Unit 4: Introductions, Conclusions, and Development
AP English Language and Composition Topic 4 5:18 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
Chapters
Transcript
Unit 4 covers the two positions in a text where a writer's choices are most visible — the beginning and the end.
第四单元讲的是 文本中作者选择最显眼的两个位置， 开头与结尾。
And it comes with a warning about your own writing, because visibility tempts students into spending time there.
它同时带着一个关于你自己写作的警告， 因为显眼会诱使学生 把时间花在那里。
On a timed essay, both are worth writing well and neither is worth writing long.
在限时作文中， 这两处都值得写好， 但都不值得写长。
Every sentence you spend decorating an introduction is a sentence not spent on evidence and commentary, which is where four of the six points live.
你用来装饰引言的每一句话， 都是没有用在证据与评述上的一句话， 而六分中有四分 正是住在那里。
The introduction of an argument introduces the subject and the writer to the audience.
论证的引言 把主题与作者介绍给受众。
It may orient the reader, establish the exigence and context, and gain attention.
它可以让读者定位、 确立促因与语境，并吸引注意。
The conclusion brings the argument to a unified end, and may present the thesis, explain its significance, or situate the argument in a broader context.
结论把论证带向一个统一的终点， 可以呈现论点、说明其意义， 或把论证放进更广的语境。
Note the verb: unified.
注意那个词：统一。
A conclusion is not a summary.
结论不是概述。
It is the point at which the parts are shown to have been one argument.
它是各个部分 被显示为同一个论证的那一刻。
And that gives you the rule for your own.
这也给了你自己写作的规则。
An introduction that positions the subject and states a defensible thesis in two or three sentences is complete.
一段用两三句话 定位主题并给出可辩护论点的引言， 就已经完整了。
A conclusion that says what follows from the argument — its significance, or its wider implication — does more than one that restates the paragraphs.
一段说出"由这个论证得出什么"的结论， 它的意义或更广的含义， 比复述各段的结论做得更多。
The weakest conclusion is the one that re-lists what the essay already said.
最弱的结论 是把文章已经说过的内容 再列一遍。
The reader has just read it.
读者刚刚才读过。
Say instead what it means, or what it obliges.
要说的是它意味着什么， 或者它要求什么。
Identifying the overarching thesis is the next skill.
辨认贯穿全文的论点句，是下一项技能。
The CED adds a precise refinement here, and then immediately qualifies it.
课程大纲在这里 加了一条精确的补充， 然后立刻加以限定。
A thesis statement may preview the line of reasoning of an argument — and this is not to say that a thesis statement must list the reasons.
论点句可以预告论证的推理线索， 而这并不是说 论点句必须列出理由。
That double statement is worth holding, because both errors are common.
这两句话要一起记住， 因为两种错误都很常见。
A thesis that previews nothing leaves the essay shapeless.
什么都不预告的论点 会让文章没有形状。
A thesis mechanically listing three reasons is not required and often produces a rigid essay that cannot develop.
机械地列出三条理由的论点 并不被要求， 而且常常写出一篇 无法展开的僵硬文章。
The practical version for your own writing: the thesis must be defensible — non-negotiable, and it is the whole of the thesis point.
用于自己写作的实用版本是： 论点必须可辩护， 这一点不可商量， 而且它就是论点这一分的全部。
It may indicate the shape of the reasoning; do that when the shape is genuinely load-bearing, not as a formula.
它可以指出推理的形状； 当这个形状真的承重时才这样做， 而不是当作公式。
And it should be specific enough to constrain what follows.
它还应当足够具体， 以约束接下来的内容。
A thesis so broad that any paragraph could belong under it is not directing the essay.
一个宽泛到 任何段落都能归入其下的论点， 并没有在指挥这篇文章。
Recognizing methods of development, and then using methods of development yourself.
辨认展开方法，然后自己使用展开方法。
Unit 3 covered narration and cause-effect.
第三单元讲了叙述与因果。
Unit 4 adds the rest.
第四单元补齐其余的。
Developing through comparison-contrast: writers present a category of comparison and then examine similarities and differences within it.
通过比较对照展开： 作者先给出一个比较的范畴， 然后在这个范畴之内 考察相似与差异。
The category is the part students omit — a comparison without a stated basis is two descriptions side by side.
范畴正是学生会漏掉的部分， 没有明确基准的比较 只是两段并排的描述。
Developing through definition or description: writers relate the characteristics, features or sensory details of a subject.
通过定义或描写展开： 作者陈述一个对象的 特征、性质或感官细节。
And definition is more powerful than it looks.
而定义比看上去更有力。
An argument that turns on what a word means — what counts as success, as fairness, as progress — is an argument that has moved to the ground where it can actually be won.
一个取决于某个词含义的论证， 什么算成功、什么算公平、什么算进步， 是一个已经移到 真正可以取胜的地面上的论证。
Choosing the right method is also how the sophistication point is earned: it rewards a paragraph that relocates the argument onto ground where the evidence actually decides something.
选对方法，也正是拿到「深度」那一分的途径： 它奖励的是把论证挪到证据真能定胜负的那块地面上的段落。
The choice of method is rhetorical, so ask what the audience needs before they will accept your claim.
方法的选择是修辞性的， 所以先问： 受众需要什么， 才会接受你的主张。
They need to see it, and abstraction is the obstacle: description.
他们需要看见它， 而抽象是障碍：用描写。
They accept the facts but not the connection: cause-effect.
他们接受事实， 但不接受其中的联系：用因果。
They are applying the wrong standard: definition.
他们在使用错误的标准：用定义。
They need to feel the situation first: narration.
他们需要先感受到情境：用叙述。
They will not accept a claim about one case until they see it against another: comparison-contrast.
在看到另一个案例作为对照之前， 他们不会接受关于这一个案例的主张： 用比较对照。
Pick from what the audience needs, not from what the topic suggests — a topic about two countries does not oblige you to compare them.
要根据受众的需要来选， 而不是根据题目暗示什么来选， 一个关于两个国家的题目 并不强制你去比较它们。
A Question 3 prompt asks whether a common practice is beneficial.
第三题要你对一项常见做法是否有益表明立场。
A student who reaches for description writes a vivid paragraph nobody disputes.
伸手去写描写的学生， 写出一段没人会反驳的生动段落。
Pause and try the better move.
先暂停，试更好的一招。
Step one: reach for definition instead.
第一步：改用定义。
Step two: write that whether the practice is beneficial depends on what we count as benefit.
第二步：写下这件事是否有益， 取决于我们把什么算作益处。
Step three: short-term gain succeeds, durable capability fails.
第三步：短期可测的收益算成功， 持久的能力算失败。
That relocates the argument onto ground where the evidence decides something, which is the sophistication point.
那就把论证挪到证据真能定胜负的地面上， 而这正是「深度」那一分要奖励的招。
Five things to carry out.
带走五件事。
First, introductions are short and load-bearing: position the subject, state a defensible thesis, move on.
第一，引言要短而承重： 定位主题、给出可辩护的论点， 然后往下走。
Second, a conclusion that restates earns least — say what the argument means or obliges.
第二，复述式的结论得分最少， 要说出论证意味着什么、要求什么。
Third, a thesis may preview the reasoning and is not required to list reasons.
第三，论点可以预告推理， 但并不被要求列出理由。
Fourth, comparison needs a stated category.
第四，比较需要一个明确的范畴。
Fifth, definition is the strongest move when the terms are contestable.
第五，当术语本身可争议时， 定义是最有力的一招。