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商務英語及學習 |
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| 英語作文的基本要求 |
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出處：法律顧問網(wǎng)·涉外www.coinwram.com
時間：2010/12/24 15:37:00 |
英語作文的基本要求：
首先，一個段落必須有一個中心即主題思想，該中心由主題句特別是其中的題旨來表達。整個段落必須緊扣這個主題（stick or hold to the topic），這就是段落的統(tǒng)一性（unity）。其次，一個段落必須有若干推展句，使主題思想得到充分展開，從而給讀者一個完整的感覺，這就是完整性（completeness or adequateness）。再者，一個段落不是雜亂無章的，而是有機的組合，句子的排列順序必須合乎邏輯，從一個句子到另一個句子的過渡必須流暢（smooth），這就是連貫性（coherence）。下面我們就對這三個標準分別加以說明。
1、英語作文的基本要求統(tǒng)一性
一個段落內(nèi)的各個句子必須從屬于一個中心，任何游離于中心思想之外的句子都是不可取的。請看下例：
Joe and I decided to take the long trip we'd always wanted across the country. We were like young kids buying our camper and stocking it with all the necessities of life. Bella bakes the best rhubarb pie. We started out in early spring from Minneapolis and headed west across the northern part of the country. We both enjoyed those people we met at the trailer park. Joe received a watch at his retirement dinner. To our surprise, we found that we liked the warm southern regions very much, and so we decided to stay here in New Mexico.
本段的主題句是段首句，controlling idea（中心思想）是take the long trip across the country。文中出現(xiàn)兩個irrelevant sentences，一個是Bella bakes the best rhubarb pie，這一段是講的是Joe and I ，中間出現(xiàn)一個Bella是不合適的。還有，Joe received a watch at his retirement dinner這一句更是與主題句不相關。再看一個例子：
My name is Roseanna, and I like to keep physically fit. I used to weigh two hundred pounds, but I joined the YMCA for an exercise class and diet program. In one year I lost eighty pounds. I feel much better and never want to have that much weight on my five-feet frame again. I bought two new suitcases last week. Everyday I practice jogging three miles, swimming fifteen laps, lifting twenty-pound weights and playing tennis for one hour. My mother was a premature baby.
本段的controlling idea 是like to deep physically fit，但段中有兩個irrelevant sentences，一個是I bought two new suitcases last week，另一個是My mother was a premature baby。
從上面兩個例子可以看出，native speakers同樣會造出來irrelevant sentences。卷面上如果這種句子多了，造成偏題或離題，那問題就更嚴重了。
2、英語作文的基本要求完整性
正象我們前面說得那樣，一個段落的主題思想靠推展句來實現(xiàn)，如果只有主題句而沒有推展句來進一步交待和充實，就不能構(gòu)成一個完整的段落。同樣，雖然有推展句，但主題思想沒有得到相對圓滿的交待，給讀者一種意猶未盡的感覺。這樣的段落也不能完成其交際功能。例如：
Physical work can be a useful form of therapy for a mind in turmoil. Work concentrates your thoughts on a concrete task. Besides, it is more useful to work —— you produce something rather than more anxiety or depression.
本段的主題句是段首句。本段的兩個推展句均不能回答主題句中提出的問題。什么是“a mind in turmoil”（心境不平靜）Physical work又如何能改變這種情況？為什么它能起therapy的作用？讀者得不到明確的答案。因此，要達到完整就必須盡可能地簡明。例如：
It is not always true that a good picture is worth a thousand words. Often writing is much clearer than a picture. It is sometimes difficult to figure out what a picture means, but a careful writer can almost always explain it.
段首句所表達的主題思想是一種看法，必須有具體事例加以驗證。上述兩個推展句只是在文字上對主題作些解釋，整個段落內(nèi)容空洞，簡而不明。如果用一兩個具體的例子的話，就可以把主題解釋清楚了。比如下段：
It is not always true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, pictures are pretty useless things. If you can't swim and fall in the river and start gulping water, will you be better off to hold up a picture of yourself drowning, or start screaming "Help"?
3、英語作文的基本要求連貫性（coherence）
連貫性包括意連和形連兩個方面，前者指的是內(nèi)在的邏輯性，后者指的是使用轉(zhuǎn)換詞語。當然這兩者常常是不可分割的。只有形連而沒有意連，句子之間就沒有內(nèi)在的有機的聯(lián)系；反之，只有意連而沒有形連，有時行文就不夠流暢。
1）、意連
段落中句子的排列應遵循一定的次序，不能想到什么就寫什么。如果在下筆之前沒有構(gòu)思，邊寫邊想，寫寫停停，那就寫不出一氣呵成的好文章來。下面介紹幾種常見的排列方式。
A．按時間先后排列（chronological arrangement）
We had a number of close calls that day. When we rose, it was obviously late and we had to hurry so as not to miss breakfast; we knew the dining room staff was strict about closing at nine o'clock. Then, when we had been driving in the desert for nearly two hours —— it must have been close to noon —— the heat nearly hid us in; the radiator boiled over and we had to use most of our drinking water to cool it down. By the time we reached the mountain, it was our o'clock and we were exhausted. Here, judgement ran out of us and we started the tough climb to the summit, not realizing that darkness came suddenly in the desert. Sure enough, by six we were struggling and Andrew very nearly went down a steep cliff, dragging Mohammed and me along with him. By nine, when the wind howled across the flat ledge of the summit, we knew as we shivered together for warmth that it had not been our lucky day.
本段從“rose”（起床）寫起，然后是吃早餐（“not to miss breakfast”, “closing at nine o'clock”），然后是“close to noon”，一直寫到這一天結(jié)束（“By nine——”）。
B. 按位置遠近排列（spatial arrangement）。例如：
From a distance, it looked like a skinny tube, but as we got closer, we could see it flesh out before our eyes. It was tubular, all right, but fatter than we could see from far away. Furthermore, we were also astonished to notice that the building was really in two parts: a pagoda sitting on top of a tubular one-story structure. Standing ten feet away, we could marvel at how much of the pagoda was made up of glass windows. Almost everything under the wonderful Chinese roof was made of glass, unlike the tube that it was sitting on, which only had four. Inside, the tube was gloomy, because of the lack of light. Then a steep, narrow staircase took us up inside the pagoda and the light changed dramatically. All those windows let in a flood of sunshine and we could see out for miles across the flat land.
本段的寫法是由遠及近，從遠處（“from a distance”）寫起，然后“get closer”，再到（“ten feet away”），最后是“inside the pagoda”……當然，按位置遠近來寫不等于都是由遠及近。根據(jù)需要，也可以由近及遠，由表及里等等。
C. 按邏輯關系排列（logical arrangement）
a. 按重要性順序排列（arrangement in order of importance）
If you work as a soda jerker, you will, of course, not need much skill in expressing yourself to be effective. If you work on a machine, your ability to express yourself will be of little importance. But as soon as you move one step up from the bottom, your effectiveness depends on your ability to reach others through the spoken or the written word. And the further away your job is from manual work, the larger the organization of which you are an employee, the more important it will be that you know how to convey your thoughts in writing or speaking. In the very large business organization, whether it is the government, the large corporation, or the Army, this ability to express oneself is perhaps the most important of all the skills a man can possess.
這一段談的是表達能力，它的重要性與職業(yè)，身份有關，從“not need much skill”或“of little importance”到“more important”，最后是“most important”。
b.由一般到特殊排列（general-to-specific arrangement）
If a reader is lost, it is generally because the writer has not been careful enough to keep him on the path. This carelessness can take any number of forms. Perhaps a sentence is so excessively cluttered that the reader, hacking his way through the verbiage, simply doesn't know what it means. Perhaps a sentence has been so shoddily constructed that the reader could read it in any of several ways. Perhaps the writer has switched tenses, or has switched pronouns in mid-sentence, so the reader loses track of when the action took place or who is talking. Perhaps sentence B is not logical sequel to sentence A —— the writer, in whose head the connection is clear, has not bothered to provide the missing link. Perhaps the writer has used an important word incorrectly by not taking the trouble to look it up. He may think that "sanguine" and "sanguinary" mean the same thing, but the difference is a bloody big one. The reader can only infer what the writer is trying to imply.
這一段談的是a writer's carelessness，先給出一個general statement作為主題句，然后通過5個 ＂perhaps＂加以例證。
c. 由特殊到一般排列（specific-to-general arrangement）
I do not understand why people confuse my Siamese cat, Prissy, with the one I had several years ago, Henry. The two cats are only alike in breed. Prissy, a quiet, feminine feline, loves me dearly but not possessively. She likes to keep her distance from people, exert her independence and is never so rude as to beg, lick, or sniff unceremoniously. Her usual posture is sitting upright, eyes closed, perfectly still. Prissy is a very proper cat. Henry, on the other hand, loved me dearly but possessively. He was my shadow from morning till night. He expected me to constantly entertain him. Henry never cared who saw him do anything, whether it was decorous or not, and he usually offended my friends in some way. The cat made himself quite comfortable, on the top of the television, across stranger's feet or laps, in beds, drawers, sacks, closets, or nooks. The difference between them is imperceptible to strangers.
本段的主題句是段首句，它僅提出一個問題：為什么兩只貓會被搞混。然后對兩者進行比較，末句才下結(jié)論。
2）、形連
行文的邏輯性常常要靠適當?shù)霓D(zhuǎn)換詞語及其他手段來實現(xiàn)。請讀下面這一段文字并找出文中用以承上啟下的詞語：
Walter's goal in life was to become a successful surgeon. First, though, he had to get through high school, so he concentrated all his efforts on his studies —— in particular, biology, chemistry, and math. Because he worked constantly on these subjects, Walter became proficient in them; however, Walter forgot that he needed to master other subjects besides those he had chosen. As a result, during his junior year of high school, Walter failed both English and Latin. Consequently, he had to repeat these subjects and he was almost unable to graduate on schedule. Finally, on June 6, Walter achieved the first step toward realizing his goal.
本文中起承上啟下的詞語有兩種，一種是轉(zhuǎn)換詞語（transitional words or phrases），另一種是起轉(zhuǎn)換作用的其他連接手段（linking devices）。前者依次有：first, though, so, in particular, and, because, however, besides, as a result, both…and, consequently, and, finally.后者依次是：he, he, his, his, he, these, them, he, those, his, he, these, his. 本段中共有詞匯105個，所使用的轉(zhuǎn)換詞語及其他連接用語共26個詞，約占該段總詞匯量的四分之一。由此可見，掌握好transitions不僅對行文的流（smoothness）有益，而且對于學生在半個小時內(nèi)寫120個詞也是不無好處的。
一個段落里如果沒有transitions也就很難有coherence了.我們看下面一個例子：
Speaking and writing are different in many ways. Speech depends on sounds. Writing uses written symbols. Speech developed about 500 000 years ago. Written language is a recent development. It was invented only about six thousand years ago. Speech is usually informal. The word choice of writing is often relatively formal. Pronunciation and accent often tell where the speaker is from. Pronunciation and accent are ignored in writing. A standard diction and spelling system prevails in the written language of most countries. Speech relies on gesture, loudness, and rise and fall of the voice. Writing lacks gesture, loudness and the rise and fall of the voice. Careful speakers and writers are aware of the differences.
本段中除了第6句開頭出現(xiàn)一個起過渡作用的＂it＂之外，沒有使用其他的過渡詞語.這樣，文中出現(xiàn)許多重復的詞語，全段讀起來也顯得生硬而不自然。如果加上必要的過渡詞語來修飾的話，這一段就成了下面一個流暢連貫的段落：
Speaking and writing are different in many ways. Speech depends on sounds; writing, on the other hand, uses written symbols. Speech was developed about 500 000 years ago, but written language is a recent development, invented only about six thousand years ago. Speech is usually informal, while the word choice of writing, by contrast, is often relatively formal. Although pronunciation and accent often tell where the speaker is from, they are ignored in wiring because a standard diction and spelling system prevails in most countries. Speech relies on gesture, loudness, and the rise and fall of the voice, but writing lacks these features. Careful speakers and writers are aware of the differences．
4、英語作文的基本要求有損連貫性的幾種情況：
考生在寫作中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)下面幾種錯誤：
1、不必要的改變時態(tài)，比如：
In the movie, Robert Redford was a spy. He goes to his office where he found everybody dead. Other spies wanted to kill him, so he takes refuge with Julie Christie. At her house, he had waited for the heat to die down, but they come after him anyway.
2、不必要的改變單復數(shù)，比如：
Everybody looks for satisfaction in his life. They want to be happy. But if he seeks only pleasure in the short run, the person will soon run out of pleasure and life will catch up to him. They need to pursue the deeper pleasure of satisfaction in work and in relationships.
３、不必要的改變?nèi)朔Q，比如：
Now more than ever, parents need to be in touch with their children's activities because modern life has the tendency to cause cleavages in the family. You need to arrange family like it so that family members will do things together and know one another. You need to give up isolated pleasures of your own and realize that parents have a set of obligations to sponsor togetherness and therefore sponsor knowledge.
因此寫作中，一定要注意時態(tài)，人稱以及數(shù)的變化是否正確，要注意保持一致。
英語作文的書寫格式
英文書寫應符合書寫規(guī)范，英文字母要寫清楚、寫整齊、寫美觀，字母的大小和字母之間的距離要勻稱。書寫應做到字形秀麗漂亮，通篇勻稱和諧。
寫英文字母要掌握正確筆順。如字母i，應該先寫下面的部分，然后再打點。有的學生卻按寫漢字的習慣從上到下寫，寫快了，就會把點和下面的十筆連在量起，顯得十分別扭。字形t應為兩筆。不少人卻將兩筆合成一筆，看上去不像t，倒像l或是e，難以辨認。另外，把r寫成v，把q寫成把g，把k寫成h等等，都是中學生書寫中常見的毛病。
不少人在四線三格的練習紙上書寫尚有規(guī)矩，能按字母的占格、高低和大小要求書寫，但在白紙或橫線紙上書寫，卻顯得十分幼稚拙劣。字母或跳上跳下，或一律寫成同一高度，占上中兩格的字母與占中下兩格的字母完全沒有高低之別。這些現(xiàn)象都要防止。
另外，書寫時還要注意詞與詞之間要保持一定的距離，不能緊靠在一起。字母之間的連寫也應該按照習慣，不能隨意亂來。
在一篇字數(shù)有限的作文里，我們還要注意盡量不把一個單詞拆開移行。萬一要移行，則必須以音節(jié)為單位進行，如revolution這個詞，依照音節(jié)移行的原則可以按re-，revo-, revolu-這幾種方法移行。在移行時，我們還應特別注意以下幾點:
1. 單音節(jié)詞不能移行，即使是字母較多的單音節(jié)詞，如through等也不能例外。
2．縮略詞如Mr.，Dr.等不能和后面的名字拆開移行。
縮略的專用名詞如U．K.，U．S．A等也不能拆開移行。
3．時間、量度及貨幣單位應視為一個整體；不能分開移行。如；
11：00P.M.應寫在一行內(nèi)，不能將11：00和P．M．分開移行；寫38℃時，不能將36和C分開移行。
4．由“年、月、日”表示的日期，如果必須分開移行只能將“月、日”與“年”分開。如January 6，1980不能將January和6分開移行，但可以把January 6，和1980分成兩行。
5．含雙寫輔音字母的單詞，在移行時要將輔音字母拆開。如better可拆成better，necessary可拆成necessary。
但如果雙寫輔音字母屬于詞根，后面又加了后綴，就不能將兩個輔音字母拆開。如drill加上-ing后構(gòu)成了drilling，就不可以將它拆成成dril-ling，而只能拆為drilling。
例文：
1.寵物：
A Talkative Parrot
A lady worked in a company. There were a lot of shops on her way to work. One morning, when she was walking to work, she passed by a new pet shop. She was so excited when she saw a parrot sitting beside the door. She really loved birds.
When she stopped to look at the handsome bird, it said to her, "Hey, lady, you are really ugly.”
This made the lady very angry. She quickly left the shop and went to work. On her way home, she passed the same pet shop again. This time the parrot saw her again, it said immediately:
"Hey lady, you are really ugly!"
The lady tried to control herself. She walked to the shopkeeper and told him that if the parrot said it again, she would have the police come and take it away. "I'm so sorry, madam. I promise it won't happen again," the shopkeeper said.
The next morning, when the lady walked past the pet shop, she pretended that she didn’t see it. But the parrot saw her at once and said to her quickly, "Hey lady."
She stopped and looked at the bird coldly. "Yes?" she answered in an angry voice.
The bird, sitting up straight and smiling at her, said, "You know."
2.人物：
Elizabeth Bennet （伊麗莎白）
The second daughter in the Bennet family, and the most intelligent and quick-witted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous—she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead her astray; Pride and Prejudice is essentially the story of how she (and her true love, Darcy) overcome all obstacles—including their own personal failings—to find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonizing females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy’s character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.
Bennet家庭的第二個女兒和最聰明和機智，伊麗莎白是自豪感和偏見的主演和其中一個在英國文學的最知名的女性角色。 她令人敬佩的質(zhì)量是numerous—she是可愛的，聰明，并且，在對話定義的小說，她一樣精采地交談象任何人。 她的誠實、美德和活潑的機智使她在胡話之上起來，并且彌漫她的壞行為類跳起和經(jīng)常惡意的社會。 然而，她的伶俐的口舌和傾向經(jīng)常做倉促評斷帶領她迷路; 自豪感和偏見本質(zhì)上是故事她(和她真實的愛， Darcy)怎樣克服他們自己的個人failings—to發(fā)現(xiàn)浪漫幸福的所有obstacles—including。 伊麗莎白必須不僅應付一個絕望的母親，一個遙遠的父親，二非常表現(xiàn)的更加年輕的兄弟姐妹，并且?guī)孜粍堇�，對抗的女性，她必須也克服Darcy她自己的錯誤印象，最初帶領她拒絕他的求婚。 而她駕駛家族和社會動亂，她魅力是充足保持他感興趣，幸運地。 當她逐漸來認可Darcy’s字符的貴族，她體會她對他的最初的偏見錯誤。
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