英文写作中总分总结构的作用与应用

　　议论文最完美的结构——总分总

　　总分总结构是时间和效率的体现。正如公司有级别之分，这样才能分工明确，有收有放，实现最高效率，不致成为一盘散沙;也好像学生上课希望老师重点明确，听课和做笔记都能有的放矢;哪怕事情平常到点菜这档事，有些人就特别擅长，不仅因为美食经验多，而且因为思路清楚，几个人该点几个菜，荤素如何搭配心里都有谱。

　　除了能在最短时间内让读者了解最重要的信息，将文章要点一开始就交代清楚的总分总结构还能稳定读者情绪。中国人说话的方式是要摆个噱头在前面，最好的我藏最后再刷的抖出来，就要看别人愣一下后的突然恍然大悟状，疯狂爆笑状或悲痛反省状。演戏演的好可以，但议论文中不行。因为议论文的目的是要让读者相信你的话，开诚布公才能赢得别人的信任，玩文笔技巧将最好的藏在最后，殊不知无知导致恐惧，加上人或多或少都有点控制欲，所以考官在知情权被剥夺的情况下，还要一路忍受各种各样低级的语法错误和拼写错误，如何有心情体会你绞尽脑汁或灵感突发的美妙想法。相反，如果读了开头就了解文章大意，虽然用词简单，语法勉强，至少考官知道你要从三方面：家庭、学校和社会的不良影响来分析为什么青少年犯罪越来越多。哪怕中间部分有些辞不达意，语意不连贯，因为已经知道大框架，所以考官不会受到太多情绪影响，能够客观的评分。锻炼总分总结构的方法——了解、鉴赏、模仿和提纲

　　很多学生哪怕了解了总分总结构的重要性，还是不能应用到写作或口语考试中，因为第一他们觉得这种形式，不就是总分总嘛，太简单了;第二，因为总分总需要抓大局，对喜欢考虑细节、见木不见林的学生而言太难。小瞧总分总就会屡屡挫败。记得上课时刚重申了总分总的重要，就问学生“What can art tell people of life that science cannot?”得到的答案是“美呀”;“生活的情趣”等等，但没有一个是1) 完整的句子; 2) 类似“艺术能告诉我们2点或3点是科学所不能告诉我们的”这样总分结构的答案。可能读者会觉得这样的回答方式太机械了，不幸的是老外真的是这样思考问题，回答问题的，虽然他们嘴上说3点的时候心里可能还没想好具体的，但一边说一边往下想。学生不喜欢总分总还有另外一点就是这种结构对思维要求是非常高的，在没有动笔之前就要运筹帷幄，全盘想清楚。这就像在没有被学校录取前就要完成research proposal，把将来毕业论文的提纲写出来，对喜欢滑西瓜皮想到哪写到哪的考生来讲，当然很难适应。

　　为了熟练掌握总分总结构，除了反复提醒之外，充分了解这种结构的美妙能够帮助我们更快的认同并不知不觉就会使用它。而它的美在英文作品中随处可见。看Thomas à Kempis神父在《内心世界》中如何教导人们不要听信谗言：We should not believe every word and suggestion, but should carefully and unhurriedly consider all things in accordance with the will of God. For such is the weakness of human nature, alas, that evil is often more readily believed and spoken of another than good. But perfect men do not easily believe every tale that is told them, for they know that man’s nature is prone to evil, and his words to deception. 看Jane Eyre如何被Helen Burn，那个不幸死于肺结核的小女孩的语言所震动：The refreshing meal, the brilliant fire, the presence and kindness of her beloved instructress, or, perhaps, more than all these, something in her own unique mind, had roused her powers within her. They woke, they kindled: first, they glowed in the bright tint of her cheek, which till this hour I had never seen but pale and bloodless; then they shone in the liquid luster of her eyes, which had suddenly acquired beauty more singular than that of Miss Temple’s—a beauty neither of fine color nor long eyelash, nor penciled brow, but of meaning, of movement, of radiance. Then her soul sat on her lips, and language flowed, from what source I cannot tell; has a girl of fourteen a heart large enough, vigorous enough to hold the swelling spring of pure, full, fervid eloquence? 看Helen Keller如何对善良之人感恩：On the first day, I should want to see the people whose kindness and gentleness and companionship have made my life worth living. First I should like to gaze long upon the face of my dear teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who came to me when I was a child and opened the outer world to me. I should want not merely to see the outline of her face, so that I could cherish it in my memory, but to study that face and find in it the living evidence of the sympathetic tenderness and patience with which she accomplished the difficult task of my education. I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often. 不要以为只有英文才这么写，如果你习惯英文教课书的内容编排，翻翻中文博导论文集，你会觉得很亲切。

　　这些名家之作思想熠熠，措辞精炼，适合鉴赏。若要模仿，则不太容易。不如仿写新概念3的文章。举例来说，新概念3第27课Nothing to sell and nothing to buy的第一段就是很典型的总分结构：It has been said that everyone lives by selling something. In the light of this statement, teachers live by selling knowledge, philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort. Though it may be possible to measure the value of material goods in terms of money, it is extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us. There are times when we would willingly give everything we possess to save our lives, yet we might grudge paying a surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service. The conditions of society are such that skills have to be paid for in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop. Everyone has something to sell. 除了段落模仿之外，整篇文章也可考虑模仿，如新概念3第47课Too high a price?中第一段：Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulate, over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods, but the sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us. 这个开头本身虽然不是总分结构，但是提到解决垃圾问题有四种方法，为全文做了概括。要写简单明了但有说服力的文章就该参考这样的写法。

　　除了模仿之外，学生还可以通过写提纲不断提高自己的全局思辨能力。中国学生一般是不喜欢写提纲的，一种是因为不屑，另一种是因为觉得写了也白写，写文章时灵感来了谁还照着提纲写?这两种想法都很危险，不怕跑题的是因为没吃过考试的亏，英文跑题是家常便饭，而且跑题了自我感觉还很好。提纲就可以起到约束自己的作用，能在最短时间之内看出自己是否偏题。写了提纲却不能从一而终的则更可惜，写提纲时想法可能不出跳，但一定很规矩，有层次，条理清晰;写到一半蹦出来的想法也许与众不同，但很可能和其他分论点不属于同一范畴，结果只能破坏文章的整体性，就像电影Dream girls中最漂亮的声音却不让它领唱，为全局考虑选择了缺乏个性的声音做主唱。

　　起初练习写提纲肯定不容易，要克服的是平时的写作习惯和心理障碍。记得最早我自己上英语写作课时，老师规定要先写提纲，提纲过关了才能写完整的文章，当时拿着笔就是什么都写不下来，不是脑中一片空白就是想法太多，明知不能全写却不知取舍。最后只能先把文章写完，然后反过来再把提纲提炼出来——真是费力又费时。不过一旦喜欢并习惯了写提纲，不仅节约整体写作时间，而且内容会越来越精彩，因为思维的实力提高了，不用再祈祷考试时超常发挥了。老师可以给学生一些考试中出现的题目，让他们按照总分结构来回答问题。雅思考生可以就下列题目写提纲，如：为何现在社会普遍不尊重老人?提高油价能否有效改善环境?科技双刃剑的作用体现在哪些方面?全民健身对社会的不利影响是什么?博物馆的作用到底是什么?等等。

　　在学了这么多年语法，背了这么多年单词后，突然得知这两点对写作不是最重要时，不知读者是欢呼雀跃还是愤愤不平。不管作何种反应，或已经没有反应，写作最重要的还是先把握结构——结构是不变的中流砥柱，而总分总是使用最频繁、最经典的极致。当然语法和词汇也相当重要，因为结构不能变，但同一个单词，同一种句型翻来覆去的出现就不太对得起读者了。这两点短期突破比较困难，不能指望昨晚背的今天立马用上，要靠平时积累，所以这么多年的学习就是为了之后的质变慢慢累积的量变，过去的努力就是为了现在在正确的道路上走得更快更顺利。

　　作者简介：金培娜，华东师范大学英语语言文学硕士，专攻英语教学法;上海新东方雅思写作、阅读教师。