如何寫一篇文章的摘要？– 下文是對《英語寫作手冊》相關(guān)章節(jié)的翻譯
摘要是對一篇文章的主題思想的簡單陳述。它用最簡潔的語言概括了原文的主題。寫摘要主要包括三個(gè)步驟：（1）閱讀；（2）寫作；（3）修改成文。
第一步：閱讀
A．認(rèn)真閱讀給定的原文材料。如果一遍不能理解，就多讀兩遍。閱讀次數(shù)越多，你對原文的理解就越深刻。
B．給摘要起一個(gè)標(biāo)題。用那些能概括文章主題思想的單詞、短語或短句子作為標(biāo)題。也可以采用文中的主題句作為標(biāo)題。主題句往往出現(xiàn)在文章的開頭或結(jié)尾。一個(gè)好標(biāo)題有助于確定文章的中心思想。
C．現(xiàn)在，就該決定原文中哪些部分重要，哪些部分次重要了。對重要部分的主要觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)行概括。
D．簡要地記下主要觀點(diǎn)——主題、標(biāo)題、細(xì)節(jié)等你認(rèn)為對概括摘要重要的東西。
第二步：動(dòng)手寫作
A. 摘要應(yīng)該只有原文的三分之一或四分之一長。因此首先數(shù)一下原文的字?jǐn)?shù)，然后除以三，得到一個(gè)數(shù)字。摘要的字?jǐn)?shù)可以少于這個(gè)數(shù)字，但是千萬不能超過這個(gè)數(shù)字。
B. 摘要應(yīng)全部用自己的話完成。不要引用原文的句子。
C. 應(yīng)該遵循原文的邏輯順序。這樣你就不必重新組織觀點(diǎn)、事實(shí)。
D. 摘要必須全面、清晰地表明原文所載的信息，以便你的讀者不需翻閱原文就可以完全掌握材料的原意。
E. 寫摘要時(shí)可以采用下列幾種小技巧：
1) 刪除細(xì)節(jié)。只保留主要觀點(diǎn)。
2) 選擇一至兩個(gè)例子。原文中可能包括5個(gè)或更多的例子，你只需從中篩選一至二個(gè)例子。
3) 把長段的描述變成短小、簡單的句子。如果材料中描述某人或某事用了十個(gè)句子，那么你只要把它們變成一兩句即可。
4) 避免重復(fù)。在原文中，為了強(qiáng)調(diào)某個(gè)主題，可能會重復(fù)論證說明。但是這在摘要中是不能使用的。應(yīng)該刪除那些突出強(qiáng)調(diào)的重述句。
5) 壓縮長的句子。如下列兩例：
“His courage in battle might without exaggeration be called lion-like.”
可以概括為：”He was very brave in battle.”
“He was hard up for money and was being pressed by his creditor.”
可以概括為：“He was in financial difficulties.”
6) 你還可以使用詞組代替整句或者從句。請看下面的例子：
“Beautifulmountains like Mount Tai, Lushan Mountain, and Mount Huang, werevisited by only a few people in the past. Today, better wages, holidayswith pay, new hotels on these mountains, and better train and busservices, have brought them within reach of many who never thought ofvisiting them ten years ago.”
可以概括為：”Beautiful mountains likeMount Tai, once visited by only a few people, are today accessible tomany, thanks to better wages, paid holidays, new hotels and bettertransportation services.”
7) 使用概括性的名詞代替具體的詞，比如：
“Shebrought home several Chinese and English novels, a few copies of Timeand Newsweek and some textbooks. She intended to read all of themduring the winter vocation.”
可以概括為：”She brought home a lot of books to read during the vocation.”
8）使用最短的連接詞。比如，可以使用but, then, thus, yet, though，不能使用at the same time, inthe first place, because of these, on the otherhand等較長的連接詞。通常，使用分號就能夠達(dá)成使用連接詞的效果。
9) 文章中的第一人稱說的話通常在摘要中轉(zhuǎn)換成第三人稱，從而把大段的對白簡化，比如：
Katelooked at Paul disapprovingly: You use much too much salt on your food,Paul — it’s not good for you!” Paul put down his knife and frowned:”Whyon earth not! If you didn’t have salt on your food it would tasteawful… like eating cardboard or sand… just imagine bread without saltin it, or potatoes or pasta cooked without salt!” Kate was patient. Shedidn’t want to quarrel with Paul. She wanted to persuade him. She saidfirmly:”But too much salt is bad for you. It cause high blood pressureand latter on, heart-attacks. It also disguises the taste of food, thereal tastes which are much more subtle than salt, and which we havelost the sensitivity to appreciate any more.”
可以用第三人稱概括為：
Katesuggested to Paul that he should eat less salt. She thought that eatingtoo much salt would do hard to Paul’s health and that it could reducethe real tastes of food. But Paul disagreed. He said that food withoutsalt would be tasteless.
第三步：修改成文
草稿擬好以后，對它進(jìn)行修改。首先，與原文比較看是否把所有重要的觀點(diǎn)都概括了，摘要中的觀點(diǎn)是否與原文中的完全一致。其次，如果摘要中出現(xiàn)了不必要的詞匯、短語或長句子，刪除它們。第三，檢查拼寫、語法和標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號的錯(cuò)誤。最后，保持語言簡單明了。
經(jīng)過上述步驟和方法，一篇摘要就可以完成了。
批注：網(wǎng)絡(luò)上有關(guān)摘要寫作的資源不勝枚舉，但是不一定都切合大家的需求，我這里提供一些比較好的摘要寫作鏈接，希望對大家的練習(xí)有所幫助。我也歡迎大家把寫好的summary和原文一起發(fā)到這里來(作為評論提交到這里來)，我會幫助大家考究細(xì)節(jié)問題。
