应用文写作英语四级考试计划（精彩20篇）

高考中的写作部分既限制字数，又要包含所有要点，且不能逐条翻译。如果写作方法运动得当，会有明显的提分效果。下面来看看小编为大家带来的方法吧。

一、 从词汇入手，强化短语写作

有研究表明，词汇学习可以促进英语水平的提高(文秋方，1998)。培养和提高学生的英语写作能力应从词和句入手，抓好基础训练。英语是结构语言，具有其自身的固定搭配、习惯用语和基本句型(陈立华，2003)。而《牛津高中英语》教材大量的词汇和地道的生活语言、任务型编排体系以及文本体裁的多样性，为“写”提供了基本素材。教师可根据不同话题的写作要求，采用不同形式的方法对学生进行写作基础训练。比如：关键词和短语写作训练法，即教师根据本单元的写作话题，每天精心选择2～3个词组或句型，让学生做翻译和造句练习;一周之后，让学生运用这些词组和句型进行写作。通过这种训练方法，既可以培养学生的写作能力，又可以提高写作的效率，还可以帮助学生掌握一些习惯用语和句子结构，从而提高学生遣词造句的能力。

二、抓好基本句型的训练，促进写作

书面表达题是由许多句子组成的，句子是写文章的基础。要完成书面表达题，首先要从句子入手，指导学生如何用句子表意。从语言形态学的角度看，英语属于分析型的语言，它有较为固定的基本句型、稳定搭配、俗成短语等，要想在写作中用好它们，必须加强这方面的基本训练。

首先，要加强五种基本句型的教学训练。几乎所有的英语句型都是这五种句型的扩大、延伸或变化，因此训练学生“写”就要抓住五种基本句型，熟练掌握这五种基本句型。五种基本句型是：S+V，S+V+O，S+V+O+O，S+V+O+C，S+V+P。五种基本句型虽然能表达一定的意思，但无法比较自由地表达思想，因此还必须对学生进行扩句训练，在课堂上充分发挥学生的想象力。

其次，加强句型教学，要对一些句子进行分析，增强学生利用各种句子进行一意多种表达的训练。

最后，充分利用教材，对学生进行基本语感的训练。

三、从阅读入手，培养写作表达技巧

阅读与写作密不可分，阅读是写作的基础，是搜集素材、学习词汇句型和新颖表达方式的源泉。因此，教师应想方设法把阅读与写作结合起来，利用教材训练学生的写作技能，在阅读能力的培养过程中融入多种形式的写作技能训练，将写作教学贯穿于阅读教学中。笔者采用了如下方法：

1.利用教材，开展改写

在完成阅读教学，学生基本掌握文章内容的基础上，笔者进一步指导学生改写文章。改写要求学生注意人称、时态、直接引语、间接引语、遣词造句和谋篇布局等方面的变化，充分理解课文内容，认真思考，写出语言得体、内容完整的文章。例如：《牛津高中英语》模块6 Unit 2What Is Happiness to You?的Reading部分是一篇以对话采访形式出现的课文，在采访过程中，嘉宾Dr.Brain以体操运动员桑兰的经历为例，谈到他对幸福的理解。在完成阅读教学后，笔者要求学生用第三人称写一篇介绍桑兰的作文，并鼓励学生引用课文中描述桑兰的经典词汇和例句。如：hard?鄄working, energet?鄄ic, stay optimistic/positive, in good spir?鄄its; She was happy to devote herself to gym?鄄nastics等。通过这些训练，学生既加深了对课文的理解，又运用了所学重点词汇，同时学生的写作技能得到了实际的锻炼。

2.模仿范文，鼓励仿写

写的过程实际上是模拟读者阅读的过程;而阅读也是模拟写作的行为(戴军熔，2002)。教师可给学生一篇与书面表达体裁和题材相同的范文，让学生通过阅读完成类似话题的写作任务。例如：《牛津高中英语》模块1 Unit 3 Looking Good，Feeling Good的写作话题是保持健康。笔者从英文报刊上选择一篇有关如何科学合理地减肥、健身的报道，先让学生在课堂上进行限时阅读，然后提问学生：Which do you think is more important，looking good or feeling good? How would you keep fit?Why?等。学生通过模仿阅读材料的结构进行写作。通过阅读带动写作，由知识的输入到知识的输出，提高了学生表达的条理性和连贯性，为学生提供了写作策略和技能。

四、培养学生用英语写作的习惯

“临渊羡鱼，不如退而结网。”如果仅仅掌握了写作技巧，熟背了大量文章，不亲自动手实践还是不行的，没有一成不变的文章让你照搬。《英语课程标准》指出：基础教育阶段英语课程的总体目标是培养学生的综合语言运用能力。因此，我们要遵循“一切为了运用”的原则，提倡和鼓励学生亲自实践，动手写作，用英语给亲人、朋友、老师写信，用英语写日记，或用英语写便条，写留言短信，还可以用英语与老师谈心或反映情况，或给老师写每周情况报告或总结。只有将所学内容适时地运用于实际生活，才能内化成自己的能力。

五、重视写作的规范化训练

起始阶段的写作训练，培养学生良好的写作习惯非常重要。首先，书写和文体格式要规范。严格要求学生正确、端正、熟练地书写字母、单词和句子，注意大小写和标点符号，养成良好的书写习惯。同时对各种文体特点、格式要清楚，使学生熟悉规范的书面表达形式，用正确的标准评析和规范自己的书面表达。其次，写作过程要规范。一般来说，短文写作都要有以下步骤：审清题目要求;确定写作要点;选好动词，搭好句子骨架;有效连接，使短文结构紧凑;认真检查，保证卷面整洁。对学生进行写作模式的训练，这样看起来比较麻烦，但避免了反复，养成了好的写作习惯。

总之，随着新课改的实施和近几年高考(微博)评分标准的完善，对学生的书面表达能力提出了新的要求。作为高中英语教师，在教学中要根据不同时期学生的具体情况采取相应的教学方法，灵活多样地开展英语写作教学，有效调动学生的积极性，定能使学生厚积薄发，写出行文通顺、流畅、有文采的佳篇妙作来。

my  winter  holiday  pian

the winter holiday  ia  corning.  i’m  going  to  beijing  next  week.  i  will  go  there  by  piane.  my  perents  are  going  there  with  me.  we  are  going  to  take  a  trip  and  visit  my  aunt.  i  think  we  will  be  happy. 我的寒假计划

我下周要去北京。我将乘飞机去那里。我的父母和我去那里。我们打算去旅行，去看望我的姨妈。我想我们会幸福的。

Summer vacation will soon be over, we will be in a new mental outlook into the new semester. Further progress in this semester, I want to.

First of all, have a class of time, I want to be listening, dont do little affectations, chatting with classmates, to strive for the teacher in the classroom, all knowledge digestion; For problems to fools, humbly ask teachers and classmates.

Next, want to complete all homework assigned by the teacher carefully, do meticulous. The assignments classroom is complete; Assignments and homework on time independently.

Third, must complete the language lesson in advance before class. For your words, idioms, will need to recognize it in the dictionary, to understand the meaning; Learn to give the text segment, with the shortest language to write each section of each paragraph, then summarize the central idea of the text; After class, for each lesson, you first try to do; For the text and the class topic dont understand and wont do, to put it in a book strike down or down, took the issue to listening in class the next day, still can ask the teacher in class.

Fourth, to take advantage of Sundays and holidays, and continue to take part in the Olympic math, English, read more books, constantly enrich their own knowledge. To find time, more work.

To sum up, in the new semester I will work harder, strive for is to get good grades in every subject, when a all aspects are very good students.

暑假马上就要结束了，我们将以新的精神面貌跨进新的学期。在这个学期里，我要百尺竿头，更进一步。

首先，上课的时候，我要认真听讲，不做小动作，不和同学交头接耳，要力争把老师课堂上讲的知识全部消化;对于疑难问题，要不耻下问，虚心向老师和同学请教。

其次，要认真完成老师布置的所有作业，做到一丝不苟。课堂作业当堂完成;课后作业和家庭作业也要按时独立完成。

第三，要做好语文课的课前预。对于预习字词，成语，要先查字典把它认会，弄懂意思;还要学会给课文分段，用最简短的语言写出每段的段落大意，然后总结课文的中心思想;对于每篇课文的课后题，要先试着去做;对于课文和课后题不理解和不会做的地方，要先把它在书上划下来或记下来，第二天上课时带着问题去听讲，还可以在课堂上向老师请教。

第四，要利用星期天和节假日，继续参加奥数、英语，多读课外书，不断丰富自己的知识。要挤出时间，多干事。

总而言之，在新的学期里我要更加努力，争取每门功课都取得好成绩，当一个各方面都很出色的学生。

不知不觉的开学已经是近两个多月了，检验学生这一段时期学习效果的期中考试很快就要来临了。我应该如何合理安排时间，以保证我每一科都复习到位了呢?

第一，过于牺牲休息时间。第二，过于强调习题的训练。第三，过于寄希望于运气。当然还有少部分学生对于期中备考并不重视，指望考前几天的突击。

考前认真复习是能考出好成绩的前提，而有针对性的复习是提高复习效率的关键。考试之前要把学过的知识进行系统化复习，系统复习的过程其实是对学过的知识再认识和再加工的过程，使它更加系统化、条理化地保留在头脑中。

系统复习就是把每章、单元、阶段学过的内容进行整理，相对集中时间进行复习，把学过的知识重新推到一个新的层次的学习过程。

系统复习的基本要求与任务是：

(一)首先要作好思想准备

不管是哪种考试，要认识到考试的重要性，它是对自己学过的知识是否掌握多少的一次检验，反映出你学习过程中的成绩和存在的问题。所以思想上正确认识了，重视了，你就能全心地投入到复习过程中去。

(二) 制定的复习计划

根据学科特点制定出适合自己的切实可行的复习计划，对后几天的学习作出详细、科学、合理的安排，以便心中有数。同时要明确重点,攻克难点,侧重疑点。在对知识点进行梳理的时候应抓住重点、难点和疑点。复习更重要的是查漏补缺。

(三) 复习的方法多种多样

不同的方法也许适用于不同的人,我们应在实际运用中找到适合自己的复习方法,同时应注意不断地变换自己的复习方法。复习中要文理科交替，因为文理科交替复习能减少学科知识间的互相干扰和相互摄制，利于记忆，增强知识在脑海里的时间性。

(四) 适当做些综合题

综合题能反映出你对该学科的知识掌握的全面性。因为一门学科的知识之间都存在着密切联系，如果你做综合题做得较顺利，证明你在系统复习中对该学科的知识掌握是比较完善和系统化复习工作是做得较好的。如数学中的综合运算题就反映出你是否掌握各种运算法则和运算技能。这会增强你综合知识运用的能力。

(五)坚持做好系统复习

要认识相对集中的复习时间的宝贵，不能轻易浪费，所以要十分珍惜。把各学科的知识系统地进行整理，克服放松情绪。

(六)强化记忆，查漏补缺

在系统复习中，将平时自己在学习过程中对某方面的内容掌握不够的、理解还欠深刻的内容及时补正，达到完美无缺。

(七)融会贯通、强化记忆平时学习，是一个知识点一个知识点学习的，这就难免显得分散和凌乱，通过系统复习，可以把平时学过的知识一点一点地“串”起来。这样，“串”起来的知识就比较系统了。在“串”的过程中其实也是一个对知识的再认识过程，重新学多一次，再认识过程记忆中起着强化作用。系统复习次数越多，强化作用越多，印象也深刻。

1、思想重视的不够

随着各种教学法涌入我国，对我国英语教学影响最大的当数“听说法”和&ldquo,日记;视听法”。这些教学法提倡将英语作为一门工具来对待，侧重学生语言技能的训练。然而，我们在着意于口头技能培养的同时却忽略了书面阅读和写作，在强调语言结构形式的反复操练的同时却忽略了学生语言能力的培养，从而导致教师和学生轻视英语写作现象的产生。

2、写作素材的缺乏

教师对小学英语写作究竟要写些什么缺乏明确的认识。大部分写作练习表现为简单机械的抄写，学生容易完成，老师易于批改，但写作内容与学生生活缺乏练习。

3、母语文法的束缚

小学生刚刚接触英语，在表达的过程中难免受到母语的构词法、语法和思维方式的影响，用汉语的方式组词或组句，以至于出现大量的文法错误，让人啼笑皆非。

There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.

Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.

Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous; if you dont feel happy, pretend to be!

It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.

Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.

Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

[英语考试作文阅读

Love,It would have to be to you

[爱，它只属于你]

Softhearted is sick, but you are life.

心软是病，可你是命.

island is the scar of the sea

[岛是海的疤痕]

You ever far is my fixed lattice

(你永远是我的定格.)

The time that you are my most fatal.

时光深知你是我最致命的爱

Learn to sorrow blind eye.

[学会熟视无睹对于悲伤]

You dont laugh tears away.

[你别笑了眼泪都掉了]

I want to be your bride .

【 我想成为你的新娘 】

Lets make thing better.

(让我们做得更好)

Does not belong to me,I will let go

不属于我的 我会离开.

I am not greed but I envy.

我没有贪婪 我羡慕海枯石烂.

Let the time tell the truth.

任由时间说真话

Promises are often like the dust

承诺像尘埃

Everybody wants to be loved

谁都想被疼爱

I will always be, even if love pale.

我会一直在,纵使爱变苍白

The time that you are my most fatal

时光深知你是我最致命的爱人

Let me make you whole life youth

[愿我许你一生青涩年华]

You are my most adventure youth dream

[你是我年少时最冒险的梦]

If through time, through love

[倘若看透时光看透爱]

Who gives us meet but not concurrently give us forever.

是谁赐我们遇见 却不一并赠我们永远。

I think I will love you for a long time

我想我会爱你很久

Laugh Until You Cry; Cry Until You Laugh

笑到终于哭出来;哭到终于笑出来。

You were never mine to lose.

你从来就不属于我，谈不上什么失去

下面是语文迷小编为大家整理提供的英语写作技巧以及关联词，供大家阅读参考。

英语写作技巧之一：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.

英语写作技巧之二：删除诸如"who is”或"that is"之类的关系代词，变从句为短语，例：

句：The novel, which is written in three parts, told a story that took place in the Middle Ages.

修改后：The three-part novel told a story set in the Middle Ages.

注：把句中的"three parts"改用形容词来表达，节省了四个不必要的单词"which is written in"。我们经常可以将关系代词如"that"去掉，这只会引起最少的变动。

英语写作技巧之三：剔除你不需要的单词，例：

Two joint partners will present their views over a long-distance telephone call.

写完这样的句子后，你自己再读一遍，挑出单词"joint"和"telephone"，注意删去不必要的词。

关联词的积累

1.提出观点不要只用I think，要学会用：

As far as I am concerned

In my opinion

From my point of view

From my perspective

The way I see it

2.转折不要只用but， 要多用：

However,

nevertheless, nonetheless,

Whereas

Some people like fat meat, whereas other people hate it.

转折也可用比喻：as a coin has two sides(就象硬币有两面一样), …(陈述转折内容)

3.表递进的：

In addition, in addition to, additionally,

what is more, moreover, furthermore,

more importantly，

what is worse (更槽糕的是)

4.表示“事实上”：

In fact,

as a matter of fact,

actually

5.表总结：

in conclusion, as a result,

all in all 总而言之

In short,

In a word, 一句话讲

Taking into consideration,

Taking into account all the factors that I have mentioned above, it is safe to draw a conclusion that …

6.表示因此：

Consequently,

Hence,

Therefore,

Thus,

as a result,

resultingly

7.表因为：

because of

due to,

owing to,

thanks to,

as a result of,

8.虽然

Although, even though, even if, though

Proud as these nobles are, …

As flattered as I am, I would say no.

In spite of, despite

I love you in spite of that.

9.比较：

In comparison with,

compared to,

compared with

She’s nothing compared to you.

10.表最后：

Finally,

eventually,

in the end,

at last,

ultimately,

11.表示程度的副词词组亦非常重要，会使文章看起来比较成熟、辨证：

To some extent 在某种程度上讲

To some degree 在某种程度上讲

To a large part 在很大程度上说

In a sense 在某种意义上讲

In general, generally 大体上说

Generally speaking 一般地讲

In some cases 在有些情况下

Basically 基本上

Broadly speaking 宽泛地讲

12.其他(要尽可能多用在文章中。始终牢记内容次要，而语言形式第一位。内容服务于形式)：

Not only, but also

Neither nor, either or

Instead of, instead

For example, for instance (替换使用), take … for example

Be likely to

Be able to

Speaking of, when it comes to …

When it comes to food, he is really picky.

In terms of 根据

First of all, second of all

Above all,

Significantly,

The more, the more

导语：套用一些英语作文模板可以得到分数的提高哦!下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的相关英语作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Some people contend that ... has proved to bring many advantages (disadvantages)

有些人认为________有很多有利之处(不利之处)。

Those who argue for ... say that ...economic development of the cities.

觉得_____的人认为，______ 城市的经济发展。

Some people advocate that ....

有些人在坚持认为_________。

They hold that ... 他们认为_________。

People, who advocate that ..., have their sound reasons (grounds)

坚持认为______的人也有其说法(依据)。

Those who have already benefited from practicing it sing high praise of it.

那些从中受益的人对此大家褒奖。

Those who strongly approve of ... have cogent reasons for it.

强烈认同_______的人有很多原因。

Many people would claim that...

有人会认为___________。

Just as the saying goes: "so many people, so many minds". It is quite understandable that views on this issue vary from person to person.

俗话说，""。不同的人对此有不同的看法是可以理解的。

To this issue, different people come up with various attitudes.

对于这个问题，不同的人持不同的观点。

There is a good side and a bad side to everything, it goes without saying that...

万事万物都有其两面性，所以，勿庸置疑，____________。

When it comes to ..., most people believe that ..., but other people regard ...as ....

提到_________问题，很多人认为_________，不过，一些人则认为______是____.

When faced with...., quite a few people claim that ...., but other people think as...

提到_________问题，仅少数人认为________，但另一些人则认为_________。

Only the delicious food, know the whereabouts of your soul; Only the delicious food, listen with your heart to tell of the stomach. Have to hurry, how much we missed the pure delicious; Tip of the finger food, the food and love in your pocket. You have your personality, I have my pursuit: pot bag meat.

A week off to just into the house, smell a fragrant delicious cuisine. I am sure that mother gave me a delicious pot bag meat. I follow scent into the kitchen, did not beyond my expectations, mother in doing pot bag meat for me. Saw the delicious pot bag meat, stirs my saliva, slowly began to mean. I hurried back, that I may not let mother found. My mother asked me to write my homework first, and then wash your hands, give me to eat a delicious pot bag meat for a while.

I which have idea to write my homework, my mind only pot bag meat. I wash your hands, take the double I dedicated chopsticks quickly do the table. Soon, my mother brought a plate of golden pot bag meat came in, not mother put the pot bag meat on the table, such as I have already put a piece of into the mouth. Enjoy the pot bag meat delicious, mother see I eat with a smile. I asked my mother: "why dont you eat?" "I ate," mom said. I dont believe, just put a bowl to the mother. Then we together eat it with relish.

Pot bag meat, why are you so good? Let me have a special liking to you. Because the pot bag meat is permeated with mother selfless great love to me.

As the winter vacation is drawing near,I have a plan about my vacation.I am going to do what I want to do.I am going to study harder in order to get good grades in the following term.After finishing all my homework.I am going to enjoy myself in the sea of konwledge.Reading must be a good idea.I am going to keep fit at the same time.I will get up early in the morning everyday and play sports.I really love speats.Besides that,Eating a balanced diet is also good for my healthy.

schedule:

I will be in the third grade in the next term.Sin ce the highschool entrance examination is coming soon, there is a great need for me to make a precise plan of my studies.

From September to November,I will follow the teachers in the new lessons learning, and after cla, the contemporary exercises are necessary.

Before the end of the first term, I will review all the lessons from beginning again.

From March to April, review all I have learned a second time.

Beginning from April, models tests should be the all.Several days before the exam, I will go over all the mistakes in the pa-pe-rs and have a good rest for the exam.

Today is March 8th, the new term, the last but the most important term of junior high has been on for more than seven days. It means that there are only about three months left for us to study. We suddenly feel that time passes so fast. We still remember the first day we come to this famous middle school, but now, two and a half years has passed. Have you ever looked back and thought, what you did and learnt in the two and a half years? And how much did you learn from teachers, books or in any other ways?To ask yourselves, have you ever wasted time? If you say “never”, that’s very good. But if you say “Yes, often,” it is so regretful. But everything has passed anyhow, we can’t get it back, so the only thing we cann do is, to make better use of the time.

From now on, study hard. It’s not so late that everything can’t be changed yet. Everything is possible only if you try your best to do it. Believe yourselves, “Every man has his price.” Maybe you are good at study, you are good at singing or you do well in drawing……

So I always believe myself no matter where, no matter when. It’s very important, I think. Let’s try our best and put our heart into it. Wish you make good results in the last exam.

[英语学习计划作文

第一段：考生需要简明扼要地阐述图片内容，并点出该图画的主题。第一句话引出话题：例如:Nothing gets people talking like the topic that parents ‘role in family education(图画反映出的话题);第二句话开始正式描述图画，包含两部分：中心人或物正在干什么，以及重要细节是什么，因为是两幅图，就分别描写即可。Just as we can see from the first picture,... But when glance at the second, we know tht…第三句可以简单翻译中文标题或是描述，或者直接引出主题And below the drawing, a title which says that…。

中间段为阐释段。首句一般点出图片的象征寓意，也就是明确指出图片反映的社会问题，也就是该篇作文的中心思想。这篇文章的主题是父母应该通过行动来做好孩子的榜样,我们可以这样引出：What the cartoon really intend to extend is that parents should not only educate their children in words but also in deeds。具体的论证方法：原因，举例，对比、在这里，我们可以使用原因。这里有一些原因句型,可供大家参考：

1. Owning to /considering /given the fact that +原因

2.The major determinant lies in…

3. It is well known that/as we all know,… therefore, …

4. There is no doubt that… consequently, …

最后一段，给出评论或总结提建议。可以从怎样在行动上起到表率作用为切入口进行描述。

热点话题：

1、人口问题

2、 西部大开发

3、 网络和双刃剑(金钱，阳光)

4、成功，梦想和现实

5、职业选择和规划/高分低能

6、洋节和传统节日

7、神七上天和嫦娥奔月

8、地震与爱心

9、 奥运举办

10、 抄袭与诚信

11、伪劣商品

12、食品安全

13、抄袭与诚信

14、乱收费(因果：因：法律制度不完善，部分人只顾自己利益，忽视学生利益; 果：为社会，个人带来不良后果和巨大压力)

15、节俭与压力

16、心理问题

17、交通阻塞

18、创新创业

导语：2017端午节即将到来，下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的有关端午节的作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

whats your plan for dragon boat festival?

As a chinese, I was really ashamed of having a little knowledge of dragon boat festival. Perhaps I was born in northern city, though my city is nearby sea, it has been built a U port which I can only see cargo ships and cant see the sweeping ocean. So I have never see the dragon boat contest since I was born. So the dragon boat festival is just a holiday for eating Zong Zi. My mother made Zong Zi when I was a child. Because there was no supermarket, we couldnt buy finished product from market. However, now, we can buy anything in supermarket, so my mother didnt make them anymore. The boat festival began to fade out my mind.

In reality, young people began to have a bug to celebrate foreign festivals, such as Christams, Saint Valentines day, April Fools Day, some people also celebrate Easter in church. Talk about Dragon boat festival, its the same as some foreign conventional festivals, such as Witchs Day in Czech. People burned the witchs puppet so as to welcome spring. Some people are willing to celebrate foreign festivals because they like alien culture. And vice versa, foreigners who like China also concern about Chinese traditional culture.

After new holiday regulation, we have three holidays during the dragon boat festival. So many people will choose this time to travel. People who lived in Xiamen are able to visit Xiapu or Wu Yi mountain, these tourist attractions are in Fujian province,which is suit a short tirp. but Id like to stay at home for my decorate painting. I decide to draw two canvases about Christmas, its really a big project. Then Ill hang them on the new house wall. I must start it now, or I cant finish them before Christmas eve. But I preceive its a little difficult to draw them in such a hot season. ​

【参考译文】

你的端午节计划是什么?

作为一个中国人，我对端午节有点了解真是惭愧。也许我出生在北方城市，虽然我的城市在附近的海，它已经建立了一个U端口，我只能看到货船和无法看到席卷大海。所以我从出生起就再也没有见过龙舟比赛。所以端午节只是吃粽子的节日。当我还是个孩子的时候，我妈妈就做了粽子。因为没有超市，我们不能从市场上买到成品。然而，现在，我们可以买任何东西在超市，所以我的母亲没有让他们了。端午节开始淡出我的脑海。

在现实中，年轻人开始有了庆祝外国节日，如圣诞节、情人节、四月愚人节，也有些人庆祝复活节教堂。谈端午节，它同国外的一些传统节日，如巫婆的一天在捷克。人们焚烧巫婆木偶以迎接春天。有些人愿意庆祝外国节日，因为他们喜欢异族文化。反之亦然，外国人喜欢中国也关注中国传统文化。

经过新的假期规定，端午节期间我们有三个假期。所以很多人会选择这次旅行。住在厦门的人们都能够访问霞浦或吴仪山，这些旅游景点都在福建省，这是适合短期旅行。但我想呆在家里做我的装饰画。我决定画关于圣诞节的两画布，它真是一个大项目。然后我把它们挂在新房子的墙上。我必须现在开始，否则我不能在圣诞节前夕完成它们。但我认为其借鉴他们在这样一个炎热的季节，有点困难。

首先，我们要浏览GMAT作文题目、审题并写出开头段。

审题和开头段同时进行，一边看题一边写，这不是回避逻辑错误，GMAT考试而是将审题、找错和写作有机地结合。第一段的任务无非就是指出论题的结论、假设、论据，并指出题目有错误。同学们会发现，在我们GMAT写作的第一段中，逻辑错误会不断的涌现出来，而当我们把有问题的假设以及原论证的逻辑结构清理以后，该论证所存在的所有问题也就都暴露出来了。

在写完开头段并审好题后，大家要趁着头脑清醒，把主要的逻辑问题都打出来。

GMAT写作原文可能出现六七个逻辑错误，而大家只需要从中挑出3-4个最主要的进行有利的攻击就可以了。因为这篇文章能不能拿高分，直接取决于与你能否抓住主要逻辑错误。也就是说，如果你忽视了非常致命的逻辑错误，那么即使你把其它的错误批驳得再好，所用的语言再美，字数再多，最后照样不及格。有人担心是不是要把所有的错误都清理出来，实际上大家只要把主要的错误都清理出来，进行有利的攻击，同样可以拿到六分，正如ETS的六分例文一样。这样做的另一个好处是可以节约时间，因为考生在正文写作时往往会把顺手的段落大写特写，力争在某点上把敌人驳的体无完肤，但是等到意识到有其它的重要逻辑错误未被谈及的时候，时间却已经到了。而首先列出提纲则可以提醒我们点到为止，切实做到合理分配时间。与其把一个问题分析的特别透彻，不如把所有的主要问题都涉及到，即使不很透彻，也比前者要好。简而言之，Argument这部分展开批驳的时候，与其断其一指，不如伤其四指。

[GMAT考试作文的写作知识之整体布局

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

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

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

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

转眼间，期中即将来临，我要为自己制定一个期中复习计划。

1：现在是复习阶段，要配合老师复习每一篇课文。

2：认真做好每一道练习题。

3：利用休息时间，多温习功课，做练习。

语文：

1：回家多报听写。

2：多温习每篇课文。

3：复习的时候专心听讲。

4：多看看抄的笔记，帮助复习。

数学：

1：上课配合老师完成练习题。

2：不懂的题及时向老师请教。

3：认真完成老师布置的作业。

4：自己多找找练习题多做做。

英语：

1：在复习期间，多听磁带，以便于帮助听力。

2：大大声声地读英语单词或句子 ，最好让父母听见。

3：每天要爸爸妈妈坚持为自己报听写。

4：每天早晨一起床，就让爸爸妈妈把磁带放着，这样，你就可以充分利用时间复习。

5：每天晚上，听磁带，听一下，按停止，自己找一张纸写上，练习笔试。

以上就是我的期中复习计划，祝我期中能考个好成绩!!

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.

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.

【第一篇】

俗话说：工欲善其事，必先利其器，期末考试也是一样。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，期末复习方法也很关键。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。

我要严格的按照我的复习计划复习，希望期末考试能考出一个理想的成绩。

【第二篇】

期末的脚步渐渐来临，我们班也进入了紧张的复习阶段。为了充分地管理好时间，我制定了一份期末复习计划。因为这次的期末考可能是要调考的，所以，我要严格安排自己的复习时间。首先，我的语文方面还是不错的，就是要多读多背，以便考试的时候避免不会写的词语、生字。除了要背诵以外，还要多看看全解里的资料还有上课写的笔记，那样能增长从课文中学不到的知识。还要仔细看单元作文，并再次修改。

数学的公式和定律要好好地背诵，一边抄一边背。因为它们是最重要的，它会涉及到课本中学过的知识，背公式和定律就等于复习一遍。数学练习册的错题还要及时订正，这样就不会在考试的时候又做错。

英语虽然是我的强项，因为我以前经常读背单词，所以英语是我的强项，但是必须每一课的内容都会读。但是这一次，我得开始好好地听读背英语了，因为每一次考试都是在这些方面丢分的。边背课文边背单词，这样有利于理解单词的用法。在此基础上，去复习语法，肯定能起到事半功倍的效果！

以前的考试我都吃了大亏，但是这一次，我不能再那样子了。我要争取考上全班前二名，加油！

导语：冰冻三尺，非一日之寒，练习英语写作也是一样，三天打鱼两天晒网是不行的，必须得持之以恒的练习，才会有进步。下面是yuwenmi小编为还在备考的同学整理的优秀英语素材，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

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

依照最近的一项调查，每年有4，000，000人死于与吸烟有关的疾病。

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

最近的调查显示相当多的孩子对家庭作业没什么好感。

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

没有一项发明像互联网一样同时受到如此多的赞扬和批评。

4. 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。

11. There is no denying the fact that air pollution is an extremely serious problem: the city authorities should take strong measures to deal with it.

无可否认，空气污染是一个极其严重的问题：城市当局应该采取有力措施来解决它。

12. An investigation shows that female workers tend to have a favorable attitude toward retirement.

一项调查显示妇女欢迎退休。

13. A proper part-time job does not occupy students too much time. In fact, it is unhealthy for them to spend all of time on their study. As an old saying goes: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

一份适当的业余工作并不会占用学生太多的时间，事实上，把全部的时间都用到学习上并不健康，正如那句老话：只工作，不玩耍，聪明的孩子会变傻。

14. Any government, which is blind to this point, may pay a heavy price.

任何政府忽视这一点都将付出巨大的代价。

15.Nowadays, many students always go into raptures at the mere mention of the coming life of high school or college they will begin. Unfortunately, for most young people, it is not pleasant experience on their first day on campus.

当前，一提到即将开始的学校生活，许多学生都会兴高采烈。然而，对多数年轻人来说，校园刚开始的日子并不是什么愉快的经历。

16. In view of the seriousness of this problem, effective measures should be taken before things get worse.

考虑到问题的严重性，在事态进一步恶化之前，必须采取有效的措施。

17. The majority of students believe that part-time job will provide them with more opportunities to develop their interpersonal skills, which may put them in a favorable position in the future job markets.

大部分学生相信业余工作会使他们有更多机会发展人际交往能力，而这对他们未来找工作是非常有好处的。

18. It is indisputable that there are millions of people who still have a miserable life and have to face the dangers of starvation and exposure.

无可争辩，现在有成千上万的人仍过着挨饿受冻的痛苦生活。

19. Although this view is wildly held, this is little evidence that education can be obtained at any age and at any place.

尽管这一观点被广泛接受，很少有证据表明教育能够在任何地点、任何年龄进行。

20. No one can deny the fact that a persons education is the most important aspect of his life.

没有人能否认：教育是人生最重要的一方面。

21. People equate success in life with the ability of operating computer.

人们把会使用计算机与人生成功相提并论。

22. In the last decades, advances in medical technology have made it possible for people to live longer than in the past.

在过去的几十年，先进的医疗技术已经使得人们比过去活的时间更长成为可能。

23. In fact, we have to admit the fact that the quality of life is as important as life itself.

事实上，我们必须承认生命的质量和生命本身一样重要。

24. We should spare no effort to beautify our environment.

我们应该不遗余力地美化我们的环境。

25. People believe that computer skills will enhance their job opportunities or promotion opportunities.

人们相信拥有计算机技术可以获得更多工作或提升的机会。

26. The information Ive collected over last few years leads me to believe that this knowledge may be less useful than most people think.

从这几年我搜集的信息来看，这些知识并没有人们想象的那么有用。

27. Now, it is generally accepted that no college or university can educate its students by the time they graduation.

现在，人们普遍认为没有一所大学能够在毕业时候教给学生所有的知识。

28. This is a matter of life and death--a matter no country can afford to ignore.

这是一个关系到生死的问题，任何国家都不能忽视。

29. For my part, I agree with the latter opinion for the following reasons:

我同意后者，有如下理由：

30. Before giving my opinion, I think it is important to look at the arguments on both sides.

在给出我的观点之前，我想看看双方的观点是重要的。

31. This view is now being questioned by more and more people.

这一观点正受到越来越多人的质疑。

32. Although many people claim that, along with the rapidly economic development, the number of people who use bicycle are decreasing and bicycle is bound to die out. The information Ive collected over the recent years leads me to believe that bicycle will continue to play extremely important roles in modern society.

尽管许多人认为随着经济的高速发展，用自行车的人数会减少，自行车可能会消亡， 然而，这几年我收集的一些信息让我相信自行车仍然会继续在现代社会发挥极其重要的作用。

33. Environmental experts point out that increasing pollution not only causes serious problems such as global warming but also could threaten to end human life on our planet.

环境学家指出：持续增加的污染不仅会导致像全球变暖这样严重的问题，而且还将威胁到人类在这个星球的生存。

34. In view of such serious situation, environmental tools of transportation like bicycle are more important than any time before.

考虑到这些严重的状况，我们比以往任何时候更需要像自行车这样的环保型交通工具。

35. Using bicycle contributes greatly to peoples physical fitness as well as easing traffic jams.

使用自行车有助于人们的身体健康，并极大地缓解了交通阻塞。

36. Despite many obvious advantages of bicycle, it is not without its problem.

尽管自行车有许多明显的优点，但是它也存在它的问题。

37. Bicycle cant be compared with other means of transportation like car and train for speed and comfort.

在速度和舒适度方面，自行车是无法和汽车、火车这样的交通工具相比的。

38. From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that advantages of bicycle far outweigh its disadvantages and it will still play essential roles in modern society.

通过以上讨论，我们可以得出结论：自行车的优点远大于缺点，并且在现代社会它仍将发挥重要作用。

39. There is a general discussion these days over education in many colleges and institutes. One of the questions under debate is whether education is a lifetime study.

当前在高校和研究机构对教育存在着大量争论，其中一个问题就是教育是否是个终身学习的过程。

40. This issue has caused wide public concern.

这个问题已经引起了广泛关注。

41. It must be noted that learning must be done by a person himself.

必须指出学习只能靠自己。

42. A large number of people tend to live under the illusion that they had completed their education when they finished their schooling. Obviously, they seem to fail to take into account the basic fact that a persons education is a most important aspect of his life.

许多人存在这样的误解，认为离开学校就意味着结束了他们的教育。显然，他们忽视了教育是人生重要部分这一基本事实。

43. As for me, Im in favor of the opinion that education is not complete with graduation, for the following reasons:

就我而言，我同意教育不应该随着毕业而结束的观点，有以下原因：

44. It is commonly accepted that no college or university can educate its students by the time they graduate.

人们普遍认为高校是不可能在毕业的时候教会他们的学生所有知识的。

45. Even the best possible graduate needs to continue learning before she or he becomes an educated person.

即使最优秀的毕业生，要想成为一个博学的人也要不断地学习。

46. It is commonly thought that our society had dramatically changed by modern science and technology, and human had made extraordinary progress in knowledge and technology over the recent decades.

人们普遍认为我们的现代科技使我们的社会发生了巨大的变化，近几十年人类在科技方面取得了惊人的进步。

47. Now people in growing numbers are beginning to believe that learning new skills and knowledge contributes directly to enhancing their job opportunities or promotion opportunities.

现在越来越多的人开始相信学习新的技术和知识能直接帮助他们获得工作就会或提升的机会。

48. An investigation shows that many older people express a strong desire to continue studying in university or college.

一项调查显示许多老人都有到大学继续学习的愿望。

49. For the majority of people, reading or learning a new skill has become the focus of their lives and the source of their happiness and contentment after their retirement.

对大多数人来讲，退休以后，阅读或学习一项新技术已成为他们生活的中心和快乐的来源。

50. For people who want to adopt a healthy and meaningful life style, it is important to find time to learn certain new knowledge. Just as an old saying goes: it is never too late to learn.

对于那些想过上健康而有意义的生活的人们来说，找时间学习一些新知识是很重要的，正如那句老话：活到老，学到老。

51. There is a general debate on the campus today over the phenomenon of college or high school students doing a part-time job.

对于大学或高中生打工这一现象，校园里进行着广泛的争论。

52. By taking a major-related part-job, students can not only improve their academic studies, but gain much experience, experience they will never be able to get from the textbooks.

通过做一份和专业相关的工作，学生不仅能够提高他们的专业能力，而且能获得从课本上得不到的经验。

53. Although peoples lives have been dramatically changed over the last decades, it must be admitted that, shortage of funds is still the one of the biggest questions that students nowadays have to face because that tuition fees and prices of books are soaring by the day

近几十年，尽管人们的生活有了惊人的改变，但必须承认，由于学费和书费日益飞涨，资金短缺仍然是学生们面临的最大问题之一。

54. Consequently, the extra money obtained from part-time job will strongly support students to continue to their study life.

因此，业余工作挣来的钱将强有力地支持学生们继续他们的求学生活。

55. From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw a conclusion that part-time job can produce a far-reaching impact on students and they should be encouraged to take part-time job, which will benefit students and their family, even the society as a whole.

通过上面的讨论，我们不难得出结论：业余工作对学生们会产生深远的影响，我们应鼓励学生从事业余工作，这将有利于学生和他们的家庭，甚至整个社会。

56. These days, people in growing numbers are beginning to complain that work is more stressful and less leisurely than in past. Many experts point out that, along with the development of modern society, it is an inevitable result and there is no way to avoid it.

现在，越来越多的人们开始抱怨工作比以前更有压力。许多专家指出这是现代社会发展必然的结果，无法避免。

57. It is widely acknowledged that computer and other machines have become an indispensable part of our society, which make our life and work more comfortable and less

laborious.

人们普遍认为计算机和其他机器已经成为我们社会必不可少的一部分。 它们使我们的生活更舒适，减少了大量劳动。

58. At the same time, along with the benefits of such machines, employees must study knowledge involved in such machines so that they are able to control them.

同时，随着这些机器带给我们的好处，员工们也必须要学习与之相关的知识以便使用它们。

59. No one can deny the basic fact that it is impossible for average workers to master those high-technology skills easily.

没有人能否认这一基本事实：对于一般工人来讲，轻松掌握这些技术是不可能的。

60. In the second place, there seem to be too many people without job and not enough job position.

第二方面，失业的人似乎太多而又没有足够的工作岗位。

61. Millions of people have to spend more time and energy on studying new skills and technology so that they can keep a favorable position in job market.

成千上万的人们不得不花费更多的精力和时间学习新的技术和知识，使得他们在就业市场能保持优势。

62. According to a recent survey, a growing number of people express a strong desire to take another job or spend more time on their job in order to get more money to support their family.

根据最近的一项调查，越来越多的人表达了想从事另外的工作或加班以赚取更多的钱来补贴家用的强烈愿望。

63. From what has been discussed above, I am fully convinced that the leisure life-style is undergoing a decline with the progress of modern society, it is not necessary a bad thing.

通过以上讨论，我完全相信，随着现代社会的进步，幽闲的生活方式正在消失并不是件坏事。

64. The problem of international tourism has caused wide public concern over the recent years.

近些年，国际旅游的问题引起了广泛关注。

65. Many people believe that international tourism produce positive effects on economic growth and local government should be encouraged to promote international tourism.

许多人认为国际旅游对经济发展有积极作用，应鼓励地方政府发展国际旅游。

66. But what these people fail to see is that international tourism may bring about a disastrous impact on our environment and local history.

但是这些人忽视了国际旅游可能会给当地环境和历史造成的灾难性的影响。

67. As for me, Im firmly convinced that the number of foreign tourists should be limited, for the following reasons:

就我而言，我坚定地认为国外旅游者的数量应得到限制，理由如下：

68. In addition, in order to attract tourists, a lot of artificial facilities have been built, which have certain unfavorable effects on the environment.

另外，为了吸引旅游者，大量人工设施被修建，这对环境是不利的。

69. For lack of distinct culture, some places will not attract tourists any more. Consequently, the fast rise in number of foreign tourists may eventually lead to the decline of local tourism.

由于缺乏独特的文化，一些地方不再吸引旅游者。因此，国外旅游者数量的快速增加可能最终会导致当地旅游业的衰败。

70. There is a growing tendency for parents to ask their children to accept extra educational programs over the recent years.

近些年，父母要求他们的孩子接受额外的教育呈增长的势头。

71. This phenomenon has caused wide public concern in many places of world.

这一现象在全世界许多地方已引起了广泛关注。

72. Many parents believe that additional educational activities enjoy obvious advantage. By extra studies, they maintain, their children are able to obtain many kinds of practical skills and useful knowledge, which will put them in a beneficial position in the future job markets when they grow up.

许多家长相信额外的教育活动有许多优点，通过学习，他们的孩子可以获得很多实践技能和有用的知识，当他们长大后，这些对他们就业是大有好处的。

73. In the first place, extra studies bring about unhealthy impacts on physical growth of children. Educational experts point out that, it is equally important to take some sport activities instead of extra studies when children have spent the whole day in a boring classroom.

首先，额外的学习对孩子们的身体发育是不利的。教育专家指出，孩子们在枯燥的教室里呆了一整天后，从事一些体育活动，而不是额外的学习，是非常重要的。

74. Children are undergoing fast physical development; lack of physical exercise may produce disastrous influence on their later life.

孩子们正处于身体快速发育时期，缺乏体育锻炼可能会对他们未来的生活造成严重的影响。

75. In the second place, from psychological aspect, the majority of children seem to tend to have an unfavorable attitude toward additional educational activities.

第二，从心理上讲，大部分孩子似乎对额外的学习没有什么好感。

76. It is hard to imagine a student focusing their energy on textbook while other children are playing.

当别的孩子在玩耍的时候，很难想象一个学生能集中精力在课本上。

77. Moreover, children will have less time to play and communicate with their peers due to extra studies, consequently, it is difficult to develop and cultivate their character and interpersonal skills. They may become more solitary and even suffer from certain mental illness.

而且，由于要额外地学习，孩子们没有多少时间和同龄的孩子玩耍和交流，很难培养他们的个性和交际能力。他们可能变得孤僻甚至产生某些心理疾病。

78. From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that, although extra studies indeed enjoy many obvious advantages, its disadvantages shouldnt be ignored and far outweigh its advantages. It is absurd to force children to take extra studies after school.

通过以上讨论，我们可以得出结论：尽管额外学习的确有很多优点，但它的缺点不可忽视，且远大于它的优点。因此，放学后强迫孩子额外学习是不明智的。

79. Any parents should place considerable emphasis on their children to keep the balance between play and study. As an old saying goes: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

任何家长都应非常重视保持孩子在学习与玩耍的平衡，正如那句老话：只工作，不玩耍，聪明的孩子会变傻。

80. There is a growing tendency for parent these days to stay at home to look after their children instead of returning to work earlier.

现在，父亲或母亲留在家里照顾他们的孩子而不愿过早返回工作岗位正成为增加的趋势。

81. Parents are firmly convinced that, to send their child to kindergartens or nursery schools will have an unfavorable influence on the growth of children.

父母们坚定地相信把孩子送到幼儿园对他们的成长不利。

82. However, this idea is now being questioned by more and more experts, who point out that it is unhealthy for children who always stay with their parents at home.

然而，这一想法正遭受越来越多的专家的质疑，他们指出，孩子总是呆在家里，和父母在一起，是不健康的。

83. Although parent would be able to devote much more time and energy to their children, it must be admitted that, parent has less experience and knowledge about how to educate and supervise children, when compared with professional teachers working in kindergartens or nursery schools.

尽管父母能在他们孩子身上投入更多时间和精力，但是必须承认，与工作在幼儿园的专职教师相比，他们在如何管理教育孩子方面缺乏知识和经验。

84. From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw a conclusion that, although the parents desire to look after children by themselves is understandable, its disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.

通过以上讨论，我们可以得出如下结论：尽管家长想亲自照看孩子的愿望是可以理解的，但是这样做的缺点远大于优点。

85. Parents should be encouraged to send their children to nursery schools, which will bring about profound impacts on children and families, and even the society as a whole.

应该鼓励父母将他们的孩子送到幼儿园，这将对孩子，家庭，甚至整个社会产生深远的影响。

86. Many leaders of government always go into raptures at the mere mention of artistic and cultural projects. They are forever talking about the nice parks, the smart sculptures in central city and the art galleries with various valuable rarities. Nothing, they maintain, is more essential than such projects in the economic growth.

只要一提起艺术和文化项目，一些政府领导就会兴奋不已，他们滔滔不绝地说着美丽的公园，城市中心漂亮的雕塑，还有满是稀世珍宝的艺术展览馆。他们认为在经济发展中，没有什么比这些艺术项目更重要了。

87. But is it really the case? The information Ive collected over last few years leads me to believe that artistic and cultural projects may be less useful than many governments think. In fact, basic infrastructure projects are playing extremely important role and should be given priority.

这是真的吗?这些年我收集的信息让我相信这些文化、艺术项目并没有许多政府想象的那么重要。事实上，基础设施建设非常重要，应该放在首位。

88. Those who are in favor of artistic and cultural projects advocate that cultural environment will attract more tourists, which will bring huge profits to local residents. Some people even equate the build of such projects with the improving of economic construction.

那些赞成建设文化艺术项目的人认为文化环境会吸引更多的游客，这将给当地居民带来巨大的利益。一些人甚至把建设文化艺术项目与发展经济建设等同起来。

89. Unfortunately, there is very few evidence that big companies are willing to invest a huge sums of money in a place without sufficient basic projects, such as supplies of electricity and water.

然而，很少有证据表明大公司愿意把巨额的资金投到一个连水电这些基础设施都不完善的地方去。

90. From what has been discussed above, it would be reasonable to believe that basic projects play far more important role than artistic and cultural projects in peoples life and economic growth.

通过以上讨论，我们有理由相信在人们的生活和经济发展方面，基础建设比艺术文化项目发挥更大的作用。

91. Those urban planners who are blind to this point will pay a heavy price, which they cannot afford it.

那些城市的规划者们如果忽视这一点，将会付出他们无法承受的代价。

92. There is a growing tendency these days for many people who live in rural areas to come into and work in city. This problem has caused wide public concern in most cities all over the world.

农民进城打工正成为增长的趋势，这一问题在世界上大部分城市已引起普遍关注。

93. An investigation shows that many emigrants think that working at city provide them with not only a higher salary but also the opportunity of learning new skills.

一项调查显示许多民工认为在城市打工不仅有较高的收入，而且能学到一些新技术。

94. It must be noted that improvement in agriculture seems to not be able to catch up with the increase in population of rural areas and there are millions of peasants who still live a miserable life and have to face the dangers of exposure and starvation.

必须指出，农业的发展似乎赶不上农村人口的增加，并且仍有成千上万的农民过着缺衣挨饿的贫寒生活。

95. Although rural emigrants contribute greatly to the economic growth of the cities, they may inevitably bring about many negative impacts.

尽管民工对城市的经济发展做出了巨大贡献，然而他们也不可避免的带来了一些负面影响。

96. Many sociologists point out that rural emigrants are putting pressure on population control and social order; that they are threatening to take already scarce city jobs; and that they have worsened traffic and public health problems.

许多社会学家指出民工正给人口控制和社会治安带来压力。他们正在威胁着本已萧条的工作市场，他们恶化了交通和公共卫生状况。

97. It is suggested that governments ought to make efforts to reduce the increasing gap between cities and countryside. They ought to set aside an appropriate fund for improvement of the standard of peasants lives. They ought to invite some experts in agriculture to share their experiences, information and knowledge with peasants, which will contribute directly to the economic growth of rural areas.

建议政府应该努力减少正在拉大的城乡差距。应该划拨适当的资金提高农民的生活水平;应该邀请农业专家向农民介绍他们的经验，知识和信息，这些将有助于发展农村经济。

98. In conclusion, we must take into account this problem rationally and place more emphases on peasants lives. Any government that is blind to this point will pay a heavy price.

总之，我们应理智考虑这一问题，重视农民的生活。任何政府忽视这一点都将付出巨大的代价。

99. Although many experts from universities and institutes consistently maintain that it is an inevitable part of an independent life, parents in growing numbers are starting to realize that people, including teachers and experts in education, should pay considerable attention to this problem.

尽管来自高校和研究院的许多专家坚持认为这是独立生活不可避免的一部分，然而越来越多的家长开始意识到包括教师和教育专家在内的人们应该认真对待这一问题。

100. As for me, it is essential to know, at first, what kind of problems young students possible would encounter on campus.

我认为，首先应看看学生们在校园可能遇到哪些问题。

121. on the one hand, it is indisputable that boarding schools are exerting a growing important effect, especially in last few years.

一方面，寄宿学校正在发挥越来越重要的作用，尤其是最近几年，这是无可争辩的。

122. students attend a boarding school would cultivate their independence as apart from their parents.

离开父母上寄宿学校的学生将会培养他们的独立性

123. whats more, living in school can save them a great deal of time on the way between home and school everyday, so they would be able to concentrate more time and energy on their academic work.

而且，生活在学校里能节省大量每天往返于学校和家的路上的时间，这会使他们有更多的时间和精力放在学习上。

124. on the other hand, the contribution of day schools cant be ignored.

另一方面，日制学校的贡献是不能忽视的。

125. due to high tuition fee, most of ordinary families cannot afford to send their children to boarding schools.

因为较高的学费，大部分普通家庭支付不起他们的孩子上寄宿学校的费用。

126. since it is unnecessary to consider students routinelife, day school can lay stress on teaching instead of other aspects, such as management of dormitory and cafeteria.

由于无需考虑学生的日常生活，日制学校可以将重点放在教学上而不是放在像宿舍和食堂管理这些方面。

127. furthermore, students living in their own home would have access to a comfortable life and have more opportunities to communicate with their parents, which have beneficial impact on development of their personal character.

而且，学生生活在自己家中，有舒适的生活，并有更多机会和父母交流，这对他们个性的培养是有利的。

128. from what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that both of day schools and boarding schools are important to train young students for our society.

通过以上讨论，我们可以得出结论，寄宿学校和日制学校对我们社会培养年轻学生都是重要的。

129. there is much discussion over science and technology. one of the questions under debate is whether traditional technology and methods are bound to die out when a country begins to develop modern science and technology.

关于科学技术存在许多争论，其中一个问题是当国家发展现代科学技术时，传统的技术方法是否可能会消亡?

130. as for me, the declining of traditional technology and methods is not a bad thing; it is the natural result of progress of society.

我认为，传统技术方法的消亡不一定是坏事，这是社会进步的自然结果。

131. in the first place, some aspects of the traditional technology and methods are harmful and hampering the development of modern technology science.

首先，传统技术方法有些部分是有害的，并且会阻碍现代科技的发展。

132. although modern science and technology have proved that such methods are absurd, there are still millions of people use such methods in many remote places nowadays.

尽管现代科学技术已经证明了这些方法是愚昧的，然而在许多偏僻的地方，仍有成千上万的人们在使用这些方法。

133. in the second place, many values of traditional technology are out of date and should be replaced by modern science.

第二点，许多传统技术方法已经过时，应被现代科技所取代。

134. although many people tend to live under the illusion that traditional technology and methods are still playing extremely important role in peoples life, an increasingevidences show that it is less useful than many people think.

尽管许多人保持着传统观念，认为传统技术方法在人们生活中仍发挥着重要作用，但是越来越多的证据显示它并没有人们想象的有用。

135. from what has been discussed above, i firmly believe that time will prove that traditional technology and methods would die out with the development of modern science and technology. the maintenance of the traditionaltechnology and methods is futile.

通过以上讨论，我坚定地相信时间会证明传统技术方法将会随着现代技术的发展而消亡，坚持传统技术方法是徒劳的。

136. at the time when technology means ever more harmful carbon in the air we breathe, we need these forests now more than ever.

当技术的发展意味着我们会吸入更多有害气体时，我们比任何时候更需要森林。

137. nothing is more important than to receive education.

没有比接受教育更重要的事。

138. we cannot emphasize the importance of protecting our eyes too much.

我们再怎么强调保护眼睛的重要性也不为过。

139. there is no denying that the qualities of our living have gone from bad to worse.

无可否认，我们的生活品质已经每况愈下。

140. it is universally acknowledged that trees are

indispensable to us.

全世界都知道树木对我们是不可或缺的。

141. there is no doubt that our educational system leaves something to be desired.

毫无疑问，我们的教育制度令人不满意。

142. an advantage of using the solar energy is that it wont create any pollution.

使用太阳能的优点是它不会产生任何污染。

143. the reason why we have to grow trees is that they can supply fresh air for us.

我们必须种树的原因是它们能供应我们新鲜的空气。

144. so precious is time that we cant afford to waste it.

时间是如此珍贵，我们不能浪费它。

145. rich as our country is, the qualities of our living are by no means satisfactory.

虽然我们的国家很富有，但是我们的生活质量却令人很不满意。

146. the harder you work, the more progress you make.

你越努力，你越进步。

147. the more books we read, the more learned we become.

我们书读得越多，我们越有学问。

148. to average people, they often tend to live under the illusion that english often means a good opportunity for ones career, is this really the case?

对于一般人来说，他们常常以为掌握英语就意味着一份好的工作，然而这是真的吗?

149. by taking exercise, we can always stay healthy.

通过体育锻炼，我们能够始终保持健康。

150. listening to music enables us to feel relaxed.

听音乐能使我们放松。

151. on no account can we ignore the value of knowledge.

我们绝对不能忽视知识的价值。

152. it is time the authorities concerned took proper steps to solve the traffic problems.

该是有关当局采取适当的措施来解决交通问题的时候了。

153. those who violate traffic regulations should be punished.

违反交通规则的人应该受到处罚。

154. there is no one but longs to go to college.

人们都希望上大学。

155. since the examination is around the corner, i am compelled to give up doing sports.

既然考试迫在眉睫，我不得不放弃作运动。

156. it is conceivable that knowledge plays an important role in our life.

可想而知，知识在我们的一生中扮演一个重要的角色。

157. summer is sultry. thats the reason why i dont like it.

夏天很闷热，这就是我不喜欢它的原因。

158. the progress of the society is based on harmony.

社会的进步是以和谐为基础的。

159. we should bring home to people the value of working hard.

我们应该让人们知道努力的价值。

160. taking exercise is closely related to health.

作运动与健康息息相关。

161. we should get into the habit of keeping good hours.

我们应该养成早睡早起的习惯。

162. the condition of our traffic leaves much to be desired.

我们的交通状况令人不满意。

163. smoking has a great influence on our health.

抽烟对我们的健康有很大的影响。

164. reading does good to our mind.

读书对心灵有益。

165. overwork does harm to health.

工作过度对健康有害。

166. pollution poses a great threat to our existence.

污染对我们的生存造成巨大威胁。

167. we should do our best to achieve our goal in life.

我们应尽全力去达成我们的人生目标。

168. weather a large family is a good thing or not is a very popular topic, which is often talked about not only by city residents but by farmers as well.

家庭人口多好还是家庭人口少好是一个非常通俗的主题，不仅是城里人，而且农民都经常讨论这个问题。

169. as is known to all, fake and inferior commodities harm the interests of consumers.

众所周知，假冒伪劣商品损害了消费者的利益。

170. today an increasing number of people have realized that law education is of great importance. in order to keep law and order, every one of us is supposed to get a law education.

现在，愈来愈多的人认识到法制教育的重要性。为了维护社会治安 ，我们每人都应该接受法制教育。

171. from what i have mentioned above, we can see clearly that violence on tv has great influence on youngsters behavior.

从上面我所提到的，我们可以清楚地看到，电视暴力对青少年的影响是极其深远的。

172. there are two reasons for the improvement in peoples living conditions. in the first place, we have been carrying out the reform and opening-up policy. secondly, there has been a rapid expansion of our national economy. furthermore, the birth rate has been put under control.

人民生活状况的改善原因有两点。首先，我们一直在贯彻执行改革开放政策。其次，国民经济正在迅速发展，而且出生率已经得到控制。

173. my suggestions to deal with the problem are as follows. to begin with, it is urgent to create nature reserves. secondly, certain rare wild animals that are going to be extinct should be collected, fed and reproduced artificially. finally, those who hunter them must be punished severely.

我对解决这个问题的建议如下：首先，迫在眉睫的是建立自然保护区。其次，有些濒临灭绝的珍稀野生动物应该收捕、人工喂养并繁殖。最后，对于捕猎珍稀野生动物的人必须严惩。

174. people differ in their attitudes towards failure. faced with it, some of them can stand up to it, draw useful lessons from it and try hard to fulfill what they are determined to do. others, however, lose heart and give in.

人们对失败持有不同的态度。面对失败，有人能够经得起考验，从失败中汲取教训，并努力去完成他们下定决心要做的事情。然而，另一些人却丧失信心并退却了。

175. it is desirable to build more hospitals, shopping centers, recreation centers, cinemas and other public facilities to meet the growing needs of people.

人们希望建立更多的医院、购物中心、娱乐中心、电影院和其他公用设施来满足人们日益增长的需求。

176. as a popular saying goes, "everything has two sides." now the public are benefiting more and more from scientific and technological inventions. on the other hand, the progress of science and technology is bringing us a lot of trouble. people in many countries are suffering from public hazards.

常言道：事情总是一分为二的。如今人们从科技发明中得到越来越多的好处。另一方面，科技进步也给我们带来了许多麻烦。现在许多国家 的人民饱受公害之苦。

177. lets take cars for example. they not only pollute the air in cities, but make them crowded. furthermore, they are responsible for a lot of traffic accidents. the noise made by cars disturbs the residents living on both sides of streets all day and night.

就拿汽车为例。汽车不仅污染城市空气，而且使城市拥挤不堪。此外，汽车造成许多交通事故。汽车所产生的噪音使居住在街道两旁的居民日夜不得安宁。

178. it is generally believed that the chief reason for the increase in population in developed countries is not so much the rise in birth rates as the decline in death rates as a result of the improvement in medical care.

普遍认为，在发达国家人口增长的主要原因与其说是出生率的上升，还不如说是由于医疗保健的改善使死亡率下降了。

179. there is no doubt that the increase in demand caused the rise in prices.

毫无疑问，需求的增长导致了价格的上涨。

180. additional social stresses may also occur because of the population explosion or problems arising from mass migration movements-themselves made relatively easy nowadays by modern means of transport.

由于人口的猛增或大量人口流动(现代交通工具使这种流动相对容易)引发的种种问题也会对社会造成新的压力。

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”.

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