北京师范大学考博英语summary练习材料.doc

新概念英语第4册2548课均有summary联系，新概念英语4教师用书上有答案 复习时可参考练习To write your summary, first scan the document you are summarizing to get an overall impression.Then read it carefully, highlighting or underlining the most significant information.You will want to especially pay close attention to the first and last sentence of each paragraph. Usually the first sentence is the topic sentence and the last a summary of the paragraph so they will have the most important ideas.The First Sentence:An easy way to begin writing a summary is to refer to the author and what they have written about.A general format for the first sentence is as follows:First Sentence ExamplesIn his/her/the article “Article name,” Authors name + primary verb + main idea.In his/her/the article “Article name,” Authors name + primary verb + main idea.Example: In his article “Children and Video Games,” Steve Peterson strongly recommends that parents should not allow their children to play video games.n There are a number of primary verbs that can be used in a summary. Some of the most common are listed here.1. Claims 2. Recommends 3. Argues4. Reports 5. Shows 6. Insists7. Explains 8. Describes 9. SuggestsNote: Many of these verbs will often be followed by the word “that”.Other First Sentence Examplesn In the article “Men are different than women”, the author describes 10 important differences between men and women.n In this article, the author explains how the Chinese economy has developed so quickly in the last ten years.The Rest of the SummaryThe first sentence should be followed by the main ideas and supporting ideas in the same order that they appear in the text. Remember that all sentences should be stated in YOUR OWN WORDS. If you absolutely must use a sentence or phrase from the original text, make sure that it is put within quotation marks ( ). Also remember that you are just restating what is expressed in the text; you should NOT be adding any of your own opinions.Longer Summariesn Most summaries will be quite short. But if you are writing a longer summary you can add some phrases like the ones below.n The author goes on to say that .n The article (author) further states that .n (Authors last name) also believes thatn (Authors last name) concludes thatn No matter what format you choose to use, stating the main purpose of the article in the first couple of sentences is very important if you want to write a successful summary.n After you have written this you can try to write a summary of each paragraph. If the article you are summarizing is written well this should be easy to do. It will be harder if the paragraph does not have a good topic sentence.n Now we are going to take some time to practice writing another summary in class. Please use this time well as it will be helpful in preparing you for the final examination. This article is an article that was used in the past for the doctorate students examination.Doctorate Students Writing and Speaking Class“Summarizing”“Articles”“Subject-Verb Agreement”“More Summarizing”Writing a SummaryExercise # 1First read the article “Deception: The English Essay”. After reading this article do the summarizing exercises on the bottom of the handout. Deception: The English EssayMain Purpose:The main purpose is to inform students of useful techniques to deceivingly write a satisfactory essay in a short amount of time. In his article “Deception: The English Essay”, Fred Jones suggests some useful techniques to deceivinglyDeception: The English EssayMain idea of each paragraph.2. Write a fascinating introduction.3. Use words from past vocabulary lists in the essay.4. Make the short essay appear long.5. Bribe the teacher.Example SummaryIn his article “Deception: The English Essay”, Fred Jones shows students some techniques that can help them write a quick essay that will deceivingly satisfy the teacher. These techniques include writing a fascinating introduction, using words from past vocabulary lists, and making the essay appear longer than it really is. Once students have done these they can also try to bribe the teacher. These are all effective methods to quickly write an essay the teacher will think is satisfactory.Example (Different First Sentence)Students often wait to the last minute to complete their English homework assignments. Therefore it is important to know some techniques that can help them write a quick essay that will deceivingly satisfy the teacher. These techniques include writing a fascinating introduction, using words from past vocabulary lists, and making the essay appear longer than it really is. Once students have done these they can also try to bribe the teacher. These are all effective methods to quickly write an essay the teacher will think is satisfactory.Writing a SummaryNo matter what format you choose to use, stating the main purpose of the article in the first couple of sentences is very important if you want to write a successful summary. After you have written this you can try to write a summary of each paragraph. If the article you are summarizing is written well this should be easy to do. It will be harder if the paragraph does not have a good topic sentence.Writing a Summary ExerciseNow we are going to take some time to practice writing another summary in class. Please use this time well as it will be helpful in preparing you for the final examination. This article is an article that was used in the past for the doctorate students examination. Writing a Summary ExerciseAltogether I am going to give you 25 minutes to finish writing your summary. During this time you will need to do several things. First you need to determine what you think the main purpose of the article is. After you have determined the main purpose you can write the first sentence of your summary. Writing a Summary ExerciseAfter you have finished writing the first part of the summary which should include the main purpose, you can begin to write about the rest of the article.The easiest way to do this is to find the most important information from each paragraph and write about that. Exercise # 1You can begin writing a summary for the article on the first page of your handout. Note: There is no information about the title or author for this article.Your goal is to write a summary that is approximately 130 words.Doctorate Students Writing and Speaking ClassMore SummarizingPrepositionsAdjectives/AdverbsProcess WritingMore SummarizingLast week to end the class I had you begin to write a summary of an article related to the ancient Olympic Games. Today we are going to talk more about this article and look at some examples of summaries.Writing a SummaryUsually the process for writing a summary is establishing the main purpose and writing about this in the first sentence or two. Then you can look at each paragraph and find the main idea or most important information and include this in your summary.The following is an example:Exercise # 1First I want you to get into groups of 2-3 and discuss with each other what you thought the main purpose of this article is. This will also help us review the article to remember what it was about.Steves Example of a SummaryThe main purpose of this article is to look at the history of some of the earliest recorded Olympic Games held in Greece. First Sentence: In this article, the author explains the history of some of the earliest recorded Olympic Games held in Greece.Steves Example of a SummarySummary of the First ParagraphIt is generally accepted that these Games started around 1276 BC although the first champion was recorded in 776 BC. Second and Third Paragraph In the first recorded Games there was only one event, however as time went on different events were added. Longer distance running races were first added and then other events like wrestling and the pentathlon. They even added events specifically for boys and armed soldiers making the Games as varied as that of the modern Olympics. Fourth and Fifth ParagraphOriginally the games were played on one day but this changed to five days. Another aspect of the Games was that women were not allowed as competitors or spectators. The competitors were also restricted to Greeks who were not professionals. However a trend started where athletes became fulltime specialists which has caused a lot of controversy.In this article, the author explains the history of some of the earliest recorded Olympic Games held in Greece. It is generally accepted that these Games started around 1276 BC although the first champion was recorded in 776 BC. In the first Games there was only one event, however as time went on different events were added. Longer distance running races were first added and then other events like wrestling and the pentathlon. They even added events specifically for boys and armed soldiers. Originally the games were played on one day but this changed to five days. Another aspect of the Games was that women were not allowed as competitors or spectators. The competitors were also restricted to Greeks who were not professionals. However a trend started where athletes became fulltime specialists which has caused a lot of controversy.Another NoteAdditional ThoughtsIf examples or minor details fill a large portion of the article, do your best to try to identify a principle within the examples. Is there a way by which you can represent the details by mentioning an underlying principle? If so, write it. Because this Olympics article is full of details you could also summarize the article by writing about the main principles instead of including some of the details.Another Possible ExampleIn this article, the author explains the history of some of the earliest recorded Olympic Games held in Greece. The article begins with an emphasis on the length of history as the Olympic games date back several thousand years. The author also emphasizes some of the many changes that have taken place throughout the Olympics over time. The games started with just one event but as time went on more and more events were added, such as wrestling, boxing, and the chariot race. The event used to be held on one day but this changed to several days as different events were added. The author ends the article focusing on the different participants in the games. Women were not allowed to participate and originally only free-born Greeks were allowed to participate. Eventually the athletes became specialists in preparing for the games which has become very controversial. This article has explained many different aspects related to the history of the Olympic games as well as many of the changes that have taken place over the years.More SummarizingAt the beginning of this semester you had to write a summary of an article. I have copied this article out and printed it on your handout. You were asked to write a 150 word summary of this article. Today we are going to look at this article and see a few examples of summaries. Preparing to write a summaryI am going to give you around five minutes to read this article. The first thing you want to do is establish the main purpose.Spoken ExerciseIn groups of 2-3 I want you to discuss what you think the main purpose of this article is. What is confusing about this article? Can you explain the main ideas in spoken English?SummariesAt times you will need to write a summary for an article you do not fully understand. In this case you need to do your best to write what you believe to be the main purpose. At times, summaries will be subjective as one persons understanding can be different than another persons understanding of an article. This will usually only happen when the structure of an article is relatively poor. Example of a SummaryBy the end of the thirteenth century, noticeable changes in weather patterns were occurring as Europe entered a period that has been called a “little ice age.” A small drop in overall temperature resulted in shortened growing seasons and disastrous weather conditions. The great famine expanded to other parts of Europe in an all-too-familiar pattern. By 1300, indications are that Europe had reached the upper limit of its population. Virtually all productive land was being farmed. There was also a movement from over-populated rural areas to urban locations. There is no certainty that these migrants found better economic opportunities in urban areas. Europe seemed to have reached an upper limit to population growth, and the number of poor appeared to have increased noticeably. Some historians have pointed out that famine may have led to chronic malnutrition. They argue this helps explain the high mortality of the great plague known as the Black Death. Another ExampleThis article shows us about the weather change in the thirteenth century In Europe and its great influence on the whole Europe, that is the great famine. In the following parts, the author explains the reason of the big change. At first, population increased greatly in Europe and reached its upper limit by the thirteenth century. In order to support the people, more and more lands are farmed including that which needed protection. This leads to weak resistence to the weather change. Second, peoples movement from rural areas to urban areas also make the cities over-populated. Instead of getting opportunities, more and more poor people in the cities in the one hand, and on the other hand, peasants have a smaller size farm on average. Because of the population growth and the peoples movement lead to the weather change and result in severe famine. The famine lead to chronic malnutrition which makes people unable to resist disease. Another ExampleTo explain th