voa慢速英语提高写作能力
怎样通过voa慢速英语的写作来提高我们的写作能力?下面是本站小编给大家整理的voa慢速英语提高写作能力，供大家参阅!
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慢速英语：学习句型以提高写作能力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
怎么样使用VOA慢速英语来学习提高英语水平VOA Special English 节目内容题材广泛，如果能坚持长期学习，你不仅能扩充知识面，增加词汇量，提高阅读能力，还能在潜移默化中提高写作水平。
1、从网站下载一个 5 分钟的 report 到电脑里(包括下载report的MP3录音和文本)，准备好一本英汉词典或电子词典。
2、认真阅读report文本一至两遍，遇到不懂的单词请立即查词典。
3、将文本放在一边，开始听report的MP3录音，并将听到的写下来，就是做听写练习。一直循环播放，尽可能的将自己能听写出来的，全部写出来。
4、将自己的听写稿和原稿对照，找出没有听写出来的词句，并标上记号，这些没有听出来的词句可能很简单，但事实是你没有听写出来，这些就是你听力的盲点，所以要特别留意。
5、再反复地听report的MP3录音，这次不用纸笔听写，而是在脑袋里做听写，就是指当你听到一句的时候，脑袋里把这一句给拼出来，确保听清每一个词句，并留意你在听写时没有写出来的词句的发音。
6、第二天再听上面的report的MP3录音，并采用上面第5点所用的听法。第四天再听上面的report的MP3录音，等到第七天再听几篇，仍采用上面第5点所用的听法。
