New Ideas for English Writing. High School: English Writing Series

Author: Chen Jinzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: The purpose of the college entrance examination English writing test is to assess candidates' comprehensive written expression skills. Although different high schools adopt different textbooks during the senior high school stage (such as unified textbooks, Oxford English, and New Century English), and the writing test formats are diverse (including letters, notices, narrative essays, argumentative essays, picture description, and chart-based essays), their basic requirements are consistent. They expect candidates to fully utilize the English knowledge they have learned to write short essays of more than 120 words with clear viewpoints, sufficient reasoning, rich content, correct language, fluent expression, and slight variations. Due to various reasons, high school students, especially those in their senior year, have done a lot of practice with mock exam papers before the college entrance examination. However, many students only focus on the grammar and vocabulary sections of the exam papers. As for the reading comprehension, cloze test, Chinese-to-English translation, and English writing sections, they are often "ignored." Among these four ignored sections, writing is the most neglected. Frequently, one can see an "ignored" note in the answer key. Since the setters of the exam papers "ignore" the reference answers for writing, which student would have the time and motivation to "seek self-torture"? What is the purpose of learning English in high school? Is it to be satisfied with doing various multiple-choice questions, or to truly learn to use English for both spoken and written expression? Nowadays, English exams both domestically and internationally have strengthened the testing of expression skills, especially writing skills. As a result, students who hope to score more points on objective questions but do not put in effort for subjective writing must seriously consider how to improve their English writing skills. However, improving English writing skills cannot be achieved through short-term cramming or intensive training. Quick results and "last-minute prayers" are not helpful for solving the problem effectively. High school students should start from the foundation stage of English writing in their first year of senior high school and pay attention to writing skill training. Under the guidance of teachers, they should prioritize improving writing skills as a key agenda. In the past, people said, "The seven characters 'zhī, hū, zhě, yě, yān, ěr, zāi' can arrange a scholar's elegance." Today, we say, "The seven letters 'A, B, C, D, E, F, G' can arrange literary talent." We sincerely hope that this book can play a guiding, helping, and enlightening role in improving high school students' English writing skills. Any inaccuracies in this book are kindly requested to be pointed out by experts, scholars, and teachers.