几个加快英文文章撰写速度的小窍门【转】
一是平时多积累。我在日常读文献的时候，如果发现很好的句子句式，都会记录在一个文档里面，如下面的一段话，就是我在一篇文章的摘要中发现的：
This paper describes the concept of sensor networks which has been madeviable by the convergence of microelectro-mechanical systemstechnology, wireless communications and digital electronics. First, thesensing tasks and the potential sensor networks applications areexplored, and a review of factors influencing the design of sensornetworks is provided. Then, the communication architecture for sensornetworks is outlined, and the algorithms and protocols developed foreach layer in the literature are explored. Open research issues for therealization of sensor networks are also discussed.
文章用词忌重复，中文如此，英文亦然。特别是动词的使用，如在一段话中出现了几个相同的动词，感觉文章就跌价不少，而如果用了几个意思相近而又贴切的词，自然就会增色几分。如上文中的describe，explore，provide，outline和discuss，就使得文章有了文采，值得学习和收藏。坚持收集例句，素材多了，自然自己的造句的时候就有底子了。此外，还要注意，在收集例句的过程，随着例句的增多，也需要对例句进行整理和分类，方便学习和检索。
二是注意行文中Transition words的使用。Transitionwords就是在行文过程中，连接意义相关句子的词，如Therefore，thus，inparticular等等。使用这些词，会使得文章连贯性好，逻辑性强，读起来一气呵成，自然会给审稿人好印象。下面是一个关于Transitionwords的一个总结，供各位虫友参考：
Transitions Study Sheet
Transitions for time:
before, afterward, after, next, then, as soon as, later, until, when,finally, last, meanwhile, during, at times, sometimes, oftentimes
Example: WWII broke out in Europe in 1939. During this time the UnitedStates remained neutral. It wasn’t until 1941, after Japan bombedPearl Harbor, that the United States entered the war. After its entry,it was only a matter of time before the Allies defeated Germany and theAxis powers.
Transitions for place:
in the background, in the distance, beyond, behind, above, below, infront of, elsewhere, in the middle, to the left, to the right
Example: My favorite painting is Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. In themiddle of the painting stands Venus, the Roman goddess of love,standing on a seashell. She floats majestically above the beautifulwater below her. To her left a figure representing wind blows fierceclouds of wind in her direction. To her right a figure behind herattempts to cover her with a blanket and protect her. It is a trulybreath-taking piece of art.
Transitions for examples:
for example, for instance, as an example, like, specifically, consider as an illustration, that is, such as, similar, similarly
Example: Oftentimes people who study from history fail to learn fromthe mistakes of the past. For example, during WWII Hitler decided toinvade Russia just before wintertime. This decision was the samedecision Napoleon made over a hundred years earlier, and Hitler’s armymet a similar fate. Had he learned from his history, Hitler might haveavoided making this costly mistake and the outcome for the war mighthave been different. For instance, if Hitler had decided to invadeEngland by sea rather than Russia by land, he might well have won thewar.
Transitions for emphasis:
chiefly, equally, indeed, even more important, in particular, mostimportant, without a doubt, indubitably, unquestionably, definitely
Example: Without a doubt, Chinese food is one of my favoritecuisines. Although I find Japanese and Thai food equally delicious attimes, Chinese food is definitely my favorite Asian cuisine. Inparticular I enjoy the spicy Szechuan style of cooking commonly foundin Chinese food.
Transitions for restatement:
in short, that is, in effect, in other words
Example: When I asked my girlfriend to marry me she said, in effect,that she wouldn’t be ready for marriage until after she completed herPhD program. At first I was crushed, that is, I felt like she said nobecause she didn’t love me anymore. However, after she explained herreasons to me I felt better and agreed with her. In other words, Icame away feeling better than I had anticipated.
Transitions for comparison:
similarly, likewise, also, the same as, different than, opposite, unlike, instead
Example: When my older brother was deciding where to go to college hespoke to my father about where he should go. Not surprisingly he wentto the same school my father did, MIT. When it was time for me tochoose a college I did the exact opposite. I didn’t ask my fatherwhere I should go, and as a result, I didn’t also go to MIT like he andmy brother did. Instead I went to UCLA.
Transitions for concession:
although, of course, admittedly, true, doubtless, granted that, no doubt, indubitably, without a doubt, definitely, certainly
Example: Some people might be surprised to learn that the two mostsuccessful NBA teams of all-time are the Boston Celtics and the LosAngeles Lakers. Although neither of these teams is very good rightnow, they are the two teams with the most champions in NBAhistory. The Celtics definitely had the best streak of these twoteams; winning eight championships in a row at one point. Admittedlythere is always the chance that some future team could break thisrecord, but this seems unlikely. Of course no one can predict thefuture with any certainty.
Transitions for consequence:
thus, so, then, it follows, as a result, therefore, hence, consequently, accordingly, because
Example: I’m sorry, but I can’t let you turn in your homework latebecause it wouldn’t be fair to the other students. As a result yourgrade has dropped lower and you are now failing theclass. Consequently you need to get 100% on the final so you can passthe class and then graduate from CAS. Therefore, I suggest you studyvery hard so I don’t have to fail you. Good luck!
Transitions for conclusion:
to sum up, in summary, finally, therefore, thus, in conclusion, to conclude
Example: Finally, Beijing has a lot of nice places to shop that appealto tourists. To sum up then, Beijing is a wonderful place to visitbecause it has beautiful parks and historical monuments, friendlypeople and lots of nice places to shop. Thus any travelers who areplanning to come to China should definitely visit Beijing during theirstay.
Transitions for addition:
furthermore, in addition, besides, next, first, second, moreover
Example: UCLA is a wonderful university to attend as anundergraduate. First, it is respected academically and is well-knownfor its high standards of education. Furthermore, UCLA has a strongnetwork of alumni who often recruit students to come work forthem. Moreover students who do such work as undergraduates oftenreceive jobs with these same companies once they graduate. In additionto these two benefits, UCLA also has exciting sports teams that are funto watch. Besides, with so many good reasons to go to UCLA, why wouldyou want to go anywhere else?
我的第三条经验就是句酷网站，www.jukuu.com，一个专门找例句的网站，也许有些虫友也知道。我们写文章的时候，很自然会想到一些中文的表达方法，但是常常苦于找不到贴切的英文表达，查电子词典，往往凑出来的句子也是面目全非。句酷网站提供了一个很好的查找例句的渠道（不是广告奥，呵呵），你可以通过中英文关键字，找到很多例句。比如，我想说“值得指出的是”，在句酷里面查了一下，找到了如下几个句子：
It is worth emphasizing that...
it is worth pointing out that ...
A point worth emphasizing is that...
感觉都还不错，都可以选用。更为关键的是，这些例句一般都会有出处，这样就可以根据例句内容和出处来选择比较地道的表述了。我的一个经验是，对于来自cnki.net的例句就得小心点，这些都是国内兄弟写的文章中的句子，常常不是很合适。
