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从语句和篇章之视角谈如何提高中学英语写作水平

2018-01-25胡发行

文教资料 2017年28期
关键词:语句

胡发行

摘 要: 本文主要从语句和篇章的视角为提高英文写作水平提出了一些尝试性的意见。英文写作教学的重点既要放在语言层面上,又要放在篇章结构和内容的介绍和分析上,尤其要提高学生的语言布局能力。

关键词: 英文写作 语句 篇章

1.引言

培养写作能力是中学英语教学中一项很重要的内容。写作反映学生的综合素质,检验的是学生综合水平及应用英语的交际能力,是一项与学生整个教育经验息息相关的过程。丁往道指出:“要有效地表达思想还需要句子思想统一性、连贯性、表达的简洁性,重点突出性及句式的多样性。”本文从语句和篇章的视角谈谈如何提高写作能力,有效地表达作者的思想。

2.英文句子的有效表达

英文句子的有效表达包括一致性、连贯性和多样性。英语写作的基本原则是英文思想的表达制约着英语的句法结构,即英文的思想决定了句子结构的选择。

2.1Unity

Unity is the first quality of an effective sentence. A unified sentence expresses a single complete thought.

Faulty: Ji Xianlin is one of the greatest scholars.

Revised: Ji Xianlin is one of the greatest scholars of the contemporary society.

2.2Coherence

Coherence means clear and reasonable connection between parts. A sentence is coherent when its words or parts are properly connected and their relationship clear.

Faulty: The famous professor leaves us a deep impression not only with his knowledge but also with what he does.

Revised: The famous professor leaves us a deep impression not only with his knowledge but also his good manners.

2.3Variety

英文写作中的句式多样性是指在段落写作或短文写作中句式应该富于变化,增加句子的可读性和“学术性”,从而提升作品的层次。

《新概念英语》第二册第一课A Private Conversation是一篇很好的文章。但对于高中生尤其是高考作文而言,如果写出这样的文章,分数一定高不了。主要原因是句式单一,缺乏变化。

A Private Conversation (adapted)

Last week I went to the theatre and I had a good seat. The play was very interesting but I didn't enjoy it because a young man and a young woman were sitting behind me, talking loudly. I got very angry because I couldn't hear the actors. I turned round, looking at them angrily. But they didn't pay any attention. In the end, I couldn't bear it and turned round again, saying angrily, “I cannot hear a word”. But the young man said rudely, “It is none of your business, this is a private conversation!”

通過增加连词,将意思密切相关的简单句改为并列句或复合句,使短文的句式多了些,可读性更强,同时提升了文章的档次。同时还使用了分词结构进行改写。要体现句子的多样性可以转换句式,还可以使用非谓语动词作状语等。

3.语篇纽带

优美的英文写作除了考虑句子的有效表达外,还可以从篇章结构提高写作水平。语篇结构包含句子、语段和语篇。英文写作中句子和语篇是融合在一起的,语篇都是一些意义相关的句子通过一定的承接手段合乎逻辑地组织起来的语义整体。英文写作可以通过不同的语篇纽带提高自身的表达力。

3.1逻辑纽带

逻辑纽带包括表示时间关系与空间关系、列举与例证、延伸与转折、推论与归纳、原因与结果等,逻辑概念的过渡词语指表明从句或句子逻辑关系的过渡词或短语,e g: therefore, however, finally, besides, likewise, in other words, in addition, on the other hand, in conclusion, what is more, etc.

In front of him lies an dilapidated bowel with only a few coins in it. Believe it or not, it is more and more difficult to make a living by begging.endprint

逻辑纽带的重要性至于它能表示作者的思路与语篇的意义重心。如果意义相关的句子不能通过过渡词或短语合乎逻辑地连接起来,句子就不能构成语篇,不具备语篇所必需的粘着性和连贯性。

3.2连句成篇的语法纽带

连句成篇的语法纽带时、体形式的一定搭配及照应、替代、省略、平行结构等语法手段的应用。

动词某些时、体形式的前后搭配起连句作用。比如在叙事文体中,上文用一般过去式,下文用过去完成体,以建立上下文之间的承接关系。

I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map. I had expected to be near my objective by now, but everything still seemed alien to me.

使用照应手段也是一种重要的语篇纽带。人称照应(personal reference)是人称代词、物主代词、反身代词与其指代对象之间的照应关系。

On his arrival in the capital the Foreign Minister declared his support for the government.

3.3连句成篇的词汇纽带

连句成篇的各种纽带—逻辑纽带、语法纽带、词汇纽带都是交织使用,逻辑纽带和语法纽带往往与词汇放不开。词汇纽带亦即词汇的重复,同义词、反义词的使用等连句手段。

She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. (O. Henry: “The Gift of the Magi”)

她站在窗子前,呆望着外面灰蒙蒙的后院里,一只灰色的猫正在灰色的篱笆上行走。

Christmas来临,Della想给Jim买一件礼物,可手头上只有一块八毛七分钱,Della站在窗前,前思后想,心里难受。本来“后院”、“猫”、“篱笆”是无意识的,这时在Della眼中,它们都染上了一层惨淡悲哀的色彩,英文中用了三个grey突出这一点,“灰色”象征着郁闷和沮丧。

3.4Rhetoric Devices

Apart from the textual connectors, rhetorical devices can be adopted to enhance the effectiveness of writings.

The best way to overcome the fear of death is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river.

这句话是说:“每一个个人的存在都应该像一条河一样——开始是细小的,被限制在狭窄的两岸之间。”说明人的生命是渺小的,也是有限的,宇宙的生命是无限的,个人的有限生命只有置于无限的宇宙之中才能获得永恒。

3.5谋篇布局

美国文学之父Washington Irving在《一个阴雨的乡村客栈的星期天》中为了突出中心主题是如此刻画人和物的:文章开宗明义,道出主旨,段落的topic sentence居要明晰,思路清晰,最后一句结论“这儿的一切都令人感到凄凉和沮丧”,supporting sentences紧扣主题,不现枝蔓,乡村客栈阴雨的星期天中的人和物跃然纸上。

A Wet Sunday in a Country Inn

I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable yard on a rainy day. a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of the stable, was pocking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something between a bark and a yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in patterns.

文章描述马用了“眼白特别大的”和“幽灵般的”头,被拴住的狗在屋檐下生气地不停地嗥叫着,还有阴沉着脸在院子里来回走动的邋遢厨娘。可见这样的下午是令人难以忍受的。如此细腻的描写,刻画得栩栩如生,读者油然而生的凄凉和沮丧之情被感染得无以复加。

6.结语

本文主要從语句和语篇两方面为写出有效的英文句子、提高英文写作水平提出一些建议。今后教师写作教学的重点既要放在语言层面上,注意句式表达的多样性,使段落和短文更有层次,又要放在篇章结构和内容的介绍和分析上,尤其要提高学生的语言布局能力。

参考文献:

[1]丁往道.英语写作手册[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社,2004.

[2]冯奇.外语教学与文化[M].上海:上海大学出版社,2009.endprint

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