美国大学英语写作(英文原版第9版)

作者简介

约翰？兰甘（John Langan）是美国新泽西州一位从教25年的大学教授，主讲阅读和写作课。兰甘喜欢读书，更喜欢带领不爱阅读的人认识和领略阅读的乐趣。他在从教的过程中，编写了一系列深受学生欢迎的大学写作与阅读教材，每一本都是集多年写作和阅读教学经验之大成，并数次再版。 佐伊？奥尔布赖特（Zoe Albright）是美国得克萨斯州一位从教18年的大学老师，也是约翰？兰甘系列写作教材的供稿人。她创建了传统和在线的大学及高中英语课程、写作课程与文学课程，并亲自执教。同时，她也在研究新的教育理论与实践。她热爱旅行，并把旅行经历和收获融入到写作及教学中。

内容简介

Chapter 2 emphasized how prewriting and revising can help you become an effective writer. This chapter focuses on the first two steps in writing an effective paragraph: 1. Begin with a point. 2. Support the point with specific evidence. Chapters 4 and 5 then look at the third and fourth steps in writing: 3. Organize and connect the specific evidence (pages 83–102). 4. Write clear, error-free sentences (pages 103–132). Step 1: Begin with a Point从一个观点开始 Your first step in writing is to decide what point you want to make and to write that point in a single sentence. The point is commonly known as a topic sentence. As a guide to yourself and to the reader, put that point in the first sentence of your paragraph. Everything else in the paragraph should then develop and support in specific ways the single point given in the first sentence. (For information about using a working topic sentence to develop a scratch outline, see pages 24–26 in Chapter 2.) ACTIVITY 1 Read the two student paragraphs below about families today. Which paragraph clearly supports a single point? Which paragraph rambles on in many directions, introducing a number of ideas but developing none of them? PARAGRAPH A Changes in the Family Changes in our society in recent years have weakened family life. First of all, today’s mothers spend much less time with their children. A generation or two ago, most households got by on Dad’s paycheck and Mom stayed home. Now many mothers work, and their children attend an after-school program, stay with a neighbor, or go home to an empty house. Another change is that families no longer eat together. In the past, Mom would be home to fix a full dinner—salad, pot roast, potatoes, and vegetables, with homemade cake or pie to top it off. Dinner today is more likely to be takeout food or frozen dinners eaten at home, or fast food eaten out, with different members of the family eating at different times. Finally, television has taken the place of family conversation and togetherness. Back when there were traditional meals, family members would have a chance to eat together, talk with each other, and share events of the day in a leisurely manner. But now families are more likely to be looking at the TV set than talking to one another. Most homes even have several TV sets, which people watch in separate rooms. Clearly, modern life is a challenge to family life. PARAGRAPH B The Family Family togetherness is very important. However, today’s mothers spend much less time at home than their mothers did, for several reasons. Most fathers are also home much less than they used to be. In previous times, families had to work together running a farm. Now children are left at other places or are home alone much of the time. Some families do find ways to spend more time together despite the demands of work. Another problem is that with parents gone so much of the day, nobody is at home to prepare wholesome meals for the family to eat together. The meals Grandma used to make would include pot roast and fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, vegetables, and delicious homemade desserts. Today’s takeout foods and frozen meals can provide good nutrition. Some menu choices offer nothing but high-fat and high-sodium choices. People can supplement prepared foods by eating sufficient vegetables and fruit. Finally, television is also a big obstacle to togetherness. It sometimes seems that people are constantly watching TV and never talking to each other. Even when parents have friends over, it is often to watch something on TV. TV must be used wisely to achieve family togetherness. Complete the following statement: Paragraph is effective because it makes a clear, single point in the first sentence and goes on in the remaining sentences to support that single point. Paragraph A starts with a point—that changes in our society in recent years have weakened family life—and then supports that idea with examples about mothers’ working, families’ eating habits, and television. Paragraph B, on the other hand, does not make and support a single point. At first we think the point of the paragraph may be that “family togetherness is very important.” But there is no supporting evidence showing how important family togetherness is. Instead, the line of thought in paragraph B swerves about like a car without a steering wheel. In the second sentence, we read that “today’s mothers spend much less time at home than their mothers did, for several reasons.” Now we think for a moment that this may be the main point and that the author will list and explain some of those reasons. But the paragraph then goes on to comment on fathers, families in previous times, and families who find ways to spend time together. Any one of those ideas could be the focus of the paragraph, but none is. By now we are not really surprised at what happens in the rest of the paragraph. We are told about the absence of anyone “to prepare wholesome meals for the family,” about what “the meals Grandma used to make” would be like, and about nutrition. The author then goes on to make a couple of points about how much people watch TV. The paragraph ends with yet another idea that does not support any previous point and that itself could be the point of a paragraph: “TV must be used wisely to achieve family togetherness.” No single idea in this paragraph is developed, and the result for the reader is confusion. In summary, while paragraph A is unified, paragraph B shows a complete lack of unity. 美国大学英语写作，适用于： 托福、雅思、SAT、GRE、GMAT等出国留学考生，英语专业学生，有一定英语基础的大学生，英语写作老师，需要提高英语写作的职场人士。 推荐理由： 1.美国大学教授25年英语写作教学经验总结，至今已更新到第9版，是经典的写作教材； 2.原版引进全英文版，用词简洁易懂，条理清晰，有助于培养英语思维； 3.系统讲解，其核心的写作四项基本原则贯穿全书，由宏观到微观帮助读者逐步提高； 4.实例丰富，精选大量学生习作评析，另选用名家作品供学习和模仿； 5.讲练结合，提供参考答案，既适合课堂教学，也方便读者自学； 6.内容实用，学术英语、职场英语和个人写作都适合。