度反映出植物的形状和颜色的特点，给读者以完美的印象。采用这种方法描写植物要把观察点交代清楚，也就是要说清楚是远看的还是近看的。其次要注意叙述的顺序，或由远及近，或由近及远，这样文章才能条理分明。

九、时序变换法

【特点】

植物各个部位的形态和颜色是随着季节的变化而变化。如果我们把植物在不同季节的特点写出来，同时把前后有关的情况交代清楚，就等于在不同的时间给植物拍了彩色照片。看了这一组彩色照片，读者对它就有了一个较为全面的了解。采用时序变换法描写植物，首先要注意在平时积累资料。要有计划地在不同季节对同一植物进行仔细观察，并记下观察日记，这样，写作时才能对积累的材料进行取舍，写出一篇好文章。其次要注意观察的连续性。

十、生长变化法

【特点】

植物总是要生长的，一般要经过发芽、生枝、长叶、开花、结果等阶段。如果把植物生长的不同阶段的形状、颜色的特点和生长的情况与下来，就好像给这棵植物拍了一部小电影。读者可以在很短的时间内，通过阅读，了解植物生长的全过程。采用生长变化法描写植物，首先要注意把植物生长过程中最突出的变化写下来;其次要交代植物发生变化的原因、前后情况和过程;此外要注意按时间的先后顺序有条不紊地写下来。

做中考看图作文，具体的操作程序是读题、析图、立意、拟题、构思、修改、定稿。小编收集了中考看图作文写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

看图作文的“图”，主要有图表、画图和漫画三种，出现在中考(微博)作文题中的，主要是漫画。

做中考看图作文，具体的操作程序是读题、析图、立意、拟题、构思、修改、定稿。“与众不同”的关键之处是要仔细观察画面和准确理解画“意”，先抓好读题和析图两步，然后才构思成文。

第一，读题。

读看图作文的题目，主要是了解文题中所提出的要求，明确所规定的体裁，以便有目的有重点地去看图。

第二，联系题目析图。

做看图作文要学会读图。当图映入你的眼帘，你应该马上有这样的意识：这一幅图是一个故事;这一幅图是一篇说明文;这一幅图是一篇寓言;这一幅图是一个比喻……于是，你便可以就像材料作文、命题作文、自由命题作文一样开始写作。

在看图作文中，析图是关键的一环，就像“析材”是材料作文的关键性环节一样。因此，我们应该学会从如下角度去“析图”：

1、看“情节发展”

这适用于对多幅有内在联系的组合漫画的审读。

2、看事物变化

适用于画面中立体事物变化鲜明的漫画材料。

3、看人物对比

适用于阅读以多个人物活动为主的漫画。

4、看背景映衬

适用于人物活动中环境设计鲜明的漫画的阅读理解。画中的景，画中的物，往往有不可忽视的烘托、反衬的作用。

5、看比喻手法

适用于整体构思有明显而强烈的寓意漫画的审读。

6、看整体意念

适用于理解含蓄的令人回味的漫画，作者在这样的漫画中往往运用比拟、象征的方法表现主题。

析图并理解其含义是看图写议论文的重要关隘，考生要掌握一定的方法才能顺利通过。因此考生要尽可能多地掌握“析图”的方法。除上面所介绍的以外，还有类比联想法、喻义探求法、比较排除法、对号入座法、寓言点题法等都可以运用。

中考看图作文，在看懂画面之后，第二关便是构思、写作了。就写作的过程讲，看图作文与其他形式的作文一样，离不开立意、构思、表达的程序。另外说明一下，看图作文有一个重要的过渡性环节，就是必须对图进行一番说明、介绍或描绘。看图作文的特殊性表现为，材料中所给的单幅漫画、多幅组合漫画，以及用来说明、评论对象的摄影作品、美术作品、科学图画等，不可能作为材料直接引进文章。它们需要一次“再处理”，由作者在观察、理解、提炼的基础之上，用文字叙述出来。这些叙述文字，如果放在记叙文的开头，就成了一种解说性的铺陈;如果放在议论文中，这种开头就往往于解说中顺势带出作者的观点。

1、观点不可太绝对，要留有余地。’义正’未必要’辞严’，’理直’未必就要’气壮’。联系现实生活时，涉及社会黑暗面时，要有分寸，不要一味指责。’质问京山大冤案’。批评家长、老师和社会要与人为善，抱着协商与治病救人的态度，要提建设性意见。不可尖刻、讽刺、挖苦，甚至恶意地进行人身攻击。

2、临场写作时可以根据题意和你的表达需要想像一个或一类读者就在你的面前。如以’沟通’为话题作文，写与家长的沟通，可想像父母就在身边;写’沟通’之艰难和必要，就好像误解过你的人正在听你倾诉;写国际间通过沟通走向合作，就设想自己参与了国与国的谈判。即使所写文章没有明确的阅读对象，你也可以想像此文是写给你的语文老师的。你要知道，你的文章的惟一读者是那位跟你的语文老师非常相似的人。写记叙文，且最好将主人公设定为自己。想想阅卷老师的喜好，说他们想听的话。尽可能赢得评卷老师的同情。

3、写法上可以求新，要考虑，怎样表现更智慧，更艺术，更有可读性;但更要求稳。我的意见是大家一定要在一种比较稳的情况下，确有把握时才可写小小说或者是写戏剧，或者是写别的，确有把握之后才写这种文体，如果没有把握的话，就选择比较稳妥的老的文体，老的写法。

4、不可按上年或前几年的中考作文思路行文。求新、求变是人们所追求的，中考作文也不例外。但若按上年或前几年的中考作文思路行文，甚至拿来套用，机械模仿，不懂灵活应变，就会吃力不讨好，这也是失分的点。因为阅卷者大都是相对固定的，对以前的中考作文非常熟悉。不主张写诗歌、文言文。

5、苦于材料缺乏则可以突出自己的爱好。你如果喜欢体育，那你就像体育记者一样，叙体育、议体育，只要切合题意就好。你如果喜欢听××的歌、看××的书、爱好上网……你就可以将自己这一方面的经历和感受与命题联系起来。那样就不愁内容贫乏、文思枯竭。不要瞎编乱造。靠编故事骗取老师的眼泪从而获得高分的时代已经一去不复返了。

6、要美化自己，而不是丑化自己。要显现自己的高境界、大抱负、多知识、同情心，要显现自己以天下为己任的豪情。不要出于反衬别人等考虑而故意丑化自己，如果让评卷老师以为你真就是那样，那就麻烦了，因为中考是选拔性考试。从某个角度讲，评卷老师评卷的过程就是一个选择淘汰对象的过程。

7、字数以600-900字为宜。不能给人凑字数的感觉，但也不能拖得太长，不允许加纸条。喜欢写长文的同学，开篇要注意不要放得太开，开口不要太大，能跳过去的就跳过去，要相信读者的理解能力。要注意节省篇幅，要防止高潮来了没地方写了。切忌三段文。要突出的句子(扣题的、表现主旨的、文眼、点睛之笔、抒情议论、议论文的分论点等)最好单独成段。

8、看到题目后，可先搜索一下自己以往所写的优秀作文，看有没有可以再利用的。须要注意的是一定要不牵强。

9、行文中要多次扣题，要一路扣题一路歌。材料、引语和话题中的相关文字至少在文中出现三次以上。开头三句话内应点题一次，结尾应回扣标题，’回眸一笑百媚生’。中间至少扣题一次。几次扣题事实上也是在不断地提醒自己不要跑题。有球场上叫暂停的效果，可以调整思路和写法。

10、思想要健康。’思想健康’不是说要你只说冠冕堂皇的话，不是要你刻意拔高，’健康’是针对’病态’、’庸俗’而言的，它的底线是不能欣赏违背法律法规和偏离社会道德的事。恋爱题材是考场作文的禁区，无论考生写得如何缠绵悱恻，真挚动人，因其行为是中学生日常行为规范所不允许的，这类作文自然得不了高分。

11、充分发挥自己的优势。擅长形象思维、会刻画人物的同学可选择记叙文，擅长抒情的同学可选择散文。初中生一般不提倡写议论文。

12、精写前几段，给评卷老师留下一个好印象。要精雕细刻，要出彩。比如，可开门见山，直奔主题;可制造悬念，引人入胜;可提出问题，引人注意;或巧用排比、比喻、拟人等修辞手法，或。巧述故事，引人入胜，或巧用题记，揭示主旨，或巧用诗文显诗意。写好结尾和过渡段。阅卷老师一般是S型的扫描全文。结尾可画龙点睛，发人深思;或总结全文，照应开头;或虚笔拓展，扩大容量;或精辟议论，深化主旨。

13、要给自己充足的构思时间，不要急于动笔，’宁停三分，不争一秒’，因为写作是’开弓没有回头箭’的，写到一半，突然发现，呀，把题目理解错了，或没领会好命题的要求。最可怕的是文章写到一半，又想另起炉灶。时间没了，心情也坏了。干着急。建议打草稿，防止’三边工程’(边立项，边设计，边施工)。考场作文不宜见异思迁，边写边改。要贯彻一种构思。一旦构思已定，就不要轻易改变。

14、要力避前松后紧、虎头蛇尾。有些同学构思、提纲拟好后，开头反复推敲，精雕细琢，后来发现时间不够，于是草草收兵。此外，要谨慎对待修改。修改一般只着眼于字词方面的，可用米尺比好之后划两横。结构方面不能修改。要保持卷面的整洁美观，要努力做到改动少而效果好。

15、如果偏题或者离题，作文的主要分数就失去了。为防止跑题，可从如下几点做出努力：一是将材料、引语和话题联系起来思考，不可单看话题;二是看自己确立的观点能否用话题所给材料来证明;三是想一想这则材料当初发在媒体上登载是要达到一个什么效果的。万一跑题了，要考虑逆挽，使文章形成一种欲扬先抑的结构形态。

16、一定要完篇。熟话说，好文章是凤头、猪肚、豹尾。没有豹尾，老鼠尾巴也要有一个，绝不能写半头文。用半篇文章给你评分，怎么会得高分?

17、特别要注意不能缺题。不是万不得已，不要以话题做标题。拟题是显示你才气的一个好的平台，不能轻易放弃。缺题影响远不止2分。正好给了评卷老师扣分的理由。

18、文章要有一至两个亮点。学而思老师建议：如果是记叙文，应该用抓人的情节和生动的描写表现你的真情，记叙文不能没有描写。如果是议论文，就一定要有12个典型的论据，就应该有纵横捭阖，很深刻的见解。如果是微型小说一定要有巧妙的构思。这个亮点还可以是一句富有哲理的警句，也可以是一个精彩的比喻，也可以是一个超常的搭配(酽酽的歌喉)。总之，要能使评卷老师精神为之一震。

说明文，即用来解释或说明事物、理论、方法、过程或某种抽象概念的文章。说明文的基本目的就是说清楚。也就是说，要让人看了文章后对文章中解释或说明的对象有清晰明确的认识。这就决定了说明文的基本特征是客观和科学。

说明文首要的一点是明确说明的对象，然后用准确的语言，结合多种说明手法对之进行介绍和描述。常用的说明手法有下定义、分类别、作比较、引资料、举例子、列数字、画图表等。下定义，即给要说明的对象下一个明确的定义。如博物馆的定义就是征集、保藏、陈列和研究代表自然和人类的实物,并为公众提供知识、教育和欣赏的文化教育机构。分类别是将要说明的对象按照某种标准划分类别，以帮助读者对事物的理解。如电视机，可以分为彩色电视机和黑白电视机。作比较，即将这种事物与那种事物比较异同，从而更清楚地说明事物的特点。如将城市和乡村作比较，将大学和幼儿园作比较等。作比较的时候一定要注意比较的事物之间应当具有可比性，不能生拉硬扯，也不能不尊重客观事实，胡乱比较。为了说明某种事物的特点，有时候需要介绍它的背景、原理、历史等，这时就要用到引资料这种手法。比如我们要对长城进行说明，适当地引用一些历史文献，就更有助于今天的人们了解长城的历史，从而加深对长城中所蕴含的民族精神的认识。在复杂说明文中，列图表具有不可替代的优势。大量的数据、冗长的叙述、复杂的相互关系等，都可以通过图表得到直观的表达。

按说明的对象不同，说明文可分为事物说明文和事理说明文。前者着重在于说明的成因、构造、形状、用途等，后者则重在说明事理。这两类说明文常用的写作手法也有一定的区别。比如事物说明文重在说明事物的物理特征，常用的是下定义、分类别等说明手法，事理说明文重在说明事物的逻辑特征，地要用到引资料、作比较等说明手法。但时候，在同一篇文章中，几种说明手法都要用到，相辅相成，互为补充。

如何使说明文物理并重、形神兼备的呢?首要的一点是观察。说明文写作的前提是对要说明的事物非常熟悉。要做到这一点，就要养成认真观察、深入了解的习惯：

观察要有针对性。要带着问题观察，而不是走马观花、浮光掠影。最好能在观察前列出观察提纲，观察时要记笔记、画图标。要善于提出问题。

观察时要分清主次。这就要求我们注意观察的顺序。观察有概括性观察和特写性观察之分。前一种方法有助于抓住事物的概貌，后者则利于把握观察对象的细节和特征。由概括到特写、由全局到局部，是观察的一般原理。

观察重在事物的形。要想传神，写出事物的内涵、原理等，则需要有很好的查阅资料、作调查的能力。比如我们要写一篇文章来说明洛阳牡丹。在写好它的形状、颜色、品种之外，如果能够考察一下洛阳牡丹的来历、其中的牡丹名品在培育中的科学原理，这篇文章就会有说服力，使读者更深刻地认识到洛阳牡丹的文化特色。这就要求我们具备相当的知识积累、广阔的知识面和优秀的调查能力。作为小，应当从小注重积累知识和调查能力的训练。比如通过剪报、记笔记、上图书馆和阅览室等途径来有意识地训练自己。

写作说明文还要注意说明的顺序。有合理的顺序，文章才能条理清晰，让人看得明白。说明顺序一般有三种，即空间顺序、时间顺序、逻辑顺序。间顺序一般有从上到下、从左到右、从前到后、从远到近等。时间顺序一般有从古到今、从过去到现在等。逻辑顺序有从现象到本质、从原因到结果、从主要到次要、从整体到部分、从概括到具体等。什么是合理的顺序呢?这要根据人们认识事物的过程以及说明对象本身的特征、规律而定。说明事物的形状、构造等，往往以空间为顺序;说明事物的成因、方法，往往以时间为顺序;说明事物的事理，往往以逻辑关系为顺序。

当然，大多数说明文会综合使用多种说明顺序。因此，在写作时，我们要合理地安排好说明顺序，理清说明文的结构层次。常用的结构层次有并列式、层进式和总分式三种。比如我们以“水”为题目进行写作，可以先写水的外形特征，再写水的分类，然后写水的用途，这是并列式的写作层次。我们也可以先写水的外形，再写水的成因，最后写水给人类带来的利与害，这是层进式的结构层次。先概括水的用途和特征，再一一细述，就是总分式。结构层次能力需发们在长期的写作过程中培养。

1.发言稿是介绍性说明文，在语言使用一定要准确简洁，通俗易懂，层次清楚，条理分明。介绍说明事物的内容关系要明确，要求逻辑性强。发言稿印版有开头语，正文和结束语三部分组成。开头语一般来说比较简单，目的就是吸引听众或读者的注意力。

发言稿的开头和结尾一般都有固定的的格式，如：

Dear friends,

I’m glad to introduce myself to you

.___________________________

That’s all. Thank you.

如果是熟悉的听众，头尾可以活泼一些，灵活一些，如：

(1)Good morning,/Good afternoon,everyone…

That’s all. Thank you.

( 2 )Good evening!Ladies and gentlemen..

That’s all. Thank you.

2.正文是发言稿的主体，主要是提供论点和相关的论据等，论点要明确，论据要充分有力。发言稿的正文常见形式：

第一部分：开门见山提出本人要谈的问题及对问题的看法;

第二部分：说明理由，常见的关联词有：First of all , Secondly, Finally等;

第三部分：照应开头，总结全文。最后可以做简明扼要的总结，也可以谈自己的希望或看法等。常见的句式有：In short, In a word…等。

3.发言稿的语句表达要直接面对听众，尽量不要用复杂啰嗦的句子，更不要采用深奥难懂的句子。话要说的准确易懂，最好用大众语言。除了要求以简单句为主的同时，可以适当穿插一些复合句结构。由于文章要求以简单句为主，所以不要把文章写成单句的罗列，适当的使用关联词承前启后，可以使文章前后连贯，浑然一体。

发言稿的时态一般以现在时态为主。

常用句型

1.I’d like to tell you something about our school.

2.Let me give you a brief introduction about our school.

3.Please allow me to introduce the travel arrangements to you.

4.It’s my honor to say a few words to welcome you.

5.I am sure we will benefit a lot from the lecture.

6.Personally, I think it’s a good idea for us to have daily exercise.

7.In my opinion,…

8.Personally,…

9,In a word,…

10,However,…

导语： 微型小说又名小小说，超短篇小说，一分钟小说。下面是小编整理的小小说写作技巧，同学们过来测试一下吧!

日本作家星新一指出：“很久以前就存在着类似超短篇小说的作品。……但是，超短篇小说这个名字的正式出现，是源于美国。”多数人推崇美国作家欧·亨利(1862-1910)是创始人。他的近三百篇作品，情节生动，笔调幽默。其中《麦琪的礼物》脍灸人口。

可以这么说，超短篇小说具有立意新颖、情节严谨、结局新奇三要素。即在1500字以内，要概括出普通小说应具有的一切。也可以说，微型小说是一种敏感，从一个点、一个画面、一个对比、一声赞叹、一瞬间之中，捕捉住了小说——一种智慧、一种美、一个耐人寻味的场景，一种新鲜的思想。

微型小说在写作上追求的目标是四个字：微、密、奇、新。

1、微。指的是篇幅微小，不超过一千五百个字。因此，构思和行文时必须注意字句的凝炼，不允许作品中有赘词冗句。如马克·吐温的《丈夫支出帐本中的一页》。全文只有七行字，却具有长篇小说的全部情节。

再如《三封电报》(美·佚名)：

伊莉薇娜的弟弟佛莱特伴着她的丈夫巴布去非洲打猎。不久，她在家里接获弟弟的电报：“巴布猎狮身死。———佛莱特。”

伊莉薇娜悲不自胜，回电给弟弟：“运其尸回家。”三个星期后，从非洲运来了一个大包裹，里面是一个狮尸。她又赶发了一个电报：“狮收到。弟误，请寄回巴布尸。”

很快得到了非洲的回电：“无误，巴布在狮腹内。———佛莱特。”(选自《世界微型小说精选简评集》)

这篇小小说是一家美国杂志以3000美元的悬奖征求“文字最简短，情节最曲折”的故事的获得首奖的作品。单一的情节里，事件完整、有冲突、呈现因果联系，这样，事件所呈现的面貌就不是简单、重复而没有变化了。

2、密。指的是结构严密。微型小说的作者在结构上，应力求时间、场所、人物都尽可能地压缩、集中，使作品结构简练、精巧，如同微雕工艺品那样。因此，特别要在选材、剪裁和布局上下功夫。

3、奇。指的是结尾要新奇巧妙，出人意料。微型小说的特点多半在于一个“奇”字。中外作家的许多优秀作品就常在结尾处使人拍案叫绝。如邵宝健的《永远的门》的结尾就出人意料。

4、新。指的是立意新颖，风格清新。星新一写作一分钟小说，就极力追求“新”。他写道：“有些评论家把我的小说与美国的超短篇小说(Short-Short)混为一谈，这是不妥当的。我是受了美国超短篇小说的影响。但是没有完全依靠，而是发挥了自己独特的风格和技巧。我的小说强调一个‘新’字，给读者以新题材、新知识，甚至让他们感到惊讶!”(星新一《一分钟小说选》)

为此，他常常借助于童话、寓言、科幻、推理等手法，通过非现实的题材或现实题材的非现实笔法，反映他在现实生活中的独特的感觉，表现清新的主题，如他的《保修》。当然，微型小说的立意和其它形式的小说作品一样，有时并不是一眼能看出的，有时主题并非一个，是多元化的，这都是可以的。例如美国著名科幻作家弗里蒂克·布朗写的一篇被称为世界上最短的科学幻想小说：“地球上最后一个人独自坐在房间里，虚这时忽然响起了敲门声……”就写得十分别致而耐人寻味。

一、开门见山亮观点

这种开头方法，单刀直入，起笔直奔题意，能很快把阅卷老师的注意力引入主题。给人干脆利落，入题快捷，不枝不蔓的感觉。应为考场作文开头的首选方法。其形式有：引用题目，直奔中心;揭示主旨，确定基调;概括内容，总领全文;提出论点，表明立场;等等。

例：挥手自兹去，一半是洒脱，一半是留念。(2015年四川省成都市中考满分作文《挥手自兹去》开头)

文章直接用命题作文《挥手自兹去》的题目“挥手自兹去”来开头，将十五岁分为两种情境：一半是洒脱，即成熟;一半是青涩，即留念，干脆利落，不拖泥带水，直接点明中心。然后以“青涩一半”、“激情满怀”两个小标题分层展开正文。结尾以“嗨，挥手十五岁，伴着火焰燃烧的季节自兹而去!”照应开头，使文章结构紧凑而又圆润。

二、形象描绘抓特征

这种开头方法，通过生动形象的描写，把要写的主要人物或事物的特征先呈现在读者面前，能感染人，引起阅读兴趣。

例：照片上臭美的丫头是谁?瞧瞧，本小姐。一个挺有个性的女孩。每天都用蓝头绳扎着马尾辫，辫子长得都快碰到屁股了，穿着随意但又不凌乱，白白胖胖的瓜子脸上嵌着一双不大但炯炯有神的眼睛，弯弯的眉毛又宽又淡，不怎么好看，小巧玲珑的嘴巴能说会道，难怪外婆说我可以去当律师，脸颊两侧的小耳朵可灵了，一有什么动静，便马上汇报。左邻右舍都夸我聪明。(2015年湖北省武汉市中考满分文《我呀，属猴的》开头)

小作者开头抓住自己独特的外貌进行描写，生动形象，给人留下印象，引发读者浓浓的阅读兴趣。且采用第一人称，娓娓道来，使人感到亲切。

三、巧引妙改凸主题

由于诗词、名言、警句等语言精粹、众所周知的特点，能揭示某种人生哲理，给人启示，还可帮助突出中心，增添文章丰富性和文化底蕴。因此巧引妙改能使文章的开头妙趣横生。“巧引”，即在文章开头引用与文章所写内容有关的诗篇、名言、警句等，这样，能够产生先声夺人的效果，增加文章的趣味性和文学性，加强文章论述的权威性。“妙改”，即在文章的起笔处，对古语、俗谚、对联、行业术语、流行语、歌词、名言、诗文等进行引用，改写进入自己的文章。

例：“为什么我的眼里常含泪水，因为我对这土地爱得深沉。”那是一方美丽的土地，一方让人无法割舍的土地。我把生命的根留在那里，那里，有一种声音，如微风，清清凉凉，滋润心田;有一种声音，如阳光，飘飘洒洒，洒满温情。那是海的洗礼浪的张扬，时时触碰着我瓢忽不定的心扉。(2015 年山东省济南市中考满分作文《那声音，常在我心田》开头)

四、设置悬疑激兴趣

就是在开头就陈述要点，提出问题;或把事件的结尾放在开头，吸引人寻根问底;或是让某关键环节藏头露尾，给人“雾里看花”之感;或用求异思维，反向立意，别出心裁，激起读者的阅读兴趣。

例： 这天，汤姆从本市晚报上看到一则广告：“人体配件更换厂——还你一个崭新的自己!”汤姆很好奇，人体配件还能更换?是医院吧?太不可思议，人体部件难道能像汽车配件一样随意更换?(2015 年江西省中考满分作文《丢》开头)

考生将命题作文《丢》巧妙构思成一篇童话，故事情节离奇而生动。文章寓说理于童话故事中，让人读来感到诙谐有趣，文中蕴含的道理也易于被人们接受。文中的主人公汤姆为了追求完美，竟然把整个身体一点点换成了仿真材料。最后，他成了一名机器人，彻底丢弃了真我。当他最后一点电量耗尽，濒临死亡时，他十分后悔。虽然是童话，但主人公的心理完全符合普通人的想法。而这篇文章的开头提出问题，设置悬念，抓住了人们阅读时的好奇心理，精心设计吸引读者阅读下文，效果很好，无疑也为本文评为满分作文增添了亮点。

五、烘云托月造氛围

这种开头方法，先交代事件发生的时间、地点和环境，然后再引出主题，能起到制造气氛，烘托人物心情和中心的作用，抒情味道浓。或借用某一情景作为媒介，从中引出要写的人或事，委婉舒展，引人遐想，并为下文叙述开拓思路。

例：屋外的桂花树开满了花，轻风一吹，桂花纷纷扬扬地飘落下来，落在树下的小人头上、肩上。那个人就是我。见桂花飘落下来，我会挥舞着短短的手臂在风中自嗨。

哇，好香的花朵呀，那种清香的感觉真是太美太美。(2015 年重庆市中考满分作文《我们携手走进童年》开头)

这是一篇追忆童年的文章。这样的文章对初中生来说并不陌生，可这篇文章在组织选材上，小作者却有很明显的用心，下了一番工夫。童年可写的东西很多，作者只选了一个场景，即桂花树下，这个场景写得十分优美动人，颇有画意诗韵，让人产生无边的遐思。然后作者写了在桂花树下玩水枪，等爸爸回家，与伙伴们数星星与吃玉米等生动的情景，表达了对童年深深的怀念之情。

六、巧用修辞展文采

修辞是文章的衣衫，是语言运用中不可缺少的部分。巧妙而贴切的修辞手法的运用能使文章的语言增添许多风采。在考场作文中，考生若能熟练运用修辞手法扮靓语言，定能收到良好的效果。而打造“凤头”最妙的方法是灵活运用修辞。如：运用比喻，能给人形象美和文采美之感;运用拟人，能给人以生动亲切之感;运用排比，能增强文章语言气势，显得感情充沛激荡，又能彰显出作者的语文功底;运用设问，能引人思考，激发读者阅读兴趣;等等。

例：人与人之间的对话，就如缕缕阳光，悠然洒下，合成光束，照进心间，驱开不散的阴霾;又如丝丝细雨，翩然落下，汇成小河，流入心房，滋润原本干涸的心田;还如房檐的水滴，一滴一滴地坠落，最终滴穿了磐石坚硬的隔阂。(2015 年北京市中考满分作文《对话》开头)

这篇命题作文《对话》，思路相当开阔，开篇用排比、比喻，形象生动，以丰富的想象，设置了不同的意象，引出写作的中心。主体部分用“对话，在于心与心的沟通”、“对话，在于情感的表达”、“对话，在于彼此间的理解”三个提示性语句，总领写作角度，分三个层次，展示出清晰的写作思路。文章主体部分中列举了钟子期与俞伯牙的故事、高适的名言、焦仲卿与刘兰芝的爱情故事、雨果的名言，表达了对话题的理解，使整篇文章内容充实，十分耐读。作者丰厚的积累可见一斑。

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

写作技巧在写作活动中的具有极其重要的作用。小编收集了2018年高考作文指导：如何训练写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

第一，写作技巧是实现作者写作意图的重要条件。一般来说，作者的写作活动都具有一定的写作意图。所谓的写作意图，就是指作者打算在文章或作品中表达什么样的生活和思想内容，以及通过这种表达达到什么目的。而要使这一写作意图圆满实现，就必须依靠写作技巧。

第二，写作技巧是构成文学作品艺术性的内在因素。文学作品的艺术性，即文学作品反映社会生活或表达思想感情所达到的完美程度。这种艺术性的取得，决定于作者的世界观、创作方法和写作技巧。在具体的作品中，艺术性表现在作家在一定世界观的指导下，运用各种写作手法，创造出具有审美价值的艺术意境我典型形象，从而给读者带来审美愉悦。文学作品的艺术性虽不同于形式美，但它更多地体现在与内容和谐统一的艺术形式之中，而艺术形式的完美创造，则依靠写作技巧。

那么什么是写作技巧的操作训练呢?

(一)师法生活

生活是写作的源泉，丰富多采的大自然和人类社会，不仅为我们提供了取之不尽的写作材料，而且为我们提供了生动鲜活的关于写作形式与写作技巧的深刻启示。例如，巧合与悬念，往往是某些生活事件展示在人们面前时固有形式或“手法”;对比与映衬，常常是构成大自然优美景观及“艺术”美感的重要因素和“手段”;“人有悲欢离合，月有阴睛圆缺”作文人网 你也可以投稿，人生和自然的规律中寓含着曲折美、变化美、节奏美;“蝉鸣林逾静，鸟鸣山更幽”，常见的景象中包含着动与静相反相成的艺术辨证法则……因此，我们学习写作技巧，必须首先向生活学习。只有勤于观察生活，深入体验生活，才能使自己的写作技巧真正得到提高。

(二)阅读、借鉴

即从古今中外的优秀文章(以及音乐、绘画等艺术形式)中汲取营养。凡优秀的文章，内容和形式的完美程度都较高，其写作技巧往往是娴熟而又富于创造性。多读优秀的文章，在注意思想内容的同时，注意其写作技巧，看作者是运用哪些来表现思想内容，实现写作意图的，并且分析这些写作手法的具体运用情况及其所取得的写作效果。在此基础上，还应结合实际(写作者自身的思想和艺术修养的实际与题材和表现对象的实际)进一步思考，看哪些手法可以“拿来”，经过改造为我所用。这样，久而久之，潜移默化，自己的写作技巧，自然会有所提高。

(三)经常练笔

这是具有本质意义的技巧“操作训练”。清人唐彪写道：“谚云，‘读十篇不如做一篇’。盖常作则机关熟，题虽甚难，为之亦易;不常做，则理路生，题虽甚易，为之则难。沈虹野云：‘文章硬涩由于不熟，不熟由于不多做。’信哉言乎!”多写才能熟，熟才能生巧，这是不可更易的规律，任何企图改变或超越这一规律的人，永远也掌握不了写作技巧，永远也写不出好文章。只有经常写，反复写，才可能在写作者身上固定下一个写作技巧的“概括化系统”，一个“自动化的”写作“行动方式”。懂得了这一点，我们就会懂得那些语言艺术大师们为什么谆谆劝诫“我们大家都应该写、写、写，写得尽量多”了。

写作技巧的掌握是有一个过程的。这个过程可以分为两个阶段。一是“技能”阶段，一是“熟练”阶段。“技能”阶段，是无法之中求有法，能过观察、体验、多读、多写，学习并掌握了一些写作的基本手法，且能将它们运用于写作实践。这是掌握写作技巧的第一阶段。“熟练”阶段，是有法之中求变化。在第一阶段的基础上，进而掌握了包括写作的辨证艺术在内的多种写作手法，并能将它们纯熟自如、富于创造性地运用于写作实践。这是掌握写作技巧的第二阶段。古人说：“学诗当识活法。”“所谓活法者，规矩具备，而能出于规矩之外;变化不测，而亦不背规矩也。”识得“活法”，并能运用“活法”是掌握写作技巧第二阶段的重要标志。

掌握写作技巧，对写作具有重要的意义，任何否定写作技巧在写作中的客观作用的观点无疑是错误的。但是，我们也不能把技巧绝对化，走到唯技巧论的极端。因为，决定文章价值的主要因素，还是内容，脱离了丰富而深刻的内容，文章的审美价值乃至艺术性，也就不复存在了。这一点，尤其应该引起初学写作者的重视。