英语二书信格式写作（推荐20篇）

写作包括两部分，一是要求在35分钟内写一篇150字左右的短文，二是要求在10分钟内写一个50--60字的便条。这两部分均为命题作文，作文内容与大学生的日常生活、学习都密切相关，另外也有社会热点问题，比如环保、旅游、健身等，题目理解起来都比较容易。

短文写作部分文体为议论文，一般采用三段式的结构，第一段为论点，第二段为论据，第三段为结论。最高要求为文章内容切题，思想表达清楚，论据充分，论证严密，基本无语言错误。要想写好一篇文章，应该注意一下写作步骤：

1.审题：作文评分的第一个要求就是内容切题，因此审题特别关键。专业四级作文都是命题作文，而且多有中文提示或提纲，所以你首先应了解命题的基本要求，理解题目的真正意图，然后确定提纲中的关键词及各要点间的逻辑，整理自己的思路，对自己所想到的内容进行组织和全面安排。尤其对要讨论的问题，该涉及的内容，所需的事实、例证、阐述、说明和总结等，在头脑中形成一个整体的构思。

2.组织段落：构思好之后，根据构思的提纲，运用选好的材料，恰当地运用连词，合理安排段落，使文章条理清楚、内容连贯。段落的组织主要是通过扩展句对主题句的支持或说明来进行的。各段的主题句在审题构思时就应基本形成，主题句确定下来，接着就是通过一系列的扩展句，来说明、论证或阐述主题句的思想。常见的段落展开方法有列举、举例、比较和对比、因果、叙述、归类、下定义等，考试时应灵活运用。

3.修改：也就是说要删除与主题不相干的内容，检查句子时态、语态等。特别应注意单词的正确拼写；字母大小写和标点符号；数的一致性（包括主语与谓语以及名词与其限定语的单复数一致性）；指代关系（包括指代的一致性和代词的选用）；动词形式（时态、语态、语气）等方面。

关于考试过程中短文写作的时间分配问题。我们知道，短文写作的时间为35分钟, 要力争写完写好, 这就要求考生做到有条不紊，忙而不乱，充分发挥自己应有的水平。建议按照如下的方案分配时间: 审题1～2分钟；组织素材, 细节和关键词: 4～5分钟；起草: 20～25分钟；修改定稿: 4～5分钟。

最后要说明的是，从某种意义上来说，专业四级考试作文有其固定的写作格式、结构，而对于固定的题型，有固定不变的表达法。因此，大家有理由相信只要训练方法得当，搞好写作是不难的。大家不妨试试多背范文和常用句型，包括各类型作文的开头、结尾句、中间展开、过渡句，以及比较、图表说明等的常用句型和表达法，然后自己多动笔写一写，只要按这样的方法进行练习，相信在一定时间内就可以在写作上取得满意的分数。因为是三段式作文，写作的时候一定注意第一段提出的论点要简洁明了，开门见山；第二段的论据要能充分说明论点，论证条理清楚；第三段的结论要水到渠成，切忌草率，严谨完整的结尾是取得高分的保证。

便条写作最主要的是注意格式正确，交待清楚，比如请柬、贺信、道歉函等，要注意称呼、正文、签名等的格式，一定要把相关的时间、地点、原因及主要事件内容交待清楚。

下面是语文迷小编为大家整理提供的英语写作技巧以及关联词，供大家阅读参考。

英语写作技巧之一：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.

英语写作技巧之二：删除诸如"who is”或"that is"之类的关系代词，变从句为短语，例：

句：The novel, which is written in three parts, told a story that took place in the Middle Ages.

修改后：The three-part novel told a story set in the Middle Ages.

注：把句中的"three parts"改用形容词来表达，节省了四个不必要的单词"which is written in"。我们经常可以将关系代词如"that"去掉，这只会引起最少的变动。

英语写作技巧之三：剔除你不需要的单词，例：

Two joint partners will present their views over a long-distance telephone call.

写完这样的句子后，你自己再读一遍，挑出单词"joint"和"telephone"，注意删去不必要的词。

关联词的积累

1.提出观点不要只用I think，要学会用：

As far as I am concerned

In my opinion

From my point of view

From my perspective

The way I see it

2.转折不要只用but， 要多用：

However,

nevertheless, nonetheless,

Whereas

Some people like fat meat, whereas other people hate it.

转折也可用比喻：as a coin has two sides(就象硬币有两面一样), …(陈述转折内容)

3.表递进的：

In addition, in addition to, additionally,

what is more, moreover, furthermore,

more importantly，

what is worse (更槽糕的是)

4.表示“事实上”：

In fact,

as a matter of fact,

actually

5.表总结：

in conclusion, as a result,

all in all 总而言之

In short,

In a word, 一句话讲

Taking into consideration,

Taking into account all the factors that I have mentioned above, it is safe to draw a conclusion that …

6.表示因此：

Consequently,

Hence,

Therefore,

Thus,

as a result,

resultingly

7.表因为：

because of

due to,

owing to,

thanks to,

as a result of,

8.虽然

Although, even though, even if, though

Proud as these nobles are, …

As flattered as I am, I would say no.

In spite of, despite

I love you in spite of that.

9.比较：

In comparison with,

compared to,

compared with

She’s nothing compared to you.

10.表最后：

Finally,

eventually,

in the end,

at last,

ultimately,

11.表示程度的副词词组亦非常重要，会使文章看起来比较成熟、辨证：

To some extent 在某种程度上讲

To some degree 在某种程度上讲

To a large part 在很大程度上说

In a sense 在某种意义上讲

In general, generally 大体上说

Generally speaking 一般地讲

In some cases 在有些情况下

Basically 基本上

Broadly speaking 宽泛地讲

12.其他(要尽可能多用在文章中。始终牢记内容次要，而语言形式第一位。内容服务于形式)：

Not only, but also

Neither nor, either or

Instead of, instead

For example, for instance (替换使用), take … for example

Be likely to

Be able to

Speaking of, when it comes to …

When it comes to food, he is really picky.

In terms of 根据

First of all, second of all

Above all,

Significantly,

The more, the more

一、Nothing is + ~~~ er than to + V Nothing is + more +形容词+ than to + V

例句：Nothing is more important than to receive education. 没有比接受教育更重要的事。

二、~ the + ~ est +名词+(that)+主词+ have ever + seen(known/heard/had/read，etc)

~ the most +形容词+名词+(that)+主词+ have ever +seen(known/heard/had/read，etc)

例句：Helen is the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen. 海伦是我所看过最美丽的女孩。

Mr. Chang is the kindest teacher that I have ever had. 张老师是我曾经遇到最仁慈的教师。

三、~~~ cannot emphasize the importance of ~~~ too much.(再怎么强调……的重要性也不为过。)

例句：We cannot emphasize the importance of protecting our eyes too much.

我们再怎么强调保护眼睛的重要性也不为过。

四、It is universally acknowledged that +句子~~(全世界都知道……)

例句：It is universally acknowledged that trees are indispensable to us.

全世界都知道树木对我们是不可或缺的。

五、There is no denying that + S + V……(不可否认的……)

例句：There is no denying that the qualities of our living have gone from bad to worse.

不可否认的，我们的生活品质已经每况愈下。

六、There is no doubt that +句子~~(毫无疑问的……)

例句：There is no doubt that our educational system leaves something to be desired.

毫无疑问的我们的教育制度令人不满意。

七、An advantage of ~~~ is that +句子(……的优点是……)

例句：An advantage of using the solar energy is that it wont create(produce)any pollution.

使用太阳能的优点是它不会制造任何污染。

八、The reason why +句子~~~ is that +句子(……的原因是……)

例句：The reason why we have to grow trees is that they can provide us with fresh air.

The reason why we have to grow trees is that they can supply fresh air for us.

我们必须种树的原因是它们能供应我们新鲜的空气。

九、Adj + as + Subject(主词)+ be，S + V~~~(虽然……)

例句：Rich as our country is， the qualities of our living are by no means

satisfactory. {by no means = in no way = on no account一点也不}

虽然我们的国家富有，我们的生活品质绝对令人不满意。

十、So +形容词+ be +主词+ that +句子(如此……以致于……)

例句：So precious is time that we cant afford to waste it.时间是如此珍贵，我们经不起浪费它。

应用文是人们日常生活中广泛使用的文体。它最突出的特点是它的实际应用性，应用文包括很广，如书信、通知、日记、海报、便条、启事、请柬、电报、合同等。应用文的语言应使用规范语言，重在实用，力求朴实、准确、简洁。

一、书信

书信我们分为两部分：信封和内容。

1、信封的写法。

英语信封正面的左上角，写发信人的姓名和地址。在信封的正面中央偏左一点，写收信人的地址和姓名。

英语信封上的地点名称由小到大，视其长短可占二至五行不等。

寄信人只写姓名，不写头衔。但是，收信人一般都在名字前加上头衔，以示礼貌和尊敬。对于没有官衔和学衔的人士，通常在姓名前写上Mr., Mrs.,或Ms.。

信封的写法，一般来说，很少出现在中考英语的作文中。

2、内容。

英文信一般可以分为下列几个部分。

1)信端(Heading)即写信人的地址和发信日期。

2)收信人姓名地址

3)称呼

4)信的正文

5)结束语

6)签名

有的时候，出题者会让考生写e-mail。e-mail的写法和书信的写法基本一致。只不过少了书信在信封上的繁琐。

二、发言稿

发言稿要注意以下三点：

1、发言的地点

2、发言的对象

3、发言的内容。

三、通知

通知的正文一般都是写在"Notice"以词之下，一般来说不必写称呼语和结束语。出同时的单位名称可以写在notice之上，也可以写在正文的右下角。

正文一般采用文章式，有时为了醒目，也可采用广告式。广告式要力求简明扼要，一个句子可分几行。每行第一个字母一般要大写。

四、启事

启事是一种公告式的应用文。团体或个人如有什么事情要向大家公开说明或对公众有什么要求，可将要说的话写成启事，张贴在布告栏上或登在报刊上。启事一般无固定格式，要求简明扼要即可。

五、海报

海报是一种带有装饰性的宣传广告。有时配以绘画图案。内容以影讯、展览、演出信息、友谊赛等为主。为了尽可能使更多的人知道，海报往往贴在醒目之处。

五一劳动节，旅游不停歇，领略风光好，提升新境界，亲朋遥相聚，说笑不分离，身体虽疲惫，心里自然美，人间情珍贵。节日虽忙碌，没忘送祝福：劳动节快乐!

Labor Day, travel non-stop, enjoy the scenery, to enhance the new realm, relatives and friends. Together, talking and laughing are not isolated, is physically tired heart, the beauty of nature, the world precious love. The holiday is busy, dont forget to send blessings: a happy labor day!

五一到，扛一筐快乐，背一袋开心，真心送你送顺心;顶一卷如意，举一群幸福，真诚送你送温馨;揽一堆安康，扒一块吉祥，真情送你送舒心，愿你笑容绽放每一秒，五一劳动节快乐!

Five one to carry a basket, happy, happy heart to send back a bag, send you my best; each volume, for a group of happy, sincerely give you send a bunch of warm embrace; Ankang, with a piece of luck, love to send you to comfort, wish you smile every second, Labor Day happy!

编一个短信送给你，写份祝福送给你。五一来临之际，为您送上一份衷心的祈祷与祝福，诚祝您与您的家人度过一个愉快的劳动节!

Write a message to you, write a blessing to you. Five one approaching, to pray and bless you a heartfelt, sincere wish you have a nice day with your family!

携着一缕缕阳光心情妙，伴着一春浓浓芬芳笑容爽，发一段长长祝福万事吉，添一段甜甜回忆情意浓，道一声幸福悠长体安康，愿你五一劳动节生活美满，幸福常。

With the sun continuously wonderful mood, with a thick fragrant spring smile bright, send a blessing all long Ji, add a sweet memories of affective thick, say happiness long body of Ankang, I wish you a happy life Labor Day, happiness always.

劳动虽光荣，心情要放松，平常工作忙，身体好辛苦，五一假期到，外面风光好，快乐和健康，朋友要享到，愿君少烦恼，幸福粘你跑。

Labor is glorious, the mood to relax the body, usually busy with work, good work, five one holidays to the outside scenery, good, healthy and happy, to enjoy friends, wish you happy worry, stick you run.

平时工作太劳累，假期可以按时睡;清除烦恼忘琐碎，开心乐观不后退;真挚友谊诚可贵，短信祝福真实惠;劳动节里心情美，快乐和你永相随。

I work too hard, the holidays can sleep; clear trouble forget the trivial, happy dont retreat; sincere friendship is precious, SMS blessing real benefits; labor day in the mood beauty, happiness and you forever.

又是今年五一到，平安吉祥没烦恼：骑上顺利的单车，背起开心的背包，走上自在的小路，闻着甜蜜的花香，给自己身心一个放松的旅行，自然会得到生命更美好的记忆!五一提醒：必须开心，必须放松!

This year is the five one, peace auspicious not worry: ride smooth bicycle, carrying happy backpack, to ease road, smelling the sweet fragrance of flowers, give yourself a relaxing trip, will naturally be more beautiful memories of life! Five one reminder: must be happy, must be relaxed!

五月微风好春光，槐花栀子竟飘香，五一劳动节又来临，短信祝福送给你，外出旅游要小心，爱护文物和古迹，悠闲自得莫疲惫，健康排在第一位，饮酒千万别开车，平平安安才是真，祝朋友劳动节快乐!

In May a good spring, flower fragrance of Gardenia unexpectedly, Labor Day comes again, SMS blessing you, travel, be careful, protect cultural relics and historical sites, leisurely not tired, health in the first row, dont drink and drive, peace is the true friend, I wish a happy labor day!

平常忙，难游玩，工作多，好疲惫，五一到，假期来，爬爬山，观观海，赏赏花，陪陪家，远烦恼，多欢乐，心情愉，身体健，好朋友，常挂心，送祝福，万事顺。

Usually busy, difficult to play, work, good tired, five one, holidays, mountain climbing, sea view, appreciation of flowers, spend time with family, far more joy, worry, feel good, good health, good friends, often worry, send blessings, maestro.

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

1、以图表提供情景的作文要以“读”为主，首先要读懂图表中的数据、时间、编码、序号以及相互间的变化关系，对所给的信息加以分析、推断、筛选、概括、去粗取精；在写作时目的要明确，要注意内容的准确性和严肃性，尤其是图表中的数据、时间等不得有误。

2、以图画提供情景的作文应以“看”为主，通过细心观察图中的人物、景物、文字、环境、数字等，弄清写作的意图，通过分析思考把握逻辑联系，找出主题并借助所给的文字，把图中的信息转化成文章，但要注意，文章不能停留在图画的浅表，而要表达出提供情景的意图和内涵。

3、以提纲提供情景的作文。这种形式本身的要点已经很明确，重点也很突出，只要把各个提纲加以发挥，注意遣词造句的灵活性和语法规则的正确性，就不会造成审题不清而偏离主题，但要注意，文章必须覆盖所提供的各个提纲的要点。

4、以书信格式提供情景的作文。首先要了解书信的格式，英文书信格式与中文有所不同，(1)、一般在信纸的右上角写上写信人的地址和日期，地址应按从小到大的顺序排列；(2)、左边顶格写上收信人的姓名；(3)、正文部分；(4)、祝愿的话；(5)、写信人签名。信的内容一定要按所给的要求写，不要漏写。

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

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

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

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

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

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

三、最后将中考写作的基本步骤和技巧归纳为以下几个环节：

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

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

3、构成框架将理顺的要点或每幅图画的含义加以连贯，构成写作的整体框架，进一步定人称、定时态语态、定顺序、定段落、定开头结尾。基本框架构成后，写作就有了把握。4、组织句子用自己最熟悉的短语或句型将理顺的要点逐句表达出来，多用简单句，用有把握的复合句。要扬长避短，避难就易。若遇到表达障碍，可换一种说法，将一句变成两、三句，只求达意。

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

dear teacher:

this is a special day, we have presented a bouquet of flowers, gifts to the world of your peaches and plums, spectrum a ode to joy, for your eyes flicker disperse tired, for you loosen the amount of wrinkled patterns.

the singing is a blessing: teacher, happy holidays! insatiable in learning, be tireless in teaching, peaches and plums fragrance, their music is happy and harmonious. i wish you a happy holiday! not only in the teachers day today, there is a tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, tai houtian, i wish your life every day, every minutes, every second, the surface is always the same smile.

the singing is concerned about: the teacher, you worked hard! your use of sweat, nurturing the tender shoots of spring have just ground-breaking. your care is like the genial spring, warm our hearts and minds. let us protect your healthy growth, formed in the autumn fruit.

lifes journey, you shine our light of hope, eich our minds, adding to our intelligence.

thank you, teacher! i wish you healthy forever! happy! happiness!

1、I"d like ...to come to dinner

非常希望...共进晚餐

2、request the pleasure of

恭请...

3、The favor of a reply is requested

敬赐复函

4、May I have the honour of your company at dinner?

敬备菲酌，恭请光临

5、Thank you for inviting us to dinner

谢谢您邀请我们共进晚餐

6、I hope you"re not too busy to come.

我期望您会在百忙中光临

7、The reception will be held in ...,on ...

招待会定于...在...举行

8、We sincerely hope you can attend

我们期待您的光临

9、We are looking forward to ...

我们期待着....

点击查看：英语写作指导

10、We have decided to have a party in honor of the occasion

为此我们决定举办一次晚会

11、Please confirm your participation at your earliest convenience

是否参加，请早日告之

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

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

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

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

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

例题分析(例题)

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

要求：

⒈ 从所给素材中任选两种情形进行阐述，不可多选或少选。

⒉ 条理清楚，意思连贯，语句通顺，标点正确;

⒊ 词数 80 ～ 100。

参考词汇： 建议 suggest v. suggestion n.

气体 gas n. 污染 pollution n.

THE POLLUTIONS

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

② More and more diseases are caused by polluted air.

③ People are disturbed quite often by kinds of noises.

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

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

1、认真读题。注意，题目虽然给了四幅图，但是却只要求写其中的两个就行。

2、题意要求的是阐述个人的观点-最担忧的两种情形。而不是对图片进行描述。

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

4、注意字数，语法，拼写等，避免错误。

下面是两个例文，大家可以参考一下。

One possible version:

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

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

Another possible version:

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

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

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

评分标准：

1. 内容完整，语句流畅，无语法错误，书写规范，给9-10分;

2. 内容较完整，语句较流畅，基本无语法错误，书写较规范，给6-8分;

3. 内容不完整，语句欠流畅，语法错误较多，书写较规范，给3-5分;

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

看图作文不可小视。希望大家掌握答好这种题型的要点，并积累词汇。

1. 内容切题

内容切题是命题作文的基本要求，考生可从以下几个方面入手：

第一要认真审题。根据题目类别，弄清文体的要求，并判明文章的种类(议论文、说明文、记叙文)，同时确定文章要阐明的主题或要表达的中心思想，若题目已经提供了提纲，还要注意弄清各提纲要点之间的逻辑关系。考生在拿到作文题后，切勿惟恐时间不够，提笔就写。一旦跑题，发现了再改就来不及了，常言道：“磨刀不误砍柴工”。

第二要注意设计安排段落。根据文章的中心思想，确定各个段落的主题内容和主题句。如果是议论文，一般要从论点的正反两个方面来考虑，首先是某观点的合理成分或某物的长处，然后是该观点的不合理成分或该物的短处，最后阐明自己的观点。如果题目提供了提纲，只要把提纲扩展成主题句即可。

第三要避免将记忆里较熟悉的句子生拉硬扯地搬进作文，使作文结构松散，意思不明确，甚至会偏离主题。

2. 表达清楚，文字连贯

文章要做到表达清楚，文字连贯，文章各段落就必须根据提纲所确立的不同主题来展开，而且各段落的主题句要将段落的各个部分凝聚在一起，流利地表达段落大意，使段落中各部分以及段落之间的联系一目了然。

3. 句式有变化

有些考生对写作没信心，不敢大胆地使用所掌握的语言基础知识，包括英语句法知识，结果整篇文章都是以主、谓、宾句式为主的简单句子，文章显得刻板无生气。实际上，

书面表达是英语写作的重要组成部分，有不少学生觉得用英语写作很难，不知从何练起。笔者教学实践发现，首先要具备扎实的基础知识，抓住课本教学来培养学生的写作能力，立足教材，由易到难，由浅入深，采取多种形式来加强书面表达训练，这样英语写作水平才能得到提高。

一是通过词汇教学训练写作能力。要写好文章不是一朝一夕就能达到的，必须从最基础的词汇入手。教学中，教师要注意加强词汇方面的训练，力求给学生交代清楚每一个词语的具体用法。对一些重点的、核心的词汇讲清，讲透每个词语的单独用法和搭配用法。为了更有效地与课本结合起来，每学完一个单元，根据本单元的单词、短语造句，举一反三，帮助学生扩大词汇量，使学生词不离句，强化写作训练。

二是通过一句多译练习训练写作能力。就七年级学生而言，他们虽然接触英语学习时间不长，但教师还是要注重引导学生多做一些一句多译练习，这样有助于启发学生的写作思路。考试时选择自己有把握的句子灵活地表达同一内容，减少失误，提高得分率。通过做汉译英练习，暴露出学生受母语影响的问题，对这些问题我及时进行讲评和纠正。这样，有利于培养和规范学生的英语表达能力。

三是结合课文进行各种体裁的写作训练。目前，信息来源的渠道多种多样，学生课文中有记叙、日记、通知、便条、书信、广告和说明等多种体裁，文中还有大量的插图，教师可利用图片让学生进行看图写作。要学好英语写作就必须从课文练起，从一些常见的文体练起，由短到长，由浅入深，循序渐进地进行。

四是通过背诵训练写作。培养学生的英语写作能力，以课文为中心训练写作能力非常重要，因为课文中的句子就是规范的英语范文。因此，每学完一篇课文或对话，教师就要要求学生背诵，然后默写。这样使学生把词语放在句型、段落、篇章中去理解、记忆和体味，以至于能够仿写、改写。

五是通过仿写和改写训练写作能力。仿写也是提高英语写作能力行之有效的方法，模仿写作中，格式、构思、表达方式等方面都可模仿。但要提醒学生注意灵活变通，语句要通顺，符合英语表达习惯。仿写前要从时态，句型，内容选材等方面对学生加以辅导，指导学生怎样模仿，特别提醒学生注意时态。

另外，改写也是一种很好的方法，改写就是对文章材料的文体、式样、句式等进行改编的一种训练方式。无论是改人称、改时态，还是改对话材料为叙述文字，这都有助于学生复习巩固所学知识，又能培养学生所学知识的迁移运用能力，还能起到提高学生的写作能力。

总之，要提高学生的英语写作能力，就要培养学生养成良好的学习习惯。即：重视词、短语、造句，优秀的对话和课文要背诵，多做翻译练习，练习改写和仿写，结合课文进行各种体裁的写作训练。只有坚持不懈，持之以恒，才能写出准确、地道、规范的英语文章。

1、开头部分

How nice to hear from you again. Let me tell you something about the activity. I’m glad to have received your letter of Apr. 9th. I’m pleased to hear that you’re coming to China for a visit. I’m writing to thank you for your help during my stay in America.

2、结尾部分

With best wishes. I’m looking forward to your reply. I’d appreciate it if you could reply earlier.

一、 主题句原则

国有其君，家有其主，文章也要有其主。否则会给人造成“群龙无首”之感!相信各位读过一些破烂文学，故意把主体隐藏在文章之内，结果造成我们稀里糊涂!不知所云!所以奉劝各位一定要写一个主题句，放在文章的开头(保险型)或者结尾，让读者一目了然，必会平安无事!

特别提示：隐藏主体句可是要冒险的!

To begin with, you must work hard at your lessons and be fully prepared before the exam(主题句).

Without sufficient preparation, you can hardly expect to answer all the questions correctly.

二、 长短句原则

工作还得一张一驰呢，老让读者读长句，累死人!写一个短小精辟的句子，相反，却可以起到画龙点睛的作用。而且如果我们把短句放在段首或者段末，也可以揭示主题：

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

如此可见，长短句结合，抑扬顿挫，岂不爽哉?牢记!

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

三、 一二三原则

领导讲话总是第一部分、第一点、第二点、第三点、第二部分、第一点…如此罗嗦。可毕竟还是条理清楚。考官们看文章也必然要通过这些关键性的“标签”来判定你的文章是否结构清楚，条理自然。破解方法很简单，只要把下面任何一组的词汇加入到你的几个要点前就清楚了。

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8)most important of all, moreover, finally

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

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

建议：不仅仅在写作中注意，平时说话的时候也应该条理清楚!

四、 短语优先原则

写作时，尤其是在考试时，如果使用短语，有两个好处：其一、用短语会使文章增加亮点，如果老师们看到你的文章太简单，看不到一个自己不认识的短语，必然会看你低一等。相反，如果发现亮点—精彩的短语，那么你的文章定会得高分了。其二、关键时刻思维短路，只有凑字数，怎么办?用短语是一个办法!比如：

I cannot bear it.

可以用短语表达：I cannot put up with it.

I want it.

可以用短语表达：I am looking forward to it.

这样字数明显增加，表达也更准确。

五、 多实少虚原则

原因很简单，写文章还是应该写一些实际的东西，不要空话连篇。这就要求一定要多用实词，少用虚词。我这里所说的虚词就是指那些比较大的词。比如我们说一个很好的时候，不应该之说nice这样空洞的词，应该使用一些诸如generous, humorous, interesting, smart, gentle, warm-hearted, hospital 之类的形象词。再比如：

走出房间，general的词是：walk out of the room

但是小偷走出房间应该说：slip out of the room

小姐走出房间应该说：sail out of the room

小孩走出房间应该说：dance out of the room

老人走出房间应该说：stagger out of the room

所以多用实词，少用虚词，文章将会大放异彩!

六、 多变句式原则

1)加法(串联)

都希望写下很长的句子，像个老外似的，可就是怕写错，怎么办，最保险的写长句的方法就是这些，可以在任何句子之间加and, 但最好是前后的句子又先后关系或者并列关系。

比如说： I enjor music and he is fond of playing guitar. 如果是二者并列的，我们可以用一个超级句式：Not only the fur coat is soft, but it is also warm. 其它的短语可以用：besides, furthermore, likewise, moreover

2)转折(拐弯抹角)

批评某人缺点的时候，我们总习惯先拐弯抹角说说他的优点，然后转入正题，再说缺点，这种方式虽然阴险了点，可毕竟还比较容易让人接受。所以呢，我们说话的时候，只要在要点之前先来点废话，注意二者之间用个专这次就够了。

The car was quite old, yet it was in excellent condition.

The coat was thin, but it was warm.

更多的短语：despite that, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, not with standing

3)因果(so, so, so)

昨天在街上我看到了一个女孩，然后我主动搭讪，然后我们去咖啡厅，然后我们认识了，然后我们成为了朋友…可见，讲故事的时候我们总要追求先后顺序，先什么，后什么，所以然后这个词就变得很常见了。其实这个词表示的是先后或因果关系!

The snow began to fall, so we went home.

更多短语：then, therefore, consequently, accordingly, hence, as a result, for this reason, so that

4)失衡句(头重脚轻，或者头轻脚重)

有些人脑袋大，身体小，或者有些人脑袋小，身体大，虽然我们不希望长成这个样子，可如果真的是这样了，也就必然会吸引别人的注意力。文章中如果出现这样的句子，就更会让考官看到你的句子与众不同。其实就是主语从句，表语从句，宾语从句的变形。

举例：This is what I can do.

Whether he can go with us or not is not sure.

同样主语、宾语、表语可以改成如下的复杂成分：

When to go, Why he goes away…

5)附加(多此一举)

如果有了老婆，总会遇到这样的情况，当你再讲某个人的时候，她会插一句说，我昨天见过他;或者说，就是某某某，如果把老婆的话插入到我们的话里面，那就是定语从句和同位语从句或者是插入语。

The man whom you met yesterday is a friend of mine.

I don’t enjoy that book you are reading.

Mr liu, our oral English teacher, is easy-going.

其实很简单，同位语--要解释的东西删除后不影响整个句子的构成;定语从句—借用之前的关键词并且用其重新组成一个句子插入其中，但是whom or that 关键词必须要紧跟在先行词之前。

6)排比(排山倒海句)

文学作品中最吸引人的地方莫过于此，如果非要让你的文章更加精彩的话，那么我希望你引用一个个的排比句，一个个得对偶句，一个个的不定式，一个个地词，一个个的短语，如此表达将会使文章有排山倒海之势!

Whether your tastes are modern or traditional, sophisticated or simple, there is plenty in London for you.

Nowadays, energy can be obtained through various sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, solar heat, the wind and ocean tides.

We have got to study hard, to enlarge our scope of knowledge, to realize our potentials and to pay for our life. (气势恢宏)

要想写出如此气势恢宏的句子非用排比不可!

七、 挑战极限原则

既然是挑战极限，必然是比较难的，但是并非不可攀!

原理：在学生的文章中，很少发现诸如独立主格的句子，其实也很简单，只要花上5分钟的时间看看就可以领会，它就是分词的一种特殊形式，分词要求主语一致，而独立主格则不然。比如：

The weather being fine, a large number of people went to climb the Western Hills.

Africa is the second largest continent, its size being about three times that of China.

如果您可一些出这样的句子，不得高分才怪!

Dear ______ ,

①I have learned with delight that you ______(祝贺事由). ②I would like to extend to you my utmost congratulations on ______. ③You must be ______. ④And I feel very happy for you.

⑤ ______(所取得的成绩)is quite exciting news! ⑥I know this is surely owing to ______(被祝贺人过去的努力).⑦It is a reward you richly deserve for your ______(被祝贺人的优点).

⑧Kindly let me know when you ______(咨询对方何时有空).⑨I hope ______(表达自己的愿望). ⑩My best wishes for your further success.

Yours sincerely,

Li Ming

一、注意审题

小作文的审题(即审读材料)很重要，决定着文章的成败。因为一个小作文的材料中，往往隐含了若干个写作要求，如不细心审读，抓不到这些隐含的要求，就很容易出现错误。例如：

一个孩子乘母亲不在，将家里的小闹钟拆了，母亲见后……

要求;根据上面的材料，展开想象，如果你是母亲，如何处置这个事情。请写出一个200字左右的处置过程。

这个小作文便隐含四个要求：(1)〝母亲见后〞，时间上必须要从母亲看见闹钟被拆之后写起;(2)〝如果你是母亲〞，行文中写作者必须是小孩的 母亲，必须以小孩子母亲的身份出现，不能这样写：〝如果我是这位母亲，我会这样处置……〞;(3)〝200字左右〞，字数限定在200字左右;(4)〝处 置过程〞，内容只能写处置的过程，而不能写结果和其他。

二、注意语言的简洁

这一点体现在两方面。其一，小作文字数一般是100┄300字，受篇幅限制，语言要求简洁明了。其二，如果是写应用文，则语言也一定要简洁，因为语言简洁是应用文写作的最基本要求。

三、力求结构完整

小作文是片断性作文，而非篇章。虽如此，但不能一味忽略结构的完整性。一篇小作文如果能够做到结构完整，则效果会更好。例如：

在你的身边有许多可亲可爱的事物，请你任选其中一种，以《我眼里的___________》为题写一篇200字左右的短文。

有位学生在叙写完一只小猫的伶俐乖巧后，篇末一句〝我非常喜爱我家的小猫〞独句成段，这样，既抒发了情感，又收束了全文，使短文结构完整，比那些一味描写小猫的文章要好得多了。

要做到结构完整，可运用以下的结构方式：前后照应式、篇末点题式、总分总式(包括总分式和分总式)等。

四、注意表达方式的运用

受文体的制约，一篇文章总以某种表达方式为主，同时兼用其他表达方式为主。小作文也应注意这一点。如江西省2002年中考语文小作文题为二选 一，(1)通过某一情景或场面，描写你最喜欢的色彩。(2)就你最喜欢的色彩，发表议论。无论选哪一题，或描写、或议论，总得以一种表达方式为主。但如果 能兼用其他表达方式，如兼用议论和抒情，表达自己对某种色彩的某中看法和喜爱之情，则能使短文大为增色。

Grasp all, lose all. 贪多必失.

Whats lost is lost. 失者不可复得。

Waste not, want not. 不浪费,不会穷.

Tomorrow never comes. 切莫依赖明天. / 我生待明日,万事成蹉跎.

No man is infallible. 没有人不犯错误。

Alms never make poor. 施舍穷不了人.

Love will find a way. 爱心所至,金石为开.

Manners make the man. 举止见人品。

Patience is a virtue. 忍耐是一种美德.

Pity is akin to love. 怜悯生爱.

Call a spade a spade. 是啥说啥，难听不怕。

Delays are dangerous. 因循出危险.

Diamond cuts diamond. 强中自有强中手.

Counsel is no command. 劝告不是命令.

Poverty tries friends. 贫穷考验朋友.

Once bitten,twice shy. 吃一次亏,学一次乖.

Pain past is pleasure. 痛苦过去即欢乐.

Leal heart lied never. 心诚无谎言。

Hot love is soon cold. 过热的爱情冷得快.

As good lost as found. 有得必有失. /得失同喜.

Every dog has his day. 瓦块也有翻身日，人人都有运来时。

Wise fear begets care. 懂得担心,就会小心.

"Never”is a long word. 不要轻易说“决不”。

After wind comes rain. 风是雨的头。

Nurture passes nature. 教养胜过天性.

Time tries all things. 时间检验一切.

Boys will be boys. 男孩子总是男孩子.

No song, no supper. 不出力,不得食.

The truth will out. 真相总会大白.

Time works wonders. 时间能创造奇迹.

To think is to see. 思考就是明白.

Truth will prevail. 真理必胜

A lie begets a lie. 谎言生谎言。

Years bring wisdom. 年岁带来智慧.

In love is no lack. 爱情不会感到缺乏.

Easy come, easy go. 来得容易去得 . /悖入悖出.

Every little helps. 点滴都有用.

Forgive and forget. 恢弘大度，勿念旧恶。

Manners maketh man. 举止造人品.

Laugh and grow fat. 心宽体胖 。

Knowledge is power. 知识就是力量.

Let the world slide. 人世沧桑,听其自然.

Love me,love my dog. 爱屋及乌.

Life means struggle. 生活就是斗争.

Fair plays a jewel. 比赛风格好,胜过珠宝.

Early sow,early mow. 种得早,收得早.

1、Thank you very much for ....

十分感谢...

2、Many thanks for your ...

非常感谢您...

3、Please accept my sincere appreciation for ...

请接受我对...真挚的感谢

4、I am truly grateful to you for ...

为了...，我真心感激您

5、It was good (thoughtful) of you ...

承蒙好意(关心)...

6、You were so kind to send ...

承蒙好意送来...

7、Thank you again for your wonderful hospitality and I am looking forward to seeing you soon.

再次感谢您的盛情款待，并期待不久见到您

8、I find an ordinary "thank-you" entirely inadequate to tell you how much...

我觉得一般的感谢的字眼完全不足以表达我对您多么地...

9、I sincerely appreciate ...

我衷心地感谢...

10、I wish to express my profound appreciation for ...

我对..深表谢意

11、Many thanks for you generous cooperation

would rather (not) do.

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、勤读、多背词汇，好精句

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

1.背词句，背诵课文中的重点句型和短语尤其是课文中的俗语、谚语和经典句子。

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

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

二、亲自动手，自己写作

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

1.范例引路

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

2.限时训练

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

3.多想精炼

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

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

4.自改互改

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

三、培养学生良好的写作习惯

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear brother,

I’m in Guizhou now.I have many friends here. They are all kind to me.I often have breakfast with them.I like Guizhou food very much.They are nice.I am very glad to be here.

Yours,

Yang Jing

--500字

一、首段

第一段四个句子,第一句宏观描述图画,并谈图画看似可笑但发人深思.第二句写出图画最强烈的视觉效果,第三句是主题句,谈用二十个单词的爆发力句型谈该现象对个人的发展和进步有破坏性,并引发思考,第四句是用贬义词批判这个现象是强烈的指责。

1、As is vividly depicted in the picture, which seems to be humorous and ridiculous but thought-provoking on second thoughts.

2、The most striking feature that impresses me deeply is that unbelievably,

3、Recent few years has witnessed a phenomenon of 主题 which seems to be disastrous to individual survival and prosperity.

4、This phenomenon of 主题 should be condemned severely or made illegal.

二、中间段落

中间段落从两方面论证问题的危害，并举例论证，预测危害的趋势

第二段七个句子,首先第一句从宏观上谈这种现象的总的有两到三个点危害或者原因,第二句谈这个现象的第一个危 害,用 “not only, but also”的五星级句子,通常是谈对个人身心健康的危害性, 第三个句子谈第二个危害,通常是用一个豪华级的比较级的句子,让老师耳目一新,通常是谈这个现象对社会的危害.第四个句子谈对家庭或学校的危害.第五个句 子谈一个代替 “for example”的十五个单词的好句子,意思是说没有更好的例子来证明正如下文.第六个句子是例子群体的出现,谈根据一项调查表明,80%以上的人只要从 事经历过这个消极的现象一定会对个人在精神和生活上有危害.最后一句话是预测趋势的二十五个单词的钻石级的句子,谈以下预测趋势,表明这种现象再这样下 去,就会导致恶劣的结果出现,甚至是毁灭性的后果。

1、To account for the above-mentioned phenomenon, several serious effects have been put forward.

2、To begin with,主题 not only results does harm to our physical and mental health but also results in a frustrating and humiliating life.

3、In addition, nothing is more harmful than主题 to contradict with a harmonious society.

4、Last but not the least, no issue is as harmful as 主题 to increase family burdens, which is a threatening situation we are unwilling to see.

5、No better illustration of this idea can be thought than the example mentioned below .

6、According to a survey made by China Daily, 63.93% of young people who have ever experienced主题will live a dull life or even feel loss of hope about the future.

7、If we cannot take useful means, we may not control this trend, and some undesirable results may come out unexpectedly, we will see the gloomy future of something.

三、结尾段落

最后一段要强调解决问题，谈的两点建议通常是提高人们的意识，加强执法

第三段六个句子, 第一个句子是下个结论,谈解决问题的必要性.第二个句子是第一个建议谈的是加强立法惩治这个现象,第三个句子谈提高人们的觉悟关于着这个现象能提高人们对 这个现象的觉悟.第四个句子谈个谚语,谈一下实践我的建议的重要性.五个句子谈解决的任重道远.第六个句子是解决问题之后的美好的未来。

1、From what have been discussed above, it is therefore, necessary that some effective measures are taken to prevent主题.

2、On the one hand, we should be sensible to strengthen the enforcement of the laws to protect something.

3、On the other hand, it is demanding for us to keep people aware of the importance of saving somebody out of the evil hands of destruction.

4、However, it is easier said than done.

5、Although the fight against it is long-standing and tremendous one,our efforts will eventually pay off.

6、Only when you attention to it can you see a colorful and harmonious future better sooner or later.