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Reading-to-writing: faithful summary and controlled retelling
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| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| faithful | 忠实的 |
Read, then retell faithfully
- A reading-to-writing task gives you a longer story to read, then takes it away. You retell it from memory in a shorter version.
- The task tests faithful summary: keep the main events, causes and outcome, add no opinions, and do not change who did what.
While reading: build a skeleton
- Note the four anchors: who (person人物), what happened first (cause起因), the turning point (to pass经过), the outcome (outcome结果).
- Example skeleton: 一位teacher老师 — student学生to take an exam考试to be defeated失败 — teacher老师every day每天to accompany陪he / him他to practice练习 — student学生to pass a university…考上(completed / change)了university大学.
cause起因、development经过、outcome结果。
Put the skeleton in order.
Difficulty 3/5 · 200 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Who → cause → development → outcome.
Retell in your own words
- Write the skeleton out in connected sentences: to have / there is有一个student学生to take an exam考试to be defeated失败(completed / change)了，degree / adjective linker很to lose heart灰心。he / him他(modifier / structural particle)的teacher老师not have / haven't没有to criticize批评he / him他，rather而是every day每天to accompany陪he / him他to practice练习。一年after以后，he / him他to pass a university…考上(completed / change)了an ideal理想(modifier / structural particle)的university大学。
- Keep causes: the student succeeded because the teacher helped — do not drop or invent the link.
老师没有批评他，____ 每天陪他练习。(but instead)
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
不是/没有…，而是… = not … but instead.
Which element must a faithful retelling keep?
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Causes and outcomes are essential.
No additions, no opinions
- Do not add a moral (this这to tell告诉we / us我们…) unless the source states one; do not judge the characters.
- Keep qualifiers: if the source says almost几乎every day每天, don't write every day每天.
Source: “he / him他almost几乎every day每天all / both都to go去library图书馆，final最后to pass through通过(completed / change)了to take an exam考试。” Faithful: he / him他almost几乎every day每天to go去library图书馆，afterwards后来to pass through通过(completed / change)了to take an exam考试。 Unfaithful: he / him他every day每天all / both都to go去library图书馆，because因为he / him他to be / is是most最intelligent聪明(modifier / structural particle)的student学生。 (drops almost几乎, invents a reason)
Faithful or not?
Judge whether a retold sentence stays faithful to its source.
Source: “他几乎每天都去图书馆，最后通过了考试。” Which summary is faithful?
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
It keeps 几乎 and adds nothing.
You should add a moral like 这告诉我们… to every retelling.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Only if the source states it.
Common mistakes
- Changing causal links or who did what.
- Adding opinions or morals that the source does not contain.
Recap
- Build a skeleton: person人物、cause起因、to pass经过、outcome结果.
- Retell in your own words, keep causes and qualifiers, add nothing.