英文写作手册

英语写作讲义

Part One Manuscript Form

第一部分文稿格式

As we are learning to write, we should have a clear idea of what is good manuscript form. We should do everything—writing the title, leaving margins, indenting, capitalizing, and dividing words—according to generally accepted rules. Whenever we write something, we should work carefully, write neatly and clearly, and try to make as few mistakes as possible. Before handing in our essay or exercise, we should proofread it once or twice, because we may need to make some final corrections and changes. If we always work in this way, we are sure to make to progress.

当我们学习写作的时候，应该清楚地知道什么是好的文稿格式。我们应该做的每件事是——写标题，留页边距，缩进，首字母大写，并拆分单词——根据普遍接受的规则。每当我们写东西时，应该仔细，字迹工整清楚，尽可能少犯错误。在上交我们的文章或练习前，应该校对一或两次，因为我们可能需要一些最后的修正和变更。如果我们总是用这种方式工作，肯定能取得进步。

Ⅰ. Arrangement

一、排版

Writing in correct manuscript form is very important, because it makes it easy to read what is written and prevents misunderstanding. We should follow the general practices in writing the title, leaving the margins, paragraphing, capitalizing, and dividing words.

用正确的文稿格式书写是非常重要的，因为它使文章被写的易于阅读并防止误解。我们应该按照一般惯例写题目，留页边距，分段，首字母大写，并拆分单词。

When we write an essay to be read by the teacher, we should write on every other line so that there will be room for corrections. It is necessary to leave a margin of about two centimeters at the top and the bottom of the page, and one of a centimeter and a half on the right and left side.

当我们按照老师阅读的要求写一篇文章时，应该隔行书写以便于有改正的空间。必须在页面顶端和底部留出大约两厘米，右侧和左侧分别留出1.5厘米的页边距。

We cannot make the right margin straight or neat, unless we are using a computer, but we should never write to the very edge of the page. When the space left near the end of a line is not or barely enough for the word we are going to write, we should write the word on the next line or divide the word if it is a long one. There

must be a blank space on the right side of the page.

我们不能使右边距整齐，除非正在用电脑，但绝不该写到页边缘。当接近行尾，剩下的空间不够或勉强够写一个长单词，应该写在下一行或拆分单词。页面右侧肯定有一处空白。

The title or topic of the essay should be placed in the middle of the first line. Every word of the title (including words following hyphens in compound words) should be capitalized. Except articles, short prepositions, coordinating conjunctions(and, or, but, so, yet, nor, and for) and to in infinitives. But if one of these words is the first or last word of the title, it should be capitalized. Topics are generally noun phrases(nouns with their modifiers), though other forms are possible. No full stop should be used at the end of a title.

A question mark is needed if the topic is a direct question(but an indirect question is not followed by a question mark). The title of a book within the topic should be underlined(italicized in printing), and the title of an article put between quotation marks.

文章的标题或主题应该在第一行居中。标题的每个单词（包括复合词中连字符后的单词）应该首字母大写。冠词、简短介词、并列连词（and, or, but, so, yet, nor和for）和不定式中的to 除外，但如果是标题的第一或最后一个单词，应该首字母大写。主题一般是名词短语（名词加修饰词），不过可能有其他形式。标题结尾应该不用句点。如果主题是一个直接问句需要加问号

（但间接问句不能跟问号）。主题中包含书名应该强调（斜体印刷），文章的标题应该放到引号中间。

Below are some examples:

下面是一些例子：

My Impressions of Beijing

北京印象

The Wall Between

Where Do All the New W ords Come From？

所有生词从何而来？

What Traditions Mean to the Chinese

什么习俗对中国人很重要

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

一个干净、明亮的地方

Different Views on Jane Eyre

对简?爱的不同见解

Interpretations of Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice”

解读罗伯特〃弗罗斯特的“火与冰”

The first line of every paragraph should be indented(started after a space of four or five letters).

每段的第一行应该缩进（从四或五个字母的空格后开始）Arabic numerals are generally used for paging. They can be put either in the upper right-hand corner or in the middle below the last

line of every page.

阿拉伯数字通常被用于分页。它们被放到每页的右上角或最后一行下方居中。

A line is never begun with a comma, a period, a semicolon, a colon, a question mark or an exclamation mark; a line never ends with the first half of a pair of brackets, quotation marks, or parentheses. The hyphen that shows a word is divided is put at the end, not at the beginning, of a line.

一行从不起始于逗号、句点、分号、冒号、问号或感叹号；从不结束于上半个方括号、引号或圆括号。出现连字符的拆分词被放在行尾而不是行首。

Ⅱ. Word Division

二、拆分单词

The following hints may be helpful to us in the division of words:

下面的提示可能对我们在拆分单词时有所帮助。

One-syllable words such as count, health and thought cannot be divided. W ords with two or more syllables can be divided according to the formation of syllables: re-peat-ed, in-sist, punc-tu-al, san-dal, de-cline, trans-la-tion.

单音节词例如count, health和thought不能被拆分。有两个或更多音节的单词可以根据音节的构成被拆分：re-peat-ed,

in-sist, punc-tu-al, san-dal, de-cline, trans-la-tion。

A stressed close syllable usually takes a consonant with it: ded-i-cate, grat-i-fy, la-bor-a-to-ry, fin-nish.

一个重读闭音节通常带一个辅音字母：ded-i-cate, grat-i-fy, la-bor-a-to-ry, fin-nish。

A consonant plus -le is treated as a syllable: min-gle, peo-ple, no-ble, gig-gle.

一个辅音字母加-le被视为一个音节：min-gle, peo-ple, no-ble, gig-gle.

A single letter cannot be put at the end or at the beginning of a line: e-voke, heart-y.

一个单独的字母不能被放在一行的结尾或开头：e-voke, heart-y.

A two-letter ending should not be put at the beginning of a line: hund-ed, hard-en.

一个双字母的末音节不应被放在行首：hund-ed, hard-en.

Divisions that may mislead the reader should be avoided: re-ally, lay-man.

可能误导读者的拆分应避免：re-ally, lay-man。

W ords with hyphens should be divided only at the hyphen: broad-minded, broken-hearted.

带连字符的单词应只从连字符处拆分：broad-minded,

broken-hearted。

Two-syllable words with double consonants in the middle are as a rule divided between the two consonants: strug-gle, lat-ter.

双音节且中间双辅音的单词通常从两个辅音中间被拆分：strug-gle, lat-ter。

Division of proper names should be avoided: Dickens, Paris.

专有名词的拆分应避免：Dickens, Paris。

The last word of a page should not be divided. It should be written on the next page.

页面的最后一个单词不应被拆分，应写在下一页上。

Division of words at the ends of several consecutive lines should be avoided.

在几个连续行结尾处的单词拆分应避免。

Division of words is not always easy. When we are not sure, we should consult a dictionary. In some dictionaries syllabication is indicated by a dot; as in the examples given above, in others by a space: to geth er, sum mer.

单词拆分不总是容易的。当我们不确定时，应该查字典。在一些字典中，音节的划分被通过一个点表示出来；照上述例子的形式，其他字典是通过一个空格来表示：to geth er, sum mer。Ⅲ. Capitalization

三、字首大写

Capitalized words are used mainly in three places: proper names, key words in titles, and the first words of sentences.

字首大写的单词主要被用于三个地方：专有名词，标题关键词和句子的第一个单词。

Common words used as parts of proper names are capitalized: 常见词汇被当作专有名词的一部分要首字母大写:

Third Ring Road 三环路Northwestern university 西北大学W omen’s Day妇女节the National Library of Beijing 北京国家图书馆the Middle Ages 中世纪the Yellow River 黄河

W ords derived from proper names are usually capitalized:

从专有名词衍生出的词汇通常首字母大写：

Marxist 马克思主义者Darwinism 达尔文主义Freudian 弗洛伊德学说Dickensian 狄更斯学者Taoist 道士Latinize 拉丁化Some proper names or their derivatives have become common words:

一些专有名词或其衍生词已成为常见词汇。

mackintosh ( a raincoat; after Charles Macintosh who invented it )

橡胶雨衣（一种雨衣；以发明者查尔斯·麦金托什名义命名）quixotic(like Don Quixote, hero of the novel of the same name)

不切实际的空想（与同名小说中的男主角堂吉诃德类似）

All sentences, including sentence fragments treated as sentences, should begin with capital letters. In this regard, we should pay special attention to the use of capital letters and punctuation in quoted words and sentences.

所有句子，包括当成句子来看的不完全句，应首字母大写。在这点上，我们应该特别关注引用词、句中大写字母和标点符号的专用法。

Mi ss Johnson said,“When you write an essay, you should pay attention to both content and language.”

约翰逊小姐说，“当你写一篇文章，应该同时注重内容和语言。”

“When you write an essay,” she said,“you should pay attention to both content and language.”

“当你写一篇文章时，”她说，“应该同时注重内容和语言。”

“When you write an essay, you should pay attention to both

content and language,”the teacher said.

“当你写一篇文章时，应该同时注重内容和语言，”老师说。

Miss Johnson advised us to“pay attention to both content and language”when we wrote an essay.

当写一篇文章时，约翰逊小姐建议我们要“同时注重内容和语言”。

These examples show:⑴ the subject and verb of saying before the quotation are followed by a comma;⑵a complete sentence within quotation marks after the verb of saying begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop;⑶ if the quoted sentence is broken into two parts and put between two pairs of quotation marks, with the subject and verb of saying placed between them, the first part ends with a comma, the second part does not begin with a capital letter(unless the first word is a proper name), and the whole sentence ends with a full stop;⑷ if the quoted sentence is put before the subject and verb of saying, it ends with a comma, and the verb of saying is followed by a full stop;⑸if the quoted words are a phrase instead of a complete sentence, the phrase is treated as part of the whole sentence.

这些例子显示：⑴引文前是主语加说话的谓语动词，要在引文前跟逗号；⑵说话的谓语动词后面引出一个完整句，引文首字母要大写，结尾加句点；⑶如果引用句被分为两部分并分别臵于

两对引号之中，主语和说话的谓语动词被放在两部分中间，第一部分末尾加逗号，第二部分不以大写字母开头（除非第一个单词是专有名词），整句结尾加句点。⑷如果被放到主语和说话的谓语动词之前，引用句结尾加逗号，说话的谓语动词跟句点。

⑸如果引用词是一个词组而不是一个完整句，词组被当作完整句的一部分。

Ⅳ. Handwriting

四、书写

There are two common ways of writing the letters: to form loops and to print(to write without joining the letters in imitation of printed words). Both are good, but we had better stick to one of the two styles.

有两种常见的书写字母方法：手写体和印刷体（模仿打印字，书写字母时笔画不连接）。两者都好，但我们最好坚持其中一种风格。

We should always try to write neatly so that our handwriting can be read easily. We should make capital letters bigger and higher than small letters, a’s different from o’s, n’s different from u’s, and we should not forge t to dot i’s and j’s,or cross t’s. A little space(about that of one letter)should be left after a comma, and a slightly bigger space(about that of two letters)after a full stop.

我们总会力求书写整洁以便笔迹容易阅读。应该把大写字

母写的比小写字母更大更高，a与o不同，n与u不同，不该忘记写i和j的圆点，或让t十字交叉。逗号后应该留一个小空格（大约一个字母），句号后留更大一点的空格（大约两个字母）。

When we want to cross out a word, we should draw a thick line through it. It is be misleading to put it between brackets, because that means the word is an explanatory remark. When we want to add a word, we should write it above, not below, the line of words we have written with a clear sign showing where it is to be inserted.

当我们要划掉一个词，应该从头到尾画一条粗线。把它放到方括号中有误导之嫌，因为那意味着这个词是一个解释性的备注。当我们要补充一个词，应该写在一行之上，不是之下，已写好的这行字要加一个明确的符号表明那里被插入。

Part Two Diction

第二部分措辞

Ⅰ. Types of W ords

一、单词类型

There are tens of thousands of words in the English language, and along with social and scientific progress, new words appear frequently. The total number of English words, if it could be found

out, must be surprisingly large. But we need not be worried about the impossibility of learning all of them, for only a few thousand words are used by ordinary people for ordinary purposes. These are the most useful words, or the common words, words that form the core of the English vocabulary. They are the words we must learn and remember.

英语语言中有数万个单词，随着社会和科学进步，新词汇频繁问世。如果都能被发现，英语词汇的总数一定是出人意料的庞大。但我们不必苦恼无法全部学会，就普通用途而言，普通人仅会用到几千词汇，这些用途最广或常见的词汇组成了英语词汇的核心，我们必须学会并牢记。

Apart from the common words, there are words used by people of special professions or fields on special occasions or for special purposes. Among these are political, legal, scientific, technical, business and literary words. It would be good for us to know some very useful words in various fields, and many of the words related to the field we will work in or be associated with. These words are generally formal, and may be called formal and technical words.

除常见词汇外，还有一些单词由特殊专业或领域的人在特定场合或为特殊目的而使用。其中包括政治、法律、科学、技术、商业和文学词汇。这将有益于我们了解一些很有用的不同

领域的单词，其中很多都和我们将从事或关联的领域相关。这些词汇通常是正式的，可以称之为正式语和术语。

There is another type of words: those used by people who are not well educated or by people of special groups, such as people of a particular region or an age group. Some of these words may not be understandable to people in general, and may disappear after a short period of time. Some of them may continue to be used, become acceptable to all people and join the common words. Among these words are slang, jargon, dialectal and obsolete words. They may be called nonstandard words. We need to understand them but should avoid using them, unless in special situations.

另有一类词汇：那些没受过良好教育或特殊群体的人在使用，例如某个特定区域或年龄段的人。其中一些词汇可能对一般人来说不好理解，短期内就消失了。还有一些可能被继续使用，为大家所接受并纳入常用词汇。其中包括俚语，术语、方言和陈旧的词语，可以称之为不规范语。我们需要理解但应避免使用，除非在特殊情况下。

Here are examples of the first and second kinds of words:

如下是第一和第二种的例词：

same speech learned destroy stiff try piece

identical oration erudite annihilate rigid endeavor fragment

In the first row are common words and in the second formal words. It can be seen at a glance that those common words are used in everyday conversation and in informal writing like personal letters, diaries and stories. Those in the second row are used only in formal writing like articles documents, research papers, manuals and in public speaking.

第一行是常用词，第二行是正式词。那些一目了然的常用词被用于日常会话和非正式写作，如私人信函、日记和逸事。第二行那些词仅用于正式文献，如法规文件、研究论文、说明书和公共演讲。

The difference between these two types of words is very important, for their presence or absence has much to do with style, 区分这两类词汇很重要，使用与否更多是和风格有关。

Compare:

比较：

I saw a ghost, and I was frightened to death.

我看到一个幽灵，被吓得要死。

I saw an apparition, and it reduced me to a condition of mortal terror.

我看到一个幽灵，使我陷入极度恐慌的状态。

The first sentence is informal and colloquial, and the second is much more formal, because it contains such formal words as

apparition, reduce, condition, mortal and terror. The two sentences are similar in structure and meaning, so it is the words in them that make them different in style. Of course, people seldom say anything like the second sentence in daily conversation.

第一句是非正式和口语化的，第二句更加正式，因为它包含诸如apparition（幽灵）, reduce（使…陷入某种状态中）, condition（状况、状态、环境）, mortal（极度的、极大的）和terror（惊恐、恐惧）等正式词。这两个句子结构和意思相似，所含词汇使它们呈现不同的风格。当然，人们很少会在日常会话中象第二句那样说话。

As we make progress in our study of English, we certainly learn more and more words. It is a good policy to find a common word of similar meaning when we learn a formal of “big” word.

当我们在英语学习上取得进步，肯定学习了越来越多的单词。当学习一个正式的“大”词时，找出近似含义的常用词为上策。

Below are examples of nonstandard words:

以下是不规范语的实例：

ain’t(am not, is not, has not)

jolly (very)

cool (very good)

hot (angry; fast)

deal (agreement)

damn (very)

neat (nice)

Since such words are nonstandard, we need not use them either in speech or in writing.

既然这些词不规范，我们也不必在演讲或写作时使用。II. Choice of W ords

二、单词的选择

When we write on common topics for the general audience, we may achieve accuracy and appropriateness by bearing in mind the following guidelines about the choice of words:

当我们写一个大众常见的主题，通过牢记选择单词遵循的指导原则，会如愿以偿选出准确得体的单词。

(1)Use common or informal words for general purposes; use formal or nonstandard words only on special occasions or for special purposes;

(1)常见或非正式词用于一般用途；正式或不规范词仅用于特殊场合或特殊目的。

(2)Use specific and concrete words when giving details; use general or abstract words when making summaries;

(2)使用特指、具体的词汇描写细节；使用概括或抽象的词汇进行总结。

(3)Use idiomatic expressions and words in acceptable collocations; avoid combinations that are unidiomatic;

(3)使用习惯表达和可接受的词语搭配，避免组合与习惯不符。

(4)When there are synonyms, choose the word that expresses the meaning most exactly and that suits the content and style.

(4)当用同义词时，选择的单词要表达含义最贴切，与内容和风格相匹配。

We have given examples of common, formal and nonstandard words. Here are examples of general and specific words: 常用词，正式词和不规范词的实例已经给出，如下是概括词和具体词的实例。

General Specific

animal tiger, horse, fox, cat, mouse, bird, butterfly, insect

laugh chuckle, guffaw, giggle, roar, smile, grin, beam

big huge, great, large, vast, immense, enormous, tremendous scientist physicist, chemist, biologist, astronomer, geologist, mathematician

W ords are general or specific by comparison. Animal is general when compared with tiger, horse, etc, but horse is more general than steed, stallion, etc.

词汇通过对比有了概括或特指的概念。动物和老虎、马等相比是概括词，而马比战马、种马等更笼统。

Both general and specific words are useful in writing. When we describe or explain things, or when we give details, we should try to use specific or concrete words wherever possible, for they are vivid, exact and interesting; when we summarize or generalize, we may find general or abstract words useful.

在写作中概括和特指词都有用。当我们形容或讲解事情、描述细节时，应该尽可能试着用特指或具体词，因为它们生动、确切、有趣；当我们总结或归纳时，会发现概括或抽象词大有帮助。

When we are trying to enlarge our vocabulary and learn to use effective words, we need to pay special attention to concrete and specific words. We usually think of general words first when we write, but we should remember that there are many specific words which are similar in meaning but are more colorful and impressive. They are the words we should make an effort to learn and use.

当我们试图扩大词汇量并学会实际应用单词，需要特别关注具体和特指词。写作时，通常首先想到概括词，但应记住许多特指词含义相近却更加生动感人，是我们该努力学习和运用的词汇。

Idiomatic expressions are those habitually used by native

speakers. Foreign learners of English often have difficulty in telling what is not idiomatic from what is, because they have not been brought up in the language, and also because they are likely to use English words in the way they use words of their mother tongue. W ord-for-word translation from Chinese into English generally results in unidiomatic expressions. That is something we should be on guard against.

习惯表达是那些以英语为母语人士的习惯性用法。外国英语学习者经常在表达方面遇到困难，从什么符合到什么不符合语言习惯，因为他们不曾在这种语言中成长，也因为他们对自己母语词汇的用法可能阻碍其对英语词汇的运用。逐字汉译英通常会导致不合习惯的表达，这是我们应该警惕的。

Take for instance the Chinese expression meiyou guilv. If literally translated, the English equi valent might be “to have no law”But this phrase would be very unidiomatic if it is used to describe a person’s daily life or habits,though the above Chinese expression can be used. Instead, the word regular is much better:“he does not live a regular life;”or “he is not a man of regular habits.”

以中文表达没有规律为例。如果照字面意思翻译，相应的英文或许为“to have no law”。但如果这个短语被用来形容一个人的日常生活或习惯，可能很不地道，尽管上述表达在汉语中是