英语写作干货【优秀20篇】

导语：英语作文是最容易拿分，也是最容易丢分的题型。写作上面有什么技巧呢?下面是yjbs作文网小编为您收集整理的资料，希望能够对您有所帮助。

一：开头

句子的开头方式，不要一味地都是主语开头，接着是谓语、宾语，最后再加一个状语。可以把状语置于句首，或用分词做状语等。

〔原文〕We met at the school gate and went there together early in the morning.

〔修正〕Early in the morning we met at the school gate and went there together.

〔原文〕The young man couldn’t help crying when he heard the bad news.

〔修正〕Hearing the bad news， the young man couldn’t help crying.

二：经过

2.在整篇文章中，避免只使用一两个句式，要灵活运用诸如倒装句、强调句、主从复合句、分词状语等。

①强调句

〔原文〕I met him in the street yesterday.

〔修正〕It was in the street that I met him yesterday.

It was yesterday that I met him in the street.

②由with或without引导的短语。如:

He sat in a chair with a newspaper in the hand.

③分词短语。如:

Satisfied with the result，He decided to go on with a new experiment.

④倒装句。如:

Only in this way can we achieve our goal.

Never before have I seen such a wonderful film.

Not only should we study in the college, but also learn how to be a decent person.

⑤省略句。如:

If so，victory will be ours.

You can make some changes wherever necessary.

3.通过分句和合句，增强句子的连贯性和表现力。

〔原文〕He stopped us half an hour ago. He made us catch the next offender.

〔修正〕He stopped us half an hour ago and made us catch the next offender.

〔原文〕We had a short rest. Then we began to play happily. We sang and danced.

Some told stories. Some played chess.

〔修正〕After a short rest， we had great fun singing and dancing， telling jokes and playing chess.注意使用不同长度的句子，要结合使用，不能只用短句或只用长句。

4.学会使用过渡词。如:

①递进: then(然后)， besides(还有)， furthermore(而且)， moreover(此外)等。

②转折: however(然而)， but(但是)， on the contrary (相反)， after all(毕竟)等。

③总结: finally(最后)， at last(最后)， in brief(总之)， in conclusion(最后)等。

④强调: indeed(确实)， certainly(一定)， surely(确定)， above all(尤其)等。

⑤对比: in the same way(同样地)， just as(正如)， on the one hand…on the other hand(一方面……另一方面……)等。

相似的比较： similarly, in the same manner 相反的比较： on the other hand, conversely, whereas, while, instead, nevertheless, in contrast, on the contrary, compared with …,

5.注意使用词组、习语来代替一些单词，以增加文采。如:

〔原文〕A new railway is being built in my hometown.

〔修正〕A new railway is under construction in my hometown.

6.避免重复使用某一单词或短语。如:

〔原文〕I like reading while my brother likes watching television.

〔修正〕I like reading while my brother enjoys watching television.

I like reading while watching television appeals to my brother.

三、 结尾

1、 All in all, what really matters is, in fact, that……(比如说到和谐社会 All in all, what really matters is, in fact, that we should build our society a harmonious society.)

2、 Therefore, it’s not difficult to draw a conclusion that……

3、 As a result , we should take effective measures to do sth.(我们必须采取一些有效的措施来做些什么)

4、 From what has been discussed above , we may conclude that ……

5、 Obviously(此为过渡短语), we can draw the conclusion that good manners arise from politeness and respect for others.

一、教育类

● And gladly would learn , and gladly teach .( Chaucer , British pot

勤于学习的人才能乐意施教。(英国诗人, 乔叟)

●Better be unborn than untaught , for ignorance is the root of misfortune .(Plato , Ancient Greek philosopher)

与其不受教育,不如不生,因为无知是不幸的根源.(古希腊哲学家 柏拉图)

●Genius without education is like silver in the mine. (Benjamin Franklin , American president )

未受教育的天才，犹如矿中之银。 (美国总统 富兰克. B.)

●The roots of education are bitter , but the fruit is sweet .(Aristotle , Ancient Greek philosopher )

教育的根是苦的，但其果实是甜的。( 古希腊哲学家 亚里士多德)

二、知识类

●Activity is the only road to knowledge .(George Bernard Shaw , British

dramatist)

行动是通往知识的唯一道路。 (英国剧作家 肖伯纳. G.)

●A free man obtains knowledge from many sources besides books .(Thomas Jefferson ,

American president)

一个自由的人除了从书本上获取知识外，还可以从许多别的来源获得知识。(美国总统

杰斐逊 . T.)

●A great part to the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way .(Adams Franklin , American humorist )

我的大部分知识都是这样获得的：在寻找某个资料时意外的发现了另上的资料。(美国幽默作家

富兰克林. A.)

●If a man empties his purse into his head , no man can take it away from him , an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest .(Benjamin Franklin ,

American president )

倾已所有追求知识，没有人能夺走它;向知识投资，收益最佳。(美国总统

富兰克林. B.)

●Imagination is more important than knowledge .(Albert Einstein , American scientist )

想象力比知识更为重要。 (美国科学家 爱因斯坦. A. )

●Knowledge is power . (Francis Bacon , British philosopher )

知识就是力量。 (英国哲学家 培根. F.)

●The empty vessels make the greatest sound . (William Shakespeare , British dramatist )

满瓶不响，半瓶咣当。(英国剧作家 莎士比亚. W.)

环保是一个热点话题，下面语文迷网整理提供了关于环保的英语写作素材，希望对你有帮助。

环保的英语名言

1、 Dont litter the floor.不随地扔垃圾。

2、 Governments of many countries have established laws to protect the air, forests and sea resources and to stop environmental pollution.许多国家制定了法律来保护大气、森林和海洋资源，制止环境污染。

3、 Please keep off the grass.不要践踏草坪。

4、 It’s our duty to save water节约水是我们每个人的责任。

5、 Safety First.安全第一。

6、 Earth is our home, you rely on green.地球是我家，绿化靠大家。

7、 Environmental problems directly affect the quality of peoples lives.环境问题直接影响人们的生活质量。

8、 Lets do our best to make it more beautiful.让我们尽力让它更美丽。

9、 If we dont save water, the last drop of water will be a tear-drop of us.如果我们不节约水，那么最后一滴水也许会是我们人类的眼泪。

10、 Handle with Care.小心轻放。

11、 No climbing.禁止攀爬。

12、 Save the earth, Our Only Home.保护地球，我们唯一的家。

13、 As we know , water is very important to man.我们知道，水对人类来说是非常的重要。

14、 Most environmental litigation involves disputes with governmental agencies.许多环保诉讼都涉及与政府机构的争端。

15、 Do not throw rubbish onto the ground. Do not waste water. Use both sides of paper when you write. Stop using plastic bags for shopping. Make classrooms less noisy.不要在地上扔垃圾。不要浪费水。当你写字时要在纸的两面都要写。停止使用塑料袋去购物。减少教室里德吵闹声。

16、 The most important question in the world today is pollution.当今世界最重要的话题就是污染问题。

17、 No one can live without water or air.没有人能离开水和空气生存。

18、 We should stop factories from producing harmful gases.我们应该阻止工厂生产有害气体。

19、 Many rivers and lakes are seriously polluted.很多河流湖泊已经受到严重污染。

20、 Without the shade from trees, Earth would get too hot to live on.没有了树荫，地球将会变得太热而不能生存。

21、 We need to protect Earth because it is our home.我们需要保护地球因为它是我们的家。

22、 Discharge pipes directly take pollutants away from the plant into the river.排泄管道直接将污染物从工厂排入河流。

23、 Please shut the door after you.出入请关门。

24、 We should plant more and more trees in order to live better and more healthy in the future为了将来我们的生活过得更好、更加健康我们应该种更多的树。

环保的词汇

21世纪议程：Agenda 21世界环境日(6月5日)：World Environment Day (June 5th each year)

世界环境日主题：World Environment Day Themes冰川消融，后果堪忧!(2007年)Melting Ice–a Hot Topic!

莫使旱地变荒漠!(2006年)Deserts and Desertification–Dont Desert Drylands!

营造绿色城市，呵护地球家园!(2005年)Green Cities – Plan for the Planet!

海洋存亡，匹夫有责!(2004年)Wanted! Seas and Oceans – Dead or Alive!

水——二十亿人生命之所系!(2003年)Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It!

让地球充满生机!(2002年)Give Earth a Chance!

世间万物，生命之网!(2001年)Connect with the World Wide Web of life!

环境千年-行动起来吧!(2000年)The Environment Millennium - Time to Act!

拯救地球就是拯救未来!(1999年)Our Earth - Our Future - Just Save It!

为了地球上的生命-拯救我们的海洋!(1998年) For Life on Earth - Save Our Seas!

为了地球上的生命!(1997)For Life on Earth我们的地球、居住地、家园：(1996)Our Earth， Our Habitat， Our Home国际生物多样性日(12月29日)：International Biodiversity Day (29 December)

世界水日(3月22日)：World Water Day (22 March)

世界气象日(3月23日)：World Meteorological Day (23 March)

世界海洋日(6月8日)：World Oceans Day (8 June)

植树节(3月12日)：Arbor Day (12 March)

在英语教学中，培养学生听、说、读、写的能力是相辅相成的。经常练习写作，可以巩固和发展听说能力 ，还可以促进阅读能力的提高。写作能促使学生勤复习、多思考。通过对一词一句反复推敲，有助于提高使用 语言的准确性。学习用英语写作是培养英语思维能力的重要途径之一，有了一定的英语思维能力，英语学习就 能产生一个相应的飞跃。因此，在高中阶段指导、培养学生写英语作文是不容等闲视之的。

用英语解释生词，为学生打好写作基础。教师应创造语言环境，通过耳濡目染、潜移默化，培养用英语思 维的习惯。在教每课的单词和词组时，要尽量用学生学过的单词、词组进行解释。刚开始时，可由教师用英语 解释生词，后来可让学生根据汉语释意，用自己学过的单词、词组解释。这样，经过一段时间的训练，学生的 英语思维能力就会有所提高，为英语写作打下较好的基础。在作文时，如果不知道某个东西的英语表达方式而 又无词典可查，这时学生就会用其释义来代替，如用“a person who nakes clothes”来代替“atailor”， 这虽不完全符合英语语言习惯，但对初学写作的高中生来说还是值得鼓励的。

通过缩写和改写课文，培养学生的英语概括能力。缩写课文会激励学生去认真钻研课文内容，有助于加深 学生对课文的理解，提高学生归纳总结和进行简要表达的能力。缩写课文允许改动原意，不允许删去主要内容 。缩写课文一般应该用自己的话来写，不能只停留在拼凑原文的词句上，也不要逐句、逐段照原文去改写。这 些均通过示例让学生明白和掌握，并在实践中让他们仔细加以体会。改写课文可以培养学生举一反三的语言表 达能力，熟练掌握英语表达方法，促使学生去钻研、去思考，调动学习的积极性，学生把学过的知识运用到实 际中去，这对于提高英语水平大有裨益。改写，除了我们通常所说的句子、段落的释义之外，还包括用其他体 裁改写整篇课文。如高中英语第一册第三课短剧“The Lost Necklace”可改写为记叙文。有的课文，如高中英 语第一册“The Blind Men And The Elephant”和第十课“At A Tailors Shop”等，就可以让学生改写成短 剧，并让他们在班上表演。有的课文故事是第三人称叙述的，如“The Footprint”，就可以让学生用第一人称 加以改写，使他们身临其境，自由发挥。这样可创造情景，促使他们“下笔如有神”。

以多题材、多形式的自由作文训练，加强意念功能的培养。经过一段时间的缩写和改写的笔头训练之后， 学生对写作有了一定的基础和兴趣，就可以放手让他们进行多种题材的自由作文训练，使学生在自由表达思想 和内心感受中，加强意念功能培养。(1) 练习写周记日记是培养学生英语自由写作能力的第一步。写周记日记 ，学生不受内容和经验的限制，可就熟悉的题材，充分发挥自己的想象力，自由表达。(2) 看图作文新颖活泼 ，能激发学生英语写作的积极性。可以用流传较广的传说、故事作图，让学生写记叙文。比如画几幅老鼠商议 给猫挂铃铛的图，让学生以“The cat and the bell”作文。也可画一幅漫画，让学生写简易议论文。如画一 幅之人向三个方向划一条小船，让学生写出情景加以评论，并命题。(3) 作文可由教师统一命题，也可由学生 自由命题。命题作文要注意先易后难，开始让学生写一些自己熟悉、易于表达的题材。如：“Our School”、 “My Family”、“A Letter To Somebody”、“ARepectable Teacher”、“Life In Summer Vacation”等。 在此基础上，提高一步，写一些较难的题目。如:My Idea, Money And Happiness等。刚开始练习命题作文写作 时，可让学生课外完成，规定交作文日期即可。经过一段时间后，可要求他们在课堂上完成，借以培养他们的 思考能力，提高快速写作的能力。

通过讲评帮助学生逐步掌握写作要领。作文批阅应与课堂讲评相结合，一方面在班上朗诵优秀作文，说明 其好在哪里。另一方面要分析各种典型错误，尤其是汉式英语，务必通过讲译，使学生进一步了解错误产生的 原因，以及如何纠正。为了加深印象，避免讲评中烦琐指点，最好对各种错误进行分类整理，教师应注意分类 的合理性和系统性。

Actions speak louder than words.

事实胜於雄辩。

Adversity leads to prosperity.

逆境迎向昌盛。

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

吃一堑，长一智。

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

患难朋友才是真朋友。

A friend is a second self.

朋友是另一个我。

A friend is best found in adversity.

患难见真友。

All time is no time when it is past.

光阴一去不复返。

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; all play and no work makes Jack a mere boy.

只工作，不玩耍，聪明孩子要变傻；尽玩耍，不学习，聪明孩子没出息。

A near friend is better than a far-dwelling kinsman.

远亲不如近邻。

An idle youth, a needy age.

少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。

Business before pleasure.

事业在先，享乐在後。

Diligence is near success.

勤奋近乎成功。

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

刻苦是成功之母。

Diligence is the mother of success.

勤奋是成功之母。

Education has for its object the formation of character.

教育的目的在於培养品德。

Every brave man is a man of his word.

勇敢的人都是信守诺言的人。

Every man is the architect of his own fortune.

每个人都是他自己命运的建诛师。

Every man is the master of his own fortune.

每个人都是他自己的命运的主宰。

Failure is the mother of success.

失败是成功之母。

Faith will move mountains.

精诚所至，金石为开。

Friendship ---- one soul in two bodies.

友谊是两人一条心。

Grasp all, lose all.

贪多必失。

He alone is poor who does not possess knowledge.

没有知识，才是贫穷。

Health is above wealth.

健康胜於财富。

Health is better than wealth.

健康胜於财富。

He who does not advance falls backward.

不进则退。

Honesty is the best policy.

诚实是上策。

Hope is life and life is hope.

希望才有人生，人生要有希望。

Idle young, needy old.

少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲。

If you dont aim high you will never hit high.

不立大志，难攀高峰。

I might say that success is won by three things: first, effort; second, more effort; third, still more effort.

成功之道唯三点∶努力、努力、再努力。

Improve your time and your time will improve you.

珍惜时间，时间才会珍惜你。

In doing we learn.

行而知。

Industry if fortunes right hand, and frugality her left.

勤勉是幸福的右手，节俭是幸福的左手。

In lifes earnest battle they only prevail, who daily march onward and never say fail.

在人生的搏斗中，只有日日前进不甘失败的人，才能获胜。

It is dogged (that) does it.

天下无难事，只怕有心人。

Judge not according to the appearance.

不要以貌取人。

Labour is often the father of pleasure.

勤劳常为快乐之源。

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.

学而不思则罔，思而不学则殆。

Like tree, like fruit.

有其因必有其果。

Manners make the man.

礼貌造就人。

Never neglect an opportunity for improvement.

抓住大好时机，切莫等闲错过。

Never too old (or late) to learn.

学到老，学不了。

No great loss without some small gain.

塞翁失马，安知非福。

No one can call back yesterday.

往日不复返。

No sooner said than done.

言而必行。

No sweet without some sweat.

不劳则无获。

Nothing is difficult to a man who wills.

世上无难事，只怕有心人。

Nothing is impossible to willing mind (or heart).

有志者事竟成。

Nothing is impossible (or difficult) to the man who will try.

天下无难事，只怕不努力。

Nothing is really beautiful but truth.

只有真理才是真美。

No time like the present.

只争朝夕。

One cannot put back the clock.

光阴一去不复返。

Overdone is worse than undone.

过犹不及。

Paddle your own canoe.

自立更生，自食其力。

Perseverance is vital to success.

不屈不挠是成功之本。

Second thoughts are best.

三思而行，再思可也。

Selt-trust is the essence of heroism.

自信是英雄的本色。

Self-trust is the first secret of success.

自信是成功的首要秘诀。

Success belongs to the persevering.

坚持到底必获胜利。坚持就是胜利。

Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties.

成功来自於克服困难的斗争。

The first element of success is the determination to succeed.

成功的首要因素是要有成功的决心。

The more a man knows, the less he knows he knows.

懂得越多，就越知道自己懂得不多。

Union is strength.

团结就是力量。

Virtue is a jewel of great price.

美德是无价之宝。

Waste of time is the most extravagant and costly of all expenses.

浪费时间是一切花费中最奢侈豪华的费用。

When there is no hope there can be no endeavour.

没有希望就不会努力。

Without a friend the world is a wilderness.

没有朋友，世界就等於一片荒野。

You cannot judge a tree by its bark.

人不可貌相。

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

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

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

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

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

例题分析(例题)

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

要求：

⒈ 从所给素材中任选两种情形进行阐述，不可多选或少选。

⒉ 条理清楚，意思连贯，语句通顺，标点正确;

⒊ 词数 80 ～ 100。

参考词汇： 建议 suggest v. suggestion n.

气体 gas n. 污染 pollution n.

THE POLLUTIONS

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

② More and more diseases are caused by polluted air.

③ People are disturbed quite often by kinds of noises.

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

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

1、认真读题。注意，题目虽然给了四幅图，但是却只要求写其中的两个就行。

2、题意要求的是阐述个人的观点-最担忧的两种情形。而不是对图片进行描述。

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

4、注意字数，语法，拼写等，避免错误。

下面是两个例文，大家可以参考一下。

One possible version:

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

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

Another possible version:

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

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

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

评分标准：

1. 内容完整，语句流畅，无语法错误，书写规范，给9-10分;

2. 内容较完整，语句较流畅，基本无语法错误，书写较规范，给6-8分;

3. 内容不完整，语句欠流畅，语法错误较多，书写较规范，给3-5分;

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

看图作文不可小视。希望大家掌握答好这种题型的要点，并积累词汇。

一.作为一个准SAT考生，需要明确以下几点：

2.从读题、写作到最终润色和定稿，共有25分钟时间。

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

4.作文得写在线上，且最多只能写两面，超出不给纸。

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

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

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

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

本文将重点指导考生五分钟内审题并创作出漂亮的首段。

第一步：审题立意

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

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

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

i. Understanding the topic (理解话题),

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

iii. Taking a position(确定立场),

iv. Creating an outline(创建提纲).

第二步：创作首段

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

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

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

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

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

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

“循循善诱”法

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

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

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

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

1.详细叙述自己的观点。

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

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

2.准备充分的例证。

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

关心时事，善于思考，做一个兼收并蓄的人。

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

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

举例子时注意例子的真实性、典型性、及权威性。

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

3.前提是掌握词汇、句式和段落。

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

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

1．词语选择的重要性

在The Right Word at the Right Time的“序言”中，编者对词语选用的重要性作了一个很好的比喻：“Using the right word at the right time is rather like wearing appropriate clothing for the occasion：

it is a courtesy to others，and a favor to yourself-a matter of presenting yourself well in the eyes of the world."

显然，说话或写文章时用词适当比穿着适当难度大得多，因而也具有更大的重要性。在我国，古人写文章时常为一个词语的选用具思苦想，因而有“语不惊人死不休”的说法。

成语“一字值千金”也说明了选择词语的极端重要性。有时“一字之差”造成令人遗憾的败笔，或招致成千上万的经济损失。这些反面的教训也告诉我们必须重视词语选用的问题。

2．词语选择的可能性

实际上，我们每个人的脑子里都有了一个或大或小的词库，只要我们肯去发掘，往往可以得到更好的表达方式。这是我们做好词语选用的主观条件。

从客观条件广看，我们有各种类型的词典和参考书，只要我们平时多翻译、多阅读，写作时勤查考，就会在词语选用上不断进步。当然，一部好词典也不会毫无缺点，更难以面面俱到，因此在这里我们应牢牢记住著名英国作家、评论家和辞书编纂家Johson的话：

规范英语论文的格式,使之与国际学术惯例接轨,对从事英语教学,英语论文写作,促进国际学术交流都具有重要意义。下面是小编为你带来的关于英语论文的写作格式和规范，希望对你有帮助。

一、英语论文的标题

一篇较长的英语论文(如英语毕业论文)一般都需要标题页,其书写格式如下:第一行标题与打印纸顶端的距离约为打印纸全长的三分之一,与下行(通常为by,居中)的距离则为5cm,第三、第四行分别为作者姓名及日期(均居中)。如果该篇英语论文是学生针对某门课程而写,则在作者姓名与日期之间还需分别打上教师学衔及其姓名(如:Dr./Prof.C.Prager)及本门课程的编号或名称(如:English 734或British Novel)。打印时,如无特殊要求,每一行均需double space,即隔行打印,行距约为0.6cm(论文其他部分行距同此)。

就学生而言,如果英语论文篇幅较短,亦可不做标题页(及提纲页),而将标题页的内容打在正文第一页的左上方。第一行为作者姓名,与打印纸顶端距离约为2.5cm,以下各行依次为教师学衔和姓、课程编号(或名称)及日期;各行左边上下对齐,并留出2.5cm左右的页边空白(下同)。接下来便是论文标题及正文(日期与标题之间及标题与正文第一行之间只需隔行打印,不必留出更多空白)。

二、英语论文提纲

英语论文提纲页包括论题句及提纲本身,其规范格式如下:先在第一行(与打印纸顶端的距离仍为2.5cm左右)的始端打上 Thesis 一词及冒号,空一格后再打论题句,回行时左边须与论题句的第一个字母上下对齐。主要纲目以大写罗马数字标出,次要纲目则依次用大写英文字母、阿拉伯数字和小写英文字母标出。各数字或字母后均为一句点,空出一格后再打该项内容的第一个字母;处于同一等级的纲目,其上下行左边必须对齐。需要注意的是,同等重要的纲目必须是两个以上,即:有Ⅰ应有Ⅱ,有A应有B,以此类推。如果英文论文提纲较长,需两页纸,则第二页须在右上角用小写罗马数字标出页码,即ii(第一页无需标页码)。

三、英语论文正文

有标题页和提纲页的英语论文,其正文第一页的规范格式为:论文标题居中,其位置距打印纸顶端约5cm,距正文第一行约1.5cm。段首字母须缩进五格,即从第六格打起。正文第一页不必标页码(但应计算其页数),自第二页起,必须在每页的右上角(即空出第一行,在其后部)打上论文作者的姓,空一格后再用阿拉伯数字标出页码;阿拉伯数字(或其最后一位)应为该行的最后一个空格。在打印正文时尚需注意标点符号的打印格式,即:句末号(句号、问号及感叹号)后应空两格,其他标点符号后则空一格。

四、英语论文的文中引述

正确引用作品原文或专家、学者的论述是写好英语论文的重要环节;既要注意引述与论文的有机统一,即其逻辑性,又要注意引述格式 (即英语论文参考文献)的规范性。引述别人的观点,可以直接引用,也可以间接引用。无论采用何种方式,论文作者必须注明所引文字的作者和出处。目前美国学术界通行的做法是在引文后以圆括弧形式注明引文作者及出处。现针对文中引述的不同情况,将部分规范格式分述如下。

1.若引文不足三行,则可将引文有机地融合在论文中。如:

The divorce of Arnolds personal desire from his inheritance results in “the familiar picture of Victorian man alone in an alien universe”(Roper9).

这里,圆括弧中的Roper为引文作者的姓(不必注出全名);阿拉伯数字为引文出处的页码(不要写成p.9);作者姓与页码之间需空一格,但不需任何标点符号;句号应置于第二个圆括弧后。

2.被引述的文字如果超过三行,则应将引文与论文文字分开,如下例所示:

Whitman has proved himself an eminent democratic representative and precursor, and his “Democratic Vistas”

is an admirable and characteristic

diatribe. And if one is sorry that in it

Whitman is unable to conceive the

extreme crises of society, one is certain

that no society would be tolerable whoses

citizens could not find refreshment in its

buoyant democratic idealism.(Chase 165)

这里的格式有两点要加以注意。一是引文各行距英语论文的左边第一个字母十个空格,即应从第十一格打起;二是引文不需加引号,末尾的句号应标在最后一个词后。

3.如需在引文中插注,对某些词语加以解释,则要使用方括号(不可用圆括弧)。如:

Dr.Beaman points out that“he [Charles Darw in] has been an important factor in the debate between evolutionary theory and biblical creationism”(9).

值得注意的是,本例中引文作者的姓已出现在引导句中,故圆括弧中只需注明引文出处的页码即可。

4.如果拟引用的文字中有与论文无关的词语需要删除,则需用省略号。如果省略号出现在引文中则用三个点,如出现在引文末,则用四个点,最后一点表示句号,置于第二个圆括弧后(一般说来,应避免在引文开头使用省略号);点与字母之间,或点与点之间都需空一格。如:

Mary Shelley hated tyranny and“looked upon the poor as pathetic victims of the social system and upon the rich and highborn...with undisguised scorn and contempt...(Nitchie 43).

5.若引文出自一部多卷书,除注明作者姓和页码外,还需注明卷号。如:

Professor Chen Jias A History of English Literature aimed to give Chinese readers“a historical survey of English literature from its earliest beginnings down to the 20thcentury”(Chen,1:i).

圆括弧里的1为卷号,小写罗马数字i为页码,说明引文出自第1卷序言(引言、序言、导言等多使用小写的罗马数字标明页码)。此外,书名A History of English Literature 下划了线;规范的格式是:书名,包括以成书形式出版的作品名(如《失乐园》)均需划线,或用斜体字;其他作品,如诗歌、散文、短篇小说等的标题则以双引号标出,如“To Autumn”及前面出现的“Democratic Vistas”等。

6.如果英语论文中引用了同一作者的两篇或两篇以上的作品,除注明引文作者及页码外,还要注明作品名。如:

Bacon condemned Platoas“an obstacle to science”(Farrington, Philosophy 35).

Farrington points out that Aristotles father Nicomachus, a physician, probably trained his son in medicine(Aristotle15).

这两个例子分别引用了Farrington的两部著作,故在各自的圆括弧中分别注出所引用的书名,以免混淆。两部作品名均为缩写形式(如书名太长,在圆括弧中加以注明时均需使用缩写形式),其全名分别为Founder of Scientific Philosophy 及 The Philosophy of Francis Baconand Aristotle。

7.评析诗歌常需引用原诗句,其引用格式如下例所示。

When Beowulf dives upwards through the water and reaches the surface,“The surging waves, great tracts of water, / were all cleansed...”(1.1620-21).

这里,被引用的诗句以斜线号隔开,斜线号与前后字母及标点符号间均需空一格;圆括弧中小写的1是line的缩写;21不必写成1621。如果引用的诗句超过三行,仍需将引用的诗句与论文文字分开(参见第四项第2点内容)。

五、英语论文的文献目录

论文作者在正文之后必须提供论文中全部引文的详细出版情况,即文献目录页。美国高校一般称此页为 Works Cited, 其格式须注意下列几点:

1.目录页应与正文分开,另页打印,置于正文之后。

2.目录页应视为英语论文的一页,按论文页码的顺序在其右上角标明论文作者的姓和页码;如果条目较多,不止一页,则第一页不必标出作者姓和页码(但必须计算页数),其余各页仍按顺序标明作者姓和页码。标题Works Cited与打印纸顶端的距离约为2.5cm,与第一条目中第一行的距离仍为0.6cm;各条目之间及各行之间的距离亦为0.6cm,不必留出更多空白。

3.各条目内容顺序分别为作者姓、名、作品名、出版社名称、出版地、出版年份及起止页码等;各条目应严格按各作者姓的首字母顺序排列,但不要给各条目编码,也不必将书条与杂志、期刊等条目分列。

4.各条目第一行需顶格打印,回行时均需缩进五格,以将该条目与其他条目区分开来。

现将部分较为特殊的条目分列如下,并略加说明,供读者参考。

Two or More Books by the Same Author

Brooks, Cleanth. Fundamentals of Good Writing: A

Handbook of Modern Rhetoric. NewYork: Harcourt, 1950.

---The Hidden God: Studies in Hemingway, Faulkner, Yeats,

Eliot, and Warren. New Haven: Yale UP,1963.

引用同一作者的多部著作,只需在第一条目中注明该作者姓名,余下各条目则以三条连字符及一句点代替该作者姓名;各条目须按书名的第一个词(冠词除外)的字母顺序排列。

An Author with an Editor

Shake speare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Louis B.

Wright. New York: Washington Square, 1959.

本条目将作者 Shakespeare 的姓名排在前面,而将编者姓名(不颠倒)放在后面,表明引文出自 The Tragedy of Macbeth;如果引文出自编者写的序言、导言等,则需将编者姓名置前,如:

Blackmur, Richard P.Introduction. The Art of the Novel:

Critical Prefaces. By Henry James. New York: Scribners,

1962.vii-xxxix.

如果引言与著作为同一人所写,则其格式如下例所示(By后只需注明作者姓即可):

Emery, Donald. Preface. English Fundamentals. By Emery.

London: Macmillan, 1972.v-vi.

A Multivolume Work

Browne, Thomas. The Works of Sir Thomas Browne. Ed.

Geoffrey Keynes. 4 vols. London: Faber, 1928.

Browne, Thomas. The Works of Sir Thomas Browne. Ed.

Geoffrey Keynes. Vol.2. London: Faber, 1928. 4 vols.

第一条目表明该著作共4卷,而论文作者使用了各卷内容;第二条目则表明论文作者只使用了第2卷中的内容。

A Selection from an Anthology

Abram, M. H.“English Romanticism: The Spirit of the Age.”

Romanticism Reconsidered. Ed. Northrop Frye. New

York: Columbia UP,1963.63-88.

被引用的英语论文名须用引号标出,并注意将英语论文名后的句点置于引号内。条目末尾必须注明该文在选集中的起止页码。

Articles in Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

Otto, Mary L.“Child Abuse: Group Treatment for Parents.”

Personnel and Guidance Journal 62(1984): 336-48.

报刊杂志名需划线,但其后不需任何标点符号。62为卷号或期号,如既有卷号,又有期号,则要将二者以句号分开。如:(3.3);1984为出版年份,应置于圆括弧中。

Arnold, Marilgn.“Willa Cathers Nostalgia: A Study in

Ambivalance.”Research Studies Mar.1981:23-24,28.

月刊或双月刊须同时注明出版年月;23-24,28表示该文的前一部分刊于第23和24两页,后一部分则转至第28页。

Gorney, Cynthia.“When the Gorilla Speaks.”Washington Post

31 July,1985:B1.

引用日报上的英语论文必须同时注明报纸出版的年、月、日。B1为该文在报纸中的版面及页码。参考文献(略)(摘自《外语与外语教学》1999年第8期，原文：“英语论文写作规范”作者 刘新民)

拿到英语试题不知道从哪里下手吗?那么下面这套英语写作流程对你会有一定的帮助。

一.审题。

拿到题目后，手中拿铅笔，手脑眼嘴并用，开始审题。看题目的要求是什么，要点是什么，特殊要求是什么。譬如你是叫李华，还是随便一个名字? 要议论文还是记叙文?对分几段写有无要求?等等。诸如此类的硬性要求信息，都最好用铅笔划下来，以免出错，也许你一开始会记得，可随着时间的流逝，你会不会因紧张而遗忘这些信息呢?还是小心为妙。边看最好边张嘴默读，这样就不会遗漏或忽略任何一个字了。

二.草稿。

有的同学怕出错，全文都打草稿再誊写，我姑且认为不太可取，毕竟考场时间宝贵，即使我有四十分钟时间写作文也不敢贸然这么做，更何况考场时我们留给作文的时间往往一再被压缩。有的同学不打草稿，我认为更不太可取。一来容易出错，二来边写边想思维不连贯，即使思维连贯也无法审词酌句，展现自己最好的一面，容易后悔。

草稿怎么打?

1.结构就是你打算分几段写，每段都写什么?哪段转哪段承哪段起合?心里都要是有谱的。

2.关键词：结构拟定后，迅速在草稿纸上写下自己这篇作文可能用到的一些关键词。包括一些漂亮的词和自己可能会忘记的词。主要是动词和名词。

譬如一省作文题： 假设你的名字是李华，亚洲冬季运动会将在你居住的地方举办，现招募志愿者。你希望成为志愿者。申请信的格式已经写好了，你直接写内容就可以。你的个人情况：年龄性别学历，个人条件。英语好，爱好体育，擅长交际，乐于助人。承诺提供最佳服务。

关键词就是学历、爱好、擅长、乐于、承诺，和你对这篇作文初步构思时想到的一些词。先把这些词(指词的英文表达)写在纸上。有一些词的拼写，譬如学历，可能你本身就记得不是特别清楚，这时一定要在开始写作文前先把它写下来，以免一会因干扰而遗忘。

可能看到聪明这个关键词时，你最初写下的往往是clever，再仔细想想，你是不是又想到了smart,deligient好多词，挑个漂亮和合适的用吧。再比如转折，你写了but，这会再想想，是不是又有一堆表示转折的词在你脑里打转呢?挑一个吧。千万别用but.

3.句式：词写下来了，其实你构建这篇作文的建筑材料就到位了，下步就是要把它们盖成漂亮的作文。先用最普通的陈述句把它们在头脑中过一遍，然后看看都能改成什么句式。能不能把一句陈述句改成问句?能不能用上一个双重否定句?能不能用一个主语从句套定语从句的长句?能不能用一个插入语?等等。把你高中三年的英语积累展示出来。在草稿纸上同样标注。

三.正式写。

这样的草稿打完后，就要快快写了。注意，英语作文的卷面简直太重要了，一定要把字写整齐，写大。没有把握的词和句子不用。别忘了遵守你最初用铅笔划下的题目的规定。

四.检查。

注意，最最重要的一步来了。尽管很小心，可是我们写英语作文还是会犯下很多错误。单词拼写的，大小写的，等等。这些错误会极大破坏我们在阅卷老师心目中的形象，一定要坚决誓死消灭。即使时间再紧，请务必留下1——2分钟检查作文的时间，消除隐性错误。

需要说明的是，英语的开头和结尾是最关键的，尤其是开头。基本上，不跑题，遵守题目要求，一个漂亮的开头，一个还过得去的结尾，2-3个高级词汇，1-2个漂亮的句子，加上整齐的字迹，作文的分就不会低了哦。所以，精心为你的作文想个漂亮的开头吧。

一、勤读、多背词汇，好精句

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

1.背词句，背诵课文中的重点句型和短语尤其是课文中的俗语、谚语和经典句子。

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

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

二、亲自动手，自己写作

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

1.范例引路

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

2.限时训练

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

3.多想精炼

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

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

4.自改互改

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

三、培养学生良好的写作习惯

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. What is language for? Some people seem to think its for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words--- the longer the words the better. Thats wrong. Language is for the exchange of ideas, for communication。

语言到底是用来干什么的呢?一些人认为它是用来操练语法规则和学习一大堆单词--而且单词越长越好。这个想法是错误的。语言是用来交换思想，进行交流沟通的!

2. The way to learn a language is to practice speaking it as often as possible。

学习一门语言的方法就是要尽量多地练习说。

3. A great man once said it is necessary to drill as much as possible, and the more you apply it in real situations, the more natural it will become。

一位伟人曾说，反复操练是非常必要的，你越多的将所学到的东西运用到实际生活中，他们就变的越自然。

4. Learning any language takes a lot of effort. But dont give up。

学习任何语言都是需要花费很多努力，但不要放弃。

5. Relax! Be patient and enjoy yourself. Learning foreign languages should be fun。

放松点!要有耐性，并让自己快乐!学习外语应该是乐趣无穷的。

6. Rome wasnt built in a day. Work harder and practice more. Your hard- work will be rewarded by god one day. God is equal to everyone!

冰冻三尺，非一日之寒。更加努力的学习，更加勤奋的操练，你所付出的一切将会得到上帝的报答，上帝是公平的。

7. Use a dictionary and grammar guide constantly. Keep a small English dictionary with you at all time. When you see a new word, look it up. Think about the word-- use it, in your mind, in a sentence。

经常使用字典和语法指南。随身携带一本小英文字典，当你看到一个新字时就去查阅它，想想这个字---然后去用它，在你的心中，在一个句子里。

8. Try to think in English whenever possible. When you see something think of the English word of it; then think about the word in a sentence。

一有机会就努力去用英文来思考。看到某事时，想想它的英文单词;然后把它用到一个句子中去。

9. Practice tenses as much as possible. When you learn a new verb, learn its various forms。

尽可能多的操练时态。学习一个动词的时候，要学习它的各种形态。

10. I would also like to learn more about the culture behind the language. When you understand the cultural background, you can better use the language。

我想学习和了解更多关于语言背后的文化知识，当你理解了文化背景，你就能更好地运用语言。

英语写作过程中我们经常会用到一些短语，下面请看语文迷整理的高级英语短语，希望对你有帮助。

1. feel frustrated (挫折的)/ discouraged

2. a precious (宝贵的) experience

3. raise / arouse the awareness of …

4. acquire knowledge and skills学习知识和技能

5. a growing /increasing tendency

6. have a desire for sth / to do sth

7. put sth into practice

8. be closely related to…与…息息相关

9. be essential to sb 对某人来说必不可少

10. in a society with more competitions and challenges / in a competitive society

11. be keen on… 热衷于…

12. broaden one’s horizons开阔眼界

13. a large variety of / a wide range of …

14. make one’s dream come true

15. lay a solid/firm/stable foundation for/in…为…/在…方面打下坚实的基础

16. listen to teachers attentively

17. make a practical plan

18. motivate sb to do sth

19. bury oneself into study埋头学习

20. our determination and efforts

21. express my gratitude to her sincerely

22. be strict with sb in sth

23. achieve the final victory

24. encounter/face some difficulties

25. neglect the disadvantages

26. With the great efforts we’ve made, …

27. enhance/improve his ability of singing

28. be optimistic about

29. hold the strong belief that…

30. I’m confident / I’m convinced that…

31. with iron will and perseverance

32. pursue one’s dream 追逐梦想

33. arouse one’s passion for…唤起对…的热情

34. resist the temptation of good food

35. change one’s original mind

36. spare no effort to do sth 不遗余力做…

37. redouble one’s effort 加倍努力

38. leave a deep impression on sb

39. turn to sb for help / advice

40. relieve/lessen/reduce/ease one’s burden

41. with time going by=as time goes by

42. cherish/treasure/value our lives

43. vary from person to person

44. a boarding school 寄宿制学校

45. What surprised me most was that…

46. cause severe consequences(后果)

47. pay their tuition/school fees/schooling

48. physically and mentally

49. Some in favor of it think that…., while others are against it, holding the opinion that…

50. Success stems from hard work as it can help us accomplish the goal we’re striving for.

51. establish a special fund to help the poor

52. its negative aspect/impact is also obvious.

就“说明对象”而言，英语说明文可分为对“客观具体事物”的说明和对“主观抽象观念”的说明两大类，比如：对“LASER（激光）”、“Computer Problem of Year XX（计算机XX年问题）”等等的说明都是对客观或者具体事物的说明，而“The Successful Interview（谈成功的面试）”、“How to Write Good English Composition（如何才能写好英语作文）” 等是对主观抽象观念的说明。对我们中学生朋友来说，在汉语说明文的教学中似乎比较侧重前者，即解释客观具体事物的说明文。但在英语说明文中，阐述和说明 “主观抽象观念”的说明文占了很大的比重，其中有些类似汉语中的议论文。但是无论是对“客观具体事物”的说明还是对“主观抽象观念”的阐述，英语说明文从结构上看大致可分为三个部分：第一部分一般是文章的第一段，提出文章的主题，也就是说，文章想要阐述、说明的主要内容；第二部分是文章的主体，可由若干个段落组成，对文章的主题进行展开说明；第三部分是结尾段，对文章的主题作归纳总结。从英语说明文的结构可以看出，要写好英语说明文的关键在于第二部分如何对文章主题进行展开说明。在英语中，常见的用来展开文章主题的方法有下列几种：

1.罗列法（listing）

在文章开始时提出需要说明的东西和观点，然后常用first，second，…and finally加以罗列说明。罗列法广泛地使用于各类指导性的说明文之中，下面这篇学生作文就是用罗列法写成的：

Early Rising

Early rising （早起） is helpful in more than one way. First， it helps to keep us fit （健康）。 We all need fresh air. But air is never so fresh as early in the morning. Besides， we can do good to our health from doing morning exercise （做早操）。

Secondly， early rising helps us in our studies. We learn more quickly in the morning， and find it easier to remember what we learn in the morning.

Thirdly， early rising enables （使能够） us to plan the work of the day. We cannot work well without a good plan. Just as the plan for the year should be made in the spring， so the plan for the day should be made in the morning.

Fourthly， early rising gives us enough time to get ready for our work， such as to wash our faces and hands and eat our breakfast properly.

Late risers may find it very difficult to form the habit of early rising. They ought to make special efforts to do so. As the English proverb says，“Early to bed and early to rise， makes a man healthy， wealthy and wise.”

罗列法经常用下列句式展开段落，我们可以注意模仿学习：

There are several good reasons why we should learn a foreign language. First of all， …Secondly， …And finally， …

We should try our best to plant more trees for several good reasons First of all， …Secondly， …And finally，

必须指出的是，有时罗列法并不一定有明确的first， second…等词，但文章还是以罗列论据展开的。

2.举例法（examples）

举例法是用具体的例子来说明我们要表达的意思，常用for example， for instance， still another example is…等词语引出。下面这篇学生作文就是用举例法写成的：

Recreation

It is impossible to keep in good health unless we take enough recreation （娱乐）。 The mind， too， needs change to make it fresh and vigorous （有活力的） There is much truth in the old saying， All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.“

There are many games which boys and girls can play after their school work is done， for instance， football， tennis， and kite-flying. Other examples of recreation are boating， fishing， gardening， cycling， walking， chess-playing， and reading. Persons who sit much at their business should take a kind of recreation that will supply their muscles （肌肉） with exercise. Those who spend most of their time in the open air and do manual work （体力活） should adopt （采纳） reading or some other quiet form of recreation.

Cycling is said to be an important means of recreation， but many persons foolishly tire out themselves by cycling too much. The same may be said in regard to football. Tennis is a pleasant form of recreation. Many persons take great delight in boating. Fishing requires much patience， and there is much danger of taking cold by sitting still on a cold day too long. A good brisk （轻松） walk is one of the finest forms of exercise. For persons engaged in outdoor labor， chess-playing is another excellent form of recreation.

可以看出，举例法和罗列法有时可以结合使用：即用罗列法来列出例子，用例子充实罗列的说明。

3.比较法（comparison and contrast）

比较法是对两个对象进行比较，从而进行说明的写作手法。比较法又可细分为比较相同点（comparison）和比较不同点（contrast）两种方法，比如：

From Paragraph to Essay

Although they are different in length （长度）， the paragraph and the essay are quite similar in structure （结构）。 For example， the paragraph starts with either a topic sentence （主题句） or a topic introducer followed by a topic sentence. In the essay， the first paragraph sets up the topic focus （主题所在） Next， the sentences in the body of a paragraph develop the topic sentence. Similarly， the body of an essay consists of a number of paragraphs that discuss and support the ideas given in the introductory （引导的） paragraph. Finally， a concluding sentence （结束句） ——whether a restatement， conclusion， or observation——ends the paragraph. The essay， too， has a concluding paragraph which ends the essay logically and satisfactorily. Although there are some exceptions （例外）， most well written expository （说明文的） paragraphs and essays are similar in structure.

可以看出，在比较相同点的时候，常用到similarly，also，too，in the same case，in spite of the difference等这样的词语。

European Football and American Football

Although European football is the parent of American football， the two games show several major differences. European football， sometimes called association football or soccer， is played in 80 countries， making it the most widely played sport in the world. American football， on the other hand， is popular only in North America （the United States and Canada）。 Soccer is played by eleven players with a round ball. Football， also played by eleven players in somewhat different positions （位置） on the field， is played with an elongated （拉长的） round ball. Soccer has little body contact （接触） between players and therefore needs no special protective equipment. Football， in which players make the greatest use of body contact to stop a running ball-carrier and his teammates， needs special protective equipment. In soccer， the ball is advanced toward the goal by kicking it or by butting （顶） it with the head. In American football， on the other hand， the ball is passed from hand to hand or carried in the hands across the opponents （对手） goal. These are just a few of the features which distinguish （区别） association and American football.

这是一篇用比较不同点的手法写的说明文。从文章中可以看出：however，on the other hand，in contrast，but，nevertheless等表示转折的词语常用来引导对不同点的比较。

4.定义法（definition）

定义法也是英语说明文中常用的写作手法，特别是在对具体事物概念进行说明时经常使用。定义法的基本要素是定义句。英语中常见定义句的模式是：

被定义对象is所属类别+限制性定语

可以看出，定义句中限制性定语越详细，定义就越精确，比如：

A bat is a small mouse-like animal that flies at night and feeds on（以……为食品）fruit and insects but is not a bird.

其实，在英—英词典中，对英语单词的英文解释就是定义法的典型例子。比如，看看Longman词典对student和teacher的定义是很有意思的：A student is a person who is studying at a place of education or training. A teacher is a person who gives knowledge or skill to sb. as a profession （专业）。

5.顺序法（sequence of time， space and process）

顺序法是指按时间、空间或过程的顺序进行说明的一种写作手法。比如按照时间顺序介绍一个科学家的生平，用空间顺序阐述逐渐开发西部的重要意义，用过程顺序法解释葡萄酒的生产过程等等。

下面这篇学生作文就是用顺序法写成的：

Coal

Coal underwent （经受） many changes before it became the bright， brittle （脆的）， black substance which we now use. During ancient times （在上古时代）， when the earth enjoyed a very warm and wet climate， the land was covered with large forests and big plants. As time went on， the ground changed and began to sink （下沉） a little. These very large numbers of trees and vegetables received a deposit （沉淀） of sand and clay. This layer of sand and clay pressed upon the layer beneath and prevented it from contact with air. These trees and plants received the pres sure and changed its appearance.

Generations after generations （几世纪后）， as the ground kept gradually sinking， another layer of sand and clay was again deposited （积聚） above the layers already formed. A great pressure was thus exerted （作用） and the peat （泥煤） was changed into the black and brittle substance which is known as coal.

Coal is a kind of mineral which is formed by nature as above stated. It is an important industrial material and is chiefly used as fuel. It is very valuable in the industrial world. The place where coal deposit is called a coal mine （煤矿）。 In China， coal mines are largely found in the north-west part of the country. Shanxi is a famous province for producing coal. It has the most coal of China.

6.分类法（classification）

分类法是将写作对象进行分类说明的一种写作手法。比如：著名的英国哲学家弗朗西斯·培根（Francis Bacon）在其脍炙人口的《谈读书》（Of Studies）一文中就用到了分类法：

Some books are to be tasted， others to be swallowed， and some few to be chewed and digested， that is， some books are to be read only in parts， others to be read， but not curiously， and some few to be read wholly， and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy， and extracts made of them by others； but that would be only in the less important arguments， and the meaner sort of books…

参考译文：书有可浅尝者，有可吞食者，少数则须咀嚼消化。换言之，有只须读其部分者，有只须大体涉猎者，少数则须全读，读时须全神贯注，孜孜不倦。书亦可请人代读，取其所需摘要，但只限题材较次或价值不高者……

——转摘自《英汉翻译教程》（张培基等）

可见，如果能够根据具体情况，选用合适的写作手法，就可为文章增添无穷的魅力。

除了上述提到的6种展开英语说明文主题的写作方法之外，还有因果法、归纳法等其他方法。但相比之下，对于中学生来说，上述6种方法是首先值得掌握的。另外必须指出的是：在一篇文章中往往是以一种写作手法为主，同时辅以其他写作手法。有时，甚至会几种写作手法混用而不分主次。因此，必须根据具体情况，选用合适的展开主题的写作手法，才能写出优秀的英语说明文。

一、充分准备，打好基础。

为了提高初一英语作文写作水平，平时应加强阅读，多背诵一些句形、段落甚至短文。俗话说：“读书破万卷，下笔如有神”，只有多读，多记，多背诵，才能出口成章，下笔成文。此外，写好初一英语作文还要掌握一些应用文体的写作方法，如书信、日记、通知等，它们大多有固定的格式。

二、认真审题，明确要求

在写初一英语作文的时候仔细看清写作要求和提示，分清材料的主次，接着确定体裁、格式和人物、地点等要素;最后确定时态，同时考虑相关的语态搭配用法。

三、遣词造句、表达规范

初一英语作文用词要恰当，不可逐句把提示翻译成英语。写作时，应尽量选用你最熟悉、最有把握的词和句型来表达思想。如果有些单词不会些，有些句型不会表达，可以设法绕开，用熟悉的同义词、同义短语或同义句来代替。要学会善于运用适当的关联词，如and, or, but, so，because, since等，以使初一英语作文行文逻辑紧密，自然流畅。

四、认真撰写，卷面整洁

初一英语考试中也会有初一英语作文题，如果时间允许，书面表达一定要先写草稿。在抄写入答题卷前，要先进行检查修改。首先检查所写内容是否切题;之后检查主题是否明确，表达方式是否恰当;最后检查所用时态、语态、人称是否符合要求，前后是否一致。

中考复习研讨会指导课件，极具价值。

关联词

1.表示并列或递进: and, as well as, both…and,

not only…but also, neither…nor;

2.表示选择: or, either…or;

3.表示转折: but, however, although, though, after all,

4.表示因果: because, so, therefore

5.表示条件: if , unless

6.表示对比: instead, not…but,

on the one hand…on the other hand;

7.表示解释: for example, for instance, such as,

that is to say, in other words;

8.表示顺序: to begin with, firstly, first (of all), second(ly), next,

later, since then, from then on, finally, in the end;

9.表示强调: also, besides, what’s more, actually,

in fact,

10.表示结论: all in all, altogether, in a word,generally speaking。

一、构思、准备不充分，匆忙下笔

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

针对这种情况可以从以下几个方面予以解决：

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

2、确定文体和时态，因为不同的文体要求的写作格式也是不同的。

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

二、中心重点不突出，切题不准确

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

三、忽视文化差异

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

四、忽视细节，无谓失分

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

H1N1 influenza, since the claws reached into the earth and stuck it into our world caused great sensation. From Moscow, the United States, Japan, ... ... to China, have spared, showing the speed of its spread. While we use some of the medical technology we have can be prevented, you can cure, but it is still scary. The most laughable thing is that some people thus do not eat pork. However, these are not the focus of my concern, I am concerned, I am sad is:

When we state the first to be infected were found, one who returned from abroad Sichuanese, I heard mostly blame everyone, it makes me sad exception. Had returned from abroad is a good thing, is between the happy event. But because even not aware of being infected was a complete mess of things hands and become pieces of sad things. At first, I think we should sorry for him, should go to help him. However, many people said: "In the U.S., do not come back Well!" "We also are engaged in a state of panic." ... ...

So I write this, would like to call everyone together for their fuel.

Unfortunately, they are infected, and now has been isolated, they can not see their loved ones, they have lost freedom, they are very painful, very unwilling. So let us give them the courage to give them strength! Let us wish them a speedy recovery!

H1N1流感，自从这个魔爪伸进地球，伸进我们的世界就引起了极大的轰动。从莫斯科，美国，学习英语的网站，日本……到我们中国，无一幸免，可见其传播速度之快。虽然我们利用我们己有的医学技术，可以预防，可以根治，但是却还是令人恐慌。最可笑的是，有人因此而不吃猪肉。然而，这些都不是我关注的焦点，令我关注的，令我伤心的是：

当我们国家的第一个被传染者被发现时，就是那个从国外回来的四川人，我听到的大部分都是大家的苛责，这令我异常难过。原本从国外回来，是件好事，是间喜事。却因为连自己也不知道被传染的事搅的得一塌糊涂，成了件悲事。原本我想我们应该为他难过，应该去帮助他。然而，很多人却说：“在国外就不要回来嘛!”“还搞的我们人心惶惶的。”……

所以我写这篇，学英语的好网站，想呼吁大家，一起为他们加油。

他们不幸感染上了，现在被隔离，他们不能见到自己的亲人，好的英语学习网站，他们失去了自由，他们也很痛苦，很不甘。所以让我们给他们勇气，给他们力量!让我们一起祝愿他们早日康复!

健康：中药能够战胜甲流吗？

英语写作：Freedom in my Dream

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

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

例句：Helen is the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen.

海伦是我所看过最美丽的女孩。

Mr. Chang is the kindest teacher that I have ever had.

张老师是我曾经遇到最仁慈的教师。

2. Nothing is + ~er than to + V

Nothing is + more + 形容词 + than to + V

例句：Nothing is more important than to receive education.

没有比接受教育更重要的事。

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

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

我们再怎么强调保护眼睛的重要性也不为过。

4. There is no denying that + S + V ... (不可否认的...)

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

不可否认的，我们的生活品质已经每况愈下。

5. It is universally acknowledged that + 句子~ (全世界都知道...)

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

全世界都知道树木对我们是不可或缺的。

6. There is no doubt that + 句子~ (毫无疑问的...)

例句：There is no doubt that our air pollution leaves something to be desired.

毫无疑问的我们的空气污染令人不满意。

7. An advantage of ~ is that + 句子 (……的优点是……)

例句：An advantage of using the solar energy is that it won’t create (produce) any pollution.

使用太阳能的优点是它不会制造任何污染。

8. The reason why + 句子 ~is that + 句子 (……的原因是……)

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

我们必须种树的原因是它们能供应我们新鲜的空气。

9. So + 形容词 + be + 主词 + that + 句子 (如此……以致于……)

例句：So precious is time that we can’t afford to waste it.

时间是如此珍贵，我们浪费不起。

10. Adj + as + Subject(主词)+ be, S + V(虽然...)

例句：Rich as our country is, the qualities of our living are by no means satisfactory. 【by no means = in no way = on no account 一点也不】

虽然我们的国家富有，但我们的生活品质一点也不令人满意。

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

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

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

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

(三)例题分析(例题)

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

要求：

⒈ 从所给素材中任选两种情形进行阐述，不可多选或少选。

⒉ 条理清楚，意思连贯，语句通顺，标点正确;

⒊ 词数 80 ～ 100。

参考词汇： 建议 suggest v. suggestion n.

气体 gas n. 污染 pollution n.

THE POLLUTIONS

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

② More and more diseases are caused by polluted air.

③ People are disturbed quite often by kinds of noises.

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

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

1、认真读题。注意，题目虽然给了四幅图，但是却只要求写其中的两个就行。

2、题意要求的是阐述个人的观点-最担忧的两种情形。而不是对图片进行描述。

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

4、注意字数，语法，拼写等，避免错误。

下面是两个例文，大家可以参考一下。

One possible version:

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

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

Another possible version:

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

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

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

评分标准：

1. 内容完整，语句流畅，无语法错误，书写规范，给9-10分;

2. 内容较完整，语句较流畅，基本无语法错误，书写较规范，给6-8分;

3. 内容不完整，语句欠流畅，语法错误较多，书写较规范，给3-5分;

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

看图作文不可小视。希望大家掌握答好这种题型的要点，并积累词汇。

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

【论文摘要】在高考英语试题中，写作是有效提高学生整体成绩的重要手段，写作是目的也是为了测试学生直接运用英语表达的能力而设置的，因此通常都会放在试卷的最后面作为压轴题出现。在高考英语写作要求中，明确提出要让考生运用所学知识进行书写，能组词成句、组句成文，语句符合英语语法和习惯。在写出的书面材料中，要求达到：切中题意，文理通顺，语言准确，得当。那么，怎样才能在高考英语写作中出类拔萃呢？这正是本文要探讨的内容。

一、有的放矢，了解高考英语写作要点

要对高考英语写作的题型及内容有所了解，才能把握好高考英语写作的考点，在此基础上才能找到行之有效的对策及方法。纵观近几年各省高考英语试题中，写作测试的命题思路，有一种从指导性写作逐步向半开放式写作过渡的趋势。半开放式写作，具体地说，就是给考生们提供一定的材料(包括图、文或图文结合)然后要求学生根据材料来进行书面表达，这样的考题形式，既限制了考生随心所欲的思维，又给予考生适当的发挥空间。这种命题方式能较好地考查考生的语言组织能力、书面表达能力以及思维能力。而在文体方面，记叙文、议论文、应用文及书信为最常见的写作题材。因此，我们可以做一个形象的比喻，写文章就像工厂里制造一台机器那样，首先要确定机器由几部分组成，然后对这几部分分别细化，形成初步的设计图；再根据要求对初步的设计图进行完善、补充、修改，随之形成最终的设计图；然后我们再按照图纸的设计，使用我们所掌握的零件去制造出机器；同样的道理，学生写作时可参照以下模式：

1．理解话题：学生在动笔前必须对指定的话题进行反复细读，认真思考，理解其真正的含义，了解出题者的意图，这是进行写作的第一步；

2．明确文体，确定人称时态：这一阶段的判断中，主要强调近十年高考最常见的两种文体：(1)说明文：必须按照事物的原貌加以说明、介绍、解释，常采用一般现在时，被动语态也常使用；(2)记叙文：通常采用第一人称，描述本人的经历或耳闻目睹之事；或用第三人称讲述他人的事情，如果是过去的事情，要用过去时。

3．初拟提纲，再理解话题：明确文体的基础上，草拟写作提纲；提纲是文章的骨架，可以是一句活，也可以是一个词组，由于考试时间所限，提纲内容不必面面俱到，但必须体现文章的整体结构和思路；目前绝大部分高中学生在英语写作时，还习惯于使用母语进行构思，然后将构思好的中文内容翻译成英文，这种情况是正常的；关键在于翻译过程中的语言表达必须符合英语语言的表达习惯

4．开始写作：提纲完成后，应根据提纲充实内容，如果说提纲是骨架的话，那么这时你必须将骨架填充血肉；具体的说就是要扩展要点，连词成句，适当地变换句型，组句谋篇成文；注意应简明扼要，层次分明、用词准确、语法概念清楚，使文章更具说服力，然后在写作完成后，还要对文章进行快速的检查，减少单词的拼写错误和句子表达的错误。

二、高考英语写作指导的具体策略

根据以上对历年高考英语写作试题的分析，我们可以从以下三个方面去指导学生进行写作：

1．细读材料，认真审题

仔细阅读书面表达题所给材料的全部内容，准确理解题目要求。需要认真审查的内容有：(1)文章的开头和结尾是否已给出；(2)用第几人称写作，书面表达要求中会明确指出使用第一人称还是第三人称；(3)提供的情景是图画、图表，还是提纲，如果是连环画，要注意故事情节的连贯性，确定合理的情节发展；(4)是否提供参考词汇，如果提供有参考词汇，写作中最好要用到；(5)采用什么文体，如果是议论文，要有论点、论据和结论三部分。如果是应用文，要注意其格式。如果是记叙文，要抓住六个要素：时间、地点、人物、事件、事情起因、事情的发展与结果。

2．恰当选择词语和句式

认真审题后，就可以列提纲了，将重点单词、短语、句型写在提纲里，关于选词切忌使用生僻词语，要求做到用词准确、得体、达意。选择句式时，尽量使用多种句式，如强调句、倒装句、各种名词性从句、定语从句、状语从句和固定句型等，长句和短句视情况交错使用，这样可以提高文章的档次，使文章生辉。

选词大多是在一组同义词或近义词之间进行。例如，我们要表达“好”这个意思，一般来说，大家会马上想起“good”，因为口语中我们经常说agoodfriend、goodluck、agoodpicture等。但是，在不同的短语中，可以选择不同的英语单词使表达更加准确、生动、形象。

3．多背常识性语句，扩大知识面

语言是有规律的，不同体裁的书面表达都有其常识性语句。如果同学们平时有大量的语句积累，在写作时就能把积累的东西调动起来。这些常识性语句既可增加文章的连贯性、逻辑性和可读性，同时还能提供地道的表达方式。写人物介绍时，应着重写人物的姓名、性别、年龄、职业、身高、健康状况、业余爱好、工作态度、与人相处和社会评价等语句。例如：lipingisagoodteacher，whoisthirtyyearsold．heis175centimetrestallandheishealthy．等。

【参考文献】

[1]韩金龙，秦秀白.体裁分析与体裁教学法.[j].外语界2000(1)

[2]韩金龙.英语写作教学:过程体裁教学法.[j].外语界.2001(4)

[3]何星.“过程写作法”较之“结果写作法”在高中英语写作教学中的

有效性研究.[d]华东师大专业硕士学位论文.2007