英語短文寫作（五）
三、短文寫作的主要文體
研究生英語入學考試短文寫作的方式有：命題作文、看圖作文、情景作文、給出提綱（或段首句）等。主要文體有：論說文（argumentation）、說明文（exposition）、描寫文（description）、記敘文（narration）、應用文（practical writing）、圖表作文、情景作文。
1. 論說文
1）概述：議論是講道理，論是非。議論文的作用就是論證某一觀點、看法或主張。作者通過事實和邏輯推理來闡明自己的觀點，表明贊成什么或反對什么，以達到影響讀者的思想和行動。一段完整的議論是由論點、論據和論證組成的。論點是作者的觀點或主張，一般情況下一篇文章只有一個論點（即所謂的中心論點）；論據是作者用來證明論點的理由和事實（具體的事例、統計數據、名人的理論或科學公理等）；論證是作者用一系列的論據來證明自己的觀點或反駁別人的論點的推理過程。寫議論文時考生必須注意其論點要明確，論據要充分、恰當，推理要邏輯性強，文章層次要分明。
2）寫作方法：論說文的寫作方法主要有歸納法、演繹法、類比法等。
A) 歸納法（induction）是指從若干個別事例和現象中綜合它們的共同本質，總結出普遍的道理、觀點或看法。如：Americans feel proud of themselves for working hard, but they feel equally proud of themselves when they sit and do nothing over weekends. As a matter of fact, some Americans measure success in terms of the length and frequency of their vacations. The man who gets a month’s vacation each year considers himself more successful than the man who gets two weeks. Many people become teachers because teachers get a three-month vacation every year. Some college teachers who teach three classes consider themselves less successful than one who teaches only one or two or none at all. In brief, the less work Americans do, the more successful they consider themselves.
這一篇短文列舉了美國人如何看待工作和成就的種種自相矛盾的態度，最后得出一個看法：某些美國人認為，工作干得越少，就越成功。
B) 演繹法（deduction）是指從一般論斷（公認的、眾所周知的原理或道理）來推斷出一個觀點。如：The “Band Wagon” is a device to make us follow the crowd, to accept the propagandist’s program en masse（全體、整個地）. Here his theme is: “Everybody’s doing it.” His techniques range from those of the medicine show to dramatic spectacle. He hires a hall, fills a great stadium, marches a million men in parade. He employs symbols, colors, music, movement, all the dramatic arts. He appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to “follow the crowd”. Because he wants us to “follow the crowd” in masses, he directs his appeal to groups held together by common ties of nationality, religion, race, environment, sex, vocation. Thus propagandists campaigning for or against a program will appeal to us as Catholic race or as Negroes; as farmers or as school teachers; as housewives or as miners. All the artifices of flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices and biases, convictions and ideals common to the group; thus emotion is made to push and pull the group on to the Band Wagon. In newspaper article and in the spoken word this device is also found. “Don’t throw your vote away. Vote for our candidate. He’s sure to win.” Nearly every candidate wins in every election before the votes are in.
C) 類比法（analogy）是把兩種相同或相似的事物加以比較，最后得出一個結論。如：Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death... The best way to overcome it so at least it seems to me is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue...
這里作者把老人的生活比作河流，由于大家對河流比較熟悉，故通過類推的方法來解釋老年人的晚年生活。
2. 說明文
1）概述：說明文是說明客觀事物的一種文章，它主要是介紹和說明事物的狀態、性質、特點、構造、功能、類別，以及解釋某種現象的原因和結果，產品的制作過程，事物的運動、變化、產生、消亡過程、原理、規律等。說明文與記敘文、描寫文的主要區別在于：記敘文寫的是在特定情況下事物的發生與發展；描寫文寫的是一件事物的外在形態；說明文主要敘述一件事物的內因及其變化。
說明文應該寫得條理分明，層次清楚，語言簡潔而有邏輯性。只有掌握說明順序，說明文才能條理分明。常用的說明順序有：時間順序、邏輯順序、空間順序、認識順序。時間順序是指從先到后的順序；邏輯順序是指先因后果或先果后因的順序；空間順序是指從整體到局部、從上到下、從外到內、從前到后的順序；認識順序是指由此及彼、由表及里、由淺入深、由局部到整體、由現象到本質、由具體到抽象的順序。在寫作時，考生一定要注意，一篇文章集中講一個主題；例證要充分而具體；用詞要直接明了。
2）寫作方法：
A) 定義法（definition） 在說明事物的過程中，必須交代清楚事物的種類、特征，使讀者對事物的特點有一個全面深刻的了解。如：Ambition means the goal in our life. To have one’s ambition does not necessarily mean to become the chief state leaders. This is not in the real sense of the word. The ambition is the goal that encourages us always to look forward and not to lose hope because of failure. Ambition differs from person to person and everyone has his own ambition. Yet not everyone of us can succeed in what we desire to do.
B) 舉例法（illustration）通過舉例來說明需要闡述的內容。如： Since different people like to do so many different things in their spare time, we could make a long list of hobbies, taking in everything from collecting matchboxes or raising rare fish, to learning about the stars or making model ships. Some hobbies are very popular: stamp collecting, painting and cycling, for example, while others are quite unusual, like collecting insects or traveling on all the trains in one country.
C) 比較與對比法（comparison and contrast）一般來說，比較是對人或事物之間的共同點進行分析；對比是對他們之間的不同點進行分析。在很多情況下，這兩種方法可以混合使用。如：It is easy to be a winner. A winner can show his joy publicly. He can laugh and sing and dance and celebrate his victory. People love to be with winners. Winners are never lonely.
Unlike winners, losers are the lonely ones of the world. It is difficult to face defeat with dignity. Losers cannot show their disappointment publicly. They cannot cry or grieve about their defeat. They may suffer privately, but they must be composed in public. They have nothing to celebrate and no one to share their sadness.
