英语短文写作（五）
三、短文写作的主要文体
研究生英语入学考试短文写作的方式有：命题作文、看图作文、情景作文、给出提纲（或段首句）等。主要文体有：论说文（argumentation）、说明文（exposition）、描写文（description）、记叙文（narration）、应用文（practical writing）、图表作文、情景作文。
1. 论说文
1）概述：议论是讲道理，论是非。议论文的作用就是论证某一观点、看法或主张。作者通过事实和逻辑推理来阐明自己的观点，表明赞成什么或反对什么，以达到影响读者的思想和行动。一段完整的议论是由论点、论据和论证组成的。论点是作者的观点或主张，一般情况下一篇文章只有一个论点（即所谓的中心论点）；论据是作者用来证明论点的理由和事实（具体的事例、统计数据、名人的理论或科学公理等）；论证是作者用一系列的论据来证明自己的观点或反驳别人的论点的推理过程。写议论文时考生必须注意其论点要明确，论据要充分、恰当，推理要逻辑性强，文章层次要分明。
2）写作方法：论说文的写作方法主要有归纳法、演绎法、类比法等。
A) 归纳法（induction）是指从若干个别事例和现象中综合它们的共同本质，总结出普遍的道理、观点或看法。如：Americans feel proud of themselves for working hard, but they feel equally proud of themselves when they sit and do nothing over weekends. As a matter of fact, some Americans measure success in terms of the length and frequency of their vacations. The man who gets a month’s vacation each year considers himself more successful than the man who gets two weeks. Many people become teachers because teachers get a three-month vacation every year. Some college teachers who teach three classes consider themselves less successful than one who teaches only one or two or none at all. In brief, the less work Americans do, the more successful they consider themselves.
这一篇短文列举了美国人如何看待工作和成就的种种自相矛盾的态度，最后得出一个看法：某些美国人认为，工作干得越少，就越成功。
B) 演绎法（deduction）是指从一般论断（公认的、众所周知的原理或道理）来推断出一个观点。如：The “Band Wagon” is a device to make us follow the crowd, to accept the propagandist’s program en masse（全体、整个地）. Here his theme is: “Everybody’s doing it.” His techniques range from those of the medicine show to dramatic spectacle. He hires a hall, fills a great stadium, marches a million men in parade. He employs symbols, colors, music, movement, all the dramatic arts. He appeals to the desire,来源：作文地带整理。
