Ｔｈｅ Ｓｉｘ Ｔｒａｉｔｓ ｏｆ Ｗｒｉｔｉｎｇ Ｉ：Ｉｄｅａｓ

本期開始，Adora會陸續(xù)為大家介紹美國課堂上常常教授的“寫作六要素”以及其具體操作方法和技巧。在英文的寫作中，這“六要素”分別是Ideas、Origination、Word Choice、

Sentence Fluency、Voice和Conventions，它們相輔相成，缺一不可。本期介紹的是

要素一——Ideas。

The Importance of Ideas

Ideas. How important can this five-letter word actually be?

Actually， it's amazing how much a five-letter word has affected our daily life. After all， civilization1) is built on ideas; cures and medicines are found through ideas; inventions are invented because of ideas—and the article you're reading right now is， yes， born out of an idea.

Ideas are the first of \"The Six Traits of Writing.\" The six traits of writing are fundamental2) building blocks of writing that are commonly taught in the classroom in the US. It's no wonder that ideas come first—you need an idea in order to start writing.

What Makes a Good Idea?

The word \"idea，\" however， can be a little confusing. What makes a good idea? Ideas for writing need to be clear and focused; they should have a theme， selected details; an idea should be developed and contain insight.

★Clarity and Focus

Let's start with clarity and focus. To improve your writing， narrow your focus. You want a manageable topic. When you're brainstorming for ideas， you might come up with a large， general topic like \"Food.\" Unfortunately， with a giant topic like that， you could write for years and years and still not cover everything. You would have to cover foods of the past and foods of the present， foods of countries around the world， comfort foods and healthy foods， food trends...the list goes on and on. Writing about such a general topic would be a lot of work for you， and it would be confusing to your readers. So you could narrow your topic down to \"Foods of Asia.\" Still...that's a lot of food， isn't it? Why not \"Foods of China?\" You could narrow it down even further to \"Foods of Sichuan.\" A narrower topic helps you write more clearly and keep focused.

★A Clear and Central Theme

Theme is an interesting and important part of writing. Theme is the deeper meaning of what the story is about. For instance， a tale about a fireman saving ferrets3) from a burning animal shelter at great personal risk could have a theme of heroism and selflessness. A novel that chronicles4) a handicapped5) girl's journey to the 2008 Paralympics could have a theme of hope. Although the novel might have many different scenes and chapters， each part of the novel would be connected by the same theme. In writing， it's a good idea to have a clear， central theme. Theme is what drives and connects what you write. When you get an idea for writing， take a few moments to decide upon a theme. Realizing your theme will help you transition from point to point and build connections in your writing.

★Quality and Accurate Descriptive Details

Writing should always have some good details to help your readers visualize a clear picture of your topic. When you're including details， try to show， not to tell. You might be wondering what I mean by this. Telling is when you tell your readers information. For instance: \"My grandma is very generous.\" This is straightforward， but it's more interesting for readers if I show that my grandma is generous by describing her taking my family out to eat， paying for gasoline， buying us lots of books， and giving us gifts. You want quality details， details that are accurate6) and help readers imagine what you're trying to get across.

★A Complete Development of the Idea

Make sure that your idea is developed. By saying \"developed，\" I mean that all the blanks are filled in and questions are answered. For instance， you might want to write about your trip to Africa， where you saw lots of animals. I see a question there—what kinds of animals? Maybe you want to focus on one specific kind of animal， like a lion. How do lions live? You might want to do some research to find facts about lions. In order to develop an idea， you'll want to include facts and descriptive details. In some cases， you may need to do research in order to answer your readers' questions. Maybe you're wondering what I mean by that—after all， the readers can't just magically appear and ask questions while you're writing. However， you can anticipate7) readers' questions. Sometimes it helps to have someone read a rough draft of your writing and have them ask you questions that they think should be answered. Your writing won't be complete unless your ideas are developed.

★Unique Insight

Including insight is a good way to improve your writing. It's insight that makes a piece of writing special. Insight is your understanding and perception8) of something. Anyone can read an article about misbehaving children， but the writing of a parent of a child who misbehaves would include special insights and knowledge about the subject. When we read a piece of writing， we often want to come away with new knowledge and the feeling that we have learned something useful. When you include your unique insight in an article， people gain more from reading your writing. Sharing our insight will help others understand things from our perspective， which can help us to have better relationships with our readers.

Ideas are such an important part of life. In this article， I had a purpose to help you understand ideas better and the key parts of ideas: clarity and focus， theme， details， development， and insight. I will explore \"The Six Traits of Writing\" in a series of articles that will help you with your everyday writing—ideas are only the beginning of this writing journey. I hope that you continue your learning adventure with me and discover the next five traits of writing!

親愛的讀者朋友們，你是不是一直也有很多奇妙的ideas，卻始終沒有將它們付諸筆端、撰寫成文呢？本文是否對你有所啟發(fā)？趕快拿起筆來，參考文中介紹的方法，用英文將你的ideas展現(xiàn)出來吧。請將你的作品于11月20號之前發(fā)至： teens@staff.neworiental.org或北京市海淀區(qū)海淀中街6號新東方大廈750室 《新東方英語·中學(xué)生》編輯部 (郵編：100080)。

隔期Adora會對大家的故事進行點評，本刊將擇優(yōu)選登，文章作者可獲贈當期雜志一本。趕快來參與吧！

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