英语写作中的比喻【精品20篇】

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

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

英国哲学家罗素.B.

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

Anonymors 富在深山有远亲;贫在闹市无人识。

无名氏

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

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

美国作家梭罗。H.D.

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

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

古罗马哲学家西尼加.L.A.

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

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

瑞典国王奥斯卡二世

A penny saved is a penny gained.

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

美国建筑师富勒.R.B.

Beggars cannot be choosers.

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

美国作家海伍德.D.B.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

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

美国总统富兰克林。B.

Economy is in itself a source of great revenue.

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

罗马哲学家 西尼加，L.A.

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

英国作家 塔泊.M

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

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

美国律师英格索尔.R.G.

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

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

美国总统富兰克林.B.

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

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

法国剧作家勒纳尔.J.

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

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

英国画妆师科尔顿.C.C

An ounce of prudence is worth a pound of gold.

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

英国作家 .斯摩莱特 .T.

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

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

法国思想家伏尔泰

关于财富的英语谚语

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A man’ s wealth is his enemy,财富是人之患也。

一、认真审题，切中题意

《中考考试说明》指出，书面表达要切中题意。看到考题后，先不要急于动笔，要仔细看清题目要求的内容，在自己的头脑中构思出一个框架或画面，确定短文的中心思想，不要匆匆下笔，看懂题意，审清格式、体裁、人物关系、故事情节、主体时态、活动时间、地点等。

二、围绕中心，拟定提纲

书面表达评分原则有四条：(1)内容要点;

(2)运用词汇和结构的数量;

(3)运用语法结构和词汇的准确性;(4)上下文的连贯性。

由此可见，要点是给分的一个重要因素。为了防止写作过程中遗漏要点，同学们要充分发挥自己的观察力，把情景中给出的各个要点逐条列出。注意短文字数不要低于或超过规定的字数太多。

三、语言通顺，表达准确

(1)避免使用汉语式英语，尽量使用

自己熟悉的句型。几种句型可交替使用，以避免重复和呆板。

(2)多用简单句型，记事、写人一般都不需要复杂的句型。可适当地使用陈述句、一般疑问句、祈使句和感叹句。不用或少用非谓语或情态动词等较复杂的句型。

(3)注意语法、句法知识的灵活运用。(4)描写人物时，要生动具体，例如：①外表特征：tall，short，fat，thin，strong，weak，ordinary-looking等;②内心境界：

glad，happy，sad，excited，anxious，interested等;③感情描写：love，like，hate，feel，laugh，cry，smile，shout等;④动作描写：come，go，get，have，take，bring，fetch等。

(5)上下文要连贯。上下文的连贯性也是评分的一条原则，同学们应注意下面过渡的用法：①表示并列关系的过渡词：and，aswellas，or等;②表示转折关系的过渡词：but，yet，however等;③表示时间关系的过渡词：first，andthen，

finally，after，before，atlast，atthattime，later，inthepast，immediately，inthe

meanwhile等;④表示空间关系的过渡词：near(to)，far(from)，inthefrontof，beside等;⑤表示比较关系的过渡词：inthesameway，justlike，justas等;⑥表示对照关系的过渡词：but，still，yet，however，ontheotherhand等;⑦表示递进关系的过渡词：also，and，then，too，inaddition，moreover，again等;⑧表示因果关系的过渡词：because，since，then，thus，otherwise，so，therefore，asaresult等;⑨表示解释说明的过渡词：forexample，infact，inthiscase，for，actually等。

四、不会表达，另辟蹊径

中考作文给分是以要点和语言准确度而定，不以文采打分。造句越简单准确越好，造复合句容易出错，容易被扣分，阅卷场上有句话：“错误面前人人平等，文采好不加分。”如遇到个别要点表达不出来或难以表达，可采用变通的办法，化难为易，化繁为简。总之，所造句子要正确、得体、符合英语表达习惯。

五、锦上添花，量力而行

如果你还有时间和精力，想把书面表达写得更好，那么，请注意以下几点：(1)句型多样化，不要i(we)……到底，使人觉得乏味;(2)适当使用一些并列句或主从复合句;(3)进一步描绘人或事物时，适当使用定语从句;(4)适当使用分词或分词短语，烘托谓语动词;(5)偶尔使用一下倒装句，增加新鲜感;(6)适当调换一下状语在句子中的位置，使句子不雷同;(7)上下句子紧接时，其中完全相同的成分可以省略，以节省篇幅。

六、书写工整，卷面整洁

字迹要清晰，让阅卷人看得清楚，不可字迹潦草，难以辨认，要保持卷面的整洁。

七、检查错误

检查错误应从以下几个方面入手：(1)格式是否有错;(2)拼写有无错误;(3)语言是否用错;(4)时态、语态错误;(5)标点错误;(6)人称是否用错。

总之，只要平时同学们多练习写作并有意运用上述方法和技巧，合理分配时间，在中考时一定能写出高质量的作文，得到令人满意的考分。

1.While the inclination to procrastinate is common, one must fully consider the detrimental impact of unnecessary delays.

虽然拖延的倾向是普遍的，但是人们应该充分考虑到不必要的延误造成的有害影响。

2.The tendency to take things for granted is understandable, but the need for one to rationally evaluate the circumstances of any situation is absolutely essential.

想当然的倾向是可以理解的，但是，理智地估计任何情形的情况是完全必需的。

3.Most people are under the illusion that a college degree guarantees success. There is no such guarantee without hard work.

许多人错误地认为大学学位能保证成功。不努力工作就没有这样的保证。

4.Some stubbornly hold to the correctness of traditional practices, but in so doing they seem to totally ignore the fact that progress depends on change.

一些人固执地坚持传统做法的正确性，但是，他们这么做，似乎完全忽视了进步依靠变化的事实。

5.Generally speaking, previous parliamentary policy debates ignored the relevance of transparency.

总的来说，以前议会中针对政策的辩论忽视了透明度的重要性。

6.A precise definition of poverty is actually very difficult to determine. Where does one draw the line between those who are poor and those who are not?

对贫困的精确定义实际上是很难的。如何在贫穷和非贫穷的人之间划一条界限呢?

7.Admittedly, bribery and corruption are endemic to our political and economic systems, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that all politicians and business people resort to illicit behavior.

诚然，贿赂和腐败在我们的政治和经济系统中很流行，但这并不是说所有的政府官员和商界人士都采取违法行为。

8.There’s little doubt that a third World War is avoidable, but it is highly unlikely that regional conflicts will disappear in the foreseeable future.

毫无疑问，第三次世界大战是可以避免的，但是，在可预见的将来地区冲突消失是非常不可能的。

9.Some people assume that investing in stock is a safe pursuit, but their assumption fails to hold water when considering the substantial risk involved.

有的人想当然地认为投资股票是有把握的事情，但是，考虑到涉及的巨大风险，他们的想当然就说不通了。

10.Some people have called for accelerated across-the-board changes. Their approach quite frankly ignores the need for gradual but effective changes.

一些人要求更快速的全盘改变。他们的做法的确忽略了渐进而有效的改变的必要性。

范文一：

Recruitment Announcement

Do you want to be part of a high-level international conference? Do you want to have close contact with world-famous scholars? Here comes your opportunity: becoming a

volunteer for the 2010 international conference on globalization.

The conference will open in China on Feb. 28 and our university has been luckily selected as the host from 20 top Chinese universities. It will be a great honor and

also a challenge for us to organize such an important meeting, so in order to assure its success, 50 volunteers will be recruited from the students in our university.

If you possess basic English-speaking ability, good communication skills, and tremendous working enthusiasm, you will be the ideal candidate we are looking for.

What a great chance it is to display your talents! To seize such a marvelous opportunity, you just need to send your resume to our office in room 302 of the Teaching

Building 5 before Feb. 12, 2010. If needing more details, please contact us at our telephone number 12345678.

Postgraduates’ Association

范文二：

Volunteers Needed

January 9, 2010

To improve students’ ability and enrich extracurricular activities, the Postgraduate Association is recruiting volunteers for an international conference on

globalization to be held on December 9, 2010 in Beijing. To begin with, applicants should have Chinese nationality, a strong professional spirit, cheerful personality

and be aged under 35. In addition, candidates must have outstanding skills at English listening comprehension and the ability to speak Chinese and English fluently.

Finally, students with relevant professional experience are preferred. Those graduate students who are interested in taking part in it may sign up with the monitor of

their classes before February 1, 2010. Everybody is welcome to join in it. (107)

Postgraduate Association

一、写作常用谚语

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

2.Easier said than done.说来容易做时难。

3.Honesty is the best policy.诚实为上策。

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

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

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

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

二、写作常用词组(政治类)

1.review the course of struggle回顾奋斗历程

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

3.practice new policies实行新政策

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

5.enhance the rally power增强凝聚力

三、写作常用词组(经济类)

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

2.speed up efforts to加快努力

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

4.form/ pose a threat to…对……造成/构成威胁

5.deepen the reform深化改革

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

7.cause a loss to造成损失

8.accelerate the competition加快竞争步伐

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

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

四、写作常用词组(文化类)

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

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

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

4.exchange visiting scholars互派访问学者

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

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

7.improve teaching and learning改进教学

五、写作常用词组(生态环保类)

1.prevent and control pollution防治污染

2.advocate green activities开展绿色活动

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

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

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

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

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

六、写作常用词组(人口类)

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

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

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

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

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

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

小作文一般以书信居多，因此，在写作时要注意一下两点。

第一，既然是书信，一定要按照书信的格式写作。阅卷老师最先注意到的就是格式，其次才通过阅读看看内容是否符合要求。不注意格式，肯定被扣分。还不熟悉书信格式的同学赶紧多多练习。

第二，要仔细审题。这个问题年年在强调，但是年年有人不注意，写作时往往会跑题。这样怎么能得高分?考试时时间很紧张，怎样快速审题?笔者建议大家首先要脑子里要迅速构建一副写作场景，接下来要抓住关键词，然后围绕场景和关键词进行扩展。这一点不是说一说看一看就能掌握，需要同学们现在多做强化训练。

具体写作就按照题目要求一个点写一段，总共分三段。这样给人的印象是重点突出、条理清晰。下面就以2014年小作文为例，简单分析一下每一段怎么写。

称呼：Dear John,注意称呼中，所有实词首字母全部大写，Dear John后面的逗号不可丢，也不能写成冒号。

正文：

第一段：写作内容需涵盖两点：自我介绍，写信目的。文章开门见山就是自我介绍，用到了这样的表达：I am Li Ming who will go to study in your university and live together with you in one department. 其中的“I am …who…”这个句型来自于建议信的表达，放在这里也十分贴切。接下一句话表明了写信目的：Now I am writing this letter to tell you some of my habits and ask you for some suggestions to adapt myself there.

第二段：写作内容为习惯介绍以及寻求建议。首先，介绍自己的生活习惯，自己一般早上六点起床外出锻炼;周末一般在图书馆看书;其次，希望John就如何适应当地生活给自己一些建议。

第三段：写作内容表示期待，良好祝愿。用到了这样的表达：I am looking forward to seeing you soon and wish everything goes well.

落款：Yours sincerely, 特别提醒sincerely后面逗号不能丢;

签名：Li Ming，特别注意Li Ming 后面一定不能出现句点。

附注：

1、格式

称呼：英语应用文称呼有这样的特点，如果是不认识的人，一般称呼为敬词+尊称。例如，DearSirorMadam或者ToWhomItMayConcern(需注意每个单词首字母都大写);如果是写给关系正式的某团体或个人，称呼为敬词+尊称+名。例如，DearMr.xx或DearMs.xx;;对于关系较亲密的人可以直呼其名，即Dearxx。需要注意的是：1.称呼要顶格写;2.称呼之后要加逗号或者冒号(推荐大家用逗号，因为历年的高分范文都是用逗号的)。

正文：正文格式一般有两种格式，一是缩进式，即首段开头空四个字母，段落之间不空行;一是齐头式，即每段开头不空格，但是各段之间空一行。老师建议考生采用缩进式，因为如果用齐头式，段间空行的话很可能答题空间不够，导致字数不够。

2、语言

写作用词准确是最基础的要求之一。其次，句型可以多变，例如既有并列句，也有复合句，还有从句，但注意语法运用要正确。此外还要注意，正式语言一般是写给具有正式关系的团体或机构，这种情况不用缩略语和口语用法。除了正式的文体以外，其他的文体皆为非正式文体，像写给朋友的书信等。

一般小作文的考查要求中会体现出写该篇的目的和场合，所以考生在写作时要注意针对不同场合使用不同语言，使交流得以进行。另外，考生也要注意不同的应用文有不同的用语。建议考生对某些应用文的格式和习惯用语，应该加以熟悉和背诵，以便运用自如。

3、其他

考生在考试时注意在看到题目要求后不要忙于动笔，虽说小作文的字数充其量在一百多个单词，但是依旧要在脑子里理清思路。最好能够在仔细审题以后，认真列个提纲，这样更有利于思路清晰。写作时，注意表达清楚以下几个方面：首先交代清楚写信目的;其次为了让阅卷者对你的文章结构及表意一目了然，注意关联词或衔接词的运用;接下来，应该对个人的观点进行阐述(在写作有此必要的时候)。最后，行文间要注意简化描述，用简短的语句代替冗长的语句。在作文完成的时候，应该检查、修改，以免遗漏一些需要表达清楚的要点和细节。

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

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

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

记叙文的写作要素：

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

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

3. 时态通常使用与过去有关的时态，如一般过去时。

记叙文的篇章结构：

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

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

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

例如NEMT2000

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

注意：1. 目击者应该准确报告事实

2. 词数100左右

3. 结尾已为你写好

一.作为一个准SAT考生，需要明确以下几点：

2.从读题、写作到最终润色和定稿，共有25分钟时间。

3.作文要求自己的观点辩论，所以使用第一人称和发生在自己身上的例子是完全可以的。

4.作文得写在线上，且最多只能写两面，超出不给纸。

5.作文由两位考官给分，每人给1-6分，总分在2-12之间，考官受专业评分训练。如果两考官评分相差1分以上，会请第三位考官裁定，因此评分相当客观。

6. 每个考官平均花不超过2min的时间批改作文，考生可以自己去尝试一下两分钟内阅读一篇字迹陌生潦草的文章是什么样的概念，然后就会意识到考官一定在有意识地在文章中寻找一些要素和章法。

7. 写作部分(writing)分值为800分，而作文(Essay)占整个写作(writing)分值的三分之一。

正如以上第2点指出，SAT Essay写作中，时间无比珍贵。俗话说，万事开头难。对于中国学生而言，要迅速通过brainstorming确定好立场并写出比较漂亮的开头尤其困难。

本文将重点指导考生五分钟内审题并创作出漂亮的首段。

第一步：审题立意

一般，SAT作文题目由两个部分组成(如上Figure 1): 提示(Prompt，Figure 1小方框内文字)和写作任务(Assignment，Figure 1划红线的文字)。Prompt往往是源自某些名言语录或者

某些文学作品，主要是用于启发考生的思考。当我们看assignment的时候，我们可以沿着prompt提示的方向去思考，也可以直接按照自己对于assignment来思考。我们以Figure 1中的考题

作为本文中讲解的范例。读完这个题目后，首先要做的是用2-3min时间完成以下几个任务：

i. Understanding the topic (理解话题),

ii. Brainstorming for examples(头脑风暴回顾案例),

iii. Taking a position(确定立场),

iv. Creating an outline(创建提纲).

第二步：创作首段

确定了立场，接下类的重头戏就是快速创作文章的首段。首段是阅卷人重点关注的部分之一，一个好的首段应该完成以下几项任务:

i. Grab the graders’ attention(引发读者兴趣)

ii. Narrow down the topic & Position(告诉读者本文的话题和主旨)

iii. Transit smoothly to the examples(自然过渡到主体段)

毋庸置疑每个考官一次性需要给上百篇作文评分，而大部分的文章都有类似的观点，甚至给出的例子也是相同的。为了让你的文章脱颖而出，你必须设法让你的文章变得有趣，

在一开头就引人入胜，而且这个创作过程必须在2-3min内完成。这里给各位考生重点推荐两种万能开头写作法：“循循善诱”法 和“先扬后抑”法。

“循循善诱”法

“循循善诱”法作为引起读者兴趣的首段，是最常见的。之所以称之为“循循善诱”，是因为写作会按照从大范围到小范围、从概括到具体的循序渐进的模式展开，从而将读者“引诱”到文章的主旨，即作者的立场。

以上是笔者为各位准考生创作SAT Essay首段提供的两套“快餐”。相信各位考生经过多次练习和一定的积累，可以迅速掌握这些方法。当然，有了一个很好的开头你的文章已经成功一半了，另一半就应该交给主体段了。下面我们来看看主体段的写作技巧。

(二)留学路书SAT写作的核心内容通常也叫做SAT写作主体段落，在全文起着主心骨的作用。为了能简单明了的写明主旨意思，大家在备考时还需要多练习。下面就为大家介绍一下如何写好SAT写作主体段，期间又要注意些什么。

对于采用一般的四段式和五段式的SAT写作结构而言，中间的主体段在第二段和第三段。作文能取得一个什么样的分数，也就成败在此了。

1.详细叙述自己的观点。

SAT写作是表达对题目的一种看法，在主体段部分，要详细的叙述一下，自己的这种观点的原因。

SAT写作无非就像我们语文的作文。我们是在学习人家的英语，把它变成自己的表达和思考方式。

2.准备充分的例证。

在这部分中，需要大家调用自己所有的例子储备，展现对英美历史事件，人物事迹的掌握和认知程度，这里你可以灵活一点。挖掘该事件和你的论点的关系。为己所用。可以多看一些名人传记，

关心时事，善于思考，做一个兼收并蓄的人。

这三段的结构可以采用论点+例子+感想的方式，用到1-3个事例，尽量用到专有名词，具体时间，数字等等，如Norman Conquest，Peter the Great, Fitzgerald等，加强自己的文采。

他们的事迹比较具有普遍代表性，换句话说就是什么题目都能挖掘挖掘内涵，套的上去。。。。

举例子时注意例子的真实性、典型性、及权威性。

文章例证过程中结构要清晰明了，对于句子和句子之间的逻辑关系一定要交代清楚，前因和后果更要分清。事例的叙述中，时间是非常好的顺序，需要把握。

3.前提是掌握词汇、句式和段落。

当然在解决这些问题的同时，大家要掌握一个基本问题，就是对词汇，句式和段落的掌握，也就是最基本的英语写作知识的掌握。

以上就是SAT培训频道小编为大家准备的SAT写作主体段怎么写的详细内容。包含了论述观点、充分地例证和写好主体段的前提。大家在冲刺阶段一定要对这些问题加以锻炼。

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

一、记叙文的特点

1. 叙述的人称

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

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

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

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

2. 动词的时态

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

3. 叙述的顺序

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

4. 叙述的过渡

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

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

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

What a moving and unforgettable scene!

5. 叙述与对话

引用故事情节中主要人物的对话是记叙文提高表现力的一种好方法。适当地用直接引语代替间接的主观叙述，可以客观生动地反映人物的性格、品质和心理状态，使记叙生动、有趣，使文章内容更加充实、具体。试比较下面两段的叙述效果：

I was in the kitchen, and I was cooking something. Suddenly I heard a loud noise from the front. I thought maybe someone was knocking the door. I asked who it was but I heard no reply. After a while I saw my cat running across the parlor. I realized it was the cat. I felt released.

这本来应是一段故事性很强的文字，但经作者这么一写，就不那么吸引人了。原因是文中用的都是叙述模式，没有人物语言，把"悬念"给冲淡了。可作如下调整：

I was in the kitchen cooking something. "Crash!" a loud noise came from the front. Thinking someone was knocking at the door, I asked, "Who?" No reply. After a while, I saw my cat running across the parlor. "Its you." I said, quite released.

二、写好记叙文的基本要领

1. 头绪分明，脉络清楚

写好记叙文，首先要头绪分明，脉络清楚，明确文章要求写什么。要对所写的事件或人物进行分析，弄清事件发生、发展一直到结束的整个过程，然后再收集选取素材。这些素材都应该跟上述五个" W "和一个" H "有关。尽管不是每篇记叙文里都必须包括这些" W "和" H "，但动笔之前，围绕五个" W "和" H "进行构思是必不可少的。

2. 突出中心，详略得当

在文章的框架确定后，对支持故事的素材的选取是很关键的。选材要注意取舍，应该从表现文章主题的需要出发，分清主次，定好详略。要突出重点，详写细述那些能表现文章主题的重要情节，略写粗述那么非关键的次要情节。面面俱到反而使情节罗列化，使人不得要领。这一点是写好记叙文要解决的一个基本问题，也需要一定的技巧。如：

One night a man came to our house and told me, "There is a family with eight children. They have not eaten for days." I took some food with me and went.

When I finally came to that family, I saw the faces of those little children disfigured (破坏外貌) by hunger. There was no sorrow or sadness in their faces, just the deep pain of hunger.

I gave the rice to the mother. She divided the rice in two, and went out, carrying half the rice. When she came back, I asked her, "Where did you go?" she gave me this simple answer, "To my neighbors - they are hungry also!"

3. 用活语言，准确生动

记叙文要用具体的事件和生动的语言对人、事、物加以叙述。一篇好的记叙文的语言既要准确、生动，又要表现力强，这样才能把人、事描写得具体生动，其可读性才强。试比较下面一篇例文修改的前后效果。

原文：

One day Xiaoqiang was wandering away. He was soon lost among people and traffic. He could not find the way back home and started crying. Just then, two young students who were passing by found him standing alone in front of a shop and crying. They went up to Xiaoqiang and asked him what had happened. Xiaoqiang told them how he got lost and where he lived. The two students decided to take him home. Mother was pleased to see Xiaoqiang come back safe and sound. She invited the two students into the house and gave them some money, but they didnt take it. She served them with tea but they left.

修改后：

The other day, five-year-old Xiaoqiang left home alone and wandered happily in the street. After some time, he felt hungry so he wanted to go back home. But he found he was lost among the crowded people and heavy traffic. When he could not find the way home, he started and crying. Just then, two young students who were passing by from school found him sanding crying in front of a shop. They immediately went up to him.

"Little boy, why are you standing here crying?" they asked.

"I want Mom, I go home." said the boy, still crying.

"Dont worry, well send you home."

And they spent the next two hours looking for the boys house. With the help of a policeman, they finally found it.

When the worried mother saw her son come back safe and sound, she was so thankful and she invited the students into her house. Gratefully, she offered them some money, saying it was a way to express her thanks, but the young students firmly refused it and left without even a cup of tea.

all the same 仍然,照样的

as regards 关于,至于

anything but 根本不

as a matter of fact 实际上

apart from 除...外(有/无)

as a rule 通常,照例

as a result(of) 因此,由于

as far as ...be concerned 就...而言

as far as 远至,到...程度

as for 至于,关于

as follows 如下

as if 好像,仿怫

as good as 和...几乎一样

as usual 像平常一样,照例

as to 至于,关于

all right 令人满意的;可以

as well 同样,也,还

as well as 除...外(也),即...又

aside from 除...外(还有)

at a loss 茫然,不知所措

at a time 一次,每次

at all 丝毫(不),一点也不

at all costs 不惜一切代价

at all events 不管怎样,无论如何

at all times 随时,总是

at any rate 无论如何,至少

at best 充其量,至多

at first 最初,起先

at first sight 乍一看,初看起来

at hand 在手边,在附近

at heart 内心里,本质上

at home 在家,在国内

at intervals 不时,每隔...

at large 大多数,未被捕获的

at least 至少

at last 终于

at length 最终,终于

at most 至多,不超过

at no time 从不,决不

by accident 偶然

at one time 曾经,一度;同时

at present 目前,现在

at sbs disposal 任...处理

at the cost of 以...为代价

at the mercy of 任凭...摆布

at the moment 此刻,目前

at this rate 照此速度

at times 有时,间或

back and forth 来回地,反复地

back of 在...后面

before long 不久以后

beside point 离题的,不相干的

beyond question 毫无疑问

by air 通过航空途径

by all means 尽一切办法,务必

by and by 不久,迟早

by chance 偶然,碰巧

by far 最,...得多

by hand 用手,用体力

by itself 自动地,独自地

by means of 用,依靠

by mistake 错误地,无意地

by no means 决不,并没有

by oneself 单独地,独自地

by reason of 由于

by the way 顺便说说

by virtue of 借助,由于

by way of 经由,通过...方法

due to 由于,因为

each other 互相

even if/though 即使,虽然

ever so 非常,极其

every now and then 时而,偶尔

every other 每隔一个的

except for 除了...外

face to face 面对面地

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

考研英语应用文写作范文之感谢信感谢信

结构要点感谢信是就某事向收信人表示感谢的信件，分为三个部分：

1． 指出对方帮助自己的事情，表示感谢；

2． 展开叙述这件事；

3． 再次感谢，并可表示希望回报对方。

Suppose your were recommended by Professor Sun to get further education in Yale University last June and now you have been admitted by that university. Write a letter to Professor Sun to express your gratitude in about 100 words. Do not sign your own name, using “Li Ming” instead.Dear Professor Sun,

I am writing to extend my gratitude to you—without your help I would not have been a postgraduate student of Applied Mechanics Department of Yale University.

Last June, you helped me with no reservation when I applied for Yale University. You wrote a recommendation letter for me to Professor W, the dean of the department. You gave me instructions on how to fill the application forms and write the application letters. Whats more, you also taught me how to take care of myself and get along with others, which I believe are lifes great lessons.

Your help enabled me to fulfill my dream to pursue my studies in a great university. In the following days I will remember what you have told me and work and study hard to be a capable, conscientious and responsible person.

Yours truly,

Li Ming

感谢信

语言注意点感谢信应充分表达自己的谢意，切不可给对方草率的印象。可借助谈对方的帮助来进一步表达感激之情。言辞应真挚、得体。

Suppose you were taken good care of by Aunt Sun when you pursued your studies in Los Angels where Sun lived. Write a letter in about 100 words to extend your appreciation. Do not

sign your own name, using “Li Ming” instead.Dear Aunt Sun,

It is a great pleasure to extend my sincere gratitude to you for your hospitality and consideration while I pursue my bachelors degree at University of California.

As soon as I arrived in Los Angeles, you found me an apartment near my university. When I met with difficulties you often sent your daughter to help me and when I felt homesick you often talked to me patiently. You told me how to improve my efficiency in both work and study and how to get on well with teachers and schoolmates. Furthermore, you invited me to dinner on nearly every weekend.

Without your help, I would not have graduated with honors and found a satisfactory job back here in China. I know I can never repay you for everything you have done for me in the past four years, but you can be sure that I

Best regards.

Yours faithfully,

Li Ming ll never forget it.

一、构思、准备不充分，匆忙下笔

任何一篇作文出题都是有它独特的道理的，所以提前审题和构思就显得必不可少了。很多孩子目前存在一个情况，想到哪写到哪，有记流水帐的习惯;这也造成了作文杂乱无章，毫无条理，同时容易出现写错单词和用错句型的情况。

针对这种情况可以从以下几个方面予以解决：

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

2、确定文体和时态，因为不同的文体要求的写作格式也是不同的。

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

二、中心重点不突出，切题不准确

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

三、忽视文化差异

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

四、忽视细节，无谓失分

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

1、审题：审题是做到切题的第一步。所谓审题就是要看清题意，确定文章的中心思想、主题，并围绕中心思想组织材料。

2、进行构思，列出简单的提纲，打造文章之骨架：审好题、立好意后，就要写提纲，打造文章的骨架。文章布局要做好几件事：安排好层次段落，铺设好过渡，处理好开头和结尾。

3、扩展成文：根据字数多少扩展成篇。扩展的内容一定要紧扣主题，千万不要写那些与主题不相关的内容。展开的方式包括：顺序法、举例法、比较法、对比法、说明法、因果法、推导法、归纳法和下定义等。可以根据需要任选一种或几种方式。

在这一步骤中还需注意三方面问题：

1、确保提纲中段落结构的思路与各段主题句的一致性。只有这样，才能保证所写段落不偏题、不跑题。

2、要综合考虑各个段落的内容安排，避免段落内容的交叉。

3、用好连接词，注意段落间、句子间的连贯性。要做到所写文章层次分明，思路清晰，文字连贯，就需要在句与句之间、段与段之间架起一座座桥梁，而连接词起的正是桥梁作用。

在扩展的过程中也有些窍门，以下几点可供参考：

1、在整篇文章中，避免只是用一两个句式或重复用同一词语。英语中存在着极为丰富的同义词，准确地使用同义词可以给读者清新的感觉。同时要灵活运用各种句式，如倒装句、强调句、省略句、主从复合句、对比句、分词短语、介词短语等，从而增加文章的可读性。

2、使用不同长度的句子。如果一个意思用一句话写不清楚的话，通过分句和合句或用两句、三句来表达，增强句子的连贯性和表现力。

3、改变句子的开头方式，不要总是以主、谓、宾、状的次序。可以把状语至于句首，或用分词等。

4、学会使用过渡词。递进furthermore，moreover，besides，in addition，then，etc ;转折however，but，nevertheless，afterwards，etc ;总结finally，at last，in brief，to conclude，etc ;强调really，indeed，certainly，surely，above a11，etc ;对比in the same way，just as，on the other hand，etc。

5、确定文章用第几人称写，基本时态是什么。使用人称时人物不能张冠李戴或指代不明。时态要尽量保持一致。

检查修改：要检查复核，不要写完了事。

要留时间通读全文，修改可能出现的错误。检查上下文是否连贯，句子衔接是否自然流畅。检验的标准主要是句子是否通畅，该用连词的地方用了没有，所用的连词是否合适，是否有语法错误，主谓是否一致，动词的时态、语态、语气的使用是否正确，词组的搭配是否合乎习惯，是否有大小写、拼写、标点错误等，还有就是注意卷面整洁。

可归纳为：中心突出，主题明确;层次清楚，条理清晰;表达

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

记叙文是以写人、记事、状物为主要内容，以叙述和描写为表达方式的文章。

以写人为主的记叙文，应该注意肖像描写、行动描写、语言描写、心理描写以及对细节的描写，考生应根据写作的要求，灵活掌握，突出重点。

以写事为主的记叙文，应该注意交待六要素(时间、地点、人物、事件、原因、结果)，应该注意描写先后顺序以及记事的相对完整，注意把握好事情的开始、发展、高潮及结局。

以与景为主的记叙文，应该注意景物的主要特征，景物描写的层次，以及人与物的情感交融。

记叙文写作要点如下：

1. 明确写作目的和叙述的中心思想，段落叙述始终围绕着主题而展开，避免空间的叙述和与主题无关的内容。

2. 一篇好叙述文需要直接或间接表达以下六个问题，即：when?该事发生的时间， where?该事发生的地点，who?人物角色是谁，what?发生的是什么事，why?该事发生的原因，以及how?事件的结果是如何造成的等等。

3. 一篇记叙文，无论长短如何都应该是一个完全独立的事实，因此，在下笔时必须明确：该从何处开始叙述，该在何处结束叙述，以及应该提供何种事实才能使叙述完整。

4. 写作顺序可以采用“顺叙”、“倒叙”和“穿插叙述”的方法，但初学者最好采用“顺叙”的方法进行训练，以情节发生时间的先后为序。

记叙文高考指引

记叙文是高考书面表达中比较常用的一种形式。

1)记叙文要写作者比较了解的人或事物。

2)仔细审题，看准题目要求，确定文章的主题。文章的内容、结构、层次及所用语言都应围绕主题进行。

3)具体详细地描述。要使文章有说服力，叙述就必须繁简疏密相间。详细具体的描写有助于读者对所叙述的人物或事件等有个深刻的印象。

4)写作时要避免句子单调、毫无花样。这就要求写作时长短句结合，注意衔接词的运用。

5)叙述要生动。要使文章叙述生动，具有吸引力，必须请注意词汇的选择，时态的运用以及上下文的一致问题。词语的运用应注意是否恰当、通顺、简洁和准确。时态的运用应注意上下文的相关性、连续性，要与表达的内容一致。

6)叙述的顺序。大多数情况下叙述都是按照事情的发展及时间的先后进行的，但有时也可以采用其它顺序，如倒叙、插叙等。

7)人称。一般说来，记叙文用第一人称或第三人称来叙述。用第一人称叙述的优点是：文章比较生动、形象，使读者有身临其境的感觉，因而加强了故事的真实感和感染力。其缺点是，描写的范围受到限制。一篇文章中，由于角色的变化，人称也要随之而变，但应注意前后一致性。

1.用形容词"very"，"single"等表示强调

eg.You are the very person Im looking for.

你就是我要找的那个人。

Red Army fought a battle on this very spot.

红军就在此地打过一仗。

Not a single person has been in the office this afternoon.

今天下午竟然没有一个人来过办公室。

2.用反身代词表示强调

e.g.I myself will see her off at the station.

我将亲自到车站为她送行。

You can do it well yourself.

你自己能做好这件事情。

3.用助词"do/does/did+动词原形"表示强调

e.g.The baby is generally healthy，but every now and then she does catch a cold.

那孩子的健康状况尚好，但就是偶尔患感冒。

Do be quiet.I told you I had a headache.

务必安静，我告诉过你，我头疼。

4.用"...and that"，"...and those"，等结构表示强调

e.g.They fulfilled the task，and that in a few days.

他们在几天内完成的就是那项任务。

I gave her some presents，and those the day before yesterday.

前天我送给她的就是那些礼物。

5.用双重否定结构表示强调

e.g.There is no reason why this new immigrant should not have the same success.

完全有理由相信这些新移民应该拥有相同的成功。

A man can never have too many ties.

一个男人有再多的领带也不为过。

I cant thank you too much.

我无论怎样感谢你都不过份。

A mother can never be patient enough with her child.

I am not unfaithful to you.我对你无比忠诚。

6.用短语"in every way"，"in no way"，"by all means"，"by no means"，"only too"，"all too"，"but too"，"in heaven"，"in the world"，"in hell"，"on earth"，"under the sun"等表示强调

e.g.His behaviour was in every way perfect.

他的举止确实无可挑剔。

The news was only too true.

这消息确实是事实。

Where in heaven were you then?

当时你到底在哪里?

7.用倒装句表示强调

8.用强调句型表示强调

It is that或 It is who

e.g.It was the headmaster who opened the door for me.

正是校长为我开的门。

It was yesterday that we carried out that experiment.

就是在昨天我们做了那个实验。

导语：英语写作是一种创作性的学习过程。下面是小编收集的小升初英语作文写作技巧，欢迎大家阅读!

英语写作是一种创作性的学习过程。启动知识信息储存，构思立意，谋篇布局，遣词造句，对语言表达的正确性和准确性、思维的逻辑性和文章的条理性都比口语要求更高。通常英语写作有以下几个特点：紧扣教学大纲对考生书面表达的要求;以有指导的写作为主(guidedwriting)，便于考生在短时间内构思成文;突出试题的交际性，考查考生在特定的情景中运用语言的能力;增强试题的实用性，所选话题贴近学生学习生活，为学生所熟悉;看图作文主要考查考生运用所学知识解决实际问题的能力。

英语写作注意两点

一、先审题，弄清写作要求审题是写好作文的前提，也是书面表达的基础。如果写偏了题，语言表达再好也很难得高分。审题时要注意两个方面：

1.认真地看两遍题目，包括提示，全面了解写作要求。

2.理清思路，确定体裁、框架结构和内容。

二、用英语进行思维英语写作时必须排除汉语思维的干扰。

从现在起应逐渐加大阅读量和听的输入量，将阅读、听力训练与书面表达有机地结合起来。经常体会和领悟作者传递信息和表达思想的方式。在话题讨论和写作中经常运用所学到的表达方式就会有所创造。还要尽量做到“五多”：多看、多听、多思考、多用心体验和感悟身边的人和事、多用英语说和写自己的体验和感受。

最后一个月如何训练英语写作

1.重视增加阅读量是提高英语写作的途径之一。

目前，考生在进行大量阅读的同时，应注重所读材料的文章结构以及连接词的运用(ontheotherhand，however，furthermore)、作者的表达方式(词汇、习惯用语和典型句子的使用)、作者是如何进行叙述和议论的。

2.在教师的指导下，平时应勤写多练。

练习写作应从基本功抓起。在中译英翻译训练过程中，加强积累适量的词汇、词组和增加各种类型句子的运用。把握好各种句型和词汇的搭配，并从各类题材和体裁着手，多阅读好的范文。然后模仿写作，作文写好之后，一般都要修改。第一遍收笔后，先看一看结构，然后从字词上推敲，使文章“充实”起来。更重要的是经老师修改过的作文一定要仔细地看一至两遍，然后再认真地抄写一遍，收获将会很大。

英文写作“四步走”

由于时间限制，考试时必须在所限定的时间内完成英语作文。英语作文步骤如下：

1)作文动笔之前一般都要先打腹稿。在确立中心上、运用材料上、篇章结构上，充分酝酿。

2)考虑好想写多少句子，该用哪些动词和词组等。

3)边写边思考内容的连贯性，语言和句子的准确性。

4)写完后一定要再细看一遍。

主要体裁作文写作技巧

(一)写提示议论文应考虑的几点：

1.文章开头，能依据提示确立主题句(topic)阐明观点或看法。

2.会使用连接词分层次说明理由、缘由(supportingsentences)。

3.归纳总结，首尾呼应。

(二)看图作文应考虑的几点：

1.看懂图片，把图片展示的人物、地点、时间、事件等有机地串联起来，使之成为内容连贯的句子。

2.确定短文须用的时态和该用的人称。

3.确定体裁(说明文还是记叙文)，接着用简洁的语句描述图片或图表大意。

4.根据图片或图表大意议论。

良好的开端等于成功的一半，下面是小编整理的高考英语写作基础知识，欢迎阅读。

一. 开头用语：

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

1.议论文：

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. 书信：

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

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

C. Thank you for your letter of May 5.

D. How happy I am to receive your letter of January 9.

E. How nice to hear from you again!

3. 口头通知或介绍情况：

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

(词典例子：Can I have your attention please?请注意听我讲话好吗?)

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

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

4. 演讲稿：

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

(词典解释：be/feel honoured to do sth=feel proud and happy做某事感到荣幸

例子：I was honoured to have been mentioned in his speech. 他在讲话中提到了我，真是荣幸。)

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

(词典解释：extend=to offer or give sth to sb 提供;给予

例子：I’m sure you will join me in extending a very warm welcome to our visitors. 我肯定你们会同我一起向来访者表示热烈的欢迎。)

(词典解释：allow me=used to offer help politely (礼貌地表示主动帮忙)让我来

二.并列用语：

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

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

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

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

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

三.对比用语：

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

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

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

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

(词典：contray to sth 与之相异的，相对的，相反的

Contrary to popular belief, many cats dislike milk. 与普通的想法相反，许多猫并不喜欢牛奶。)

四. 递进用语：

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

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

中学英语教学大纲中明确指出：“写是书面表达和传递信息的交际能力。培养初步写的能力，是英语教学的目的之一。”在近年的高考中英语写作也占有相当比重。因此，在高中阶段教师应在指导和组织学生进行英语写作上下功夫，在平时教学中应有计划有目的地去训练和提高学生的写作能力。

一、学生能充分认识英语写作的重要性是写作能力提高的必要条件。

英语写作能力的提高需要持之以恒的长期训练。如果学生对写作重要性认识不够，他们就不能积极主动地去配合老师搞好写作训练，甚至产生逆反心理，产生对立情绪，英语写作就会半途而废，达不到预期目的。

在平时教学中，老师要经常性地有意识地对学生进行写作重要性的教育。学生一进入高中就要让他们了解初中和高中英语教学要求的异同。

我给学生找几份中考和高考题，帮助他们了解中考和高考英语试题对基础知识和基本技能要求的相同之处和不同之处，引导他们转变观念，更新和完善学习方法，要让他们了解到英语写作在高考中、实际运用中以及对将来继续学习英语的重要性。

我还联系在过去高考中英语取得优异成绩的毕业生，用书信介绍学好英语的方法，特别是在英语写作方面的成功经验和英语写作对他们当时及后来英语学习的重要性。这些毕业生有很大的感召力，很有说服性，尤其对那些有逆反心理的学生。

二、指导写作应注意的几个问题：

1．教师要有明确合理的教学计划和教学程序，组织系统规范的有序训练。

2．帮助和要求学生养成积极主动地坚持英语写作的良好习惯。

3．坚持循序渐进的训练原则。写作要先易后难，先短后长，先学会运用简单句、并列句，后学会用复合句表达，先写正确句子逐步过渡到围绕一个人、一件事、一个观点去写有中心的文章，由不限定时间到限定时间，由限定时间长到限定时间短，由限定字数少到多……

4．分程度要求。对学生的要求不能一刀切，对学习好的要求要高，对学习差的要求要适当低一些。要避免有些学生轻而易举垂手可得，而有些学生又可望而不可及的情况发生。

5．注意讲评。要经常指出优点，以利模仿，指出缺点，警示避免。

6．鼓励优秀，耐心帮助差生。充分利用板报、专栏进行优秀作文展览，或者也可采用传阅方式进行。但不能放弃或岐视差生，要经常帮助他们树立信心，掌握写作方法和技巧。

7．基础知识和能力并重，听说读和写并举。教师在平时教学中应充分利用一切可以利用的机会启发引导学生提高自己的写作水平。如遇到优秀的句、段或篇提示学生注意欣赏作者的表达法，把它们作为范例，在自己写作中加以模仿和运用。又如遇到英汉表达方法不同之处，提示学生注意英语的正确表达法，切忌出现汉语式的英语。要帮助学生养成正确运用标点符号的好习惯，切忌一点到底的错误方法。

8．要求学生在写作中宁简勿误，不能养成随随便便的习惯，要养成严谨推敲的风气。

三、训练写作的常用方法。

写作训练应考虑循序渐进的原则，采取逐步提高的形式进行。

1．用学过的词、短语或句式，模仿课文中的表达法造句。2．换课文中的人物、时态、语态或体裁等改写课文。3．看图作文。4．填补式作文。5．写课文复述材料或写心得体会。6．将打乱顺序的句子按事件发展的时间顺序或逻辑关系等整理成一篇完整的短文。7．教师给出题目和提纲让学生写作。8．写日记或周记。9．材料作文。教师给出汉语提示让学生用英语表达。

四、注意纠正学生英语作写中容易出现的错误。

学生最初写作时，教师要给予必要的指导，使他们少犯错误。教师还要经常性地例举错误的表达法，提醒学生注意避免。在批阅作文时教师要随时标出学生错误之处，还要随时记录学生所犯错误，把学生的错误加以归类总结，把普遍性的错误提出来，让学生集体改错，使他们的语言表达尽可能地规范正确。

总之，学生英语写作能力在老师有计划的组织和耐心帮助、正确引导下，在学生长期积极密切的配合下是能够得以逐步提高的。