论文部分内容阅读
摘 要:大学英语四级考试(CET4)作文命题形式多样,而提纲式作文在近年的考试中出现较多。针对提纲式作文,可以采用三段式写作技巧,使文章条理清晰。同时,提出了针对提纲式作文的三种常用写作模式,再辅以恰当的修辞手法,对考生写出一篇较好的四级作文会起到事半功倍的效果。
关键词:大学英语四级考试;作文;三段式;模式
根据大学英语四级考试(CET4)对写作部分的要求,考生在30分钟内根据题目写一篇120词左右的短文,要求能够正确表达思想,语意连贯,无重大语法错误。
CET4写作部分涉及内容广泛,有与学生相关的学习、生活、工作等话题,如2007年12月的题目:What Electives to Choose; 2005年12月的题目:Should the University Campus Be Open to Tourists? 1996年1月的题目: The Two-Day Weekend等。有社会热门话题,如2006年12月:Spring Festival Gala on CCTV等。还有人们熟知的生活常识,如1998年1月:Harmfulness of Fake Commodities等。但无论如何变化,写作部分不会出现生僻晦涩的题目,让考生不知所措,无从下手。
纵观多年的CET4 作文试题,其命题形式丰富多样,但主要有两种形式较为常见,即提纲式和图表式。而提纲式作文又占主导地位。通常图表式作文也会给出一定的中文或英文提纲供考生参照。由于CET4 的作文阅卷采用总体评分(global scoring)的方法,阅卷人员就试卷的总体印象给出奖励分,划定对应的分数档,而不是计算语言错误数目扣分。故笔者将从写作的结构模式入手,提出一些应对CET4提纲式作文试题的有效方案。
一、三段式写作技巧
三段式并非肤浅意义上只写三个自然段,而是按照中文作文常说的---凤头、猪肚、豹尾---的要求,写好引语、正文和结尾三部分。
Well begun is half done. 好的开始是成功的一半。多数考生认为开头难写。笔者认为,写开头可以单刀直入,直奔主题,也可以用一些短语、短句来引导一下。这样的短语、短句可以是“经典语句”或者“套话”。下面的句子是在CET4作文中见到较多的“套话”,暂列一二与读者分享:
With the development of science and technology, ……(随着科学技术的发展)
With rapid economic development, ……(随着经济的飞速发展)
With the improvement of living standard, ……(随着人们生活水平的提高)
Nowadays, more and more people are becoming interested in ……(目前,越来越多的人开始对……感兴趣)
People have different attitudes towards …… (人们对……看法各异)
As is known to all, ……(众所周知)
As a proverb says, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”(俗话说有志者事竟成)
From the graph listed above, it can be seen that ……(由上图可见)
As can be seen from the chart above, ……(由上图可见)
CET4作文虽然采用总体评分的办法,但阅卷老师还是要从内容和语言两个方面对作文做出综合的评价。内容要求思想表达正确,主题突出,遣词造句要求准确恰当,能充分而明确地表达出中心思想。而要使主题明确,内容条理,思路清楚,连贯通顺,一个很好的办法就是使用恰当的表示逻辑关系的连接词或过渡词。常用的此类过渡词有:however, thus, furthermore, therefore, in addition, on the one hand, on the other hand, first, second, third, finally, in a word, above all等等。
作为豹尾的结尾段应和引语部分在主题上保持一致,在逻辑上前后呼应,要有连贯性。这一部分可以使用的结构多样。可以是总结前文的形式,如:Above all, To sum up, In a word; 也可以强调作者的观点,In my opinion, As I see it, From my standpoint, From my point of view等等。但无论怎样,应使整篇文章成为一个完整的闭合结构,而不是给人一种欲言又止,话没说完的感觉。
二、提纲式作文的三种写作模式
从CET4写作的结构设计入手,主要针对提纲式作文,笔者提出三种惯用模式。
模式一:描述现象---分析原因---结论措施
大部分的提纲式作文和很多图表式作文可以采取此种写作模式。应用于图表式作文该模式就转变为:描述图表中现象的变化---分析变化的原因---结论和措施。
现以1998年1月的CET4作文为例,分析一下模式一的具体写作方法。
Harmfulness of Fake Commodities
1. 目前社会上有不少假冒伪劣商品(Fake Commodities),为什么会有这种现象?
2.举例说明假冒伪劣商品对消费者个人和社会的危害。
第一步:描述现象。描述现象时可以使用恰当的短句“套话”作为引语,描述目前社会上越来越多的假冒伪劣商品。接着说明出现这种现象有几条原因。
With rapid economic development, fake commodities prevail in many places of our country. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, but in general, they come down to three major ones.
注意,如果你感觉prevail(盛行),这个单词对自己来说有些难度,可以改变说法,使用自己熟悉的简单句子,如:There are more and more fake commodities in many places of our country.
第二步:分析原因。恰當使用表示逻辑关系的连接词,把上文提到的三条原因加以阐述。可以使用First, Second, And finally,也可以使用范文中For one thing, For another, Perhaps the prime reason的形式。
For one thing, producers can profit a lot by making fake commodities because the cost is much lower. For another, businessmen can also profit a lot by selling fake commodities. Perhaps the prime reason (Perhaps the most important reason) is that our legal system is not sound enough and the punishment on illegal producers and businessmen is not as severe.
第三步:结论措施。假冒伪劣商品对消费者个人和社会危害巨大,主要有三条:第一,它损害了消费者合法权益;第二,它损害了经营者诚信;第三,使用假冒伪劣商品会损害消费者的身体健康甚至危害生命安全。最后拿出解决这一现象的办法和措施。
Fake commodities cause much harm to the consumers and the society as well. First, fake commodities damage the consumers’ interests. Besides, they also harm the credit of business because the shops which sell genuine commodities will be distrusted by consumers. And thus, they harm the whole society. Worst of all, they will bring about potential dangers because using fake commodities will cause accidents and endanger consumers’ lives. It is really high time we took measures to crack down on the production and sale of fake commodities.
模式二:第一种观点---第二种观点---我的观点
以1999年6月CET4作文题为例,这是一道典型的可以使用模式二的作文题。
Reading Selectively or Extensively?
1.有人认为读书要有选择性;
2.有人认为应博览群书;
3.我的看法。
对于模式二有两点要加以说明:首先要确定“我的观点”。虽然按照模式二,我的观点是最后一部分,但首先应该在思想上确定自己的看法是什么。如果比较赞同第一种观点,那么在描述第一种观点时就应该加重写作的分量,同样同意第二种观点也是同样的要求;第二,“我”不一定非要同意第一种或是第二种观点。可以提出自己的观点,当然也可以将两种观点进行综合考虑。如本题就可以有这样的观点:在有选择的读书的基础上,还应该博览群书。即有选择地读和自己的工作学习有关的书籍,同时也不要放弃其他门类的书籍。针对本题,请参考一下写作结构:
Now, it is generally accepted that reading is very important. But when it comes to how to read, there is a heated discussion as to whether we should read selectively or extensively.
Those who are in favor of the idea of reading selectively believe that it is not how much one reads but what he reads that really counts. For one thing, ……. For another, …….Therefore,…….
However, those who insist on reading extensively argue that it is through reading extensively that we obtain most of our knowledge. ……
As I see it, we should read both selectively and extensively. That is to say, we can read books relevant to our working or studying. And meanwhile, we should never get rid of those books of various fields. Only by doing this can we achieve and extend our knowledge.
模式三:描述现象---列举利害---结论措施
近几年来,模式三的使用越来越普遍。对一个话题从正反两个方面进行理解的题目都可以从整体或是部分的采用模式三的写作方法。以1996年1月考题为例:
The Two-Day Weekend
1.双休日给大学生带来的好处;
2.双休日可能给大学生带来的问题;
3.我应该怎样过好双休日。
本题如果单刀直入,开门就写大学生从双休日政策中受益良多,未免显得突兀,不如开头加上一两句引语,然后描写双休日的好处,会使文章结构更加圆满。
The two-day weekend policy has been adopted for a long time. Since its carrying out, college students have benefited a lot from it. First, after five days’ study, they are very tired. They can use the weekend to have a good rest. Second, the two-day weekend provides them with more chances to contact with the society; for example, they can take a part-time job or go sightseeing. Third, they can use it to review the lessons and preview what they will learn next week.
雙休日给大学生带来了什么问题呢?你可以先在草纸上罗列一二,以便书写。但笔者还是建议在进入主题之前使用承上启下的关联词,使文章条理更加清晰。
However, every sword has two blades. Problems do exist in some college students’ two-day weekend. Some lazy students may spend most of the time sleeping, doing nothing else. Some may be addicted to playing cards, drinking, leaving their homework far away. Therefore, thetwo-day weekend can bring nothing useful to them.
最后,描述“我”应该如何过好双休日。既要利用双休日充分休息,培养自己各方面的兴趣爱好,又要为下一周的学习做好准备,以饱满的热情和充分的准备去迎接新的一周。
Drawing useful lessons from them, I will make good use of the time to have a rest and develop my own hobbies, such as reading, listening to music or playing balls. And I should also prepare myself for the study of next week.
三、修辞手法的巧妙运用
笔者认为,考生在写作时如果按上文所示的技巧,对文章的结构巧妙地加以设计,三段式结构清晰,内容表达条理准确,在CET4作文方面取得好成绩是毋庸置疑的。
然而,如果语言寡淡无味,词汇平淡无(下转第131页) (上接第129页)奇,从头到尾全是简单句,这样的文章也就失去感染读者(阅卷老师)的力量,达不到写作的目的(作文高分)。因此,笔者建议借助一些修辞手法营造氛围。对此,笔者建议有两条:第一,使用名人名言,谚语警句。在文章的三个部分适时地使用一些名人名言,谚语警句,会给你的作文增色不少。例如:
I believe no pains no gains. (我认为不劳无获)
We often hear people say that time and tide wait for no man. (我们经常听人说“时光一去不复返”)
We all know that knowledge is power. (众所周知,知识就是力量)
As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is away. (俗话说有志者事竟成)
However, every coin has two sides.(然而事情都有它的兩面性)
第二,现场发挥,自编自造。有时候考生会灵机一动想出非常漂亮的句子,但却苦于无法将其翻译成英文或对翻译的英文句子不满意而不敢落于纸上。笔者认为,写作是英语综合能力的体现。即使你用的句子可能并不是英文中的标准句子,只要它符合英语语法习惯,就可以大胆地写到试卷上,毕竟考生的这种创造性和对词汇语法的综合运用是值得称赞和鼓励的。比如“一箭双雕”一词,即使你不会用英文写“箭” 和“雕”,如果进行下面的联想:箭---石头(stone);雕---鹰---鸟(bird)。于是考生就很容易地写出“kill two birds with one stone”(一石二鸟)。笔者相信,这样的句子,不论谁看到都会对作者大加赞赏的。
参考文献:
[1]Feng Julan, Enhancing College Students’ Active Use of Vocabulary---An Empirical Study on Vocabulary in Compositions, (J), 中国英语教学,2008(2),p111-118.
[2]常波,樊玲,《论过程写作方法在英语写作教学中的运用》(J),高师英语教学与研究,2007(2),P48-50.
[3]教育部高教司,《大学英语课程教学要求(试行)》[M]
.上海外语教育出版社,2004.
[4]夏桐枝,如何使英语作文简洁,(J),《大学英语》,200
8(5),p30-31.
[5]严轶伦,《英语专业二年级学生写作中的读者意识》(J),高师英语教学与研究,2006(1),P51-54.
[6]杨庆云,《新要求全国大学英语四级考试全真模拟试题及详解》(M),北京师范大学音像出版社,北京,2008.3.
说明:
院级科研基金项目《日英汉口语对比翻译与文化理念的剖析》。
关键词:大学英语四级考试;作文;三段式;模式
根据大学英语四级考试(CET4)对写作部分的要求,考生在30分钟内根据题目写一篇120词左右的短文,要求能够正确表达思想,语意连贯,无重大语法错误。
CET4写作部分涉及内容广泛,有与学生相关的学习、生活、工作等话题,如2007年12月的题目:What Electives to Choose; 2005年12月的题目:Should the University Campus Be Open to Tourists? 1996年1月的题目: The Two-Day Weekend等。有社会热门话题,如2006年12月:Spring Festival Gala on CCTV等。还有人们熟知的生活常识,如1998年1月:Harmfulness of Fake Commodities等。但无论如何变化,写作部分不会出现生僻晦涩的题目,让考生不知所措,无从下手。
纵观多年的CET4 作文试题,其命题形式丰富多样,但主要有两种形式较为常见,即提纲式和图表式。而提纲式作文又占主导地位。通常图表式作文也会给出一定的中文或英文提纲供考生参照。由于CET4 的作文阅卷采用总体评分(global scoring)的方法,阅卷人员就试卷的总体印象给出奖励分,划定对应的分数档,而不是计算语言错误数目扣分。故笔者将从写作的结构模式入手,提出一些应对CET4提纲式作文试题的有效方案。
一、三段式写作技巧
三段式并非肤浅意义上只写三个自然段,而是按照中文作文常说的---凤头、猪肚、豹尾---的要求,写好引语、正文和结尾三部分。
Well begun is half done. 好的开始是成功的一半。多数考生认为开头难写。笔者认为,写开头可以单刀直入,直奔主题,也可以用一些短语、短句来引导一下。这样的短语、短句可以是“经典语句”或者“套话”。下面的句子是在CET4作文中见到较多的“套话”,暂列一二与读者分享:
With the development of science and technology, ……(随着科学技术的发展)
With rapid economic development, ……(随着经济的飞速发展)
With the improvement of living standard, ……(随着人们生活水平的提高)
Nowadays, more and more people are becoming interested in ……(目前,越来越多的人开始对……感兴趣)
People have different attitudes towards …… (人们对……看法各异)
As is known to all, ……(众所周知)
As a proverb says, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”(俗话说有志者事竟成)
From the graph listed above, it can be seen that ……(由上图可见)
As can be seen from the chart above, ……(由上图可见)
CET4作文虽然采用总体评分的办法,但阅卷老师还是要从内容和语言两个方面对作文做出综合的评价。内容要求思想表达正确,主题突出,遣词造句要求准确恰当,能充分而明确地表达出中心思想。而要使主题明确,内容条理,思路清楚,连贯通顺,一个很好的办法就是使用恰当的表示逻辑关系的连接词或过渡词。常用的此类过渡词有:however, thus, furthermore, therefore, in addition, on the one hand, on the other hand, first, second, third, finally, in a word, above all等等。
作为豹尾的结尾段应和引语部分在主题上保持一致,在逻辑上前后呼应,要有连贯性。这一部分可以使用的结构多样。可以是总结前文的形式,如:Above all, To sum up, In a word; 也可以强调作者的观点,In my opinion, As I see it, From my standpoint, From my point of view等等。但无论怎样,应使整篇文章成为一个完整的闭合结构,而不是给人一种欲言又止,话没说完的感觉。
二、提纲式作文的三种写作模式
从CET4写作的结构设计入手,主要针对提纲式作文,笔者提出三种惯用模式。
模式一:描述现象---分析原因---结论措施
大部分的提纲式作文和很多图表式作文可以采取此种写作模式。应用于图表式作文该模式就转变为:描述图表中现象的变化---分析变化的原因---结论和措施。
现以1998年1月的CET4作文为例,分析一下模式一的具体写作方法。
Harmfulness of Fake Commodities
1. 目前社会上有不少假冒伪劣商品(Fake Commodities),为什么会有这种现象?
2.举例说明假冒伪劣商品对消费者个人和社会的危害。
第一步:描述现象。描述现象时可以使用恰当的短句“套话”作为引语,描述目前社会上越来越多的假冒伪劣商品。接着说明出现这种现象有几条原因。
With rapid economic development, fake commodities prevail in many places of our country. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, but in general, they come down to three major ones.
注意,如果你感觉prevail(盛行),这个单词对自己来说有些难度,可以改变说法,使用自己熟悉的简单句子,如:There are more and more fake commodities in many places of our country.
第二步:分析原因。恰當使用表示逻辑关系的连接词,把上文提到的三条原因加以阐述。可以使用First, Second, And finally,也可以使用范文中For one thing, For another, Perhaps the prime reason的形式。
For one thing, producers can profit a lot by making fake commodities because the cost is much lower. For another, businessmen can also profit a lot by selling fake commodities. Perhaps the prime reason (Perhaps the most important reason) is that our legal system is not sound enough and the punishment on illegal producers and businessmen is not as severe.
第三步:结论措施。假冒伪劣商品对消费者个人和社会危害巨大,主要有三条:第一,它损害了消费者合法权益;第二,它损害了经营者诚信;第三,使用假冒伪劣商品会损害消费者的身体健康甚至危害生命安全。最后拿出解决这一现象的办法和措施。
Fake commodities cause much harm to the consumers and the society as well. First, fake commodities damage the consumers’ interests. Besides, they also harm the credit of business because the shops which sell genuine commodities will be distrusted by consumers. And thus, they harm the whole society. Worst of all, they will bring about potential dangers because using fake commodities will cause accidents and endanger consumers’ lives. It is really high time we took measures to crack down on the production and sale of fake commodities.
模式二:第一种观点---第二种观点---我的观点
以1999年6月CET4作文题为例,这是一道典型的可以使用模式二的作文题。
Reading Selectively or Extensively?
1.有人认为读书要有选择性;
2.有人认为应博览群书;
3.我的看法。
对于模式二有两点要加以说明:首先要确定“我的观点”。虽然按照模式二,我的观点是最后一部分,但首先应该在思想上确定自己的看法是什么。如果比较赞同第一种观点,那么在描述第一种观点时就应该加重写作的分量,同样同意第二种观点也是同样的要求;第二,“我”不一定非要同意第一种或是第二种观点。可以提出自己的观点,当然也可以将两种观点进行综合考虑。如本题就可以有这样的观点:在有选择的读书的基础上,还应该博览群书。即有选择地读和自己的工作学习有关的书籍,同时也不要放弃其他门类的书籍。针对本题,请参考一下写作结构:
Now, it is generally accepted that reading is very important. But when it comes to how to read, there is a heated discussion as to whether we should read selectively or extensively.
Those who are in favor of the idea of reading selectively believe that it is not how much one reads but what he reads that really counts. For one thing, ……. For another, …….Therefore,…….
However, those who insist on reading extensively argue that it is through reading extensively that we obtain most of our knowledge. ……
As I see it, we should read both selectively and extensively. That is to say, we can read books relevant to our working or studying. And meanwhile, we should never get rid of those books of various fields. Only by doing this can we achieve and extend our knowledge.
模式三:描述现象---列举利害---结论措施
近几年来,模式三的使用越来越普遍。对一个话题从正反两个方面进行理解的题目都可以从整体或是部分的采用模式三的写作方法。以1996年1月考题为例:
The Two-Day Weekend
1.双休日给大学生带来的好处;
2.双休日可能给大学生带来的问题;
3.我应该怎样过好双休日。
本题如果单刀直入,开门就写大学生从双休日政策中受益良多,未免显得突兀,不如开头加上一两句引语,然后描写双休日的好处,会使文章结构更加圆满。
The two-day weekend policy has been adopted for a long time. Since its carrying out, college students have benefited a lot from it. First, after five days’ study, they are very tired. They can use the weekend to have a good rest. Second, the two-day weekend provides them with more chances to contact with the society; for example, they can take a part-time job or go sightseeing. Third, they can use it to review the lessons and preview what they will learn next week.
雙休日给大学生带来了什么问题呢?你可以先在草纸上罗列一二,以便书写。但笔者还是建议在进入主题之前使用承上启下的关联词,使文章条理更加清晰。
However, every sword has two blades. Problems do exist in some college students’ two-day weekend. Some lazy students may spend most of the time sleeping, doing nothing else. Some may be addicted to playing cards, drinking, leaving their homework far away. Therefore, thetwo-day weekend can bring nothing useful to them.
最后,描述“我”应该如何过好双休日。既要利用双休日充分休息,培养自己各方面的兴趣爱好,又要为下一周的学习做好准备,以饱满的热情和充分的准备去迎接新的一周。
Drawing useful lessons from them, I will make good use of the time to have a rest and develop my own hobbies, such as reading, listening to music or playing balls. And I should also prepare myself for the study of next week.
三、修辞手法的巧妙运用
笔者认为,考生在写作时如果按上文所示的技巧,对文章的结构巧妙地加以设计,三段式结构清晰,内容表达条理准确,在CET4作文方面取得好成绩是毋庸置疑的。
然而,如果语言寡淡无味,词汇平淡无(下转第131页) (上接第129页)奇,从头到尾全是简单句,这样的文章也就失去感染读者(阅卷老师)的力量,达不到写作的目的(作文高分)。因此,笔者建议借助一些修辞手法营造氛围。对此,笔者建议有两条:第一,使用名人名言,谚语警句。在文章的三个部分适时地使用一些名人名言,谚语警句,会给你的作文增色不少。例如:
I believe no pains no gains. (我认为不劳无获)
We often hear people say that time and tide wait for no man. (我们经常听人说“时光一去不复返”)
We all know that knowledge is power. (众所周知,知识就是力量)
As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is away. (俗话说有志者事竟成)
However, every coin has two sides.(然而事情都有它的兩面性)
第二,现场发挥,自编自造。有时候考生会灵机一动想出非常漂亮的句子,但却苦于无法将其翻译成英文或对翻译的英文句子不满意而不敢落于纸上。笔者认为,写作是英语综合能力的体现。即使你用的句子可能并不是英文中的标准句子,只要它符合英语语法习惯,就可以大胆地写到试卷上,毕竟考生的这种创造性和对词汇语法的综合运用是值得称赞和鼓励的。比如“一箭双雕”一词,即使你不会用英文写“箭” 和“雕”,如果进行下面的联想:箭---石头(stone);雕---鹰---鸟(bird)。于是考生就很容易地写出“kill two birds with one stone”(一石二鸟)。笔者相信,这样的句子,不论谁看到都会对作者大加赞赏的。
参考文献:
[1]Feng Julan, Enhancing College Students’ Active Use of Vocabulary---An Empirical Study on Vocabulary in Compositions, (J), 中国英语教学,2008(2),p111-118.
[2]常波,樊玲,《论过程写作方法在英语写作教学中的运用》(J),高师英语教学与研究,2007(2),P48-50.
[3]教育部高教司,《大学英语课程教学要求(试行)》[M]
.上海外语教育出版社,2004.
[4]夏桐枝,如何使英语作文简洁,(J),《大学英语》,200
8(5),p30-31.
[5]严轶伦,《英语专业二年级学生写作中的读者意识》(J),高师英语教学与研究,2006(1),P51-54.
[6]杨庆云,《新要求全国大学英语四级考试全真模拟试题及详解》(M),北京师范大学音像出版社,北京,2008.3.
说明:
院级科研基金项目《日英汉口语对比翻译与文化理念的剖析》。