大学英语写作Unit 8.docx

1、大学英语写作Unit 8Unit 8 注重衔接英语文章的显著特点 在第6和第7单元里我们讲了如何选择合适的证据来为论题服务，其中提到避免空洞无物的断言和针对性不强的证据。这些都是从文章的意义上着眼的。在我们批改作文时还发现尽管有些文章从文脉上讲还算说得通，也就是整个文章是围绕一个中心议题而写作的，但是在段与段之间却缺乏必要的衔接手段(cohesive devices)。这就给读者带来理解上的麻烦，仿佛作者的思路被中间割断了一样，缺乏必要的桥梁。“衔接”这一概念在英语写作中非常重要，它关系到整篇文章的意义是否连贯。 “衔接”一词出自Halliday&Hasanl976年撰写的一本叫作英语的衔接一

2、书。书中所谈的衔接主要是指句子之间的衔接。衔接手段的运用可以取得意义的连贯(coherence)。这些手段包括指称(又称照应)(reference)、替代(substitution)、省略(ellipsis)、连接(conjunctions)(又称语法衔接)和词汇衔接(1exical cohesion)。指称的意思是用人称代词或物主代词将上一段提到的人或事物指代一下。如“he，they，you，“we，等等。替代是指用诸如“so”或“such一类的词代替前面提到的事情。省略是指为了避免重复，前面提到的动词内容可以省略掉。连接是指使用诸如“but，“however，“and，或“conseque

3、ntly等将两个段落连接起来的方法。词汇连接是指通过原词重复或用同义词或近义词使两个句子达到衔接目的的手段。尽管这些手法指的都是小句之间的衔接，但仍可借用到段落之间的衔接。本单元讨论的“衔接”包括句子之间和段落之间的衔接。本单元和接下来的另一个单元里，我们将介绍衔接手段的运用对贯通文意所起的重要作用。 在英文写作中衔接手段的使用不但非常必要，而且是表明作者思维的纽带。就是这些看上去并不起眼的同义词、连词或短语使你的文章读起来文脉贯通、过渡自然、一气呵成。然而，由于中国人的思维方式与西方人存在一些差异，我们平时似乎并没有养成良好的运用衔接手段的习惯。因此，在写英语作文时一定要对这个问题有足够的认

4、识，本单元主要讨论以下几个问题。1什么是衔接手段?2为什么有必要使用衔接手段?3如何使用衔接手段?4衔接手段的种类有哪些? 下面让我们读一组同学撰写的作文：“如何成功地在大学里生活”。从文章的标题我们可以看出其文体属于说明文。作者的目的是向读者(很可能是他们的同学)介绍或解释怎样才算得上不虚度大学时光。现在让我们读习作22。Student Essay 22How to Live Successfully in University 1 Before going to the university, the only thing we do is studying hard we did was

5、 to study hard, then we can would have the chances to get advanced education. All of us have had a clear and definite purpose at that time. But now, we are students of Tsinghua University. What is the purpose of our living? What should we do in the university? Someone says studying hard is the most

6、important thing. Others say working experiences and some basic skills such as leadership and interpersonal skills cant be ignored. My opinion is that we should improve our whole qualities our all-round abilities, including knowledge, work experiences and other basic skills in order to succeed in the

7、 university.2 How to be a successful student?3 First, we must spend enough time on our courses. Studying is the students natural duty. Other things we do must base on be subject to it. If we are not able to keep step with to keep up with other students, we cant even pass the exams. It means you we f

8、ailed in the university That suggests we would fail in the university. So spending enough time in studying is necessary, but just enough not too much but not too much time. On the contrary, However, some students devote all their time to study. They learn text books and do exercises day and night. S

9、tudying is the only thing in their daily life. I dont think it is a successful life, either, because it is not necessary. If we can find the key to study, it doesnt cost too much time it wont take us too much time. Then we can use spare time to do other things we are interested in. So to be a succes

10、sful student, remember spending enough but not too much time in studying on studying.4 Secondly, try to improve your other qualities, such as working experiences, skills to communicate. Many students in our university are short of them. One of the evidences is that maybe we are abundant of knowledge

11、, but a great number of us are hard to cooperate with One evidence is that it is not easy for many of us to cooperate with others though we have much knowledge. When we enter the society, we will realize the importance of it. We cant image imagine someone who cant communicate with others well can ac

12、hieve success. The abilities of leading other people, and cooperating with others are very important. We should try to improve these skills. There are too so many chances. We can join kinds of associations, students union and so on all kinds of associations. There exist many chances to improve our w

13、hole qualities all-round abilities. Another way to improve them ourselves is to take part-time jobs. Through it, we can know more about the world outside the campus, and can practice our abilities in management, organization and so on. We can also adapt ourselves to the society. Taking part-time job

14、s is a useful way to improve our whole qualities all-round abilities. To be a successful student, improving all-round abilities is important.5 Generally speaking, I think the students who are abundant of possess both knowledge and other basic skills are successful. Both of them are important. Either

15、 cant be ignored. We should improve our all-round abilities in university. 衔接手段的运用表面上看是属于文章的结构范畴，但实质上它可以体现意义的连贯性。我们先从习作的段落衔接分析开始，逐渐过渡到句子之间的衔接。本文共有五个自然段。作者在文章的开头部分(第一段)不但交代了撰写本文的背景，还提出了论题：大学生在校期间应注意自身素质的全面发展，包括知识、工作经验和基本技能。读了这一段之后我们期待的是作者将对他提出的三方面发展做一具体介绍并讲明原因。在接下来的段落中，作者应该就开头部分提出的第一个方面即知识的获取进行论述，只有这

16、样才能将两个段落联系起来。 现在让我们来看作者是如何从第一段过渡到第二段的。出乎读者的意料之外，作者并没有就如何获取知识进行论述，而是只写了一句话：“如何做一个成功的学生?”这样的过渡起不到连接两个自然段的作用，反而使读者丈二和尚摸不着头脑，打断了理解文章的思路。正确的方法是将这一段去掉。将第三段挪到第二段。通过分析我们可以看出，正确的衔接手段对贯通文意起着举足轻重的作用。 接着让我们看第三自然段。作者在开头使用了序数词“第一”来表示论述的顺序。这样很好。同时，我们可以将第一句话看成是本段的中心思想，也就是主题句。这样，读者就知道下面的内容将围绕“获取知识”这一点进行论述，可以跟上作者的思路。

17、 在第四自然段中，作者继续使用了序数词“第二”来与上一段中的“第一”呼应。这样做可以起到承上启下的作用，非常贴切。从本段的第一句话中读者可以知道作者论述的议题是有关大学生如何增长自己的工作经验以及社交本领的。尽管这个主题句是接着本文的论题写的，但是细心的读者会发现，作者应该将这个议题分两个段落来写，先写增长工作经验，后写培养社交本领。于是，现在的第四自然段应该分成两个自然段来写。这种使用序数词或连词来连接句子或段落的手法称语法衔接。本文使用的段落之间的衔接手段就是语法衔接手段。 最后，让我们分析第五自然段，也就是文章的结尾部分。按照以前学过的写作知识，文章的结尾部分应该总结全文，重申作者的观点

18、，结束文章。常用的表示总结的短语包括“To sum up”，“To generalize”以及Therefore”等等。本文使用的是Generallyspeaking”也不错，可以表示作者总结全文的用意。 就句子衔接而言，问题主要出在第三段。先看这两个句子之间的衔接关系是否合适。“So spending enough time studying isnecessary, but not too much timeOn the contrary, some studentsdevote all their time to study”作者先是谈了学习应该是学生的主要任务，但我们也不能把所有的时间

19、都用来学习。接着，作者用了短语“On the contrary(相反)表示转折。这个短语用得不妥当，作者的本意是要表达“但是”而不是“相反”，所以应该换成“However”或“But才对。接着让我们来看这一段中的另外两个句子的衔接情况。句子“I dont think it is a successful life，either”和句子“it is not necessary”之间缺少一个表示因果关系的连接词。所以，如果在这两句话中间加一个表原因的连词“because”将两句合成一句话会更合适。即“I dont think it is a successful life，either, beca

20、use it is not necessary。 总的来说，本篇习作在段落衔接和句子衔接上都存在一些缺点。文章中的第二自然段没有起到衔接上下两个段落的作用，应该去掉。还有就是第三段中的几个句子在衔接上存在问题，应该改变或加上正确的连词才行。下面看习作23。Student Essay 23How to Live Properly as a University Student1 As university students, compared with our high school experience, we must admit that we have more choices in o

21、ur daily lives. We can study long hours, take part in different kinds of competitions, have GRE lessons in the New Oriental Language School, take some part-time jobs; also we can enjoy beautiful concerts, join a certain association, or go out to smell the flowers go out-sighting, etc. And then, what

22、 kind of life is the most proper one for us?2 First of all, in my opinion, its no doubt that we should take study as the most important thing; for we are in the golden time to absorb knowledge. However, dont confine ourselves to classroom reading only. Think about things that are more fundamental fi

23、rst. Its high time for us to have our own philosophical conceptions. For example, think about the purpose of life. Maybe you will find that the more important thing is to be a complete person all-round person, not just a knowledgeable one. Then, you will be confirmed that the aim of education is not

24、 the pursuit of fame and fortune, but the development of a person on all the 3 levels three levels, i.e. morally, intellectually, and physically. Finally, when you study, you may shoulder your burden more firmly, because you have moral standards in your mindyou are patriotic and responsible. Also th

25、ink about what attitude you should take towards life. As David Hume said, “The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness.” I agree with him. And if You do, you will try your best to live happily, and study happily. In fact the knowledge itself is happinesshaving knowledge, broad

26、 and deep one, can help you to know truth from falsehood tell truth from falsehood, and lofty from low, isnt it? So whenever you get these two giftshaving social responsibilities, and keeping happy, you will make great pleasure from study derive great leisure from study.3 Second, remember, many acti

27、vities Have their meanings. Going out to have a picnic, reading a novel or listening to the music music can edify your sentiment. If you are deaf to these kinds of harmonies of life and nature, you are losing a large amount of happiness. Joining an association helps you satisfy your interests, and a

28、lso better your capacity to communicate with others. Maybe you can find a close friend in the same camp with you also on the same campus. Whats more, I heard that even Principal Wang President Wang used to be a member of the dancing group when he studied in our university ! How does doing part-time

29、jobs help? It teaches you the spirit of self-reliance, which also gives you an insight into what work and incomes are all about. Obviously, its no need to practice them one by one, but its really necessary to think about what you are really interested in, what are really useful to you, and what inde

30、ed you are prepared to delve into. And then, carry out your plans cheerfully!4 In a word, life is beautiful just because it has different colors, and every thing makes sense. If you havent thought about the meaning of life, or if you only experienced few of the “colors”, you are not living a complet

31、ing life an interesting life. Having a firm belief in your way of life, and try to practice as more as you can as much as you can, thats may be that might be the best way to live as a university student.5 Enjoy yourselfi本文从大的框架上看段落之间的衔接问题不是很大。开头段写明作者的目的是回答如何做一个称职的大学生(第一段)。接下来作者用了两个序数词分别论述了从哪些方面去做(第二

32、、三段)。在结尾部分(第四段)作者用短语“In a word”总结了全文。 但是，通过仔细分析我们发现第二段整段中内容写得支离破碎，句与句之间缺乏必要的衔接。读完以后不知道作者究竟要说明什么问题。我们感到作者想要表达的意思是在大学里学习固然重要，但树立一个正确的人生观，使自己得到德智体全面发展，才能成为对社会有责任感、从学习中得到快乐的人。但是由于作者没有在段落的开头用一句话概括出他的中心思想，段落中涉及的信息既多又散乱，使读者无法区别究竟哪个是主要的。好像作者什么都想谈，但什么都没有说清楚。作者由学习谈到教育的目的，又由教育的目的谈到如何幸福地生活，最后又说有了社会责任感和保持快乐就会从学习中获取愉悦。但是，作者却没有解释为什么要这样做。因此本段逻辑显得混乱。这表明作者并