中考英语作文写作技巧ppt经典20篇
成语有很大一部分是从古代相承沿用下来的,它既代表了一个故事典故,又是一种现成的话,很多又有比喻引申意义而被广泛引用。下面是小编整理的成语典故作文,欢迎大家阅读!
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1908作文
1000散文的写作技巧
全文共 747 字
+ 加入清单1、【开头】①感情化语言概括叙述。我和该人,重点在后。介绍该人,如肖像描写。
②两者关系及该人精神特质的议论。
2、【中间】一种情况:一件事。从开头、发展到结尾,细致叙述和描写。
另一种情况:几件事。每件事即每层次前,可以用对该人精神特质的一个因素领起。以对该人的感情体验及整体议论来贯穿几件事。
【结尾】①重申特质,照应开头。②深化感情关系,发出感慨。
散文,往往通过生活中偶发的、片断的事象,去反映其复杂的背景和深广的内涵,做到“一粒沙里见世界,半瓣花上说人情”。要达到这种境界,构思是关键。
构思,是作者对一篇作品的整个认识过程,从他对外界事物的最初感受到成篇的全过程。就是进入下笔阶段,也仍然在思考,在探索,在继续认识所要描写的对象,深入发掘其底蕴和内涵。这是一种复杂的、艰辛的、严肃的精神活动,是对作家人格、修养、功力的考验。由于事物间的联系是深邃而微妙的,作家要善于由表及里,从纷繁错综的联系里,发现其独特而奥妙的联系点,才能够从“引心”到“会心”,由“迎意”到“立意”。
散文和小说一样,建立在细节的描写和叙述的基础上,但细节的排列组合方式不同。可以说,小说组合细节是“以盘盛珠”,而散文则是“以线穿珠”。小说的“盘”是一个社会的横切面,具备冲突,各种阶层、力量的人物或隐或显。而细节只能在这样的“盘”中有机地展开。散文的“线”,就是感情体验,或多或少,随手拈来,任情挥洒——以感情体验的表现为准。由此,我们说散文(应称艺术散文),是最自由的文体,散漫如水,手法灵活。只要弄清以上四点,写真实自我及由此生发的个性口语、感情体验和细节描写,就掌握了散文写作的要领,什么意、章法(如文眼)、意境等等一般化认识都不必过于拘谨地学习,其它文体理论知识和写作基础理论都会讲到。
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篇1:2024中考作文写作技巧汇总
全文共 1949 字
+ 加入清单2015年中考临近,小编在这里把中考作文写作中的几个技巧汇总分享给大家。
一. 审题技巧
1. 重视概念的内涵。话题有时是以一个概念形式出现的,比如“诚信”“欣赏”“选择”等。概念都具有特定的内涵,忽视了概念内涵就有走题之虞。
如以“风”为话题作文,提示语中已经列举了“哈韩风”“武侠风”“学风”“校风”等例子,指的是一种社会现象,就不能将“风”理解为一种自然现象,如果错误理解内涵,作文之始就误入歧途了。
2. 重视背景语的指向。背景语往往是命题者着意营造的一种情境,不同的背景语引发的思维走向是不同的。只有审清了背景语的思维指向,才能保证写作中的思维模式与文章内在文脉的贯通。
3. 重视提示语的暗示。作文一般都有限制,这些限制多出现在提示语中。
二. 扣题技巧
我们都要明确,任何题目都有限制,扣题是写好作文的第一要务。实现扣题写作,可以从如下方面人手:
1. 标题嵌入法。所谓标题嵌入法,就是指在文章的题目中嵌入或体现话题的字眼。命题作文不存在这个问题,但话题作文、材料作文需要我们自己拟题,半命题作支需要我们自己填写题目,所以我们在拟题或填题的时候就要将题目限定在命题者设定的范围内。
2. 开篇切入法。所谓开篇切入法,就是指在文章的开头部分就点明话题或文章的主旨。清人李渔《闲情偶寄》中言:“场中作文,开卷之初,当以奇句夺目使之一见而惊,不敢弃去。”这里的“开卷之初”即开篇,这里的“奇句”,或是点明“话题”的词语,或是鲜明的观点、明确的主旨 。如议论文的开门见山提出论点(论题),记叙文的开篇点题,散文的开篇“文眼”等。
4. 结尾回归法。所谓结尾回归法,就是指在文章结尾处对“话题”进行归纳概括或深化。像议论文结尾处的归纳总结观点或深化观点,或解决问题,或提出希望等;记叙文结尾处的画龙点晴的议论或抒情;散文结尾处含蓄深刻,言尽意犹未穷的语句等。
三、语言表达技巧
中考作文语言要精彩,首先要灵活地调动语言的表现力;其次是运用好的修辞,把生动的比喻,大气磅礴的排比,风趣幽默的仿词,语意含蕴曲折的双关等穿插全文;再次是用心调配句式,将长句短句、整句散句巧妙配合,营造音韵美。
1. 精心锤炼词语。要使语言鲜明生动,新颖脱俗,应尽可能选用那些具体、形象、内涵丰富的词语来写景状物、表情达意,尤其要重视对动词、形容词的锤炼。
2. 巧用修辞。巧妙运用修辞手法,可化抽象为具体,变枯燥为生机,化腐朽为神奇。如比喻的巧妙运用:
“如血的残阳像一位戴着红斗笠的侠客。”“晚霞飘落在天边,宛如一匹红丝绸,召唤着从远古走来的吹箫人。”这是描写“飞天”壁画而运用的绝妙比喻,不能不佩服作者比喻的新奇,想象力的丰富。又如比喻加排比:
生活如海,宽容作舟,泛舟于海,方知海之宽阔;
生活如山,宽容为径,循径登山,方知山之高大;
生活如歌,宽容是曲,和曲而歌,方知歌之动听。
3. 独创巧妙佳句。这是根据文章表达的需要创新语言的一种方法。比如:“班主任老师又在喋喋不休地向我们批发人生意义的补充版。”
“天醉了,映红了天边,云是山的使者吧,把风扯来醒酒,却弄醒水波粼剡。”上述创新出来的佳句妙语,读后如饮醇酒,给人以极美的艺术享受。
4.力求含蓄蕴藉。含蓄的语言耐人寻味,含英咀华,如嚼橄榄。
比如:“海浪不回避礁石的撞击,才得以壮观;人生不拒绝遗憾的存在,才得以明达。”
“认识自己是每个人的必修课,否则我们就会像乌云下生长的花儿,失去了充满阳光的世界。请牢记:是鱼儿,就不要向往天空;是鸟儿,就不要留恋海洋。”这类警策性的话语,于形象中蕴涵哲思,含蓄隽永,优美凝练。
试想,阅卷老师看到有如此成熟思想的文字,怎能不为之动情呢?
5.巧妙引用活用。名言名句,是语言的精华,对于文章创作有着非凡而绝妙的效用。适当引用能使文章意蕴深厚,神采飞扬。如:
李商隐有诗日:“夕阳无限好,只是近黄昏。”我惊讶于他的洞察力,然而,夕阳下互相搀扶的老夫老妻却是天底下最美的风景。
在这个充满活力的岁月里,好想好想划着竹筏,迂回于“山如碧玉簪,水作青罗带”的绮丽风光,穿梭于“两岸猿声啼不住,轻舟已过万重山”的画廊,或许这里的某个地方会出现“天街小雨润如酥,草色遥看近却无”的奇丽景象,或许还有人愿再作一次“只缘身在此山中”的妙论。
“黄发垂髫,并怡然自乐”,这是五柳先生心中和谐美丽的桃源美景;“舍南舍北皆春水,但见群鸥日日来”,这足杜陵野老浣花溪畔的安宁生活;“浓妆淡抹总相宜”,这是东坡居士留给西湖的最和谐、最完美的评价。
6.凸显个性特色,写出自己的个性如果你是多愁善感的人,那么尽量写诗意的文字;如果你以能言善辩见长,那你不妨多些议论;如果你天性活泼幽默感强,那也不要浪费自己的特点,就多些生动的叙述和描写吧。
总之,每个人都是不一样的,要写出自己跟别人不一样的地方来。
篇2:公共基础知识的写作技巧
全文共 1687 字
+ 加入清单一、从写作内容角度上看。
公基作文一般是议论性质的文章,字数一般要求在800--1200字之间。公基作文要求结合材料进行写作,属于材料作文类,考生不能脱离材料自行写作。此外,考生在写作的时候一定注意不要跑题,不要脱离总论点。因为作文的阅卷是先定档后给分,这就要求我们一定不能跑题,而且虽然都是议论文但是不能跟高中初中作文那样随意抒发议论,要找到自己的角度,站在报考岗位的角度去思考问题,不能盲目抒情、大发特发议论,此乃作文大忌。
二、从文章标题角度来看。
标题即论点,刚才我们谈到作文阅卷先定档,因此,如果能标题就是论点的话能够大幅度减轻阅卷人的压力,使得自己更容易获得高分。对于标题给大家简单提醒一下,通常情况下标题不建议大家使用标点符号。
三、从文章结构上来看。
一定要保证文章结构的完整性,在阅卷规则当中,有重要一条就是逻辑完整,因此适当运用逻辑结构词就显得特别重要。这里提示广大考生,我们的逻辑词经历过四个阶段,第一个阶段是第一、第二、第三、第N个,这种结构因为第多少个没有上限,因此不建议采用,第二个阶段是首先、其次、再次、最后,第三个阶段是一方面、另一方面、与此同时、此外、加之等。这里推荐大家使用第二第三个阶段,逻辑结构比较完整,第四个阶段是运用过渡句过渡段,这种逻辑不推荐大家使用。
四、公基作文一定要写对策。
考查公基作文的目的就是考查考生进入单位之后分析与解决问题的能力,因此,考生必须在文章中必须有所体现。从文章写作对策段落来说,建议大家在对策段落里面运用“结论+原因+措施”的写作结构,这种结构简单理解就是是什么、为什么、怎么办逻辑,比如说某地的某个行业出现一定的发展问题,那么对于这个行业的发展政府起主要作用,那么我们应该先说政府大概应该如何去做,如政府应该多渠道扶持,此即结论,接下来就应该叙述政府为什么要去扶持,也即原因部分,最后要写明政府如何扶持也即具体措施,如运用宏观调控、减免税收、提供政策支持等。
五、从结尾段落来说,结尾要做到与首段呼应。
浑然一体的结尾与开头要相呼应,写出既呼应开头,又不简单重复的语句,这种结尾方式是各类文章极常见的收束方法。这种收束方法能唤起读者心理上的美感,产生一种首尾圆合,浑然一体的感觉。
第一:理解、分析、研究文体。事业单位写作其实就是议论文写作,因为只有议论文这种文种才能够承载对一个事物的确定观点和论述。所以对议论文来说,要把握一点,就是议论文是围绕一个观点进行展开,这对议论文来说是最重要的,也就是要有确实的观点,即总论点,目前来看事业单位考试的总论点一般都是已经确定的。
第二:确定了总论点之后,再去议论观点。例如:上海是个好地方,那么整个文章展开的核心就是证明观点,也就是为什么说上海是个好地方,再比如:要勤奋,整个文章展开的核心就是论述为什么要勤奋。
近几年来公职类考试的写作命题有了新的变化。首先,会有给定材料,材料围绕着一个主题展开,主题通常是社会问题或者施政要点。例如:要推进民生改革;要提高政府公信力;要推进服务型政府建设;要勇于探路等。其次,针对这样主题的变化,论述的方向也随之有所变化。例如:要提高政府公信力。基于这样的总论点,文章展开的逻辑就是为什么要提高公信力、如何提高政府公信力。再比如:要勇于探路,那么文章展开的逻辑就是为什么要勇于探路、如何探路。通过以上事例,小伙伴们能基本理清两个最重要的内容:议论文就是围绕一个确定的观点展开,整个文章的核心要求就是把观点论述清楚。解决了这两个问题后,接下来就是填充内容了,在此根据情况来说明。
第一:如果平时比较关注新闻、热点时事,自然有内容可写,而且能够做到内容充实、立意高远、理解透彻。如果是这样的情况,就摸索出适合自己表达的语言风格即可。
第二:如果是平时看书比较多,有自己对事物的思考。这样的基础能让写作体现出比较好的人文素养和知识储备,如果是这样的情况,就把看书多的优点发挥出即可。
第三:如果是既不看新闻、也不看书、学习马马虎虎或者工作后没有时间复习,这样的情况比较普遍,如果是这样的情况,就需要找一些捷径了,比如选择培训班等等。
篇3:中考英语作文经典常用句:环保
全文共 1289 字
+ 加入清单导语:无论是什么时候环境保护问题都是中考热门话题,尤其在今年这种大范围的环境污染下,下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语作文,欢迎阅读与借鉴,谢谢!
典型句子:
1. It s our duty to save wate
2. As we know , water is very important to man,
3. we can t live without water.
4. The amount of water which is suitable to drink is less and less.
5. But some people don t care about it .
6. Many rivers and lakes are seriously polluted.Something must be done to stop the pollution.
7. Its our duty to protect our environment。
8. It is very important to take care of our environment
9. We should not throw litter onto the ground
10. We should not spit in a public place/ cut down the trees
11. We should plant more flowers and trees。
12. We must pick up some rubbish and throw it into a dustbin
13. If everyone makes contribution to protecting the environment, the world will become much more beautiful.
14.Trees are very helpful and important for us.
15.We should plant more and more trees in order to live better and more healthy in the future.It s everyone s duty to love and protect the environment.
【参考译文】
1.它是我们的责任来节约水
2.正如我们所知,水是非常重要的人,
3.没有水我们不能生存。
4.适合饮用的水的量越来越少。
5.但有些人不在乎。
6.许多河流和湖泊受到严重污染,必须采取措施制止污染。
7.保护环境是我们的职责。
8.照顾我们的环境是非常重要的
9.我们不应该扔垃圾到地上
10.我们不应该在公共场所吐痰/砍伐树木
11.我们应该种更多的花草树木。
12.我们必须捡起一些垃圾扔进垃圾箱
13.如果每个人都为保护环境做出贡献,世界将变得更加美丽。
14.树对我们非常有益和重要。
15.我们应该种植越来越多的树为了将来生活得更好更健康每个人都有责任保护和保护环境。
篇4:关于作文写作技巧第九讲:文贵创新
全文共 630 字
+ 加入清单知识要点:
1、多角度地观察生活,发现生活的丰富多彩,捕捉事物的特征,力求有创意地表达。
2、所谓创意,即创造、创新之意。
考试说明:
中考时,考生该怎样根据命题要求以独到的眼光从素材库存中迅速选定材料,做到人无我有,人有我新,张扬个性呢?2001年中考优秀作文为我们提供了鲜活的经验。
1、以知出新
2、以事出新
初中三年的学生生活常常进入考生的选材视野,但雷同者多,出新者少。而有些考生却能把眼光锁定在特殊日子所发生的特殊事件上,给人人有我新 之感。浙江宁海市2001年中考作文要求以明天为话题自选角度写一篇文章。不少考生取明天的引申义构思,有位考生却取明天的本义作文,拟题《明天就是中考》,记叙了挤独木桥的前一天老爸赠送作战武器派克笔、老妈熬出高能量食物小米粥和表哥提供新式手表三件事,并在后记中这样结束全文:粗硬的派克正在舞动,已被小米粥填饱的肚子正在提供能量,nike在忠实地记录时间有的同学把叙事的笔触延伸到考场,更体现出所选角度之新。更有独具眼光的作者把叙述的时空就锁定在眼前的语文考场。2001年武汉市中考作文要求以服务为写作范围,自拟题目作文。有位考生别出心裁,所叙时间变一般考生的过去进行时为现在进行时,自拟题目《谢谢您,护花使者》,叙述自己在语文考场上的两次意外(一次墨水用完,一次鼻子出血),两次得到如慈母般的穿白裙的监考老师的关心和鼓励的具体经过。文中的护花使者身份特殊,所处时空特殊,这些都闪耀着作者创新思维的火花,使服务这一文旨演绎得别具魅力。
篇5:应用文写作技巧
全文共 1749 字
+ 加入清单应用文是作文写作的一种形式之一,你知道怎样写应用文吗?下面是小编为大家带来的应用文写作技巧,欢迎阅读。
一、结构的含义和作用
1.掌握结构的含义应用文的结构,是运用材料以表现主题的有序安排,是客观事物条理性在文章中的反映,为文章的组织形式和内部构造。文章的结构具有两重含义:一是宏观结构,即文章的总体构思、大体框架;二是微观结构,即对文章的层次、段落、开头、结尾、过渡、照应和主次的具体设计。2.了解结构的作用结构好比文章的骨架,是安排文章的具体形式,是将材料化为文章的手段之二。结构是表现主题的手段,是准确表达主题的必由之路,也是引导读者领会文章思想内容的向导。写文章只有找到恰当完美的结构形式,才能把主题和材料组合在一起,形成一个完美有机的整体。其作用具体表现在:
(1)使文章言之有体。应用文大多有较固定的结构形态,它是人们在长期写作实践中经过选择,逐步找到的最适合表现某种内容的最佳形式,也称之为“程式”。如简报、书信和行政公文类文书,具有相当固定的惯用格式。
(2)使文章言之有序。合理安排文章结构,就是根据一定的思路,将零散的材料组织起来,使之眉目清楚地成为一个有机的整体。
(3)使文章言之有文。精心安排文章结构,可以增加文章的文采,从而增强其可读性。
二、安排结构的条件
1.了解思路的含义及思路与结构的关系
在文章结构的两重含义中,总体构思是具体设计的前提和基础。总体构思也就是人们常说的“言有序”,是指对材料的安排要有次序,这体现了作者的思路。思路是安排结构的条件。
1、思路的含义
思路是作者思维活动的路线,是作者在头脑中梳理、组织内容材料的过程和结果。它是作者对客观事物自身条理性的观察、理解。
作者思路清晰,结构必然有条不紊;作者思路不清晰,结构必然紊乱。经过选择的材料,只有经过合理的组织安排,使之条理化、系统化,组成一个有机的整体,才能准确鲜明地表现既定的主题。
2、思路与结构的关系
在写作构思阶段,作者的思维活动异常活跃。确立主题,选择好材料,并进而考虑如何表达主题和如何安排材料,由此逐渐形成一条清晰、连贯、独到的思维活动路线——思路。此时,文章的大体框架已在作者的头脑中“闪现”出来。等到作者用书面语言把思路表达出来时,文章的结构也就具体安排好了。因此,作者思路与文章结构的关系极为密切。具体表现为以下三点:
(1)思路是形成结构的基础和内核。结构是文章最主要的表现形式。要使结构完整、严谨、匀称,动笔前,就需要作者匠心独运,形成清晰、连贯并具独创性的思路,进而“外化”成纲目清晰、严谨周密的结构。但是,文章反映客观事物,决不是对其原始形态的简单搬抄和复制,而是在符合客观事物发展规律基础上的主观创造。因此,不同的作者。不同的文体有不同的思路。思路开阔而有创见,文章的结构就新颖独特;思路狭窄而落俗,会使文章的结构板滞僵死;思路紊乱,文章的条理就必然不清;思路松散,文章的结构就不可能严密紧凑。(2)结构是思路的体现和反映。结构是思路的外显形式和文字载体。思路严密清晰,文章结构才能完整、严谨、清晰,主题才能得以准确地表达;思路紊乱、疏漏和闭塞,文章则会逻辑混乱、言而无序、首尾不能圆合。
2.了解锻炼思路的基本要求及锻炼思路的方法
(1)注意思路的条理性和逻辑性,使之清晰、周密、连贯。清晰,指展开思路要有顺序、有层次,同时对材料要加以区分和归类。周密,指思路要周到、严密,没有疏漏和缺损,不要顾此失彼,自相矛盾。连贯,指思维活动过程及其表达不仅要注意外在的次序,而且要处理好各个意思之间存在的衔接、并列、转折、因果、总分等内在联系,做到气脉贯通、流畅。
(2)注意思路的灵活性、独创性,使之活跃、开阔、敏捷。活跃与开阔,是指思路的开展要打破思维定势,进行多向探索,使之灵活、新颖而富有个性。敏捷是指思路的展开、梳理直至成型这一过程应该灵敏、迅速,使文章结构紧凑、气势流转而顺畅。
(3)养成良好的思维习惯。一是养成有序思考问题的习惯,由浅入深、由表及里、由此及彼。二是加强逻辑思维能力的训练。应用写作主要靠逻辑思维,要遵循“提出问题——分析问题——解决问题”这一认识规律。
(4)写作前要通盘思考,立足于写作意图、目的和所用文体特点,确定如何起笔,主体分几个部分展开,怎样收尾。
[应用文写作技巧
篇6:英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分
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+ 加入清单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
篇7:2024年高考作文指导:说明文的写作技巧
全文共 1457 字
+ 加入清单以说明为主是说明文与其他文体从表达方式上区别的标志。下面是小编整理的说明文的写作技巧,欢迎阅读。
一、抓住事物的主要特征,把握说明中心。
所谓特征,就是这一事物区别于其它事物的标志。只有抓住了事物的特征来说事状物,明理显性,才能说得准确,说得深透。
如《苏州园林》一文中,作者紧抓住苏州园林之中有个共同点,就是“务必使浏览者无论站在哪个点上,眼前总是一幅完美的图画”。换句话说,“一切都要为构成完美图画而存在,决不容许有欠美伤美的败笔”。文章先从亭台轩榭的布局,假山池沼的配合,花草树木的映衬,近景远景的层次四个主要方面进行说明,同时又从角落的布置,门窗的雕琢,油漆的调配三个细微的方面进一步表现它的总的特征。可是要想扣住事物的特征,在介绍说明中,必须有选择,有重点。如果面面俱到,结果就会什么事情也说不清楚。
抓住了事物的本质特征,也就抓住了说明的中心。记叙文,议论文,往往带有作者强烈的思想倾向和明显的主观色彩,如茅盾的《白杨礼赞》以白杨枝干的挺拔,力争向上,象征中华民族奋发向上的精神,赞扬敌后军民不屈不挠的气慨。而作为说明文的《杨树》,它的中心是介绍其不同品种的形态、生态、用途和不同特点。由此看来,扣紧说明对象的特征以确保文章中心不偏移,这是说明的要领。写作时,不能凭主观感情作为褒贬事物的标准,而应客观地科学地去说明。
二、根据不同的说明对象,合理安排说明顺序。
说明文的结构方式,应视文明对象的具体情况而定。如《人民英雄纪念碑》就是以纪念碑的方位顺序来组织文章。作者从东西南北四个方位着手,逐面写来,不仅层次清楚,而且使读者获得了有关中国革命的历史知识。《故宫博物院》是以其组成部分的一定顺序安排结构的,作者从天安门写到太和门、神武门,依其建筑的顺序从前至后逐一写来,并重点介绍太和殿、养心殿,使读者对故宫的整体和各个重点建筑都有较明晰的了解。
对于比较深奥的科学原理或比较复杂的事物、现象,在安排说明结构时,可按照人们认识问题逐步深入的思路安排结构。如《向沙漠进军》这篇,就是采用人们认识它们的规律,由浅入深,由具体到抽象的办法,先从读者熟悉的具体事例说起,再追根溯源,讲清成因原理。
实用性说明文大都有固定的结构方式,一般不宜随便变动。而文艺性说明文的结构则灵活多变。如《蜘蛛》先从谜语说起,再从中引出解释的问题。《死海不死》则是先叙述生动的传说故事,然后再介绍死海的形成。无论采用哪一种结构方式,都必须条理清楚,层次分明,重点突出。
三、文字要准确简明,语言要通俗生动。
准确,就是选用恰当的词句,恰如其分地反映出事理的含义和客观事物的本来面目,使人看了明白。如解释“名词”:“表示人或事物的名称的词,叫做名词”。解释“固体”:“有一定体积、而且有一定形状的物体叫做固体”。读者在这里对“名词”、“固体”的概念就可以得到确切的了解。如《蜘蛛》一文中,在介绍蜘蛛腹内的五种腺体的名称(壶状腺、葡萄状腺、腹合腺、管状腺、梨状腺)及功能时,作者采用当时的研究成果,运用了生物学中有关术语,在介绍蜘蛛捕捉蛟、蚋等小虫时,指出它把小虫“咬在‘嘴’里”,这里的“嘴”,实际上是指蜘蛛的第一对附肢——螯肢,它的前端变钩状,很锐利,尖端有小孔,跟这对附肢基部的毒腺相通,毒腺能分泌毒液。许多蜘蛛就是用交叉的螯肢(毒牙)来咬 昆虫的;它并非通常意义上的嘴,所以用引号标明;而在介绍落网中甲虫的拼搏时,这样写道:“它的六条腿东一推,西一撑;蜘蛛好容易把这条腿缚住,那条腿又伸了出来”。准确、生动、传神地写出了甲虫与蜘蛛激烈抗争的场面。
篇8:中考英语作文范例:酒店投诉
全文共 644 字
+ 加入清单You are writing a complaint to the manager about the hotel.
(以e-mail的形式出现)
On the whole, my stay here was satisfactory. The hotel was comfortable and the room was bright, but it was too dirty. Whats more the food was compeletely awful and the service was really terrible. I have stayed in your hotel for several times and everything is getting worse, though the price is fair.
总体而言,我在这边住得比较满意。酒店很舒服,房间也很明亮,但是太脏了。另外,这儿的食物太糟糕了,服务也很差。我已经在这里住过好几次了,虽然价钱还不错,但每件事都越来越糟糕。
Please try to clean the room a bit more often and find someone who is capable of cooking and who knows how to talk friendly to others.
请时常打扫一下房间,找个真正懂烹饪的和懂得跟别人和睦相处的员工!
篇9:中考英语作文范文我的朋友
全文共 414 字
+ 加入清单标签: 范文 / 作文 / 英语
I have many friends. One of them is my classmate Ma Hua.He is a League member and one of the best students in my class.He is fond of English and good at it.
He often practises reading aloud. So he has a good pronunciation. He is always ready to help others. With his help I have made great progress. I have made up my mind to catch up with him and to join the League in the near future.
篇10:中考经典话题英语作文:大气污染
全文共 1442 字
+ 加入清单导语:空气污染是当今世界的主要问题之一。下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语作文,欢迎阅读与借鉴,谢谢!
Air pollution is one of the major problems of the modern world. A great deal of energy is needed to run the factories of modern industrial nations.
Automobile, trains, planes and busses need energy, too. Nearly all of this energy is produced by burning fuels. The burning produces wastes, some of which remain in the air, causing air pollution.
Scientists are finding ways to stop air pollution especially in big industrial areas and densely-populated cities.
They are studying new ways of generating electricity that may be less damaging to the environment. In the meantime, many power plants are being modernized to give off less polluted material.
Also, engineers try to design and locate new power plants to do minimum damage to the environment. However, it may be that we still have a long way to go before we have a "clean" world. Nearly all of the countries are trying hard to prevent and control air pollution.
There indeed seems to be no end to tasks that environmentalists will be required to do. People will continually find new ways to control pollution.
【参考译文】
空气污染是当今世界的主要问题之一。在现代化工业国家中,办工厂需要大量的能量。
汽车、火车、飞机和公共汽车需要能量,太。几乎所有这些能量都是由燃烧的燃料产生的。燃烧产生的废物,其中一些留在空气中,造成空气污染。
科学家们正在寻找办法来阻止空气污染,尤其是在大工业区和人口稠密的城市。
他们正在研究新的发电方式,这种方法对环境的破坏性更小。与此同时,许多发电厂正在现代化,以减少污染的物质。
同样,工程师们也正在努力设计新的发电厂,确定新的建厂地点,把对环境的危害减少到最低限度。然而,在我们拥有一个“干净”的世界之前,我们还有很长的路要走。几乎所有的国家都在努力防止和控制空气污染。
环境保护主义者的任务似乎没有尽头。人们会不断找到控制污染的新方法。
篇11:2024年小升初作文指导:小学生写作四大技巧
全文共 1478 字
+ 加入清单写作文要创新,要出彩,切忌重复过去,切忌重复别人。只有创新才能出奇制胜,只有出彩才能写出耳目一新的文章,小编整理了2017年小升初作文指导,欢迎阅读。
一、平心静气,成竹在胸
考场作文的心态很重要,特别是看到自己平时没有准备的,心中没有底的作文时,有人不免要慌乱,你要告戒自己,作文是猜不到的,很正常,但我努力思考,我肯定又是熟悉的,要有自信,对自己说我能写好,成功与失败很大程度上决定于心理素质,要平心静气,努力思考,要成竹在胸,写好作文。还要不断地给自己以积极的暗示,一般的同学不妨这么
想:千字小文何足惧,写出佳作大有希望。
二、仔细审题,把握材料
从近几年高考来看,作文命题是话题作文,它包括:材料,话题,限定条件。这种“限而不死”的作文形式,其优越性日渐为人们所认识。因此,按提供的材料认真审题,就成了考场作文的起点,也是写好考场作文的关键。
话题作文的题面通常由话题材料、写作话题和注意事项三部分组成,其中材料是话题的依托,话题是写作的中心,注意事项是对写作提出的补充要求。审题时,这三部分都要认真揣摩,万不可顾此失彼。
三、文题简洁,准确醒目
文题是文章的眉目,“文好题一半”。一个好的题目,可以概括全文的内容,可以体现全文的思路,可以蕴涵全文的主旨,可以表明全文的特色,能给人清新脱俗、耳目一新的感觉,能一下子抓住读者的注意力、激发起仔细阅读的兴趣,能使文章起到眉目传神的妙用。考场作文的文题应力求简洁凝炼,形象生动,拟题原则是“小”“准”“新”,能展示文采,先声夺人。常见的文题有三种类型。1、采用原话题的原词句,并不多加改造。如《心灵的选择》《小议诚信》。2、在对原话题理解的基础上,所拟文题或明确主旨,或概括内容,或体现思路,或表明特色,如《高扬道德的大旗》、《失败是种难言的美丽》。3、采用一定的修辞方法,常见的如比喻《用语言连缀心灵的星空》,夸张式《世界很小是个家》,引用式《你不该安静地走开》(歌曲)、《忙兮忙兮奈若何》(诗句),反问式《21世纪你美吗》,情景式《滑铁卢上空的雄鹰》,符号式《出发+拼搏=到达》,呼告式《妈妈,我想对你说》,对比式《英雄无用武之地与英雄有用武之地》。这三种情况以后两种为好。
四、凤头引蝶,立意新颖
古人写文章很讲究开头,称之“凤头”,西方的谚语也这样说:好的开头是成功的一半。对于一篇800字左右的考场作文来说更是如此,往往开头便决定了整篇文章的大体走势,定下了文章的基调。同时,一个好的开头也增加考生写好下文的信心。开头的方法有很多,但究竟如何开头需要因文而定,因人而定。只要能够使阅卷者更好地理解和把握文章,且富有感染力和吸引力,就是成功的文章开头。
立意时一要善于“化大为小”,口子要小,要善于在一个大的、宽泛的范围内,“择其一点,不及其余”,也就是只写“大范围”中的“某一方面”,给自己提供了一个充分发挥、具体表现的好舞台,这样才能在小篇幅内写出立意鲜明集中、内容具体充实的好文章。二要善于“以小见大”,从小的方面表现深刻的主题。这就要求我们在选择“小的方面”的时候,注意所选方面的“现实性、针对性、典型性”。
立意对文章写作的成败至关重要,应该在准确、深刻、新颖、独到上下工夫,最好能体现出创新意识,这就需要有见地、有胆识,善于避开人云亦云的观点,跳出陈陈相因的窠臼,表现出自己对社会、对人生的真实感受和认识。如果想写出认识深刻的的文章来,就要“见人所未见,发人所未发”。要做到深思,就必须由此及彼、由表及里、由浅入深(由个别到一般),透过现象深入本质,揭示问题产生的原因,要辩证分析,自己观点具有启发作用。
篇12:英语写作常用句子100条
全文共 4646 字
+ 加入清单英语写作中有不少短语和表达大家会经常用到,下面我们就总结了100条常用的短语和表达句子,希望能给大家一些参考。
1. 经济的快速发展 the rapiddevelopment of economy
2.人民生活水平的显著提高/稳步增长theremarkableimprovement/ steady growth ofpeople’s livingstandard
3.先进的科学技术advanced science and technology
4.面临新的机遇和挑战 be faced with new opportunities and challenges
5.人们普遍认为 It is commonly believed/ recognized that…
6.社会发展的必然结果 the inevitable result of social development
7.引起了广泛的公众关注 arouse wide public concern/ draw publicattention
8.不可否认 Itis undeniable that…/ There is no denying that…
9.热烈的讨论/争论 a heated discussion/ debate
10.有争议性的问题 a controversialissue
11.完全不同的观点 a totally different argument
12.一些人 …而另外一些人 … Some people… while others…
13. 就我而言/ 就个人而言 As far as I am concerned, / Personally,
14.就…达到绝对的一致 reach an absolute consensus on…
15.有充分的理由支持 be supported by sound reasons
16.双方的论点 argument on both sides
17.发挥着日益重要的作用 play an increasingly important role in…
18.对…必不可少 be indispensableto …
19.正如谚语所说 As the proverb goes:
20.…也不例外 …be no exception
21.对…产生有利/不利的影响 exert positive/ negative effects on…
22.利远远大于弊 the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages。
23.导致,引起 lead to/ give rise to/ contribute to/ result in
24.复杂的社会现象 a complicated social phenomenon
25.责任感 / 成就感 sense of responsibility/ sense of achievement
26. 竞争与合作精神 sense of competition and cooperation
27. 开阔眼界 widen one’s horizon/ broaden one’s vision
28.学习知识和技能 acquire knowledge and skills
29.经济/心理负担 financial burden / psychologicalburden
30.考虑到诸多因素 take many factors into account/ consideration
31. 从另一个角度 from another perspective
32.做出共同努力 make joint efforts
33. 对…有益 be beneficial / conducive to…
34.为社会做贡献 make contributions to the society
35.打下坚实的基础 lay a solid foundation for…
36.综合素质 comprehensivequality
37.无可非议 blameless / beyond reproach
38.加大了…的可能性 increase the chances of
39.致力于/ 投身于 be committed / devoted to…
40. 应当承认 Admittedly
41.不可推卸的义务 unshakable duty
42. 满足需求 satisfy/ meet the needs of…
43.可靠的信息源 a reliablesource of information
44.宝贵的自然资源 valuable natural resources
45.因特网 the Internet (一定要由冠词,字母I
46.方便快捷 convenient andefficient
47.在人类生活的方方面面 in all aspects of human life
48.环保(的) environmental protection /environmentallyfriendly
49.社会进步的体现 a symbol of society progress
50.科技的飞速更新 the ever-accelerated updating of scienceandtechnology
51.对这一问题持有不同态度 hold different attitudes towards this issue
52.支持前/后种观点的人 people / those in favor of theformer/latteropinion
53.有/ 提供如下理由/ 证据 have/ provide the followingreasons/evidence
54.在一定程度上 to some extent/ degree / in some way
55. 理论和实践相结合 integratetheory with practice
56. …必然趋势 an irresistible trend of…
57.日益激烈的社会竞争 the increasingly fierce social competition
58.眼前利益 immediate interest/ short-term interest
59.长远利益. interest in the long run
60.…有其自身的优缺点 … has its merits and demerits/ advantagesanddisadvantages
61.扬长避短 Exploit to the full one’s favorableconditions andavoidunfavorable ones
62.取其精髓,去其糟粕 Take the essence and discard the dregs。
63.对…有害 do harm to / be harmful to/ be detrimental to
64.交流思想/ 情感/ 信息 exchange ideas/ emotions/ information
65.跟上…的最新发展 keep pace with / catch up with/ keep abreastwiththe latest development of …
66.采取有效措施来… take effective measures to do sth。
67.…的健康发展 the healthy development of …
68.有利有弊 Every coin has its two sides。(不推荐用。。。) No gardenwithout weeds。
69.对…观点因人而异 Views on …vary from person to person。
70.重视 attach great importance to…
71.社会地位 social status
72.把时间和精力放在…上 focus time and energy on…
73.扩大知识面 expand one’s scopeof knowledge
74.身心两方面 both physically and mentally
75.有直接/间接关系 be directly / indirectly related to…
76. 提出折中提议 set forth a compromise proposal
77. 可以取代 “think”的词 believe, claim, hold the opinion/beliefthat
78.缓解压力/ 减轻负担 relievestress/ burden
79.优先考虑/发展… give (top) priority to sth。
80.与…比较 compared with…/ in comparison with
81. 相反 in contrast / on the contrary。
82.代替 replace/ substitute / take the place of 大写)
83.经不起推敲 cannot bear closer analysis / cannot hold water
84.提供就业机会 offer job opportunities
85. 社会进步的反映 mirror of social progress
86.毫无疑问 Undoubtedly, / There is no doubt that…
87.增进相互了解 enhance/ promote mutualunderstanding
88.充分利用 make full use of / take advantage of
89.承受更大的工作压力 suffer from heavier work pressure
90.保障社会的稳定和繁荣 guarantee the stability and prosperity ofoursociety
91.更多地强调 put more emphasis on…
92.适应社会发展 adapt oneself to the development of society
93.实现梦想 realize one’s dream/ make one’s dream come true
94. 主要理由列举如下 The main reasons are listed as follows:
95. 首先 First, Firstly, In the first place, To begin with
96.其次 Second, Secondly, In the second place
97. 再次 Besides,In addition, Additionally,Moreover,Furthermore
98. 最后 Finally, Last but not the least, Above all, Lastly,
99. 总而言之 All in all, To sum up, In summary, In a word,
100.我们还有很长的路要走 We still have a long way to go
篇13:英语写作容易出现的误区和解决方法
全文共 744 字
+ 加入清单通过对近些年英语作文出题的趋势来看,中考对英语写作的考察更偏重于交际情景设置和不同体裁的要求,但是由于客观和种种主观原因,很多同学的作文容易走入种种误区,这些误区主要体现在以下方面:
构思、准备不充分,匆忙下笔。任何一篇作文出题都是有它独特的道理的,所以提前审题和构思就显得必不可少了。文新学堂教学专家提醒,很多学生目 前存在一个情况,想到哪写到哪,这也造成了作文杂乱无章,毫无条理,同时容易出现写错单词和用错句型的情况。针对这种情况可以从以下几个方面予以解 决:
1、认真审题,审题的重点放在写作体裁、格式、字数方面,确保第一遍审题就能保证得到基本分。
2、确定文体和时态,因为不同的文体要求的写作格式也是 不同的
3、列提纲,打草稿,然后修改。这样可以保证错误降低至最少或者没有错误,同时也能保持卷面整洁。
中心重点不突出,切题不准确。英语写作不是语文散文(形散神不散),写英语作文,尤其是在中考大压力下短时内写出高分作文一定要注意这一点。造 成这种情况的主要原因是动笔前并没有认真审题和思考,对出题者希望得到的预期尚未揣摩透彻,这也就造成了一些同学虽然语言功底非常不错,但是最终的结果还 是没有拿到一个自己预期的心理分数,最大的问题就出在切题不准确或者不够突出中心上了。
忽视文化差异。要时刻牢记一点,中英文表达方式有很大的差异,所以体现在作文表达上也常常会出现生硬的中国式作文表达,降低了作文质量。所以注重中英语言差异,并努力找到两者之间的表达方式上的共通点,并且有意识的运用就能避免类似的问题。
忽视细节,无谓失分。很多学生在写作文时常常感觉"下笔如有神",但最终结果出来后大惑不解。这方面的问题主要体现在忽视标点、书写、段落安排、大小写的问题,所以只要更加注重细节,这些无谓失分就可以解决。
篇14:中考学生优秀写作话题
全文共 999 字
+ 加入清单高尔基有句名言说“书是人类进步的阶梯。”莎士比亚也曾经说过:“书籍是人类的营养品”。这两句话便说明了读书的重要性。
一本好书,蕴含着丰富的知识和美好的.情感。
阅读一本好书,就是跨越时空和空间,同睿智而高尚的人对话。书籍是精神粮食,“书中自有颜如玉”,“书中自有黄金屋”,不论是古代人还是现代人,不管是名人还是平凡的人都认为生活离不开读书,可见读书的重要性了。
记得有一次期末考前,我的妈妈把我所有的课外书都给“囚禁”了。那天,我妈在看电视,正在做作业的我突然感到内急,又发现老妈在看电视。便义不容辞,无声无息地走到书房“解救”出我的“好朋友”《鲁滨逊漂流记》。走进了厕所,津津有味地看起书来。可是好景不长,我妈妈要去洗衣服来拿洗衣粉,我二话不说赶紧锁上门。我妈开不起门便叫我出来,我连忙说快了。我心想:真是的,别人正看得起劲呢!偏偏要来打扰。小说仿佛是一块大磁铁把我深深地吸住了。不知不觉间,我已经进入了忘我的境界,并没有听见钥匙开门的声音,直到一声东河狮吼把我从书中的世界给拖了出来。我看见了我妈妈愤怒的脸,“戴思捷你?!竟然又在厕所看书!!看我不好好教训你!”剩下无疑就是一顿“竹笋干炒肉”在某一天的早晨,我起得很早,妈妈还没有做好饭,我便拿起一本课外书,津津有味地读了起来。突然我闻到了一股饭菜的香味,接着妈妈走过来对我说:“思捷,你先吃饭,我要先上班了。”“好吧。”我嘴里答应着,眼睛却没有离开书。妈妈走后,我心想看一会儿书再吃饭吧,我便如饥似渴的继续往下读。结果饭一点也没动,我好不容易把这本书看完了,抬头看看时间竟已经到了十一点了,等一下!十一点了!完了我妈妈要回来啦!怎么办我急得跟热锅上的蚂蚁一样,我没办法只好狼吞虎咽,飞快地把饭给吃完,这真的是做贼心虚啊!
啊!书就像是我的老朋友一样。你又如为无所不知的老爷爷,教会了我多少,让我学习了多少知识,也给我带来了快乐,岁月悠悠,波光明灭,泡沫聚散,经过时间的考验,唯有你流芳百世,依然如旧,读书使我成长,读书使我进步,“读书破万卷,下笔如有神”,以后我一定要多读书,正如古人所说“好读书,读书好,好好读书”,以读书为荣,以读书为乐!如果你要获得更多的知识,汲取更多的营养。读书在不知不觉中已成为我们生命中的一部分。我身边少不了的总是我的朋友—书,要问我为什么喜欢书?我会说,因为书给了我们知识,快乐。读书是多么重要,朋友们让我们一起读书吧!
篇15:中考英语-作文范文:HealthyEating
全文共 791 字
+ 加入清单健康饮食关系到青少年的身心健康成长。请根据以下提供的内容和提示词,以”Healthy Eating”为题写一篇作文.
提示:
1.健康饮食的重要性(important, energy);
2.良好的饮食习惯(keep a balanced diet); 3.健康饮食的益处(make…..stong)
Healthy eating is important for us in our daily life. Food can give us energy and help us build up our body. What and how should we eat to be healthier? First, we should have enough clean food each meal. Second, it’s important to keep a balanced diet. Different kinds of food provide us different nutrition we need every day. Third, we should have a regular meal. In this way, we’ll be strong and healthy, and we’ll do well in our study.
3、根据中英文提示,写出内容完整、意思连贯、符合逻辑的稿件。(字数不少于60词,英文提示词供选用)
有写学生不爱吃学校的午饭,常到校外去吃他们所喜欢吃的食物。但有些食物并不利于他们的身体健康。“英语角”打算针对这个问题展开讨论。请你准备一篇讨论稿,谈谈你的看法和建议。
参考词汇:not like, go out of school, be afraid, be back, more delicious, offer
篇16:英语写作技巧
全文共 726 字
+ 加入清单原句:While they were playing tennis, she started an argument that lasted all morning.
修改后:During tennis she started an argument that lasted all morning.
原句:When you come to the second traffic light, turn right.
修改后:At the second traffic light turn left.
小升初英语写作技巧之二:删除诸如"who is”或"that is"之类的关系代词,变从句为短语,例:
句:The novel, which is written in three parts, told a story that took place in the Middle Ages.
修改后:The three-part novel told a story set in the Middle Ages.
注:把句中的"three parts"改用形容词来表达,节省了四个不必要的单词"which is written in"。我们经常可以将关系代词如"that"去掉,这只会引起最少的变动。
小升初英语写作技巧之三:剔除你不需要的单词,例:
Two joint partners will present their views over a long-distance telephone call.
写完这样的句子后,你自己再读一遍,挑出单词"joint"和"telephone",注意删去不必要的词。
篇17:提高小朋友写作技巧的方法
全文共 1479 字
+ 加入清单提高小朋友的写作技巧,这好象是一个老大难问题,一直以来都困扰着众多的同学、老师和家长。大家都觉得,要提高写作的能力是一件很不容易的事。
国外的小朋友一样有这方面的困扰,不少小朋友也苦于不会写作。针对这个问题,教育专家詹妮弗-李提出了一些建议供大家参考。
给小朋友准备一个恬静、亲切的环境,作为写作的专用区域。当然这里面要具备一些必要的设备:书桌、字典、笔、一些纸,假如可能的话还可以准备一台电脑。这些准备不只是必要的,同时还可以由此告诉你的小朋友,你认为写作是一件有意义的、特别的活动。
小朋友需要机会去尝试写各种各样类型的文章,而不是只盯着一种文体来练习。
你可以让小朋友给他的好朋友写一封友好的信,给玩具公司写一封信提出自身的一点要求,或写一封邀请亲戚来吃饭的信。这样小朋友可以看到自身写作真的取得了效果,就会对写作发生好感。
另外一个鼓励小朋友写作的好方法,就是让他写日记。这种方法可以协助小朋友形成写作的个人风格。但你和小朋友要约定好,别的家庭成员是否可以读他的日记。假如你答应小朋友不看他的日记,那么就一定要维护他的隐私。
还有一个可以协助提高小朋友写作技巧的方法——电脑软件。现在有很多出色的软件,里面提供故事的开头、想象画以和段落结构的建议等内容,这些都可以激发小朋友自身写作的愿望和灵感。
许多小朋友都经历过写作的瓶颈状态——即脑子里一片空白,不知道写什么好的情况。比方小朋友被要求写一个有发明性的故事,但他不能想出有什么有趣的东西可写。这时家长就可以协助小朋友了。可以给小朋友一本笔记本,记下平时突然发生的奇特想法,家人开的玩笑,或者是描述一幅以前的具有纪念价值的相片。也可以让小朋友从杂志中获得有用的点子。
一旦小朋友决定了一个文章的主题,就应该让小朋友先写一下草稿或是打一下腹稿。这样可以保证所有要写的重要细节都包括到文章里去了,并且可以调整文章的结构,你还可以就草稿跟小朋友一起谈论,寻找最好的写法。在学校里,老师也用各种方法,协助小朋友在开始写文章之前,先组织好要写的内容。
家长还可以和小朋友一起朗读不同文体的好作品,比方诗歌、小说、新闻故事甚至是一封有趣的信,只要是小朋友会感兴趣的东西都可以。无论是大人还是小朋友,在阅读了大量的好的作品之后,都会在写作上学到很多东西。
通过阅读,家长可以问小朋友:“你喜欢什么样的作品?不喜欢什么样的作品?”“文章的作者能抓住读者的注意力吗?”“你觉得这个题目有意思吗?”这样可以提高小朋友的兴趣。鼓励小朋友认识到写作是一个不时发展的过程,写作水平也不是一成不变的,而是可以通过努力不时提高的。告诉小朋友可以从对已有作品的改写、缩写、扩写中,开始自身的写作。
小朋友需要在完成自身文章之后的一、两天,甚至更长时间以后,再回头看看。这样做可以让小朋友用一种全新的眼光来看待自身的作品,发现其中的错误和被遗漏的细节。
一个作家在写作时要考虑,自身写的内容是否切题?所有的细节都包括进去了吗?描写太多会不会显得罗嗦?小朋友虽然不是专业作家,但这些问题也需要想一想。
让小朋友把自身完成的文章大声地读一遍,假如他自身不能发现其中的明显错误,那么就需要有人为他再读一遍,好让他自身意识到错在哪里。还要注意小朋友在文章中有没有错别字。
爸爸妈妈还要为坚持小朋友的写作积极性做一些努力。比方在小朋友犯错误的时候给他一些口头上的批评,但注意重点在为小朋友指出错误,而不是教训他。还可以把小朋友的好作品贴在墙上,让每一个来家里的人都能看见,这对小朋友是一种奖励。这样小朋友很快就可以体会到写作的重要和乐趣了。那么他的写作水平就自然会提高。
篇18:以时间为话题的中考写作素材
全文共 1429 字
+ 加入清单导语:时间就是生命。时间对每个人都是公平的。世界上最重要的东西是时间。能够把握的只有今天。下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的有关“时间”的中考素材,欢迎阅读与借鉴,谢谢!
一、论点
最严重的浪费就是时间的浪费。任何节约归根到底是时间的节约。浪费时间的人会被时间抛弃。提高效率就是节约时间。时间走了就不会再回来。珍惜时间才会有所成就。
二、名言
世界上最重要的东西是时间。——爱迪生
明日复明日,明日何其多,我生待明日,岁月成蹉跎。——文嘉
今天所做之事勿候明天,自己所做之事勿候他人。——歌德
昨日只是今日的回忆,而明日只是今天的梦想。——纪伯伦
愿你们每天都过着愉快的生活,不要等日子过去了才找出它们的可爱之处,也不要把所有特别含义的话放到未来。——居里夫人
盛年不重来,一日难再晨;及时当勉励,岁月不待人。——陶渊明
莫等闲,白了少年头,空悲切。——岳飞
时间就是生命,无端的空耗别人的时间,其实无异于谋财害命的。——鲁迅
时间,就像海绵里的水,只要愿挤,总还是有的。——鲁迅
时间是伟大的作者,她能写出未来的结局。——卓别林
时间最不偏私,给任何人都是二十四小时;时间也最偏私,给任何人都不是二十四小时。——赫胥黎
谁虚度年华,青春就会褪色,生命就会抛弃他们。——雨果
少年易学老难成,一寸光阴不可轻。——朱熹
时间的步伐有三种:未来姗姗来迟,现在像箭一样飞逝,过去永远静立不动。——席勒
一寸光阴一寸金,寸金难买寸光阴。—— 中国谚语
丢失的东西有找处,丢落的光阴无寻处。——佚名
时间老人是公平的,它给予每一个人一份同样的时间,时间老人又是偏爱的,它给予勤奋者的劳动果实百倍于懒惰者。——佚名
在时间的海洋里,懒惰者漂泊不定;勤奋者却日计行程,始终如一。——佚名
三、经典素材
1、珍惜时间的鲁迅
我国伟大的思想家和文学家鲁迅,非常珍惜时间。他有一句至理名言:时间就是生命,无端的空耗别人的时间,其实无异于谋财害命。
鲁迅确实惜时如命,他把别人喝咖啡、谈天的时间都用在工作和学习上。鲁迅还以各种形式来鞭策自己珍惜时间,刻苦学习和工作。在北京时,他的卧室兼书房里挂着一副对联,集录我国古代伟大诗人屈原的两句诗,上联是“望崦嵫而勿迫”(看见太阳落山了还不心里焦急),下联为“恐鹈鸥之先鸣”(怕的是一年又去,报春的杜鹃又早早啼叫)。书房墙上还挂着一张鲁迅最崇敬的日本老师藤野先生的照片。鲁迅在《朝花夕拾》中写道:“每当夜间疲倦,正想偷懒时,仰面在灯光中瞥见他黑瘦的面貌,似乎正要说出抑扬顿挫的话来,便使我忽又良心发现,而且增加勇气了,于是点上一支烟,再继续写些为正人君子’之流所深恶痛疾的文字。”鲁迅用这朝夕相处的对联和照片督促自己抓紧时间。
正是因为有了这种惜时如命的精神,鲁迅在他56岁的生命旅途中,广泛涉及自然、社会科学的许多领域,一生著译一千多万字,留给后人一份宝贵的文化遗产。
2、巴尔扎克勤奋写作
法国作家巴尔扎克十分珍惜时间,把所有的时间都用在了写作上。他的创作时间表是:“从午夜到中午工作,就是说,在圈椅里坐十二个小时,努力修改和创作。然后从中午到四点校对校样,五点钟用餐,五点半才上床休息,而到午夜又起床工作。”他把全部精力用在了工作上,成为名副其实的“工作狂”。巴尔扎克的写作速度很快,每三天他的墨水瓶要重新装满一次,并且得用掉十个笔头。他创作出像《欧也妮?葛朗台》、《高老头》等90多部中长篇小说,成为一位多产作家,在世界上享有盛誉。他之所以著作立身,与他珍惜时间、勤奋写作是分不开的。
篇19:英语日记写作的格式
全文共 760 字
+ 加入清单英文日记和汉语日记一样,是用来记叙一天中所发生的有意义的事情或对将来的打算等。以下是小编整理的英语日记写作的格式,欢迎阅读!
日记可分为记事、议论、描写及抒情等。记事型是用英语记述当天自己生活学习中发生的事情。议论型是对生活中的某一事情或情况现象谈自己的看法,发表议论。描写型或抒情型,则是对某人物事物的特征做细致的描述,或针对某事物抒发自己的感情。
1、格式:
一般是在左上角记上当天日期,星期,时间的排列法与书信一致,星期写在日期之后;右上角写上当天的天气情况,表示天气情况的词一般是形容词,如:fine(晴朗的),cold(寒冷的),snowy(下雪),sunny(阳光充足的),rainy(下雨的),cloudy(阴天的)等。日记的小标题写在下一行,也可省略不写。
2、时态:
写日记的时间一般是在下午、晚上,有时也可以在第二天补写,因此,日记中所记述的事情通常发生在过去,常用一般过去时;但当记述天气、描写景色或展望未来时,可以用一般现在时或一般将来时。
写法大致和写汉语日记相同,都是在正文之前有日期、星期几及当天的天气情况。注意内容表达要清楚连贯、准确。
扩展阅读:
日期格式用月日年(美式)或日月年(英式)都可以
1. 年、月、日都写时,通常以月、日、年为顺序,月份可以缩写,日和年用逗号隔开,例如:december 18, xx或者dec. 18, xx。
2. 如果要写星期,星期要紧挨日期,它既可以放在日期前面,也可以放在日期后面,星期也可以省略不写。星期和日期之间不用标点,但要空一格,星期也可缩写,例如:thursday dec. 18, xx或dec.18,xx thursday
3. 天气情况必不可少,天气一般用一个形容词如:sunny, fine, rainy, snowy等表示。天气通常位于日记的右上角。