英语单词大师：U.S. Writing Style2

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: more of our discussion with Jane Dunphy, director of the English Language Studies Program at M.I.T., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

RS: Our subject is the American style of academic writing, including the traditional five-paragraph essay, and the challenges of academic writing for non-native English speakers.

JANE DUNPHY: Some cultures graduate students from undergraduate schools without having written basically at all. They have huge classrooms with one authoritative¹ teacher -- and authoritarian² both. And they work on translation or they -- they really do learn how to do multiple-choice testing very well, that kind of thing. But they haven't been writing regularly for a real purpose.

RS: What tips do you have for English language learners who may be listening to this broadcast and want to improve their writing?

JANE DUNPHY: Read. I think reading is really essential for acquiring the knowledge to write a language. I think that you develop instincts that are very hard to learn if you sit down and try to memorize or try to learn them through translation.

For students who are interested in studying, in English, a scientific or technical or business field, I think it's useful to look at publications in those areas. And look at the language, not just look at the content, but really look at the way things are structured, where the main message comes, how paragraphs work, with topic sentences. I think awareness³ is 90 percent of success.

AA: Well, let me ask you, I mean, how do you know what constitutes a well-written research article?

JANE DUNPHY: Well, the most prestigious⁴ journals typically attract the best writing. So any journal that's the hardest to get published in your field is the place to go.

RS: And perhaps study groups, working with a friend, or bringing these journals into their English language classroom.

JANE DUNPHY: Yep. I think peer review is a really good idea. It's a lot easier to review someone else's inadequate⁵ writing or confusing writing than it is your own after you've spent a lot of time writing.

AA: And finally, just to get back to the five-paragraph essay again ...

JANE DUNPHY: [laughs]

AA: Any final thoughts about that? I mean, that is the model that is taught. What are the pluses or minuses of that model, and is there another alternative that you like to suggest?

JANE DUNPHY: I think it's necessary to know how to do it for any kind of standardized⁶ test. I think that students that are studying in an American system, in lower grades, not higher education, have to know how to do it.

I think the best thing they can do when they get out of those situations is unlearn it, because I just don't think it's adequate for almost anything that we do. The whole idea of five paragraphs is based on three main topics you want to develop. Well, that's a silly way to go about writing about something if you automatically have to limit yourself or expand your point to include three main topics.

RS: Although it is a place to start. It's a way in which to organize your thoughts.

JANE DUNPHY: Yep, I agree. It does force you to use paragraphs and topic sentences, which are not a universal either.

RS: And forces you to think, as I'm trying to help my son, who's in ninth grade. [Laughter]

JANE DUNPHY: Maybe I'll eventually get your son at M.I.T. and I'll be saying forget everything you ever learned --

RS and AA: From your mother!

JANE DUNPHY: About analyzing⁷ literature or anything else!

RS: Oh, maybe you will.

AA: Let me ask you, how do you know when to end one paragraph and to begin the next?

JANE DUNPHY: Well, you can either do it by content or you can do it by length or you can do it by both. Generally we have unspoken rules in English that we don't have ten paragraphs on a page. That would be quite unusual to see.

RS: You need the page breaks.

JANE DUNPHY: There's another unspoken rule that we don't have one [paragraph filling a page]. That would be unusual.

So you do need a break, for ease of reading. And that's basically what paragraphs are about. They're about ease of reading. We indent⁸ them in most areas to make it easy for the reader to find. Often writers go back and put a topic sentence on a paragraph to make it easy to read. They haven't naturally developed a paragraph from topic sentence down, but they go backwards⁹ and do it.

It relates, I think, to the way we read too. Now that could be circular. I don't know if we read because of that, or we write ... I don't know how that works.

RS: Jane Dunphy is director of the English Language Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

AA: You can find the first part of our interview on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is [email protected]. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

2 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

3 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

4 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

5 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

6 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

7 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

8 indent   

n.订单，委托采购，国外商品订货单，代购订单

参考例句：

• A firm order is often called an indent.确定的订单常称作订货单。
• Bid will be evaluated strictly in accordance with the indent specifications.投标将按照订货单的技术条件严格评估。

9 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。