Asking for information or help is a very common and necessary activity, especially when we visit a foreign country. So knowing how to ask for information politely is important. In English, "Where are the restrooms?" and "Could you please tell me where the restrooms are?" are similar requests—both are correct English, but the first could sound rude. It's important to use correct language, but sometimes this alone is not enough—we need to learn how to be polite when we make requests.
In English, just like in Chinese, we change the way we speak when talking with different people. The expressions you use might depend on whom you are speaking to or how well you know them. If you say to your teacher, "Where is my book?" this will sound rude. But if you say, "Excuse me, Mr West. Do you know where my book is?" your question will sound much more polite. On the other hand, it might be alright to say "Where is my book?" in some situations, perhaps with people you know well.
And you would not usually say, "Peter, lend me your pen. " A very direct order like this can sound rude in English. Usually in English polite questions are longer and include extra language, such as "Could you please...?" or "Can I ask...?" It sounds more polite to say, "Peter, could you please lend me your pen?" Sometimes we might even need to spend some time leading in to a question or request. For example, if you stop a stranger in the street, we might first say, "Excuse me. I wonder if you can help me. " or "I'm sorry to trouble you but," before asking them for help.
It might seem that speaking politely is more difficult than being direct, and in a way this may be true. However, in order not to offend people, learning about the language etiquette is just as important as learning grammar or vocabulary. And doing this will also help you become better at English, or any other language you wish to speak.
【小题1】 It's important to know how to_     _in English when we visit a foreign country.
【小题2】 When you talk with different people, you need to__      _.
【小题3】 Extra words are used to help__     ___.
【小题4】._      _is as important as learning language structure.
【小题5】 How do you say " Don't smoke here. " politely? "_        __*

 

Hi Brad,

It’s good to hear from you again. I find that I’m not good at writing compositions. It’s hard for me to prepare the form of a composition and organize sentences. ①Could you tell me how to deal with this problem? I would really appreciate if you offer me some good methods.

Best wishes,

                                                                      Cindy

Hi Cindy,

A composition is really a story and any story is told to an audience. There is a form for this and it is in three parts. First, tell them(the audience) what you are going to tell them. Then tell them, and finally tell them what you told them. Parts one and three are short and most of the information is in part two. It works like this.

Let’s say you are asked to write a 200-word composition about your visit to the Great Wall. You would begin with an opening sentence or two saying something like “The Great Wall of China is a national ②landmark that is famous around the world. I visited it last summer and I want to tell you about it.” That uses about 25 words to tell them what you are going to tell them.

The second part would be about 150 words and would contain information about the Great Wall such as how long it is, when it was built, who built it and why, the fact that it is one of the seven wonders of the world and you would talk about how you felt and what you thought when you visited this national treasure. This is telling them.

Finally, you would use about another 25 words to say something like “That was my first visit to the Great Wall and it was a very emotional experience to actually touch something so old and famous. ③每个中国人至少参观长城一次.I plan to go back whenever I can.” Here, you are telling them what you told them in the story and wrapping it all up into a neat package. This formula(惯例)works for both compositions and speeches and I think you will find it helps to organize your thoughts. I hope it’s helpful.

Best wishes,

                                                                 Brad Franklin

1.将文中①处的画线部分翻译成汉语:                                             .

2.(A) 试写出文中②处画线部分landmark的汉语意思:            .

(B)下面有四个在文中出现的单词,请找出画线部分发音哪个与众不同?                .

A. work            B. word            C. information            D. world

3.将文中③处的汉语翻译成英语:                                                 .

4.从文中找出适当的词组填空:How I wish to get a letter from you soon!

How I wish to _________  _________ you soon!

5.用英语回答问题:What’s the main idea of the passage?                                .

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网