西安交通大学研究生英语写作writingskills.ppt

Chapter mon Assignments
1
content
Summary
A summary is a brief restatement of the essential thought of a position.
not interpret ment
to give the gist of the author’s exact and essential meaning
2
content
1. Requirements of writing a summary
Make sure your grasp of the main trend of thought.
Reduce explanation and illustration to the essential minimum.
Use the most economical wording possible.
3
content
2. How to summarize an article?
Previewing the work
Reading the article thoroughly
Rereading the work carefully
Taking notes
Preparing the first draft
4
content
3. Sample summary of an article
Original:
We might characterize popular art first, as is most often done, with respect to its form. Popular art is said to be simple and unsophisticated, aesthetically deficient because of its artlessness. It lacks quality because it makes no qualifications to its flat statement. Everything is straightforward, with no place plications. And it is standardized as well as simplified; one product is much like another. It is lifeless, Bergson would say, because it is only a ession of mechanical repetitions, while what is vital in art is endlessly variable. But it is just the deadly routine that is so popular. Confronted with that, we know just where we are, what we are being offered, and what is expected of us in return. It is less unsettling to deal with machines than with people, who have lives of their own to lead. For we can then respond with mechanical routines ourselves, and what could be simpler and more reliably satisfying?
5
content
Summary:
According to a widely held view, popular art is simple and plicated inform, and therefore “artless.” It is standardized, and it lacks life because of mechanical repetition. But it is just the mechanical quality that is popular, because it is simple to react to what we know, but unsettling to deal with something that has a life of its own.
6
content
Example:
The cause