英语的书面表达一直以来就是英语学习的瓶颈。在此，笔者向各位学习者提供突破英语写作的十字建议，即研习、背诵、默写、互译、模仿，概括出培养写作能力的五个方面，如能严格遵循，定能柳暗花明。
研 习
“没有规矩，不成方圆。”对于一般英语学习者而言，写出优秀的文章有赖于后天习得，但并不意味着机械背诵、生吞活剥，或者照搬照抄、人云亦云。所谓研习，需要有独立思考和个人的判断，本着“他山之石，可以攻玉”的精神，汲取文章的精华部分加以研究。研习主要侧重两个方面，包括文章章法和语言表达。文章章法指文章的行文思路、布局谋篇、结构安排、逻辑顺序。许多学习者面对一个话题，可能存在两种不同的困惑，一是下笔千言，但离题万里；二是思绪万千，却无从落笔。导致两种困惑的根源皆在于欠缺思考问题、组织思路的恰当方式，以至于文章不得要领、章法紊乱。这就要求我们从全篇脉络角度多研习范文，之后领悟如何以演绎法行文、怎样用归纳法谋篇以及如何围绕特定话题拓展思路等等。此外，研习还要侧重于语言表达，包括遣词造句和句子、段落之间的各种衔接手段，以期在自己日后的写作中派上用场，因为英文写作皆通一理。只有善于借鉴，勤加研究，才会借他人的优势和长处，提高自己的写作水平。
背 诵
背诵是提高写作的又一有效途径。要学好写作，首先要处理好语言输入与输出之间的关系。前者是后者的前提条件。如果头脑空空如也，就根本谈不上写出像模像样的文章。只有读过大量东西，并且有意识地将其中精彩部分储存于记忆之中(commit the highlights to memory)，才能保证下笔流畅、文通字顺。因此，背诵对于写作极为重要。但背诵不是机械记忆，而是有选择性的背诵，是有意义的记忆。因为机械背诵的结果要么是记忆很快就荡然无存、了无痕迹，要么是无法活学活用、付诸实践。背诵包括五个方面：重点词汇、常用套语、精彩句子、优秀段落、经典篇章。
重点词汇
美妙的用词及搭配皆在此列，像fall victim(受害)，stand a fair chance(大有希望)这种地道的动宾搭配要勤加记忆。为了积累写作词汇，应将文中同属一个话题的用词汇总归纳，组成主题词族(topic family)。归类记忆可以使自己日后即写即用，得心应手。下文是一篇阐释爱心的优秀文章，多处用词精巧，现将文中关于爱心这一主题的词汇总结如下：
emotional strength 情感的力量
the noblest of human emotions人类最高尚的情感
no thought of gain不计得失
the lamp of love爱心之灯
help the victims of natural disasters支援自然灾害受害者
donate whatever they can倾囊相助
help their needy fellow citizens 帮助有需要的同胞
be ready to give a helping hand 随时准备伸出援手
When we use the word "love", we do not simply mean an attraction to a person of the opposite sex, which is a very narrow definition of the word. Love is emotional strength, which can support us no matter how dark the world around us becomes. In fact, throughout history people of many different cultures have regarded love as the noblest of human emotions.
As an example of the power of love, we should remember how the Chinese people of all nationalities respond to the call to help the victims of natural disasters every year. Although their incomes are still low by international standards, people all over the country do not hesitate to donate whatever they can — be it money or goods — to help their needy fellow citizens. Moreover, they do this with no thought of gain for themselves.
In my opinion, the best way to show love is to help people who are more unfortunate than we are. We should always be ready to give a helping hand to those who are in trouble, no matter whether they are family members or complete strangers. In this way, we can help to make the world a better place, for the darker the shadows of sorrow become, the more brightly the lamp of love shines.
当我们用“爱”这个词时，我们不仅仅指异性对一个人的吸引，这只是对这个词非常狭隘的解释。爱心是一种情感的力量，不论我们周围的世界多么黑暗，爱心都能支撑我们。事实上，纵观历史，不同文化背景的人都把爱看成是人类最高尚的情感。
说到爱心的力量，我们马上就会想起每年中国各族人民是如何响应号召支援自然灾害受害者的。尽管按照国际标准他们的收入还处于低水平，全国人民毫不犹豫地倾囊相助——不管是钱还是物——帮助那些有需要的同胞。而且，他们这么做并不考虑自己的得失。
我认为，表达爱心的最好方式是帮助比我们更加不幸的人。我们应该随时准备向有困难的人伸出援助之手，无论他们是家庭成员还是素昧平生。这样，我们就能够助一臂之力把世界变成一个更美好的地方，因为，悲伤的阴影越黑暗，爱心之灯的光芒就越闪亮。
常用套语
套语指流行的公式化语言，在写作中适当使用颇有必要。如在商业信函结尾，期望对方早日回复的表达方式就要遵循套语的基本模式，使表达规范得体。下面试举几个例子：
Kindly favor us with an early reply. 请早日赐复。
Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated. 如能及时回复，将不胜感谢。
We look forward to hearing from you soon. 早日回复。
We are expecting your prompt reply. 急盼回复。
Please have the kindness to answer this letter quickly. 请早日回信。
Kindly let us have your reply at your earliest convenience. 请在您方便时尽早赐函。
We would appreciate it if you could respond right away. 如能即刻回复，将不胜感谢。
当前流行应试写作模板，即套语的使用贯穿文章始终，为考生提供万能公式型的文章主架，每句表达皆由固定套语框定，考生只要背下套用句型、过渡词语，在考试中根据特定考题填充具体内容。这种应试策略使写出的文章矫揉造作，生硬刻板，虽可以让考生及格过关，但绝对得不到高分。套语的过多使用不妨可以比作大海中的救生圈，有了它，仅仅可以让不擅游泳者保全性命，却无法自在畅游，一展泳姿。一般而言，套语较为空洞，如使用过多，文章容易流于空泛，言之无物。写作宜虚实结合，形式与内容相统一。下例是一篇比较在家学习与入校读书谁优谁劣的范文，文中巧妙地使用了一些固定句式和过渡词语，不仅增强了表达效果，而且实现了形式与内容的统一。
There are two major arguments that can be made for studying at home. First, as advances in the electronic media have brought the whole world of scholarship into the home via the Internet and educational courses on TV, the classroom is no longer the only place for acquiring knowledge. Second, it is widely held that a person studies better in the familiar surroundings of his own home and when he can arrange his own study time.
But we must not lose sight of the fact that there are advantages to studying in the classroom, too. Being surrounded by people of roughly the same abilities and interests can be a great stimulus to acquiring knowledge, whereas studying in solitude at home is boring for many people. More importantly, there can be no substitute for a good teacher, who must not only be able to impart facts and theories, but also to appraise and encourage his students.
Given the choice between these two methods of learning, I prefer the classroom. This is because I am the sort of person who finds it difficult to concentrate on study in the midst of household chores, and disturbances from visitors and telephone calls. The classroom environment, I feel, is the only one in which most people feel comfortable applying all their energies to the all-important task of acquiring knowledge.
关于在家学习，我们可以提出两个主要论点。第一，由于电子媒体方面取得的进步把整个世界的知识通过互联网和电视上的教育课程带入了家庭，教室不再是惟一获取知识的场所。第二，人们普遍认为，在自己家里这样熟悉的环境中，并且能自己安排学习时间，一个人能学得更好。
但是，我们不能忽视在教室里学习也有好处这一事实。周围都是能力相近和兴趣相投的人可能会对获取知识形成巨大的刺激，而对很多人来说孤独一人在家学习会有些枯燥乏味。更重要的是，没有什么可以替代一个好老师，他不仅能够传道授业，而且能够评估并鼓励学生。
如果在两种学习方法中选择，我更喜欢在教室里学习，因为我是那种很难在家务琐事、客人、电话的打扰下集中注意力学习的人。我认为大多数人只有在教室里才能把全部精力放在获取知识这件十分重要的工作上。
精彩句子
精彩句子指文章中句式优美、蕴含哲理的句子。精彩句子的背诵有助于写作时的引用和模仿。如在阅读美国前总统约翰·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)的就职演说(Inaugural Address)时，可以记住诸如“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. ”(不要问国家能为你做什么，而要问你能为国家做什么。)这样的传世佳句，当你写关于爱国(patriotism)主题的作文时，则可以适时引用。现仍以上面谈“爱心”的文章为例，其中值得背诵的句子为数不少。摘录如下：
①Love is emotional strength, which can support us no matter how dark the world around us becomes.
爱心是情感的力量，不论我们周围的世界多么黑暗，爱心都能支撑我们。
②People all over the country do not hesitate to donate whatever they can — be it money or goods — to help their needy fellow citizens.
全国人民毫不犹豫地倾囊相助——不管是钱还是物——帮助那些有需要的同胞。
③The best way to show love is to help people who are more unfortunate than we are.
表达爱心的最好方式是帮助比我们更加不幸的人。
④The darker the shadows of sorrow become, the more brightly the lamp of love shines.
悲伤的阴影越黑暗，爱心之灯的光芒就越闪亮。
优秀段落
阅读时，我们经常会碰到一些过目难忘的段落。这些段落或者表达流畅、文笔优美，或者逻辑缜密、结构严谨。根据表达需要，有不同的功能段落，如现象说明段、观点陈述段、原因列举段、利弊解释段、结论归纳段、趋势预测段、措施建议段等。有些优秀段落可以作为写作的功能段落加以背诵，对于我们拓展思路、规范行文大有裨益。在背诵过程中，熟练掌握各种功能段落的行文规则，自己在表达时就能驾轻就熟。下面仅举观点陈述段和措施建议段各一例。
观点陈述段(陈述“民族文化应该成为世界文化”的观点)
A culture of one nation may become international, which is beneficial for all mankind. Since China has opened its doors widely to the outside world, many people from different countries want to visit China. They will come to accept and love Chinese culture as a whole. In addition, Chinese culture should be shared generously with foreign people, who show great interest in it. Meanwhile, as more and more foreigners come to China, they bring aspects of their own culture to share with the Chinese people. In this way, people from various nations in the world will be able to acquire a better understanding of each other and live peacefully together.
一个国家的文化可能成为世界文化，这对全人类都有益。由于中国已经向外界敞开了国门，许多来自不同国家的人都希望来看一看中国。他们会开始接受并喜欢整个中国文化，中国文化应该大大方方地让感兴趣的外国人分享。与此同时，随着来中国的外国人越来越多，他们也把他们自己的文化带给了中国人。这样，世界各国的人们就能够更好地相互理解、和平相处。
措施建议段(建议“人口老龄化”的解决措施)
The rapidity of the population's aging has made it more urgent for the adoption of countermeasures. No doubt, the key is to build a solid economic foundation. Meanwhile, importance should be attached to overall social progress by changing the backward situation in social security, welfare and service. What's more, family care and community services should also be encouraged.
人口老龄化的加速使采取应对措施变得更为紧迫。毫无疑问，解决问题的关键是建立稳固的经济基础。与此同时，应该重视整体的社会进步，改变社会保障、福利和服务的落后局面。除此之外，应该鼓励家庭照料和社区服务。
经典篇章
古往今来，英语宝库中涌现出大批经典佳作，如林肯的《葛底斯堡演说》(The Gettysburg Address)，福克纳的诺贝尔奖演说(Banquet Speech)，海伦·凯勒的《给我三天光明》(Three Days to See)。这些文章在文字的运用上技法高超，在思想内涵上寓意深刻，读来字字珠玑，文字优美，启迪心智，含义隽永(full of exquisite words and truth, satisfying the mind, appealing to the heart)。这样的文章如不能熟读成诵，则无法融会贯通。背诵一定数量的经典名篇既有助于提高自己遣词造句的能力，也有助于加强自己表达思想的深度。下面的一篇短文是英国哲学家罗素(Bertrand Russell)自传的序言部分，题为What I Have Lived For(我的人生追求)，概述了作者一生追求的三种理想，文章在语言和思想两个方面都堪称经典，值得背诵。
What I Have Lived For
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy — ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness — that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what — at last — I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people — a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I can't, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
我的人生追求
有三种简单然而无比强烈的激情左右了我的一生：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难的难以忍受的怜悯。这些激情像飓风，无处不在、反复无常地吹拂着我，吹过深重的苦海，濒于绝境。
我寻找爱，首先是因为它使人心醉神迷，这种陶醉是如此的美妙，使我愿意牺牲所有的余生去换取几个小时这样的欣喜。我寻找爱，还因为它解除孤独，在可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘看到冰冷、无底、死寂的深渊。最后，我寻找爱，还因为在爱的交融中，神秘而又具体而微地，我看到了圣贤和诗人们想象出的天堂的前景。这就是我所寻找的，而且，虽然对人生来说似乎过于美妙，这也是我终于找到了的。
以同样的激情我探索知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵。我希望能够知道群星为何闪烁。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的数字力量，它支配着此消彼涨。仅在不大的一定程度上，我达到了此目的。
爱和知识，只要有可能，通向着天堂。但是怜悯总把我带回尘世。痛苦呼喊的回声回荡在我的内心。忍饥挨饿的孩子，惨遭压迫者摧残的受害者，被儿女们视为可憎负担的无助的老人，连同这整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，使人类所应有的生活成为了笑柄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也在忍受折磨。
这就是我的一生。我发现它值得一过。如果再给我一次机会，我会很高兴地再活它一次。(方舟子译)
默 写
默写也是提高写作的一个重要环节，即把背熟的东西付诸纸端。这个过程不仅是为了检验自己的记忆效果，更为重要的是训练正确的书面表达能力。在英语学习中，我们少有机会动笔写英文，长期以来，手笔生疏，导致提笔即错。再者，由于受汉语思维和习惯的种种影响，在潜意识里容易犯一些英语表达错误。普遍存在的语言错误包括主谓一致、时态处理、冠词用法、名词单复数形式、单词拼写等，尤其在单词拼写方面，很多人混淆词性，把society, economy, difficulty写成social, economic, difficult；再如字母位置错误，将true, tired, modern写作ture, tried, morden；诸如此类。这些看似微妙的错误如果不加以有意识的克服，可能会发展为根深蒂固的习惯，成为写作中的重大弊病。通过默写，写出曾经记诵过的段落字句，之后自我查验、批改，发现并纠正在动笔中的错误，可以有效克服自己潜意识中的英文错误，提高实际写作时的熟练和准确程度。
互 译
能够在英汉两种语言之间自如转换是英语学习的一个至高境界。尝试英汉互译，即把英语文章翻译成地道汉语，间隔数日再将汉语翻译回英文。英文和汉语在表情达意方面存在着诸多差异，可惜学习者往往观察不足，领悟不深。通过互译训练，比较异同，可以强化我们对两种语言之间差异的认知，可以加强英语表达能力。在复原成英文的过程中，词汇表达、句式结构、段落组织、篇章布局等各个方面、多个角度都得到复习。同时，可以有效避免中国式英语在作文中的出现。中式英语在书面表达中屡见不鲜，根源在于学习者受到汉语表达和中式思维的制囿。英汉互译有助于冲破两种语言习惯的壁垒，有助于超越两种语言思维的障碍，有助于思维与表达取得和谐的统一，有助于将中文的思想地道流畅地传达为英语语言。互译的实质在于巧妙地借翻译手段促进英语的创作性表达。
模 仿
在自己写文章时，应有意识地调用以前的积累，正向迁移，融入自己的写作，包括语言表达、文章章法、写作技巧等，最终达到学以致用的目的。如果记忆中有像 “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. ”(不是我爱凯撒浅，而是我爱罗马深。)这样的经典名句，当写作有关英语学习的文章时不妨模仿这个句式: Not that we can't master English, but that we have not been willing to take pains. (不是我们不能掌握英语，而是我们不愿付出努力。) 正如学好书法常要描红，学好绘画常须描摹，写好文章则需要模仿。Beauty imitated is beauty recreated. (模仿美就是创造美。) 赋予经典的表达以新的内涵，这也是一种创新。模仿他人目的在于提高自己。模仿与借鉴为写作所必须。总之，Good writing favors the prepared mind. (好的写作总是照顾那些有准备的人。)
英语写作能力的真正提高有赖于上述概括为十字的五大策略，望朋友们勤之勉之，将其融入自己的学习实践，打下坚实的语言基础，真正实现从阅读到写作的飞跃，达到英语读写能力的完美统一。逐步积累，有所准备，需要之时就可以手到擒来，应对自如，使英文写作成为自身的一项技能。
