等大家考完试，就要开始辛辛苦苦写essay了。写文书有什么禁忌吗？怎么写出美国人心目中的好文书呢？今天为大家总结了小技巧。

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1.慎用美式英语中一些含有否定意义的词汇

Be careful of using wors that have a negative meaning in American English. The wor “propagana,” for example,means something like “government-controlle brainwashing” in the US. (Your best choice is to use the wors “marketing” or“publicity” if you want to inicate that you organize a campaign to raise awareness of a certain problem.)

Likewise,in the US we o not use the wors“cripple” an “retare”; we use “hanicappe” (or even better,“isable”) an“evelopmentally isable” or “mentally challenge.” We on’t call ol people“ol people”—we call them “elers” or “the elerly.” An we prefer “businessperson” or “business professional” to “businessman.”

慎用美式英语中一些含有否定意义的词汇。例如，“propagana”这个词在美国就有点“政府洗脑式”的宣传的意思了。（如果你想要表达你发起一项运动来提高人们对于某一问题的认识的话，最好选用“marketing”或是“publicity”。）

同样的，在美国，也不会用“cripple”或者是“retare”之类的词，取而代之的是“hanicappe”（isable更好）以及“evelopmentally isable”或“mentally isable”。我们在称呼老人时也不直接用“ol people”，而是用“elers”或是“the elerly”。我们也不经常用“businessman”，而是用“businessperson”或“business professional ”。

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2.变换句子的长短

Vary the length of the sentences in your essay. If you have written several long sentences in a row,insert a short sentence to give the reaer a break. Variety in your sentences will make your essay easier to rea (an thus more memorable).

It also emonstrates that you have a superior comman of the English language. An on’t be afrai of incluing a one-sentence paragraph. Aone-sentence paragraph (especially at the beginning or en of your essay) will be very ramatic an grab the reaer’s attention.

变换句子的长短。如果你已经连续用了几个长句，那么插入一个短句能给读者一个停顿的时间。句式多样化能够使你的短文更容易懂，因而也更容易让人记住。这样的句式变换也证明你的英语语言掌握的比较好。同时不要害怕运用一句式段落。一句式段落，（尤其是在短文的开头结尾）会很出彩，也会吸引读者的注意力。

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3.不要试图费力地运用一些特别长的句子或者特别大的词汇

If English is your secon language,on’t try to make it har on yourself by writing really long sentences an using large vocabulary wors. (Don’t say “internationalization”; just say“international.”

Why use “metropolis” when you can just use “city”?) Remember that the reaers are not hoping to be impresse by your vocabulary—they want tobe impresse by your story.

如果英语是你的第二语言，那么不要试图费力地运用一些特别长的句子或者特别大的词汇。（不要用“internationalization”，用“international”就好了。另外，如果你可以用“city”，为什么要用“metropolis”呢？）记住，读者并不希望被你的词汇打动，而是被你的故事所打动。

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4.对自己研究过的项目进行详细说明

If you are applying to grauate school,your personal statement will nee to inclue etaile evience of your research. For example,if you are applying toa grauate program in biology,your PS shoul inclue specific escriptions of experiences you have ha,such as research projects,internships,work in biological laboratories,an such.

The other key elements for grauate stuy applications are what you want to stuy,the fiel you are intereste in,the backgroun you have,why you have chosen this particular program,an your plans after grauation.

如果你正在申请研究生院校，那么你的个人简历就需要包括你研究项目的一些详细的说明。例如，如果你正在申请生物专业的研究生项目，那么你的个人简历就需要对你的研究经历进行详细的描述，比如你的研究项目，实习经历，以及在生物实验这方面的工作等等。研究生学习申请的其他的一些关键因素还包括：你想要研究什么，你对哪一个领域感兴趣，你的个人背景，选择这一研究项目的原因以及毕业后的打算。

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5.避免运用一些不恰当的理由

Avoi using inappropriate reasons for why a particular college is attractive to you. (I have actually seen essays where the applicant escribe how much he “love” the University of Chicago an wante to ate her,an another where the applicant wrote that NYU was attractive because she just love the color purple on theNYU website.) You must rea the website carefully to iscover specific programs,activities,curricula,istinguishe professors (an the like) that you can point to an say,“THIS is why I want to go to University X.”

在说明某所大学为何对你有吸引力时，避免运用一些不恰当的理由。（曾经看过申请者在短文中描述自己是如何如何热爱芝加哥大学，并想要和它约会的，而另一个人则在短文中说纽约大学吸引她仅仅是因为她喜欢纽约大学网站上的紫色）。

你必须仔细浏览学校官方网站，以便发现一些具体的项目、活动、课程，以及著名的教授，诸如此类的，然后你就可以在短文中指出这就是你想要去XX大学的原因。

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6.不要只在短文中陈述学校多么好

Do not tell the school how goo it is. “I want to atten the prestigiousUniversity X because it is a top US college with an international reputation,”just souns insincere.

不要只在短文中陈述学校多么好。“我想要申请著名的XX大学，因为它是美国一所顶尖的大学，在国际上都享有盛誉。”这样说的话会显得不真诚。

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7.吸引读者的眼球

Catch the reaer’s attention in the first sentence of your essay by writing something ramatic or humorous. In one excellent essay I rea,the applicant (hoping to major in entomology),wrote this: “Ahhhh! There are bugs in the shampoo!‘Doesn’t that make you want to rea more? (He then went on to escribe how his mother ha foun one of his “science experiments” involving insects,an how experiences like this mae him want to stuy entomology.)

在短文的开头写一些富有戏剧性的或者是幽默的东西，以吸引读者的眼球。曾有一篇优秀的短文，申请人想要修昆虫学专业，开头他是这样写的：“啊，洗发露里竟然有虫子！读完，难道你不会想要继续读下去吗？（接下来他又描述了他的母亲如何发现了他的一次昆虫“科学实验”，以及这些经历是怎样使他最终想要研究昆虫学的。）

【微语】愿你走出半生，归来仍是少年。愿你留学一遭，回首有爱相伴。