SAT英语写作备考决胜关键点【汇集20篇】

下面是语文迷网精心为大家整理的关于高考英语作文素材，背熟以下句子有助于你的写作哦。

1、 Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility. -Picasso , Spanish artist 成功是危险的。一个成功的人开始模仿自己，而模仿自己比模仿别人更加危险。因为这样做将毫无结果。 ── 毕加索 , 西班牙画家

2、 But failure also taught me that life is a road with unpredictable forks and unexpected tomorrows. 但是, 失败还使我懂得, 生活的道路充满了无法预测的岔路口和无法预料的明天。

3、 The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary, it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. Failure makes people cruel and bitter. -W. Somerset Maugham , British author 人们普遍认为成功使人变得虚荣、自以为是、自满, 从而毁了他们, 但这种看法是错误的;恰恰相反, 成功在很大程度上使人变得谦恭、宽容、善良。失败则使人变得残忍、怨愤。 ── W•萨默塞特•莫姆 , 英国作家

4、 Against all the odds she achieved her dream of becoming an actress. 她冲破重重困难，实现了当演员的梦想。

5、 He is too smart not to jump at the chance. 他这个人很精明，不会错过这个机会的。

6、 I’m not sure if I’ll succeed, but I certainly hope so. 是否成功我没有把握, 不过我当然希望会成功

7、 I wish you every success. 祝你万事如意!

8、 He seems to be successful in anything he tries. 他好像不论做什么事都能成功。

9、 Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. 经验告诉我们，成功与其说是由于才能，不如说是由于热情。

10、 Ambition is to life just what steam is to the locomotive. 抱负之于生活, 恰似蒸汽之于火车头。

11、 With their advanced features and compact size, portable electronic devices offer consumers freedom, productivity, and organization. 由于本身小巧玲珑, 又具备种种先进的特点, 便携式电子设备为消费者带来了自由, 提高了生产力, 改进了对信息的组织。

12、 However, the ease and speed with which messages can be sent and received has increased and accelerated to such an extent that many people are receiving hundreds of electronic messages of all kinds each day. 但是, 信息发送与接收的便捷发展得如此之快, 以至于很多人每天都会收到各种各样、成百上千的电子邮件。

13、 Weak men wait for opportunity, but the strong men make it. 弱者等待机会，强者创造机会。

14、 Opportunity meets the prepared mind, as the old saying goes. 正如俗话所说，机遇只属于那些有心理准备的人。

15、 Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth. 十九次失败，到第二十次获得成功，这就叫坚持。

16、 He tried hard to learn, and to be a good boy, and he succeeded fairly well. 他用心学习，又很听话，因此一切倒还顺利。

17、 In fact, there’s an old Chinese saying which goes, “He who hasn’t been to the Great Wall is not a true man.” 实际上，中国有句古谚语说：“不到长城非好汉。”

18、 A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. -John Barrymore只要一个人还有所追求, 她就没有老。 ── 约翰•巴里莫尔

19、 To take advantage of them, you can’t let yourself be destroyed by a defeat, or let others set the limits on your ability to achieve. 利用它们, 你就不会被一次失败击倒, 也不会让别人来限制住你成功的能力。

20、 Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily. 只有有耐心圆满完成简单工作的人才能够轻而易举地完成困难的事。

21、 The most important thing in life is to have a beautiful dream and good ways to realize it. 人生最重要的是要有美梦，并有好的方法去实现它。

22、 We must carry on till success in spite of the extremely difficult conditions. 尽管条件极端困难, 我们必须坚持下去, 直到成功。

23、 This belief in equal opportunity has produced a spirit of competition. It’s like a race to the top of the success ladder. 这种机会均等的信念造就了一种竞争的精神, 它就像一场通往成功之梯顶端的比赛一样。

24、 Just as history has shown that species which fail to adapt die out, businesses will die out if they don’t get to grips with the Internet. 正如历史所示, 适者生存, 企业如果不紧跟互联网就将退出历史的舞台。

25、 Television is different from radio in that it sends and receives pictures. 电视与无线电不同, 电视能播送和接收图像。

26、 When people master the digital organization, it will greatly simplify and improve both their professional and personal lives. 当人们掌握了这种数码管理方法后, 他们的工作与个人生活都会得以极大地简化并改善。

27、 A new IT high-tech park in Beijing is helping the city keep its promise to be the country’s center of the knowledge-based economy. 一所焕然一新的IT高科技园帮助北京实现了它的诺言：成为全国知识型经济的中心。

28、 Observation is the best teacher. 观察是最好的老师。

29、 Imagination is more important than knowledge. 想像力比知识更重要。 ── 爱因斯坦

30、 Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it. 知识是一座宝库，而实践是开启宝库的钥匙。

31、 We can kill two birds with one stone by combining our honeymoon with our business trip. 我们可以把蜜月和出差合在一起，这样一举两得。

32、 Greatly inspired, he made up his mind to read as much as he could, and what’s more, he would study harder than ever before. 他深受鼓舞，决心尽可能多读书，而且，比以往任何时候都努力学习。

33、 Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. 世界上再也没有比实实在在的无知和认认真真的愚蠢更危险的了。

34、 Eat to live, but live to eat. 吃饭是为了生存而不是生存为了吃饭。

35、 To my knowledge, my daughter has never told a lie before. 据我所知, 我女儿以前从未说过谎。

36、 In the long run, basic knowledge and technological applications go hand in hand—one helps the other. 归根结蒂, 基础知识和技术应用是并进的, 相辅相成的。

37、 Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. 读书之于思想, 就如运动之于身体。

38、 English is now the international language for airline pilots, scientists, medical experts, businessmen and many others. Consequently, more and more people are learning it. 现在, 对于航空公司飞行员、科学家、医学家、商人及许多其他行业的工作者来说, 英语是一门国际性语言, 因此越来越多的人开始学习英语。

39、 Unlike many other widely used languages, English can be correctly used in very simple form with less than one thousand basic words and very few grammatical rules. 与许多其他被广泛应用的语言不同, 英语仅凭借将近一千个基础词汇和很少的语法规则，就能够用简单的形式正确地表达意思。

40、 English will doubtless continue to change and develop as a living language always does. 毫无疑问, 英语将像一种活的语言贯常的变化和发展一样继续变化和发展下去。

41、 Another reason for the popularity of English is that English-speaking countries are spread through out the world. 英语流行的另一个原因是说英语的国家遍布世界各地。

42、 Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. 天才是百分之一的灵感和百分之九十九的汗水

43、 An estimated 310 million people in Britain, U.S.A., Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. use English as their mother tongue. 据统计，在英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和南非等国有三亿一千万人以英语为母语。

44、 It is surprising that some students have little or no knowledge of English. 令人感到吃惊的是, 有些学生英语懂得很少, 或者根本不懂英语。

45、 The rush to learn English has reached even China. 这种学习英语的浪潮甚至波及到中国。

46、 Washington is known as “the father of his country” and is one of those “larger than life” historical figures who are known around the world. 华盛顿被称为“美国国父”，是一位誉满全球的具有传奇色彩的历史人物。

47、 Many immigrants have come to this land of opportunity for that reason-to seek a better future. 许多移民基于这个缘故来到了这块充满机会的土地上──为了追求一个更好的未来。

48、 Not all Americans are rich, but most are concerned about money. Success-oriented Americans often measure people’s worth by how much they have. 并非所有的美国人都很有钱, 但大多数美国人都在乎钱。以成功为取向的美国人常常用人们拥有财产的多少来衡量他们的价值。

49、 As a result, nearly half of foreign students in the U.S. are concentrated in just 100 out of 2,500 post-secondary institutions, mostly brand-name schools. 结果, 在美留学生几乎有一半集中在2500所高校的仅100所, 这些学校大多是名牌学校。

50、 Credit cards symbolize American shopping habits: “Buy now, pay later.” 信用卡反映美国人的购物习惯：“现在买, 以后付。”

51、 In general, the act is designed to keep the U.S. high-tech industry on top by filling the need for skilled technology workers. 总之，这个法案是为了填补美国对熟练技术工人的需求，以保持美国在高科技工业中的领先地位而制定的。

52、 Tom’s college education gave him an advantage over boys who had not been to a university. 汤姆的大学教育使他比没上过大学的男孩们占优势。

53、 Educators also claim that calculators are so inexpensive and commonplace that students must become competent in using them. 教育家们还声称, 计算器如此便宜而又普遍, 学生必须学会熟练使用。

54、 He already has five honorary doctorates-the latest bestowed upon him by Yale University late of May, 2002-but what he really wanted was this humble bachelor’s degree. 斯皮尔伯格已获得5个荣誉博士头衔，其中最近的一个是在2002年5月下旬由耶鲁大学授予的，然而他最想得到的却是这个不起眼的学士学位。

55、 Calculators do have their place in the world outside school and, to a limited extent, in higher-level math classes, but they are hardly education tools. 计算器在学校之外的社会中的确有其地位, 在高等数学课堂上也有一定的作用, 但它们很难算得上是教育工具。

56、 Very heavy objects or bulky materials like coal, cement, mineral ore, and the like, are weighed in tons. 非常重的物体或者像煤、水泥、矿石等堆积如山的原材料用吨计重。

57、 By the end of this century, about 5,000 modern windmills will be in operation, generating about 20% of the electricity of the country. 到本世纪末, 将有5000架现代化的风车投入运行, 生产约全国20%的电力。

58、 Deep down, they realize that happiness can’t be bought, but it can be given away. 在内心深处,他们认识到幸福是买不来的, 但却可以与人分享。

59、 It is wrong to define happiness as owning a lot of money, but some people take it as their life philosophy. 把幸福定义为有很多钱是错误的，但是有些人却把它奉为人生哲学。

60、 He is rich in terms of money, but not in terms of happiness. 从钱的角度说他是富有的，但从幸福的角度说他不是。

61、 All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. —Leo Tolstoy 所有幸福的家庭彼此都很相似，而每个不幸的家庭却各有各的不幸。 ── 托尔斯泰

62、 Unfortunately, there are still some people who do not look after their pets properly or are even cruel to them. 遗憾的是，仍然有一些人对他们的宠物不好好照管甚至虐待它们。

63、 She sat up straight and pretended to believe in herself, so much so that she actually started believing in herself. 她坐直了身子, 假装对自己充满信心, 装得连她自己都开始以为自己确实很有信心。

64、 It’s not easy to keep in touch with friends when they are far away, however, they are always on her mind. 和远方的朋友保持联系不是一件容易的事，但是她一直记挂着他们。

65、 Agriculture will have to undergo a drastic change to meet the needs of the new situation. Otherwise, the country will starve. 农业必须进行深入的改革, 以满足新形势的需要。否则, 国家将遭受饥荒。

66、 In the northern area, it is necessary to plant varieties which are outstandingly resistant to low winter temperature. 北部地区只能种植确实能抗冬季低温的品种。

67、 Synthetic, or man-made, diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s, when General Electric Co. developed the process for making small diamonds for industrial uses. 人们从20世纪50年代中期就开始用碳来制造或人工合成钻石，当时通用汽车公司开发出了生产工业用小钻石的工艺。

68、 The WTO’s creation on January 1 1995 marked the biggest reform of international trade since the Second World War. 1995年1月1日世贸组织的诞生，标志着第二次世界大战之后国际贸易的最大改革。

69、 A student who has grown up with a calculator will struggle with both strategies and computations. 一个伴着计算器长大的学生既要对付解题策略, 又要对付实际运算。

70、 Students learn far more when they do the math themselves. 学生自己进行数学运算所获得的收益远比依赖计算器多。

71、 A student who learns to handle numbers mentally can focus on how to attack a problem and then complete the actual calculations easily. 学会心算的学生能把注意力集中到如何解题上, 然后轻而易举地完成实际运算。

72、 It’s my mother who has been encouraging me never to lose heart when I had difficulties in study. 这些年来，当我在学习中遇到困难时，是我的母亲一直在鼓励我从不要泄气。

73、 With more students applying to college than ever before, admissions directors are paying especially close attention to essays, interviews, and teacher recommendations. 由于有比以往更多的学生申请上大学, 招生部主任将格外注重作文、面试和教师的推荐信。

74、 Calculators prevent students from seeing this kind of natural structure and beauty in math. 计算器妨碍学生认识数学中这类自然结构和美。

75、 If we don’t require students to do the simple problems that calculators can do, how can we expect them to solve the more complex problems that calculators cannot do? 如果我们不让学生做那些计算器能代劳的简单的运算, 又怎么能期待他们去解决计算器解决不了的更为复杂的问题呢?

76、 Your parents are the people responsible for helping you make decisions until you’re 18. 父母是有责任帮助你在18岁之前做决定的人。

77、 But he is too young to understand cheating won’t do him any good in the long run. 就长远而言, 他太小, 还不懂得欺骗会给他带来害处。

78、 What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul. 教育之于心灵, 就如雕刻术之于大理石。

79、 He began to study accounting at night sessions of the City University of New York, earning his tuition during the daytime. 他开始晚间在纽约城市大学学习会计，白天做工赚学费。

80、 Those who educate children well are to be more honored than the parents, for the latter only give them life while the former teach them the art of living well. —Aristotle 把儿童教育好的人们甚至应该比他们的父母更受尊敬，因为后者仅仅给予他们生命，前者却教给他们生活好的艺术。 ──(古希腊)亚里士多得

81、 The cloning of Dolly the sheep nearly 5 years ago raised the hopes of transplant scientists looking for an endless supply of lifesaving organs. 将近5年前,克隆羊多莉给寻求无穷无尽的救命器官供货的移植学家带来了希望。

82、 I would rather join you in research work than go on a holiday to the seaside. 我与其到海滨去度假，倒不如和你们一起参加科研工作。

83、 The further that Joy dug into the cutting edge of research in the new technologies-robotics, genetic engineering and nanotechnology-the more horrified he became. 乔伊在机器人学、基因工程和纳米技术等新技术研究领域的前沿钻得越深, 就越感到恐惧。

84、 What Henry Ford is to the automobile, George Eastman to photography, and Charles Goodyear to rubber, Edison is to not one but several of today’s essential technologies. 对当今不止一项而是多项重要技术的贡献, 就如同Henry Ford 对汽车、George Eastman 对摄影、Charles Goodyear 对橡胶的贡献一样大。

85、 I am not afraid of tomorrow for I have seen yesterday and I love today. -W.A.White我并不害怕明天, 因为我已见过昨天而又热爱今天。 ── 怀特

86、 He invested his money in several different companies, by which means he hoped to reduce the natural hazards of investment. 他把自己的钱向几个不同的公司投资, 希望借此减少投资的自然风险。

87、 With the rise of the Internet, personal finance magazines and TV shows find information on investing. 随着因特网、个人理财杂志和专事选股的电视节目的兴起，人们很容易找到有关投资的信息。

88、 Nothing is more precious than time yet nothing is less valued. 时间最宝贵，却最不被爱惜。

89、 If indeed silence is golden, it is also becoming as rare as gold. 如果宁静真是贵重如金的话，那它也在变得像金子一样稀罕了。

90、 Man is not creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of man. 人不是环境所造就的，乃是环境由人所创造。

91、 Pollution is a global problem which needs a global response. 污染是一个全球性的问题，需要全球关注。

92、 Greenhouse effect means the gradual warming of the air surrounding the earth. 温室效应意味着地球周围的空气逐渐变暖。

93、 Air is to us what water is to fish. 我们离不开空气, 就像鱼离不开水。

94、 As our country is populous, it is confronted with a more and more serious crisis of resources. 我国由于人口众多，面临着越来越严重的资源危机。

95、 The government has to provide against a possible oil shortage in the coming months. 政府不得不预防未来几个月里可能出现的石油短缺。

96、 Why do Americans emphasize money so much? Well, this “land of plenty” has long enjoyed abundant natural resources, and people have gotten used to material wealth. 为什么美国人这么看重金钱呢? 这么说吧, 这块“丰饶之地”久已享有充裕的自然资源, 而人们已习惯于丰富的物质财富。

97、 A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin 失足可以很快弥补, 失言却可能永远无法补救。 ── 富兰克林

98、 The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea’, the Mother of the Gods. 庆祝母亲节的习俗最早 可以追溯到古希腊, 当时人们在春天举行庆祝活动, 来向众神之母──莉雅女神表示敬意。

99、 I am grateful to you for the opportunity to express my conviction in this most important political question. 感谢你们使我有机会就这个最重要的政治问题发表意见。

100、 I am thankful for America and thankful that we are able to resolve our electoral differences in a peaceful way. 我感谢美国, 我们终于用和平的方式解决了选举中的分歧。

if a man deceives me once, shame on him, if he deceives me twice, shame on me.

上当一回头，再多就可耻。

if you make yourself an ass, don‘t complain if people ride you.

人善被人欺，马善被人骑。

if your ears glow, someone is talking of you.

耳朵发烧，有人念叨。

if you run after two hares, you will catch neither.

脚踏两条船，必定落空。

if you sell the cow, you sell her milk too.

杀鸡取卵。

if you venture nothing, you will have nothing.

不入虎穴，焉得虎子。

a cat may look at a king.

人人平等。

adversity makes a man wise, not rich.

逆境出人才。

a fair death honors the whole life.

死得其所，流芳百世。

a faithful friend is hard to find.

知音难觅。

a fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.

吃一堑，长一智。

a fox may grow gray, but never good.

江山易改，本性难移。

a friend in need is a friend indeed.

患难见真情。

a friend is easier lost than found.

得朋友难，失朋友易。

导语：写英语作文的时候运用名言警句或者谚语会给人眼前一亮的感觉，下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的英语写作素材，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

01. Practice makes perfect. 熟能生巧.

02. Time is money. 时间就是金钱

03. Easier said than done. 说来容易做来难

04. Where there is a will, there is a way. 有志者事竟成.

05. Look before you leap. 三思而后行.

06. Knowledge is power. 知识就是力量

07. God helps those who help themselves. 自助者天助.

08. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. 心之所愿，无事不成

09. Its never too old to learn. 活到老，学到老

10. No pains, no gains. 不劳无获

11. Once in a blue moon. 千载难逢

12. To make the impossible possible. 将不可能变为可能

13. Failure is the mother of success. 失败乃成功之母

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

15. First things first. 先做重要之事

16. Great minds think alike. 英雄所见略同

17. Rome was not built in a day. 成功并非一朝一夕的事

18. All that glitters is not gold. 闪光的未必都是金子

19. East or west, home is the best. 金窝银窝不如自家草窝

20. Time and tide wait for no man. 时间不等人

谈及写作训练,学生认为就是勤练笔,其实不然。英语的听、说、读、写四种能力是密切相关、相互渗透的。听和读是领会理解别人表达的思想,说和写是用言语表达思想。写的能力要在听、说、读的基础上进行培养和提高,而写的训练又能进一步提高听、说、读的能力。因此,写作训练应该贯穿于英语教学的全过程,才能真正提高学生的写作能力。

一、多读

“读是写的前提,写是读的升华”。一般而言,听和读的量必须数十倍地多于说和写的量,才能较自如地在口头上或书面上表达自己的思想。一方面,大量阅读可以提高阅读能力,扩大词汇量,另一方面,它还可以增强英语语感,对英语写作起着潜移默化的作用。只有当阅读量达到一定程度时,才能找到写好文章的语感。我们可以选择适合学生的读物,如英文报纸(《英语周报》、《21世纪报》)、杂志(《中学生英语园地》)、科普文章、书虫等(水平较高的学生可读小说原著)。大量阅读是学生接触英语语言材料、接受信息、活跃思维、增强记忆力的一种有效途径,同时也是培养学生英语思维能力、提高理解力、增强语感、巩固和扩大词汇量的一种有效方法,非常有利于写作。实践证明,学生平时课外阅读面越广,阅读量越大,运用英语表达的能力就越强。

二、多背

英语和汉语存在很大差异,语法规则和句子结构是不同的,很多学生在写作过程中难免会受到母语的影响,出现一些Chinglish(中式英语),而且有些语法规则也把握不准,谓语动词常出现“be+do”的错误形式或缺少谓语的现象。所以,背诵模仿是行之有效的手段之一。

(一)背课文

在多年的教学实践中,我坚持让学生背诵部分课文,较长的文章选背一两段,下节课抽查背诵,或进行默写。《新概念英语2》中很多英语短文通俗有趣,我给学生挑选其中一部分让他们背诵、默写,对培养学生的语感很有效。

(二)背范文

英语写作一般包括记叙文、说明文、议论文、应用文及开放性作文写作。我经过筛选,找出每种文体各五篇文章,同时,我也注重搜集一些好的范文和习作要求学生背诵。通过熟背精彩段落,使学生逐步掌握英语基本的表达方法,有助于模仿。而且,通过这些范文,学生可熟练掌握各种体裁的写作技巧,这是学生写好作文的一条捷径。经过一段时间的训练,学生就会有内容可写、写得出来。

三、多写

除了以上对学生进行读、背训练,还要对学生进行动手训练。学生只有通过写才能知道自己的不足与缺陷,毕竟说和写是两回事。

(一)改写课文

教师可要求学生把Reading缩写成一篇一百字左右的短文,也可让学生把对话改写成记叙文(如项链),这也是进一步理解课文的手段。一般在学完一个单元,学生熟练掌握课文之后,再做这一步,让学生尽量使用本单元的短语句型,同时,也要学着套用背诵的句子。

(二)写英语周记

让学生写英语周记,这是很多老师训练学生写作的方法。有些英语写作不好的学生,往往不坚持写或应付了事。对这样的学生,教师要严格要求,督促检查。对学生的每篇周记,教师都要认真批改。周记不必拘泥于形式,学生可以自由发挥。开始可以写简单的几句话,要求学生多用学过的词组、句型,多套用和模仿。逐渐地,学生会写多些,也会越写越流利,错误也会越来越少。

(三)每周练习写一篇作文

教师挑选一至两篇习作打在投影仪上,师生共同修改,然后让学生将改写过的文章抄写在作文积累本上。这样日积月累,学生考前只要翻翻自己的“作文本”,即可胸有成竹,这个习惯一定要养成,对学生会有很大帮助。

(四)限时写作训练

近年高考试题包容量大,知识覆盖面广,这就要求学生在做题时必须注意速度和节奏,而高考书面表达从时间分配上看,最多也只能是30分钟左右的时间,学生必须在有限时间内完成作文,并且要意思连贯,无严重语法错误。为达到这一要求,每届学生从高一开始,就应定期做限时写作训练。

四、多积累

(一)积累词汇

词汇是说话写作的必需材料,掌握词汇量的多少,是衡量一个学生英语水平高低的“标尺”。《教学大纲》规定的词汇是最基本的词汇,必须熟记。我在多年的教学中,每堂课都坚持让学生默写或听写单词,要求学生根据中文意思,写出单词的拼写形式、词类和词形变化。这就使学生积累了大量的词汇,为高考书面表达打下坚实的拼写基础,避免了因单词拼写错误而丢分。

(二)积累句型

我在平时授课过程中,让学生把重点句型记录在作文积累本上,随时翻看和背诵。如写观点类文章常用的Some share the view that...,Others hold the opposite opinion that...,The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages,As far as I’m concerned,以及常用到的定语从句、倒装句、非限、非谓、同位语、强调句型等。

(三)积累文章

学生背过的篇章、写过的作文,尤其是各种体裁的范文习作,要分类整理粘贴在作文积累本上,经常拿出来朗读背诵。我教过的学生,都积累了大量的范文习作,考试时可做到有备无患。

通过长期的写作训练,我狠抓学生基本功,学生的写作水平明显提高。我所教班级在每次考试中书面表达平均分都在同类班级之上。总之,英语写作训练是综合能力训练之一,写作能力的提高需要通过循序渐进的训练才能达到。听、说、读、写几方面的训练是相辅相成的,它们互相促进、互相制约,在平时教学中教师要合理安排,有机穿插,这样才能让学生“下笔如有神”。

1) 主语+ cannot emphasize the importance of … too much.(再怎么强调……的重要性也不为过。)例如：We cannot emphasize the importance of protecting our eyes too much.

2)There is no need for sb to do sth. for sth.(某人没有必要做……)，例如：There is no need for you to bring more food. 不需你拿来更多的食物了。

3)By +doing…，主语can …. (借着……，……能够……)，例如：By taking exercise, we can always stay healthy. 借着做运动，我们能够始终保持健康。

4) … enable + sb.+ to + do…. (……使……能够……)，例如：Listening to music enables us to feel relaxed. 听音乐使我们能够感觉轻松。

5) On no account can we + do…. (我们绝对不能……)，例如：On no account can we ignore the value of knowledge.我们绝对不能忽略知识的价值。

6) What will happen to sb.? (某人将会怎样?), 例如：What will happen to the orphan? 那个孤儿将会怎样?

7)For the past + 时间，主语 + 现在完成式…. (过去……年来，……一直……)例如：For the past two years，I have been busy preparing for the examination. 过去两年来，我一直忙着准备考试。

8)It pays to + do….(……是值得的。)例如：It pays to help others. 帮助别人是值得的。

9)主语+ be based on….(以……为基础)，例如：The progress of thee society is based on harmony.社会的进步是以和谐为基础的。

10)主语 + do one’s best to do….(尽全力去……)，例如：We should do our best to achieve our goal in life.我们应尽全力去达成我们的人生目标

The laba festival, commonly known as "laba", namely the lunar December 8, the ancients worship our ancestors and gods, pray for harvest auspicious tradition, some areas have the tradition of drinking laba rice porridge.Legend has it that day and the Buddha sakyamuni into way, known as the "magic festival", is one of the grand festival of Buddhism.

Somehow called "la" end of the month at the age of three: the meaning of the "la, also", combine the meaning of a new era (sui, etiquette volunteers record);The "la with hunting", and refers to the good hunting for the beast ancestor worship to god, "la" from the "meat", "the winter" is to use meat;Spring-heralding "three yue" la, pursuit of epidemic diseases, and the tradition of "Buddha into a festival, is also a" tao ", actually is the origin of December eighth day for LaRi, so to speak.

腊八节，俗称“腊八” ，即农历十二月初八，古人有祭祀祖先和神灵、祈求丰收吉祥的传统，一些地区有喝腊八粥的习俗。相传这一天还是佛祖释迦牟尼成道之日，称为“法宝节”，是佛教盛大的节日之一。

何故岁终之月称“腊”的含义有三：一曰“腊者，接也”，寓有新旧交替的意思(《隋书·礼仪志》记载);二曰“腊者同猎”，指田猎获取禽兽好祭祖祭神，“腊”从“肉”旁，就是用肉“冬祭”;三曰“腊者，逐疫迎春”，腊八节又谓之“佛成道节”，亦名“成道会”，实际上可以说是十二月初八为腊日之由来。

【提要】英语四六级四级信息 : 20176月英语四级写作高分黄金句式【1】

▌列举法

列举法是四级写作中常用的方法，一般用first, second等一系列标志词引出原因或者可能的影响等。列举法常用的素材有：

引出列举

1. There may be a combination of factors which contribute to/are responsible for/can explain ______. 也许有一些因素造成/可以解释______。

2. There are probably three/many/several/a variety of reasons for this dramatic/significant increase/decline in ______.引起______显著增长/下降的原因有三个/许多/几个/很多。

3. Some reasons can explain this trend. 一些原因可以解释这一趋势。

4. Why ______ ?为什么______?

5. The causes of ______ are varied. They include______ , perhaps the main cause is ______. 造成______的原因有很多，包括______,主要原因可能是______。

6. The reason for this is not far to seek. 这一问题的原因不难发现。

7. It is no easy task to identify the reasons for this phenomenon which involves several complicated factors. 要找出这一现象的原因并非易事，因为它涉及若干复杂的因素。

8. There are numerous reasons why ______, and I would explore only a few of the most important ones here. ______的原因有很多，这里我只想探讨其中几个最重要的原因。

9. There are many reasons responsible for this phenomenon, and the following are the typical ones. 导致这种现象的原因有很多，以下是其中比较有代表性的。

10. There are many reasons explaining this case. As for me, I regard the following as the typical ones. 有很多原因可以解释该问题。就我而言，我认为以下原因比较典型。

11. A number of factors could account for/contribute to/lead to/result in the change of ______. 引起______变化的因素有很多。

分条列举

1. In the first place, ______. In the second place______ .首先，______。其次，______。

2. First,______ . Second, ______ . 首先，______。其次，______。

3. To begin with, ______. Secondly, ______. Last but not least, ______.首先，______。其次，______。最后但并不是最不重要的，______。

4. The first reason is that ______. The second one is ______. The third is ______. 第一个原因是______。第二个原因是______。第三个原因是______。

5. First of all, ______. Secondly,______ . Furthermore,______ .首先，______。其次，______。另外，______。

6. For one thing, ______. For another, ______.一方面,______。另一方面，______。

7. Firstly, ______. Secondly, ______. Thirdly, ______.首先，______。其次，______。再次，______。

8. Another reason why I disagree with the above statements is that I believe______.我不同意上述观点的另一个原因是我认为______。

▌对比法

对比法是指通过对比两种截然不同的观点来陈述其中的利弊，从而得出自己的结论。对比法常用的素材有：

1. The advantages gained in ______ outweigh/are much g

1.According to a recent survey, four million people die each year from diseases linked to smoking. 依照最近的一项调查，每年有4，000，000人死于与吸烟有关的疾病。

2. The latest surveys show that quite a few children have unpleasant associations with homework.最近的调查显示相当多的孩子对家庭作业没什么好感。

3. No invention has received more praise and abuse than Internet. 没有一项发明像互联网一样同时受到如此多的赞扬和批评。

4. Many experts point out that physical exercise contributes directly to a person’s physical fitness.

许多专家指出体育锻炼直接有助于身体健康。

5.写信的开头：Very glad to receive your letter of July 13.

6.One day after school,XiaoMing passed a Café on his way home.

7.The boss had no choice but to let him in.

8.How he enjoyed himself on the computer!

9.Walking home full of fear,he was sure that he would be scolded.

10.However,other students are against the idea.

11.Sometimes we have too many examinations which are too difficult for us.

12.today’s activity has taught us the new meaning of the spirit of LeiFeng:sharing with others what you have—you time,energy,or knowledge—makes you fell warm in you heart.It has truly a difference in how I feel about myself.

13.The girl whose composition was well written is spoken highly of.

14.No matter what he says，I won’t believe.

15. Thanks to the good weather，our journey was comfortable.

16. At the news of his death，she went pale with sorrow.

Since ancient times first, laba is used to worship our ancestors and gods (including the goalkeeper, door god, house, kitchen, JingShen) sacrifice ceremony, praying for harvest and good luck., according to the si ji jiao, features "records, la is the" age of December, and get together to share everything without cable also."Dynasty called LaRi jia ping, shang dynasty to the qing si ", the zhou dynasty as the "big wax";Because the held in December said the month for the twelfth month, called the Greek festival this day LaRi.LaRi of pre-qin period after the winter solstice of the third day of the Buddhism was introduced later, at home in order to expand the influence by lines of traditional culture on the laba festival as the Buddha into way.Buddhism prevailed, followed the Buddha into day and LaRi fusion, known as a magic weapon "festival" in the field of Buddhism.Northern and southern dynasties began to fixed in the day.

According to the load: "three xu-gou after the winter solstice day god Greek festival."Visible, the third xu-gou days after the winter solstice was LaRi.Since Buddhism after intervention, LaRi change on December 8, since xiangyan into the vulgar.

自先上古起，腊八是用来祭祀祖先和神灵(包括门神、户神、宅神、灶神、井神)的祭祀仪式，祈求丰收和吉祥。据《祀记·郊特牲》记载，腊祭是“岁十二月，合聚万物而索飨之也。”夏代称腊日为“嘉平”，商代为“清祀”，周代为“大蜡”;因在十二月举行，故称该月为腊月，称腊祭这一天为腊日。先秦的腊日在冬至后的第三个戌日，后来佛教传入，为了扩大在本土的影响力逐附会传统文化把腊八节定为佛成道日。后随佛教盛行，佛祖成道日与腊日融合，在佛教领域被称为“法宝节”。南北朝开始才固定在腊月初八。

《说文》载：“冬至后三戌日腊祭百神。”可见，冬至后第三个戌日曾是腊日。后由于佛教介入，腊日改在十二月初八，自此相沿成俗。

Each years Arbor Day across the country will be massive tree-planting activities, because of afforestation greening and beautifying the home, not only can also at the same time expanding forest resources, prevent water loss and soil erosion, protecting farmland, regulating climate, and promote economic development, and so on, is a grand project of contemporary, benefiting future. But the meaning of the Arbor Day is not everyone want to plant a tree in the Arbor Day this day, but through the Arbor Day again come, make us more attention of greening, the problems of environmental protection.

As we all know: the earth is in arid and desert area covered are increased year by year, but we seem to feel these are far from us, but in our side have such a group of people: they are quietly for planting green the earth, they are called "hero", some are called "contemporary yu gong", some even are foreign friends... They plant trees in their practical action to tell us, was the event of all mankind, is benefiting future generations of the ten thousand.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the earth belongs to the animals with lush plants, everywhere full of vitality, full of green, however, IQ is far more human than the other animals, plants like enchanted decreased dramatically. That is because the human in order to build houses, caused by the cutting down trees. Have a plenty of because business needs, large teams of cut down the trees to set aside space, used to build the building. Because many people without authorization, cut down trees and trees, so nature was damaged.

The disadvantages of cutting down trees a lot. We all know trees can be recycled carbon dioxide, if a large number of cut down trees, trees will sharply reduce the number of, we cant get exhaled carbon dioxide cycle. Lush trees can stop the sandstorm, two years before Beijing encountered sandstorms, the entire city was shrouded by sand that is because of the lack of protection in the trees.

Trees are the earths lungs, I hope everyone can protect the forest, protection of trees, green make urban life add a minute! Protect trees is to protect the earth is to protect our humanity!

But for all of us, the meaning of the Arbor Day is not just as simple plant a tree. Arbor Day to express meaning not only for us is to plant more trees, but to cultivate citizens to take good care of our natural, low carbon a philosophy of life.

Arbor Day if there are no conditions to plant trees, we can do from daily life and the same effect to plant trees. Such as a piece of paper with a pair of disposable chopsticks, less waste less and less an air-conditioner and so on. The concept of low carbon, saving itself is beneficial to the progress of the society, the protection of the trees. Only our demand for trees, trees cut down will be less, then the love will be more and more trees. Arbor Day, what are you waiting for, from now on, since you have come together to love nature, low carbon a day!

每年的植树节全国各地都会大规模开展植树活动，因为植树造林不仅可以绿化和美化家园，同时还可以起到扩大山林资源、防止水土流失、保护农田、调节气候、促进经济发展等作用，是一项利于当代、造福子孙的宏伟工程。但是植树节的意义不是在于每个人都要在植树节这天去种一棵树，而是通过植树节的又一次来临，使我们大家更加的关注绿化、环保的问题。

众所周知：地球正在沙化，沙漠的覆盖面积正在逐年的增加——可我们似乎觉得这些离我们还很远，但是在我们的身边有这样的一群人：他们在默默无闻地为这片大地播种着绿色，他们有的被称为“英雄"、有的被称为“当代愚公”，有的甚至是外国友人……他们用他们的实际行动告诉我们，植树是全人类的大事，是造福子孙万代的伟业。

几亿年前，地球归动物所拥有的时候植物繁茂，到处生机勃勃，充满了绿色，但是，智商远远高出其他动物的人类出现后，植物像被施了魔法一样的急剧减少。那是因为，人类为了建造房屋，砍伐树木所造成的。有的是因为商业需要，大批大批的砍伐树林留出空地，用来建造大楼。正因为许多人擅自砍伐树林和树木，所以大自然被破坏。

砍伐树木的坏处很多。大家都知道树木可以循环二氧化碳，如果大量砍伐树木，树木的数量就会急剧减少，我们呼出的二氧化碳无法得到循环。茂密的树木可以阻挡沙尘暴，前两年北京遭遇沙尘暴，整个城市被沙子所笼罩这也是因为缺少树木的保护所造成的。

树是地球的肺，我希望每个人都能保护树林、保护树木，让都市的生活添一分绿色!保护树木就是保护地球就是保护我们人类!

但是对于我们大家来说，植树节的意义并不仅仅是种一棵树那么简单。植树节向我们表达的意义不仅是要多种植树木，而是要培养我们广大市民爱护自然、低碳生活的一种理念。

植树节如果没有条件去种树，我们从日常生活中也可以做到和种树一样的效果。比如少用一双一次性筷子、少浪费一张纸、少开一次空调等等。这些节约低碳的理念，本身就有益于社会的进步，树木的保护。只有我们对树木的需求少了，树木的砍伐才会少，那么爱护树木的人就会越来越多。植树节，大家还在等什么，从现在开始，从你开始，都来一起爱护自然吧，低碳的过一天!

1. The latest surveys show that quite a few children have unpleasant associations with homework.

最近的调查显示相当多的孩子对家庭作业没什么好感。

2. No invention has received more praise and abuse than Internet.

没有一项发明像互联网一样同时受到如此多的赞扬和批评。

3. According to a recent survey, four million people die each year from diseases linked to smoking.

依照最近的一项调查，每年有4，000，000人死于与吸烟有关的疾病。

4. People seem to fail to take into account the fact that education does not end with graduation.

人们似乎忽视了教育不应该随着毕业而结束这一事实。

5. An increasing number of people are beginning to realize that education is not complete with graduation.

越来越多的人开始意识到教育不能随着毕业而结束。

6. When it comes to education, the majority of people believe that education is a lifetime study.

说到教育，大部分人认为其是一个终生的学习。

7. Many experts point out that physical exercise contributes directly to a persons physical fitness.

许多专家指出体育锻炼直接有助于身体健康。

8. Proper measures must be taken to limit the number of foreign tourists and the great efforts should be made to protect local environment and history from the harmful effects of international tourism.

应该采取适当的措施限制外国旅游者的数量，努力保护当地环境和历史不受国际旅游业的不利影响。

9. An increasing number of experts believe that migrants will exert positive effects on construction of city. However, this opinion is now being questioned by more and more city residents, who complain that the migrants have brought many serious problems like crime and prostitution.

越来越多的专家相信移民对城市的建设起到积极作用。然而，越来越多的城市居民却怀疑这种说法，他们抱怨民工给城市带来了许多严重的问题，像犯罪和卖淫。

10. Many city residents complain that it is so few buses in their city that they have to spend much more time waiting for a bus, which is usually crowded with a large number of passengers.

许多市民抱怨城市的公交车太少，以至于他们要花很长时间等一辆公交车，而车上可能已满载乘客。

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，

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time flies. 光阴似箭.

Time is life. 时间就是生命.

Times change. 时代在改变.

Time is money. 时间就是金钱.

Life is sweet. 人生是美好的.

Love is blind. 爱情是盲目的.

Extremes meet. 两极相通，有无相生。

Like knows like 人识其类。

Let well alone. 不要画蛇添足. /事已成功,不必多弄.

Marry thy like. 结婚须找同类人.

One man,no man. 个人是渺小的.

Hsitory is bunk. 历史是一堆废话。

Time marches on. 岁月如流

Murder will out. 恶行终会败露。

Never say "die. 永远不要说" 完了".

Care is no cure. 忧虑治不了病。

Beware beginning. 慎始为上。

Deeds, not words. 行动胜于空谈.

No mill, no meal. 不磨面,没饭吃.

Like begets like. 龙生龙，凤生凤。

Love begets love. 爱爱相生.

In doing we learn. 我们在干中学习.

No cross,no crown. 未经苦难,得不到荣冠.

Care killed a cat. 忧虑能杀人。

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.

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.

Time cures all things. 时间是最好的医生. /时间能医愈一切创痛.

Truth needs no colour. 真理不需要打扮.

Silence gives consent. 沉默就是赞成。

Still waters run deep. 静水流深。

Study,study,and study. 学习,学习,再学习.

Virtue never grows old. 美德不会衰老.

No sweet without sweat. 幸福来自汗水.

No herb will cure love. 相思病无药医.

A true jest is no jest. 真正的笑语决非笑话。

A man can die but once. 人无二死.

A bargain is a bargain. 成约不能翻悔。

All men cant be first. 不可能人人得冠军。

All roads lead to Rome. 条条大路通罗马.

Every flow has its ebb. 潮有涨落日,人有盛衰时.

History repeats itself. 历史往往重演。

I think,therefore I am. 我思考，所以我存在。

Let bygones be bygones. 既往宜不咎。

Like author, like book. 书如其人。

Pardon all but thyself. 宽恕一切人，只是别宽恕自己。

Pride goes before fall. 骄者必败。

Knowledge is no burden. 知识再多不压身.

Civility costs nothing. 礼貌不费分文.

Charity begins at home. 仁爱先施于亲友.

Better late than never. 迟做总比不做好.

Better leave than lack. 有余胜过不足.

Cheapest is the dearest. 最便宜的也就是最贵的.

Custom is second nature. 习惯是第二天性。/ 习惯成自然。

In valour there is hope. 希望在于勇敢.

Reason rules all things. 理智统治一切.

Learn young, learn fair. 学习趁年少,而且要学好.

Idleness rusts the mind. 懒散使头脑衰退.

Health and money go far. 有了健康和钱财，就能走遍天下。

Hope well and have well. 善寄希望于未来,又善保有现在.

Hope is a lovers staff. 希望是爱者的手扶之杖.

Every Jack has his Jill. 人均有其偶.

If the cap fits,wear it. 帽子合适，你就戴上;如说的符合你的情况，你就接受。

Failure teaches success. 失败乃成功之母.

First think, then speak. 熟思而后言.

Forewarned is forearmed. 凡事预则立。

Barking dogs dont bite. 吠犬不咬人。

Beauty is but skin-deep. 美只是外表, /不能以貌取人.

Beauty will buy no beef. 漂亮不能当饭吃。

Good wine needs no bush. 酒好无需挂幌子。

Great minds think alike. 英雄所见略同。

All his geese are swans. 自己的鹅都是天鹅。

A poet is born,not made. 诗人靠天成。

A snow year,a rich year. 瑞雪兆丰年。

No man is indispensable. 没有一个人是不可缺少的。/少了谁地球也转。

Never hope for too much. 不要期望太多.

Tomorrow is another day. 明天又是一个新的开始.

Time is life for doctors. 对医生来说,时间就是生命.

Time is the great healer. 时间是最好的医治者.

Time works great changes. 时间会产生巨大的变化.

Two can play at the game. 你会耍的花招，别人也会。

Success has many friends. 成功者朋友多.

No pleasure without pain. 乐中必有苦.

Take things as they come. 随遇而安。

Talent is as talent does. 是不是有实才,就看干得来干不来.

All for one, one for all. 人人为我,我为人人.

A little pot is soon hot. 壶小易沸,量小易怒.

A cat may look at a king. 猫也可以看皇帝。/ 地位虽不同，人人应平等。

A good marksman may miss. 好射手也有失手的时候.

Anger is a brief madness. 愤怒是短暂的疯狂。

Wonders will never cease. 奇迹无穷尽。

You never know your luck. 命运好坏不由已.

Youth is half the battle. 年轻是胜利的一半.

As the call, so the echo. 发什么声音，有什么回声。

As the tree,so the fruit. 什么树结什么果。

He who hesitates is lost. 当断不断,反受其乱.

Fortune favours the bold. 天助勇者。

Forbidden fruit is sweet. 禁果分外甜。

From saving comes having. 富有来自节俭.

Fools haste is no speed. 急急忙忙, 欲速反慢.

Fair and softly goes far. 谦和者致远。

Every man has his faults. 人都有缺点.

Hunger is the best sauce. 饥者口中尽佳肴.

Learn even from an enemy. 即使是敌人也可以向他学习.

Little goods little care. 钱财少,不烦恼.

Practise what you preach. 躬行己说,身体力行. /自己怎么说,就得怎么干.

Second thoughts are best. 再思为上.

It is hard to please all. 要使人人满意是件难事。

Business before pleasure. 先工作,后娱乐./干完正事再玩儿.

It is dogged that does it. 有志者事竞成.

Its a day after the fair. 错过良机，为时已晚。

Reading enriches the mind. 开卷有益.

Opportunities do not wait. 机不可失,时不再来.

Other times,other manners. 隔代不同礼。

Love laughs at locksmiths. 爱情嘲笑锁匠. /爱情能克服困难.

Let the sleeping dogs lie. 莫惹是非。

Every medal has two sides. 每个勋章都有两面。/ 每个问题都有正反两面。

Every bean hath its black. 每粒蚕豆都长黑嘴。 / 人都有缺点。

Even Homer sometimes nods. 即使荷马也会打盹. /智者千虑,必有一失.

Facts are stubborn things. 事实都是顽强的. /事实是掩盖不住的.

Every why has a wherefore. 凡事必有因.

Fortune favours the brave. 天佑勇士。

Art is long,life is short. 人生短暂，艺术长存。

Bad times make a good man. 艰难困苦出能人.

Better be sure than sorry. 稳当总比后悔好。

Good counsel does no harm. 忠言有利无害。

Anything for a quiet life. 悠然自在最难求.

Appearances are deceptive. 外表是靠不住的。

Who knows most says least. 知道得最多的人说得最少。

A good deed is never lost. 好心一定有好报。

A lazy youth, a lousy age. 少时懒惰老来苦.

A watched pot never boils. 心急锅不开.

Take time by the forelock. 要把握时机.

Nothing seek,nothing find. 无所求则无所获.

Never do things by halves. 做事不可半途而废.

The wages of sin is death. 为恶者应灭亡。

Sow nothing, reap nothing. 春不播,秋不收. /无功不能受禄.

True love never grows old. 真正的爱永不衰老.

Sharp tools make good work. 工欲善其事,必先利其器.

Sweep before your own door. 正人先正己。

Time is wealth for workers. 对工人来说,时间就是财富.

Time is grain for peasants. 对农民来说,时间就是粮食.

Today is Yesterdays pupil. 今天是昨天的学生.

After a storm comes a calm. 雨过天晴,苦尽甘来.

A mans home is his castle. 一个人的家就是他的城堡.

A bully is always a coward. 恃强欺弱者均是懦夫。

A creaking door hangs long. 旧门久用，病夫命长。

A bow long bent grows weak. 常拉满弓无力。

An artist lives everywhere. 一技在身，走遍天下。

Youth will have its course. 人生谁无少年时,甜苦酸辛各自知.

There are spots in the sun. 太阳也有黑点。

Beggars cannot be choosers. 乞丐不能挑肥拣瘦.

Be still,and have the will. 不动声色,事方有成.

Art lies in concealing art. 艺术在于使人看不见艺术。

Freedom lies in being bold. 自由在于勇敢.

Give losers leave to speak. 要允许失败者讲话。

First thrive and then wive. 先立业,后成家.

East or West, home is best. 无论在何处,家园最美好.

Every oak must be an acorn. 每棵橡树都曾是一粒橡子.

Every man is his own enemy. 人都有与自己为敌的时候. /败事全由已.

Labour created man himself. 劳动创造人.

Leave off with an appetite. 吃得七分饱，就该离餐桌。

Love is the mother of love. 情生情,爱生爱.

Love is the reward of love. 爱是对爱的报答.

Man proposes, God disposes. 谋事在人，戒事在天。

Man is not made for defeat. 创造人不是为了让他遭受失败. /人不是为失败而生的.

Life is too short to waste. 生命短促,不容浪费.

Honesty is the best policy. 诚实为上策.

Honour lies in honest toil. 光荣在于诚恳地劳动.

Hitch your wagon to a star. 把你的马车拴到星星上. /要胸怀大志.

Hold fast when you have it. 在手之物应紧握.

Many hands make light work. 众擎易举. /人多好办事./ 众人拾柴火焰高.

Marriage is a covered dish. 婚姻是一道盖着的菜.

Brevity is the soul of wit. 言以简为贵.

Bread is the staff of life. 民以食为天。

Blushing is virtues color. 脸红是美德的颜色。

Do as you would be done by. 己所不欲，勿施于人。

Drawn wells are seldom dry. 水井常用不枯竭.

Drift is as bad as unthrift. 花钱凭冲动,等于无底洞.

Dont meet trouble half-way. 不要自寻烦恼。

Diligence redeems stupidity. 勤能补拙.

Blood is thicker than water. 血比水浓.

Counsel breaks not the head. 忠告不会打破头.

Clothes do not make the man. 人不在衣装.

Idleness makes the wit rust. 懒惰使脑筋生锈.

Love is stronger than death. 爱的力量大于死亡./ 爱情能战胜死神.

Love me little,love me long. 爱情应细水长流.

Ones sin will find one out. 坏事终归要败露。

One love drives out another. 新的爱情来,旧的爱情去.

Prettiness makes no pottage. 漂亮不能当饭吃.

Pen and ink is wits plough. 笔墨是才智之犁.

Its never too late to mend. 改过不嫌晚。

Rome was not built in a day. 罗马不是一天建成的./ 伟业非一日之功.

In the end things will mend. 船到桥头自然直.

Envy never enriched any man. 嫉妒从未使人得益。

Familiarity breeds contempt. 亲密生侮心。

Friends are thieves of time. 朋友是时间的浪费者. / 浪费朋友的时间,就是谋财害命.

Four eyes see more than two. 两人总比一人看得周到.

Good clothes open all doors. 门不挡衣着华丽的人。

Good advice is beyond price. 忠告是无价之宝.

Youth is the season of hope. 青春是希望的季节.

All rivers run into the sea. 条条江河归大海.

"They say so" is half a lie. 传闻多失实.

A curst cow has short horns. 性子烈的牛角短，脾气暴的人为害有限。

A miss is as good as a mile. 差之毫厘,失之千里.

All is fair in love and war. 情场战场，不择手段。

A stitch in time saves nine. 不洞不补,大洞尺五. /及时处理,事半功倍.

Time is the father of truth. 时间是真理之父.

There is no end to learning. 学无止境.

There is no satiety in study. 学而不厌.

Time is the greatest teacher. 时间就是良师.

Time is speed for scientists. 对科学家来说,时间就是速度.

Variety is the spice of life. 变化是生活的调味品.

We are all slaves of opinoin. 我们都是意见的奴隶。

More than enough is too much. 超过所需就是太多.

The shortest answer is doing. 最简短的回答是干.

Nothing venture,nothing have. 不担风险就无收获.

No living man all things can. 世上没有万能的人.

The insolent have no friends. 目空一切的人无朋友.

A wonder lasts but nine days. 奇闻只存在九天。

A word is enough to the wise. 智者不用多告诫.

A little labour, much health. 适量的劳动有益于健康。

A lean dog shames his master. 狗瘦主人羞。

A hungry man is an angry man. 饿汉易怒。

A green wound is soon healed. 新伤口愈合快。

Whats done cannot be undone. 木已成舟，覆水难收。

What man has done,man can do. 前人能办的事,后人也能做.

Wishes never can fill a sack. 愿望装不满口袋。

He goes far that never turns. 不回头的人走得远.

He that talks much errs much. 语多必失。

He that talks much lies much. 言多必妄。

Before friends all is common. 朋友之间应不分彼此.

Far fowls have fair feathers. 远方的鸟羽毛美。/弄不到手的东西是最好的。

Eyes are as eloquent as lips. 眼睛会和嘴一样说话.

Easy and success are fellows. 从容与成功是伙伴。

Many a little makes a mickle. 积少成多;集腋成裘.

Love and cough cannot be hid. 爱情象咳嗽,压也压不住.

Life is compared to a voyage. 人生好比是一次航程.

Life is real,life is earnest. 人生真实,人生诚挚.

Marriage makes or mars a man. 婚姻可使人成功,也可使人失败.

Money is round.It rolls away. 圆圆钱币,滚走容易.

Hope is life and life is hope 希望就是生活,生活也就是希望.

Comfort is better than pride. 华美不如舒适.

Custom makes all things easy. 凡事成习惯就容易做。/ 熟能生巧。

Diet cures more than doctors. 自己饮食有节，胜过上门求医。

Deliberating is not delaying. 深思熟虑不误事.

Dexterity comes by experience. 换取经验要付出代价.

Doubt is the key of knowledge. 怀疑是知识的钥匙.

Dare and diligence bring luck. 大胆又勤奋,定能交好运.

Blow first and sip afterwards. 喝茶防烫，吃饭防噎。

Human pride is human weakness. 人类的骄傲即是人类的弱点。

Lazy folk take the most pains. 懒人躲懒最费力.

Light not a candle to the sun. 不要对着太阳点蜡烛。/日既出矣，爝火可熄。

Love is the lodestone of life. 爱情是生活的磁石.

It is never too late to learn. 学习从不嫌晚.

Justifying a fault doubles it. 护短是加倍的错误。

Kill two birds with one stone. 一石二鸟. /一箭双雕. / 一举两得.

Pride hurts, modesty benefits. 满招损，谦受益。

One is never too old to learn. 人有老的时候,没有老得不能学的时候.

One cannot put back the clock. 时光不能倒流.

Early start makes easy stages. 早动身,易从容,早开始,早成功.

Every bird likes its own nest. 鸟均爱其巢;人皆爱其家.

Fair words fill not the belly. 甜言蜜语填不饱肚子。

Fine feathers make fine birds. 好的衣装只能打扮出个好外表。

Fine words butter no parsnips. 花言巧语没有用.

First deserve and then desire. 先做到受之无愧，而后再邀功请赏。

For a lost thing care nothing. 物已丢失，勿再烦恼。

Force can never destroy right. 武力决不能摧毁正义。

Glory is the shadow of virtue. 荣誉是美德的影子.

At court,everyone for himself. 在法庭上人人都要为自己。

As man sows, so he shall reap. 善有善报，恶有恶报。

Good ware makes quick markets. 货好销得快。

He is rich that has few wants. 寡欲者富。

He lives long that lives well. 活得好等于活得久.

He that fears death lives not. 害怕死亡的人，活着也没有快乐。

Wisdom is only found in truth. 唯有在真理中才能找到智慧.

Who loseth liberth loseth all. 失掉自由使失掉一切.

All that glitters is not gold. 闪烁者不尽是金。

A great ship asks deep waters. 大船要在深 水行./ 深水浮大船.

A good tree is a good shelter. 枝叶茂盛的大树是躲避风雨的好去处. / 大树底下好乘凉.

A burnt child dreads the fire. 烧伤的孩子最怕火。

A clean hand wants no washing. 手要是干净无须洗。

A bad penny always comes back. 伪币迟早归原主。

A rolling eye, a roving heart. 眼活情不专.

A proud man hath many crosses. 骄傲者挫折多。

A shy cat makes a proud mouse. 猫儿胆小耗子闹。

All is not at hand that helps. 世间没有唾手可得之事.

The exception proves the rule. 例外证明法则的存在。

No man is a hero to his valet. 在最贴身的人眼中，谁也充不了伟人。

The used key is always bright. 常用的钥匙不长锈.

The sun shines upon all alike. 太阳照人，不分贵贱。

We are not born for ourselves. 人之有生,不为一已.

Two heads are better than one. 两人智慧胜一人.

True praise roots and spreads. 诚实的赞美深入人心.

Truth is the daughter of time. 真理是时间的女儿.

True friendship lasts forever. 真正的友谊恒久不变.

Shallow streams make most din. 溪浅声喧。

Slow and steady wins the race. 稳扎稳打;无往不胜.

Time and tide wait for no man. 时光如逝水,岁月不待人.

There is no joy without alloy. 世上没有十全十美的快乐。/ 金无足赤，乐无十全。

Theres no wisdom like silence. 保持沉默最聪明。

Think today and speak tomorrow. 熟思而后言.

Time is money for enterprisers. 对企业家来说,时间就是金钱.

Too many cooks spoil the broth. 厨师太多烧坏汤。

We soon believe what we desire. 心里想什么就会相信什么。

Speech is the image of actions. 语言是行动的图象。

Two wrongs do not make a right. 两个错误,加不出一个正确. /用错误改正不了错误.

导语：我们大家都知道，每个公民都有维护好自己权益的义务，所以日常生活中发生一些小摩擦我们当然要理智的去处理，那么投诉信是不是一个很好的办法呢?下面是yuwenmi小编为还在备考的同学整理的优秀英语素材，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Dear_______,

I am . (自我介绍) I feel bad to trouble you but I am afraid that I have to make a complaint about_______.

The reason for my dissatisfaction is ______________(总体介绍). In the first place,_________________________(抱怨的第一个方面). In addition, ____________________________(抱怨的第二个方面). Under these circumstances, I find it ___(感觉) to ____________________________(抱怨的方面给你带来的后果).

I appreciate it very much if you could_______________________(提出建议和请求), preferably __________(进一步的要求), and I would like to have this matter settled by ______(设定解决事情最后期限).

Thank you for your consideration and I will be looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely

Li Ming

下面是关于高考英文写作的技巧以及必备高分句型，希望对同学们有所帮助!

一、要善于模仿

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

二、要灵活变通

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

三、要细心观察

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

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

四、要心有全局

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

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

英语写作七类万能句型必备

一. 结尾万能句

Taking all these factors into consideration, we naturally come to the conclusion that…

把所有这些因素加以考虑,我们自然会得出结论……

Taking into account all these factors, we may reasonably come to the conclusion that…

考虑所有这些因素,我们可能会得出合理的结论……

Hence/Therefore, wed better come to the conclusion that…

因此,我们最好得出这样的结论……

There is no doubt that job-hopping has its drawbacks as well as merits.

毫无疑问,跳槽有优点也有缺点。

All in all, we cannot live without… But at the same time we must try to find out new ways to cope with the problems that would arise.

总之,我们没有...…是无法生活的。但同时,我们必须寻求新的解决办法来对付可能出现的新问题。

二. 引出话题万能句

Recently, the problem of… has aroused peoples concern.

最近，……问题已引起人们的关注。

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

互联网已在我们的生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色。它给我们带来了许多好处,但也产生了一些严重的问题。

Nowadays, overpopulation has become a problem we have to face.

如今，人口过剩已成为我们不得不面对的问题了。

It is commonly believed that…=It is a common belief that … 人们一般认为……

Many people insist that…

很多人坚持认为……

With the development of science and technology, more and more people believe that…

随着科技的发展，越来越多的人认为……

A lot of people seem to think that…

很多人似乎认为……

三. 引出观点万能句

Peoples views on…vary from person to person. Some hold that... However, others believe that…

人们对……的观点因人而异。有些人认为……，然而其他人却认为……

People may have different opinions on…

人们对……可能会有不同的见解。

Attitudes towards drugs vary from person to person.

对毒品的态度因人而异。

There are different opinions among people as to…

关于……，人们的观点大不相同。

Different people hold different attitudes toward failure.

对(失败)人们的态度各不相同。

四. 提出建议万能句

Here are some suggestions for handling…

这是处理......的一些建议。

The best way to solve the troubles is…

解决这些麻烦的最好办法是……

People have figured out many ways to solve this problem. 人们已想出许多办法来解决这个问题。

It is high time that we put an end to the trend.

该是我们停止这一趋势的时候了。

It is time to take the advice of… and to put special emphasis on the improvement of…

该是采纳……的建议并对……的进展给予特殊重视的时候了。

There is no doubt that enough concern must be paid to the problem of…

毫无疑问，对……问题应予以足够的重视。

Obviously,… If we want to do something… , it is essential that…

显然，如果我们想做某事，很重要的是...…

Only in this way can we…

只有这样，我们才能……

It must be realized that …我们必须意识到……

五. 预示后果万能句

Obviously, if we don’t control the problem, the chances are that … will lead us in danger.

很明显，如果我们不控制这一问题,很有可能......会使我们会陷入危险。

No doubt, unless we take effective measures, it is very likely that…

毫无疑问，除非我们采取有效措施，否则很可能……

It is urgent that immediate measures should be taken to stop the situation.

很紧迫的是，应立即采取措施阻止这一事态的发展。

六. 论证万能句

From my point of view, it is more reasonable to support the first opinion rather than the second.

在我看来，支持第一种观点比支持第二种观点更有道理。

I cannot entirely agree with the idea that…

我无法完全同意这一观点……

Personally, I am standing on the side of…

就个人而言，我站在……的一边。

I sincerely believe that…

我真诚地相信……

In my opinion, it is more advisable to do…than to do…

在我个人看来，做……比做……更明智。

Finally, to speak frankly, there is also a more practical reason why …

七. 给出原因万能句

This phenomenon exists for a number of reasons. First, … Second, … Third, …

这一现象的存在是有许多原因的。首先，……第二，……第三，……

Why did …? For one thing,... for another(thing),...

为什么......?一则，...... 二则，......

I quite agree with the statement that… The reasons are chiefly as follows.

我十分赞同这一论述,即……，其主要原因如下。

1. To cherish the enviroment is to love ourselves.

爱护环境就是爱护我们自己。

2.Water is the source of ourlives

水是生命之源。

3.I make an urgent appeal that measures should be taken to cope with the situation

我急切呼吁应该采取措施改变现状。

4.Our government is doing its best to take measures to fight against pollution.

我们政府正努力制定措施与污染作斗争。

5.We are sure that well win the battle.

我们坚信我们能赢得战斗。

6.Its high time that we should protect our enviroment from being polluted.

是时候我们应该防止环境污染了。

7. Keep our mountains green，the wate clean，and the sky blue.

使我们山更绿，水更清，天更蓝。

8.However，natural resources are not inexhaustible.some reserves are already on the brink of exhaustion.

然而自然资源并不是无穷无尽的，一些储量已经到了穷尽的边缘。

9.If we do something with no thought for the furture . The later generation would be in danger.

如果我们不为将来考虑，后代就会受到威胁。

10.Our earths days are numbered without urgent help.

没有及时的帮助我们的地球就屈指可数了。

11(Sth.)are bound to generate severe consequences if we keep turning a blink eye to them.

如果我们继续睁一只眼闭一只眼的话，……一定会有恶劣的后果。

每年的英语中考都有写作这一考查的内容，所以同学们要重视写作的方法，消除畏惧心理，排除心理障碍。纵观近几年中考英语写作题，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。下面简单介绍一下中考英语写作六个要素：审题清，要点明，列提纲，全文顺，无病句，打草稿。

一、审题要清

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，根据提供的资料和信息来审题。审题要审格式、体裁、人物关系、故事情节、主体时态、活动时间、地点等。

二、要点明确

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一罗列出。

三、列出提纲

为写作做好准备。根据文章要点短文的中心思想将主要句型、关键词语记下，形成提纲。

四、写顺全文

写短文时要做到五个方面：

1.避免使用汉语式英语，尽量使用自己熟悉的句型。

2.多用简单句型，记事、写人一般都不需要复杂的句型。可适当多使用陈述句、一般疑问句、祈使句和感叹句。不用或少用非谓语或独立主格结构等较复杂的句型。

3.注意语法、句法知识的灵活运用。语态、时态要准确无误;主谓语要一致，主语的人称和数要和谓语一致;注意冠词用法，例如：It takes Tom half an hour to go to school by bus.中的an不能写成a;注意拼写，例如：fourteen，forty，ninth等不要写成forteen，fourty，nineth等;注意标点符号和大小写。

4.描写人物时，要生动具体，可以选择使用下列词汇，例如：外形：tall，short，fat，thin，strong，weak，pretty等;颜色：red,yel-low，blue，white，green，brown，black等;心情：glad，happy，sad，excited，anxious，interest-ed等;情感：love，like，hate，feel，laugh，cry，smile，shout等。

5.上下文要连贯。同学们应把写好的句子，根据故事情节，事情发生的先后次序(时间或空间)，使用一些表示并列、递进等过渡词进行加工整理，使文章连贯、自然、流畅。同学们应注意下面过渡的用法：并列关系：and,as well as,or…;转折关系：but,yet,how-ever…;时间关系：when,while,after,before,then,after that…;因果关系：so，there-fore，asaresult…;目的：in order to，in order that，so as to,so that…;列举：for example ,such as…;总结性：in general,in all,in a word,generally speaking…

五、没有病句

中考作文时，由于时间紧、内容多，同学们出错在所难免。因此，改错这一环节必不可少。中考作文评卷是根据要点、语言准确性、上下文的连贯性来给分，根据错误多少来扣分。因此中考时花几分钟时间用来检查错误显得尤为重要。检查错误应从以下几个方面入手：(1)看字数是否达到要求，看有无遗漏要点。

(2)看文体格式是否正确规范。

(3)看有无语法或用词上的错误。

(4)看单词拼写、字母大小写是否有错，标点符号有无遗漏或用错等等。

(5)注意时态、语态、人称是否上下文一致。

六、先打草稿

考试中，书面表达应做到先打草稿，写完后多读几遍，检查是否有误，然后再抄到试卷上，注意字迹要工整，不涂、不画、不勾不抹，避免不必要的扣分。

☆定语和状语（时间、地点等）都属于附加成分，在基本句型中一般都不列出。

☆时态包含于句子中，任何句子都有时态。

1主语＋谓语(不及物动词)：S+V

It will rain tomorrow.

He often runs in the morning.

They cried.

Tom exercises every day.

2主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋宾语：S+V+O

I miss my mother very much.

She wants to go home now.

The English club is going to hold an English party.

They all love her.

3主语＋系动词＋表语：S+V+P

The music sounds wonderful.

The leaves have turned red.

She is a student.

We keep silent about that.

4主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋间接宾语（人）＋直接宾语（物）：S+V+IO+DO

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

They told me an interesting story.

The waitress offered me a bottle of wine.

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

Miss Smith teaches us English.

5主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋宾语＋宾语补足语：                                      S+V+O+C

They call me Xiao Wang.

I saw him swimming in the river.

We elected him monitor of the class.

一、议论文写作三要素

议论文主要包括三要素：论点、论据和论证方法。论点必须正确。论据是为说明论点服务的，既要可靠又要充分，事实胜于雄辩，是最好的论据。论据也可以是人们公认的真理，经过实践考验的哲理。论证的方法多种多样，常用的方法有：

1. 归纳法

从分析典型，即分析个别事物入手，找出事物的共同特点，然后得出结论。

2. 推理法

从一般原理出发，对个别事物进行说明、分析，而后得出结论。

3. 对照法

对所有事实、方面进行对照，然后加以分析，得出结论。

4. 驳论法

先列出错误的观点，然后加以逐条批驳，最后阐明自己的观点。

二、议论文的特点

议论文的结构一般有引子、正文和结论句三部分。一般在引子部分提出论点，即文章的主题，在正文部分摆出有利的事实，对论点进行严密的论证，最后根据前面的论证得出结论。

三、议论文的写法

要写好议论文，必须注意以下几点：

1. 确定论点

论点通常在文章的第一段提出。

2. 要有足够的论据，可以列举生活的实例

3. 论证要有严密的逻辑性

所有事实、原因、理由应紧密地同结论连接起来。

4. 层次要清楚

5. 态度诚恳、友好，因为议论文重在说理，以理服人

议论文在写作手法上以议论为主，但有时也要运用说明、叙述、描写等手法。议论中的说明常为议论的开展创造条件，或是议论的补充;议论文中的叙述和描写应是为论点提供依据的因此，叙述应该是概括的，描写应该是简要的。

6. 论据要充分

欲证明自己的观点必须有充分的证据。作者可以列举事实、展示数据、提供事例、借助常识或利用亲身经历。

议论文尽管有多种写法，但中学生的英语作文都有提示，因此，论点、论据一般都是确定的，我们首先应准确找出论点、论据及其间的相互关系，也即是要找出要点;然后考虑如何组织材料，也即是论证的方式，短文的写法;还应考虑文章的时态、语态等。议论文常用一般现在时，但述说过去的事实时，可用过去时态;预测将来时，要用将来时态;也经常使用被动语态;有时假设一种虚拟情况时，还需要用上虚拟语气。在考虑了短文的写法、时态、语态等后，可根据行文的需要，使用恰当的连接词，按适当的顺序将写好的句子组合成短文。