三、一些基本技巧和方法
1.转述(Paraphrasing)的方法
转述的方法一般有改词汇和改句式两种方法。下面我们针对这两种方法来看一些例题。
a. 改词性
英语常用的四大词类有名词(nouns)、动词(verbs)、形容词(adjectives)和副词(adverbs)。转述时可以在这四个词类间进行转换。
例题:
Original: In the 1920s Alfred Sloan's management theories helped General Motors to become the world's dominant car company.
Rewrite: In the 1920s, with help from the managing theories of Alfred Sloan, General Motors dominated the world's car companies.
b. 同义词
转述时也可以使用同义词或近义词替换原词,以实现对原文细节选取和解读的目的。
例题:
Original: General Motors is the largest motor company in the world, with total revenues amounting to 15% of the global automotive market. The giant firm employs 360,000 people internationally.
Synonyms: biggest vehicle manufacturer | worldwide | corporation | globally
c. 简单句变复杂句
例题:
Original: Paul Newman is a movie star. Newman played Butch Cassidy. Cassidy was a bandit. Newman dazzles audiences.
Rewrite: Paul Newman, a movie star who dazzles audiences, played the part of the bandit, Butch Cassidy.
d. 简单句变复合句
例题:
Original: Leslie and Mary refuse to budget. They feel that budgets are useful only for others.
Rewrite: Leslie and Mary refuse to budget because they feel that budgets are useful only for others.
e. 重组句式
例题:
Original: Leader doesn't have to possess all the virtuous qualities, but it is absolutely imperative that he seem to possess them.
Rewrite: It is more important for a ruler to give the impression of goodness than to be good.
习题一
Paraphrase the following sentences.
1.But a growing group of scientists, education researchers and educators say there is little evidence that this approach improves long-term achievement.
Paraphrasing
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2.But these moves, while well intentioned, are misguided.
Paraphrasing
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3.We must hope that those who make education policy will start paying attention to this science.
Paraphrasing
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4.Yet evidence is mounting that having a working mother has some economic, educational and social benefits for children of both sexes.
Paraphrasing
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5.Black women have nearly double the obesity rate of white women and are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer.
Paraphrasing
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6.I grew up in a working-class family a generation removed from segregated poverty, a background that influenced my decision to practice in clinics that served a disproportionately poor and minority population, instead of private offices.
Paraphrasing
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7.Not surprisingly, her initial impression of me was unfavorable, but a friend encouraged her to come back to see me.
Paraphrasing
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8.Only after many failed attempts have I been able to consistently do the right thing with my health.
Paraphrasing
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9.They are locked up merely because the government wants to make sure they show up in immigration court.
Paraphrasing
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10.Detention is intended to help enforce the law, but, in practice, the system breeds cruelty and harm, and squanders taxpayer money.
Paraphrasing
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11.It's a paradox, but as much of the world has become less identified with organized religion, the leader of the most organized religions is more popular than ever.
Paraphrasing
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12."Industrial fishing," maybe the first globalized economic enterprise, meant the wholesale, permanent occupation of marine ecosystems, instead of the local raids practiced by previous generations.
Paraphrasing
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13.But while they're content with teachers, students aren't much interested in them as thinkers and mentors.
Paraphrasing
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14.When college is more about career than ideas, when paycheck matters more than wisdom, the role of professors changes.
Paraphrasing
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15.To meet the outrageous costs, borrowers sometimes subdivided apartments and skimped on repairs, allowing properties to fall into decay.
Paraphrasing
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16.Black patients, compared with those of other races, tend to be far less trusting of physicians and their medical advice.
Paraphrasing
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答案
1.It is doubted by a growing group of scientists, education researchers and educators that this approach benefits kids in the long term.
2.Well-intentioned as they may be, these moves, however, are misguided.
3.Hopefully, much attention would be paid to this science by education-policy makers.
4.It has been gradually proved, however, that a working mother brings some economic, educational and social benefits for both male and female kids.
5.The obesity rate of black women is two times the rate of white women, and black women's death rate of breast cancer also exceeds that of white women by 40 percent point.
6.My experience as a kid brought up in a working-class family a generation removed from segregated poverty influenced my decision to serve minority-rich communities, rather than private offices.
7.Her initial impression of me being unfavorable, she still come back to me with the encouragement of friend.
8.Having failed many times, I finally been able to keep the healthy habits consistently.
9.The detention merely serves to guarantee their presence in immigration court.
10.With the intention to enforce the law, the detention is practically counterproductive, breeding cruelty and squandering taxpayer money.
11.It's paradoxical to witness the decreasing identification of organized religions in much of the world with the growth popularity of the leader of the most organized religions.
12.Different from the previous local raids, the first globalized economic enterprise "Industrial fishing" represents the wholesale, permanent occupation of marine ecosystems.
13.Content with teachers, students do not regard them as thinkers and mentors.
14.The role of professors changes as career weights more than ideas and pay cheque matters more than wisdom.
15.Borrowers sometimes subdivided apartments and skimped on repairs with the aim to meet the outrageous costs, causing the decay of the property value.
16.Compared with other races, black patients show less trust to physicians and their medical advice.
习题二
Paraphrase the following sentences.
1.In a new study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries, daughters of working mothers completed more years of education, were more likely to be employed and in supervisory roles and earned higher incomes.Having a working mother didn't influence the careers of sons, which researchers said was unsurprising because men were generally expected to work — but sons of working mothers did spend more time on child care and housework.
Paraphrasing
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2.In an ideal world, the race of the patient or physician wouldn't matter; we would all treat each other strictly as individuals.But we're quite away from reaching that exalted goal.For now, we have to attack the problem of racial health disparities from as many angles as possible.Black doctors are an important part of this mission.
Paraphrasing
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3.Ending mass detention would not mean allowing unauthorized immigrants to disappear.Supervised or conditional release, ankle bracelets and other monitoring technologies, plus community-based support with intensive case management, can work together to make the system more humane.But neither Congress nor the Homeland Security Department has embraced these approaches, which would be far cheaper than locking people up.
Paraphrasing
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4.But World War II also brought a leap in human ingenuity power and technical ability that led to an unprecedented assault on our oceans.Not only did ships themselves become larger, faster and more numerous, but the war-derived technologies they carried exponentially increased their fishing power.
Paraphrasing
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5.In addition, emerging economies of scale meant that it wasn't just the target fish that suffered.With the invention of postwar super trawlers that scooped up everything in their path, a sort of scorched-earth approach to fishing became commonplace.
Paraphrasing
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答案
1.It is showed by a new study of 50,000 adults in 25 countries that, having a working mother increases the possibility for daughters to have more years of education, thus, to establish higher careers and to earn more incomes.However, it is unsurprisingly that this influence does not work to the careers of sons, who were generally expected to work.Nevertheless, sons of working mothers participate more in child care and house chores.
2.In an ideal world, whatever race patients or physicians are, we would all receive equal medical-treatments.Having a long way to go as it may, this mission calls for common efforts from all aspects at present, in which black doctors are an important part.
3.Ending mass detention does not necessarily represent the disappearance of unauthorized immigrants.Common efforts need to be taken to make the system more humane, including supervised or conditional release, ankle bracelets and other monitoring technologies, plus community-based support with intensive case management.These approaches, which neither Congress nor the Homeland Security Department has embraced, would be far cheaper than locking people up.
4.Very great advances were made in human ingenuity power and technical ability after World War II, leading human to an unprecedented assault on our oceans.Besides the growth in size, speed and quantity, the war-derived technologies they carried exponentially increased their fishing power.
5.Moreover, the target fish is not the only one that suffers with the emerging economics of scale.The postwar super trawlers, which scooped up everything in their path, makes the scorched-earth approach to fishing a commonplace thing.
2.归纳(Summarizing)的方法
通读阅读材料,找出核心内容,省略所有细节,用简明扼要和高度概括的语言来进行总结。
让我们来看看下面这道例题。
原文:
An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system,a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost,this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the America economic system. The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individual are allowed to own productive resources,and they are permitted to hire labor,gain control over natural resources,and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights,including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
Sample Summary:
In the market-oriented economy of America, price is a regulating mechanism that determines the economic activities of the country. The demands of consumers and the supplies of seller-producers would be responded by the fluctuations of prices. Meanwhile, individuals are permitted to possess resources and labor, and to make profits using diversified means.
习题
Summarize the following paragraphs.
Text 1
There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familiar disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familiar diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one environmental factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt, has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that chromic excess salt ingestion can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
Summary:
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Text 2
A controversy erupted in the scientific community in early 1998 over the use of DNA fingerprinting in criminal investigations. DNA fingerprinting was introduced in 1987 as a method to identify individuals based on a pattern seen in their DNA, the molecule of which genes are made. However, it is in the area of criminal investigations that DNA fingerprinting has potentially powerful and controversial uses. DNA fingerprinting and other DNA analysis techniques have revolutionized criminal investigations by giving investigators powerful new tools in the attempt to trove guilt, not just establish innocence. When used in criminal investigations, a DNA fingerprint pattern from a suspect is compared with a DNA fingerprint pattern obtained from such material as hairs or blood found at the scene of a crime. A match between the two DNA samples can be used as evidence to convict a suspect. The controversy in 1998 stemmed from a report published in by population geneticists Richard C. Lewontin and Daniel L. Hartl called into question the methods to calculate how likely it is that a match between two DNA fingerprints might occur by chance alone. In particular, they argued that the current method cannot properly determine the likelihood that two DNA samples will match because they came from the same individual rather than simply from two different individuals who are members of the same ethnic group.
Summary:
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Text 3
The key fact is that all three dictionaries can be seen to have a distinctly "cultural" as well as language learning content. That being said, the way in which they approach the cultural element is not identical, making direct comparisons between the three difficult. While there is some common ground between the encyclopedic/cultural entries for the Oxford and Longman dictionaries, there is a clear difference. Oxford lays claim to being encyclopedic on content whereas Longman distinctly concentrates on the language and culture of the English-speaking world. The Oxford dictionary can therefore stand more vigorous scrutiny for cultural bias than the Longman publication because the latter does not hesitate about viewing the rest of the world from the cultural perspectives of the English-speaking world. The cultural objectives of the BBC dictionary are in turn more distinct still. Based on an analysis of over 70 million words recorded from the BBC World Service and National Public Radio of Washington over a period of four years, their 1,000 brief encyclopedic entries are based on people and places that have featured in the news recently. The intended user they have in mind is a regular listener to the World Service who will have a reasonable standard of English and a developed skill in listening comprehension.
Summary:
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Text 4
Parents are often upset when their children praise the homes of their friends and regard it as a slur on their own cooking, or cleaning, or furniture, and often are foolish enough to let the adolescents see that they are annoyed. They may even accuse them of disloyalty, or make some spiteful remark about the friends' parents. Such a loss of dignity and descent into childish behavior on the part of the adults deeply shocks the adolescents, and makes them resolve that in future they will not talk to their parents about the place or people they visit. Before very long the parents will be complaining that the child is so secretive and never tells them anything, but they seldom realize that they have brought this on themselves.
Summary:
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Text 5
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said, "No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends — not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
Summary:
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答案
Text 1
According to confirmed evidence, typical hypertension is a familiar disease associated with the shared genetic impacts and/or environmental factors. The study of dietary salt, one environmental factor commonly shared by families, reveals that genetic differences lead to the variations in their chances to get high blood pressure. Those who are genetically susceptible to hypertension face higher risks than those who are not.
Text 2
Ever since the introduction of DNA techniques, they have been broadly utilized in identification and particularly criminal investigation. Nevertheless, a controversy was brought up by experts who cast doubt on the methods to determine the likelihood that a match between two DNA fingerprints might occur by chance alone.
Text 3
Given the distinct cultural elements of three typical dictionaries, BBC, Oxford and Longman, it may be uneasy to compare them directly. Oxford tends to be more encyclopedic, whereas Longman focuses on the language and cultural aspects of English-speaking countries. As for BBC, its entries are largely associated with recently-broadcasted news.
Text 4
In fact, parents should be responsible for their children's estrangement from them. Whenever children praise the homes of their friends, their parents would feel humiliated and in turn act irrationally towards them, giving them profound shocks. Because of such shocks, children refuse to communicate with them.
Text 5
In the new era of information technology, the quality of life has been negatively affected, rather than enhanced, by the Internet. It is largely because people have to overwork themselves online and thus endure heavy pressure both from work and from life. The prevalence of new technologies only adds to their annoyance.
3.直接引用
在SAT写作中运用直接引用的技巧时,要注意如下的分隔规则:
● 逗号、冒号和双引号用来分隔引言和出处;
● 引用内容的首字母大写;
● 引言内的引用使用单引号。
注意
在SAT写作中,对于这三种技巧使用,有四大注意事项:
● 不能全文都是原封不动地直接引用大段的阅读材料内容;
● 不能完全没有直接引用;
● 不能宽泛地总结,需要转述细节;
● 要做到边转述边评析。
下面我们来看几篇例文。
例文一
● In "Let there be dark," Paul Bogard talks about the importance of darkness.
Darkness is essential to humans. Bogard states, "Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep, sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression and recent research suggests are main cause of 'short sleep' is 'long light.' Whether we work at night or simply take our tablets, notebooks and smartphones to bed, there isn't a place for this much artificial light in our lives." (Bogard 2). Here, Bogard talks about the importance of darkness to humans. Humans need darkness to sleep in order to be healthy.
Animals also need darkness. Bogard states, "The rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including nocturnal and crepuscular species of birds, insects, mammals, fish and reptiles. Some examples are well known — the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs — and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world's flora. Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth's ecology would collapse..." (Bogard 2). Here Bogard explains that animals, too, need darkness to survive.
评价:这篇评分为2/1/1的文章的主要缺陷就是通篇大段原封不动地引用原文,几乎没有作者自己的原创,这是写作时需要坚决杜绝的。
例文二
● Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience about what he is concering about and feels it important to take care about. His essay talks about so much facts about sleeping how so little can effect us health wise examples like getting sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression. This facts helps people persuade the audience he also say that the world health organization classifies working night shift is bad. In his argument is not all about how it bad for the body he also claims and have proof that light cost are expensive and really costing people because they have light all night long. He also claims light is messing with mother nature that animals need darkness to feed eat move around because there noctuaral creatures. He has details facts about human body, animals and about mother nature that he can use to support his idea of not using so much light at night and how we need darkness. With these features he can persuade the auidence because people dont know why darkness can be good for us. He was all of facts and examples that he claim is efficting us and there world.
评价:这篇得分为2/1/1的文章太过宽泛地转述了原文内容,并没有细节的直接引用或对细节的评析。细节的使用和评析是作文非常重要的元素,也是提分关键。
例文三
● Bogard's argument is also furthered by his use of allusion to art — Van Gogh's "Starry Night" — and modern history — Paris' reputation as "The City of Light". By first referencing "Starry Night", a painting generally considered to be undoubtedly beautiful, Bogard establishes that the natural magnificence of stars in a dark sky is definite. A world absent of excess artificial light could potentially hold the key to a grand, glorious night sky like Van Gogh's according to the writer. This urges the readers to weigh the disadvantages of our world consumed by unnatural, vapid lighting. Furthermore, Bogard's alludes to Paris as "the famed ‘city of light'". He then goes on to state how Paris has taken steps to exercise more sustainable lighting practices. By doing this, Bogard creates a dichotomy between Paris' traditionally alluded-to name and the reality of what Paris is becoming — no longer "the city of light", but moreso "the city of light…before 2 AM". This furthers his line of argumentation because it shows how steps can be and are being taken to preserve natural darkness. It shows that even a city that is literally famous for being constantly lit can practically address light pollution in a manner that preserves the beauty of both the city itself and the universe as a whole.
评价:这是一段来自满分作文的节选,作者针对一种特征,充分地转述和直接引用了原文的细节,并能够做到边转述边评析。