voa慢速英語提高寫作能力
怎樣通過voa慢速英語的寫作來提高我們的寫作能力?下面是本站小編給大家整理的voa慢速英語提高寫作能力，供大家參閱!
Improve Your Writing by Using Concept Maps
English learners face a common problem: their writing often lacks clarity andcohesion.
That is according to Babi Kruchin and Alan Kennedy who teach at the American Language Program at Columbia University.
They recommend that English learners useconcept maps – images that show how ideas are connected.
What is important is how you put it together
Let’s consider a comparison. In some ways, the writing process is like cooking.
Gathering the ingredients for a meal requires effort. But, understanding how to put all the ingredients together is far more difficult.
Similarly, learning nouns, adjectives, and verbs can be hard to do. But, putting them together into a meaningful story, email, or essay is what is difficult.
Doing these things becomes even more difficult when you are writing in a second language.
So, writing clear, cohesive paragraphs or essays, can be hard for English learners.
To overcome this problem, Kruchin and Kennedy recommend that students make concept maps before writing.
Kennedy says concept maps show a writer when his or her writing lacks clarity.
Kruchin adds that concept maps help visual learners – people who learn better by seeing ideas.
What are concept maps?
Concept maps are tools for organizing ideas. They usually have three parts: concepts, arrows, and Linking phrases.
The concepts, which are the main ideas, are in circles or boxes. They are often nouns or noun phrases.
Arrows show how concepts are connected.
Linking words or phrases go above the arrows and explain how the concepts relate to one another.
Linking phrases are especially important. They are the groups of words that show relationships between concepts.
Joseph Novak, the creator of concept mapping, says such linking phrases give meaning to statements:
"If you say dog and food, those two concepts by themselves don't mean anything. They don't make a statement about the world. But if you say "dogs need food", then you begin to express an idea that's significant."
Novak adds that the linking words or phrases should be short. "You do not want a story between two concepts," he says, "just the expression that is needed to say, 'this concept is significantly related to another concept.'"
Generally, the generic ideas are at the top of the concept map and the specific ideas are at the bottom.
Kennedy explains what this looks like:
"So, for example, if you wanted to explain that trees provide wood, and wood is used to make furniture, you could have a circle around the word trees… and then you could have an arrow between the word wood and the word furniture, which would also be in a circle, and on top of that arrow it would say "is used to make""
From this starting point, writers can expand concept maps to include many concepts, arrows, and linking phrases.
Regardless of how simple or complex the map is, the most important point is that every concept has at least one arrow attached to it, and that every arrow has a linking word or linking phrase.
Building a concept map before writing an essay or email will make you think about how your ideas relate to one another.
You will realize when you are not explaining the relationships between ideas if you make a concept map that does not have arrows or linking phrases.
What can you do?
So, what can you do to start practicing concept maps?
You can start by reading and learning common linking words.
#1 Start by building a concept map of a paragraph
Kruchin recommends that English learners begin to use concept maps by studying the writing of others.
Learning how good writers have connected and developed ideas is an important starting point for learners who want to improve their own writing.
Kruchin adds that English learners should begin with a small amount of writing, such as a paragraph.
Kruchin suggests that English learners study the paragraph, or essay, by looking for the following information:
"The author's main idea is this, because of A, B, and C and here is one example to support A, one example to support B, one example to support C."
Doing this exercise, Kruchin adds, will give English learners information about how they can show relationships between ideas in their own writing.
#2 Learn common words and phrases that connect ideas
Kennedy recommends that English learners master words and phrases that show relationships between ideas. These linking phrases often show cause and effect or tell about the order of events.
English learners, Kennedy explains, should practice using a few of these phrases before moving to phrases that are more complex.
In particular, he recommends that English learners first use phrases such as "leads to", "causes", "is a type of" and "requires", before moving on to other phrases.
Read the article that goes with this story
Whether your goal is to write novels, poetry, or a message to a co-worker or friend, being able to show a relationship between ideas is an important skill.
Concept mapping might seem complicated, but Kennedy and Kruchin wrote an article that can help clarify their ideas. You can find the article on this page in PDF format. Download the article, read it, then try practicing with concept maps.
Let us know how concept maps work for you!
I'm John Russell.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
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Words in This Story
cohesion – n. a condition in which people or things are closely united
concept – n. an idea of what something is or how it works
ingredient – n. one of the things that are used to make a food, product, etc.
overcome – v. to successfully deal with or gain control of (something difficult)
phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence
VOA慢速英語：學習句型以提高寫作能力Studying Sentence Patterns to Improve Your Writing: Part 2
In a previous Everyday Grammar story, we discussed two common sentence patterns using the word “be.”
This week, we are going to give you more information about another common pattern in English: the linking verb pattern.
To get you started with linking verb patterns, consider this passage from a story called “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald:
"As he approached the end his sentences became broken, became short and uncertain, and his body seemed tense, seemed strained to catch the slightest pressure or whisper of life in the spaces around him."
By the end of this story, you will be able to recognize one major linking verb pattern that Fitzgerald uses many times in this sentence.
An important point about sentences and clauses
Remember: a sentence has a subject and a predicate. A clause has a subject and a predicate, too.
The predicate is the verb phrase. It has a main verb, such as a linking verb, and other words, such as a subject complement, that give more information about it.
When you capitalize the first word of a clause and put a period at the end of it, a clause becomes a sentence. Keep this idea in mind, because it will help you understand sentences that use several clauses.
What is a linking verb?
In the book "Rhetorical Grammar," Martha Kolln says that the term “linking verbs” applies to verbs that are completed by a subject complement – the adjective or noun phrase that describes the subject.
Many grammar experts consider the verb BE to be a linking verb, but Kolln says BE verb patterns are sometimes different from other linking verb patterns. This is because adverbial information often follows BE verbs, such as in the following sentence:
My sister is at the store.
In this case, an adverbial structure, a prepositional phrase, tells about the location of the subject, “my sister.” This BE pattern is one we discussed in a previous Everyday Grammar story.
In contrast, the usual linking verb structure is this:
Examples of linking verbs 1: verbs of the senses
Some of the most common linking verbs are verbs of the senses. They include “taste,” “smell,” “feel,” “look,” and “sound.”
These verbs often link an adjective to a subject.
For example, consider these memorable lines from “Dirty Harry,” a famous American film. Clint Eastwood, the actor who plays the character of Dirty Harry, says:
“You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?”
In the sentence "Do I feel lucky?", the adjective “lucky” acts as the subject complement. It describes the subject, “I.”
If you were to answer the question, you might say this:
Examples of linking verbs 2: “remain” and “become”
Verbs of the senses are not the only linking verbs. Two other common examples of linking verbs are “remain” and “become.” These verbs often link a noun or noun phrase to a subject.
Consider the opening lines from “Casablanca,” another classic American film:
"With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully or desperately toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the greatembarkation point."
In the second sentence — “Lisbon became the great embarkation point”— you can see the basic linking verb pattern, even though the subject complement has several words.
“Lisbon” is the subject of the sentence.
The predicate has the linking verb “became,” as well as the noun phrase “the great embarkation point.
Examples of linking verbs 3: “prove,” “seem” and “appear”
Aside from the verbs of the senses and “become” and “remain,” there are three other common linking verbs. They are “prove,” “seem” and “appear.”
Like other linking verbs, these verbs link an adjective or noun phrase to the subject. All these verbs use the same basic pattern: Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement.
What do linking verbs have to do with F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Think back to this passage from "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz":
"As he approached the end his sentences became broken, became short and uncertain, and his body seemed tense, seemed strained to catch the slightest pressure or whisper of life in the spaces around him. "
Fitzgerald uses some phrases that do not fit into the linking verb pattern. But, if you look closely, you will see that he uses the Subject + Linking Verb + Subject Complement pattern in the sentence. Consider these clauses:
Fitzgerald then repeats the linking verb pattern, but does not say the subject. The repeated subject is understood:
This sentence contains other structures that are more complicated than the basic linking verb pattern. But you can still see that these basic patterns can serve as the starting point for very long, complicated sentences.
What can you do?
Learning how to use linking verb patterns will help you improve your writing.
You can think about creative ways to use them, or you can learn to recognize when you use them too often.
To start practicing this pattern, try finding the linking verb in the sentences at the end of this story. Identify the subject of the sentence, the linking verb, and the subject complement. Be careful, because one or more sentences may be tricky!
We will give you the answers next week in the comments section and on our Facebook page.
The lake became a clear pool, pale and quiet. – "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Her slight unsteadiness seemed part of an enchanted dream. – "The Jelly Bean" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
John T. Unger was on the eve of departure. – "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I'm Jonathan Evans.
I'm John Russell.
And I'm Jill Robbins.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Kelly J Kelly was the editor.
Do you like learning about sentence patterns? Is there a pattern you'd like us to explain here?
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Words in This Story
strained – adj. feeling or showing the effect of too much work, use, effort, etc.
complement – n. a word or group of words added to a sentence to make it complete
adverbial – adj. like or relating to an adverb.
analyze – v. to learn the nature and relationship of the parts of (something) by a close and careful examination
phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence
adjective – n. a word that describes a noun or a pronoun
prepositional phrase – n. a phrase that begins with a preposition and ends in a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase
embarkation – n. a place where a journey begins
tricky – adj. difficult to do or deal with
怎麼樣使用VOA慢速英語來學習提高英語水平VOA Special English 節目內容題材廣泛，如果能堅持長期學習，你不僅能擴充知識面，增加詞彙量，提高閱讀能力，還能在潛移默化中提高寫作水平。
1、從網站下載一個 5 分鐘的 report 到電腦裏(包括下載report的MP3錄音和文本)，準備好一本英漢詞典或電子詞典。
2、認真閱讀report文本一至兩遍，遇到不懂的單詞請立即查詞典。
3、將文本放在一邊，開始聽report的MP3錄音，並將聽到的寫下來，就是做聽寫練習。一直循環播放，儘可能的將自己能聽寫出來的，全部寫出來。
4、將自己的聽寫稿和原稿對照，找出沒有聽寫出來的詞句，並標上記號，這些沒有聽出來的詞句可能很簡單，但事實是你沒有聽寫出來，這些就是你聽力的盲點，所以要特別留意。
5、再反覆地聽report的MP3錄音，這次不用紙筆聽寫，而是在腦袋裏做聽寫，就是指當你聽到一句的時候，腦袋裏把這一句給拼出來，確保聽清每一個詞句，並留意你在聽寫時沒有寫出來的詞句的發音。
6、第二天再聽上面的report的MP3錄音，並採用上面第5點所用的聽法。第四天再聽上面的report的MP3錄音，等到第七天再聽幾篇，仍採用上面第5點所用的聽法。
