Text B All the Way from America
Kathleen Burk
Moscow,2013 Photograph:Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Born in Australia,Peter Conrad learned about Britain from books and about America from films;as a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford,he met his first real Americans,who were bigger,more self-confident and more egalitarian than anyone else.As a student,he went on his first American road trip—both rite of passage and Grand Tour.In due course he became a Fellow of Christ Church,Oxford,and in 1980 bought his flat in Greenwich Village in New York;he now divides the year between them.This would not be a comfortable life were he not sympathetic to the United States and its culture.Others have been less sympathetic,and in this book he discusses a number of creative and intellectual anti-Americans,implicitly analysing why their views are so different from his own.
It is worth noting that his name of choice is“America”,not“US”.This is perhaps appropriate,given that this is a cultural history,and it is the term normally used by non-Americans,who are the major protagonists here.It also reflects the fact that Conrad's focus is the American people,not the US government,and in the cases where he does examine the government,it is as the progenitor of a foreign policy which alarmed non-Americans.These non-Americans are overwhelmingly European,along with a few Japanese,such as the filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.Among Europeans,it seems to be predominantly the French and Germans who have carried the burden of disliking and disdaining America.Except for David Bailey,the Beatles,the Rolling Stones,and Graham Greene,the British hardly figure in Conrad's discussion;his explanation for this aberration seems to be that the British after 1945 accepted their junior status to the US.This argument should certainly be modified,but it is true that the hate part of the love-hate relationship seldom exploded.
Although the masses and the American culture that they liked provide the backdrop,How the World Was Won is predominantly a discussion of writers,photographers and filmmakers who wrote about,photographed and made films about America.Conrad's approach is to use extensive plot descriptions and analyses,and to provide biographies of the writers and filmmakers.The book rattles along,but he seldom makes an outright statement of the point of a chapter,which the reader is expected to work out for herself.The discussion is enlivened by the occasional acerbic comment,particularly when the author smells hypocrisy.Even if he wants to,Conrad cannot hide his liking for the US.
In 1947,Simone de Beauvoir suggested that America was an empire of a new kind,driven less by the love of power than by“the love of imposing on others that which is good”.On the evidence in this book,that was about the nicest thing she said about the US.She was an exemplar of those Europeans who felt contempt for America because it was too cheerful,too self-confident,too non-European.She embarked on a road trip of her own,and her conclusion was that the problem with Americans and America was that they had no comprehension of evil.She tried to find“squalor,weariness,hatred,cruelty and revolt”in a journey through the Southern states,but it was not until she arrived in Chicago that she was pleased,or perhaps relieved,to experience the city's sombre air(Conrad comments that this had more to do with soot than with philosophical gloom).In the Chicago stockyards,she discovered“dark and murky deeds”,where cowboys on horseback ushered their herds into what she called“the concentration camp”.It was only here,Conrad points out,that she finally saw a moral equivalence between the continents.
European visitors have long been driven to find the worst that they could.Those who came in the 1820s,30s and 40s,particularly from Britain,found what they looked for.Frances Trollope found bad manners and equality,which she hated;Charles Dickens found that Americans were pushily obtrusive,and their institutions,in particular their prisons,were worse than he had thought;almost all visitors hated slavery.Jean-Paul Sartre looked even more assiduously than Beauvoir for appalling discoveries and found them in Americans themselves,whom he called“phenomenally stupid”,cowed by superstition,and in awe of machines.America was a monster.Worse,Americans were irrepressibly cheerful,which Cyril Connolly ascribed to an overdose of vitamins and calories.
It must be said that it was not only Europeans who looked for authentically American despair,depression and degradation.There were American writers who searched for the same,especially degradation,notably Jack Kerouac,William Burroughs and Hunter S.Thompson.In their quest,all three ventured out of America for a time.Burroughs searched for a place where he could be as degenerate as he wished,and he had to visit Europe,the Middle East,and finally Latin America to find it.On the other hand,there were Americans who found Europe primitive in comparison to the US:Edmund Wilson wrote in 1954 that he had derived“more benefit of the civilising as well as the inspirational kind from the admirable American bathroom than from the cathedrals of Europe”.Kerouac was also relieved to return to American bathrooms.The later comment by a British diplomat that Americans confused plumbing with civilization seems more reasonable in this context.
Conrad's devotion to the cinema during his boyhood Saturdays clearly continues.A substantial part of the book uses films made by non-Americans to illustrate his points.On the whole these films are at least shaded with grey,illustrating the dislike of most of the filmmakers for America and Americans,their works,their shallowness,and their lack of history.Conrad's writers and filmmakers make this point repeatedly:for Americans there is always the chance of rebirth,of a new beginning,of being unburdened by history.As a result,they are stupidly optimistic:life is darker than that,as truly profound Europeans realize.
Conrad's book is thought-provoking,enjoyable and frustrating,because he has decided that we do not need to know where his hundreds of quotations and paraphrases come from.He doesn't tell us where or exactly when Beauvoir thought her thoughts cited above,or in what context.Jean Cocteau claimed to be mystified by water that gushed from taps jutting out of the wall—but when there is an interesting discussion of an article by Truman Capote in the New York Times,for which Conrad gives no date,not even a year.There are no endnotes,and no bibliography.Whatever the reason for this,the result resembles a long journalistic essay.
At the end of the book,Conrad states plainly his continued fascination with America,a fascination of which he does not wish to be cured.Americans,he writes,“seem so lively and so competitively energized,fleeter of foot and often quicker-witted than the rest of us”,something of a contrast with John Ashbery's“There is some connexion/(I like the way the English spell it/They're so clever about some things/Probably smarter generally than we are…”.“America”,Conrad argues,“won the world by winning it over,sometimes with candy bars and jeans,mostly with images and sounds….The rest of us have been the true winners.We were captivated rather than conquered—consensually Americanized”.From his own evidence,not everyone was.
(1,224 words)
Notes
1.Kathleen Burk is Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London.She is the author of Old World,New World:The Story of Britain and America,2007.“All the Way from America”is a review of How the World Was Won:The Americanization of Everywhere written by Peter Conrad,published on 29April 2015 on The Times Literary Supplement,which is the leading international forum for literary culture.
2.Grand Tour is the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means,or those of more humble origin who could find a sponsor.The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transport in the 1840s,and was associated with a standard itinerary.It served as an educational rite of passage.Though primarily associated with the British nobility and wealthy landed gentry,similar trips were made by wealthy young men of Protestant Northern European nations on Continental Europe,and from the second half of the 18th century,by some South and North Americans.The tradition declined with the lapse of neo-classical enthusiasm and after rail and steamship travel made the journeys much easier when Thomas Cook made the“Cook's Tour”of early mass tourism a byword.
3.Fellow:At colleges of the ancient universities of Oxford,Cambridge,and Dublin,fellows,sometimes referred to as“dons”,form the governing body of the college.They may elect a council to handle day-to-day management.All fellows are entitled to certain privileges within their colleges,which may include dining at High Table(free of charge)and possibly the right to a room in college(free of charge).
At Cambridge,retired academics may remain fellows.At Oxford,however,a Governing Body fellow would normally be elected a fellow emeritus and would leave the Governing Body upon his or her retirement.Distinguished old members of the college,or its benefactors and friends,might also be elected“Honorary Fellow”,normally for life;but beyond limited dining rights this is merely an honour.Most Oxford colleges have“Fellows by Special Election”or“Supernumerary Fellows”,who may be members of the teaching staff,but not necessarily members of the Governing Body.
4.David Bailey(born 2 January 1937)is an English fashion and portrait photographer.
5.Graham Greene(1904—1991)was an English novelist and author regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.His major works are Brighton Rock,The Power and the Glory,The Heart of the Matter,and The End of the Affair,The Confidential Agent,The Third Man,The Quiet American,Our Man in Havana,and The Human Factor.
6.Simone de Beauvoir(1908—1986)was a French writer,intellectual,existentialist philosopher,political activist,feminist and social theorist.Though she did not consider herself a philosopher,she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.De Beauvoir wrote novels,essays,biographies,autobiography and monographs on philosophy,politics and social issues.She is known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex,a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism;her novels,including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins.She is also known for her open relationship with French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
7.Frances Trollope(1779—1863)was an English novelist and writer who published as Mrs.Trollope or Mrs.Frances Trollope.Her first book,Domestic Manners of the Americans(1832)has been the best known,but she also published strong social novels:an anti-slavery novel said to influence the work of the American Harriet Beecher Stowe,the first industrial novel,and two anti-Catholic novels that used a Protestant position to examine self-making.
8.Cyril Connolly(1903—1974)was a literary critic and writer.He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon(1940—1949)and wrote Enemies of Promise(1938),which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of fiction that he had aspired to be in his youth.
9.Jack Kerouac(1922—1969)was an American novelist and poet.
10.William Burroughs(1914—1997)was an American novelist,short-story writer,essayist,painter,and spoken word performer.
11.Hunter S.Thompson(1937—2005)was an American journalist and author,and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement.
12.Edmund Wilson(1895—1972)was an American writer,literary and social critic,and man of letters.
13.Jean Cocteau(1889—1963)was a French writer,designer,playwright,artist and filmmaker.
14.Truman Capote(1924—1984)was an American novelist,screenwriter,playwright,and actor,many of whose short stories,novels,plays,and nonfiction are recognized literary classics,including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's(1958)and the true crime novel In Cold Blood(1966),which he labeled a“nonfiction novel”.At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced of Capote novels,stories,and plays.
15.John Ashbery(born July 28,1927)is an American poet.He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry,including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.
翻译概述
翻译是对包括语言在内的各种符号进行意义的理解、阐释与再生，是一种跨语言、跨文化的交流活动。本课程所讨论的翻译，主要是指在英汉两种语言之间，理解其中一种语言符号的意义，并用另一种语言符号加以表达。基于工程硕士研究生英语的实际需要，我们以英译汉翻译的技巧方法为教学的主要内容，兼及汉译英和科技英语翻译。
翻译活动有着悠久的历史，无论古今中外，人们都在不断地对翻译的实践与成果进行评价与反思，从而形成了各种衡量、批评的标准，其中18世纪英国翻译家泰特勒(A.F.Tytler)提出了著名的翻译三原则(1.译文应完全复写出原作的思想；2.译文的风格和笔调应与原文的性质相同；3.译文与原作同样流畅)，而我国近代启蒙思想家、翻译家严复受其影响，也提出了“信、达、雅”的翻译标准，现当代各种关于“形似、意似、神似”和“忠实、通顺”等的提法和争议，可以说基本上都是围绕着三标准所涉及的各个问题而展开。
针对具体语言材料进行处理的翻译过程分为理解和表达两个部分。我们要想在英汉互译中做到尽可能准确地理解和表达，就不仅需要具备一般的英汉语言基本功，还需要了解英汉语言的比较性特征以及与语言密切相关的中西思维方式的不同特点，提高语言分析能力，并学习和掌握各种具体的翻译技巧和方法。
英汉语言在词汇和句法结构上都存在不少客观差异，这些差异往往包含或体现了使用这两种语言的不同民族的文化与思维特征。
词汇层面 就词类而言，英语和汉语词汇的词类划分大体相当，实词包括名词、动词、代词、形容词、副词、数词等，虚词如介词、连词、感叹词等。但也有比较明显的差别，如汉语中介词数量不多，用得也不多，而英语中大量介词的使用非常活跃；汉语中没有冠词，有很多专门的量词如“个”“只”“条”“块”等，数词往往和量词搭配使用，而英语中冠词和数词一般直接和名词连用，来表达数量概念；英语量词除了piece使用较多，其他数量有限的量词主要是从表示形状或容器的名词借用而来。拿冠词来说：
two men 两个人/20 pens 二十支钢笔/3 reasons三条理由
a piece of news 一则新闻(一条消息)/3bars of soap 三块肥皂
就词义而言，英汉语词汇的意义大多并不一一对应，加上英汉词语的搭配能力有所不同，词义差异就更加突出。英语中很多词语，尤其是常见的动词，搭配能力特别强，在翻译成汉语时要注意选用合适的词语。例如：
He picked up his hat and his courage.
他捡起了帽子,同时鼓起了勇气。
He had a blue heart and coat.
他穿着蓝色外套,心情忧郁。
词语的搭配能力和一词多义现象相关，同样，无论在英语中还是在汉语中都存在一词多义现象，但英语词语，尤其是常见常用的动词，一词多义的情况更为普遍和复杂，在翻译中随时要注意根据语境来确定语义。比如take一词，词典解释就差不多有四十个义项，如可以指“携带”(物品)、“拿”(东西)、“抱”(孩子)、“采取”(措施)、“承担”(责任)、“参加”(考试)、“服用”(药物)、“乘坐”(交通工具)等，再加上take构成的各种短语，都需要根据具体的搭配来决定如何翻译。
词汇方面的差异还体现在词序安排等方面。以名词中心词的修饰语为例，如果英语中修饰名词的是短语，往往置于名词中心词后面；而汉语中修饰语除非长到了一定程度，否则一般都会放在名词中心词前面。如：
The man in golden-rimmed spectacles comes from Shanghai.那位戴着一副金边眼镜的先生是上海人。
此外，在翻译中还要考虑到英汉词语的历史文化内涵、文体意义、褒贬色彩、语义宽狭等因素，根据语境的不同来选择用词。
语法层面 在语法上英汉语言也各有其特点，最重要的差异首先在于英语造句主要采用形合法(hypotaxis)，汉语造句则主要采用意合法(parataxis)。所谓形合，指的是句中的词语或分句之间用语言形式手段(如关联词)连接起来，表达语法意义和逻辑关系；所谓意合，指的是词语或分句之间不用语言形式手段连接，句中的语法意义和逻辑关系通过词语或分句的含义与语境来表达。英语重形合，注重结构形式，常常借助各种连接手段，构成关系明确、逻辑严谨、结构严密的复杂句式；汉语重意合，注重功能、意义，常常不用或少用连接手段，构成相对简洁的句式，其中各语言单位之间在语法和语义上的关系、逻辑往往因读者掌握的语言、文化知识而得以显明和成立。
英语注重显性接应(overt cohesion)，注重句子形式，注重结构完整，注重以形显意，因此连接手段和形式(cohesive ties)不仅数量大、种类多，而且用得十分频繁。英语里关系词和连接词很多。关系词包括关系代词、关系副词、连接代词和连接副词，用来连接主句和定语从句、主语从句、宾语从句或表语从句。连接词包括并列连词和从属连词，如and，or，but，yet，so，however，as well as，(n)either…(n)or以及when，while，as since，until，so…that…，unless，lest等，用来连接词、词组、分句或状语从句。英语造句几乎离不开这些关系词和连接词。如：
If winter comes,can spring be far behind?冬天来了,春天还会远吗?
It had been a fine,golden autumn,a lovely farewell to those who would lose their youth,and some of them their lives,before the leaves turned again in a peacetime fall.那是天清气朗的金秋时节,美好的秋色为那些青年送别。待到战后和平时期,黄叶纷飞的秋天再度来临,昔日的青年青春已逝,有的人已长眠地下。
介词是英语里最活跃的词类之一，是连接词、句的重要手段。据统计，英语里面各类介词共约286个，包括简单介词(如with，in，of)、合成介词(如inside，onto，within)、成语介词(如according to，along with，apart from)。英语造句几乎离不开介词，而汉语常常不用或省略介词，因此，在英译汉时需要准确理解这些介词所表达的逻辑关系。如：
This was an intelligently organized and ferve nt meeting in a packed Town Hall,with Mr.Strong in the chair.这是一次精心组织的会议,市政厅里济济一堂,气氛热烈,主持会议的是斯特朗先生。
除关系词、连接词和介词等连接手段外，英语中还有很多其他的连接手段，如形态变化形式，包括词缀变化，动词、名词、代词、形容词和副词的形态变化(如性、数、格、时、体、语态、语气、比较级、人称等)及其保持前后一致的关系(grammatical and notional concord)，广泛使用代词以保持前后呼应的关系，以及使用it和there作替补词(expletives)起连接作用等。
汉语造句少用甚至不用形式连接手段，注重隐性连贯(covert coherence)，注重逻辑事理顺序，注重功能意义，注重以神统形。汉语的形合手段比英语少得多：没有英语所常用的那些关系代词、关系副词、连接代词和连接副词；介词数量少，大约只有30个，而且大多是从动词“借来”的。
汉语没有词的形态变化，没有替补词，代词也用得较少。总之，汉语尽量省去一切不必要的形式装置，重意合而不重形合，词语之间的关系常在不言之中，语法意义和逻辑关系常隐含在字里行间。如：
打肿脸充胖子,吃亏的是自己。
If you get beyond your depth,you will suffer.
当然，英语和汉语都有形合句和意合句，只不过一般说来终究是英语形合句多，汉语意合句多。现代汉语受西方语言的影响，形合句比古代汉语多。英语和汉语两种语言之间的句法结构差异还有很多，比如英语句子成分的顺序和复杂句的句序都比汉语句序更为复杂，英语中常见的there be句型和形式主语it在汉语中没有相对应的表达法，英语句子的静态特征和汉语句子的动态特征造成英语中名词和介词占有优势，而汉语中则动词占有优势等。如：
He had flown in just the day before from Georgia where he had spent his vocation basking in the Caucasian sun after the completion of the construction job he had engaged in in the South.他本来在南方从事一项建筑工程,任务完成之后,他就上格鲁吉亚去度假,享受高加索的阳光,昨天才坐飞机回来。
英语行文中往往会由层层叠叠的复杂句形成一种树状结构，所以英译汉时往往先分析句子的结构形式，才能确定句子的功能和意义，分清信息的主次和层次，并按照汉语意合为主、简单句为主的句法特征进行翻译；汉译英时则往往先分析句子的功能和意义，才能确定所要形成的英语句子的结构形式。
此外，英语中完整句子的基本结构是主谓结构，而汉语则由于不同的思维特点，在相当于英语正常句式中主语位置上的语言单位，往往并不是语法意义上的主语，而是句子要提供相关信息的主题。这一点也是翻译，尤其是汉译英中要纳入考虑的重要差异。
英汉语言在词汇和句法上都呈现出很多差异性特征，而人们在翻译标准的问题上所持的观点又不尽相同，不同的译者就会采取不同的翻译策略，以期达到各自追求的翻译效果，最常见的策略分歧就存在于“直译”(literal translation)与“意译”(free translation)之间。事实上，人们在直译与意译的概念界定上也意见不一，不过大致说来，既忠于原文意思又保留原文形式的翻译就叫直译。直译的优点是可以保留原作的风格、原文的比喻形象、民族色彩等，但应注意，直译不等于逐字翻译(word-for-word translation)，严格逐字翻译的结果往往会造成译文行文的不合规范。不受原文词语的限制，不拘泥于原文句子的结构，用不同于原文的表达方法，把原文意思表达出来，这就是意译。意译的优点是能发挥译语的优势，译文体现译者的创造能力，往往通顺流畅，但容易丧失原文的比喻形象、原作的风格和民族色彩。如：
to kill two birds with one stone既可以直译作“一石二鸟”,也可以意译为“一箭双雕”“一举两得”。
It rains cats and dogs.大雨倾盆。(意译)
The President stood there,hat in hand,begging Congress for their votes.总统站在那儿,毕恭毕敬地请求国会议员们投赞成票。(意译)
上述三个例子中，第一例可以直译也可以意译，对于意义的理解不会造成障碍；第二例如果直译成“下猫和狗”就会使句意显得莫名其妙，而如果逐字译成“它下雨猫和狗”则根本不构成句子；第三例中的“hat in hand”虽然表面上看也可以直译成“帽子拿在手里”，但实际上却没有能把这个短语真实的意图表达出来。
虽然存在“直译”“意译”之争，但大多数人已经认识到任何翻译都不可能在二者之间只取其一，而是要具体情况具体对待。当中英文表达形式彼此一致时就采取直译法，如“She's a good teacher.”直译为“她是一名优秀的教师”；而当直译达不到使意义再生并被人们理解和接受的效果，或原文和译入语的语言、思维习惯、文化习俗等格格不入时，这时候则采取意译法，如“Birds of a feather flock together.”若被译作“同一种羽毛的鸟儿一起飞”，恐怕就不会为人们所理解，更不用说接受，而译作“物以类聚，人以群分”，则不仅原文的意思一目了然，同时用与原文意义相当的汉语成语来翻译，就不存在接受上的障碍。
有趣的是，有些在最初受到人们否定和抵制的直译，可能遭到淘汰，但也可能顽强地存活下来，并且不仅最终被人们接受，而且还丰富了译入语的表达方法和表现力。例如把“milk way”译作“牛奶路”，把“crocodile's tears”译作“鳄鱼的眼泪”，最初都曾遭到批评，前者现在仅通译为“银河”，而后者尽管也会被意译成“虚伪的眼泪”，但“鳄鱼的眼泪”却久已成为很多人熟悉的表达法。
Translation Exercises
A.Use what you have learnt from the introduction above and translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1.There is a hotel on the corner of the street.
2.People sitting in the rear couldn't hear.
3.The Japanese surrender ended one of the bloodiest wars in American history,second only to the American Civil War.
4.Their strength lay only in the lack of consciousness on the part of the people.
5.The businessman left in high spirits and a Cadillac.
6.Word came that very few people in that village had survived the disaster.
7.He had about as much chance of getting a job as of being chosen mayor of Chicago.
8.Adam did not waste words.
9.To mark the 70th anniversary of Japan's surrender,China is preparing a grand spectacle,complete with a military parade.
10.The historical stages by which governments have come to exercise their contemporary functions make an interesting study in themselves.
B.Translate the following sentences from Text A into Chinese.
1.Since the Second World War,Spitz argues,there has been a“gentle revolution”in our sensibilities,aesthetics and tastes,driven by an ethos of kindness and a quest for purity in an impure world.
2.The“Twee Tribe”is characterized by a tendency to create highly stylized alternative modes of existence in opposition to competition-driven mass culture.
3.The most regrettable omission in this potentially important book is any reflection on why the post-war era has seen the rapid rise of Twee.
4.A turn to the past always entails a disenchantment with the present.It also testifies to a lack of optimism about the future.
5.Twee is a symptom of profound cultural exhaustion,a pop-cultural response to the death of grand narratives and radical politics.
Unity in Paragraph Writing
Unity is expected to be achieved in formal writing.Whether it is a sentence,a paragraph or a complete essay,it should be a unified whole.By unity people may refer variously to unity of pronoun,unity of tense,unity of mood,etc.,but here we are mainly concerned with the principle that in our writing,one paragraph should contain one and single central idea,and all the elements in it should contribute in some meaningful way to the clarification or demonstration of this idea.
In paragraph writing,sentences have different tasks to perform,and together serve to develop the main idea of the paragraph in an effective way.
A good paragraph usually consists of:
1.a topic sentence;
2.supporting sentences;
3.a concluding sentence.
The topic sentence suggests or states the main idea(or topic)of a paragraph.It should be concise as well as impressive.It may appear at the beginning,in the middle or at the end of the paragraph,but sometimes it doesn't appear at all,in which case it still should be possible for readers to identify one based on what they read in the paragraph.
Supporting sentences provide explanations and support for the topic sentence(main idea)of the paragraph.Supporting sentences often include facts,statistics and logical reasoning,so that they may be much more convincing than simple statements of opinion.
The concluding sentence reaffirms and reinforces the main idea stated by the topic sentence,but it should be worded differently from the topic sentence,and the point made may be more substantial or suggestive.
Sometimes,there may also be a transitional sentence,which helps readers understand the logical link between the current main idea,point or opinion and what will come in the next paragraph.
Look at the following paragraphs:
Paragraph Ⅰ Students require more recreational time in order to better focus on lessons in class.In fact,studies have shown that students who enjoy a recess of more than 45 minutes consistently score better on tests immediately following the recess period.Clinical analysis further suggests that physical exercise greatly improves the ability to focus on academic materials.Longer periods of recess are clearly required to allow students the best possible chances of success in their studies.Clearly,physical exercise is just one of the necessary ingredients for improving students'scores on standardized tests.
There are four sentence types used to construct this paragraph:
1.“Students require more recreational time in order to better focus on lessons in class”is the topic sentence.The strong verb“require”calls to action and contributes a lot in making a bold statement.A weaker form of this sentence might be“I think students probably need more recreational time…”and the writer's lack of faith in his/her own argument makes this form inappropriate for a topic sentence.
2.The next two sentences,“In fact,studies have shown that students who enjoy a recess of more than 45 minutes consistently score better on tests immediately following the recess period.Clinical analysis further suggests that physical exercise greatly improves the ability to focus on academic materials”,are supporting sentences,using research findings as evidence for the main idea stated in the first sentence.
3.As the concluding sentence,“Longer periods of recess are clearly required to allow students the best possible chances of success in their studies”does more than merely echo the beginning sentence.It is an affirmation,in a tone which is more assertive with the forceful“clearly”and the superlative“the best possible”,of the necessity of“longer periods of recess”,instead of just telling people what students want,which gives no hint at whether such a requirement is justified or not.
4.Besides these three types of sentence,there is also a transitional one in this paragraph.“Clearly,physical exercise is just one of the necessary ingredients for improving students'scores on standardized tests”prepares the reader for the next paragraph which will discuss another necessary ingredient for success.
While a topic sentence,stated or not,and a number of supporting sentences are necessary ingredients of a well-developed paragraph,a concluding sentence is more optional and therefore may be absent.Transitional sentences appear eve n less frequently.
Paragraph Ⅱ Over the past 150 years working hours in Britain have been falling.In the mid-nineteenth century men worked in paid employment for at least 55 hours per week.Hours worked then began a steady drop—the rise of trade unionism is one explanation,but then,after the First World War they plateaued.From 1951 onwards they dropped again but this fall was brought to a sudden halt in 1981 with the onset of the deregulatory economic policies of the Thatcher years.Working hours reached a high in 1997 when the UK average number of hours worked hit 45.8 per week,falling to 44.3 hours per week in 2004.
In this paragraph,the topic sentence is again put at the beginning.A rich supply of data is then given in all the following ones(supporting sentences),effectively demonstrating that the idea stated by the topic sentence is an arguable one.No concluding sentence is given at the end of the paragraph,partly because the data are illustrative enough to make a conclusion too obvious to be stated.
Paragraph Ⅲ Tom studied for four years at the University of Paris before his graduation.He transferred to the University of Berlin and graduated with honors.Harvard Law School and later Boston College provided him with an excellent legal background.He is presently a corporation lawyer in Miami,Florida.
There is no written topic sentence offered in this paragraph.Nonetheless,based on the information given about Tom,we can infer that something like“Tom has received a good education”can well summarize the main idea conveyed by the paragraph.
Paragraph Ⅳ Ludwig van Beethoven overcame many personal problems to achieve artistic greatness.He was a major composer of the nineteenth century.He was born in Bonn,Germany,in 1770 and first studied music with a court organist.He was appointed deputy court organist at a surprisingly early age in 1782.He also played the harpsichord and the viola.He went to Vienna in 1792 to study music under Haydn.His music shows great discipline and control.
The first sentence here is obviously intended to state the main idea of this paragraph,but the following ones fail to support this idea of Beethoven having overcome a lot of personal difficulties before he became a great musician,since these sentences are merely a chronological report of some of his early experiences as well as a brief affirmation of his achievement as a composer.As a result,this paragraph lacks unity.
In conclusion,the purpose of a paragraph is to express a specific idea or point,which is or can be stated in a good topic sentence and developed or evidenced with supporting sentences.A concluding sentence helps to reinforce the main idea.A paragraph well organized in this way not only helps readers understand what the writer wants to tell them,but also enables the writer to structure his own ideas effectively.
Exercises
A.Identify the topic sentence and supporting ones in the following paragraph.
Because science fiction spans the spectrum from the plausible to the fanciful,its relationship with science has been both nurturing and contentious.For every author who meticulously examines the latest developments in physics or computing,there are other authors who invent“impossible”technology to serve as a plot device(like Le Guin's faster-than-light communicator,the ansible)or to enable social commentary,the way H.G.Wells uses his time machine to take the reader to the far future to witness the calamitous destiny of the human race.
B.Analyze the organization of the following paragraph to see whether it is a unified one.
In recent years all British universities have adopted the semester system.A semester is a period of time which lasts for half the academic year.Semester 1,for example,starts in September and finishes in January.Previously the academic year had been divided into three terms:autumn,winter and spring.Most courses consist of modules that last for one semester,and exams are held at the end of each.Britain began using semesters to make it easier for international students to move from one country to another.
C.Read the requirement below and write a paragraph.
“Graduate study can be very demanding.”Make this a topic sentence and write a paragraph of around 80 words.Pay attention to the details or facts you want to include and the way they are organized,and make sure together with the topic sentence,they will constitute a unified paragraph.