(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Many secondary and university students have returned to classes, or soon will. And some of you have told us that you worry about academic writing – writing for school. We know that writing papers can be hard – even a little frightening. And we know it can be especially hard if you are not writing in your first language.
So we have asked some writing experts in the United States for advice. Our experts are professors and professional writers. From time to time as part of the Education Report, we will share some of their suggestions with you in their own words.
Today we hear from Mary Ann Allison, she is with the department of journalism, media studies and public relations at Hofstra University in New York. She is also a poet and a writer. She says starting a paper is often the most difficult part of writing for school.
"Mary Ann Allison, suppose the teacher or professor gives you a choice of a topic, a subject, within a given field."
"Well, I have a couple of thoughts. The first, if you have any choice at all of a topic, is to do something that you’re really interested in, because the more you’re interested in it naturally, the better you’ll write and the easier it’ll be."
"After you have found a subject you think you would like to write about, what comes next?"
"Once you’ve decided on something, another consideration would be how much information you can find. So, often if I’m starting something, I’m considering a topic, I do, oh, 10, 15 minutes’ worth of looking at information to see if there’s enough for me to be able to easily research and write what I want to write. And if there’s not, then I might choose something else to write on. So those two things, I would say, sort of balance your interest and information availability. And then the next thing that I would do is what I call a back-of-the-envelope outline."
"Back of the envelope, and what is that?"
"So that’s when I sit down, maybe not at my desk, not at my computer, maybe even at a café, or with a cup of coffee, but where I sit. And I just kind of think about it, and I think about the topic like, what would I say to a friend? And I just write down short notes about whatever – whatever comes to mind. What would I say to a friend about this? Or, what do I want to know about this? And when I have - oh, I don’t know - anywhere between five and 10 points, I stop."
"Then, do you start to write?"
"And then I wait a whole day, so I sleep on it, because your brain will work on it while you’re sleeping. And then I take those notes and I make an outline. And then I take the outline and again check how much information is there. Is there easy information on all these points? And if the signals are all ‘yes’, then I might start writing."
"So a lot of your preparation is preparation?"
"It’s preparation, and it’s doing preparation, but it’s also letting your unconscious do a lot of work for you. Because if you sit down and try to write it right now, you don’t give your unconscious any time to organize things (or to) bring together other ideas."
"So do some research, which gives your subconscious something to think about. Right? Then let it rest for a night. You’ll often find that it’s much easier. Also, the more rested you are, the better it will be."
And that’s the VOA Learning English Education Report. I’m Jeri Watson.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.frightening adj. 令人恐惧的；引起突然惊恐的
It was a very frightening experience and they were very courageous.
那是一次非常令人恐惧的经历，但他们非常勇敢。
2.journalism n. 新闻业，新闻工作；报章杂志
He began a career in journalism, working for the Rocky Mountain News.
他开始从事新闻事业，供职于落基山新闻报。
3.unconscious adj. 无意识的；失去知觉的；不省人事的；未发觉的
By the time the ambulance arrived he was unconscious.
救护车赶到时他已神志不清。
内容解析
1.And then I wait a whole day, so I sleep on it, because your brain will work on it while you’re sleeping.
sleep on 留下；留待第二天解决
I'll sleep on your proposal and give you my answer tomorrow morning.
今晚我好好考虑一下你的建议，明早给你个答复。
After answering my questions, he slept on.
回答完我的问题后，他又接着睡觉了。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
许多中学和大学中已经回到课堂上，或很快就回校。有的学生告诉我们担心写论文，我们知道写论文会很难，甚至有点让人害怕。我们知道，如果不是用母语写作，写论文会尤其困难。
所以我们请美国的写作专家来提供建议，我们的专家都是教授和专家作家。在教育报道中，我们将不时地分享他们的一些建议。
今天我们听听玛丽·安·阿里森的建议，她就职于纽约Hofstra大学新闻、媒体研究和公共关系学院，她还是一名诗人和作家。她说开头是写论文最难的地方。
“玛丽·安·阿里森，假定老师或教授在一定范围给你一个题目。”
“我有几点建议，首先，如果你对选题有一定选择权，那就选你感兴趣的题目，因为你对它越感兴趣，你就觉得写论文越容易。”
“如果你找到你想写的题目，下一步该怎么办？”
“一旦你决定写一个题目，下一步考虑的就是收集的资料量。通常如果我开始写一个题目，就会花10到15分钟来看下掌握的资料是否能让我轻松研究并写出东西来。如果没有这样的资料，就会选择其他题目来写。所以我说兴趣和掌握的资料之间要有个平衡，然后下一步就是勾勒出提纲。”
“Back of the envelope是什么意思？”
“意思是当我坐下来，可能不是坐在书桌前，不是在电脑前，可能是在咖啡馆，手里拿着一杯咖啡。我会考虑一下这个主题，我想告诉朋友们什么？我会写下短的要点，不管是想到什么都写下来。我对此想知道些什么，写到5到10个要点我就会停下。”
“然后你开始写吗？”
“然后我会等上一整天，我会带着它睡觉，因为大脑在睡眠中仍在工作。然后我会写些笔记，然后写个提纲。然后检查下提纲中包括多少信息，这些要点中的信息是否很简单，如果都是‘是’，我可能就开始写了。”
“然后你就万事俱备了吗？”
“之前都是准备工作，但也是在让你的潜意识做很多工作。因为一旦你坐下来想写的时候，你就不给潜意识任何时间来组织东西或整合想法了。”
“所以做研究是在让潜意识去工作，是吗？然后休息一个晚上，你通常会发现事情变得更简单，休息得越多越好。”
这就是美国之音慢速英语教育报道，我是杰瑞·沃森。
