应用文写作英语四级考试计划(精品20篇)

应用文写作格式大全

[概念解说]

与开幕词相仿，但更简单扼要，在最后有举杯祝愿内容。 [格式内容]

篇幅简短，语言口语化，态度热情。

[范例参考]

祝酒词

女士们、先生们： 展览会"今天开幕了。今晚，我市分会，对各位朋友光临我们的招待会，

"中国国际XX展览会"自上午开幕以来，已引起了我市及外地科技人员的浓厚兴趣。这次展览会在上海举行，为来自全国各地的科技人员提供了经济技术交流的好机会。我相信，展览会在推动这一领域的技术进步以及经济贸易的发展方面将起到积极作用。

今晚,各国朋友欢聚一堂，我希望中外同行广交朋友，寻求合作，共同度过一个愉快的夜晚。

最后，请大家举杯，

为"中国国际XX展览会"的圆满成功，

为朋友们的健康，

干杯!

[概念解说]

段。

[格式内容] 写作时应篇幅短，中文200意之外，如果允许别人什么应切实可行，能说到做到。

[范例参考]

感谢信

xxxx电缆有限公司于xx年x月x口在南京举行隆重开业典礼，此间收到全国各地许多同行、用户以及外国公司的贺电、贺函和贺礼。上级机关及全国各地单位的领导，世界各地的贵宾，国内最著名的电缆线路专家等亲临参加庆典，方加强联系。进行更广泛、更友好的合作。

xxxx电缆有限公司

董事长:xxx

总经理:xxx

xx年x月x

介绍信是用来介绍联系接洽事宜的一种应用文体。它具有介绍、证明的双重作用。

介绍信主要有两种形式，普通介绍信和专用介绍信。

[格式内容]

普通介绍信一般不带存根，正中写 "介绍信"。内容包括:称呼、正文、结尾、署名和门期，并注上有效日期。

专用介绍信共有两联，一联是存根，另一联是介绍信的本文。两联正中有间缝，同时编有号码。

[范例参考]

范例一 普通介绍信

：

兹介绍我公司 )，前往贵处联系 ，请接洽。

敬礼

xx公司(盖章)

年 月 日

范例二 专用介绍信

专用介绍信 (存根)

( 字第 号)

等人前往 联系 。

年 月 日

(有效期 天)

……xx字第x

开幕词在表示欢迎后是介绍本次会议的意义、主办人的意愿的讲话。

[格式内容]

篇幅要求简短，内容切忌重复、??嗦;语言要求口语化、

经过一阶段的紧张学习，我们将迎来四年级第二学期的期中考试。俗话说：工欲善其事，必先利其器，期中考试也是一样。我觉得要想取得好成绩，除了平时努力学习，打好基础，提高能力外，期中复习方法也很关键。复习方法多种多样，我应该根据自己的实际情况，选取科学、高效的复习方法。

复习计划如下：

要珍惜时间，合理安排时间。时间是宝贵的，合理安排时间，把应该复习的复习好，适当的给自己休息时间。根据具体的时间情况和各门功课的实际情况，合理安排好复习计划。

上复习课时要认真听讲，勤于思考，勤于动脑。

复习时要强化记忆，使学习的成果牢固地贮存在大脑里，以便随时取用;查漏补缺，保证知识的完整性;融会贯通，使知识系统化。

到了最后阶段，不宜再复习所有知识点，把重点要深入掌握，争取不让自己会的东西再丢分，保证拿到基础分的前提下，细化知识点。

应该把做过的练习进行总结和归类，对于自己不明白并且是考点的要积极的课后问老师。

在考前复习时，要总结一些技巧，并要梳理一下做题的思路。对于老师没画重点的科目，自己要对知识点系统总结，把握规律，找出认为是重点的地方深度记忆。

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

一、材料真实典型

二、观点正确鲜明

三、结构严谨

1、 层次清楚、段落分明

2、 过渡自然、前后照应

3、 开头结尾简洁明了

四、语言得体

1、庄重得体 2、通俗易懂 3、准确规范 4、简明扼要

五、格式规范

1、广泛阅读范文

2、大量实践训练

作业：在本单元学习了应用文写作的基本要求后，你掌握了哪些新知识?有哪些感悟?

第二单 元公文

一、教学目的要求：1、了解公告、通告、通知、通报、报告、请示、批复、函、会议纪要

等9种公文的概念、特点、作用和使用范围。

2、掌握通知、通报、报告、请示、函、会议纪要等6种常用公文的行

文关系及其具体的写作要求和方法。

3、学会仿照教材中的范文进行写作，做到格式规范。

二、教学重点：公文的格式和写法。

三、教学过程：

第一节 公文概述

一、公文的概念

从广义上讲，公文是国家党政机关、人民团体、企事业单位在进行公务活动时所使用的体式完整、内容系统的各种书面材料。狭义的公文是指行政公文，主要是指行政机关在行政管理过程中形成的具有法定效力和规范体式的文书，是依法行政和进行公务活动的重要工具。

二、公文的特点

1、 法定的权威性 2、明确的政策性 3、严格的时效性 4、程式的规范性

三、公文的作用

1、 规范和指导作用

2、 宣传和教育作用

3、 凭证和依据作用

4、 交流和沟通作用

四、公文的种类

(1) 按适用范围划分为命令、决定、公告、通告、通报、议案、报告、请示、批复、意

见、函、会议纪要，共13种。

(2) 按行文方向划分为上行文、平行文、下行文。

(3) 按缓急程度划分为特急、急件两种。

(4) 按保密级别划分为绝密、机密、秘密三级

五、公文的格式

1、眉首部分

眉首部分位于公文首页上部红色反线之上。

(1)公文的份数序号。简称份号，它是将同一文稿印制若干份时每份公文的顺序编号。《办法》规定：绝密、机密公文应当标明份号。份号标注在公文首页左上角第一行，用七位阿拉伯数码顶格标注，不足七位数用“0”补齐，如“0000006”。

(2)秘密等级和保密期限。秘密等级简称密级。《办法》规定：涉及国家秘密的公文应当标明密级和保密期限。密级顶格标注在首页右上角的第一行，密级和保密期限之间用“★”隔开。保密一年以上的，注明年数;不足一年的，注明月数。

(3)紧急程度。紧急公文均应该标明紧急程度，分特急和急件。紧急程度标注在首页右上角密级之下。

(4)发文机关标识。一般由发文机关的全称或规范化简称后加“文件”组成。若是几个机关联合行文，应将主办机关排列在前。

(5)发文字号。包括发文机关代字、年份、序号三部分，如“中青办发〔2010〕22号”发文机关代字是发文机关名称的缩略语，如“中青办”“是共青团中央办公厅”的缩略语。

(6)签发人。它是代表机关最后核查并批准公文发出的领导人姓名。签发人平列于发文字

号右侧，写“签发人”三个字，加冒号，再写签发人姓名。

2、 主体部分

(1)公文标题。一般包括发文机关名称、公文主题和公文种类三部分。如《共青团中央关于加强社区共青团工作的意见》。

(2)主送机关。就是主要受理机关，是接受公文并对公文负主办或答复责任的机关。主送机关标注在标题之下，靠左顶格书写。

(3)正文。它是公文的具体内容部分。在主送机关下一行，每自然段空两格写起。数字、年份不能回行。正文有开头、主体、结尾三部分组成。

开头要求开门见山地交代发文的依据、起因、目的。常常用“为了”“为使”“根据”“按照”“由于”“鉴于”等词语开头。

主体是公文的最主要的部分。叙事要突出重点，说理要把握党和国家的方针、政策的核心。在结构上多用总分式，分条列项，做到条理清楚。

结尾常使用固定的习惯用语。一般对受文机关提出具体要求和希望。

(4)附件。公文如有附件，应在正文下空一行左侧起空两格注“附件：”然后标出附件名称，名称后不加标点符号;如不止一个附件，应用阿拉伯数字排序。

(5)发文机关。也称“落款”。发文机关是公文的法定作者，在正文右下方标注。

(6)印章。

(7)发文日期。

3、版记部分

版记包括主题词、抄送机关、印发说明。

第二节 公告、通告

一、公告与通告的概念和特点

(一)公告的概念和特点

1、公告的概念

公告是政府职能部门向国内外宣布重要事项或法定事项时所使用的公文。

2、公告的特点

(1)内容公开性。 (2)形式多样性 (3)行文庄重性

(二)通告的概念和特点

1、通告的概念

通告是在一定范围内向社会公布应当遵守或周知的事项时使用的公文.

2、通告的特点

(1) 制约性。对遵守性通告而言，他带有强制性，要求人们必须遵守。

(2) 周知性。通过公告可以提示人们知晓或注意相关事项。

二、公告与通告的主要区别

1、告知范围 2、约束性 3、事项重要程度 4、发文机关级别

三、公告与通告的写作方法

1、标题

公告和通告的标题可分为完全是标题、非完全是标题两种。完全是标题是“发文机关﹢事由+文种”三要素组成的标题。如《国家教委关于维护中小学正常教学秩序的通告》。《福建省人民代表大会常务委员会关于颁布施行的公告》。非完全式标题只有三要素的一个或两个。如《中华人民共和国农业部公告》、《关于京通快速路施工期间禁止机动车通行的通告》、《公告》《通告》。

2、正文

公告的正文一般有两种写法。

第一种写法包括：

(1) 发布公告的缘由。它是发布公告的依据，因何事而发，通常用一两句话概况。

(2) 公告的具体事项，写清楚时间、地点、事件、决定等。

(3) 结束语。一般另起一行，写“特此公告”“现予公告”。

第二中写法：只写具体事项。

通告正文的写法。

(1) 发布通告的缘由。

(2) 通告的具体事项，写清楚什么范围内、告知谁、告知何事。

(3) 结束语。通告的结束语根据具体内容而定，一般写执行通告的要求，作为强调;也

可以写明执行的时间、范围和有效期;还可以用“特此通告”“此告”作结束语。

3、 落款。

在正文的右下方写明发文机关的全称或规范化简称，有的直接加盖公章。联合发文时，将主办单位名称写在最前，其余分行书写。发文日期另起一行，注明年、月、日。

四、公告和通告的写作要求

1、公告的写作要求

(1)行文简要。 (2)用语得体。

2、通告的写作要求。

(1)目的明确。 (2)行文清晰。

第三节 通知

一、通知的概念和作用

通知”，是“适用于批转下级机关的公文，转发上级机关和不相隶属机关的公文，批转下级机关的公文，传达要求下级机关办理和需要有关单位周知或者执行的事项，任免人员”的一种公文文体。

二、通知的特点

1、适用范围广 2、具有知照性 3、具有时效性

三、通知的种类

从性质和内容上划分，通知大体可分为以下几种：

(1)发布性通知，指国家行政机关或其他有关单位在发布(或废止)行政法规和条例、规定、办法、实施细则等规章和其他重要文件时的使用的通知。

(2)转发性通知，转发需要下属单位知晓的上级单位、同级单位或不相隶属单位的公文。

(3)指示性通知。用于直接发布行政法规和对下级某项工作的指示、要求。带有强制性、指挥性和决策性。

(4)批示性通知，又称转发性通知。领导机关用批转、转发的方式发布某些法规，要求下级贯彻执行。批转下级机关送来的工作报告、建议、计划等，以及沟通情况，指导工作。

(5)周知性通知。多用于上级机关向下级机关宣布某些应知事项，不具有强制性。

(6)会议通知。用于对上级或平级。

(7)任免通知。上级机关对任免的人员用通知的形式告知下级机关。

四、通知与通告的区别

1、适用范围不同

通知的适用范围广，通知除公布和传达某些事项外，还有多种用途，如批转通知、转发通知等;通告只用来发布应当遵守或周知的事项。

2、受文对象不同

通知有明确的受文对象，写作中标明主送机关;通告的受文对象不确定、不具体、也不标明主送对象。

六、通知的写作方法和要求

1、通知的格式和写法

通知一般由标题、正文和落款三部分组成。具体写法如下：

(1)标题。通常有三种形式，一种是由发文机关名称、事由和文种构成;一种是由事由和文种构成;一种是由文种“通知”作标题。

(2)正文。由开头、主体和结尾三部分组成。开头主要交代通知缘由、根据;主体说明通知事项;结尾提出执行要求。在写正文之前，要在标题之下、正文之上顶格写出被通知对象的名称，在名称后加冒号，或将名称以“抄送”形式写于最后一页的最下方。

(3)落款。写出发文机关名称和发文时间。如已在标题中写了机关名称和时间，这里可以省略不写。

通知是上级要求下级或个人参加某一会议或者做某件事情时使用的一种文体。通知的内容要写得明白、具体。

a、在第一行正中写“通知”二字，也可视情况写成“关于××的通知”、“紧急通知”等。

b、写被通知单位或个人的名称。

c、写通知内容。如内容较多，可分条开列。

d、结尾可写“特此通知”等字样。

e、最后写上发通知者的名称和发通知的日期。用公文形式发出的通知要加盖公章。

2、通知的写作要求

(1)注意规范使用不同种类的通知。

(2)拟好公文的标题。

(3)通知事项必须清楚明白。

第四节 通报

一、通报的概念和作用

通报时适用于表彰先进、批评错误、传达重要精神或情况的下行文。无论是表彰性的、批评性的，还是情况通报，通报所反映的内容都是典型、突出的，具有一定影响力，给人们提醒与启迪，能起到楷模或警戒作用。

二、通报的特点

1、典型性 2、真实性 3、向导性

三、通报的种类

1、表彰通报。用于在一定范围内表扬好人好事。

2、批评通报。用于在一定范围内批评错误，纠正不良倾向。

3、情况通报。多用于向有关方面知照应该掌握和了解的信息、动态，以供工作参考。

四、通报和通知的区别

1、行文的作用

通报的作用是教育、启迪、提醒或交流情况，一般没有遵守、执行的要求;通知的作用

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

最近的调查显示相当多的孩子对家庭作业没什么好感。

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

没有一项发明像互联网一样同时受到如此多的赞扬和批评。

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

依照最近的一项调查，每年有4，000，000人死于与吸烟有关的疾病。

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

人们似乎忽视了教育不应该随着毕业而结束这一事实。

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

越来越多的人开始意识到教育不能随着毕业而结束。

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

说到教育，大部分人认为其是一个终生的学习。

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

许多专家指出体育锻炼直接有助于身体健康。

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

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

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

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

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

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

一、思想重视

期末复习是期末考试取得好成绩的有力保证，首先，应在思想上重视它，不能马虎麻痹。因为期末考试考查面涵盖一本书的内容，全面检测我们的能力，是检验我们一学期学习效果的主要形式之一。学习半年了，究竟学得怎么样?学生自己想知道，老师、家长也想知道。而这个效果可以通过考试来检验。“复习”不是可有可无，要下功夫搞好。

二、讲究方法

俗话说：工欲善其事，必先利其器。意思是说无论做什么事，都要事先做好准备。期末考试也是一样。要想取得好成绩，除了平时努力学习，打好基础，提高能力外，期末复习方法也很关键。复习方法多种多样，应该根据自己的实际情况，选取科学、高效的复习方法。这里向大家重点推荐一种复习法。

1、按照“循序渐进、阶段侧重、精讲精练、知能并存”的原则，把期末复习分成四个阶段：(1)基础复习;(2)强化能力;(3)查漏补缺;(4)模拟练习。

2、拿出一半的时间进行基础知识复习。对这些内容一项一项地归纳、整理，真正搞清楚，弄明白。然后，侧重能力测试题型的解题思路、技巧的练习。在此基础上，进行查漏补缺，以求尽善尽美。最后做两套期末考试模拟试题，熟悉考试题型、考场规则。四个阶段，四个方面，环环相扣，逐步深入，四位一体，一气呵成。

3、在复习过程中，要充分发挥学生自己的学习积极性，在老师的指导下，自己归纳、总结，找规律，抓特点，和同学一起讨论、研究，不放过每一个疑点，不遗漏每一个重点，不忽视每一个考点。

三、巧用试题

每位教师手里都有自己的期末练习题，还有学校订购的单元检测与期末复习题，期末复习题主要是供我们复习用，试题绝不能拿过来做一遍，一对答案了事。应先按上面讲的前三个阶段，逐项进行复习，然后再做题。做完后核对答案，发现问题，查漏补缺。最后，按期末考试的要求，独立完成“期末测试题”，起到事半功倍的效果。

外籍教师Richard想了解一下你所在班级学生的到校方式。假如你是李华，请以The way I go to school为题，写一篇英语短文，想Richard介绍自己的到校方式。

提示：

1. How do you go to school?

2. Why do you prefer to go in that way?

注意：

1. 短文必须包括所有提示内容，并围绕你所选择的某种交通方式，写出二至三个理由，可适当发挥。

2. 文中不得出现真实的人名，校名和地名。

3. 词数60-80个。(短文开头已给出，不计入总词数)

The way I go to school

I’m Li Hua.

参考样文：

I’m Li Hua. I go to school on foot. I have several reasons for that.

First, my home is not very far from my school, it is just about two kilometers away from school. It takes me about 20 minutes to get there. Second, walking to school is a kind of exercise. It is good for my health. Third, it’s pretty safe to walk to school because there is a lot of traffic on the road at this time of a day. So I prefer going to school on foot. It’s really a good choice.

1、Practice makes perfect.

熟能生巧。

2、Take care of the pence/pennies，and the pounds will take care of themselves.

积少成多。/小事谨慎，大事自成。

3、Swift to hear,slow to speak.

多听少讲。

4、Procrastination is the thief of time.

拖延就是偷走时间。

5、Tomorrow is another day.

明天又是新的一天。/明天还有指望。

6、Exploit to the full one’S favorable conditions and avoid unfavorableones.

扬长避短。

7、Promise little，but do much.

少许愿，多做事。

8、cripples learns to limp.

近朱者赤，近墨者黑。

9、Bend the willow while it is still youn.

修树要趁早，育人要趁小。

10、Knowledge is power.

知识就是力量。

11、Passion，though a bad regulator,is a powerful sprin.

激情虽难驾驭，却是强大动力。

12、Learn from other’S strong points to offset one’S weaknesses.

取长补短。

13、He than run fast gets the rin.

捷足先登。

14、We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.

井干方知水宝贵。

15、Our greatest glory consists not in never failin9，but in rising every time we fall.

人生最大的光荣，不在于永不失败，而在失败还能站起。

16、Ideals are like stars-we never reach them，but like marlners，we chart our courses by them.

人之需要理想，如水手之需星辰；星辰虽不可及，但可指引我们航程。

17、Youth’s stuff will not endure.

青春易逝。

18、A pet lamb makes a cross ralTl.

宠坏的羊羔会变成恶羊。

19、Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

做最坏的准备，怀最好的希望。

20、Do not throw the baby with the bath water.

别把小孩和洗澡水一起泼掉。

21、Wisdom is only found in truth.

惟有在真理中才能找到智慧。

22、A stitch in time saves nine.

小洞不补，大洞吃苦。

23、An hour in the morning is worth two in the evenin9./The morning hour has gold in its mouth.

一天之计在于晨。

24、Where there is a will，there is a way.

有志者事竟成。

25、Broaden one’S scope ofknowledge and widen one’S horizon.

拓宽知识，开拓视野。

26、He that can have patience can have what he will.

惟坚韧者始能遂其志。

27、Thought is the seed of action.

思想是行动的种子。

28、As you give，as you receive./As you sow，you shall mow.

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。

29、Every man is the master ofhis own fogune.

每人都是自己命运的主人。

30、Good health is the best treasure a person can procure.

健康是一个人最宝贵的财富。

31、Disappointment is the nurse of wisdom.

失败是成功之母。

32、The first step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.

走向知识的第一步是知道自己无知。

33、Home-keeping youth have ever homely wits.

孩子不见世面，知识少的可怜。

34、People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

自己有缺点，勿揭他人短。

35、Give me where to stand，and l will move the world.

给我一个支点,我可以跷起整个地球。

Some people believe (argue, recognize, think) that 观点1. But other people take an opposite side. They firmly believe that 观点2. As for me, I agree to the former/latter idea.

There are a dozen of reasons behind my belief. First of all, 论据1. More importantly, 论据2. Most important of all, 论据3.

In summary, 总结观点. As a college student, I am supposed to 表决心. 或 From above, we can predict that 预测.

This time, the main destination is Australia, a country which is in the Southern Hemisphere. I want to feel the opposite climate, see never-seen scenery and experience the land and its people and live a quite new life for 7 days.

So I have chosen a travel agent to help me with my journey. They offer Qantas flights the entire journey with free meals and three-star or four-star hotels for accommodation.

The first day:

I will take the Qantas Airways non-stop international flight (QF106) to Sydney, the capital of South Wales and Australia’s oldest largest city and port, to star the trip to Australia, overnight on board.

The second day:

Upon arrival, I will take a bus to visit St. Mary’s Church, Hyde Park and other interests. Then, I will visit the world-famous, Australia’s most beautiful building----the Sydney Opera House. There will be professionals conducting a detailed explanation in the House. By the

evening, I can visit the well-known Darling Harbor; enjoy the Sydney Bridge and a western-style dinner on board.

The third day:

After the breakfast, I will start from Sydney to Wollongong by bus. We drive to the Sea Cliff Bridge, the most beautiful and special part along the road. I can visit in accordance with steep cliffs and built up to 655 meters of overhead bridges to appreciate the beauty of the Pacific. Then I’d go to the cleanest beach of the New South Wales State; visit the first brewery in Wollongong and have lunch there. In the afternoon, I plan to go to Flagstaff Hill and enjoy the quiet and beautiful environment. At last, return to the urban area.

The forth day:

I will take a flight to Cairns, a city which is rounded by palm trees. It’s a tourist city, where there are magnificent mountains, dense rain forests. The forests are the world’s oldest, largest tropical rain forest. I can novel amphibious vehicles traveling around the forests, experience exotic enjoyment. What’s more, I can watch the indigenous people’s wonderful dance performance.

The fifth day:

Take a bus to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Terminal and take a ship to the world-famous Reef. Located off the coast of the north-eastern Australia, it is the world’s largest coral island, which stretches over 2000km, including thousands of coral reefs and shoals, known as “the eighth wonder of the world”. I would watch the colorful sea view, taking a submarine. And I have enough time to enjoy a wide range of water sports. (Including a buffet lunch on the island)

The sixth day:

I would fly to the capital of Queensland----Brisbane. Then I’ll take a visit to the South Bank Parkland where the 1988 world exposition had been held. Go to the City Hall located in the King George

Square. It is the central symbol of Brisbane. Then I will drive to the Gold Coast, which is known as a paradise for tourists. After arrival, I’d visit the Fool Terminal.

The seventh day (the last day):

After breakfast, I will go to the Warner Movie World, which is a theme park of an area of 1.68 square kilometers. I can enjoy the

roller coaster and see a different film production process, great

effects and super performance and a lot of cartoon characters. Then I will go to a farm to pay a visit. There I can experience a real farm life and get close to the koala, kangaroo and take photos with the cute creatures. (I need to pay for the lunch.) At last, I will take the QF505 to Sydney and the QF105 back to Hangzhou.

It is my plan to have a journey abroad. It will cost about 12000 RMB for the agency and I need another sum of money to support my self-consumption and other costs. Now I am excited about my upcoming travel to the very place that I have longed for for a long long time. I can not wait to go there .With my well-prepared plan, I firmly believe that I will have a wonderful journey in Australia.

[7天出国旅行计划英语作文

My holiday life will be busy but interesting.I am going to do my homework every day so that I can finish my homework on time.I am going to the library to borrow some books and go to the shops to buy some books so that I can read some interesting books.I am going to play sports such as playing basketball,table tennis,swimming and so on .Of course I am going to help my parents do some housework because they are busy with their work every day.I am going to spend a week in Shanghai with my parents so that we can see the expo.I am sure I am going to have an interesting and happy summer vacation.

既然要写好应用文，那就是要把应用文的一切了解清楚。下面是小编为大家搜集整理出来的有关于应用文写作的写作基础，希望可以帮助到大家！

一、结构的含义和作用

1.掌握结构的含义应用文的结构，是运用材料以表现主题的有序安排，是客观事物条理性在文章中的反映，为文章的组织形式和内部构造。文章的结构具有两重含义：一是宏观结构，即文章的总体构思、大体框架；二是微观结构，即对文章的层次、段落、开头、结尾、过渡、照应和主次的具体设计。               2.了解结构的作用结构好比文章的骨架，是安排文章的具体形式，是将材料化为文章的手段之二。结构是表现主题的手段，是准确表达主题的必由之路，也是引导读者领会文章思想内容的向导。写文章只有找到恰当完美的结构形式，才能把主题和材料组合在一起，形成一个完美有机的整体。其作用具体表现在：

（１）使文章言之有体。应用文大多有较固定的结构形态，它是人们在长期写作实践中经过选择，逐步找到的最适合表现某种内容的最佳形式，也称之为“程式”。如简报、书信和行政公文类文书，具有相当固定的惯用格式。

（２）使文章言之有序。合理安排文章结构，就是根据一定的思路，将零散的材料组织起来，使之眉目清楚地成为一个有机的整体。

（３）使文章言之有文。精心安排文章结构，可以增加文章的文采，从而增强其可读性。

二、安排结构的条件

1.了解思路的含义及思路与结构的关系

在文章结构的两重含义中，总体构思是具体设计的前提和基础。总体构思也就是人们常说的“言有序”，是指对材料的安排要有次序，这体现了作者的思路。思路是安排结构的条件。

1、思路的含义

思路是作者思维活动的路线，是作者在头脑中梳理、组织内容材料的过程和结果。它是作者对客观事物自身条理性的观察、理解。

作者思路清晰，结构必然有条不紊；作者思路不清晰，结构必然紊乱。经过选择的材料，只有经过合理的组织安排，使之条理化、系统化，组成一个有机的整体，才能准确鲜明地表现既定的主题。

2、思路与结构的关系

在写作构思阶段，作者的思维活动异常活跃。确立主题，选择好材料，并进而考虑如何表达主题和如何安排材料，由此逐渐形成一条清晰、连贯、独到的思维活动路线——思路。此时，文章的大体框架已在作者的头脑中“闪现”出来。等到作者用书面语言把思路表达出来时，文章的结构也就具体安排好了。因此，作者思路与文章结构的关系极为密切。具体表现为以下三点：

（１）思路是形成结构的基础和内核。结构是文章最主要的表现形式。要使结构完整、严谨、匀称，动笔前，就需要作者匠心独运，形成清晰、连贯并具独创性的思路，进而“外化”成纲目清晰、严谨周密的结构。但是，文章反映客观事物，决不是对其原始形态的简单搬抄和复制，而是在符合客观事物发展规律基础上的主观创造。因此，不同的作者。不同的文体有不同的思路。思路开阔而有创见，文章的结构就新颖独特；思路狭窄而落俗，会使文章的结构板滞僵死；思路紊乱，文章的条理就必然不清；思路松散，文章的结构就不可能严密紧凑。

（２）结构是思路的体现和反映。结构是思路的外显形式和文字载体。思路严密清晰，文章结构才能完整、严谨、清晰，主题才能得以准确地表达；思路紊乱、疏漏和闭塞，文章则会逻辑混乱、言而无序、首尾不能圆合

了解锻炼思路的基本要求及锻炼思路的方法

（１）注意思路的条理性和逻辑性，使之清晰、周密、连贯。清晰，指展开思路要有顺序、有层次，同时对材料要加以区分和归类。周密，指思路要周到、严密，没有疏漏和缺损，不要顾此失彼，自相矛盾。连贯，指思维活动过程及其表达不仅要注意外在的次序，而且要处理好各个意思之间存在的衔接、并列、转折、因果、总分等内在联系，做到气脉贯通、流畅。

（２）注意思路的灵活性、独创性，使之活跃、开阔、敏捷。活跃与开阔，是指思路的开展要打破思维定势，进行多向探索，使之灵活、新颖而富有个性。敏捷是指思路的展开、梳理直至成型这一过程应该灵敏、迅速，使文章结构紧凑、气势流转而顺畅。

（３）养成良好的思维习惯。一是养成有序思考问题的习惯，由浅入深、由表及里、由此及彼。二是加强逻辑思维能力的训练。应用写作主要靠逻辑思维，要遵循“提出问题——分析问题——解决问题”这一认识规律。

（４）写作前要通盘思考，立足于写作意图、目的和所用文体特点，确定如何起笔，主体分几个部分展开，怎样收尾。

☆定语和状语（时间、地点等）都属于附加成分，在基本句型中一般都不列出。

☆时态包含于句子中，任何句子都有时态。

1主语＋谓语(不及物动词)：S+V

It will rain tomorrow.

He often runs in the morning.

They cried.

Tom exercises every day.

2主语＋谓语(及物动词)＋宾语：S+V+O

I miss my mother very much.

She wants to go home now.

The English club is going to hold an English party.

They all love her.

3主语＋系动词＋表语：S+V+P

The music sounds wonderful.

The leaves have turned red.

She is a student.

We keep silent about that.

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

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

They told me an interesting story.

The waitress offered me a bottle of wine.

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

Miss Smith teaches us English.

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

They call me Xiao Wang.

I saw him swimming in the river.

We elected him monitor of the class.

对于我们农村地区的学生来说，英语写作非常困难。尤其在每一次的英语考试中，英语写作题型总是必不可少的，小编收集了初中期末英语作文的写作技巧，欢迎阅读。

一、学生写作过程中出现的现状

1.词汇量太少

词汇是英语写作必不可少的基本要素，要写好一篇作文以表达自己的思想，必须以足够的词汇量为基础，但实际上大多数学生掌握的词汇量都达不到规定的要求，因而在写作时也就不能随心所欲地表达自己的思想。出现的问题往往有拼写错误，影响理解;词语误用，表达不准确;某一词语反复使用，语言表达缺乏变式，文章显得单调乏味;文章中出现大量“造词”，让人看了啼笑皆非等。

语法规则和句型句式是英语写作涉及的另一基本要素。学生英语写作中出现的“大错”又多半是由语法错误引起的，学生在写作中语法不规范、句子结构混乱、含义不清等情况屡见不鲜，Chinese English现象更是不乏其中，所以词汇量和语法问题是中学生英语写作时首先要解决的问题。

2.词汇错误较多

学生在写作的时候，中式英语Chinglish ：如There are many people would like to go on a vacation. I by bike to school every day. 2、词汇错误：错别字、近义词混淆、词性误用3、词组、句型使用不正确，缺乏重点句型的使用：如I spent one hour to read the book yesterday. 4、时态、语态、人称把握不正确(审题不正确)。思维模式总是先汉语，后转化为英语，可能他想到了句子该怎样写，句型也知道的，但却有个别单词不会。如：“对我来说学英语是困难的”这个句子可能他想到了，句子结构“it is+adj for sb to do sth”也知道，但里面的形容词difficult不会写，导致句子表达含糊，以至于整篇文章错词百出，面目全非。

3.写出的长句达不到表达效果

一般的英语应试作文，总会给出汉语提示，学生写作也是从提示上入手，有的提示意思较长，所以学生写的时候会直接翻译，但对太长的句子又没有驾驭的能力，导致整个句子错误。

4.听力较弱影响写作能力

我们所面临的是一群农村学生，他们没有特别好的条件练习听力，每次的练习时间仅仅是每节英语课上，听听力的时间是在太少。有位作家说过：“不写没有读过的语言，不读没有说

的语言，不说没有听过的语言”。很明显，通过听的渠道获得语言信息及语言感受在英语学习中基础的基础。听不来也就写不上。

5.单词书写不规范，卷面书写较乱

对于大多数学生来说，格式、大小写、标点，书写不规范：句首字母大写不注意，使用从句时不会使用标点、大小写等)。如：After he went back home. He cooked supper.，考试时把单词写整齐的很少，学生普遍认为只要把单词写正确就可以得分，虽然觉得自己写的作文还可以，但卷子发下之后却没有得到期望的分数，而有的同学写作能力较差但书写整齐，写作得分也不是很低。

二、提高写作的方法

1.词汇的积累

初中学生在阅读理方面最大的障碍就是词汇量的缺乏，而扩大词汇量绝非死记硬背就能做到。最有效的方法就是大量接触各种不同体裁的英语文章，利用“在句中记，在文中记”的方法来积累词汇。因此我们指导学生依据英语报刊的特点，按栏目、话题、题材、体裁归类收集常用词，将出现频率较高的常用词汇积累到单词本子上，查字典写例句，初步学会这些单词的运用，放在身边，利用零散时间反复记忆，加强印象。

同时拟定时以单选、完型、阅读等形式考察学生对这些单词的掌握情况，通过测试和竞赛的方式进一步激发大家学习词汇的热情。不过，由于课程的时间安排问题，测试的工作开展较少，这也是实验工作中的一个不足。

2.熟练记住单词

( 1.) 巩固单词拼写，培养组句能力。 词汇匮乏是妨碍英语写作的最大障碍之一，有话想说，无词可写是大部分学生的苦恼。因此，我要求学生坚持每天听写、默写、循环记忆单词，掌握巩固词汇。还要求学生给出与单词有关的同义、近义、反义和词形相似的词，使词汇量得到最大限度的复现。如：反义词appear/disappear, crowded/uncrowded, polite/impolite/rude. 词形相似的词except/expect, chance/change/challenge. 还以某一词为中心，写出该词的不同形式或词性，组成典型的句型，从而不断丰富词汇和句型。如拼写单词die 时，不但要写出其过去式过去分词died，而且要写出其他词性(death, dead, dying), 再分别组句，如：The old man died two years ago. He has been dead for two years. His death made his dog very sad. It is dying.又如写到易混淆的词pay, spend, cost, take 时，可以多种方式表达句意。He paid 20 yuan for the book. He spent 20 yuan on the book. He spent 20 yuan buying the book. The book cost him 20 yuan. It takes him 20 minutes to read the book every day.等等。这样,通过大量的词汇练习不仅仅能有效地积累词汇，还为组句打下了基础，同时还能训练学生的发散性思维和总结、归纳、比较的能力，为学生正确使用词句奠定了良好的基础。以上这些机械操练虽然枯燥，但很有必要，它是能力培养的基础。在词句落实的基础上，可向学生提出稍高的要求，如写出高质量的句子： What a happy family I have ! (I have a happy family.) The story is so interesting that everyone likes it.( The story is very interesting. Everyone likes it. ) He didn’t come to school, because he was ill. (He was ill. He didn’t come to school.) I am good at not only English but also math.(I am good at English and I am good at math ，too. )( 2、) 阅读背诵精彩段落，围绕单元话题设计书面表达。 阅读是写作的 熟练记住每一话题的单词。熟记单词后让他们能够熟练的运用，能够把重点单词用来造句。然后熟记词组，特别是能够熟练的运用词组，能够用词组熟练造句。用词组和单词连成简单句，只要学生将句子表达清楚，语意连贯，就是一篇好的英语文章。

3.熟练使用简单句

简单句对学生来说相对好掌握些，可以要求学生们能够熟练划分主语、谓语、宾语。 正确掌握并列连词andbutor等词。在写作中要求学生不能随意发挥，也不能逐字逐句的翻译所给的文章，要求学生能抓住题中所给的条件，只要考生能将题中所给的要点全部表达清楚，而没有遗漏，在写作中并且注意到语言的连贯，那么就是一篇很好的英语文章。

4.加强听力训练，促进写作

目前英语听力教材使用的具体做法是：事先提出每课生词，教师领读几遍。排除生词障碍后，第一遍学生主让学生在课后反复听课文内容，并逐字逐句写下。每周星期五布置，星期一用课堂时间，教师将该文念一、二遍，让学生听写，教师收上来查阅，加以评讲。通过这种训练，提高学生的听力水平和表达能力。

5.书写规范，促进写作

关于书写的卷面整洁与否，字体如何，是老生常谈话题。可是由于印象分数的一分半分之差，很可能影响一生。在此处丢分纯属不值得，这也是笔者把它放在第一位的原因。在教学过程中，应坚持要求学生书写规范，写好匀笔斜体行书，注意连写，以及文面美观。可以采用出专刊的形式，让全班同学都参加英语书法评比，从而激发学生练习英语书写的兴趣，养成良好的书写习惯。

综上所述，在英语写作中听、说、读、写应同步发展。写作是一种语言输出形式，只有语言输入大于语言输出，语言输出才有可能。英语写作训练作为英语综合能力训练之一，是与英语的听说读是不可分割的，它们是相互影响、相互作用的有机统一体，必须注重听、说、读、写能力的同步发展。

比如笔者实施多年的“五分钟课前训练”：在上正课前五分钟里，要学生用英语讲述一个故事(积累素材);或者课前朗读一篇短小精悍的文章，让大家课后模仿;或者就大家平时关心的话题写一个发言稿或演讲稿进行课前发言;或者让学生自立主题，围绕自己喜欢的主题写一段话。这种课前训练取得了很好的效果。

美国作家舒伯特指出:“Reading is writing”，即：阅读能够促进写作，因为对学生而言,他们对生活的体验、对人生的认识大多是从书本上获得，从大量的阅读中获取的，阅读不仅能帮助学生积累思想,也能帮助他们积累语言素材。“You ought to read very carefully. Not only very carefully，but also aloud，and that again and again till you know the passage by heart and write it as if it were your own.” 这就清楚地说明了熟读成诵对写作是多么重要。所以要想写出好文章,就必须大量读书，它是写作的基础。

阅读对写作固然重要，但其它形式写作训练同样不可忽视，英语写作实践是英语写作理论转化为写作能力的“中介”。英语写作要突出实践，正如学习游泳一样，写作的能力是练出来的。课外练笔是课堂写作训练最有益的补充，因为课堂时间有限，仅靠课堂写作训练培养学生的写作能力是不够的。作文不是“学”出来的，而是“写”出来的。学生必须进行大量的写作练习才能掌握并且灵活运用各种写作技能，而且写作技能只有在不断写作的过程中才能逐步得到提高和完善。

此外,学生的英语语言意识和英语思维能力的培养也需要大量的练习。可见,课外练笔非常必要，应该给予重视。课外练笔的形式多种多样，可采用让学生写英语日记、写英语周记，教师也可有意识地给学生提供一些尽量贴近生活的时尚话题，如奥运会、环境保护等，让学生在课外习作。

I have made resolution, and I will try my best to improve my English as followings:

1. Do preparation and review, and listen carefully in class, take notes if necessary.

2. I will read more English books and learn more vocabulary at the same time.

3. By listening to English music and watching English movies, I could improve my listening ability.

4. With the help of dictionary, I will write diary in English once a month.

5. I will ask my teacher and classmates for help if there is any question and difficulty in studying English.

By this way, I could learn English better and better.

暑假就要到来了，我已经为它制定了一个忙绿的计划表了。

首先，我会找一份兼职，也许在我家附近的工厂工作，这样我就可以陪陪我父母。其次，之前我参加了一个小提琴的培训班，因为我对它很有兴趣。所以，我会在家多多联系。因为正如谚语所说的，熟能生巧。在假期末尾的时候，我会去好好地玩一玩。我比较想和朋友去旅行，也许去云南，也许是其他地方。去那些我从来没去过的地方肯定可以开拓我的视野。

制定一个好的计划并玩得开心。我希望大家都能有一个有意义的假期。

Here comes the summer holiday, I have planned a busy schedule on it.

Firstly, I will find a part time job, probably work in a factory which is near my home, so that I can accompany with my parents. Secondly, I have joined a violin course in the previous time, because I have interest on it. therefore, I will do more practice at home by myself. As an old saying goes, practice makes perfect. At the end of the holiday, it’s time for me to have a good time. I tend to go on a trip with my friends, maybe Yunnan or other wonderful places. Travel to the place I have never been to certainly can broaden my mine.

Make a good plan and enjoy it. I hope we all can have a meaningful holiday.

中考马上就要到来了，语文迷小编为大家整理提供中考英语写作万能句子，赶紧来看看吧。

1. 不用说…… It goes without saying that … = (It is) needless to say (that) …

= It is obvious that …

例：不用说早睡早起是值得的。

It goes without saying that it pays to keep early hours.

2. 在各种……之中，…… Among various kinds of …， … /= Of all the …， …

例︰在各种运动中我尤其喜欢慢跑。

Among various kinds of sports, I like jogging in particular.

3. 就我的看法……;我认为……

In my opinion, …

= To my mind, …

= As far as I am concerned, …

= I am of the opinion that …

例：In my opinion, playing video games not only takes much time but is also harmful to health.

就我的看法打电动玩具既花费时间也有害健康。

4. 随着人口的增加…… With the increase/growth of the population, …

随着科技的进步…… With the advance of science and technology, …

例：With the rapid development of Taiwans economy, a lot of social problems have come to pass.

随着台湾经济的快速发展许多社会问题产生了。

5. ……是必要的 It is necessary (for sb.) to do / that …

…… 是重要的 It is important/essential (for sb.) to do / that …

…… 是适当的 It is proper (for sb.) to do / that …

……是紧急的 It is urgent (for sb.) to do / that …

例：It is proper for us to keep the public places clean.

It is proper that we (should) keep the public places clean.

我们应当保持公共场所清洁。

6. 花费 spend … on sth. / doing sth. …

例：我们不应该在我们不感兴趣的事情上花太多的时间。

We shouldnt spend too much time on something we arent interested in.

7. how 引导的感叹句

例：那至少可以证明你很诚实。

At least it will prove how honest you are.

8. 状语从句

A)如果你不……，你就会…… If you dont …， youll …

例︰If you dont keep working hard, youll lose the chance.

如果你不坚持努力工作，你就会失去这次机会。

B) 如此 ……，以至于…… so … that …

例：At that moment, I was so upset that I wanted to give up.

当时，我非常伤心，最后都想放弃了。

9. 宾语从句

我认为，…… / 我认为……不 I think / I dont think that …

我想知道是否…… I wonder whether …

例：He doesnt think I should stop him joining the club.

他认为我不应该阻止他参加这个俱乐部。

10. Since + S + 过去式， S + 现在完成式。

例：Since he went to senior high school, he has worked very hard.

自从他上高中，他就一直很用功。

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

行文中要多次扣题，要一路扣题一路歌。材料引语和话题中的相关文字至少在文中出现三次以上。开头三句话内应点题一次，结尾应回扣标题，“回眸一笑百媚生”。中间至少扣题一次。几次扣题事实上也是在不断地提醒自己不要跑题。有球场上叫暂停的效果，可以调整思路和写法。

思想要健康。“思想健康”不是说要你只说冠冕堂皇的话，不是要你刻意拔高，“健康”是针对“病态”“庸俗”而言的，它的底线是不能欣赏违背法律法规和偏离社会道德的事。恋爱题材是考场作文的禁区，无论考生写得如何缠绵悱恻，真挚动人，因其行为是中学生日常行为规范所不允许的，这类作文自然得不了高分。

观点不可太绝对，要留有余地。“义正”未必要“辞严”，“理直”未必就要“气壮”。联系现实生活时，涉及社会黑暗面时，要有分寸，不要一味指责。“质问京山大冤案”。批评家长老师和社会要与人为善，抱着协商与治病救人的态度，要提建设性意见。不可尖刻讽刺挖苦，甚至恶意地进行人身攻击。

临场写作时可以根据题意和你的表达需要想像一个或一类读者就在你的面前。如以“沟通”为话题作文，写与家长的沟通，可想像父母就在身边;写“沟通”之艰难和必要，就好像误解过你的人正在听你倾诉;写国际间通过沟通走向合作，就设想自己参与了国与国的谈判。即使所写文章没有明确的阅读对象，你也可以想像此文是写给你的语文老师的。你要知道，你的文章的惟一读者是那位跟你的语文老师非常相似的人。写记叙文，且最好将主人公设定为自己。想想阅卷老师的喜好，说他们想听的话。尽可能赢得评卷老师的同情。

写法上可以求新。要考虑，怎样表现更智慧，更艺术，更有可读性;但更要求稳。我的意见是大家一定要在一种比较稳的情况下，确有把握时才可写小小说或者是写戏剧，或者是写别的，确有把握之后才写这种文体，如果没有把握的话，就选择比较稳妥的老的文体，老的写法。

不可按上年或前几年的高考作文思路行文。求新求变是人们所追求的，高考作文也不例外。但若按上年或前几年的高考作文思路行文，甚至拿来套用，机械模仿，不懂灵活应变，就会吃力不讨好，这也是失分的点。因为阅卷者大都是相对固定的，对以前的高考作文非常熟悉。不主张写诗歌文言文。

苦于材料缺乏则可以突出自己的爱好。你如果喜欢体育，那你就像体育记者一样，叙体育议体育，只要切合题意就好。你如果喜欢听××的歌看××的书爱好上网……你就可以将自己这一方面的经历和感受与命题联系起来。那样就不愁内容贫乏文思枯竭。不要瞎编乱造。靠编故事骗取老师的眼泪从而获得高分的时代已经一去不复返了。

要美化自己，而不是丑化自己。要显现自己的高境界大抱负多知识同情心，要显现自己以天下为己任的豪情。不要出于反衬别人等考虑而故意丑化自己，如果让评卷老师以为你真就是那样，那就麻烦了，因为高考是选拔性考试。从某个角度讲，评卷老师评卷的过程就是一个选择淘汰对象的过程。

字数以字左右为宜。不能给人凑字数的感觉，但也不能拖得太长，不允许加纸条。许欢写长文的同学，开篇要注意不要放得太开，开口不要太大，能跳过去的就跳过去，要相信读者的理解能力。要注意节省篇幅，要防止高潮来了没地方写了。切忌三段文。要突出的句子(扣题的表现主旨的文眼点睛之笔抒情议论议论文的分论点等)最好单独成段。

看到题目后，可先搜索一下自己以往所写的优秀作文，看有没有可以再利用的。需要注意的是一定要不牵强。

充分发挥自己的优势。认识水平高擅长理性思维的同学可选择议论文，擅长形象思维会刻画人物的同学可选择微型小说，擅长抒情的同学可选择散文。

精写前几段，给评卷老师留下一个好印象。要精雕细刻，要出彩。比如，可开门见山，直奔主题;可制造悬念，引人入胜;可提出问题，引人注意;或巧用排比比喻拟人等修辞手法，或巧述故事，引人入胜，或巧用题记，揭示主旨，或巧用诗文显诗意。写好结尾和过渡段。阅卷老师一般是S型的扫描全文。结尾可画龙点睛，发人深思;或总结全文，照应开头;或虚笔拓展，扩大容量;或精辟议论，深化主旨。

要给自己充足的构思时间，不要急于动笔。“宁停三分，不争一秒”，因为写作是“开弓没有回头箭”的，写到一半，突然发现，呀，把题目理解错了，或没领会好命题的要求。最可怕的是文章写到一半，又想另起炉灶。时间没了，心情也坏了，干着急。建议打草稿，防止“三边工程”(边立项，边设计，边施工)。考场作文不宜见异思迁，边写边改。要贯彻一种构思。一旦构思已定，就不要轻易改变。

要力避前松后紧虎头蛇尾。有些同学构思提纲拟好后，开头反复推敲，精雕细琢，后来发现时间不够，于是草草收兵。此外，要谨慎对待修改。今年实行网上评卷，更应慎重。修改一般只着眼于字词方面的，可用米尺比好之后划两横。结构方面不能修改。要保持卷面的整洁美观，要努力做到改动少而效果好。

如果偏题或者离题，作文的主要分数就失去了。为防止跑题，可从如下几点做出努力：一是将材料引语和话题联系起来思考，不可单看话题;二是看自己确立的观点能否用话题所给材料来证明;三是想一想这则材料当初发在媒体上登载是要达到一个什么效果的。万一跑题了，要考虑逆挽，使文章形成一种欲扬先抑的结构形态。

一定要完篇。熟话说，好文章是风头猪肚豹尾。没有豹尾，老鼠尾巴也要有一个，绝不能写半头文。用半篇文章给你评分，怎么会得高分?

要重视拟题，特别要注意不能缺题。不是万不得已，不要以话题做标题。张伟民讲那是一种浪费。拟题是显示你才气的一个好的平台，不能轻易放弃。缺题影响远不止分。正好给了评卷老师扣分的理由。

文章要有一至两个亮点。如果是记叙文，应该用抓人的情节和生动的描写表现你的真情，记叙文不能没有描写。如果是议论文，就一定要有--个典型的论据，就应该有纵横捭阖，很深刻的见解。如果是微型小说一定要有巧妙的构思。这个亮点还可以是一句富有哲理的警句，也可以是一个精彩的比喻，也可以是一个超常的搭配(酽酽的歌喉)。总之，要能使评卷老师精神为之一震。

National Days plans

National Day is coming.How are you spending the vacation?Do you have an exciting plan?Some of my pen pals told me their plans.

Percy form Changsha,Hunan.

I am going to Guilin. My aunt lives there.I am staying at my aunts house.She is showing me around the beautiful city.Iam taking so恩平优习网[www.QieWo.com]me photos.I am sure Ill have a good time there.

Mary form Wuhan,Hubei

I plan to visit Beijing for vacation.There are many places of interest in Beijing,such as the Great Wall ,Tiananmen Square,ect.Im going to Beijing by plane.Its very fast.I plan to stay in Beijing for five days.

国庆计划

国庆节马上就要到了。你会怎样度过这七天假日呢?你有没有一个让人兴奋的计划呢?我的一些笔友告诉了我一些他们的计划。

湖南长沙的珀西：我会去桂林旅游，我的阿姨住在那儿，我去就住在她家。她会带我参加那个美丽的城市，我也会照一些照片。我相信在那儿我会玩得很开心。

湖北武汉的玛丽：我想在节日[]去北京。北京有许多有趣的地方，像是长城，天坛等等。我会乘飞机去北京，因为那样比较快。我可能会在北京待五天。

[英语作文国庆计划

My summer holiday began on july.8，i plan to go to travel in my summer holiday.i will travel to zhangjiajie.i will go there by train.i will travel with my mother and my father and other friends.i will travel for five days.i also plan to do my homework in my summer holiday.i think i will have a good time.