Know yourself

領" 銜" 人：謝建民（正高級教師，江蘇省特級教師）

組稿團隊：江蘇省無錫市謝建民名師工作室

本期撰稿：徐驪君（江蘇省南菁高級中學實驗學校）

Personality is a person’s characteristics. It includes your thoughts， feelings and behaviours which make you different from others. It decides how you interact with people， things or ideas， which is helpful to dictate your choices and actions. Personality reveals itself in the decisions you make， what you pursue and what you reject. The manner in which you conduct yourself is a reflection of your behaviour， which， over time， becomes habits that naturally appear.

Personality is slowly formed in people’s social life. First， personality is formed by nature. People get their personalities from their parents. Second， personal growth and development experiences and the social environment can change their personalities. Once formed， it is quite stable（穩定的）. Your personality does not change just from one day to another. In fact， it changes hardly at all. Only if life changing experiences happen， will personality change slowly. Your personality is something that you always take with you. It affects（影響）your thoughts， feelings and behaviours across all settings and situations， appearing at various times and places. Your personality helps you “survive” and deal with the daily challenges around you.

As time goes on， many different classifications（分類）have been made in personality characteristics. There may be hundreds existing. Among them， the most famous one is the Big Five Personality Theory（大五人格理論）. The tests are used most widely in the world now. If you are interested， you may read about it and answer the questions in some of the tests. Maybe it will help you get to know yourself better.

What makes one’s personality？

不同的人具有不同的品質，優秀的領導者往往具備多種優良品質，如上進、真誠、善良、自信、負責、自律等。假如你是Millie，Daniel是你的同學，你想推薦他當學生會主席，請用英語給校長Mr Wu寫一封推薦信。

Dear Mr Wu，

I’m writing to recommend Daniel. He is one of the top students in my class. He is the perfect person for this position.

Daniel is a confident boy. He believes in himself. He works to high standards. He can often come up with many good ideas. He has a heart full of love. He is a very helpful person. He often helps people in need. He is organized enough to keep everything in good order.

He is good at playing basketball. He studies hard. He can achieve a balance between his schoolwork and hobbies.

Yours sincerely，

Millie

開頭未完整表明寫信的目的，應加上推薦Daniel“成為學生會主席”。并且應該寫明Daniel具有許多勝任學生會主席的優秀品質，為引出主體部分做鋪墊。

中間兩段缺少連接詞，句式結構單一，應考慮添加連接詞、適當使用復合句，增強文章的可讀性。為佐證觀點，應添加事例以更好地突出Daniel的品質。

文章的結尾應再次點明寫作意圖，首尾呼應。

Dear Mr Wu，

I’m writing to recommend Daniel as the chairperson of the Students’ Union. He is one of the top students in my class. He has many great qualities for this position.

Daniel is a confident boy who always steadily believes in himself in all his endeavors. He works to high standards， which is the most important reason why I recommend him as the chairperson of the Students’ Union. It is equally impressive that he can often come up with many good ideas. In addition， he has a heart full of love. Whenever he is wanted， he will come to help us. Besides， he is organized enough to keep everything in good order. For example， he usually makes a list before he goes shopping.

Moreover， Daniel studies hard. Last term， he succeeded in getting a scholarship. Also， he can achieve a balance between his schoolwork and hobbies. He is good at playing basketball and he once led our school team to win first place in our city.

In conclusion， I believe Daniel is the most suitable candidate for chairperson of the Students’ Union.

Yours sincerely，

Millie

本文是推薦信，升格文符合書信格式要求。首尾呼應，起到了強調文章寫作意圖的作用。中間兩段闡述了被推薦人的品質，并用事例佐證，增強了說服力。此外，小作者在升格文中運用了復合句，如“who always steadily believes in himself”“which is the most important reason why I recommend him as the chairperson of the Students’ Union”和“Whenever he is wanted”，使得文章更具邏輯性和可讀性。