商务英语写作邀请函模板（精彩20篇）

正如前文所提到的，商务文书写作是很多人工作的一部分;而每个人工作首先都是有私心的，即工作首先是为了生存而不是为了做出贡献，然后再将私心通过公心来实现——公司或单位好，个人才可以好。因此，商务文书写作对于更好地完成大家的工作是非常重要的。

《福布斯》杂志的创始人——马尔克姆·福布斯曾经说“一封好的商务信函，可以让你得到一次面试的机会，帮助你摆脱困境，或者为你带来财富”。也就是说，写好商务文书在一定程度上能够给大家带来很大的经济利益。

【案例1】

单向沟通的表现

日常工作生活中有很多陷入单向沟通的例子，比如说短信。在一般情况下，无论对方是否想接收短信，只要手机开着他就会收到，并且往往根据他自己当时的心情去诠释短信的内容。而发送人的心情则通常难以得到传递，由此而引发不必要的误会和误解。

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

小编导语：英语作文是英语考试中的一个得分点，那么在写作过程中有什么技巧呢，下面是小编收集整理的相关资料，希望对您有所帮助。

1、首尾呼应，画龙点睛在文章的结尾，把含义较深的话放在末尾，以点明主题，深化主题，起到画龙点睛的效果。如“I Cannot Forget Her” (我忘不了她)的结尾：

After her death， I felt as if something were missing in my life. I was sad over her passing away， but I knew she would not have had any regrets at having given her life for the benefit of the people.

2、重复主题，句结尾回到文章开头阐明的中心思想或主题句上，达到强调的效果。如“I Love My Home Town”(我爱家乡)的结尾：

I love my home town， and I love its people. They too have changed. They are going all out to do more for the good of our motherland.

3、自然结尾随着文章的结束，文章自然而然地结尾。如“Fishing”(钓鱼)的结尾：

I caught as many as twenty fish in two hours， but my brother caught many more. Tired from fishing， we lay down on the river bank， bathing in the sun. We returned home very late.

4、含蓄性的结尾

用比喻或含蓄的手法不直接点明作者的看法，而是让读者自己去领会和思考。如“A Day of Harvesting”(收割的日子)的结尾：

Evening came before we realized it. We put down our sickles and looked at each other. Our clothes were wet with sweat， but on every face there was a smile.

5、用反问结尾

虽然形式是问句，但意义却是肯定的，并具有特别的强调作用，引起读者深思。如“Should We Learn to Do Housework?”(我们要不要学做家务?) 的结尾。

Everyone should learn to do housework. Dont you agree， boys and girls?

6、指明方向，激励读者结尾表示对将来的展望，或期待读者投入行动。如“Lets Go in for Sports”(让我们参加体育运动)的结尾：As we have said above， sports can be of great value. They not only make people live happily but also help people to learn virtues and do their work bettter. A sound mind is in a sound body. Lets go in for sports.

尊敬的 先生/女士：

中国企业迎来一场大规模的转型风暴!

身处全球化浪潮之中，中国企业的CEO们凝神静气感受着经济全球化的脉搏。美国次贷危机引发了世界经济的动荡。国际石油价格居高不下，美元汇率持续下跌，全球经济放缓……

由此产生的“蝴蝶效应”更进而引发中国企业的战略性危机，伴随着令人眩目的高速增长，企业经营遭遇多种生产要素的“价格拐点”，人民币持续增值，能源，材料、劳动力成本不断上涨，新劳动合同法、环保减排措施出台……国内外一片惊恐：中国已经处于高成本时代!

面对不断加大的竞争压力、不断抬高的市场准入门槛，越来越苛刻的商业游戏规则，中国企业正走上转型不归路!不确定时代的全球经济环境考验着企业应变接轨能力与速度，也考验着CEO群体的商业智慧与创新精神。

“转型”关乎生死! “转型”势在必行!

20xx，中国企业的转型路在何方?

中国企业如何打造转型力，有效抵御风险、化解危机?

产业环境、战略发展、组织变革、核心技术、管理文化，不同企业转型的解决方案在哪里?

20xx中国CEO年会将于20xx年9月19日在北京开幕，届时，将有国际大师、未来学家约翰·奈斯比特、佩斯领导力研究院创始人和首席执行官泰德·普林斯、国家相关部委领导人、国内行业顶尖管理专家及知名企业顶级CEO、媒体记者约500人莅会，围绕“开放创新驱动力----企业转型生死之战”大会主题，共同探讨如何建立面向未来竞争的全球化战略，如何升级管理平台，推动企业存续发展。

热切期待您的参与!

一、大会主题：开放创新驱动力----企业转型生死之战。

二、大会时间：20xx年9月19-20日

三、年会地点：北京

四、年会主办：《经理人》杂志社 博思会

五、年会协办：北京中管企联企业管理服务中心

六、智慧支持:哈佛大学商学院、清华大学经管学院、中欧国际工商学

院、长江商学院、中国人民大学商学院、经理人商学院

七、媒体支持:《财富时报》、《公司金融》、《理财周报》、《环球企业家》、《财富生活》、《名牌》、《新财经》、《新世纪周刊》、《taste&enjoy》、《销售与市场》、《财智领袖》、《世界高 尔夫》、《财经文摘》、《中国经营报》、《第一财经日报》、《中国计算机报》、《计算机世界》、

八、网络支持:新浪、金融界、FT中文网、经理人网、凤凰网、PCHOME、中国人力资源开发网、

九、出席对象：全国各知名企业CEO、高层管理人员300人

十、参会费用：

1、普通代表：6880元/人(含茶点、午餐)

2、VIP 代表：12880元/人(含VIP客户合影、茶点、午餐、晚宴、私密沟通)

3、食宿统一安排，费用自理。

十一、联系方式：

地 址：北京市海淀区长春桥路11号C2606室(100089)

电 话：010-88471328 传 真：010-88471328 联系人：陈永利

《经理人》杂志社 北京中管企联企业管理服务中心

二零一四年六月十七日

英语写作的开头结尾是写作的重点。下面语文迷为大家带来了经典的句型，供大家阅读参考。

一.开头句型

1.As far as ...is concerned 就……而言

2.It goes without saying that... 不言而喻，...

3.It can be said with certainty that... 可以肯定地说......

4.As the proverb says， 正如谚语所说的，

5.It has to be noticed that... 它必须注意到，...

6.Its generally recognized that... 它普遍认为...

7.Its likely that ... 这可能是因为...

8.Its hardly that... 这是很难的......

9.Its hardly too much to say that... 它几乎没有太多的说…

10.What calls for special attention is that...需要特别注意的是

11.Theres no denying the fact that...毫无疑问，无可否认

12.Nothing is more important than the fact that... 没有什么比这更重要的是…

13.whats far more important is that... 更重要的是…

二.衔接句型

1.A case in point is ... 一个典型的例子是...

2.As is often the case...由于通常情况下...

3.As stated in the previous paragraph 如前段所述

4.But the problem is not so simple. Therefore 然而问题并非如此简单，所以……

5.But its a pity that... 但遗憾的是…

6.For all that...对于这一切...... In spite of the fact that...尽管事实......

7.Further, we hold opinion that... 此外，我们坚持认为，...

8.However , the difficulty lies in...然而，困难在于…

9.Similarly, we should pay attention to... 同样，我们要注意...

10.not(that)...but(that)...不是，而是

11.In view of the present station.鉴于目前形势

12.As has been mentioned above...正如上面所提到的…

13.In this respect, we may as well (say) 从这个角度上我们可以说

14.However, we have to look at the other side of the coin, that is... 然而我们还得看到事物的另一方面，即 …

三.结尾句型

1.I will conclude by saying... 最后我要说…

2.Therefore, we have the reason to believe that...因此，我们有理由相信…

3.All things considered,总而言之 It may be safely said that...它可以有把握地说......

4.Therefore, in my opinion, its more advisable...因此，在我看来，更可取的是…

5.From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that….通过以上讨论，我们可以得出结论…

6.The data/statistics/figures lead us to the conclusion that….通过数据我们得到的结论是，....

7.It can be concluded from the discussion that...从中我们可以得出这样的结论

8.From my point of view, it would be better if...在我看来……也许更好

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.

通过对近些年英语作文出题的趋势来看，中考对英语写作的考察更偏重于交际情景设置和不同体裁的要求，但是由于客观和种种主观原因，很多同学的作文容易走入种种误区，这些误区主要体现在以下方面：

构思、准备不充分，匆忙下笔。任何一篇作文出题都是有它独特的道理的，所以提前审题和构思就显得必不可少了。文新学堂教学专家提醒，很多学生目 前存在一个情况，想到哪写到哪，这也造成了作文杂乱无章，毫无条理，同时容易出现写错单词和用错句型的情况。针对这种情况可以从以下几个方面予以解 决：

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

2、确定文体和时态，因为不同的文体要求的写作格式也是 不同的

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

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

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

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

论坛题目：2016年电子商务信用建设研讨会

会议时间：2016年7月 16日

会议地点：商务部中国国际电子商务中心1层多功能演播厅

主持人： 国富泰信用渠道总监 史宏宇

主办单位：商务部中国国际电子商务中心

协办单位：APEC电子商务工商联盟

网络独家：新浪电商频道

承办单位：国富泰企业征信有限公司

参会嘉宾：商务部中国国际电子商务中心副主任张大明、国富泰信用总经理张阁、诚商网副总裁梁渝

参会人群：B2B、 B2C网站副总级别以上。含COO(首席运营官)、CIO(首席财务官)、HRD(首席信息官)、人力资源主管。

参加媒体：亿邦动力专、国际商报、商务信用杂志、中国经贸杂志、中国商务中心EC网直播、IT168、IT世界、慧聪网等。

研讨会秘书处：

联系人： 王策 付振兴

通讯地址：北京市经济技术开发区荣华中路11号

联系方式：

电话：010-67876100-8019 8092

手机：13910286500 13910057123

传真：010-87519001

电子邮箱：wangce@ec.com.cn fuzhenxing@ec.com.cn

What can I say about Pixar? Amazing?? Perfect?? Got to see this at the Cannes Film Festival in France (went>【扩展阅读篇】

所谓“感”

可以是从书中领悟出来的道理或精湛的思想，可以是受书中的内容启发而引起的思考与联想，可以是因读书而激发的决心和理想，也可以是因读书而引起的对社会上某些丑恶现象的抨击、讽刺。读后感的表达方式灵活多样，基本属于议论范畴，但写法不同于一般议论文，因为它必须是在读后的基础上发感想。要写好有体验、有见解、有感情、有新意的读后感，必须注意以下几点：

首先，要读好原文

“读后感[1]”的“感”是因“读”而引起的。“读”是“感”的基础。走马观花地读，可能连原作讲的什么都没有了解，哪能有“感”?读得肤浅，当然也感得不深。只有读得认真，才能有所感，并感得深刻。如果要读的是议论文，要弄清它的论点(见解和主张)，或者批判了什么错误观点，想一想你受到哪些启发，还要弄清论据和结论是什么。如果是记叙文，就要弄清它的主要情节，有几个人物，他们之间是什么关系，以及故事发生在哪年哪月。作品涉及的社会背景，还要弄清楚作品通过记人叙事，揭示了人物什么样的精神品质，反映了什么样的社会现象，表达了作者什么思想感情，作品的哪些章节使人受感动，为什么这样感动等等。

其次，排好感点

只要认真读好原作，一篇文章可以写成读后感的方面很多。如对原文中心感受得深可以写成读后感，对原作其他内容感受得深也可以写成读后感，对个别句子有感受也可以写成读后感。总之，只要是原作品的内容，只要你对它有感受，都可能写成读后感，你需要把你所知道的都表示出来，这样才能写好读后感。

第三、选准感点

一篇文章，可以排出许多感点，但在一篇读后感里只能论述一个中心，切不可面面俱到，所以紧接着便是对这些众多的感点进行筛选比较，找出自己感受最深、角度最新，现实针对性最强、自己写来又觉得顺畅的一个感点，作为读后感的中心，然后加以论证成文。

第四、叙述要简

既然读后感是由读产生感，那么在文章里就要叙述引起“感”的那些事实，有时还要叙述自己联想到的一些事例。一句话，读后感中少不了“叙”。但是它不同于记叙文中“叙”的要求。记叙文中的“叙”讲究具体、形象、生动，而读后感中的“叙”却讲究简单扼要，它不要求“感人”，只要求能引出事理。初学写读后感引述原文，一般毛病是叙述不简要，实际上变成复述了。这主要是因为作者还不能把握所要引述部分的精神、要点，所以才简明不了。简明，不是文字越少越好，简还要明。

第五，联想要注意形式

联想的形式有相同联想(联想的事物之间具有相同性)、相反联想(联想的事物之间具有相反性)、相关联想(联想的事物之间具有相关性)、相承联想(联想的事物之间具有相承性)、相似联想(联想的事物之间具有相似性)等多种。写读后感尤其要注意相同联想与相似联想这两种联想形式的运用。

编辑本段如何写读后感

格式

一、格式和写法

读后感通常有三种写法：一种是缩写内容提纲，一种是写阅读后的体会感想，一种是摘录好的句子和段落。题目可以用《读后感》;还可以用自己的感受(一两个词语)做题目，下一行是——《读有感》，第一行是主标题，第二行是副标题。

二、要选择自己感受最深的东西去写，这是写好读后感的关键。

三、要密切联系实际，这是读后感的重要内容。

四、要处理好“读”与“感”的关系，做到议论，叙述，抒情三结合。

五、叙原文不要过多，要体现出一个“简”字。

六、要审清题目。

在写作时，要分辨什么是主要的，什么是次要的，力求做到“读”能抓住重点，“感”能写出体会。

七、要选择材料。

读是写的基础，只有读得认真仔细，才能深入理解文章内容，从而抓住重点，把握文章的思想感情，才能有所感受，有所体会;只有认真读书才能找到读感之间的联系点来，这个点就是文章的中心思想，就是文中点明中心思想的句子。对一篇作品，写体会时不能面面俱到，应写自己读后在思想上、行动上的变化。

八、写读后感应以所读作品的内容简介开头，然后，再写体会。

原文内容往往用3～4句话概括为宜。结尾也大多再回到所读的作品上来。要把重点放在“感”字上，切记要联系自己的生活实际。

九、要符合情理、写出真情实感。

写读后感的注意事项

①写读后感绝不是对原文的抄录或简单地复述，不能脱离原文任意发挥，应以写“体会”为主。

②要写得有真情实感。应是发自内心深处的感受，绝非“检讨书”或“保证书”。

③要写出独特的新鲜感受，力求有新意的见解来吸引读者或感染读者。

④禁止写成流水账!

编辑本段要写关于学习的读后感应该读什么有感

(1)引——围绕感点 引述材料。简述原文有关内容。

(2)概——概括本文的主要内容 ,要简练,而且要把重点写出来。

(3)议——分析材料，提练感点。亮明基本观点。在引出“读”的内容后，要对“读”进行一番评析。既可就事论事对所“引”的内容作一番分析;也可以由现象到本质，由个别到一般的作一番挖掘;对寓意深的材料更要作一番分析，然后水到渠成地“亮”出自己的感点。要选择感受最深的一点，用一个简洁的句子明确表述出来。这样的句子可称为"观点句"。这个观点句表述的，就是这篇文章的中心论点。"观点句"在文中的位置是可以灵活的，可以在篇首，也可以在篇末或篇中。初学写作的同学，最好采用开门见山的方法，把观点写在篇首。

(4) 联——联系实际，纵横拓展。围绕基本观点摆事实讲道理。写读后感最忌的是就事论事和泛泛而谈。就事论事撒不开，感不能深入，文章就过于肤浅。泛泛而谈，往往使读后感缺乏针对性，不能给人以震撼。联，就是要紧密联系实际，既可以由此及彼地联系现实生活中相类似的现象，也可以由古及今联系现实生活中的相反的种种问题。既可以从大处着眼，也可以从小处入手。当然在联系实际分析论证时，还要注意时时回扣或呼应“引”部，使“联”与“引””藕”断而“丝”连这部分就是议论文的本论部分，是对基本观点(即中心论点)的阐述，通过摆事实讲道理证明观点的正确性，使论点更加突出，更有说服力。这个过程应注意的是，所摆事实，所讲道理都必须紧紧围绕基本观点，为基本观点服务。

用介词短语替代从句，例：

原句：While they were playing tennis, she started an argument that lasted all morning.

修改后：During tennis she started an argument that lasted all morning.

原句：When you come to the second traffic light, turn right.

修改后：At the second traffic light turn left.

下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。

对于素材中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。

因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now！

1.?????? Proverbs

1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.

2. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s time.

3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

4. The classroom--not the trench--is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.

5. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.

7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesn’t answer questions; it provokes them.

8. People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

9.the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure.

10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.

11. A great teacher never strives to explain his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

12. If you can read and don’, you are an illiterate by choice.

2. Damaging Research

A study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positive that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.

3. Education and Citizenship

An important aspect of education in the United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many incentives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.

Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform young people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the problem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in the case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their children’s education.

Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schooling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-time undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.

Advocates of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the classroom. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.

4. The Teacher’s Role

Given the undeniable importance of classroom experience, sociologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students’ experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single first-grade teacher on her students’ subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in children’s lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching. The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.

Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an important part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classrooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teacher’s authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students and teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.

5. Education Philosophy

For the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the school’s job was to enhance the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.

Consequently, American schools are very enthusiastic about teaching “life skills” –logical thinking, analysis, creative problem--solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teachers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.

In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and are just a few of the modern problems that have appeared on the school curriculum.

This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.

6. Student Life

To the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways, around which thy congregate.

Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activities—sports, clubs, cheerleading, scouts—supposed to inculcate such qualities as leadership, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who don’t become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.

Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show that American parents have lower expectations for their children’s success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “He’s just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their son is on the swim team and doesn’t take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)

What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitted against each other—whether in classroom discussion, spelling bees, reading groups, or tests. Every classroom is expected to produce a scattering of A’s and F’s (teachers often grade A=excellent; B=good; C=average; D=poor; and F=failed). A teacher who gives all A’s looks too soft—so students are aware that they are competing for the limited number of top marks.

Foreign students sometimes don’t understand that copying from other people’s papers or from books is considered wrong and taken seriously. Here, it is important to show that you have done your own work and are displaying your own knowledge. It is more important than helping your friends to pass, whom we think do not deserve to pass unless they can provide their own answers. Group effort goes against the competitive grain, and American students do not study together as many Asians do. Many Asians in this country consider their group study habits a large contributor to their school success.

7. Adult Education

After complaining about many aspects of American life, a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong concluded, “But where else could someone my age go back to school and get a degree in social work? Here you can change your whole life, start a new business, do what you really want to do.”

So at least to this person, school requirements weren’t inhibiting. And to millions of others, adult education is the path to a new career, or if not to a new career, to a new outlook. Schools generally encourage the older person who wants to start anew, and besides regular classes, schedule evening classes in special programs. Today there are so many people of retirement age in college that it is no longer remarkable.

8. Moral Relativism in American

Improving American education requires not doing new things but doing (and remembering) some good old things. At the time of our nation’s founding, Thomas Jefferson listed the requirements for a sound education in the Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia. In this landmark statement on American education, Jefferson wrote of the importance of education and writing, and of reading history, and geography. But he also emphasized the need “to instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests, and duties, as men and citizens.” Jefferson believed education should aim at the improvement of both one’s “morals” and “faculties”. That has been the dominant view of the aims of American education for over two centuries. But a number of changes, most of them unsound, have diverted schools from these great pursuits. And the story of the loss of the school’s original moral mission explains a great deal.

Starting in the early seventies, “values clarification” programs started turning up in schools all over America. According to this philosophy, the schools were not to take part in their time-honored task of transmitting sound moral values; rather, they were to allow the child to “clarify” his own values (which adults, including parents, had no “rights” to criticize). The “values clarification” movement didn’t clarify values; it clarified wants and desires. This form of moral relativism said, in effect, that no set of values was right or wrong; everybody had an equal right to his own values; and all values were subjective, relative, and personal. This destructive view took hold with a vengeance.

In 1985 The York Times published an article quoting New York area educators, in slavish devotion to this new view, proclaiming, “They deliberately avoid trying to tell students what is ethically right and wrong.” The article told of one counseling session involving fifteen high school juniors and seniors. In the course of that session a student concluded that a fellow student had been foolish to return one thousand dollars she found in a purse at school. According to the article, when the youngsters asked the counselor’s opinion, “He told them he believed the girl had done the right thing, but that, of course, he would not try to force his values on them. ‘If I come from the position of what is wrong,’ he explained, ‘then I’m not their counselor.’”

Once upon a time, a counselor offered counselor, and he knew that an adult does not form character in the young by taking a stance of neutrality toward questions of right and wrong or by merely offering “choices” or “options”.

In response to the belief that adults and educators should teach children sound morals, one can expect from some quarters indignant objections (I’ve heard one version of it expressed countless times over the years): “Who are you to say what’s important?” or “Whose standards and judgments do we use?”

The correct response, it seems to me, is, is we ready to do away with standards and judgments? Is anyone going to argue seriously that a life of cheating and swindling is as worthy as a life of honest, hard work? Is anyone (with the exception of some literature professors at our elite universities) going to argue seriously the intellectual corollary, that a Marvel comic book is as good as Macbeth? Unless we are willing to embrace some pretty silly position, we’ve got to admit the need for moral and intellectual standards. The problem is that some people tend to regard anyone who would pronounce a definitive judgment as an unsophisticated Philistine or a closed-minded “elitist” trying to impose his view on everybody else.

The truth of the real world is that without standards and judgments, there can be no progress. Unless we are prepared to say irrational things—that nothing can be proven more valuable than anything else or that everything is equally worthless—we must ask the normative question. It may come, as a surprise to those who fell that to be “progressive” is to be value-neutral. But as Matthew Amold said, “the world is forwarded by having its attention fixed on the best things” and if the world can’t decide what the best things are, at least to some degree, then it follows that progress, and character, is in trouble. We shouldn’t be reluctant to declare that some things, some lives, books, ideas, and values are better than others. It is the responsibility of the schools to teach these better things.

At one time, we weren’t so reluctant to teach them. In the mid-nineteenth century, a diverse, widespread group of crusaders began to work for the public support of what was then called the “common school”, the forerunner of the public school. They were to be charged with the mission of school felt that the nation could fulfill its destiny only if every new generation was taught these values together in a common institution.

The leaders of the common school movement were mainly citizens who were prominent in their communities—businessmen, ministers, local civic and government officials. These people saw the schools as upholders of standards of individual morality and small incubators of civic and personal virtue; the founders of the public schools had faith that public education could teach good moral and civic character from a common ground of American values.

But in the past quarter century or so, some of the so-called experts became experts of value neutrality, and moral education was increasingly left in their hands. The commonsense view of parents and the publicthat schools should reinforce rather than undermine the values of home, family, and country, was increasingly rejected.

There are those today still that claim we are now too diverse a nation, that we consist of too many competing convictions and interests to instill common values. They are wrong. Of course we are a diverse people. We have always been a diverse people. And as Madison wrote in FederalistNo.10, the competing, balancing interests of a diverse people can help ensure the survival of liberty. But there are values that all American citizens share and that we should want all American students to know and to make their own: honesty, fairness, self-discipline, fidelity to task, friends, and family, personal responsibility, love of country, and belief in the principles of liberty, equality, and the freedom to practice one’s faith. The explicit teaching of these values is the legacy of the common schools, and it is a legacy to which we must return.

9. Schools Should Teach Values

People often said, “Yes, we should teach these values, but how do we teach them?” this question deserves a candid response, one that isn’t given often enough. It is by exposing our children to good character and inviting its imitation that we will transmit to them a moral foundation. This happens when teachers and principals, by their words and actions, embody sound convictions. As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written, “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself; and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong.” The theologian Martin Buber wrote that the educator is distinguished from all other influences “by his will to take part in the stamping of character and by his consciousness that he represents in the eyes of the growing person a certain selection of what is, the selection of what is ‘right’, of what should be.” It is in this will, Buber says, in this clear standing for something, that the “vocation as an educator finds its fundamental expression.”

There is no escaping the fact that young people need as example principals and teachers who know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and who themselves exemplify high moral purpose.

As Education Secretary, I visited a class at Waterbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Vermont, and asked the students, “Is this a good school?” They answered, “Yes, this is a good school.” I asked them, “Why?” Among other things, one eight-year-old said, “The principal Mr. Riegel, makes good rules and everybody obeys them.” So I said, “Give me an example.” And another answered, “You can’t climb on the pipes in the bathroom. We don’t climb on the pipes and the principal doesn’t either.”

This example is probably too simple to please a lot of people who want to make the topic of moral education difficult, but there is something profound in the answer of those children, something education should pay more attention to. You can’t expect children to take messages about rules or morality seriously unless they see adults taking those rules seriously in their day-to-day affairs. Certain must be said, certain limits lay down, and certain examples set. There is no other way.

We should also do a better job at curriculum selection. The research shows that most “values education” exercises and separate courses in “moral reasoning” tend not to affect children’s behavior; if anything, they may leave children morally adrift. Where to turn? I believe our literature and our history are a rich quarry of moral literacy. We should mine that quarry. Children should have at their disposal a stock of examples illustrating what we believe to be right and wrong, good and bad—examples illustrating what are morally right and wrong can indeed be known and that there is a difference.

What kind of stories, historical events, and famous lives am I talking about? If we want our children to know about honesty, we should teach them about Abe Lincoln walking three miles to return six cents and conversely, about Aesop’s shepherd boy who cried wolf if we want them to know about courage, we should teach them about Joan of Arc, Horatius at the bridge, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. If we want them to know about persistence in the face of adversity, they should know about the voyages of Columbus and the character of Washington during the Civil War. And our youngest should be told about the Little Engine That Could. If we want them to know about respect for the law, they should understand why Socrates told Crito: “No, I must submit to the decree of Athens.” If we want our children to respect the rights of others, they should read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’ “Letter from Birmingham jail.” From the Bible they should know about Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers, Jonathan’s friendship with David, the Good Samaritan’s kindness toward a stranger, and David’s cleverness and courage in facing Goliath.

These are only a few of the hundreds of examples we can call on. And we need not get into issues like nuclear war, abortion, creationism, or euthanasia. This may come as a disappointment to some people, but the fact is that the formation of character in young people is educationally a task different from, and prior to, the discussion of the great, difficult controversies of the day. First things come first. We should teach values the same way we teach other things: one step at a time. We should not use the fact that there are many difficult and controversial moral questions as an argument against basic instruction in the subject.

After all, we do not argue against teaching physics because laser physics is difficult, against teaching American history because there are heated disputes about the Founders’ intent. Every field has its complexities and its controversies. And every field has its basics, its fundamentals. So they are too with forming character and achieving moral literacy. As any parent knows, teaching character is a difficult task. But it is a crucial task, because we want our children to be healthy, happy, and successful but decent, strong, and good. None of this happens automatically; there is no genetic transmission of virtue. It takes the conscious, committed efforts of adults. It takes careful attention.

10. College Pressures

Mainly I try to remind that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches. They don not want to hear such liberating news. They want a map—right now – that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security and, presumably, a prepaid grave.

What I wish for all students is some release from the clammy grip of the future. I wish them a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. I wish them the right to experiment, to trip and fall, to learn that defeat is as instructive as victory and is not the end of the world.

My wish, of course, is na?ve. One of the national gods venerated in our media—the million-dollar athlete, the wealthy executive—and glorified in our praise of possessions. In the presence of such a potent state religion, the young are growing up old.

I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is easy to look around for villains—to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents for pushing their children too far, and the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no villains: only victims.

“In the late 1960s.” one dean told me. “The typical question that I got from students was ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world’ or ‘how I can make a contribution?’ Today it’s ‘Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major in history and political science, or just majored in one of them?’” many other deans confirmed this pattern. One said: “They are trying to find an edge—the intangible something that will look better on paper if two students are about equal.”

Note the emphasis on looking better. The transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security. How one appears on paper is more important than how one appears in person. A is for Admirable and B is for Borderline, even though, in Yale’s official system of grading, A means “excellent” and B means “very good.” Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school. They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms and better medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh. Yale Law School, for instance, matriculates 170students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000.

It’s all very well for those of us who write letters of recommendation for our students to stress the qualities of humanity that will make them good lawyers or doctors. And it’s nice to think that admission officers are ready reading our letters and looking for the extra dimension of commitment or concern. Still, it would be hard for a student not to visualize these officers shuffling so many transcripts studded with As that they regard a B as positively shameful.

The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. Long gone are the days of the “gentleman’s C.” when students journeyed through college with a certain relaxation, sampling a wide variety of courses-music, art, philosophy, classics, anthropology, poetry, religion—that would send them out as liberally educated men and women. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know countless students whose inquiring minds exhilarate me. I like to hear the play of their ideas. I do not know if they are getting As or Cs, and I do not care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax. They cannot.

Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Tuition, room, and board at most private colleges now come to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees. This might seem to suggest that the colleges are getting rich. But they are equally battered by inflation. Tuition covers only 60 percent of what it costs to educate a student, and ordinarily the remainder comes from what college receives in endowments, grants, and gifts. Now, the remainder keeps being swallowed by the cruel costs—higher every year—of just opening the doors. Heating oil is up. Insurance is up. Postage is up. Health-premium costs are up. Everything is up. Deficits are up. We are witnessing in American the creation of a brotherhood of paupers—colleges, parents, and students, joined by the common bond of debt.

Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $5,000 in loans after four years—loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation. Exhorted at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning? I have used “he,” incidentally, only for brevity. Women at Yale are under no less pressure to justify their expensive education to themselves, their parents, and society. In fact, they are probably under more pressure. For although they leave college superbly equipped to bring fresh leadership to traditionally male jobs, society has not yet caught up with this fact.

Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.

I see many students taking pre-medical courses with joyless tenacity. They go off to their labs as if they were going to the dentist. It saddens me because I know tem in other corners of their life as cheerful people.

“Do you want to medical school?” I asked them.

“I guess so,” they say, without conviction, or “Not really.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Well, my parents want me to be a doctor. They are paying all this money and …”

Poor students, poor parents, they are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean will; they are trying to steer their sons and draughts toward a secure future. But the sons and daughter want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics—an ability to synthesize and relate, to weigh cause and effect, to see events in perspective—are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field. Still, many fathers would rather put their money on courses that point toward specific profession—courses that are pre-law, pre-medical, pre-business, or, as I sometimes heard it put, “pre-rich.”

But the pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obliged to fulfill their parents’ expectations; after all, their parents are older and presumably wiser. Another part tells them that the expectations that are right for their parents are not right for them.

I know a student who wants to be an artist. She is very obviously an artist and will be a good one—she has already had several modest local exhibits. Meanwhile she is growing as a well-round person and taking humanistic subjects that will enrich the inner resources out of which her art will grow. But her father is strongly opposed. He thinks that an artist is a “dumb” thing to be. The student vacillates and tries to please everybody. She keeps up with her art somewhat furtively and takes some of the “dumb” courses her father wants her to take—at least they are dumb courses for her. She is a free spirit on a campus of tense students—no small achievement in it—and she deserves to follow her muse.

Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined, and they begin almost at the beginning of freshman year.

“I had a freshman student I’ll call Linda,” one dean told me, “who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I could not tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda.”

The story is almost funny—except that it is not. It is symptomatic of all the pressure put together. When every student thinks every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. I see students going off to the library every night after dinner and coming back when it closes at midnight. I wish they would sometimes forget about their peers and go to a movie. I hear the clacking of typewriters in the hours before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: “Will I get everything done?”

Probably they won’t. They will get blocked. They will sleep. They will oversleep. They will bug out.

Part of the problem is that they are expected to do. A professor will assign five page papers. Several students will start writing ten page papers to impress him. Then more students will write ten page papers, and a few will raise the ante to fifteen. Pity the poor student who is still just doing the assignment.

“Once you have twenty or thirty percent of the student population deliberately overexerting,” one dean points out, “It’s bad for everybody. When a teacher gets more and more effort from his class, the student who is doing normal work can be perceived as not doing well. The tactic work, psychologically.”

Why cannot the professor just cut back and not accept longer papers? He can, and he probably will. But by then the term will be half over and the damage done. Grade fever is highly contagious and not easily reversed. Besides, the professor’s main concern is with his course. He knows his students only in relation to the course and does not know that they are also overexerting in their other courses. Nor is it really his business. He did not sign up for dealing with the student as a whole person and with all the emotional baggage the student brought along from home. That’s what deans, masters, chaplains, and psychiatrists are for.

To some extent this is nothing new: a certain number of professors have always been self-contained islands of scholarship and shyness, more comfortable with books than with people. But the new pauperism has widened the gap still further, for professors who actually like to spend time with students do not have as much time to spend. They are also overexerting. If they are young, they are busy trying to publish in order not to perish, hanging by their figure nails onto a shrinking profession.

If they are old and tenured, they are buried under the duties of administering departments—as departmental chairmen or members of committees—that have been thinned out by the budgetary axe.

Ultimately it will be the students’ own business to break the circles in which they are trapped. They are too young to be prisoners of their parents’ dreams and their classmates’ fears. They must be jolted into believing into themselves as unique men and women who have the power to shape their own future.

“Violence is being done to the undergraduate experience,” says Carlos Hortas. “College should be open-ended: at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choices narrow as they go along. It’s almost as if they think that the country has been codified in the type of jobs that exist-that they’ve got to fit into certain slots. Therefore, fit into the best paying slot.”

“They ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing.”

I have painted too drab a portrait of today’s students, making them seem a solemn lot. That is only half of their story; if they were so dreary I wouldn’t so thoroughly enjoy their company. The other half is that they are easy to like. They are quick to laugh and to offer friendship. They are not introverts. They are usually kind and are more considerate of one another than any student generation I have known.

Nor are they so obsessed with their studies that they avoid sports and extracurricular activities. On the contrary, they juggle their crowded hours to play on a variety of teams, perform with musical and dramatic groups, and write for campus publications. But this in turn is one more cause of anxiety. There are too many choices. Academically, they have 1,300 courses to select from; outside class they have to decide how much spare time they can spare and how to spend it.

This means that they engage in fewer extracurricular pursuits than their predecessors did. If they want to row on the crew and play in the symphony they will eliminate one; in the ‘60s they would have done both. They also tend to choose activities that are self-limiting. Drama, for instance, is flourishing in all twelve of Yale’s residential colleges, as it never has before. Students hurl themselves into these productions—as actors, directors, carpenters, and technicians—with a dedication to create the best possible play, knowing that the day will come when the run will end and they can get back to their studies.

They also cannot afford to be the willing slave of organizations like the Yale Daily News. Last spring at the one-hundredth anniversary banquet of that paper—who’s past chairmen include such once and future kings as Potter Stewart, Kingman Brewster, and William F. Buckley, Jr.—much was made of the fact that the editorial staff used to be small and totally committed and that “newsies” routinely worked fifty hours a week. In effect they belonged to a club; Newsies is how they defined themselves at Yale. Today’s students will one or two articles a week, when he can, and he defines himself as a student. I’ve never heard the word Newsie except at the banquet.

If I have described the modern undergraduate primarily as a driven creature who is largely ignoring the blithe spirit inside who keeps trying to come out and play, it’s because that’s where the crunch is, not only at Yale but throughout American education. It’s why I think we should all be worried about the values that are nurturing a generation so fearful of risk and so goal-obsessed at such an early age.

I tell students that there is no one “right” way to get ahead—that each of them is a different person, starting from a different point and bound for a different destination. I tell neither them that change is a tonic and that all the slots are not codified nor the frontiers closed. One of my ways of telling them is to invite men and women who have achieved success outside the academic world to come and talk informally with my students during the year. They are heads of companies or ad agencies, editors of magazines, politicians, public officials, television magnates, labor leaders, business executives, Broadway products, artists, writers, economists, photographers, scientists, historians—a mixed bag of achievers.

I asked them to say a few words about how they got started. The students assume that they started in their present profession and knew all along that it was what they wanted to do. Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by a circuitous route, to their surprise, after many detours. The students are startled. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not pre-planned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.

11. To Err Is Wrong

In the summer of 1979, Boston Red Sox first baseman Carl Yastrzemski became the fifteenth player in baseball history to reach the three thousand hit plateaus. This event drew a lot of media attention, and for about a week prior to the attainment of this goal, hundreds of reports covered Yaz’s every more. Finally, one reporter asked, “Hey Yaz, aren’t you afraid all of this attention will go to your head?” Yastrzemski replied, “I look at this way: in my career I’ve been up to bat over ten thousand times. That means I’ve been unsuccessful at the plate over seven thousand times. That fact alone keeps me from getting a swollen head.”?

Most people consider success and failure as opposites, but they are actually both products of the same process. As Yaz suggest, an activity that produces a hit may also produce a miss. It is the same with creative thinking; the same energy that generates good creative ideas also produces errors.

Many people, however, are not comfortable with errors. Our educational system, based on “the right answer” belief, cultivates our thinking in another, more conservative way. From an early age, we are taught that right answers are good and incorrect answers are bad. This value is deeply embedded in the incentive system used in most schools:

Right over 90% of the time = “A”

Right over 80% of the time = “B~”

Right over 70% of the time = “C~” Right over 60% of the time = “D~” Less than 60% correct, you fail.

From this we learn to be right as often as possible and to keep our mistakes to a minimum. We learn, in other words, that “to err is wrong.

Playing It Safe

With this kind of attitude, you aren’t going to be taking too many chances. If you learn that failing even a litter penalizes you (e.g., being wrong only 15% of the time garners you only a “B” performance), you learn not to make mistakes. And more important, you learn not to put yourself to situation where you might fall. This leads to conservative thought pattern designed to avoid the stigma our society puts on “failure”.

I have a friend who recently graduated from college with a Master’s degree in Journalism. For the last six month, she has been trying to find a job, but to no avail. I talked with her about situation, and realized that her problem is that she doesn’t know how to fail. She went through eighteen years of schooling to try any approaches where she might fail. She has been conditioned to believe that failure is bad in and of itself, rather than a potential stepping-stone to new ideas.

Look around. How many middle managers, housewives, administrators, teachers, and other people do you see who are to try anything new because of this failure? Most of us have learned not to make mistakes in public. As a result, we remove ourselves from many learning experience except for those occurring in the most private of circumstances.

Different Logic

From a practical point of view, “to err is wrong” makes sense. Our survival in the everyday world requires us to perform thousand of small tasks without failure. Think about it: you wouldn’t last very long if you were to step out in front of traffic or stick your hand a pot of boiling water. In addition, engineers whose bridges collapse, stock brokers who lose money for their clients, and copywriters whose ad campaigns decrease sales won’t keep their jobs very long.

Nevertheless, too great an adherence to the belief “to err is wrong” can greatly undermine your attempts to generate new ideas. If you are more concerned with producing right answers than generating original ideas, you’ll probably make uncritical use of the rules, formulae, and procedures used to obtain these right answers. By doing this, you’ll by-pass the germinal phase of the creative process, and thus spend litter time testing assumptions, challenging the rules, asking what-if questions, or just playing around with the problem. All of these techniques will produce some incorrect answers, but in the germinal phase errors are viewed as a necessary by-product of creative thinking. As Yaz would put it, “if you want the hits, be prepared for the misses.” That’s the way the game of life goes.

Errors as Stepping Stones

Whenever an error pops up, the usual response is “Jeez, another screw up, what went wrong this time?” the creative thinker, on the other hand, will realize the potential value of errors, and perhaps say something like, “Would you look at that! Where can it lead our thinking?” and then he or she will go on to use the error as a stepping stone to a new idea. As a matter of fact, the whole history of discovery is filed with people who used erroneous assumptions and failed ideas as stepping-stones to new ideas. Columbus thought he was finding a shorter route to India. Johannes Kepler stumbled on to the idea of interplanetary gravity because of assumptions that were right for the wrong reasons. And, Thomas Edison knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb.

The following story about the automotive genius Charles Kettering exemplifies the spirit of working through erroneous assumptions to good ideas. In 1912, when the automobile industry was just beginning to grow, Kettering was interested in improving gasoline engine efficiency. The problem he faced was“knockthe phenomenon in which gasoline takes too long to burn in the cylinder-thereby reducing efficiency.

Kettering began searching for ways to eliminate the “knock.” He thought to him, “How can I get the gasoline to combust in the cylinder at an earlier time?” the key concept here is “early”. Searching for analogous situations, he looked around for models of “things that happen early.” He thought of historical models, physical models, and biological models. Finally, he remembered a particular plant, the trailing arbutus, which “happens early,” i.e., it blooms in the snow (“earlier” than other plants). One of this plant’s chief characteristics is its’ red leaves, which help the plant retain light at certain wavelengths. Kettering figured that it must be the red color, which made the trailing arbutus bloom earlier.

Now came the critical step in Kettering’s chain of thought. He asked himself, “How can I make the gasoline red?” perhaps I’ll put red dye in the gasoline—maybe that’ll make it combust earlier.” He looked around his workshop, and found that he didn’t have any red dye. But he did happen to have some iodine—perhaps that would do. He added the iodine to the gasoline and, lo and behold, the engine didn’t “knock”.

[英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分

一、写作决窍

总体把握，要点齐全;人称时态，逻辑清楚;

关键词汇，动词第一;组词成句，结构完整;

组句成文，连词增色;此路不通，绕道迂回;

字迹工整，留好印象;从句适量，高分有望。

二、写作步骤

1.认真审题。审题包括要点、格式、词数以及此篇文章要传递给读者什么样的信息，告诫读者什么(即写作目的)。

2.确定文体和时态。确定文体后，根据不同文体的特点和要求进行组织材料;同时确定出该篇文章的总时态与时态的变化。

3.写完要点，但不随意发挥。

4.先草稿，后抄写。

三、作文案例

[2004年全国中学生英语能力竞赛初赛初三组] (14分)

Choose one of your hobbies and write an article for the school magazine about it. Tell the magazine readers.

·What exactly your hobby is;

·When and how you became interested in this hobby;

·Why you enjoy your hobby;

·About your hopes and plans for the future.

写作要求：

1.根据所提供的内容，适当拓展想象空间，灵活地将提供的信息体现在文章中。

2.条理清楚，语句通顺，书写清晰、规范。

3.词数60-80.

[学生解答A]

My hobby is read books①.When I was seven years old.I became interested in reading books.I like needing books because there are a lot of useful things in books.I can learn a lot of knowledge from books. Books also② can teach me how to be a good person.Books even can solve many problems for me.I will read more good books to improve myself.

①改为reading books，动词作表语时应该用动名词。

②also的位置应放在can之后。

[点评]：档次9-11分。

①要点不全，漏掉最后一个要点。

②句子基本无误，能正确传递信息给读者但文章不流畅，句子与句子之间过渡不自然，给读者感觉在回答上述问题。

③有少量错误。

[学生解答B]

My hobby is reading.Reading books is very enjoyable.When I was young ,my mother used to tell me a story before.I went to bed every night.The stories were so interesting that I always felt they weren’t enough.So I began to read books by myself.Little by little I became interested in reading.I can learn much knowledge and many interesting things all over the world.When I read books,I can enjoy the beautiful sentences.At the same time I can improvemy writing.I want to be a writer in the future,so I must study hard and read more books so that my dream can come true.

①开门见山、点题。

②真情流露，理由充分。

③文中带圈的连词使用得恰当，使文章过渡自然、

④巧妙使用句型以表决心。

[点评]：档次13-14分。

①清楚表达写作目的，要点齐全。

②语言表达灵活多样，字里行间流露出真情实感，文章有感染力。

③恰当使用连词和从句，语言流畅，且无错误，是一篇高质量的作文。

[高分突破]

①文体：记叙文。

②要点：what → when →how → why → hope and plan for the future.

③时态：一般现在时，一般过去时，一般将来时的自然变化。

内容具有开放性，但它也是“控制性”的写作试题，因此不能随意发挥，要善于抓信息，写完要点。选用这两篇学生真实习作，一是因为他们选材相同，二是因为他们都是英语成绩优秀的同学。同学B灵活使用连词so…that,so,little by little,when,so that等，恰到好处地使用新句型和短语used to,became interested in,come true……等，使内容丰富，读起来优美流畅。其实这些表达同学A也会，只是缺乏技术加工。通过这两篇作文点评，同学们便能悟出其中的奥妙。

四、培养途径

1.根据老师布置的写作内容，独立完成一篇写作。

2.与同伴合作，交流自己的写作，通过交流找出各自作文中写得好的地方和优美的句子，合作创造一篇新的文章，供大家欣赏。

3.找老师点评，请求老师指点，尤其是怎样润色。

4.自己纠错，写下反思。

五、备考演练

A

缙云山是重庆著名的游览胜地，每天有大量的游客。请你根据下面提供的信息写一篇报道，说明现在的游客在环境保护方面的变化。

写作要求：

1.词数在100左右。

2.条理清楚，语句通顺。

3.开头已写好，但不计入总词数。

Jinyun Mountain is a famous place of interest …

B

阅读电视广告词：“If we don’t save water,the last drop of water will be a tear-drop.”根据提示，写一篇60-80词的短文。

提示：

1.生活离不开水。

2.可饮用水在减少。

3.水污染严重。

4.应保护水源，再利用水。

思路点拨与参考答案

A. [思路点拨]：

①文体：记叙文。

②时态：一般过去时态，一般现在时态。采用正反对比的写作手法，增加感染力。

③写作目的：告诉读者保护环境的重要性。

Jinyun Mountain is a famous place of interest.Every day a lot of tourists come here to enjoy its beauty. But a few years ago,some of them paid no attention to protecting theenvironment.They threw their rubbish,such as plastic bags,fruit skins and waste paper on the ground.Sometimes they broke trees,picked flowers and killed birds. Some even made fires in the woods to cook food.How dangerous it was.Luckily,great changes have taken place here.Tourists are used to putting their rubbish into dustbins,and they are doing their best to protect the birds and plants as well.They bring their own meals instead of cooking to preventstarting a forest fire in the mountains.All these changes make us very happy.

B. [思路点拨]：

①夹叙夹议(说明现状，谈谈感想)。

②时态：一般现在时态。

③广告词的含义——水很重要，应保护和再利用(写作意图)。

Water is very important to humans.We can’t live without water.The water we can drink is falling.But some people don’t seem to care about it.They waste a lot of water.They pour dirtywater into rivers and lakes.Water pollution is getting more and more serious.So we must do something to stop the pollution.We not only protect the water but also find ways to reuse it.If we don’t do this,the last drop of water will be a tear-drop.

1.individuals,characters, folks替换(people ,persons)

2: positive, favorable, rosy (美好的)，promising

(有希望的)，perfect, pleasurable , excellent, outstanding, superior替换good

3:dreadful, unfavorable, poor, adverse, ill (有害的)替换bad

如果bad做表语，可以有be less impressive替换

eg.An army of college students indulge themselves in playing games, enjoying romance with girls/boys or killing time passively in their dorms. When it approaches to graduation ,as a result, they records are less impressive.

4.(an army of, an ocean of, a sea of, a multitude of ,a host of, many, if not most)替换many.

注：用many, if not most 一定要小心，many后一定要有词。

Eg. Many individuals, if not most, harbor the idea that….同理 用most, if not all ,替换most.

5: a slice of, quiet a few , several替换some

6:harbor the idea that, take the attitude that,

hold the view that, it is widely shared that,

it is universally acknowledged that)替think

(因为是书面语，所以要加that)

7:affair ,business ,matter 替换thing

8: shared 代 common

9.reap huge fruits 替换get many benefits )

10:for my part ,from my own perspective 替换 in my opinion

11:Increasing(ly),growing 替换more and more( 注意没有growingly这种形式。所以当修饰名词时用increasing/growing.修饰形容词，副词用increasingly.

Eg.sth has gained growing popularity.

popular with the advancement of sth.

12.little if anything, 或little or nothing替换hardly

13..beneficial, rewarding替换helpful,

14.shopper,client,consumer,purchaser, 替换customer

15.exceedingly,extremely, intensely 替换very

16.hardly necessary, hardly inevitable ... 替换 unnecessary, avoidable

17.sth appeals to sb, sth exerts a tremendous fascination on sb 替换sb take interest in / sb. be interested in

18.capture ones attention替换attract ones attention.

19.facet,demension,sphere代aspect

20.be indicative of ,be suggestive of ,be fearful of代 indicate, suggest ,fear

21.give rise to, lead to, result in, trigger 替换cause.

22. There are several reasons behind sth 替换..reasons for sth

23.desire 替换want.

24.pour attention into 替换pay attention to

25.bear in mind that 替换remember

26. enjoy, possess 替换have(注意process是过程的意思)

27. interaction替换communication

28.frown on sth替换 be against , disagree with sth

29.to name only a few, as an example替换 for example, for instance

30. next to / virtually impossible,替换nearly / almost impossible

要学好写英语短文，就必须经常练习写作。记日记是提高书面表达能力的有效方法之一。日记是每日生活的记载，是一种记事文体。

一、日记的格式

英文日记通常由书端和正文两个部分组成。日记常以第一人称记下当天生活中的所见、所闻、所做或所想的事情。中、英文的日记三格式大致一样。英语日记的书端 是专门写日记的日期、星期和天气的。左上角是日期(年、月、日)、星期。右上角写上当天的天气情况， 如：Sunny，Fine，Rainy，Windy，Snowy，Cloudy等。

1、日期表达有多种形式。年、月、日都写时，通常以月、日、年为顺序，月份可以缩写，日和年用逗号隔开。例如：

A)September 1，2004或September 1st，2004也可省略写成Sept. 1，2004或Sept. 1st，2004;the 1st of September in 2004(月份不可以缩写)

B)只有月、日：September 1或September 1st(月份可以缩写)

C)只有年、月：September 2004或the September of 2004(月份不可以缩写)

以上的1或1st都应读作the first.

2、星期也可以省略不写，可将其放在日期前或后，星期和日期之间不用标点，但要空一格，星期也可缩写。如：

Saturday，October 22nd，2004;October 22nd，2004 Saturday

3.天气情况必不可少。天气一般用一个形容词如：Sunny，Fine，Rainy，Snowy 等表示。写在日期之后，用逗号隔开，位于日记的右上角。如：

Saturday，March 4，2004，Windy;1st January，2004，Fine

二、日记的要求

日记的正文是日记的主要部分，写在星期和日期的正下方，可以顶格写，也可以内缩3至5个字母的空间。由于记载的内容通常已经发生，谓语动词多用一般过去 时。但也可根据具体情况，用其它时态。如：记叙天气、描写景色，为了描写生动，可以使用现在时，以表现当时的情景。再如文后发表感想或评论可用现在时态或 将来时态。记日记力求简单明了，有连贯性。若有文字提示，则应重视提示，把握要点。在句式上尽量使用简单句，以防繁杂，造成语法、句型错误。

三、日记的类型和训练

日记分为记事型、议论型、描写型和抒情型。建议大家在学习写日记的过程中，可按以下步骤进行：

①将一天所经历的主要事情和过程依次简要地记下来，不附加任何感情色彩，这是最简单的记日记的方法;

②阅读别人的日记，并利用所学过的句型来表达个人在一天中观察到的或感受到的事情。

「范文与点评」

March 12th，2003，Tuesday Sunny (Fine)

Today is Tree Planting Day. At 7∶30 in the morning，all the students in our class met at the school gate. We walked to the park. Miss Gao and other teachers went and worked with us. All the students worked very hard，and we planted about 200 trees. Though we were dirty and tired，we still felt very happy.

这是一篇记叙型的日记。结构严谨，中心突出，有选择地记录当天的见闻(人或事)，并加以分析和评论。

导语：英语写作中有不少短语和表达大家会经常用到，下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的相关英语写作50条常用短语句子，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

1. 经济的快速发展 the rapiddevelopment of economy

2.人民生活水平的显著提高/稳步增长theremarkableimprovement/ steady growth ofpeople’s livingstandard

3.先进的科学技术advanced science and technology

4.面临新的机遇和挑战 be faced with new opportunities and challenges

5.人们普遍认为 It is commonly believed/ recognized that…

6.社会发展的必然结果 the inevitable result of social development

7.引起了广泛的公众关注 arouse wide public concern/ draw publicattention

8.不可否认 Itis undeniable that…/ There is no denying that…

9.热烈的讨论/争论 a heated discussion/ debate

10.有争议性的问题 a controversialissue

11.完全不同的观点 a totally different argument

12.一些人 …而另外一些人 … Some people… while others…

13. 就我而言/ 就个人而言 As far as I am concerned, / Personally,

14.就…达到绝对的一致 reach an absolute consensus on…

15.有充分的理由支持 be supported by sound reasons

16.双方的论点 argument on both sides

17.发挥着日益重要的作用 play an increasingly important role in…

18.对…必不可少 be indispensableto …

19.正如谚语所说 As the proverb goes:

20.…也不例外 …be no exception

21.对…产生有利/不利的影响 exert positive/ negative effects on…

22.利远远大于弊 the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages。

23.导致，引起 lead to/ give rise to/ contribute to/ result in

24.复杂的社会现象 a complicated social phenomenon

25.责任感 / 成就感 sense of responsibility/ sense of achievement

26. 竞争与合作精神 sense of competition and cooperation

27. 开阔眼界 widen one’s horizon/ broaden one’s vision

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

29.经济/心理负担 financial burden / psychologicalburden

30.考虑到诸多因素 take many factors into account/ consideration

31. 从另一个角度 from another perspective

32.做出共同努力 make joint efforts

33. 对…有益 be beneficial / conducive to…

34.为社会做贡献 make contributions to the society

35.打下坚实的基础 lay a solid foundation for…

36.综合素质 comprehensivequality

37.无可非议 blameless / beyond reproach

38.加大了…的可能性 increase the chances of

39.致力于/ 投身于 be committed / devoted to…

40. 应当承认 Admittedly

41.不可推卸的义务 unshakable duty

42. 满足需求 satisfy/ meet the needs of…

43.可靠的信息源 a reliablesource of information

44.宝贵的自然资源 valuable natural resources

45.因特网 the Internet (一定要由冠词，字母I

46.方便快捷 convenient andefficient

47.在人类生活的方方面面 in all aspects of human life

48.环保(的) environmental protection /environmentallyfriendly

49.社会进步的体现 a symbol of society progress

50.科技的飞速更新 the ever-accelerated updating of scienceandtechnology

The Spring Festival, the most important festival to Chinese. Is China the biggest, the most lively, one of the most important ancient traditional festivals, is also unique to Chinese festival.

Festival, is the beginning of the lunar calendar, another name is called New Years day, Spring Festival is the biggest, the most lively, China one of the most important ancient traditional festivals, is also unique to Chinese festival. Is the most concentrated expression of Chinese civilization. Since the western han dynasty, the custom of Spring Festival continues today. The Spring Festival, generally refers to New Years eve and the first day. But in private, in the traditional sense of the Spring Festival is from the Greek festival of the day or month, 23 or 24 people, until the fifteenth, among them with New Years eve and the first day of the first lunar month. How to celebrate this holiday, in one thousand years of history development, formed some relatively fixed customs and habits, there are a lot of handed down also. During the traditional festival, the Spring Festival of the han nationality in our country and most of ethnic minorities have to hold various celebration activities, these activities are to worship deities, worshiping ancestors, blow away the cobwebs, meet jubilee blessing, pray for good harvest as the main content. Form rich and colorful, activities with strong ethnic characteristics. On May 20, 2006, "Spring Festival" folk have been approved by the state council listed in the first batch of state-level non-material cultural heritage list.

The origin of the Spring Festival has a legend, the Chinese ancient times have a kind of call "year" monster, head long feelers, fierce abnormalities. "Year" the elder deep in the bottom of the sea, every New Years eve just climbed out, swallowed cattle damage lives. Therefore, every New Years eve that day, the people of CunCunZhaiZhai could flee to the mountains, to escape the "year" animal damage. One NianChuXi, from the village outside a begging the old man. Folks a hurried panic scene, only the east village, an old woman gave the old man some food, and urged him quickly up the hill avoid "year" beast, the old man stroked his beard say with smile: "mother-in-law if let me stay overnight in the home, I must have" years "beast." Old woman continue to persuasion, begging the old man smiling without a word. At midnight, "nian" beast into the village. It found the village atmosphere unlike previous years, village east wifes husbands family, the door stick red paper, candle lit the room. "Year" beast was a shake, long a sound. Nearly the door, hospital suddenly spread "banging spluttered" Fried sound, "nian" shuddered, again dare not go up. Originally, "year" the most afraid of red, fire and exploding. At this time, her mother-in-laws door open and saw hospital a red-robed man laughed. "Year" frightened to disgrace, mess up. The next day is the first day, the people of refuge back very surprised to see the village safe. At this point, the old woman was suddenly enlighted, quickly spoke to the fellow villagers begging the old mans promise. This matter quickly spread around the village, people know driven "years" beast approach. (the legend of hakka) from then on, every year New Years eve, families paste red couplets, firecrackers; Household candle lit, keeping stay by age. Beginning in the early morning, still walk close bunch of congratulate friends say hello. This custom spread more widely, Chinese the most solemn of the folk traditional festival.

春节，中国人最重要的节日。是中国最盛大、最热闹、最重要的一个古老传统节日，也是中国人所独有的节日。

节，是农历的岁首，春节的另一名称叫过年，是中国最盛大、最热闹、最重要的一个古老传统节日，也是中国人所独有的节日。是中华文明最集中的表现。自西汉以来，春节的习俗一直延续到今天。春节一般指除夕和正月初一。但在民间，传统意义上的春节是指从腊月初八的腊祭或腊月二十三或二十四的祭灶，一直到正月十五，其中以除夕和正月初一为高潮。如何过庆贺这个节日，在千百年的历史发展中，形成了一些较为固定的风俗习惯，有许多还相传至今。在春节这一传统节日期间，我国的汉族和大多数少数民族都有要举行各种庆祝活动，这些活动大多以祭祀神佛、祭奠祖先、除旧布新、迎禧接福、祈求丰年为主要内容。活动形式丰富多彩，带有浓郁的民族特色。2006年5月20日，“春节”民俗经国务院批准列入第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录。

春节的来历有一种传说，中国古时候有一种叫“年”的怪兽，头长触角，凶猛异常。“年”长年深居海底，每到除夕才爬上岸，吞食牲畜伤害人命。因此，每到除夕这天，村村寨寨的人们扶老携幼逃往深山，以躲避“年”兽的伤害。有一年除夕，从村外来了个乞讨的老人。乡亲们一片匆忙恐慌景象，只有村东头一位老婆婆给了老人些食物，并劝他快上山躲避“年”兽，那老人捋髯笑道：“婆婆若让我在家呆一夜，我一定把‘年’兽撵走。”老婆婆仍然继续劝说，乞讨老人笑而不语。 半夜时分，“年”兽闯进村。它发现村里气氛与往年不同：村东头老婆婆家，门贴大红纸，屋内烛火通明。“年”兽浑身一抖，怪叫了一声。将近门口时，院内突然传来“砰砰啪啪”的炸响声，“年”浑身战栗，再不敢往前凑了。原来，“年”最怕红色、火光和炸响。这时，婆婆的家门大开，只见院内一位身披红袍的老人在哈哈大笑。“年”大惊失色，狼狈逃蹿了。第二天是正月初一，避难回来的人们见村里安然无恙十分惊奇。这时，老婆婆才恍然大悟，赶忙向乡亲们述说了乞讨老人的许诺。这件事很快在周围村里传开了，人们都知道了驱赶“年”兽的办法。(客家人的传说)从此每年除夕，家家贴红对联、燃放爆竹;户户烛火通明、守更待岁。初一一大早，还要走亲串友道喜问好。这风俗越传越广，成了中国民间最隆重的传统节日。

学生写作时，如果仅局限在把内容交代清楚的水准上，只选用一些普通的、直截了当的词，或一律使用简单句平铺直叙，那么，这样写出来的文章就会像一碗白开水，呆板、单调，没有可读性。下面是小编整理的英语作文写作10大技巧，欢迎阅读。

1. 灵活改变句子开头

在通常情况下，英语句子的排列方式为“主语+谓语+宾语”，即主语位于句子开头。但若根据情况适当改变句子的开头方式，比如使用倒状语或以状语开头等，会使文章增强表现力。如：

(1) There stands an old temple at the top of the hill.

→ At the top of the hill there stands an old temple.

在小山顶上有一座古庙。

(2) You can do it well only in this way.

→ Only in this way can you do it well.

只有这样你才能把它做好。

(3) A young woman sat by the window.

→ By the window sat a young woman.

窗户边坐着一个年轻妇女。

2. 避免重复使用同一词语

为了使表达更生动，更富表现力，同学们在写作时应尽量避免重复使用同一词语来表示同一意思，尤其是一些老生常谈的词语。如有的同学一看到“喜欢”二字，就会立刻想起like，事实上，英语中表示类似意思的词和短语很多，如 love, enjoy, prefer, appreciate, be fond of, care for等。如：

I like reading while my brother likes watching television.

→ I like reading while my brother enjoys watching television.

我喜欢看书，而我的兄弟却喜欢看电视。

3. 合理使用省略句

合理恰当地使用省略句，不仅可以使文章精练、简洁，而且会使文章更具文采和可读性。如：

(1) He may be busy. If he’s busy, I’ll call later. If he is not busy, can I see him now?

→ He may be busy. If so, I’ll call later. If not, can I see him now?

他可能很忙，要是这样，我以后再来拜访。要是不忙，我现在可以见他吗?

(2) If the weather is fine, we’ll go. If it is not fine, we’ll not go.

→ If the weather is fine, we’ll go. If not, not.

如果天气好，我们就去;如果天气不好，我们就不去了。

(3) She could have applied for that job, but she didn’t do so.

→ She could have applied for that job, but she didn’t.

她本可申请这份工作的，但她没有。

4. 适当运用非谓语结构

非谓语结构通常被认为是一种高级结构，适当运用非谓语结构，会给人一种熟练驾驭语言的印象。如：

(1) When he heard the news, they all jumped for joy.

→ Hearing the news, they all jumped for joy.

听了这消息他们都高兴得跳了起来。

(2) As I didn’t know her address, I wasn’t able to get in touch with her.

→ Not knowing her address, I wasn’t able to get in touch with her.

由于不知道她的地址，我没法和她联系。

(3) As he was born into a peasant family, he had only two years of schooling.

→ Born into a peasant family, he had only two years of schooling.

他出生农民家庭，只上过两年学。

5. 结合使用长句与短句

在英语写作中，过多地使用长句或过多地使用短句都不好。正确的做法是，根据实际情况在文章中交替使用长句与短语，使文章显得错落有致，这样不仅使文章在形式上增加美感，而且使文章读起来铿锵有力。如：

At noon we had a picnic lunch in the sunshine. Then we had a short rest. Then we began to play happily. We sang and danced. Some told stories. Some played chess.

→ At noon we had a picnic lunch in the sunshine. After a short rest, we had great fun singing and dancing, telling jokes and playing chess.

中午我们晒着太阳吃野餐。休息一会儿后，我们唱的唱歌，跳的跳舞，还有的讲笑话、下棋，大家玩得很开心。

6. 适当使用短语代替单词

(1) He has decided to be a teacher when he grows up.

→ He has made up his mind to be a teacher when he grows up.

他已决定长大了当老师。

(2) He doesnt like music.

→ He doesnt care much for music.

他不大喜欢音乐。

(3) He told me that the question was now under discussion.

→ He told me that the question was now being discussed.

他告诉我问题现正正在讨论中。

7. 恰当套用某些固定表达

(1) He was very tired. He couldn’t walk any farther.

→ He was too tired to walk any farther.

他太累了，不能再往前走了。

(2) The film was very interesting. Both the teachers and the students liked it.

→ The film was so interesting that both the teachers and the students liked it.

这电影很有趣，学生和老师都很喜欢。

(3) Your son is old. He can look after himself now.

→ Your son is old enough to look after himself now.

你的儿子已经长大，可以自己照顾自己了。

8. 尽量使句子带点“洋味”

(1) Dont worry. Be bold and try it, and youll learn it soon.

→Dont worry. Just go for it, and youll get it soon.

别担心，大胆试一试，你很快就会学会的。

(2) Thank you for playing with us.

→Thank you for sharing the time with us.

谢谢你陪我玩。

9. 综合使用各类所谓的“高级”结构

(1) Now everyone knows the news. I think Jim must have let it out.

→ Now everyone knows the news. I think it must have been Jim who has let it out.

现在人人都知道这消息了，我想一定是吉姆把它泄露出去的。

(2) We had to stand there to catch the offender.

→ What we had to do was (to) stand there, trying to catch the offender.

我们所能做的只是站在那儿，设法抓住违章者。

(3) If her pronunciation is not better than her teacher’s, it is at least as good as her teacher’s.

→ Her pronunciation is as good as, if not better than, her teacher’s.

如果她的语音不比她的老师好的话，至少也不会比她老师的差。

10. 适当使用名言警句点缀

在写作时根据实际情况恰当地用上一两句名言警句来点缀文章，不仅使文章显得有深度、有智慧，而且会让文章在评分中上一个“得分档次”。如：

(1) As the proverb says, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Though you fail this time, you needn’t lose heart. As long as you work hard and stick to your dream, you will succeed one day.

(2) There is a proverb goes like this “Life isn’t a bed of roses.” It is ture that it is likely for everyone to meet problems and difficulties in life.

(3) In the modern world, more and more people live alone, which is not so good for our life. It is better for us to make more friends and enjoy friendship. Just as a proverb says, “A near friend is better than a far-dwelling kinsman.”

Today mother took me to skate. I was very happy. But I hadnt expected I fell down as soon as I got in. Today I didnt know why my two feet were out of control. If I wanted to head east， they would head the opposite. I fell down from time to time. My hands and face were all dirty. I thought maybe it was because that I hadnt skated for a long time.

On my way home， I thought that whatever one wants to do， he must work hard at it， so he can make progress. Skating is like this， so it study.

想要写好一篇英语作文有哪些方法步骤呢?下面来看看语文迷网为大家带来的写作指导吧。

(一)仔细审题，确定要点。在开始写作这前一定要认真阅读题目中的所有信息(中文提示、图示、注意事项等)把需要表达的全部信息要点列成提纲，列要点时，如果提示是图表，要认真审图，从图中找出要表达的信息要点，如事件发生的背景，人物的衣着、表情、动作、位置、年龄、外貌、图中的英汉文字等，如果有参考词汇，一定要用上。

(二)根据要点，先词组句。近年来高考书面表达的要求不断提高，高分文章要有较多的词汇，较高级的词汇用法。比如表达丰富可以用rich,但如果你用abundant这个词就属于较高级的词汇。再比如“他强调小心驾驶的重要”这个句子 He emphasized the importance of careful driving.其中“强调”这个词如果你用 attach much importance to 效果更佳。

(三)确定时态及人称，内容连贯，结构紧凑。高考书面表达评分标准明确规定，如人称错误要扣分，不同的文体一般都有基本时态。日记通常记叙发生过的事情，多用一般过去时。议论文多用一般现在时，通知等文体通常用一般将来时。每个句子写好之后，句与句之间要选择恰当的连接词。比如：(1)表示承接、递进用语，besides(并且)、whats more(并且)，moreover(而且)，firstly,secondly,finally(最后)，from now on (从此)，afterwards I after that(后来)，to make things worse/ whats worse(使事情更为糟糕的是)，the worst thing of all(最糟糕的是)。(2)表示转折关系用语。but bowever,otherwise,though,despite,in spite of...(尽管)on the other hand(另一方面)，as(尽管)，all the same(尽管如此)。(3)表示因果关系用语。because/because of......for(因为)，owing to (由于)，thanks to (由于)，due to (由于)，so that (结果)。(4)归纳总结用语。to summarize(总而言之)，in short/in a word(简而言之)，on the whole(从总体看)，generally speaking(一般说来)，in my view(我的观点)，in conclusion(总之)。

(四)句式丰富，避免单词。英语书面表达评分标准第五档(21-25分)要求，“应使用较复杂结构，这要求学生不仅会运用基本句型，也要有意识地使用复杂句型，这是文章的亮点。如何使用复杂结构，我认为适当运用非谓语结构(分词短语、动名词或不定式短语)适当运用各种从句(定语从句、名词性从句、状语从句)是有效什么途径。比如：when he arrived in Beijing,he gave me an e-mail.(时间状语从句。一般)→On arriving in Beijing,he gave me an e-mail.Having arrived in Beijing.he gave me an e-mail.(使用了动名词，分别作状语。高级) Hardly had he arrived in Beijing when he gave me an e-mail.(改变时态，句子结构。高级)I wont believe what he says.(一般)→No matter what he says,I wont believe.(让步状从句，高级)。

(五)认真答写，卷面整洁。高考书面表达评分标准中对书写有较高要求。尤其今年英语作文要进行网上阅卷，如果书写较差，会影响到扫描质量，因此，考生在答卷时，一定要认真、清楚规范地书写，以保卷面整洁。

1 天空没有翅膀的痕迹，而鸟儿已飞过

there are no trails of the wings in the sky, while the birds has flied away。

2 没有谁对不起谁，只有谁不懂得珍惜谁。

no one indebted for others,while many people dont know how to cherish others。

3 我的世界不允许你的消失，不管结局是否完美。

no matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world。

4 凋谢是真实的 盛开只是一种过去

fading is true while flowering is past。

5 为什么幸福总是擦肩而过，偶尔想你的时候…。就让…。回忆来陪我。

why i have never catched the happiness? whenever i want you ,i will be accompanyed by the memory of.。。

6 如果你为着错过夕阳而哭泣，那么你就要错群星了

if you weeped for the missing sunset,you would miss all the shining stars

7 如果只是遇见，不能停留，不如不遇见

if we can only encounter each other rather than stay with each other,then i wish we had never encountered 。

8 宁愿笑著流泪，也不哭著说后悔 心碎了，还需再补吗？

i would like weeping with the smile rather than repenting with the cry,when my heart is broken ,is it needed to fix?

9 爱情是一个精心设计的谎言

love is a carefully designed lie。

10 当香烟爱上火柴时，就注定受到伤害

when a cigarette falls in love with a match,it is destined to be hurt。

11 人活着 总是要得罪一些人的 就要看那些人是否值得得罪

when alive ,we may probably offend some people.however, we must think about whether they are deserved offended。

12 命里有时终需有 命里无时莫强求

you will have it if it belongs to you,whereas you dont kveth for it if it doesnt appear in your life。

13 爱情就像一只蝴蝶，它喜欢飞到哪里，就把欢乐带到哪里。

love is like a butterfly. it goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes。

14 永远不是一种距离，而是一种决定。

eternity is not a distance but a decision。

15 在回忆里继续梦幻不如在地狱里等待天堂

dreaming in the memory is not as good as waiting for the paradise in the hell。

16 哪里有真爱存在，哪里就有奇迹

where there is great love, there are always miracles。

17 每一个沐浴在爱河中的人都是诗人

at the touch of love everyone becomes a poet。

18 假如每次想起你我都会得到一朵鲜花，那么我将永远在花丛中徜徉。

if i had a single flower for every time i think about you, i could walk forever in my garden。

19 有了你，我迷失了自我；失去你，我多么希望自己再度迷失。

within you i lose myself, without you i find myself wanting to be lost again。

20 承诺常常很像蝴蝶，美丽的飞盘旋然后不见

promises are often like the butterfly, which disappear after beautiful hover。

[优美英语写作段落句子摘抄中英互译

英文日记和汉语日记一样，是用来记叙一天中所发生的有意义的事情或对将来的打算等。以下是小编整理的英语日记写作的格式，欢迎阅读！

日记可分为记事、议论、描写及抒情等。记事型是用英语记述当天自己生活学习中发生的事情。议论型是对生活中的某一事情或情况现象谈自己的看法，发表议论。描写型或抒情型，则是对某人物事物的特征做细致的描述，或针对某事物抒发自己的感情。

1、格式：

一般是在左上角记上当天日期，星期，时间的排列法与书信一致，星期写在日期之后；右上角写上当天的天气情况，表示天气情况的词一般是形容词，如：fine（晴朗的），cold（寒冷的），snowy（下雪），sunny（阳光充足的），rainy（下雨的），cloudy（阴天的）等。日记的小标题写在下一行，也可省略不写。

2、时态：

写日记的时间一般是在下午、晚上，有时也可以在第二天补写，因此，日记中所记述的事情通常发生在过去，常用一般过去时；但当记述天气、描写景色或展望未来时，可以用一般现在时或一般将来时。

写法大致和写汉语日记相同，都是在正文之前有日期、星期几及当天的天气情况。注意内容表达要清楚连贯、准确。

扩展阅读：

日期格式用月日年（美式）或日月年（英式）都可以

1. 年、月、日都写时，通常以月、日、年为顺序，月份可以缩写，日和年用逗号隔开，例如：december 18, xx或者dec. 18, xx。

2. 如果要写星期，星期要紧挨日期，它既可以放在日期前面，也可以放在日期后面，星期也可以省略不写。星期和日期之间不用标点，但要空一格，星期也可缩写，例如：thursday dec. 18, xx或dec.18，xx thursday

3. 天气情况必不可少，天气一般用一个形容词如:sunny, fine, rainy, snowy等表示。天气通常位于日记的右上角。