英文论文写作6.doc

3. Some common ways of listing details in the body:II. Classification (Logical division)1. What is classification?Classification is to group or sort things into a small number of classes systematically according to a certain principle.2. How to develop your writing by classification?l Choose and apply a single principle/criterion at a timel Do not overlap the classesl Make the classification reasonably completel Give sufficient explanation to clarify and differentiate the given classesl Introduce sub-classes if necessarySample 1 Childrens InsultsPeter Farb (1929-1980) had an intense interest in language and its role in human behavior. In this essay, Farb classifies the names children use to insult one another.The insults spoken by adults are usually more subtle than the simple name-calling used by children, but childrens insults make obvious some of the verbal strategies people carry into adult life. Most parents engage in wishful thinking when they regard name-calling as good-natured fun which their children will soon grow out of. Name-calling is not a good-natured fun and children do not grow out of it. As adults they merely become more expert in its use. Nor is it true that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt one.” Names can hurt very much because children seek out the victims true weakness, then jab exactly where the skin is the thinnest. Name-calling can have major impact on a childs feelings about his identity, and it can sometimes be devastating to his psychological development. Almost all examples of name-calling of children fall into four categories: Names based on physical peculiarities, such as deformities, use of eyeglasses, racial characteristics, and so forth. A child may be called Flattop because he was born with a misshapen skull or for obvious reasons, Fat Lips, Four Eyes, Peanuts, and so on. Names based on a pun or parody of the childs own name. Children with last names like fitts, Farb and McClure usually find them converted to Shits, Fart and Manure. Names based on social relationships. One example is Chicken Shit for someone whose courage is questioned by his social group. Names based on mental traits such as Clunkhead, Dummy, Jerk and Smartass. These four categories were listed in order of decreasing offensiveness to the victims. Children regard names based on physical peculiarities as the most cutting, whereas names based on mental traits are, surprisingly, not usually regarded as very offensive. Most children are very vulnerable to names that play upon the childs rightful name no doubt because ones name is a precious possession, the mark of a unique identity and ones masculinity or femininity. Those American Indian tribes that had the custom of never revealing true names undoubtedly avoided considerable psychological damage.Sample 2A question often asked is: “What are the marks of an educated man?” It is plain that one may gain no inconsiderable body of learning in some special field of knowledge without at the same time acquiring those habits and traits which are the marks of an educated gentleman. A reasonable amount of learning must of course accompany an education, but, after all, that amount need not be so very great in any field. An education will make its mark and find its evidences in certain traits, characteristics, and capacities which have to be acquired by patient endeavor, by following good example, and by receiving wise discipline and sound instruction. These traits or characteristics may be variously described and classified, but among them are five that should always stand out clearly enough to be seen of all men. The first of these is correctness and precision in the use of the mother tongue. The quite shocking slovenliness and vulgarity of much of the spoken English, as well as not a little of the written English, which one hears and sees proves beyond doubt that years of attendance upon schools and colleges that are thought to be respectable have produced no impression. When one hears English well spoken, with pure diction, correct pronunciation, and an almost unconscious choice of the right word, he recognizes it at once. How much easier he finds it to imitate English of the other sort! A second and indispensable trait of the educated man is refined and gentle manners, which are themselves the expression of fixed habits of thought and action. “Manners makyth the man,” wrote William of Wykeham over his gates at Winchester and at Oxford. He pointed to a great truth. When manners are superficial, artificial, and forced, no matter what their form, they are bad manners. When, however, they are the natural expression of fixed habits of thought and action, and when they reveal a refined and cultivated nature, they are good manners. There are certain things that gentlemen do not do, and they do not do them simply because they are bad manners. The gentleman instinctively knows the difference between those things which he may and should do and those things which he may not and should not do. A third trait of the educated man is the power and habit of reflection. Human beings for the most part live wholly on the surface or far beyond the present moment and that part of the future which is quickly to follow it. They do not read those works of prose and poetry which have become classic because they reveal power and habit of reflection and induce that power and habit in others. When one reflects long enough to ask the question how?, he is on the way to knowing something about science. When he reflects long enough to ask the question why?, he may, if he persists, even become a philosopher. A fourth trait of the educated man is the power of growth. He continues to grow and develop from birth to his dying day. His interests expand, his contacts multiply, his knowledge increases, and his reflection become deeper and wider. It would appear to be true that not many human beings, even those who have had a school and college education, continue to grow after they are twenty-four or twenty-five years of age. By that time it is usual to settle down to life on a level of more or less contented intellectual interest and activity. The whole present-day moment for adult education is a system and definite attempt to keep human beings growing long after they have left school and college, and therefore, to help educate them. A fifth trait of the educated man is his possession of efficiency, or the power to do. The mere visionary dreamer, however charming or wise, lacks something which an education requires. The power to do may be exercised in any one of a thousand ways, but when it clearly shows itself, that is evidence that the period of discipline of study and of companionship with parents and teachers has not been in vain. Given these five characteristics, one has the outline of an educated man. That outline may be filled in by scholarship, by literary power, by mechanical skills, by professional zeal and capacity, by business competence, or by social and political leadership. So long as the framework or outline is there, the content may be pretty much what you will, assuming, of course, that the fundamental elements of the great tradition which is civilization, and its outstanding records and achievements in human personality, in science, in the fine arts, and in human institutions are all present.Sample 3An instructive way of classifying matter according to the nature of sample is given in the following figure.MatterHeterogeneousSamplesHomogenousSamplesSolutionsPure SubstancesCompoundsElements Heterogeneous and homogenous samples differ in that the properties of the first type of sample may change abruptly as the point of observation moves from place to place with the sample, while the properties of the second change only gradually. The heterogeneous sample is said to consist of phases, or homogeneous regions, between which are boundaries across which properties change abruptly. It is possible to separate all heterogeneous and certain types of homogeneous samples into simpler substances by physical means alone, that is, without destroying any of the substances present or creating any new ones, homogeneous samples which may thus be separated are called solutions. If the samples can be broken down into simpler substances by physical means, they are called pure substances. Some of these pure substances may nevertheless be separated into simpler substances by a chemical reaction, in which substances identifiable by their properties disappear and new substances appear. Such samples are called compounds. If no separation whatever is possible, the pure substance is defined as an element.Useful Expressions:Verb: to classify, to sort, to fall into categories, to be sorted into, to be classified into, to categorize, to be categorized, there are etc.Preposition: according to, on the basis of, depending on, with respect to, opposite toetc.Sentence pattern: 1. major/main/basic kinds /categories /classes of.2. can/may/might be divided/classified/categorized/grouped into.3. Xs fall into three categories/classes/types.4. There are basically three types of .5. Xs fit into the following categories:.6. Generally, we can classify Xs into three large groups based on.III. Definition1) Logical/Formal definitiona) A logical definition is based on a concise, logical pattern that lets the writer give a maximum of information in a minimum of space.b) It has three parts: the term, the class and the differentiating characteristics.c) It is often used in clarifying meanings of concrete terms.d) While making a logical definition, you should follow these guidelines:l Keep your class small but adequate.l Do not define a term by mere repetition.l Define a term in simpler and more familiar words.Sample 1 Gravity is the attraction between objects in the universe that keeps our moon going around the earth, that keeps the earth and the other planets going around the sun, and that brings down to earth an object tossed into the air.Sample 21. Microscope is an optical instrument.2. Microscope is an optical instrument consisting of a lens or combination of lens for making enlarged images of minute objects.Sample 31. Puritanism is the religion of puritans.2. Puritanism is the religion that wishes to make religion simpler and opposed the use of ceremony in church services.Sample 41. network: A network is anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distance, which interstices between the intersections.2. network: A network is a large system of lines, tubes, wires, etc. that cross or meet one another.Sample 5 Radicals are defined as those who seek fundamental changes in political, social and economical systems, who detest compromise, conciliation, and accommodation, the necessary elements of a democratic, tolerant, and human policy, and who accept violence as an appropriate means.Exercise 1 Identify the problems in the following definitions and rewrite them.1. A calculator is a device, usually smaller than a computer, that is used to calculate.2. A degree is given by a university to a student who has passed the appropriate examinations.3. A dictionary is a book like “Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary”.4. A lecturer is a person who lectures.2) Extended definitionA definition paper answers the question “What is?” directly or implicitly bya) presenting the nature of the discussed subjectb) indicating its general classc) showing its differences from othersd) getting the reader to see the point you are trying to makee) supporting the thesis convincinglySample 1 What is democracy?Formal definitionAnalysis of the words rootsComparison: what democracy is notExampleFormal definitionSince democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people, a democratic form of government is not fixed or static. Democracy is dynamic; it adapts to the wishes and needs of the people. The term “democracy” derives from the Greek word demos, meaning “the common people,” and ikratia, meaning “strength or power” used to govern or rule. Democracy is based on the notion that a majority of people creates laws and then everyone agrees to abide by those laws in the interest of the common good. In a democracy, people are not ruled by a king, a dictator, or a small group of powerful individuals. Instead, people elect officials who use the power temporarily granted to them to govern the society. For example, the people may agree that their government should raise money for defense, so the officials levy taxes to support an army. If enough people decide, however, that taxes for defense are too high, then they request that their elected officials change the laws or they elect new officials. The essence of democracy lies in its responsiveness: Democracy is a form of government in which laws and lawmakers change as the will of the majority changes.Sample 2 Resource is a word with many shades of meanings. Dictionary definitions range from “something in reserve” to “additional stores ready if needed.” But the definitions do not specify the “something” and the “stores.” They could be resources of courage to face a personal crisis, of wood to fuel a stove through a winter, or of finances to meet a medical expense. The resources discussed in this book are all linked by a common factor. They are all natural resources, which means that they are supplies we draw from a bountiful earth, such as food, building and clothing materials, minerals, water and energy. Natural resources fall into two distinct categories. Resources derived from living matter, such as food, clothing, and wood, are renewable resources because they are replenished each growing season. Even if one seasons crop is consumed, the next season brings a renewed larder. But mineral resources such as coal, oil, atomic energy, copper, iron, and fertilizers are not renewed each season. They are nonrenewable since the earths supplies are fixed. The kinds of mineral resources, their distribution, their quantities, the amounts we use, and our ever growing dependence on them are topics covered in this book.Useful Expression:Verb: define, clarify, mean, explain, attribute, refer to Phrase: in definition, in other words, in explanation, in clarificationSentence pattern: 1. X means/signifies/is considered to be/is taken to be/refer to ( X refers to the term to be defined.)Paradigm refers to models of inquiry that guide scientific work. 2. In this article/In this paper/In this essay/In this context/In physics/ For this purpose X will be taken to mean/ will be used in the following sense/will be considered to be/ will refer to/will be used inIn physics the word “work” will be used in a specialized sense different from the meaning in everyday English.IV. ProcessSample 1How to Enlarge a PhotographMaking a photographic enlargement is a process that can be done in a series of simple steps. A smaller photograph is made larger through a series of mechanical and chemical actions. The room in which an enlargement is made, called a “darkroom”, need not be totally dark but may be lighted by special lamps that produce a kind of light to which enlarging paper is not sensitive. Supplies needed for enlargement include an enlarger (a machine with lamp and lens), three different liquid solutions with a tray for each, and a stock of enlarging paper. Enlarging paper comes in different grades. In determining the correct grade to choose, first study the range of contrast in your negative. If the negative has sharp contrasts, a “soft” paper will reduce them. If the negative has little contrast, though, a “hard” paper will heighten contrasts. To begin work, place a photographic negative in the machines negative carrier. Then turn on the lamp to check the lens adjustment. In the printing process, this lamp passes light through the negative to the lens to focus rays on the enlarging paper. The light reaching the paper then produces a latent image that is later made visible by chemical action. How light or dark the final enlargement will be depends on the amount of light striking the paper. Once you are satisfied that the enlarger lens is properly focused, turn off the light. Now you are ready for the next step: making a test strip on which you will try several different timed exposures to determine the best one for your negative. Select a narrow piece of enlarging paper as your test strip. Place it on the enlarger easel and, for your first exposure, cover most of the paper with a piece of cardboard to block out light. In steps lasting a few seconds each, move the cardboard across the test strip a few seconds at a time, exposing additional segments of the paper. Five or six segments should be enough. Drop the test strip into the tray containing the development chemical; development normally takes about two minutes. Then transfer the test strip for a few seconds to another tray containing “stop bath”, a solution that halts further development of the image. Finally, move the paper to a third tray for a “fixing bath”, in which the image is made permanent. Although this complete final chemical action takes about five minutes, you may remove the test strip after only a few seconds of soaking to examine it under a bright light. The developed test strip will contain examples of five or six different exposures times. When you have selected the exposure that is most to your liking, place a fresh piece of enlarging paper on the easel, make the exposure you have selected, develop the image, fix and wash the print, and dry it. All that remains is to properly mount your finished enlargement to sho