四六级写作"天龙八部"：考生作文样卷点评

　　这是一个技术性的问题。有了好的思想，写出了没有语法错误的句子，是否意味着就是一篇好作文呢？恐怕未必。古人做文章讲究“起承转合”，英语作文也同样要注意句与句、段与段之间的过渡和粘连，只有那样才能使文章成为一个和谐的有机统一的整体。提高文章的连贯性，常用的方法有使用平行结构、重复单词或词组、用代词代替前文中的句子、保持名词/代词的数的一致和动词的时态的一致等等。注意下面这段文章中作者是如何综合运用这些手段的：

　　Americans are queer people: they can’t play. Americans rush to work as soon as they grow up. They want their work as soon as they wake. It is a stimulant—the only one they are not afraid of. They used to open their offices at ten o’clock; then at nine; then at eight; then at seven. Now they never shut them. Every business in America is turning into an open-all-day-and-night business. They eat all night, dance all night, make noise all night. They can’t play. They try to, but can’t. They turn football into a fight, baseball into a lawsuit, and yachting into machinery. They can’t play. The little children can’t play; they use mechanical toys instead—toy cranes, hoisting toy loads, toy machinery spreading a toy industrial depression of infantile dullness. The grownup people can’t play; they use a mechanical gymnasium and a clockwork horse. They can’t laugh; they hire a comedian and watch him laugh.

　　另一种做法是使用表示各种关系的承接词，下面列出一些常用的连接词和短语供大家参考，希望大家在平时的练习中有效地运用。

　　(1)空间段落展开

　　above before me before on the left

　　across from belowin the distance on the right

　　adjacent to beyondnearby opposite to

　　also further next to on top of

　　up downclose to beneath

　　under around near to over

　　(2)时间段落展开

　　first, second, etc.sooneventually

　　in the meantimethenuntil

　　at the same time nextthereafter

　　after a whilenow after

　　presentlylaterafterward

　　somewhat laterfinally at last

　　(3)分析段落展开

　　first, second, etc.nowfor this purpose

　　but as a resultfurthermore

　　finally at last moreover

　　also consequentlylikewise

　　anotherfor examplenext

　　yet for instanceon the contrary

　　once in additionin summary

　　such in this caseon the other hand

　　then otherwisein conclusion

　　thusto sum up therefore

　　(4)比较段落展开

　　another`furthermoremoreover

　　equally importanttoo, alsoat the same time

　　besidesthenaccordingly

　　in factin addition to like, likewise

　　similarlyjust as…so in much the same way

　　(5)对比段落展开

　　on the contrary different from / in contrast

　　on the other handin spite of / despite

　　yet, butwhereas

　　unlikenevertheless

　　not only…but alsohere…there

　　years ago…todaythis…that

　　the former…the latterthen…now

　　the first…whereas the secondsome…others

　　on the one hand…on the other once…now