高级医学英语阅读与写作Chapter three(2)
2012-06-07 12:21:32   来源:37度医学网   作者:  评论:0 点击:

Overseas companies heed 'go west' call
 
The table indicates thatsome foreign companies are making significant commitments to the Chinese central government's "go west" initiative. As leading transnational companies, Siemens and Coca Cola have long been committed to the development in western China. Recently,Motorola has established its network research and development centre in Chengdu. The table also reveals that together with Siemens, Coca cola and Motorola, other transnational companies such as Enron, Shell, Vivendi-Generale des Eaux have invested in many fields—energy, water conservancy, transportation and other projects in the western region.
From the table it can be seen thatoverseas companies heed the central government's call for all-out efforts to develop the vast western regionsince the implementation of the western region development
 
 
Prediction

 高级医学英语阅读与写作Chapter three(2)

 
 
 
 
strategy will bring with it abundant commercial opportunities which attract foreign businesses.
To sum up, based on the trend the table shows,more and more foreign investors will heed the "go west" call. So long as the investors can make full use of the western region's advantages and grasp the pulse of the market, they will be rewarded with handsome economic returns.
 
Useful expressions
 
        Description:
        The given graph/table/chart shows that …
        The above graph/table/chart indicates that …
        The information in the graph/table/chart illustrates a … in …
        A brief look at the graph tells us that …
        A survey of the information in the graph indicates to us that …
        … the general trend
        … take on a tendency of radical growth/decrease
        … increase/decrease gradually/ sharply by … percent
 
        Analysis:
         … may account for such a change (growth, decrease)
Such a phenomenon (changes, increase, growth, decrease, rise, drop, fluctuation) may be attributed to the following reasons.
 
Prediction:
In the light of the above analysis, it can be concluded (predicted) that …
        For above reasons, we may safely conclude (predict) that …

 

III.   Persuasive writing

 
When one writes a narrative or descriptive essay, the purpose is usually to inform the reader. An argument, however, is intended to convince the reader to agree with his point of view, to persuade him to change his mind, to approve a policy or a cause of action that he proposes, or to do something that he wants to be done. Speeches on policies, editorials of newspapers, articles on political or theoretical questions, and various proposals are often argumentative.
Argumentation frequently makes use of the other three types of writing: description, narration, and above all exposition, for argumentation and exposition are very closely related, that is, argumentation is actually exposition with the additional purpose of convincing or persuading. Although they can take different shapes, argumentative essays have certain basic features in common.
 
                           
              ·Purpose:  To persuade the readers to agree with the author’s
                                    point of view, etc.
              ·Organization:  A debatable point as the theme at the beginning
                              Valid evidence in the body
                                            A logic conclusion (a confirmation of the theme)
              ·Methods of presenting evidence:     Induction, deduction and
                                            refutation, analogy, etc.
 
 

Organization
 
1.      A debatable point as the theme.A debatable point is something which can be viewed from more than one angle and is therefore open to debate. Such point functions as the theme of an argumentative, which is often stated in the first sentence of a paragraph or in the introductory paragraph of a longer essay. It is called a proposition if it is put in the form of a simple declarative sentence in the affirmative, such as "Practice is the only criterion of truth" or "Smoking is harmful to one's health".
Generally speaking, the following are not considered good themes.
 
·Mere statements of facts.
“Chinese doctors use acupuncture anesthesia to perform certain operations” is a fact that cannot be debated. But if it is changed into “Acupuncture anesthesia should replace conventional anesthesia in all operations”, it becomes debatable.
 
·Statements of personal preference.
“Swimming is my favorite sport” expresses personal preference which does not arouse any debate. But “Swimming is the most interesting sport in the world” is disputable.
 
2.   Valid evidence. Whatever point of view you take up, it is very important to support it with valid evidence if you want to convince the readers to agree with you. The evidence may be of different kinds e.g. research that you have done, statistics, common knowledge, examples, facts, cause and effect, quotation from an authority (writer) on the subject, etc. Usually, opinions are not regarded as evidence unless the opinions are expert and authoritative. The so-called valid evidence is that which is clearly and directly connected with the view it is to prove. Compare these three arguments — all written by first college freshmen:
 
Passage One:
 
My feeling is that all people are equal. Neither sex is superior to the other. In the times of today, men and women both have an equal opportunity for education. They can pursue any career that they are qualified for. Schools are now getting away from trying to make certain things for boys and vice versa. Children are growing up as equals.
 
Passage Two:
 
Male athletes are stronger, faster, and tougher than their female counterparts. The men's record for the hundred-yard dash is about a full second faster than the women's. World records for the male, marathon, high jump, discus, and all other track and field sports are much better on the male pro will always beat a top woman pro, and the same applies to swimming, skiing, basket-ball, and countless other sports.
 
Passage Three:
 
There are differences between men and women, but none that make either sex inferior. Athletic performance is a case in point. A major study by a West German doctor has shown that because of different skeletal leverage in men and women, muscles of identical strength will produce about 5 percent greater apparent strength in men. In sports such as running and mountaineering, however, women show greater endurance and resistance to stress. Several years ago, when I assisted a friend running the Boston marathon, I noticed that although many of the male runners were literally collapsing at the finish or at least in need of help, the women rarely needed any help at all.
 
Writer 1 makes general claims that are not supported by specific and relevant facts. The statement about equal opportunity in education — even if the reader accepts it as fact — does not necessarily support the claim that "all people are equal." The fact that women may attend colleges and professional schools does not prove that they do indeed attend such schools in the same numbers as men do or that they perform as well as men once they get there
Writer 2 is considerably more effective because, to begin with, his objective is much more specific. Instead of saying simply that men and women are equal or unequal, he limits the argument to athletics; and instead of saying simply that men are better athletes than women, he contends that they are "stronger, faster, and tougher," and then proceeds to cite specific evidence for this point. Of course, the evidence is not entirely convincing.
Writer 3 does likewise. Though there is hardly enough evidence here to prove that the sexes are equal, this claim for their equality is much better supported — and hence more convincing — than that of the first passage.
 
3.      A logic conclusion.A logic conclusion serves as a reaffirmation of the theme and rounds off an argumentative with a well-defined theme and sufficient evidence. Here is an argumentative paragraph that tries to persuade that hunting is beneficial to wildlife with a logic conclusion.
 

Theme
 
 
Evidence:
         Example
         Statistics
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusion
 
 
 
 
Though some people may think hunting is nothing more than wholesale and wanton destruction of living creatures, hunters actually help to ensure the health and survival of wildlife.Take bear hunting in Maine as a case in point. Out of the 7,000 to 10,000 bears that roam the Maine woods, hunters kill an average of 930 a year. State wildlife biologists estimate that this is 120 fewer than the annual population increase. If the bear population were allowed to grow unchecked, it would increase by well over 1,000 a year, and the food available for any one bear would correspondingly decrease. By killing an average of 930 bears a year, hunters keep the annual increase down, and therefore help to ensure an adequate food supply for the bear population as a whole.

In the above paragraph, the theme or proposition is "hunters actually help to ensure the health and survival of wildlife." The writer uses the example and statistics to support the theme. The conclusion is "By killing... and therefore help to ensure an adequate food supply for the bear population as a whole," thus proving that hunting is beneficial to wildlife. This paragraph of argumentation can have an effect of persuasion on the readers.
 
If you hope to write a good argumentative, you should remember the following points.
 
1.   Good logic. All the facts and reasons that are given as evidence should be logically connected with the conclusion and with each other. Any fallacy in logic or wrong step in reasoning would leave the reader in doubt about the whole argument.
2.   Clear organization. An argumentative paragraph includes a debatable point as the theme, sufficient evidence and a possible conclusion. And a typical argumentative essay consists of three parts: an introduction which identifies the theme or proposition to be discussed and explains the importance of such discussion; a body which presents the evidence; and a conclusion in which the proposition, it is stated at the beginning, is reaffirmed.
3.   An honest and friendly attitude. To argue is not quarrel. The force of an argument does not come from abuse, sarcasm, exaggeration, or fierce attacks, but from solid evidence, logical reasoning, and careful analysis. A domineering or hostile tone could only raise doubts about the writer's good faith and weaken the credibility of argument, whereas an honest and friendly attitude will help him with the trust of his readers.
Make sure that you neither overstate or understate, and avoid overuse of such words or phases as “perhaps”, “maybe”, “sometimes”, which invariably weaken the force of your argument.
 

Methods of presenting evidence

 
Effective arguments combine general claims with specific evidence. The general claim or proposition is essential because it tells the reader what you are arguing for, what you want him or her to believe: solar power can solve the energy crisis; presidents should have longer terms, parents should share equally the responsibility for raising their children. But to make your arguments more convincing and sound, presentations of evidence are also important. Two methods of presenting evidence are often employed in the argumentative essay: induction and deduction. Another method, analogy, is sometimes used.
 
Induction
 
By induction, we mean conclusions which come from experience. When we prove something by using a scientific experiment, then we are using induction. If we boil several cans of water and observe what happens, we may say that above a certain temperature (100ºC, in fact) water turns into steam. If several of my friends are involved in accidents while riding motor-cycles, then I may conclude that riding a motor-cycle is a dangerous thing to do. That is to say, when you use induction, you start with facts or examples and proceed from them to a general conclusion. In short, an inductive argument is based mainly on facts or examples.
The process of inductive reasoning is like this:
 
Fact 1/example 1 + Fact 2/example 2 + …        A general conclusion
 
Deduction
 
Unlike the inductive method, the deductive method begins with a general statement and then narrows to a conclusion. It works on the model of syllogism — a three-part argument in which there are two statements, known as the major premise, the minor premise, and a conclusion. Here is the classical example:
 
                                   A         B
Major premise:  All men are mortal.
                                   C         A
Minor premise:  Socrates is a man.
                                   C         B
Conclusion:       Socrates is mortal.
 
From the example above we can see that the major premise must be an accepted generalization, and the minor, a factual example of that generalization. If A and B are true, C the conclusion is bound to be true. The process of deductive reasoning is like this:
 
Major premise (a generalization)
                          ↓
Minor premise (an example)
                          ↓
Conclusion
 
 
A formula for the pattern might look like this:    Major premise:  A = B
                                                                             Minor premise:  C = A
                                                                             Conclusion:        C = B
 
The pattern is valid only if the form is correct. Sometimes, a pattern can be valid but unsound. Here is an example:
 
                            A                   B
Major premise:  All students are industrious.
                            C           A
Minor premise:  I am a student.
                            C           B
Conclusion:       I am industrious.
 
This is a valid pattern because the form is correct, but it is unsound (and untrue) and because the major premise is not universally true, as it should be.
To see the difference between the induction and deduction, compare the following passages:
 
Passage one:
 

Theme
Evidence
Examples
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nuclear power plants are fundamentally unsafe.The history of nuclear power is a list of major accidents and near catastrophes. At Windscale, England, in 1957, a fire and a partial meltdown of a nuclear core spread radioactivity across miles of pastureland, and thousands of gallons of contaminated cows' milk had to be dumped. In 1966 another partial meltdown occurred at Unit One of the Fermi plant near Detroit. In 1970 fifty thousand gallons of radioactive water and steam escaped from the reactor vessel of the huge Commonwealth Edison plant near Chicago. At Browns Ferry, Alabama, in 1975, a
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusion
 
 
single candle started a fire at a nuclear power plant that burned for seven hours, caused 150 million dollars' worth of damage and loss to the plant, and -- according to some experts -- very nearly caused a catastrophic release of radiation. Even after the Rasmussen report supposedly analyzed everything that could go wrong with a nuclear reactor, a malfunctioning water gauge led to yet another near meltdown, at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979. Taken together, all of these accidents show that the risks we run in operating nuclear power plants are intolerably high.

 
       Passage two:

 


Theme

 

Evidence

 
 
 
       Major premise
 
      
 
 
 
 
Minor premise

Conclusion

 
 
In spite of the widespread fear and resistance they often generate, nuclear power plants are fundamentally safe.From 1972 to 1975, a thorough study of nuclear power plants was made at a cost of four million dollars under the supervision of Norman Rasmussen, professor of nuclear engineering at M.I.T. Given the time, money, and expertise devoted to this study, its results must be reliable. And in fact they are not only reliable; they are also reassuring. After examining, identifying, and -- with computer analysis -- establishing the risk of every possible accident that could release radiation from a nuclear power plant, the Rasmussen study concluded that in any given year the odds against a single death from a nuclear plant accident are five billion to one. Obviously, therefore, nuclear power plants are at least as safe as anything on earth can be.

 
These two arguments not only represent different sides in the current debate about nuclear power, they also illustrate different methods of argumentation. The method of the first argument is inductive; the method of the second is deductive.
An inductive argument is based on examples. To prove that nuclear power plants are fundamentally unsafe, the writer of argument 1 cites five major accidents that have occurred at them since 1957. These examples do not necessarily prove that all nuclear power plants are unsafe; they show only that major accidents can occur at such plants, but taken together, the various examples support the conclusion that nuclear power plants are accident-prone.
A deductive argument is based on one or more assumptions, one or more points that the writer takes for granted and does not try to prove. Argument 2 is based on the major premise — the assumption that a three-year, four-million-dollar study led by an M.I.T. professor of nuclear engineering is fully capable of determining just how dangerous nuclear power plants are. The statement of this assumption is followed by the minor premise — a statement of fact — namely, that the study reached a certain conclusion. Taken together, the assumption and the statement of fact constitute the premise of the argument — the statement from which the conclusion is drawn. If you assume that the study is reliable and you accept as a fact the statement about its results, you have to accept the writer's conclusion. In simplified form, the argument looks like this:
 
Assumption: The study is reliable.
Statement of fact: The study found that nuclear power plants are fundamentally safe.
Conclusion:Therefore such plants are fundamentally safe.
 
A deductive argument, then, is one in which the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises —from the combination of one or more assumptions with one or more statements of fact.
The two methods, though often used, have their advantages and disadvantages respectively. Another way of putting this is to say that effective arguments usually combine deduction and induction, carefully stated assumptions and apt examples. Consider these two arguments:
 
Passage one:
 
Whenever an American company helps to create a better standard of living for the poorer people of a foreign country, it should be allowed to stay there. In South Africa, American companies are improving the conditions of black people. Therefore, American business should be allowed to stay in South Africa.
 
Passage two:
 
Whenever an American company helps the people of a foreign country to achieve a better standard of living, it should be allowed and encouraged to do so. In South Africa, American companies are improving the conditions of black people. In Tubatse, for instance, 175 miles northeast of Johannesburg, Union Carbide employs about four hundred blacks, pays them well above the government's minimum wage, has put many of them in supervisory jobs, and provides housing, school, and recreational facilities far superior to those provided by a local South African company. In Port Elizabeth, on the southeastern coast, the Ford Motor Company has actually encouraged black unionism in defiance of South African law, and is now training blacks for a wide variety of supervisory posts ―including jobs in which they will supervise whites. Altogether, more than a hundred American firms operating in South Africa now subscribe to the so-called Sullivan principles, which call for increased pay and opportunities for blacks, integration of black and white workers, recognition of black unions, and general improvement of the workers' lives. For all these reasons, American business should be allowed to stay in South Africa.
 
Here both writers take the same sides, arguing that American business should be allowed to stay in South Africa. But while argument 1 is purely deductive, argument 2 combines deduction with induction. You will accept the conclusion to the first argument if — and only if — you accept the premises: the assumption made by the first sentence and the statement of fact made by the second. But many readers may not immediately believe that American companies really are improving the lives of South African blacks. So argument 2 uses induction to defend that point, giving specific examples before presenting the conclusion. And since the examples strongly support the point in question, the second argument is more convincing than the first.
Refutation
 
In refuting an opponent’s arguments, one ought to recognize that seldom is one side completely right and the other completely wrong; usually taking sides should be a matter of weighing merits and demerits and then deciding which side has more advantages. If the writer has honestly done this, he need have no fear of admitting a few merits of the other side or the disadvantages of his own position. The writer of the following paragraph admits to that China's entry into the WTO will benefit the economy of China in the first place, but he revalues the WTO and is convinced that the WTO entry is a double-edged sword for China. With the evidence, the writer supports his own argument which is convincing.
 
                                     WTO Entry: Double-edged Sword for China
 
 
 
Others’ point of view
 
 
 
 
The writer’s point of view (theme)

 

Evidence

 
Example
 
 
 
 
On December 11, 2001, China, finally, succeeded in entering the WTO through a 15-year quest for full WTO membership. Many people believe that China's entry into the WTO will benefit the economy of China. Indeed, no one doubts that the entry will benefit it in many fields such as textile industry, traditional medicine industry, automobile industry, refrigerator industry, and tourism. But the entry will not only mean opportunities but also mean challenges for Chinese enterprises since it brings China into global competition. The problem is that most of our domestic enterprises cannot meet requirements for the global competition in the short term. Take traditional Chinese medicine industry for example. The industry will have more opportunities to increase exports due to the growing demand for natural medicines in the
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Conclusion
 
international market. It will also undoubtedly be challenged by imported products of a higher quality. According to experts, Chinese herbal medicines are not selling well on the international market due to problems concerning quality, packaging, and marketing strategies. High-quality overseas traditional medicines will also occupy the domestic market and make competition fiercer as China's WTO entry will widen market accessibility. Thus, the entry is a double-edged sword for China.

 
If the writer wants to remove the doubts or disagreements raised by the skeptics or dissenters, he should rely on evidence and logic reasoning to support his own argument.
 
Deadly Humans
 

 

 

Theme

 
Evidence
Statistics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Others’ disagreement
 
 

Refutation

 
 
 
 
 
 
For more than a century, scientists have debated what killed off the big animals in Australia and the Americas. Two new studies place the blame squarely on ancient human hunters equipped with fire, spears and an appetite for meat. The studies, appearing in the journal Science, conclude that after early humans migrated into Australia and the Americas, 73 percent of the large plant-eaters, along with the saber-toothed cat, were gone within 1,200 years after humans migrated to the continents about 13,600 years ago. In Australia, researchers precisely dated bone specimens of elephant-sized marsupials, giant snakes, huge lizards and other extinct animals. They found that the wildlife disappeared within 10,000 years after humans arrived at the down-under continent. An expert said the dating is significant because some researchers have blamed the extinctions on extended droughts that occurred later. But she noted that the animals had withstood climate changes previously; so it is unlikely they all would have succumbed to natural forces. Also, disease is improbable since so many different species of reptiles, birds and mammals disappeared at about the same time. Diseases are unlikely to affect all species the same way.

 
Analogy
 
By analogy we mean comparing one thing to something else. As with examples, analogies are usually used to explain something or make it clearer. For example, if I were explaining to someone what a computer was I might say that it is “a kind of mechanical or artificial brain”. This may give him an idea of the sort of thing that a computer can do. Sometimes analogies are used in arguments just as examples are to help present evidence so as to support the theme.
 
                                     The Money Game
                                            By John Ruskin
 

Theme

Analogy

Making money like a sport game
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Londonlike a city of play
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The first of all English games is making money.That is an all absorbing game; and we knock each other down oftener in playing at that, than at football, or any other roughest sport: and it is absolutely without purpose; no one who engages heartily in that game ever knows why. Ask a great moneymaker what he wants to do with his money, — he never knows. He doesn’t make it to do anything with it. He gets it only that he may get it. ‘What will you make of what you have got?’ you ask. ‘Well, I’ll get more,’ he says. Just as, at cricket, you get more runs. There’s no use in the runs, but to get more of them than other people is the game. And there’s no use in the money, but to have more of it than other people is the game. So all that great foul city of London there, — rattling, growing, smoking, stinking, — a ghastly heap of fermenting brickwork, pouring out poison at every pore, — you fancy it is a city of work? Not a street of it! It is a great city of play; very nasty play, and very hard play, but still play. It is only Lord's cricket-ground without the turf: — a huge billiard-table without the cloth, and with pockets as deep as the bottomless pit; but mainly a billiard-table, after all.
       (fromThe Crown of Wild Oliver, 1866)

 
However, arguing by analogy is very dangerous because we cannot always prove our propositions by this method. Read this argument:
 
The people of a country are just like the members of one family. The President is therefore like the head of the family. Children should not speak of their parents disrespectfully so, therefore, the citizens of the country should not speak of their President disrespectfully.
 
What the writer is saying may or may not be true, but he is wrong to use therefore in the second and third sentences. The people of a country may be like a family in some ways, but also unlike one in others —you cannot prove anything from this analogy. Arguing by analogy like this example is unsound.
 
Avoiding arguing unsoundly fallacies
 
False arguments include not only false statements of fact, which we have already discussed, but also fallacies — that is, unsound or illogical ways of arguing. To help you avoid the most common fallacies, we describe them here.
      
                           
         ·Avoiding arguingby analogy
         ·Avoiding arguingby association
         ·Avoiding arguing by assuming what is to be proven
         ·Avoiding arguingad Hominem
 
 

Avoiding arguing by analogy
 
Newspaper should be forbidden to criticize the president of the United States. The only one who can fairly judge the performance of a president is a former president, for he alone knows the burdens of the office from his own experience. When a newspaper reporter attacks the president, or tries to give him advice, it's like a nurse telling a doctor how to perform an operation. Nurses often watch operations, but without surgical training or experience they have no right to give advice about them. And a reporter has no more right to criticize the president.
 
Like the above example, this passage is another one that shows an illogical way of arguing by analogy.
 
Avoiding arguing by association
 
It is well known that Senator Blank is a critic of the Chilean government. We also know that Latin American Marxists are critics of the Chilean government. It is clear, therefore, that Senator Blank has Marxist tendencies.
 
Here a deductive argument is misused to promote guilt by association. Because the conclusion to this argument does not follow from its premise, it is unreasonable.
 
Avoiding assuming what is to be proved
 
Women and men make up the human race. In this sense they are alike. They have feelings, expressed and unexpressed, due to their various upbringings in our society. People have challenged men's superiority because women have begun to fend for themselves and to seek a larger role in society. They are better able to cope with the difficulties of social acceptance and equality than men are because they have been allowed to express their feelings in the past. Men have it a bit harder. They have to learn to accept themselves as feeling human beings and to deal openly with their emotions instead of repressing them.
Men and women are emotional and intellectual equals. Neither sex is superior to the other.
 
The writer clearly wants us to believe that men and women are equal. Yet nowhere does the passage give us reasons for believing this statement. On the contrary, the passage seems to say that men and women differ, that women are much more willing to release feelings than men are. The emotional and intellectual equality that concerns the writer is not at all self-evident, and it is not proved by the statement that men and women both “make up the human race”.
 
Avoiding arguing ad Hominem
 
A furor about the American funeral customs ... has been created by Jessica Mitford's book The American Way of Death. [Pertinent here] are some facts about Jessica Mitford Treuhaft, which were reported in the November 5, 1963 issue of National Review. Several people "under oath before legally constituted agencies of both federal and state governments" have identified Jessica Mitford as a member of the Communist Party. In fact, according to the National Review, both Mr. and Mrs. Treuhaft have a long record of Communist activities.
Jessica Mitford's Communist connections are pertinent because they place her book in perspective as part of the left-wing drive against private enterprise in general and —in this case — against Christian funeral customs in particular.
Rev. Irving E. Howard, review of Jessica Mitford's, The American Way of Death
 
Jessica Mitford's book argues that funeral directors are greedy and exploitative. But instead of answering the argument itself, Irving Howard attacks the maker of the argument, labeling her a Communist and hence an enemy of free enterprise and Christianity. This is an example of argument ad hominem (“to the man” —i.e., “to the person”), argument focused not on a point but on the person who made the point.
 
Argumentative indicators
 
Certain words signal an argument. These words include:
 
        because                    consequently
        as                              therefore
        since                         thus
        for                            hence
        so                             accordingly
 
Such words as since, for, and because, may be used not only to argue but also to explain:
To argue:  American business should be allowed to stay in South Africa because they help to raise the standard of living for black people there.
To explain:     President Carter opposed U.S. participation in the Moscow Olympics because he wanted to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
 [page]
IV.  Comparison of different types of writing
      
When dealing with the four types of writing — narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive, the students are often confused about their purposes, structures and other aspects. The following table is meant to show the differences in purpose and structure among narrative, expository and persuasive writing.
 
       Purpose and Structure
 
             
                        Narrative writing   Expository writing                 Persuasive writing

 
 
 
To tell a story         To inform sb. of sth.         To persuade sb.
Purpose       To teach sth.          To convince sb.
To explain sth.

 
 
 
Context                  Topic sentence                 Theme or sub-theme
     Structure      Plots                            Supporting sentences        Evidence
Climax                  Concluding sentence         Conclusion

 
 
  

The table shows that each type of writing has its own purposes and structure. When you are going to write, choose the appropriate structure based on your purpose.
 
       Topic Sentence vs. Theme
 
The key to writing a good exposition is to write a good topic sentence and the key to writing a good persuasion is to write a good theme. There are some similarities between a topic sentence and a theme. For example, both are a complete sentence containing the topic and the main idea that control a whole paragraph, neither too narrow nor too broad. The following indicates their differences.
 
              Topic sentence                                        Theme
 
To expound facts, events, knowledge, etc.  To comment on ideas, propositions
To provide information                             To show one’s stand and point of view
Without obvious stand for/against sth.         With obvious stand for/against sth.
Nothing to be countered                                Different ideas and attitudes to be countered
             
Example:
 
       Expository writing
      
              Topic sentence                                           Features
       Certain colors have a profound                         ·  a complete sentence
         influence on our bodies.                            ·  covering the whole paragraph
       Owning a car is expensive.                           ·  general
       There are some differences in                       ·  indicating the development
         living in cities and country side.               ·  mostly, facts

 
 
  

       Persuasive writing
 
              Theme                                                Features
       Nuclear power plants are fundamental-       ·  a complete sentence
  ly unsafe.                                           ·  covering the whale paragraph
       Though some people think hunting              ·  general
is nothing more than wholesale,           ·  indicating the development
         and wanton destruction of living creatures,·  mostly, opinion
         hunters actually help to ensure                  ·  implying different opposite idea
         the health and survival of wildlife
      
Sometimes, you can, based on a sentence, write an exposition by example, reason and other methods of paragraph development, and you can also write a persuasion based on the same sentence by induction or deduction. Therefore, when you are going to write, first of all, you have to take the purpose of your writing into consideration. Second, choose the proper type of writing. Third, write a good topic sentence for your expository writing or write a good theme for your argument. Finally, develop your paragraph by corresponding methods.
 
V.    Reading practice
 
1.  Analyzing categories of prose: Read the following paragraphs by Mark Twain, and be prepared to answer these questions: Are these paragraphs narration, telling a story in a time sequence? Are they description, appealing to the senses? Are they exposition, explaining or informing? Are they persuasion, asking readers to agree with the author? Or they combine two of these modes? If they are a combination, which part fits which category? Do they have topic sentences, and if so, where are they? How has Mark Twain organized his supporting details?
 
     Passage one
 
The most useful and interesting letters we get here from home are from children seven or eight years old. This is petrified truth. Happily they have got nothing to talk about but home, and neighbors, and family — things their betters think unworthy of transmission thousands of miles. They write simply and naturally, and without straining for effect. They tell all they know, and then stop. They seldom deal in abstractions or moral homilies. Consequently their epistles are brief; but, treating as they do of familiar scenes and persons, always entertaining. Now, therefore, if you would learn the art of letter-writing, let a little child teach you.
                           —Mark Twain, “A Complaint about Correspondents”
 
     Passage two
 
Alexandriawas too much like a European city to be novel, and we soon tired of it. We took the cars and came up here to ancient Cairo, which is an Oriental city and of the completest pattern. There is little about it to disabuse one's mind of the error if he should take it into his head that he was in the heart of Arabia. Stately camels and dromedaries, swarthy Egyptians, and likewise Turks and black Ethiopians, turbaned, sashed, and blazing in a rich variety of Oriental costumes of all shades of flashy colors, are what one sees on every hand crowding the narrow streets and the honeycombed bazaars. We are stopping at Shepherd's Hotel, which is the worst on earth except the one I stopped at once in a small town in the United States. It is pleasant to read this sketch in my note-book, and know that I can stand Shepherd's Hotel, sure, because I have been in one just like it in America and survived.
                                                 —Mark Twain,"The Benton House" 
 
2.  Exposition: Read the following passages and analyze each by asking yourself whether it uses narration or description or a combination of narration and description, and in what sequence it develops.
    
     Passage One
 
                                     How Did Advertising Come About?
 
Advertising is a way of informing people of something. This can range from telling them of a product for sale, of a service, of urging them to do something, or even to bring one’s name before the public. So advertising came out quite naturally and took many forms from the very beginning. For example, there is a papyrus discovered at Thebes offering are ward for a runaway slave. It is three thousand years old — and it is really an advertisement! Signboards that notified people of services available were placed outside doors in Greece and Egypt around 1500 B.C. — a form of advertising. With the invention of printing, advertising began to take on new forms. About 1477, in London, the first printed advertisement in English announced a prayerbook sale. The first newspaper advertisement appeared on the back page of a London newspaper in 1625. It was not until 1704 that paid advertisements were printed in the United States. By 1771 there were 31 newspapers in the Colonies, and all of them carried advertising. Today, of course, we know that advertising is done not only in newspapers, but also in magazines, on the radio, and on television, the first “commercials” appeared on radio about 1920. Commercials on television developed mostly after World War II. The idea spread very quickly and today the advertising that is done on TV is so familiar to all of us that many people can remember the commercials even better than the shows they see!
                                          English Salon, March 2000
 
     Passage Two
    
                                         Birth of the Red Cross
 
In 1859 a young Swiss businessman saw something which was to change his life and influence the course of history. The young man was Henry Dunant who witnesses the carnage following the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He was deeply moved by the dreadful suffering of the wounded from both sides who were left largely uncared for. This appalling scene was the birthplace of a magnificent human idea. Henry saw every country creating a body of trained volunteers who would care impartially for the wounded of all sides, protected by international agreement. His vision led directly to the founding of the Red Cross, the signing of the First Geneva Convention, and the adoption of the Red Cross, and later the Red Crescent, ad international symbol of protection. Today the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the world’s large voluntary organization, with a global membership close to 250,000,000 and a National Society in almost every country of the world.
                              English Salon, April 2000
 
3.  Narration: Read the following stories and analyze the context, plot, climax and purpose of each.
 
Passage One
 
                                  Pickup in the rain
 
One night, at 11:30 PM, an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young while man stopped to help her —generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960s. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab. She seemed to be in a big hurry! She wrote down his address, thanked him and drove away. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached. It read: “Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes but my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband’s bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.
                                                 Sincerely,
                                                        Mrs. Nat King Cole
                                          (From English Salon, May 2000)
 
       Passage Two
 
                                   Food for Thought
 
There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.” Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND.
                                          English Salon, March 1999
 
4.Description: Read the following passages and discern what objects the writers are describing and how they are doing them.
 
     Passage One
 
They skip the sky and race on land
 
Thundering feet pound the hot, dry African plain. Startled by the sound, you turn around and see a flock of odd-looking birds. They are running past you on the hard-packed earth. Their heads seem too small for their bodies. Their necks look awkward. Their legs seem long and clumsy. Yet with lightning speed and surprising grace, they race by quickly and disappear. They are ostriches — the biggest birds in the world. A male ostrich stands as tall as 8 feet (2m) and weighs up to 300 pounds (136kg). Swift on foot, ostriches are too heavy to fly. Experts think ostriches lost that ability millions of years ago. To survive, they developed strong running legs and a powerful karate-style kick. In the wild, ostriches usually live in family groups or in large flocks on the grasslands and desert of Africa. As the birds roam, they feed on plants.
                                            English Salon, March 1999
 
     Passage Two
 
The Acropolis of Athens
 
The Acropolis stands 512ft. (156m) above sea level, some 300ft. (90m) above Athens. Its buildings can be seen from the hills around, standing right above the city, and they can be seen, too, from below, poking up over the fortress wall. Although the Venetians blew up stocks of Turkish gunpowder there in 1687, the Parthenon is not a mere ruin. It remains stunningly beautiful; the entire group of buildings, and their arrangement, is an architectural masterpiece. The Greeks, while recognizing human failings, believed man could achieve the greatest heights on all sides of life, an optimistic view which is somehow imparted at the Athenian Acropolis. The plan of the Parthenon is direct and immediately comprehensible. The huge Doric columns give a sense of total stability; the plinth supporting them is strong and large, and the structure of the parts which the columns support — the entablatures, the friezes and pediments — is easy to follow. The parts are unified with the simplest of means; there is no mystery, no muddle, no confusion. Greek architecture, as represented at the Acropolis, respects the sensibility and intelligence of man.
                                            English Salon, April 1999
 
     Passage Three
 
                       Reading in Bed about Foul Weather
 
There is a peculiar delight, which I can still experience though I knew it best as a boy, in cozily reading about foul weather when equally foul weather is beating hard against the windows, when one is securely poised between the wind and rain and sleet outside and the wind and rain and sleet that leap from the page into the mind. The old romancers must have been aware of this odd little bonus of pleasure for the reader, and probably that is why so many of their narratives, to give them a friendly start, began with solitary horsemen, cloaked to the eyebrows, riding through the night on urgent business for the Duke, sustained by nothing more than an occasional and dubious ragout or pasty and a gulp or two of sour wine (always fetched by surly innkeepers or their scowling slatterns), on sideroads deep in mire, with wind, rain, thunder and lightning, sleet, hail, snow, all turned on at the full. With the windows rattling away and hailstones drumming at the paper in the fireplace, snug in bed except for one cold elbow, I have traveled thousands and thousands of mucky miles with these fellows, braving the foulest nights, together crying “Bah!”
                              English Salon, April 1999
 
5.   Argumentation: What follows is persuasive passages. Reading them, you have to be aware of the theme or the point of view of the writer in each paragraph or passage and methods to argue with: induction, deduction, a combination or other methods, say, analogy or refutation.
 
     Passage One
 
Is Internet Addictive?
 
The Internet has emerged as the centrepiece in the lives of many people, but is it addictive? People who study this issue believe that Internet addiction is as real as alcoholism. Most people will spend time on anything that is fun to do, but some Internet users have moved past fun to clinical addiction. These people are said to have Internet addiction disorder (IAD). They often lose self-control and crave surfing the Internet, much as a smoker craves a cigarette. Like others who are addicted to something —whether it be gambling or cocaine —they suffer withdrawal symptoms when they are forced to forgo the Internet. Millions of Internet users routinely go online without any detrimental effects, but the Internet still takes its toll on a small, but growing, sector of the online community. These people spend from four or ten hours a day on the Internet and will occasionally “binge” for up to 24 hours at a time. Numerous cases have been reported in which the Internet was blamed for broken marriages, for students dropping out of school, and even for illnesses that result in hospital stays. People with IAD confess their addiction on the Internet. Susie says, “I don’t eat … I’ve lost weight … I don’t sleep … I’ve been sucked into the Internet, hook, line and sinker.” Mary says, “My addiction is so bad. I’m flunking most of my classes.” John says, “I’m insanely addicted to the Internet and the sad thing about it is that I don’t even want to do anything about it.”
                                          (From English Salon, June 2000)
 
     Passage Two
 
                                          Did Tainted Meat Kill Mozart?
 
The latest theory about Mozart’s untimely death on Dec.5, 1791, at age 35 in Vienna suggests the culprit was likely trichinosis. The illness is usually caused by eating undercooked pork infested by the worm, and could explain all of Mozart’s symptoms, which included fever, rash, limb pain and swelling, says Dr. Jan Hirschmann of a Medical Center in Seattle. Hirschmann offers as evidence a little letter Mozart wrote to his wife 44 days before his illness began. “What do I smell? … pork cutlets! What a delicious taste! I eat to your health,” Mozart wrote. “If his final illness was indeed trichinosis, whose incubation period is up to 50 days, Mozart may have unwittingly disclosed the precise cause of his death —those very pork chops,” Hirschmann said. Mozart died 15 days after he became ill. His doctors offered only a vague cause of death —“severe military fever” —and no autopsy was performed. His wife, Constanze, reportedly said after his death that Mozart thought he was being poisoned, and rumors circulated that his enemies, including rival composer Antonio Salieri, may have done him in. Mozart’s grave was dug up about seven years after his death so it could be reused, and his remains were dispersed. Therefore it is impossible to get any DNA sample for test. Hirschmann acknowledged that not being able to be proved wrong “makes it much more enjoyable to speculate.” Doctors like to review the master’s death because “it’s fun and because it’s Mozart,” another expert said. “I personally think that he died because they needed a new choirmaster in heaven.”
                                         —English Language Learning,Nov. 2001
 
            Passage Three
 
Non-verbal Communication
 
It has been justly said that while “we speak with our vocal organs we converse with our whole bodies.” All of us communicate with one another nonverbally, as well as with words. Sometimes we know what we’re doing, as with the use of gestures such as the thumbs-up sign to indicate that we approve. But most of the time we’re not aware that we’re doing it. We gesture with eyebrows or a hand, meet someone else’s eyes and look away, shift positions in a chair…. These actions we assume are random and incidental. But researchers have discovered that there is a system to them almost as consistent and comprehensible as language, and they conclude that there is a whole range of body language, including the way we move, the gestures we employ, the posture we adopt, the facial expression we wear, the direction of our gaze, the extent to which we touch and the distance we stand from each other.
                                                 English Salon, June 2000
 
Passage Four: Read the arguments for and against the building of the dam here and then decide with which argument you agree.
 
     For
                
       The darter is a fish that has no food value or apparent worth to mankind. The building of the dam is 75 percent complete at this time and has already cost the regional development group over $100,000. Any change in the construction site would, of course, add to the time and to the total cost of construction .The completion of the dam would increase power capacity in the community by approximately enough power to provide light for 20,000 additional homes. The dam would provide irrigation benefits for farmers and employment to about 900 people.
 
     Against
 
Though the darter is today considered valueless, it is not known what value it actually has in the balance of nature. It is foolish to make the decision that a species is worthless, because the biological world is immense and not all of its elements are completely understood. A species that is considered worthless may be found to have some importance in the future. A study of the dam construction has shown that the present site has little flood control value. The dam could be redesigned around another nearby river where its danger to the environment would not be so great. By redesigning the dam, the regional development group could then save the project without causing the extinction of the darter.
 
6.  Combination: Read the essay “The Green Banana" carefully and answer the questions following the essay.
 
                                         The Green Banana
                                                  By Donald Bachelor
 
Although it might have happened anywhere, my encounter with the green banana started on a steep mountain road in the interior of Brazil. My ancient jeep was straining up through spectacular countryside when the radiator began to leak, ten miles from the nearest mechanic. The over-heated engine forced me to stop at the next village, which consisted of a small store and a scattering of houses. People gathered to look. Three fine streams of hot water spouted from holes in the jacket of the radiator. “That's easy to fix,” a man said. He sent a boy running for some green bananas. He patted me on the shoulder, assuring me everything would work out. “Green bananas,” he smiled. Everyone agreed.
We exchanged pleasantries while I mulled over the ramifications of the green banana. Asking questions would betray my ignorance, so I remarked on the beauty of the terrain. Huge rock formations, like Sugar Loaf in Rio, rose up all around us. “Do you see that tall one right over there?” asked my benefactor, pointing to a particular tall, slender pinnacle of dark rock. " That rock marks the center of the world."
I looked to see if he were teasing me, but his face was serious. He in turn inspected me carefully to be sure I grasped the significance of his statement. The occasion demanded some show of recognition on my part. “The center of the world?” I repeated, trying to convey interest in not complete acceptance. He nodded. “The absolute center. Everyone around here knows it.”
At that moment the boy returned with my green bananas. The man sliced one in half and pressed the cut end against the radiator jacket. The banana melted into a glue against the hot metal, plugging the leaks instantly. Everyone laughed at my astonishment. They refilled my radiator and gave me extra bananas to take along. An hour later, after one more application of green banana, my radiator and I reached our destination. The local mechanic smiled. “Who taught you about the green banana?” I named the village. “Did they show you the rock marking the center of the world?” he asked. I assured him they had. “My grandfather came from there,” he said. “The exact center. Everyone around here has always known about it.”
As a product of American higher education, I had never paid the slightest attention to the green banana, except to regard it as a fruit whose time had not yet come. Suddenly on that mountain road, its time and my need had converged. But as I reflected on it further, I realized that the green banana had been there all along. Its time reached back to the very origins of the banana. The people in that village had known about it for years. My own time had come in relation to it. This chance encounter showed me the special genius of those people, and the special potential of the green banana. I had been wondering for some time about those episodes of clarity which educators like to call " learning moments," and knew I had just experienced two of them at once.
The importance of the rock marking the center of the world took a while to filter through. I had initially doubted their claim, knowing for a fact that the center was located somewhere in New England. After all, my grandfather had come from there. But gradually I realized they had a valid belief, a universal concept, and I agreed with them. We tend to define the center as that special place where we are known, where we know others, where things mean much to us, and where we ourselves have both identity and meaning: family, school, town, and local region.
The lesson which gradually filtered through was the simple concept that every place has special meanings for the people in it ; every place represents the center of the world. The number of such centers is incalculable, and no one student or traveler can experience all of them, but once a conscious break-through to a second center is made, a life-long perspective and collection can begin.
The cultures of the world are full of unexpected green bananas with special value and meaning. They have been there for ages, ripening slowly, perhaps waiting patiently for people to come along to encounter them. In fact, a green banana is waiting for all of us who leave our own centers of the world in order to experience other places.
 
(1)   What is the overall style of writing, narration, description, exposition or argumentation?
 
(2)   Are there any paragraphs which are developed in narration, description, exposition or argumentation? What are they? In what way they are developed?
 
(3)   What is the author's purpose? And what is the main idea of the whole essay?      
 
V.    Writing assignments
 
When writing the following paragraphs, you have to keep in mind your audience, purpose, tone and style.
 
Exercise 3-1         Narrative paragraph
____________________________________________________________
 
Write a brief anecdote or narrative paragraph about a personal experience that taught you an important lesson or helped you to understand human nature. Some topics are provided for your reference:
 
*     World Cup Trophy
*     Giving Blood
*     A Horrible Accident
       My First Career Experience
       An (Bitter or Unforgetful) Experience in My Childhood
       Bicycling in the Countryside
       Against a Robbery
       Hurrying Home in the Rain
       An Awful Day When Everything Goes Wrong
 
Exercise 3-2      Descriptive paragraph
_________________________________________________________
 
Write a paragraph of about 150 to 250 words describing a place that your reader would find unusual, an event they might have enjoyed, or a person they would probably admire or dislike. Using specific details, create a single impression. Try to appeal to more than one of the senses —vision, hearing, smell, feeling, or even taste, if appropriate. Strive for variety in the details you observe. In choosing words, prefer the specific to the general. Also some topics are for your choice in the following:
 
*      H-bomb Victims
*      Floods
        Martin's Apartment
        An Absent-minded Person
        Some of My Classmates
        New Foolish Old Man
        College Campus
        Wuhan —The Super Metropolitan
Use the map of the city to describe the super metropolitan. Terms of spatial relationship are used in describing location.
            Two Characterized Faces
Write a brief description of the two faces pictured. Terms listed besides each drawing may help you in writing the description.
    
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        Microscope
             Describe the object — microscope.
 
 
           
*     Describing a graph
                                                   More Beijingers Taking Trips
Rate of Beijing Residents Who Travel out

                                                 during Major Holidays

                      The New   Spring    May 1   October 1

                   Year’s Day  Festival    
 
Exercise 3-3Persuasive paragraph
_____________________________________________________________
 
Write a paragraph of about 150 to 250 words in which you argue about some point of view to persuade your readers to accept it or agree with it. Define your theme and develop it in a logic way: induction — using examples or reasons, deduction —using assumption, or a combination of both or other way, say, refutation. Again some topics are provided as follows:
 
*   Can Wisdom Be Taught?
*   Education of Public Order Should Be Reinforced
*   Passive Smoke
     The One-child Family
     Is Tourism a Good Thing?
     It's Never Too Late for Success
     We Should Build the Three-Gorges Dam
     The Other Side of City Life
     Dance or Not Dance
     People Learn More Outside the Classroom
     Going Abroad to Study
     Value Your Time
 
Exercise 3-4      Composing an argument
____________________________________________________________
 
Following is a description of a nuclear power plant proposed for construction in New Hampshire. Using all of the facts given in this description, develop an argument for or against the building of the new plant.
 
In 1976 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave the Public Service Company of New Hampshire permission to build a nuclear power plant in the town of Seabrook, forty miles north of Boston, on New Hampshire's seacoast. The proposed plant would house twin reactors with a total capacity of 2300 megawatts, which is enough electricity for a city of 2 million. In the new generation of nuclear plants, Seabrook would be of merely average size. it would cost, by the latest estimates, $2.6 billion, and it would occupy some forty acres about a mile and a half from the ocean. The reactors would be cooled by seawater, approximately a billion gallons of it a day. The water would be taken in and then discharged, with its temperature elevated some 30 or 40 degrees, through two long, deep tunnels running under salt marsh and clamflats out to a point nearly a mile offshore. Biologists have expressed considerable uncertainty about the effects of this heated water on marine life. In addition, the plant would lie in an area where a significant earthquake could occur, and within five miles of some very popular beaches.
                              —Tracy Kidder, “The Nonviolent War against Nuclear Power”
 
Exercise 3-5      Writing 4 categories
     __________________________________________________________
 
Write 4 categories of paragraphs on the topic: "How to be a Good Doctor". You can make some change in the title to fit your category while you write it. Some possible titles are presented for your reference:
 
             How to Be a Good Doctor      (expository)
             (Being) A Good Doctor    (narrative)
             A Good Doctor I Know   (descriptive)
             A Good Doctor               (persuasive)
 
 

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