谈谈英语写作的基本方法
出处:论文网
时间:2007-03-30
又如,When Christmas was coming,Della had not enongh moneyto buy Jim,who is her husband,a present,so she went to a shopto sell her hair in order that she could buy a gold chainworthy of Jim's gold watch.
这个句子过份冗长,既有并列句,也有复合句,复合句中既有时间状语从句、目的状语从句,还有定语从句。与其辛辛苦苦去构筑这样的复杂句子,还不如把它分为几个简单句,显得轻松、洗练一些。
Christmas was coming.Della had not enough money to buy apresent for his husband Jim.So she had to sell her hair.Aftershe got the money,she bought Jim a gold chain.
下面再谈谈初学写作时在造句方面常出现的一些错误实例。
1)句子冗长累赘、意思重复,例如:
①The army advanced forward after the big battle.(一场大的战斗后,部队向前进发。)这个句子的问题在于句中的"advanced"本身就是"march forward"的意思,而在其后出现"forward"实属多余,应去掉。
②The reason why I took off my coat was because I felt hot.用词多,绕圈子,太罗嗦。可以改成:I took off my coat,becauseI felt hot.简短明了。只要句意明确,多余部分应尽量删去。
2)修饰语的位置不对。修饰语的位置用错直接影响意思的准确表达。这一点在文章上一部分已谈到。我们再来看两个例子。
①I nearly lost five dollars yesterday.
I lost nearly five dollars yesterday.
这两句话由于nearly的位置不同,其含义也截然不同。第一句“我昨天差点丢了5美元”,言下之意是:没丢钱。第二句“我昨天丢了近五美元”意思是我丢了钱。不过不到5美元。
再如:②She decided not to go.他决定不去了。She did notdecide to go.他没决定去呀。否定词用在不同的位置上,意思大不一样。因此,平时在阅读和练习中要注意。
3)代词所指不明确。例如:
Peggy held a piece of bread and jam in one hand and thetelephone receiver in the other.She kept eating it while shetalked.后面一句话中的"it"指什么呢?指"a piece of bread andjam"还是指"telephone receiver",这使人费解。在英语写作中要避免这种指代不清的句子。这句话可改为:Peggy held in one hand thetelephone receiver and in the other a piece of bread and jam,which she kept eating while she talkcd.
4.模糊不清的比较。例如:
①I like John as much as Tom.这句话里究竟是I like John asmuch as I like Tom,还是I like John as much as Tom likes John.这种比较模糊不清。
②My home is nearer to our school than yours.不知这里的yours是指your home.还是your school.这句话应改为:My home isnearer to our school than yours is.或My home is nearer to ourschool than it is to yours.
③Tom is taller than anyone in his class.这里的比较是不符合逻辑的,因为被比较的对方包括了Tom和他班里的任何人(他自己也不例外)。
下面我们再说说有关释意能力问题。
学习英语写作,我们应学会释义(Paraphrase).就是用不同的词语来表达或说明一个词或句的意思。表达要正确,这种能力在阅读时要注意培养。一是注意老师在讲解生词时的释义,二是用英英词典学习释义。学会释义能更好地克服从汉语出发抠汉语字眼的毛病。汉语中说“拖某人的后腿”其涵义是牵制、阻挠别人作某事。理解了这层含义,就可以根据不同的上下文来选择不同的英语来表达这个意思。如:"hold sb.back,be a drag on sb,blinder(impede,prevent)sb.from doingsth."等:学会释义,在用英语学习写作时遇到一些一时表达不出的思想时,就可以帮助我们越过词,句的障碍,去加以释义。
我们前面所谈到的都是练习用英语写作时要注意的一些基本问题,一般来说,练习写作是由开始的模仿性写作,到控制性写作(如改写文章、缩写文章、写提纲、复述等等)。写英文日记是练习英语写作的好办法,每天写几句。天长日久,笔头得到较多的锻炼。最后进入自由写作阶段。
三、组段
段落是文章中相对独立的一个部分。它通常由主旨句、扩展句和结尾句组成。例如:
Bamboo has many uses.Many people use it to make chairs,tables,curtains,birdcages and so on.Its tender young shootscan be eaten.The soft pulp in side the stems can be made intoa fine paper.No wonder people say bamboo is a useful plant.
这段话共有五个句子。第一句是主旨句,说竹有许多用途。第二、三、四句是扩展句,说明竹有哪些用途。第五句是结尾句,说明竹是一种有用的植物。
下面分别谈主旨句、扩展句和结尾句的写法。
1.主旨句。主旨句揭示该段内容的中心,放在段落的开头。从修辞上看,主旨句宜用比较简洁的句子,使读者易于领会该段的主旨:下面这段话还未有主旨句,请同学们阅读之后从A、B、C、D中选一个做主旨句。
主旨句。The hibenating animal's temperature drops to justover zero centigrade.It breathes only once every five minutes.It does not feel any pain.You can beat it without causing itto wake up.So hibernating animals look as if they were dead.
A.As you know,hibernation is much deeper than a commonsleep.
B.Animals need hibernation.
C.Hibernation is a very deep sleep.
D.How can hibernating animals sleep all through the winter?
上面B、D两句不能说明这段话的中心,不能做主旨句。A、C两句都能说明这段话的中心,但是A句不如C句简洁明了,所以用C句做这段话的主旨句最恰当。
2.扩展句。扩展句的内容必须围绕主旨句,支持主旨句。偏离主旨句的扩展句等于画蛇添足,应该删去。从修辞上看,几个扩展句如果能分别用简单句,并列句和复合句,则整个段落会显得生动一些,而不至于那么单调、呆板。下面这段话里,有一个扩展句是偏离主旨的,请同学们把它找出来。
It is easy to do this experiment.First,you get a giass ofwater and a pencil.Then you put the pencil into the water.Atthis time,you will see the pencil appears broken.Perhaps youhave once found this thing before.The expenment shows thatlight waves change speed when they go from air into water.
在这段话里,First..,Then...和At this time...这三个扩展句都是说明“这个实验很容易做”这个主旨的。但是Perhaps...这个句子偏离了这个主旨,它跟这个实验的做法无关,应该删去。
扩展句可以按照时间、方位、因果、对比、类别等关系来组织。例如上面这段话里的扩展句是以时间为序来安排的。“组段”的开头,说竹有很多用途那段话,是以方位(茎、根、髓)为序来安排扩展句的。
3.结尾句。结尾句是对主旨句的呼应,它通常导出扩展句所陈述的结果。下面这段话还没有结尾句,请同学们阅读之后,从A、B、C、D中选一句做它的结尾句。
How can we stop pollution?The most important thing is topass certain laws to prevent factories from sending out noise,poisonous gases and dirty water.Besides,we should protectforests and plant more trees.Meanwhile,every one of us mustpay close attention to public health and keep oursurroundings clean.
A.In spite of all these measures,we still cannot defeatpollution.
B.So pollution is a serious problem that needs all thesociety to care about.
C.However,pollution will still exist and we must not letdown our guard against it
D.In this way,we shall win the battle against pollution.
显然,D句与主旨句呼应最密切,它导出了立法、保护森林、植树、注意公共卫生和搞好环境清洁等措施的结果。所以,应该选D句做本段的结尾句。
四、谋篇
一篇文章应有比较完整的内容和结构。它通常包含引言段、扩展段和结论段。这和我们汉语作文的起、承、转、合是基本一致的。下面请读一篇论述时间的价值的文章。
The Value of Time
A proverb says:"Time is money."But in my opinion,time is even more precious than money.Why?Because when money is spent,we can earn(赚)it back.However,when time is gone,it willnever return.This is the reason why we must value time.
It goes without saying that the time we can use is limited.Therefore,even an hour is extremely precious.We shouid makefull use of our time to do useful things.As students we mustnot relax(放松)our efforts to engage in our studies so asto serve society and our nation in the future.
But it is a pity that there were a lot of people who do notknow the importance of time.They spend their precious timesmoking,drinding and chatting.They do not realize thatwasting time is equal to wasting a part of their valuablelife.
In a word,we should form the good habit of saving time.Donot put off what can be done today until tomorrow.
这篇文章有四段。第一段是引言段,提出时间比金钱更宝贵,我们必须珍惜时间这个论题。第二段是扩展段,说明时间是有限的,作为学生更要充分利用它来学习,以利将来为国家服务。第三段也是扩展段,指出有些人还没有认识时间的价值。第四段是结论段,作出我们必须养成节约时间习惯的诊断。这四段话刚好是起——承——转——合的结构。
从这篇文章还可以看到,英语作文的起承转合会用上一些特定的词语。下面分别作简单的介绍。
1.常用在引言段开头(起)的词语:
Generaily speaking,...一般地说,……
A proverb says,"..."有句谚语说,“……”
Many people often ask this question,"..."许多人常常问这个司题,“……?”
First of all...首先……/At present...当今……
2.常用在第一个扩展段开头(承)的词语:
To take...for an example,……以……为例
Now that we know that...既然我们知道……
What is more important is that...更为重要的是……
That can be expressed as follows:...这可以分述如下:……
in other words,换句话说
second,第二,
3.常用在第二扩展段开头(转)的词语:
But it is a pity that...但是很可惜,……
But the problem is not so slmple.但是问题并非如此简单。
On the other hand,...另一方面,……
On the contrary,...相反……
However,...然而……
4.常用在结论段开头(合)的词语:
In a word,...总而言之,……
On account of this,we can find that...由此我们可以知道……
In conclusion,结论是……
In short,...简言之,……
As has been noted...如前所述……
Therefore,...因此,……
At last,...最后,……
下面有一篇文章谈论“我们为什么要参加体育运动”。它的引言段、扩展段和结论段的次序是混乱的,请同学们按起承转合的顺序把它们排正,并注意段落开头表示起承转合的词语。
Why should we take part in sports and games?
①Therefore,every one of us,young or old,man or woman,should take an active part in sports and games.
②Besides,sports and games are also good for character-training.Unselfishness,courage,discipline,love of one'scountry and so on,are virtues that a citizen should have.Students learn a lot about these from books.But in sportsand games they learn to play fair,cooperate with other teammembers,go all out to win the match and think of honor of thegroup.All this will help them to become better eitizens.
③Everybody knows that sports and games build our bodies,prevent us from too fat and keep us healthy.They also give usvaluable practice in helping the eyes,brain and muscles worktogether.Such kind of practice is especially useful for thosewho work with their brains most of the time.
④It goes without saying that sports and games are not onlyamusements.They are of great value both to one's body andmind.
上文四个段落的正确排列次序是④—③—②—①。还要指出的是,这篇文章的两个扩展段③和②,都是说明体育运动的价值,起“承”的作用,所以这篇文章没有“转”这个环节。
最后尚需强调的是在命题作文中有很多学生没有表达主要思想,很多学生不会运用细节来扩充主题句。这是因为在平时训练中多为“词—句—段”式。缺乏衔接性、逻辑性等,致使他们的写作水平停留在词汇、语法、句型的运用上。须知,内容是文章的灵魂,是前提,也是写作的目的,应加足够注意。同时要从语篇水平上考虑谋篇布景,内容表达、语法修辞等诸方面的训练,这应是写作教学的重点之一。
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