高中英语写作能力训练(汇总20篇)

南瓜灯(Jack-O-Lantern)是庆祝万圣节的标志物。下面语文迷网整理了关于南瓜灯的故事作文，希望对你有帮助。

One story about Jack， an Irishman， who was not allowed into Heaven because he was stingy with his money. So he was sent to hell. But down there he played tricks on the Devil (Satan)， so he was kicked out of Hell and made to walk the earth forever carrying a lantern.

Well， Irish children made Jacks lanterns on October 31st from a large potato or turnip， hollowed out with the sides having holes and lit by little candles inside. And Irish children would carry them as they went from house to house begging for food for the village Halloween festival that honored the Druid god Muck Olla. The Irish name for these lanterns was "Jack with the lantern" or "Jack of the lantern，" abbreviated as " Jack-o-lantern" and now spelled "jack-o-lantern."

The traditional Halloween you can read about in most books was just childrens fun night. Halloween celebrations would start in October in every elementary school.

关于万圣节有这样一个故事。是说有一个叫杰克的爱尔兰人，因为他对钱特别的吝啬，就不允许他进入天堂，而被打入地狱。但是在那里他老是捉弄魔鬼撒旦，所以被踢出地狱，罚他提着灯笼永远在人世里行走。

在十月三十一日爱尔兰的孩子们用土豆和萝卜制作“杰克的灯笼”，他们把中间挖掉、表面上打洞并在里边点上蜡烛。为村里庆祝督伊德神的万圣节，孩子们提着这种灯笼挨家挨户乞讨食物。这种灯笼的爱尔兰名字是“拿灯笼的杰克”或者“杰克的灯笼”，缩写为Jack-o-lantern 。

现在你在大多数书里读到的万圣节只是孩子们开心的夜晚。在小学校里，万圣节是每年十月份开始庆祝的。孩子们会制作万圣节的装饰品：各种各样桔红色的南瓜灯。

With the development of Internet, more and more people tend to shop on the

Internet. Online shopping has provided some benefits for us, but it also has

some disadvantages at the same time.

For one thing, online shopping has brought some convenience for consumers.

Instead of going one shop to another, people can choose and buy all kinds of

commodities they like as long as they click the mouse gently. This is not only a

better choice for the old who do not have enough energy to go outside but also a

great convenience for those who have no time to go shopping in person. In

addition, consumers have more choices and can do some comparison when they are

shopping on the Internet. They can glance over various commodities in all

shapes, sizes and colors and decided to buy or not. Furthermore, online shopping

has made a great contribution to the development of express delivery

industry.

However, for another, shopping on the Internet also has some shortcomings.

Firstly, those who shop on the Internet can’t try the goods before they buy.

Sometimes, the real goods are not the same as the goods they see on the

Internet. Secondly, some shops on the Internet are dishonest and they would not

deliver the goods after paying. And if this situation happens, the consumers

would find nowhere to complain and never pull out the money any longer.

Therefore, we should pay more attention when shopping on the Internet.

1、审题：审题是做到切题的第一步。所谓审题就是要看清题意，确定文章的中心思想、主题，并围绕中心思想组织材料。

2、进行构思，列出简单的提纲，打造文章之骨架：审好题、立好意后，就要写提纲，打造文章的骨架。文章布局要做好几件事：安排好层次段落，铺设好过渡，处理好开头和结尾。

3、扩展成文：根据字数多少扩展成篇。扩展的内容一定要紧扣主题，千万不要写那些与主题不相关的内容。展开的方式包括：顺序法、举例法、比较法、对比法、说明法、因果法、推导法、归纳法和下定义等。可以根据需要任选一种或几种方式。

在这一步骤中还需注意三方面问题：

1、确保提纲中段落结构的思路与各段主题句的一致性。只有这样，才能保证所写段落不偏题、不跑题。

2、要综合考虑各个段落的内容安排，避免段落内容的交叉。

3、用好连接词，注意段落间、句子间的连贯性。要做到所写文章层次分明，思路清晰，文字连贯，就需要在句与句之间、段与段之间架起一座座桥梁，而连接词起的正是桥梁作用。

在扩展的过程中也有些窍门，以下几点可供参考：

1、在整篇文章中，避免只是用一两个句式或重复用同一词语。英语中存在着极为丰富的同义词，准确地使用同义词可以给读者清新的感觉。同时要灵活运用各种句式，如倒装句、强调句、省略句、主从复合句、对比句、分词短语、介词短语等，从而增加文章的可读性。

2、使用不同长度的句子。如果一个意思用一句话写不清楚的话，通过分句和合句或用两句、三句来表达，增强句子的连贯性和表现力。

3、改变句子的开头方式，不要总是以主、谓、宾、状的次序。可以把状语至于句首，或用分词等。

4、学会使用过渡词。递进furthermore，moreover，besides，in addition，then，etc ;转折however，but，nevertheless，afterwards，etc ;总结finally，at last，in brief，to conclude，etc ;强调really，indeed，certainly，surely，above a11，etc ;对比in the same way，just as，on the other hand，etc。

5、确定文章用第几人称写，基本时态是什么。使用人称时人物不能张冠李戴或指代不明。时态要尽量保持一致。

检查修改：要检查复核，不要写完了事。

要留时间通读全文，修改可能出现的错误。检查上下文是否连贯，句子衔接是否自然流畅。检验的标准主要是句子是否通畅，该用连词的地方用了没有，所用的连词是否合适，是否有语法错误，主谓是否一致，动词的时态、语态、语气的使用是否正确，词组的搭配是否合乎习惯，是否有大小写、拼写、标点错误等，还有就是注意卷面整洁。

可归纳为：中心突出，主题明确;层次清楚，条理清晰;表达

One day, Doras mother gave her a coin, It was a bit dirty, so Dora washed it. Then it started talking to Dora.

Today I talked to a coin, When it was made, it was nice and clean. People took the coin to a bank. It stayed there for a few days. A person at the bank gave the bank gave the coin to a man. My mother went to buy some cake from the mans shop. The man gave the coin to her as part of her change. She dropped the coin. A street cleaner saw it and picked it up. He returned it to my mother. She gave it to me as pocket money. I washed the coin to make it clean again.

一天，多拉的母亲给了她一枚硬币。它有点儿脏，所以多拉把它洗了洗。听听这个硬币的英语故事。

今天我和一枚硬币谈话了，当它被铸造的时候，它很好看而且干净.人们把钱存到银行。它在那儿待几天.银行的人把这枚硬币给了一名男子。我的母亲从这名男子的商店里买一些蛋糕。这名男子将这枚硬币作为零钱的一部分找给她。她掉了这枚硬币。一位街道清洁工看到了并把它捡起来。他把她还给了我母亲。母亲把它当零花钱给我了，我洗了这枚硬币，让它再次变干净。

5月1日高二（3）班的学生志愿者li yue 和zhang hua 去阳光敬老院（sunshine nursing home）开展志愿者活动（送水果，打扫，聊天等）。假设你校英语报的记者，请写一则新闻报道：1。 时间，地点，人物，活动；2。 老人们的反映；3。 简短评论

范文：

students volunteers brought sunshine to the elderly。on may day， liyue and zhang hua， students from class three，grade two， went to sunshine nursing home and did some voluntary work。 upon their arrival。 li yue and zhang hua were warmly welcomed，and respectfully， they presented the elderly with fruits and flowers。then they started working at once，cleaning the windows and sweeping the floor。 everything done。 they sat in the yard chatting with the elderly people。

when it was time for the volunteers to leave。 the elderly people thanked them for their kindness。 they said it was such a beautiful day that they would remember it forever。

li yue and zhang hua were very happy。 what they did has brought joy to other people and enriched their own lives。

by chen jie， school newspaper。

[高中志愿者活动英语作文

2005年英语考纲有重大变化，其中之一就是作文考查的变化。新增加一篇小作文，使作文考查由一篇变为两篇，而原来的大作文的字数也由“不少于200字”调整为“150至200字”，满分20分。新增的作文是一篇100字左右的应用性短文，文体包括有信件、便笺、备忘录等，满分10分。既然是新增题型，就不会太难，但不好预测文体，这就要求考生复习时力求面面俱到，掌握写作规律及注意事项，尤其是对常见的应用文体如书信等

大作文的写作一般会给考生写作提纲，或图表，图画，或图文并茂。命题方式虽然多样，但题目涉及面往往是考生比较熟悉的内容，目的是测定考生语言的实际应用能力。要求表达清楚，文字连贯，中心突出，内容丰富，句式多变，句子结构和用词正确。

语言的应用能力不可能一蹴而就，必须厚积薄发，必须经过长期的实践锻炼。在提高英语写作能力方面，我觉得：一是要背大量的优秀范文，整段整篇地背，并转换为自己的语言，写作时自己能随心所欲支配。考试时避免套用以前死记硬背的几个范文，把一些不达意的词堆积在一起，没有统一性，无法很好地表现主题；二是要多动手。包括对背过的文章进行词语替换，句式转换，句子重组等，以及对某一主题展开写作。多动手才能提高笔下功夫，才能保证在考场上顺利写作。可以说背诵范文是培养语感，积累素材，掌握写作方法，动手写作是实践，是最终目的，这两者结合起来，就是“理论联系了实际”。另外，背诵范文应有针对性，写作训练也是一样，在训练中要掌握每一类型作文的写作规律，根据其每一类作文的写作特点——如提纲式作文就要求考生根据提纲提示的思路和规定的要点展开段落——全面训练，但不要带有押题的心理，靠背几篇范文就能应付考试的心态是不可取的。

下面说一下英语写作过程中的注意事项

一、认真审题

作文第一步是仔细审题，考生要仔细阅读试题要求及相关信息，如图表，图画，数字等，准确把握出题者意图。考研作文忌信手掂来，提笔就写，根本不审题，想到哪儿就写到哪儿，或完全凭自己想象编故事，置考试要求于不顾， “下笔千言，离题万里”。比如1998是一幅卡通画，老母鸡申明外加一首打油诗，讽刺一些企业把该尽职之事作为推销产品的承诺。如果考生说老母鸡很可爱，但爱自夸，然后说自己某个同学也爱自夸，这就偏离主题。2000年的作文“A Brief Histiry of World Commercial Fishing ”.它给出了两张图，从1900年的渔船和鱼量之比到1995年的渔船和鱼量之比的变化谈如何保护渔业资源，应从商业性滥捕鱼这一主题展开话题，有的考生却大谈环境污染。这就偏离了主题，因为题中自始自终都没有谈到环境污染问题。

有的同学没有审题习惯，或担心时间不够草草审题，最后发现文不对题，草草收场，这就影响了英语成绩，同时也会影响后两门考试的考试心情。

二、列出提纲

考试规定的时间是很有限的，所以不能花太多时间准备一个详细的提纲，但关键词提纲或粗略提纲还是非常有必要的。对原始材料分析归纳后要形成一个基本的框架。文章打算分几段写，每段大概怎样写，自数控制在多少，开头段落是道破主题，点名要旨，引人入胜还是先给出主题一般的背景情况和对主题进行浓缩的陈述呢，中间段落和结尾有怎样写呢。这些都要心中有数。有的考生习惯用汉语构思文章，逐句翻译提纲，当碰到某个词卡住时就翻译不下去，僵在那里。要注意列提纲是为了更好更全面的表达主题。主题的表达可有多种形式，不一定非要寻找一个特定的词或句子。考试时考生要充分调动大脑，灵活运用以前所学知识。

三、开始写作

一篇文章往往由四部分组成，标题(title)，首段(opening paragraph),主体(body paragraph),结尾段( concluding paragraph)。标题要新颖，能引起读者兴趣，首段的内容根据文章的体裁而变化，比如议论文可以从一种现象，一种观点出发引出作者的观点。记叙文往往交代人物和故事背景。主体是文章的主要部分，通过合适的语篇模式表达一定的观点，考生要围绕中心按一定顺序分层次有重点的展开叙述，描写，议论。结尾段是对全文的总结，论点上要与前面的叙述一致和统一。写作时要注意以下几点。

1、要统一，连贯。

选择那些最能体现中心思想最具代表性的材料，这些材料要共同表达一致的信息。选材时切忌胡子眉毛一把抓。词语堆积，不伦不类。前后及段落之间在逻辑关系上要紧密衔接，不能把没有任何逻辑关系的词放在一起。可以用恰当的关联词把思想连贯的表达出来。

2、用词准确，语法正确

考试时要特别注意语法，此语，语气，标点符号等，为了避免太多单词拼写错误，语法错误，不要为了追求词语的华丽而堆积一些自己也没把握的单词，不要刻意追求长句而写一些自己不知对错的有多个从句组成的长句。考试时最好选择自己最有把握的词汇，短语，句式。

3、足够字数，卷面整洁

绝对不能字数不够，即使一句话颠来倒去说也要凑够字数。字数不够，即使写的非常精彩，也不能拿高分。

四、修改

英语写作时考生由于仓促，紧张等原因，很容易犯一些简单的，一眼就能发现的错误。所以考生一定要留出几分钟时间用于修改。不要大幅度进行修改，更不要因为修改破坏卷面整洁，影响阅卷老师心情。修改时可以从以下几点进行

1、语法

包括时态是否一致，主谓是否一致，名词单复数是否对应，被动主动语态是否错用等

2、词汇

包括连接上下句或段落的关联词，习惯用语，固定搭配，词类混淆，误用及物不及物动词等。

3、拼写和标点符号

导语：很多同学谈英语作文而色变，大家似乎都特别怕写作。其实要把英语作文写成高分不外乎就是多背，多看，多练，多积累，多仿。趁着还有时间，建议考生要抓紧复习提升，下面是高分作文写作的方法，17年的考生认真看看。

一、了解意图，抓住精髓

近年来的大作文非常玄妙，值得细品。首先，很可能大作文正在经历由时事向哲理过渡的重大变革，这在2001年、2002年、2004年、2007年、2009和2010年真题上表现得最为明显。其次，出题人将尽量用图画来表达意图，而不借助或少借助图中或图旁的文字，这样意义表达的会更深刻，对考生的思考力和判断力的要求也就更高。第三，图画的含义深刻，可以接受的解释也较多，但要想取得高分，必须紧扣图画，把握住其中的精髓，最深刻地表达其核心的意义。

二、扣紧主题

写大作文时切记要扣紧主题，切不可离题太远，导致最后回不来或时间不够写不完。另外，各部分之间的比例应适当，第一段不要太长。与主题相关的关键词语一定要用对，否则会影响分数。

三、看清要求

有的同学一看到写“网络”，就立即联想到这方面最火爆的话题“网络成瘾”，将主题确定为此。有的同学干脆将之转变为自己看到过的文章——“网络的利与弊”。这些都是不正确的做法。写大作文时，首先要减少语言的错误，提高语言的准确性。语言错误有许多种，有的是小错误，甚至可以忽略不计，而有些是大错误，是让老师看到后不得不扣分的错误。另一方面就是增加闪光点，除了结构清晰外，闪光点主要指好的词、词组或句型，一是使用恰当，二是要有变换。上述这两点都不容易，而结合起来就更难了。如果文章分为三段，那么起始段、结尾段和中间段落的开始部分是非常关键的。对于背诵的好词、词组和句型，一定要和具体的行文联系起来，融入到文章中去，不仅要用对，还要用好，避免给人突兀的感觉。

四、避免投机取巧

近年来，有些考生有投机的心理，结果却很惨烈。有的考生准备了万能模板，直接往上套，这样的效果并不好。正如有的较为激进的阅卷老师所说，这些考生是想通过不诚实的手段得到不属于他的东西，这样的人应该得到惩罚。实际上这些考生中有的水平还不错，如果坚持依靠自己，咬紧牙关奋力拼搏的话，结果会是不错的。

综上所述，对于作文这一部分来说，大家应该首先了解不同文章的特点和规律，而后用心地学习范文并进行模仿，然后练习全文写作并请老师批改再细细揣摩。相信通过这样的过程，大家的写作一定会有长足的进步。

The older I grow, the more I appreciate children. Now, at my 80th birthday, I salute them again. Children are the most wholesome part of the race, the sweetest, for they are freshest from the hand of God. Whimsical, ingenious, mischievous, they fill the world with joy and good humor. We adults live a life of apprehension as to what they will think of us; a life of defense against their terrifying energy; a life of hard work to live up to their great expectations. We put them to bed with a sense of relief---and greet them in the morning with delight and anticipation. We envy them the freshness of adventure and the discovery of life. In all these ways, children add to the wonder of being alive. In all these ways, they help to keep us young.

Dear ______ ,

①I have learned with delight that you ______(祝贺事由). ②I would like to extend to you my utmost congratulations on ______. ③You must be ______. ④And I feel very happy for you.

⑤ ______(所取得的成绩)is quite exciting news! ⑥I know this is surely owing to ______(被祝贺人过去的努力).⑦It is a reward you richly deserve for your ______(被祝贺人的优点).

⑧Kindly let me know when you ______(咨询对方何时有空).⑨I hope ______(表达自己的愿望). ⑩My best wishes for your further success.

Yours sincerely,

Li Ming

掌握一些常用的句型对高考英语写作尤为重要。下面是语文迷网整理的句型，大家一起来看看吧。

一、开头句型

1.As far as ...is concerned

2.It goes without saying that...

3.It can be said with certainty that...

4.As the proverb says，

5.It has to be noticed that...

6.It`s generally recognized that...

7.It`s likely that ...

8.It`s hardly that...

9.It’s hardly too much to say that...

10.What calls for special attention is that...需要特别注意的是

11.There’s no denying the fact that...毫无疑问，无可否认

12.Nothing is more important than the fact that...

13.what’s far more important is that...

二、衔接句型

A case in point is ...

As is often the case...

As stated in the previous paragraph 如前段所述

But the problem is not so simple. Therefore 然而问题并非如此简单，所以……

But it’s a pity that...

For all that...In spite of the fact that...

Further, we hold opinion that...

However , the difficulty lies in...

Similarly, we should pay attention to...

not(that)...but(that)...不是，而是

In view of the present station.鉴于目前形势

As has been mentioned above...

In this respect, we may as well (say) 从这个角度上我们可以说

However, we have to look at the other side of the coin, that is... 然而我们还得看到事物的另一方面，即 …

三、结尾句型

I will conclude by saying...

Therefore, we have the reason to believe that...

All things considered,总而言之

It may be safely said that...

Therefore, in my opinion, it’s more advisable...

From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that….

The data/statistics/figures lead us to the conclusion that….

It can be concluded from the discussion that...从中我们可以得出这样的结论

From my point of view, it would be better if...在我看来……也许更好

四、举例句型

Let’s take...to illustrate this.试举例以兹证明

let’s take the above chart as an example to illustrate this.

Here is one more example.

Take … for example.

The same is true of….

This offers a typical instance of….

We may quote a common example of….

Just think of….

五、常用于引言段的句型

1. Some people think that …. To be frank, I can not agree with their opinion for the reasons below.

2. For years, … has been seen as …, but things are quite different now.

3. I believe the title statement is valid because….

4. I cannot entirely agree with the idea that …. I believe….

5. My argument for this view goes as follows.

6. Along with the development of…, more and more….

7. There is a long-running debate as to whether….

8. It is commonly/generally/widely/ believed /held/accepted/recognized that….

9. As far as I am concerned, I completely agree with the former/ the latter.

10. Before giving my opinion, I think it is essential to look at the argument of both sides.

六、表示比较和对比的常用句型和表达法

1. A is completely / totally / entirely different from B.

2. A and B are different in some/every way / respect / aspect.

3. A and B differ in….

4. A differs from B in….

5. The difference between A and B is/lies in/exists in….

6. Compared with/In contrast to/Unlike A, B….

7. A…, on the other hand,/in contrast,/while/whereas B….

8. While it is generally believed that A …, I believe B….

9. Despite their similarities, A and B are also different.

10. Both A and B …. However, A…; on the other hand, B….

11. The most striking difference is that A…, while B….

七、演绎法常用的句型

1. There are several reasons for…, but in general, they come down to three major ones.

2. There are many factors that may account for…, but the following are the most typical ones.

3. Many ways can contribute to solving this problem, but the following ones may be most effective.

4. Generally, the advantages can be listed as follows.

5. The reasons are as follows.

八、因果推理法常用句型

1. Because/Since we read the book, we have learned a lot.

2. If we read the book, we would learn a lot.

3. We read the book; as a result / therefore / thus / hence / consequently / for this reason / because of this, we’ve learned a lot.

4. As a result of /Because of/Due to/Owing to reading the book, we’ve learned a lot.

5. The cause of/reason for/overweight is eating too much.

6. Overweight is caused by/due to/because of eating too much.

7. The effect/consequence/result of eating too much is overweight.

8. Eating too much causes/results in/leads to overweight.

一、Nothing is + ~~~ er than to + V Nothing is + more +形容词+ than to + V

例句：Nothing is more important than to receive education. 没有比接受教育更重要的事。

二、~ the + ~ est +名词+(that)+主词+ have ever + seen(known/heard/had/read，etc)

~ the most +形容词+名词+(that)+主词+ have ever +seen(known/heard/had/read，etc)

例句：Helen is the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen. 海伦是我所看过最美丽的女孩。

Mr. Chang is the kindest teacher that I have ever had. 张老师是我曾经遇到最仁慈的教师。

三、~~~ cannot emphasize the importance of ~~~ too much.(再怎么强调……的重要性也不为过。)

例句：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。

四、It is universally acknowledged that +句子~~(全世界都知道……)

例句：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。

五、There is no denying that + S + V……(不可否认的……)

例句：There is no denying that the qualities of our living have gone from bad to worse.

不可否认的，我们的生活品质已经每况愈下。

六、There is no doubt that +句子~~(毫无疑问的……)

例句：There is no doubt that our educational system leaves something to be desired.

毫无疑问的我们的教育制度令人不满意。

七、An advantage of ~~~ is that +句子(……的优点是……)

例句：An advantage of using the solar energy is that it wont create(produce)any pollution.

使用太阳能的优点是它不会制造任何污染。

八、The reason why +句子~~~ is that +句子(……的原因是……)

例句：The reason why we have to grow trees is that they can provide us with fresh air.

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。

九、Adj + as + Subject(主词)+ be，S + V~~~(虽然……)

例句：Rich as our country is， the qualities of our living are by no means

satisfactory. {by no means = in no way = on no account一点也不}

虽然我们的国家富有，我们的生活品质绝对令人不满意。

十、So +形容词+ be +主词+ that +句子(如此……以致于……)

例句：So precious is time that we cant afford to waste it.时间是如此珍贵，我们经不起浪费它。

Life is each persons wealth, because the world with life and colorful, full of vigour, let us love and cherish own life, seize every minute of life. Life is short, be gone for ever, human life is fleeting, time can not be reversed, we can only in a limited life infinite brilliance.

That day, my good friend clay came to my house to play, my mother know, immediately do a lot of delicious to clay. When we have fun when, suddenly, clay fainted. Mom saw mud, immediately sent to hospital. After the doctors detailed inspection, the final judgment is had leukemia. Doctor for my mother said: oh! The child to live no longer than four months, if you come a little earlier treatment, it is no big deal. But now... Alas! Mother pale, said to the doctor: doctor, do not save? The doctor reluctantly shook his head. At that moment, I have tears in eyes is the best, but couldnt flow down. I think: why the event would fall in my good friend why, why! My mother said to me: my daughter, you dont cry. We dont know if that mud, mud know she will be very sad, you promised mom dont tell clay, okay? I cried and said: Mom and I promise you, I will not tell her.

We came to the clay ward, pretending to be happy. For I in the four months to make clay can happy every day, make clay in full every day, I spend a lot of time. But time always flies so fast, I am very sad, because I know the clay have not much time.

[高中英语作文:热爱生命

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”.

[英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分

一、写作要领

考生无论遇到哪一类试题，都要仔细审题，根据题目的要求确定文章的类型和中心内容，并对你自己熟悉的、可写的内容进行筛选、整理、规划、列出提纲，这是很重要的一步。提纲列好后，要围绕提纲内容展开说明自己的观点和结论，不要在写作时抛开提纲。一篇好的作文应该具备以下5个方面：

(1)内容切题，主题鲜明。

(2)表达清楚准确，条理清晰。

(3)结构完整，衔接流畅自然。

(4)句法正确多样。

(5)用词恰当丰富。

二、方法与步骤

1．提纲

提纲是写作一篇文章的详细计划、安排。提纲准备的目的是：

(1)计划要写什么。

(2)文章的思想的表达顺序。

(3)如何安排段落。

(4)使写作从头到尾围绕主题进行。内容一般用短语和词。主题、副题表达先后顺序，要用数字标明。提纲内容的安排是写作一篇好文章的关键。

2．依据提纲写作

(1)初稿

在完成提纲安排后，动笔写作的第一步是打初稿，在写初稿时要争取做到心中有数，胸有成竹，经过反复练习后，能够按照提纲安排落笔成文，一气呵成。如果突发奇想，也可修改提纲，顺理成章，但切忌偏离正题。在初稿写作时要有意识加大行距，为文章的修改留有余地。

(2)定稿及修改方法

在完成初稿后，修改是必不可少的过程。修改文章要注意以下几点：

①内容是否切题，论点是否鲜明，论证是否合理、严密。

②段落衔接时过渡使用是否合理，语句是否通顺、有没有语法错误，用词是否恰当。

③拼写是否正确，标点符号、大小写是否有错误，有无其他笔误。

大多数中国考生的写作过程不是写作过程，而是翻译过程. Therefore, the ABC approach to improve the writing ability for IELTS candidates would be the application of the KISSable principle.

Keep It Short and Simple.

Please remember, in any language available now, there are basically two types of information involved in the communication process. Namely:

Action

State

Action is actualised by verbs, while State is shown by nouns, adjs or prepositional phrases.

It is strongly recommended that beginners of English writing start their practice by using this KISSable approach. Please heed the following examples:

科技改变了人们的日常生活。

食品安全问题始终是一个负责任的政府应该时刻关心的问题。

由于大多数雅思考生的汉语思维和汉语的语言能力已经达到了成人的水平，在翻译写作过程中出现了现有的英文水平对付不了比较复杂的汉语思维所产生的中文信息，从而导致有想法没办法，有思路没门路的尴尬情况。所以刚刚开始练习的考生可以把自己想法中的主要信息挑出来，分成是动作还是状态两种类型，使用简单的主+谓+结构;或者主+系动词+表语的模式来练习写作。 比如上文所提的例子：

Science and technology have altered our daily life.

导语：环境污染变得愈加严重，在一些地区,空气也变得又脏又有害。因此,动物和植物濒临绝种。下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语作文，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Today the quality of our natural environment has become an important issue. The world population is rising so quickly that the world has become too

crowded. We are using up our natural resources and at the same time polluting our environment with dangerous chemicals. If we continue to do this, life on earth cannot survive.

Concerned people have made some progress in environmental protection. Governments of many countries have established laws to protect the air, forests and sea resources and to stop environmental pollution.

Still more measures should be taken to solve environmental problems. People should be further educated to recognize the importance of the problems, to use modern methods of birth control, to conserve(保存) our natural resources and recycle(再循环) our products. We are sure that we can have a better and cleaner place in the future.

今天,自然环境质量已成为一个重要议题。世界人口增长如此之快以至于世界已经变得太拥挤了。我们正在用尽自然资源,同时,用化学危险品污染环境。如果我们继续这样做,地球上的生命将无法继续存活。

有关人员有了一些进展在环境保护。许多国家的政府都制定了法律以保护空气,森林和海洋资源并停止环境污染。

更多措施应该被采取解决环境问题。受过教育的人应该是进一步认识问题的重要性,要运用现代控制生育的方法来保存(保存)我们的自然资源和循环(再循环)我们的产品。我们相信,我们可以有更好的和比较干净的地方,在未来的。

if a man deceives me once, shame on him, if he deceives me twice, shame on me.

上当一回头，再多就可耻。

if you make yourself an ass, don‘t complain if people ride you.

人善被人欺，马善被人骑。

if your ears glow, someone is talking of you.

耳朵发烧，有人念叨。

if you run after two hares, you will catch neither.

脚踏两条船，必定落空。

if you sell the cow, you sell her milk too.

杀鸡取卵。

if you venture nothing, you will have nothing.

不入虎穴，焉得虎子。

a cat may look at a king.

人人平等。

adversity makes a man wise, not rich.

逆境出人才。

a fair death honors the whole life.

死得其所，流芳百世。

a faithful friend is hard to find.

知音难觅。

a fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.

吃一堑，长一智。

a fox may grow gray, but never good.

江山易改，本性难移。

a friend in need is a friend indeed.

患难见真情。

a friend is easier lost than found.

得朋友难，失朋友易。

Teachers，good afternoon. Allow me to briefly talk about myself.

My name is - Xianning graduated from the south gate of the private secondary schools. Tourism now studying at the school in Hubei Province. Studying hotel management professional.

I was a character，cheerful girl，so my hobbies is extensive. Sporty. In my spare time likes playing basketball， table tennis，volleyball，skating. When a person like the Internet at home，or a personal stereo. Not like too long immersed in the world of books，and family members have told me，Laoyijiege is the best. Talking about my family，then I will talk about my family has. Only three people my family，my grandmother，grandfather and my own. My grandfather is a engineer，I am very severely on peacetime，the Church me a lot. Grandma is a very kindly for the elderly，care for my life in every possible way. Therefore，I have no parents in their care，childhood and growth were full of joy.

I like this hotel management professional，because I like to live in a strict order of the management environment. I have my professional self-confidence and hope，as long as the efforts will be fruitful，this is my motto. Since I chose this profession，I will follow this path，effort，perseverance path.

Thank you teachers. I finished presentation.

文化作文芳香灿烂，美不胜收，那么文化作文在句子、段落和篇章组合上有哪些规律?它们鲜活的美丽是如何产生的?这些美丽的彩虹在层次上有无高下之别?我们在写作中该怎样遵循和利用这些规律来创写美的句子?

让我们来感悟文化作文吧，从感悟中寻找这些问题的答案。

第一节：底蕴成句

【温馨点拨】：底蕴成句是把含有文化底蕴的内容表达成句。底蕴成句有三种情况：一是将某一句诗或文句直接引用或化用，使之成为一个句子。它是底蕴写作的基础。作文的题目、题记、小标题、正文都可以直接引用和化用古诗文，丰富作文内涵，增加作文文采。

二是将历史人物或文学人物广为人知的事迹或细节用简洁的语言排列出来，引起人们情感上的共鸣和理性的认同。

先讲第一种情况，引用古诗文。分为三个层次：

第一个层次是直接引用。如：我喜欢“人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青”的诗句。这种直白让人感觉幼稚。

第二个层次是名句后面有一定阐述。表达式为：名言+意境。如：①“生命就是 ‘感时花溅泪，恨别鸟惊心’的无奈与感伤。”②“生命就是‘衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴’的不懈追求。”

该层次重点在于名言的意境、思想、风格等的解说。意境的理解多数遵循传统的认知，但个人的感悟只要在合理的范围，往往更能出新意。

有时表达为：名言+名德。如：生命就是 “人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青”的浩然正气。该层次重点在于把握表现人物品质的名言和名言所表现的优秀名德。

有时表达为：名言+其它。如：①幸福是“常记溪亭日暮，沉醉不知归路”的回忆。②我憧憬归隐于 “层上春鸠(jiū)鸣，村边杏花白”的田园。引用的需要是多层次的，名言后面表述的内容有时是无法确定的，根据文章需要和作者悟性，变化无穷。

因此本层次的准确表达式为：名言+解说(或阐述)。

第三个层次是将诗句割裂，分开引用，或截取两句诗的部分组合在一句里。如：①我喜欢“千树万树梨花开”的“胡天八月”。②寂寞是“云母屏风烛影深，长河渐落晓星辰”的“碧海青天夜夜心”。③我喜欢“灯如昼”的元夜“花市”。④我喜欢“暗香盈袖”的“黄昏”。前二句是剪裁两句古诗组合成一句，后二句是一句古诗割裂后组合成一句。这一层次已经是比较灵活地运用了。

第四个层次是化用古诗文名句。如：①“美就是那直上青天的一行白鹭。”②“美就是那鹦鹉洲头随风拂动的萋萋芳草。”③“美就是那化作春泥更护花的点点落红”。感觉古诗里的动植物带着古典的美，又复活在大自然中，装点今天的生活。

第二种情况，用著名历史或文学人物的事迹或细节组句。表达为：名人+名事。分为两个层次：第一个层次是直接叙写。如：“项羽兵败乌江，令英雄扼腕。”“屈原汨(mì)罗投江，让忠臣垂泪。”

第二个层次是诗意地展示。如：①“命运是项羽英雄末路自刎乌江时的那一声仰天长啸。”②“命运是屈原留在汨罗江畔的那一串串沉痛的叩问。”语言的弹性浓缩和锤炼了诗的形象，那声“仰天长啸”和“沉痛的叩问”穿过历史的隧道，压迫读者的心灵，思索命运的真谛。

第三种情况，历史人物与相关诗句的组合。分为两个层次：第一个层次是直接引用，表达为：名人+名言+意境(或名德或其它)。如：①美就是龚自珍“落红不是无情物，化着春泥更护花”的献身精神。②美就是苏东坡“谁道人生无再少，门前流水尚能西”的超脱与豁达。③美就是王维“明月松间照，清泉石上流”的清幽与恬淡。前两句是名人名言名德，后一句是名人名言意境。

第二个层次是化用。表达为：名人+名言化用。如：①“李白的云帆点缀了沧浪之水”。②“辛弃疾的醉眼迷离了刀光剑影”。③“陆游的梦乡回荡着铁骑铮铮”。④“苏轼的华发张扬了少年意气” 。⑤“思念使女诗人瘦比黄花”。⑥“思念使豪放派鼻祖幽梦还乡相顾无言垂泪千行”。⑦“思念使婉约派泰斗酒醒晓风残月杨柳岸”。化用给人的审美刺激是多重而深刻的。它把古诗还原成生活的同时又提升和诗化了生活。

1、成段

底蕴成段，形式上有三种。

【第一种情况】：表达式，N个名句(或N个名人名事)…+意境(或其它)。

陶渊明“问君何能尔，心远地自偏”折射出冷静的人生选择;范仲淹(yān)“先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐”道出政治家的深重责任感;杜甫(fǔ)“安得广厦千万间，大庇天下寒士俱欢颜，风雨不动安如山!”已经挣脱并超越了自己的苦难，显露出普度众生的情怀;毛泽东“问苍茫大地，谁主沉浮?”更是一代伟人对饱经沧桑的神州大地的历史性洪钟巨响……

【第二种情况】：表达式，名人+名言名事…+议论。

分为六种情况：一、表达式，N个名句+议论。

抽刀断水，是最无奈的神话;举杯消愁，是最动情的悲歌。感动于“不知近水花先发，疑是经冬雪未消”的玄妙，陶醉于“一川烟草，满城风絮，梅子黄时雨”的飘愁，沉浸于“细看来，不是杨花，点点是离人泪”的哀怨，顿然领悟：用旁观的眼神，是于心进行深刻对话后偶得的一种风骨，一种锤炼后的进发与升华!

二、表达式，N个名人+N 个名句+议论(或议论在前)。

②恰如其分的语言表达，利于友情的沟通。高适的“莫愁前路无知己，天下谁人不识君”与王勃的“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”，都用优美的语言送走了友人，达到了友情的沟通。李白《蜀道难》一文中劝说友人归来的语言精辟，达到了友情的沟通。从李白的“上有六龙回日之高标，下有冲波逆折之回川”可知“蜀道之难，难于上青天”，友人便从言语中感受到友人的关怀，沟通也便到了心坎。沟通并不像白居易说的“此时无声胜有声”，它需要语言为它传达彼此的关切。友情的沟通，需要语言的钥匙。

三：表达式，N个名人+N个名事+议论。

当屈原抱着石头与江水相拥，当霸王自刎时的鲜血染红了整片夕阳，当普罗米修斯裸着身体被巨鹰啄(zhuó)食，当拉奥孔扭曲着身体仍想保卫自己的儿子，历史在悲风中发出阵阵哀鸣，但他们生命的结尾却那么响亮有力，数千年来仍叩击着人们的心灵，播放出永不低沉的生命绝唱。

四：表达式，N个名人+N个名言名事+议论.

④ 古往今来，因感情亲疏而导致错误事物认知的事例不胜枚举。李牧一心为国,“大破林胡，开地千里，遁逃匈奴”，可谓战功赫赫，却因赵王的不信任而惨遭杀害，最终葬送了赵国大好江山。诸葛亮“三顾频频天下计，两朝开济老臣心”，却因对马谡过分信任而误下军令，失去街亭，从而导致“出师未捷身先死,长使英雄泪满襟”的惨淡结局。李白才气超人，“清新庚开府，俊逸鲍参军”，却因唐玄宗的疏远而一生漂泊，壮志难酬 ……可以说，历史上许多悲剧的诞生都是由感情亲疏引起的。

五：表达式，1个名人+N个名句名事(或化用)+议论。

② 经历了少年的意气风发、锋芒毕现与青年时的思考，人，终于要真正成熟起来了。他不再像年少时那样刺目得不可接近;他开始散射出圆润柔和的清辉。他渐臻圆满。黄州的苏东坡不再是那个傲世的才子，或高高在上的官员，他回归成了“寂寞东坡一病翁”，他只是一个淳朴真挚的文人。他在赤壁怀古，在林间穿行;他不再计较仕途上的得失，他的眼界已经由平面的当下扩展到立体的古今。他的内核充实了。他敢于吟出“竹杖芒鞋轻胜马，谁怕?一蓑烟雨任平生”，他坦然地在山路上行走。他的前后《赤壁赋》，成为中华文化中不朽的篇章，被一代代地传诵。这便是真正的成熟。不是抵抗，不是愤怒，不是针锋相对，而是如山间的朗月，圆满无缺，向世间洒下清朗的光芒，却自生自落，不因外物而随波逐流，这就是人生的大境界。

六：表达式，1个名人+N个名句名事(或化用)+N段+议论。

是拣尽寒枝终不肯栖的寒鸦么?是举杯邀明月的饮者么?是穿越了十年生死痛苦一场的痴汉么?

在那个“群星荟萃”的时代，人们对你的期望本是韬光养晦，游戏笔墨罢了，而你偏偏要独上高楼，你的光芒刺痛了那些习惯于黑夜的眼睛，你注定要承受官场和文坛一齐泼来的污水。

而我只看见你青青的竹枝，脚上的芒鞋，被雨淋湿的脊背，你的笑容从容洒脱，你的眼中只有秋风绿水泛清波。

你坚守着自我，从而达到让后世永远仰望的高度。 (苏东坡)

【温馨信息】：

一个意识：美段意识。

前两种情况，是一种理论上的解剖。你只要抓住名人名言名事组合再与议论相结合就行，让议论对组合的的内容进行概括提炼，并与文章主题挂钩，这样使纵横散乱的诗句、人物、故事挂在主题的红线上，共同为表现中心服务。

这样的段落，已经是文章的重要片段。

有底蕴，有文采，有厚度，更有深度。

仿佛广阔的文化天幕上，露出一丝丝诗句和名人名事的曙光，随着文字的铺展，一轮鲜亮的红日主题，喷薄而出，美的红潮漫过原野，瞬间点燃读者的共鸣。

这样的情景，让我们体会底蕴文章的魅力和阅读的快感。

美段阅读，我们要经常这样感悟;美段教学，我们要经常这样实践。很多时候，一篇优秀文章照亮我们眼睛的只有一句，能够留下一段让我们品读的文章已经很不错。

我们把语言和思想的纯金片段收集起来，细细抚摸、咀嚼(jǔ jiáo)，让思想与思想碰撞，让光芒与光芒聚集，让智慧的火光照彻未开启的灵感之门，让一个个古典的汉字满载我们思想和想象的的花瓣，漫天飞舞在文学的天宇，让浪漫的意境和深邃的智慧丰满我们的精神，陶治我们的情操。

这样的阅读最有效，最便捷，最聪慧。

特别是写作前，看看这些燃烧着才情的段落，灵感会很快点燃，文思会很快喷涌。

这就是作文教学技巧，也是作文应试技巧。

同学们略作尝试，就会感觉美段阅读妙用无穷。

背三篇文章进考场，这就是其中一个重要原因：点燃文采!!!

【第三种情况】：运用想象和联想，艺术地再现历史人物当年的情景或化用诗词意境成段。

“哐当、哐当……”听见那清脆的打铁声了吗?清风拂面、强健的肌肉散发出生命的气息，熊熊的烈火陶冶着高尚的情操，稽康，这个时代的英雄，一代才子，就在这儿过着铁匠的生活。(再现了历史人物：稽康的隐居生活)

这时候，那弯浅浅的月跌进了洒对面的山坳。一只乌鸦凄凉的鸣叫越过夜空，溅落了满天的寒意。薄薄白白的霜就铺满了船舷。一位诗人独立船头，他长长的胡须已被秋天染白。

岸边一丛红红的枫叶，被船上的渔火隐隐地映出，在微风中悄悄摇曳，像一团跳动的火焰。好深好深的秋啊!诗人斜倚船舷，一些淡淡的往事，如手中那杯苦涩的浓茶，袭上心头，久久不能平静。

而夜色中的寒山寺，静静地立于繁华的苏州城外，送走了多少个春秋，目睹了多少离愁和别恨?只有那株与它一样苍老古槐，知道这数不清的故事了。

突然，一阵清晰的钟声穿过寂静，惊飞了船篷上的一只小鸟，它扑拍着翅膀，飞进了浓浓的夜色。它会找到黑暗中的家吗?诗人看到又一艘客船，停在了枫桥。

隐约中，一些人上船，一些人下去。还有一些手，一些泪，在眼中晃动。(化用《枫桥夜泊》意境)

已经是深夜了，司马迁通过天牢的小窗，望着那漆黑的夜。幽蓝的天幕上，不见星也不见月，几处乌云低低地沉着，带着令人窒息的压力。暮秋的风裹着寒气，钻进每个角落，包括司马迁那件破旧的长衫。

司马迁拖动着脚镣，走回几块砖堆成的床。金属的撞击声在死一般静的夜里，带着几分鬼魅。床上那盏昏黄的油灯跳动着火焰，拖下长长的抖动的影子，似乎加重了黑暗。然而挂着的一纸官文仍然可见，金色的字，朱红的印，一切都那么清晰。

是的，这就是司马迁的命运。日出之前，他必须做出选择。是死，用一腔热血去控诉昏君的无道，用高贵的头颅去证明自己的清白?还是活着———当然是有条件的活着，从此他将成为不完全的男子。(再现了历史人物：司马迁的狱中情景)

【温馨点拨】：

透点历史的光芒

历史的涛声已经远去了红襟翠袖、鼓角争鸣。透过氤氲烟雾，历史的山月城郭、名士豪言已经模糊在时间的的尘埃之中。

如果那些沉睡在岁月怀抱中的古装美人，忧愁思妇，或是山村一角，公堂一景突然在语言的描述中活动起来;如果淹没的故事，风干的眼泪或是唐时风雨，宋朝梧桐突然鲜活地淅沥起来;如果长昇殿的誓言，李白的问月或是岳飞的长啸，项羽的悲叹突然在熟悉的空气中回响起来……

这是怎样动人的惊喜!

古典的美丽从文字的丛林中探出头来。

原来我们发现：文字是一架穿透时空的远望镜，让我们看见了历史的动人的光芒。

而诗歌呢?诗歌是古人用文字摄下的一张没有冲洗的照片。

所以我们只能在底片的朦胧中感受诗歌的轮廓和意境。

那些香花美草，夕阳飞燕，流水楼阁，红颜倩影，细雨梧桐，皓月疏梅……在含蓄简炼的诗歌规则中，犹抱琵琶，半遮娇面，留下一个迷人的背影，痛苦我们的神经。

突然一天，底片冲洗出来，那个令人痛苦的背影缓缓转过身来，冰雪般古典的笑意洋溢着温馨的启示……

一种大喜过望的惊奇，一种不知所措的兴奋让我们疯狂。

想想有多少古典的“照片”等待我们去冲洗?

有多少历史的“美丽”需要我们去透视?

所以做好那架文字的远望镜，看真实的历史风景;掌握好“冲洗”诗歌的技巧，清晰想象中的美丽，是我们赶快做的工作。这是文化作文最重要的写作技巧。

如何在小学作文教学中贯彻实施素质教育呢？素质教育旨在谋求学生整体的智能与人格的健康发展。提前写作能抓住儿童语言发展的最佳时期，提早训练，使学生的认识能力和表达能力相应发展，然后在教师的指导下进行渗透知识，教给方法，循序渐进，逐步提高系列训练，使学生的作文能力逐步提高，智能得到充分的开发。

作为一名长期从事语文教学的工作者，我摸索出了一些经验，并在实践中取得较为显著的效果。

一、激发兴趣，提前写作

孔子曰：知之者不如好之者，好之者不如乐之者。足见兴趣对于学习的重要性，写作起步早，难度自然大，但只要激发了学生的作文兴趣，教给作文方法，学生就不难写出高质量的文章来。

高中英语日记（一）

This afternoon, we play a game called ‘Family Tree’. This game is very interesting. I’m very interested in it. Our teacher’s family is very large. She has many brothers and sisters. But I am unlucky, I has only a sister and I without brothers. But I think I have the best parents in the world. They are very friendly to me. I live in a good family. My grand parents loves me, too. When they buy meat, they will give the best parts of the meat to me.

When I was a child, I can’t undertand them. I want to have bread. My grand father took a bike to Qu Tang. Because in our village there is no ‘bread house’. Qu Tang is far from our village. Now I grow up. I understand them when I think of this things. I will cry I can’t use words to say I love them.

I love my family!

高中英语日记（二）

I miss you very much, Mum.

I have left you for four days. Maybe it is really a short time. But I feel it is too long. I found that I couldn’t do a lot of things without you. For example, I couldn’t wash my clothes clean. It is too hard for me. I felt it is too troublesome and toilsome, but I’m sixteen years old now. I must be independent. So, Mum, I don’t know what’s what and I’m very stubborn. Sometimes, I disobeied your desire, which made you very angry. Now, I regret it. When I see some white hair in your head, I felt very sad. You are not young nay more. Sometimes you look very haggard. I know that’s because you give too much. You always concerned with my school record, healthy and a lot of other things. My school record always made you very sad. That’s my falt. I’m sorry.

Mum, you are too labbrious. You must have a good rest. I come of my ago now. I will correct my mistakes. You can rest assured!

Mum, I wish you good health and happy. I love you! Mum!

高中英语日记（三）

The hot sun is like our enthusiasm, because no matter how hot the weather is, we still keep on studying English hard.

Today, the chinese teacher taught us some English songs. I like the song which is called ”seasons in the sun” very much. We all lost ourselves in the beautiful voice. Today our theme is youth. After the teacher spoke. I suddenly understand that maybe being young is our advantage, so we must value every minute. We have to do something significant.

In the afternoon, our American teacher is father who is an associate proferssor of English from central college give us a lesson. He told us something about higher education in the USA. I think it will be useful for our future.

On the other side. I felt uncomfortable today. Perhaps it’s a small regret for such a wonderful day. But I think tomorrow still will be rosy.