When I read this bolg this morning ( http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=569569do=blogid=448000 ) It suddenly downed on me that why couldn't I write the blog in English！ I have always been learning English very hard，I passed the college English Bet 4 test when I was a fresh man ,and then got through the Bet 6 test in the following year.Since I became a postgraduate ，because my subject is logistics engineering ，I found that English is more important for me.So I begun to learn English harder then ever before.I am mad about English now. IreadEnglish loudly in the morning ,andlisten the BBC or VOA materialstored in mymp3 player beforegoing to sleep.In a word,I have pieced together all my spare time to learn English well. Now,in the following passage,I'll introduce my learning method: Fisrtly,I have been reciting the new concept English 3 last year .Though I had learnt the textbook when I was a undergraduate .However,I have almost forgot all of the passages I acquinted.Through persistent hard work，I can recite 40 passages very fluently now,and I hope Secondly，To improve my listening ，Ilistenend theVOA special English at first .After that,I begun to listen VOA standard and BBC.Though it's very hard to appreciate all the contents of the liatening material,you can listen it over an over again until you get the every meaaring of the sentence,even the every meaning of the word.As the old saying goes:practice makes perfect.Only through persistent effort can we improve our English. Finally,I want to say the most important thing in learning English.To learn English,you must make it become part of your life,you muststudy English with full of passion,and you must study English with great interest.There is no shortcut on the road to learn English.Here I want to cite the chinese old saying as a conclusion :Diligence is the path to the mountain of knowledge，hard-working is the boat to the endless sea of learning.(书山有路勤为径，学海无涯苦作舟)
英文写作第一反应词替换表 收藏 作文要想得高分，用词多变是关键。以下是一些作文中的常用替换词，仅供大家参考 ： through － in term of/via operate － manipulate offspring － descendant inevitable － indispensable detail － specific explain － interpret obvious － conspicuous hurt － vulnerable use － employ/utilize value － merit provide － lend － offer true － accurate leading to － contribute to/ conduce to/result in more and more － increasing/growing hardly － merely － barely well-known － outstanding large － miraculous/marvelous although － albeit/notwithstanding in fact － actually/virtually want － intend to/tend to/be inclined to because － in that may be － probably to sum － to summarize/in conclusion explain － interpret/illustrate change － alter chance － alternative custom － convention/tradition think － contemplate/muse/meditate/retrospect arouse － ignite/stimulate/spur/motivate limit － stress/hinder/hamper key － crucial/vital/consequential old － ancient emphasis － accentuate devote to － dedicate to character － trait/individuality/idiosyncrasy/personality expect － anticipate join － participate delegate － representative bias － prejudice/discriminate/tendency thrive － palmy/flourishing/prosperity clash － conflict/collision/rencounter publicize － propagandize agree partly － agree with reserve proper － apposite want to － desire big city － metropolis lawmaking － legislation first － primarily but － nonetheless/nevertheless child － juvenile absorb － assimilate hand in － render undermine － sap/enervate/debilitate get into chaos － with chaos ensuing key － pivot/crux sway － vacillate fanatic patriotism － jingoism/chauvinism persusive － thorough/sound/specific/convincing consider － take into account vague － gratuitous/unwarranted/oversimplified
Scientific Writing for Beginners (1)-(8) by Zuojun Yu I put these articles on one page, for my new friends and their students. Just click each link to see its content. (1) Basic Knowledge of English http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=255459 (2) Preparing Your Figures and Captions http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=256165 (3) Putting Together an Outline http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=256680 (4) Title and Abstract http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=256862 (5) Introduction http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=258111 (6) Never Let Go of Your Readers http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=259573 (7) End Your Paper with a Positive Outlook http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=260375 (8) Revise, Revise, Revise http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=306792do=blogid=260381 p.s. If you find these tips helpful, please share them with your colleagues and students so they may benefit, too.
【 序：此文针对本科生和一、二年级的博士、硕士生，对高年级的博士生和博士后也应该有参考价值。该文的一些背景可以参考我此前关于提高英文写作能力的博文： http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=349932 】 从小到大，我感性思维多一些，不善于读书。 85 至 89 年在清华生物系读本科期间，从未读过任何一种英文专业期刊。我受到的与英文阅读相关的训练一共只有两个。一是我在 1986 年暑假期间选修的时任系主任的蒲慕明老师开设的《生物英语》系列讲座，隐隐约约记得蒲先生让我们阅读一些诸如 DNA 双螺旋发现之类的科普性英文文章，很有意思。但时间较短，暑假过后也没有养成读英文文章的习惯。二是《生物化学》这门课。与现在的清华生命学院形成鲜明对比，我上大学期间的所有基础课和专业课都是采用中文教材、中文讲课，只有郑昌学老师讲授的《生物化学》采用了 Lehninger 的《 Principles of Biochemistry 》，而且郑老师要求我们每个学生每次课后阅读 10-20 页教材。我们同学大多感觉到专业英文阅读有所提高。 1990 年 4 月至 7 月初，我在依阿华州 Ames 小镇的 Iowa State University 度过了初到美国的前三个月，其中大部分时间在 Herbert Fromm 教授的实验室做轮转（ rotation ），跟随刘峰和董群夫妻两人做研究（刘峰现在 University of Texas Health Science Center 做教授）。当时感觉最困难的就是读专业论文。有一次， Fromm 教授要求我在组会上讲解一篇《 Journal of Biological Chemistry 》的文章，我提前两天开始阅读，第一遍花了足足六个小时，许多生词只能依靠英汉词典，文章中的有些关键内容还没有完全读懂，当时的感觉是 JBC 的文章怎么这么长、这么难懂？！真有点苦不堪言。为了能给 Fromm 教授和师兄师姐留下好印象，第二天又花了好几个小时读第二遍，还做了总结。第三天我在组会上的表现总算没有给清华丢脸。但是，前前后后，真搞不清楚自己为了这一篇文章到底花了多少时间！ 90 年 7 月我转学到约翰霍普金斯大学以后，与本科来自北大的虞一华同在 IPMB program 。虞一华大我一岁，来巴尔地摩之前已经在夏威夷大学读了一年的研究生，对于科研论文的阅读比我强多了。他常常在 IPMB 的办公室里拿着《科学》和《自然》周刊津津有味地阅读，看得我很眼馋，也不理解其中那些枯燥的文章有什么意思。他告诉我：他在读很有意思的科学新闻。科学新闻能有什么意思？虞一华给我讲了好几个故事：洛克菲勒大学校长诺贝尔奖得主 David Baltimore 如何深陷泥潭、人类基因组测序如何争辩激烈、 HIV 病毒究竟是谁发现的，等等。我还真没有想到学术期刊上会有这么多我也应该看得懂的内容！从那时起，每一期新的《科学》和《自然》一到，我也开始尝试着阅读里面的新闻和研究进展介绍，这些内容往往出现在“ News Comment ”“ Research News ”“ News Views ”“ Perspectives ” 等栏目，文笔平实，相对于专业的科研论文很容易读懂。有时，我还把读到的科研新闻讲给我的同事朋友们听，而同事的提问和互动对我又是更好的鼓励。除了《科学》和《自然》，我也常常翻看《科学美国人》 ( “ Scientific American ” ) 。 与《细胞》 (Cell) 、《生物化学期刊》（ JBC ）等非常专业的期刊不同，《科学》和《自然》里面有相当一部分内容是用来做科普教育的。《科学》周刊的“ Perspectives ”和 《自然》周刊的 “ News Views ” 栏目都是对重要科学论文的深入浅出的介绍，一般 1-3 页，读起来比较通俗易懂，较易入门。读完这些文章后，再读原始的科学论文，感觉好多了！而且可以把自己的体会与专家的分析比较一下，找找差距，有时甚至也能找回来一点自信！ 从 1998 年在普林斯顿大学任职到现在清华大学做教授，我总是告诉自己实验室的所有年轻人（包括本科生、硕士生、博士生、博士后）下面这几点读科研论文的体会，也希望我的学生跟我学： 1． 请每位学生每周关注《科学》和《自然》。（生命科学界的学生还应该留心《细胞》）。如果时间有限，每周花一个小时读读这两种周刊里的 文章标题 以及与自己研究领域相关的科研论文的 abstract , 即可！这样做可以保证一个学生基本上能够跟踪本领域最重要的发现和进展，同时开阔视野，大概知道其它领域的动态。 2． 在时间充足的情况下，可以细读《科学》和《自然》里的新闻及科研论文。如果该科研论文有 “ News Views ” 或“ Perspectives ”来介绍，请先读这些文章，这类导读的文章会提炼问题，就好比是老师事先给学生讲解一番论文的来龙去脉，对学生阅读原始论文有很大帮助。 3． 在读具体的科研论文时，最重要的是了解文章的 主线逻辑 。文章中的所有 Figures 都是按照这个主线逻辑展开描述的。所以，我一般先读“ introduction ”部分，然后很快地看一遍 Figures 。大概知道这条主线之后，才一字一句地去读“ results ”和“ discussion ”。 4． 当遇到一些实验或结果分析很晦涩难懂时， 不必花太多时间深究 ，而力求一气把文章读完。也许你的问题在后面的内容中自然就有解答。这与听学术讲座非常相似！你如果想每个细节都听懂，留心每一个技术细节，那你听学术讲座不仅会很累，而且也许会为了深究一个小技术环节而影响了对整个讲座逻辑推理及核心结论的理解。 5． 对个别重要的文章和自己领域内的科研论文，应该精读。对与自己课题相关的每一篇论文则必须字斟句酌地读。这些论文，不仅要完全读懂，理解每一个实验的细节、分析、结论，还必须联想到这些实验和结论对自己的课题的影响和启发，提出自己的观点。 6． 科学论文的阅读水平是循序渐进的。每个人开始都会很吃力，所以你有这种感觉不要气馁。坚持很重要，你一定会渐入佳境。当你有问题时或有绝妙分析时，应该与师兄师姐或找导师讨论。 7． 科研训练的一个重要组成部分就是科研论文的阅读。每一个博士生必须经过严格的科研论文阅读的训练。除了你自己的习惯性阅读外，你应该在研究生阶段选修以阅读分析专业文献为主的一至两门课，在实验室内也要有定期的科研论文讨论（ Journal Club ）。如果你的实验室还没有这种讨论，你们学生可以自发地组织起来。 8． 前面几条都是讨论如何提高科研论文的阅读能力，但是一旦入了门，就要学会 critical reading 。不要迷信已发表的论文，哪怕是发表在非常好的期刊上。要时刻提醒自己：该论文逻辑是否严谨，数据是否可靠，实验证据是否支持结论，你是否能想出更好的实验，你是否可以在此论文的基础上提出新的重要问题？等等。 天外有天，读科研论文是一件很简单、但也很深奥的事情。一般的学生常常满足于读懂、读透一篇好的论文，优秀的学生则会举一反三、通过查找 references 纵深了解整个领域的历史、现状，并展望该领域未来的可能进展。 我从 1990 年对学术论文一窍不通到 96 年博士后期间的得心应手，还常常帮助同事分析，自以为水平了得。但是有一件事让我看到了自己的严重不足，颇为羞愧。 1996 年，是 SMAD 蛋白发现及 TGF- b 信号转导研究的最激动人心的一年，哈佛医学院的 Whitman 实验室在十月份的《自然》杂志上以“ Article ”的形式发表了一篇名为“ A transcriptional partner for MAD proteins in TGF- b signaling ” 的文章。读完之后，正好遇到 TGF- b 领域的著名学者 Joan Massague, 我对 Joan 评论说： I’m not so sure why this paper deserves a full article in Nature. They just identified another Smad-interacting protein, and the data quality is mediocre. 完全出乎我的意料， Joan 马上回应我： I disagree! This paper links the cytoplasmic Smad protein into the nucleus and identifies a transcription factor as its interacting protein. Now the TGF- b signaling pathway is complete. It is a beautiful Nature article! 这件事对我触动极大：原来大师的视野和品位远远在我之上。从那以后，我也开始从整个领域的发展方面来权衡一篇文章的重要性，这件事对我今后为国际重要学术期刊审稿、自己实验室选择研究课题都起到了相当重要的作用。 如今，我阅读一篇本领域内的科研论文，非常顺利，而且常常可以看出一些作者没有想到或分析到的关键点。回想从前，感慨万千，感谢蒲慕明、郑昌学、虞一华、 John Desjarlais 、 Jeremy Berg 、 Joan Massague 等一批老师和同事对我的帮助。我很留心，也很用心。 希望所有的学生也能通过努力和坚持对英文科研论文的阅读得心应手！
【 序：此文针对本科生和一、二年级的博士、硕士生，对高年级的博士生和博士后也应该有参考价值。该文的一些背景可以参考我此前关于提高英文写作能力的博文： http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=349932 】 从小到大，我感性思维多一些，不善于读书。85至89年在清华生物系读本科期间，从未读过任何一种英文专业期刊。我受到的与英文阅读相关的训练一共只有两个。一是我在1986年暑假期间选修的时任系主任的蒲慕明老师开设的《生物英语》系列讲座，隐隐约约记得蒲先生让我们阅读一些诸如DNA双螺旋发现之类的科普性英文文章，很有意思。但时间较短，暑假过后也没有养成读英文文章的习惯。二是《生物化学》这门课。与现在的清华生命学院形成鲜明对比，我上大学期间的所有基础课和专业课都是采用中文教材、中文讲课，只有郑昌学老师讲授的《生物化学》采用了Lehninger的《Principles of Biochemistry》，而且郑老师要求我们每个学生每次课后阅读10-20页教材。我们同学大多感觉到专业英文阅读有所提高。 1990 年4月至7月初，我在依阿华州Ames小镇的Iowa State University度过了初到美国的前三个月，其中大部分时间在Herbert Fromm教授的实验室做轮转（rotation），跟随刘峰和董群夫妻两人做研究（刘峰现在University of Texas Health Science Center做教授）。当时感觉最困难的就是读专业论文。有一次，Fromm教授要求我在组会上讲解一篇《Journal of Biological Chemistry》的文章，我提前两天开始阅读，第一遍花了足足六个小时，许多生词只能依靠英汉词典，文章中的有些关键内容还没有完全读懂，当时的感觉是JBC的文章怎么这么长、这么难懂？！真有点苦不堪言。为了能给Fromm教授和师兄师姐留下好印象，第二天又花了好几个小时读第二遍，还做了总结。第三天我在组会上的表现总算没有给清华丢脸。但是，前前后后，真搞不清楚自己为了这一篇文章到底花了多少时间！ 90 年7月我转学到约翰霍普金斯大学以后，与本科来自北大的虞一华同在IPMB program。虞一华大我一岁，来巴尔地摩之前已经在夏威夷大学读了一年的研究生，对于科研论文的阅读比我强多了。他常常在IPMB的办公室里拿着《科学》和《自然》周刊津津有味地阅读，看得我很眼馋，也不理解其中那些枯燥的文章有什么意思。他告诉我：他在读很有意思的科学新闻。科学新闻能有什么意思？虞一华给我讲了好几个故事：洛克菲勒大学校长诺贝尔奖得主David Baltimore如何深陷泥潭、人类基因组测序如何争辩激烈、HIV病毒究竟是谁发现的，等等。我还真没有想到学术期刊上会有这么多我也应该看得懂的内容！从那时起，每一期新的《科学》和《自然》一到，我也开始尝试着阅读里面的新闻和研究进展介绍，这些内容往往出现在“News amp; Comment”“Research News”“News amp; Views”“Perspectives”等栏目，文笔平实，相对于专业的科研论文很容易读懂。有时，我还把读到的科研新闻讲给我的同事朋友们听，而同事的提问和互动对我又是更好的鼓励。除了《科学》和《自然》，我也常常翻看《科学美国人》(“Scientific American”)。 与《细胞》(Cell)、《生物化学期刊》（JBC）等非常专业的期刊不同，《科学》和《自然》里面有相当一部分内容是用来做科普教育的。《科学》周刊的“Perspectives ”和 《自然》周刊的“News amp; Views”栏目都是对重要科学论文的深入浅出的介绍，一般1-3页，读起来比较通俗易懂，较易入门。读完这些文章后，再读原始的科学论文，感觉好多了！而且可以把自己的体会与专家的分析比较一下，找找差距，有时甚至也能找回来一点自信！ 从1998年在普林斯顿大学任职到现在清华大学做教授，我总是告诉自己实验室的所有年轻人（包括本科生、硕士生、博士生、博士后）下面这几点读科研论文的体会，也希望我的学生跟我学： 1 ． 请每位学生每周关注《科学》和《自然》。（生命科学界的学生还应该留心《细胞》）。如果时间有限，每周花一个小时读读这两种周刊里的 文章标题 以及与自己研究领域相关的科研论文的 abstract ,即可！这样做可以保证一个学生基本上能够跟踪本领域最重要的发现和进展，同时开阔视野，大概知道其它领域的动态。 2 ． 在时间充足的情况下，可以细读《科学》和《自然》里的新闻及科研论文。如果该科研论文有“News amp; Views”或“Perspectives ”来介绍，请先读这些文章，这类导读的文章会提炼问题，就好比是老师事先给学生讲解一番论文的来龙去脉，对学生阅读原始论文有很大帮助。 3 ． 在读具体的科研论文时，最重要的是了解文章的 主线逻辑 。文章中的所有 Figures 都是按照这个主线逻辑展开描述的。所以，我一般先读“ introduction ”部分，然后很快地看一遍 Figures 。大概知道这条主线之后，才一字一句地去读“ results ”和“ discussion ”。 4 ． 当遇到一些实验或结果分析很晦涩难懂时， 不必花太多时间深究 ，而力求一气把文章读完。也许你的问题在后面的内容中自然就有解答。这与听学术讲座非常相似！你如果想每个细节都听懂，留心每一个技术细节，那你听学术讲座不仅会很累，而且也许会为了深究一个小技术环节而影响了对整个讲座逻辑推理及核心结论的理解。 5 ． 对个别重要的文章和自己领域内的科研论文，应该精读。对与自己课题相关的每一篇论文则必须字斟句酌地读。这些论文，不仅要完全读懂，理解每一个实验的细节、分析、结论，还必须联想到这些实验和结论对自己的课题的影响和启发，提出自己的观点。 6 ． 科学论文的阅读水平是循序渐进的。每个人开始都会很吃力，所以你有这种感觉不要气馁。坚持很重要，你一定会渐入佳境。当你有问题时或有绝妙分析时，应该与师兄师姐或找导师讨论。 7 ． 科研训练的一个重要组成部分就是科研论文的阅读。每一个博士生必须经过严格的科研论文阅读的训练。除了你自己的习惯性阅读外，你应该在研究生阶段选修以阅读分析专业文献为主的一至两门课，在实验室内也要有定期的科研论文讨论（ Journal Club ）。如果你的实验室还没有这种讨论，你们学生可以自发地组织起来。 8 ． 前面几条都是讨论如何提高科研论文的阅读能力，但是一旦入了门，就要学会critical reading。不要迷信已发表的论文，哪怕是发表在非常好的期刊上。要时刻提醒自己：该论文逻辑是否严谨，数据是否可靠，实验证据是否支持结论，你是否能想出更好的实验，你是否可以在此论文的基础上提出新的重要问题？等等。 天外有天，读科研论文是一件很简单、但也很深奥的事情。一般的学生常常满足于读懂、读透一篇好的论文，优秀的学生则会举一反三、通过查找references纵深了解整个领域的历史、现状，并展望该领域未来的可能进展。 我从1990年对学术论文一窍不通到96年博士后期间的得心应手，还常常帮助同事分析，自以为水平了得。但是有一件事让我看到了自己的严重不足，颇为羞愧。1996年，是SMAD蛋白发现及TGF- b 信号转导研究的最激动人心的一年，哈佛医学院的Whitman实验室在十月份的《自然》杂志上以“Article”的形式发表了一篇名为“ A transcriptional partner for MAD proteins in TGF- b signaling ”的文章。读完之后，正好遇到TGF- b 领域的著名学者 Joan Massague, 我对Joan评论说： I’m not so sure why this paper deserves a full article in Nature. They just identified another Smad-interacting protein, and the data quality is mediocre. 完全出乎我的意料， Joan 马上回应我： I disagree! This paper links the cytoplasmic Smad protein into the nucleus and identifies a transcription factor as its interacting protein. Now the TGF- b signaling pathway is complete. It is a beautiful Nature article! 这件事对我触动极大：原来大师的视野和品位远远在我之上。从那以后，我也开始从整个领域的发展方面来权衡一篇文章的重要性，这件事对我今后为国际重要学术期刊审稿、自己实验室选择研究课题都起到了相当重要的作用。 如今，我阅读一篇本领域内的科研论文，非常顺利，而且常常可以看出一些作者没有想到或分析到的关键点。回想从前，感慨万千，感谢蒲慕明、郑昌学、虞一华、 John Desjarlais 、 Jeremy Berg 、 Joan Massague 等一批老师和同事对我的帮助。我很留心，也很用心。 希望所有的学生也能通过努力和坚持对英文科研论文的阅读得心应手！
hi，马老师您好，非常欣赏你的博文和你的思考和感悟。 最近看了你关于个人修炼的文章，可否推荐一些你觉得比较好的关于如何训练和提高科技英文写作的书？ 还有，关于时间管理，我看到很多谈时间管理的书都是关于工作，公司里面的东西，关于科研的（尤其是关于做实验以及理论学习的时间如何分配，科研生活如何协调），可否推荐一些书，或谈谈您的看法？ 谢谢您的宝贵时间！ 回答：关于科技论文写作，在国外时看到有人推荐《The Elements of Style》，然而我读了这本书感到对我的用处不大：这本书主要从英语写作的基本功角度写的，包括如何使行文更加简洁等，然而对科研论文的谋篇布局却没有涉及。后来读到《How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper》（第六版，北京大学已经引进出版：《如何撰写和发表科技论文》），感到这本书非常适合初学的研究生看，作者介绍了科研写作、投稿和科研伦理的方方面面，每一章都通俗易懂，很容易看懂。如果在科研写作方面没有任何基础的话，用这本书打基础是非常适合的。但是有一定基础的人读这本书就感到比较小儿科，感到这里说的都是常识。 使我有启发的是《The ACS Style Guide》（第二版），后来我又买了第三版。这本书不但有科研论文的基本功，包括如何使用缩略语，如何引用别人的文章，而且有资深的编辑、审稿人对于他们如何写作、审稿子看什么的体会。这本书还用笼统描述性的语言介绍了写文章各个部件的总的要求和注意事项。读了以后，就知道并不是你得到了好数据然后把数据罗列一下就行的，而是要有更多的分析和内涵。用美国化学会杂志征稿要求的语言来说，纯粹是报数据的文章是不收的，而要有深入的道理方面的讨论，能提高人们对这一个课题的科学认识。 我最推崇的是牛津大学出版社出版的《Write Like A Chemist》，这本厚厚的书把科研论文分解为各个部件，每个部件有“公式化”的写作方法、常用句型和注意事项。这本书并非笼统描述、看过就忘记的那种，而是讲解得很清楚，里面的内容也很实用，并且配了各种案例和习题。如果真的能够从头到尾读下来，能成为写作高手。而已经熟悉科研写作的人，也能从书中找到对自己经验方法的印证。这本由牛津大学出版社出版的书，字正腔圆，它不是左道旁门，而是正统的好书。而书店里卖的国内很多介绍科研写作的中文书过于强调英语的词法、句法，却没能介绍“上乘功夫”，读了那些，很难写出神采飞扬的好文章。 关于时间管理，我想说我并不是时间管理大师，否则我的“结局”会更好。但是：（1）时间管理的规律是客观存在的，不以人的意志为转移的。时间管理能导致好的结果，但是有好结局的人并不是一定就擅长时间管理，这和评价的标准有关系。（2）正因为我很早以前没有接触到时间管理这方面的书，所以我要学习这方面的道理，并且感到有些道理（虽然我也无法完全照着做。） 很多市场上时间管理的中文书是一些常识性的经验、体会，我推荐一本非常好的Brian Tracy写的《Eat That Frog!》（中文版已经引进出版：《吃掉那只青蛙》）。这本书非常适合大学生、研究生和科研工作者看，甚至高中生也能读懂。该书分为十多章，讲述时间管理的规律性的东西，看了以后会很有启发。如果真的能够用到自己身上，威力一定很大。还有本详细、深奥一点的，是《Time Power》（中文版《时间力》），比较枯燥。 你的来信促使了我的思考，是因为你引出了一个重要的话题：书上讲的那些东西，看起来很有道理，在理论上站得住脚，但是如何把这些规律用到具体的科研实践中呢？如何指导自己的科研和研究生阶段的生活呢？我本来想回答说：“只要你看了《Eat That Frog!》，你就能潜移默化地提高了。”但这个回答在闪躲。以下，也许我无法充分地回答你的问题，但我尽可能提供几点值得思考的东西。 时间管理理论的发展，正如现代管理理论的发展一样，经历了几个阶段。一开始，人们认为抓紧时间、每天工作十几个小时就是时间管理。后来人们认识到效率、统筹方法的重要性。再后来人们强调计划，就是拿出一张纸片，记下来我已经做了什么，我明天要做什么。这些只是比较初级的时间管理，因为这些都强调“做事”，却没有分清楚“做什么样的事情”。在高级阶段，人们认识到，每天都有无数的事情要做，而这些事情有的是重要的，有的是不重要的。重要的事情件数少，只占20%，但能带来80%的效用；而不重要的事情件数多，占80%，但只带来20%的效用。因此时间管理的秘诀就是帕累托的80-20定律。为此，我们应在做事之前甄别什么是重要的，什么是不重要的。时间管理大师说：你没有时间做所有的事情，但你有足够的时间做重要的两三件事。 举个夸张的假设性的例子（虽然我不是这么做）：比如说留学生想进国内高校任教，准入条件是至少发两篇第一作者的JACS（美国化学会志）。“聪明”的人就会围绕着这个指挥棒转，一心只发JACS，一心只做对自己有利的事情（第一作者），而不从事辅助性的实验（即不发第N作者文章），因为他知道，几篇第一作者JACS就是能给能带来80%效用的20%事情。而“愚蠢”的人做了这个、做了那个，有的是搭仪器，有的是帮助老板写proposal，有的是帮助别人做实验（自己为第N作者），后来要么很少有文章，要么虽然文章出了一大堆，“有用”的却没有几篇。这就是所谓的80%的付出带来了20%的效用。 以上这个夸张的例子从一个角度来讲，说明80-20原理是客观存在的，从另一个角度去讲，说明这个原理的局限性：这个原理是从最终的“效用”为导向、为指挥棒的，并且这个“效用”受评价标准的影响而会有“无效”和“有效”的结论。比如说我认为帮助别人（自己为第N作者）对我的心理上是有效用的，但是有的评价体系不这么认为。因此，怎么做，取决于你自己对“效用”的认定，即价值观。 除了上面的假设性的例子外，还有些正儿八经的例子：比如说我很少看电视，很少出去购物（或者“一次购清”），我认为这些都不能产生“效用”。再比如有些科学家收到审稿邀请，随手就把稿子发给学生去审，他很“聪明”，他知道这些“杂事”不会给他带来很大的“效用”。还有的科学家把学生差一点的文章让课题组的“小老板”或者“大师兄”去精心修改，而自己则腾出手来“御驾亲征”修改“高档次文章”，因为后者能带来更大“效用”。 以上说了些80-20原理。这本《吃掉那只青蛙》当然还有很多很有价值的经验。现代人在时间管理上还有一个“陷阱”就是把“活动”当作了“效果”。一匹马整天在“活动”，但它没有“效果”。再比如一个研究生或者青年教师，到了学校上午去财务科报销、然后审稿子，下午参加各种会议、接待社会上来的推销员，晚上看报纸、看杂志，表面上看起来在“活动”，但没有产生多大“效果”。从书中，我领会到，“吃掉那只青蛙”的意思就是说“别人恶心吃青蛙，你要狠下心来吃掉那只最难吃的青蛙”（即跳出“舒适区”）。生活、工作，不是捡最简单的事情来做，而是捡难做的事情来做，捡别人不会做、不能做的事情来做。做了难的事情，你的能力就提高了，难的事情就难不倒你；而做了简单的事情，则永远只会做简单的事情。并且，这本书告诉读者，时间和精力花在什么地方，你的成就也在什么地方。比如说你花在研究化妆品上，你是“闲暇生活者”；你花在八卦别人上，你成为“八卦者”；你花在写博客上，你成为知名博主；你花在工作上，你成为业务骨干。 这本书所说的东西，我现在无法完全做到，但这本书能启发我做选择。比如说，有的机构请我当“绿色产品鉴定专家”，有的和我自己专业没有关系的杂志请我当英文技术编辑（校稿），有的留学机构请我给他们的客户提供有偿服务，有的报纸杂志请我写社会上大众也能写的文章，有的不公开发行的内部刊物请我写文章，这些我都推辞了。因为我知道，时间放在哪里，成功就在哪里。 关于如何安排看文献、做实验、写文章，王华峰在《科学新闻》撰文说，要1/3时间看文献，1/3时间做实验，1/3时间写文章。我认为具体的怎么安排，要根据以下两个因素进行调整：（1）你现在是什么身份；（2）你将来要做什么。很多留学生到了美国，老板是不会让你拿着他的钱而坐下来看文献的，而是一进实验室就赶鸭子上架似的让你做实验，利用业余时间看文献，后来又利用白天时间加上业余时间写文章。那些老板设计好了实验思路，就是让你来完成的。而对于博士后，更是如此，有拿个老板愿意你每天领着200美金的工资不干活？看到你坐在电脑前面，心里想白给你工资了。 也就是说，如果你只是想拿个文凭毕业、只是想对得起博士后的工资、或者只是想成为“有手的工具”的话，多花点时间做实验对你完全没有坏处，而且是非常有利的，因为别人只看“效果”。然而，如果你要放眼将来成为“学者”的话，看文献（甚至是看和自己课题无关的文献）是非常重要的。并且这是一条默默无闻的“不归路”：你看了文献，无法取得立竿见影的效果，在找工作的时候，国内的人只看你发了什么文章，你无法用“我看了5000篇文献”作为应聘的筹码。这里的关系就象《The 7 Habits of High Efficient People》里面所说的鸡和金蛋的故事：有的人杀鸡取金蛋，而你既要产金蛋的鸡，也要得到金蛋，于是就引出了“生产出东西”和“可再生产能力”这两者平衡（即可持续发展）的问题。
作为一个科研工作者，在国际学术期刊上发表科研论文是与同行交流、取得国际影响的必经之路。有些国内的科学家，实验做得很漂亮，但常常苦恼于论文的写作力不从心，成为国际交流的一大障碍。本文从博主的亲身体验出发，给博士生、博士后、以及年轻的PI提供一个借鉴。文章最后做简短总结。 我大学时的同班同学都知道，那时我的英语不算好（英语四级考试仅为“良”），写作尤其糟糕。初到美国之时，对英文环境适应得很差，读一篇JBC的文章要五、六个小时，还常常不理解其中一些关键词句的意思,心里压力极大。 很幸运，我在约翰霍普金斯大学（Johns Hopkins University）攻读博士学位时，1991年4月遇到了学兄和启蒙老师John Desjarlais。听了我的苦恼后，John告诉我，“Spend 45 minutes every day reading Washington Post, and you will be cruising with your written English in two years”(每天花45分钟读《华盛顿邮报》,两年后你的写作能力会得心应手)。这条建议正合我意 - 我原本就对新闻感兴趣！于是，我每天上午安排完第一批实验后，都会在十点左右花一小时的时间阅读《华盛顿邮报》，主要看A版(新闻版)。刚开始，我一个小时只能读两、三个短消息或一个长篇报道，中间还不得不经常查字典看生词。但不知不觉间，我的阅读能力明显提高，1992年老布什与克林顿竞选总统，我跟踪新闻，常常一个小时能读上几个版面的消息或四、五个长篇报道，有时还把刚看到的新闻绘声绘色地讲给师兄师姐听。 阅读直接提升了我的英文写作能力。看完一些新闻后，我常常产生动笔写自己感想的冲动。92年巴塞罗那奥运会，中国游泳队取得了四金五银的好成绩，美国主要媒体纷纷指责这是中国运动员服用违禁药物，但没有任何检测的证据，完全凭美国运动员的感觉。此事让我很气愤，我生平第一次给《华盛顿邮报》和《巴尔的摩太阳报》（The Baltimore Sun）各写了一封信，评论报道的不公平。没想到两天后《巴尔的摩太阳报》居然原封不动的把我的信刊登在“读者来信”栏目，同事祝贺，我也洋洋得意。受到此事鼓励，我在此后三年多的日子里，常常动笔，有些文章发表在报刊上（大部分投稿石沉大海），也曾代表中国留学生写信向校方争取过中国学生的利益。有时还有意外的惊喜。95年的一天，一位朋友打电话告诉我：今天出版的《巴尔的摩太阳报》上有我的评论文章！我急匆匆赶到街头买来5份报纸，果然，在A版的倒数第二页，以15x15厘米的篇幅发表了我一个多星期前寄给报社、本以为不会发表的一篇抨击吴宏达的文章。 以上是简述我个人英文写作提升的一段过程。但是，科研论文不同于读者来信，有其专业特点、甚至是固定格式。1994年，我第一次完整地写科研论文，感觉很差。好不容易写完的文章，连我自己都不愿意读第二遍；勉强修改之后，交给了老板Jeremy Berg。他拖了三周没看我的文章，我实在忍不住了、去催他，上午9点，Jeremy告诉我：今天看！11点，我去他办公室催，秘书拦住我，说Jeremy正在办理重要事务，两点前不得打扰。我心里惴惴，不知Jeremy在干什么。下午一点半，Jeremy急匆匆过来找我，拿了一叠纸， “This is the draft. Please let me know what you think. We can aim for a Science report.”（这是初稿，你看看如何，我们可以试试《科学》）我仔细一看，天啊！一共7页，四个多小时Jeremy已经把文章的整体写完了，只是缺少Method和 references。让我郁闷的是，他根本没有用我的初稿。 【其实，写文章贵在一气呵成。我也沿袭了Jeremy的风格。2006年10月，在我们处于劣势的激烈竞争中，有两个课题面临被 scoop的危险，我曾经两次、一晚上赶一篇文章。10月15日，傍晚8点左右开始写、通宵，第二天早晨10点完成一篇按照《细胞》杂志格式的论文，包括abstract, introduction, results, discussion,仔细阅读一遍后于下午4点半完成网上投稿。这篇文章最终发表在12月份《自然》的子刊《结构与分子生物学》上（电子版于11月10日发表）。另一篇，10月18日，晚6点开始写、通宵，第二天早晨8点完成，上午9点半完成投稿，最终发表在12月15日的《细胞》上。当然，能通宵完成一篇文章，还有一个重要前提，就是对研究领域非常熟悉，对文章整体的大概思路已经深思熟虑，所有的Figures都事先做好了。这些前期工作即使全身心投入也需要3-4天。】 从1994年自己写第一篇科研论文的艰难到现在写起来得心应手、驾轻就熟，我总结出如下经验： 1．要写好科研论文，必须先养成读英文文章的习惯，争取每天30-60分钟。刚开始可以选择以读英文报纸、英文新闻为主，逐渐转为读专业杂志。我会在近期专门写一篇博客文章介绍一套行之有效的增强读专业杂志能力的办法。 2．写科研论文，最重要的是逻辑。逻辑的形成来自对实验数据的总体分析。必须先讨论出一套清晰的思路，然后按照思路来做图(Figures)，最后才能执笔。 3．具体写作时，先按照思路（即Figures）写一个以subheading为主的框架，然后开始具体写作。第一稿，切忌追求每一句话的完美，更不要追求词语的华丽，而主要留心逻辑（logic flow），注意前后句的逻辑关系、相邻两段的逻辑关系。写作时，全力以赴，尽可能不受外界事情干扰（关闭手机、座机），争取在最短时间内拿出第一稿。还要注意：一句话不可太长。 4．学会照葫芦画瓢。没有人天生会写优秀的科研论文，都是从别人那里学来的。学习别人的文章要注意专业领域的不同，有些领域（包括我所在的结构生物学）有它内在的写作规律。科研文章里的一些话是定式，比如 “To investigate the mechanism of …, we performed …”, “These results support the former, but not the latter, hypothesis …”, “Despite recent progress, how … remains to be elucidated …” 等等。用两次以后，就逐渐学会灵活运用了。在向别人学习时，切忌抄袭。在美国一些机构，连续7个英文单词在一起和别人的完全一样，原则上就被认为抄袭（plagiarism）。 5．第一稿写完后，给自己不要超过一天的休息时间，开始修改第二稿。修改时，还是以逻辑为主，但对每一句话都要推敲一下，对abstract和正文中的关键语句要字斟句酌。学会用“Thesaurus”（同义词替换）以避免过多重复。第二稿的修改极为关键，再往后就不会大改了。 6．第二稿以后的修改，主要注重具体的字句，不会改变整体逻辑了。投稿前，一定要整体读一遍，对个别词句略作改动。记住： 学术期刊一般不会因为具体的语法错误拒绝一篇文章，但一定会因为逻辑混乱而拒绝一篇文章。 这套方法行之有效，我对所有的学生和博士后都会如此教导。我的第一个博士后是柴继杰，1999年加入我在普林斯顿大学的实验室。继杰当时的英文阅读和写作能力很差。我对他的第一个建议就是，“每天花半小时读英文报纸”。难能可贵的是：他坚持下来了！经过几年的努力，2004年继杰已经能写出不错的grant proposal，2006年他的第一篇独立科研论文发表在《Molecular Cell》上，随后相继在《自然》发表两篇、在其它一流学术期刊发表十多篇论文。写作能力开始成熟。 发表论文是一件值得高兴的事情，但要明白：论文只是一个载体，是为了向同行们宣告你的科研发现，是科学领域交流的重要工具。所以，在科研论文写作时，一定要谨记于心的就是：用最简单的话表达最明白的意思，但一定要逻辑严谨！其实，中文和英文论文皆如此！
自己也常困扰于摄氏度之类的不大常用的符号的正确格式的书写问题，正好科学网qq群里的卢芸老师写下了这篇经验之谈，留给自己看的，哈哈哈 原帖地址：http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=298970do=blogid=405428 小圈却是大问题，谈谈如何正确在word中打出 “°”和“°C” 这里只谈英文写作中如何正确表示这两个单位。 1. degree “ ° ” 方法一 ： word 的“插入”工具栏下的“符号”，字体选择 Times New Roman ， 子集 选择拉丁语 -1 ，最右端便是“ ° ”。 方法二 ：使用 sogou 拼音，中文输入“ du ”，选择第三个，此时在文中是“°”，字体此时显示是宋体，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后为“ ° ”。 方法三 ： word 的“插入”工具栏下的“特殊符号”，单位符号中第三排第二列“°”，仍要将字体改为 Times New Roman ，改后为“ ° ”。 2. degrees Celsius “ °C ” 伪方法一：使用 sogou 拼音，中文输入“ sheshidu ”，选择第五个，此时在文中是“℃”，字体此时显示是宋体，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后仍为“ ℃ ”。 伪方法二：输入英文字母“ oC ”后将字母“ o ”变成上标，此时显示“ o C ”。 伪方法三： word 的 “插入”工具栏下的“特殊符号”，单位符号中第一排倒数第二列“ ℃ ”，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后仍为“ ℃ ”。 正确方法 ：按照之前介绍的方法键入“ ° ”，不要空格，直接键入大写字母“ C ”即为“ °C ”。 注意事项 ：数字和单位之间应当有空格，但数字和百分号、单独的“ ° ”之间不需要空格。 Incorrect 30°C 30° C 30 % 30 ° Correct 30 °C 30% 30° 致谢： 谢谢 杨 老师 给我的耐心指导和帮助，谢谢科学网博客群里热心博友 宁佳、王正全 的出谋划策。 参考文献 ： Robinson, M. S. ； Stoller ， F. L. Write Like a Chemist: A Guide and Resource; Robinson, M. S., Jones, J. K., Eds.; Oxford University Press; Madison Avenue, New York, 2008; p 86-89.
这里只谈英文写作中如何正确表示这两个单位。 1. degree “ ° ” 方法一 ： word 的“插入”工具栏下的“符号”，字体选择 Times New Roman ， 子集 选择拉丁语 -1 ，最右端便是“ ° ”。 方法二 ：使用 sogou 拼音，中文输入“ du ”，选择第三个，此时在文中是“°”，字体此时显示是宋体，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后为“ ° ”。 方法三 ： word 的“插入”工具栏下的“特殊符号”，单位符号中第三排第二列“°”，仍要将字体改为 Times New Roman ，改后为“ ° ”。 2. degrees Celsius “ °C ” 伪方法一：使用 sogou 拼音，中文输入“ sheshidu ”，选择第五个，此时在文中是“℃”，字体此时显示是宋体，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后仍为“ ℃ ”。 伪方法二：输入英文字母“ oC ”后将字母“ o ”变成上标，此时显示“ o C ”。 伪方法三： word 的 “插入”工具栏下的“特殊符号”，单位符号中第一排倒数第二列“ ℃ ”，将字体改为 Times New Roman 后仍为“ ℃ ”。 正确方法 ：按照之前介绍的方法键入“ ° ”，不要空格，直接键入大写字母“ C ”即为“ °C ”。 注意事项 ：数字和单位之间应当有空格，但数字和百分号、单独的“ ° ”之间不需要空格。 Incorrect 30°C 30° C 30 % 30 ° Correct 30 °C 30% 30° 致谢： 谢谢 杨 老师 给我的耐心指导和帮助，谢谢科学网博客群里热心博友 宁佳、王正全 的出谋划策。 参考文献 ： Robinson, M. S. ； Stoller ， F. L. Write Like a Chemist: A Guide and Resource; Robinson, M. S., Jones, J. K., Eds.; Oxford University Press; Madison Avenue, New York, 2008; p 86-89.
作为一个科研工作者，在国际学术期刊上发表科研论文是与同行交流、取得国际影响的必经之路。有些国内的科学家，实验做得很漂亮，但常常苦恼于论文的写作力不从心，成为国际交流的一大障碍。本文从博主的亲身体验出发，给博士生、博士后、以及年轻的PI提供一个借鉴。文章最后做简短总结。 我大学时的同班同学都知道，那时我的英语不算好（英语四级考试仅为良），写作尤其糟糕。初到美国之时，对英文环境适应得很差，读一篇JBC的文章要五、六个小时，还常常不理解其中一些关键词句的意思,心里压力极大。 很幸运，我在约翰霍普金斯大学（Johns Hopkins University）攻读博士学位时，1991年4月遇到了学兄和启蒙老师John Desjarlais。听了我的苦恼后，John告诉我，Spend 45 minutes every day reading Washington Post, and you will be cruising with your written English in two years(每天花45分钟读《华盛顿邮报》,两年后你的写作能力会得心应手)。这条建议正合我意 - 我原本就对新闻感兴趣！于是，我每天上午安排完第一批实验后，都会在十点左右花一小时的时间阅读《华盛顿邮报》，主要看A版(新闻版)。刚开始，我一个小时只能读两、三个短消息或一个长篇报道，中间还不得不经常查字典看生词。但不知不觉间，我的阅读能力明显提高，1992年老布什与克林顿竞选总统，我跟踪新闻，常常一个小时能读上几个版面的消息或四、五个长篇报道，有时还把刚看到的新闻绘声绘色地讲给师兄师姐听。 阅读直接提升了我的英文写作能力。看完一些新闻后，我常常产生动笔写自己感想的冲动。92年巴塞罗那奥运会，中国游泳队取得了四金五银的好成绩，美国主要媒体纷纷指责这是中国运动员服用违禁药物，但没有任何检测的证据，完全凭美国运动员的感觉。此事让我很气愤，我生平第一次给《华盛顿邮报》和《巴尔的摩太阳报》（The Baltimore Sun）各写了一封信，评论报道的不公平。没想到两天后《巴尔的摩太阳报》居然原封不动的把我的信刊登在读者来信栏目，同事祝贺，我也洋洋得意。受到此事鼓励，我在此后三年多的日子里，常常动笔，有些文章发表在报刊上（大部分投稿石沉大海），也曾代表中国留学生写信向校方争取过中国学生的利益。有时还有意外的惊喜。95年的一天，一位朋友打电话告诉我：今天出版的《巴尔的摩太阳报》上有我的评论文章！我急匆匆赶到街头买来5份报纸，果然，在A版的倒数第二页，以15x15厘米的篇幅发表了我一个多星期前寄给报社、本以为不会发表的一篇抨击吴宏达的文章。 以上是简述我个人英文写作提升的一段过程。但是，科研论文不同于读者来信，有其专业特点、甚至是固定格式。1994年，我第一次完整地写科研论文，感觉很差。好不容易写完的文章，连我自己都不愿意读第二遍；勉强修改之后，交给了老板Jeremy Berg。他拖了三周没看我的文章，我实在忍不住了、去催他，上午9点，Jeremy告诉我：今天看！11点，我去他办公室催，秘书拦住我，说Jeremy正在办理重要事务，两点前不得打扰。我心里惴惴，不知Jeremy在干什么。下午一点半，Jeremy急匆匆过来找我，拿了一叠纸， This is the draft. Please let me know what you think. We can aim for a Science report.（这是初稿，你看看如何，我们可以试试《科学》）我仔细一看，天啊！一共7页，四个多小时Jeremy已经把文章的整体写完了，只是缺少Method和 references。让我郁闷的是，他根本没有用我的初稿。 【其实，写文章贵在一气呵成。我也沿袭了Jeremy的风格。2006年10月，在我们处于劣势的激烈竞争中，有两个课题面临被 scoop的危险，我曾经两次、一晚上赶一篇文章。10月15日，傍晚8点左右开始写、通宵，第二天早晨10点完成一篇按照《细胞》杂志格式的论文，包括abstract, introduction, results, discussion,仔细阅读一遍后于下午4点半完成网上投稿。这篇文章最终发表在12月份《自然》的子刊《结构与分子生物学》上（电子版于11月10日发表）。另一篇，10月18日，晚6点开始写、通宵，第二天早晨8点完成，上午9点半完成投稿，最终发表在12月15日的《细胞》上。当然，能通宵完成一篇文章，还有一个重要前提，就是对研究领域非常熟悉，对文章整体的大概思路已经深思熟虑，所有的Figures都事先做好了。这些前期工作即使全身心投入也需要3-4天。】 从1994年自己写第一篇科研论文的艰难到现在写起来得心应手、驾轻就熟，我总结出如下经验： 1．要写好科研论文，必须先养成读英文文章的习惯，争取每天30-60分钟。刚开始可以选择以读英文报纸、英文新闻为主，逐渐转为读专业杂志。我会在近期专门写一篇博客文章介绍一套行之有效的增强读专业杂志能力的办法。 2．写科研论文，最重要的是逻辑。逻辑的形成来自对实验数据的总体分析。必须先讨论出一套清晰的思路，然后按照思路来做图(Figures)，最后才能执笔。 3．具体写作时，先按照思路（即Figures）写一个以subheading为主的框架，然后开始具体写作。第一稿，切忌追求每一句话的完美，更不要追求词语的华丽，而主要留心逻辑（logic flow），注意前后句的逻辑关系、相邻两段的逻辑关系。写作时，全力以赴，尽可能不受外界事情干扰（关闭手机、座机），争取在最短时间内拿出第一稿。还要注意：一句话不可太长。 4．学会照葫芦画瓢。没有人天生会写优秀的科研论文，都是从别人那里学来的。学习别人的文章要注意专业领域的不同，有些领域（包括我所在的结构生物学）有它内在的写作规律。科研文章里的一些话是定式，比如 To investigate the mechanism of , we performed , These results support the former, but not the latter, hypothesis , Despite recent progress, how remains to be elucidated 等等。用两次以后，就逐渐学会灵活运用了。在向别人学习时，切忌抄袭。在美国一些机构，连续7个英文单词在一起和别人的完全一样，原则上就被认为抄袭（plagiarism）。 5．第一稿写完后，给自己不要超过一天的休息时间，开始修改第二稿。修改时，还是以逻辑为主，但对每一句话都要推敲一下，对abstract和正文中的关键语句要字斟句酌。学会用Thesaurus（同义词替换）以避免过多重复。第二稿的修改极为关键，再往后就不会大改了。 6．第二稿以后的修改，主要注重具体的字句，不会改变整体逻辑了。投稿前，一定要整体读一遍，对个别词句略作改动。记住： 学术期刊一般不会因为具体的语法错误拒绝一篇文章，但一定会因为逻辑混乱而拒绝一篇文章。 这套方法行之有效，我对所有的学生和博士后都会如此教导。我的第一个博士后是柴继杰，1999年加入我在普林斯顿大学的实验室。继杰当时的英文阅读和写作能力很差。我对他的第一个建议就是，每天花半小时读英文报纸。难能可贵的是：他坚持下来了！经过几年的努力，2004年继杰已经能写出不错的grant proposal，2006年他的第一篇独立科研论文发表在《Molecular Cell》上，随后相继在《自然》发表两篇、在其它一流学术期刊发表十多篇论文。写作能力开始成熟。 发表论文是一件值得高兴的事情，但要明白：论文只是一个载体，是为了向同行们宣告你的科研发现，是科学领域交流的重要工具。所以，在科研论文写作时，一定要谨记于心的就是：用最简单的话表达最明白的意思，但一定要逻辑严谨！其实，中文和英文论文皆如此！ 本文引用地址： http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=349932
首先，我声明这是我转自小木虫论坛的wandaohz，谢谢他的无私！ 本文来自: 小木虫论坛 http://emuch.net/bbs/viewthread.php?fid=125tid=2364224author=1 我并不是大牛，但也算是在外文期刊上发了几篇文章，现在我写文章2天可以写成，一周可以完稿。以前写的文章老是refuse，现在大多都是revised，摸索写文章的路真的很艰辛，研二上学期我写的4篇文章，结果改来改去的，整的快崩溃了，现在好了，写的文章能拿到1.5左右的杂志上基本就accept了。 我觉得写文章之前要先有思路，你怎么去写怎么写的和别人不同，有新意。这里面的文章很大，我也说不透，只是参透了一二，和大家分享，望大家不要耻笑。我毕竟是个硕士研究生。 我觉得论文写很简单，主要是能够发表出去。下面我简单讲下我的思路。有相同或不同见解的留下言，共同交流，一起进步。 我是材料出身，搞的是催化，文章的第一步要有图，也就是说首先把图做的漂漂亮亮的，不管是SEM，TEM，Uv-vis，FTIR，还是催化效果图。、图片放到你的文章里就是你的思路，图片放好了 你的思路就出来了，这是就关键的过程，放图的过程中你要考你怎么写，你的文章新的地方在哪？；图做好了也放好了，就是写文章了，写文章也很快了，因为思路有了你的文章也构思好了。我在这里给出我写文章时的程序。对于文章主体部分，我觉得先写 Results and discussion，写完了根据其内容下个Conclusion，然后根据Conclusion写Abstract（因为它们俩有些许的类似），而后补充Experimental。最后也是最难写的地方Introduction，这个让审稿人一看就能知道你的文章的水平，所以写好Introduction是关乎论文是否收录的关键所在。我和外国审稿人专家关于审稿交流过意见，他们也是这样认为，他们也认为Introduction是整个文章的脸面，这是他们主要审的地方，在这里能看到你的创新点，创新点不够直接refuse；Introduction写的还可以的话，就看Results and discussion，这部分其实主要看的是图，你的图的清晰度质量，以及性能图。我审过一篇Journal of Hazardous Materials上面的文章，我也是这样审的。当然是咱们国内某名牌大学的文章，做的是催化，我也是做这个的不知为什么编辑发来让我审，我也感觉很莫名。后来编辑告诉我和我的文章有些类似还称我是专家，教授 下面我引用了一些总结的写作经验，我觉得很有用。大家认真看看，在此先祝福大家论文高中，硕果累累不减当年勇时： 1. 前言部分 1.1 如何指出当前研究的不足以及有目的地引导出自己的研究的重要性 通常在叙述了前人成果之后，用However来引导不足，比如 However, little information... little attention has been devoted to little work... little data / little research or few studies / investigations/ few attempts have been don on or none of these studies has (have) been less done on ... / focused on / attempted to conducted / investigated / studied (with respect to) ORTo the author's knowledge... There is little information available in literature about... Until recently, there is some lack of knowledge about... Previous research (studies, records) has (have) failed to consider ignored misinterpreted neglected to overestimated, underestimated misleaded thus, these previous results are inconclusive / misleading unsatisfactory / questionable /controversial.. Uncertainties (discrepancies) still exist ... 一定要注意绝对不能全面否定前人的成果，即使在你看来前人的结论完全不对。这是前人工作最起码的尊重，英文叫做给别人的工作credits. 所以文章不要出现非常negative的评价，比如Their results are wrong, very questionable, have no commonsense, etc. 可以婉转地提出： Their studies may be more reasonable if they had considered this situation. Their results could be better convinced if they ... Or Their conclusion may remain some uncertainties. 1.2.之后引导出一种新方法，或者一种新方向。 如果研究的方法以及方向和前人一样，可以通过下面的方式强调自己工作的作用： However, data is still scarce rare less accurate there is still dearth of We need to / aim to /have to provide more documents /data / records / studies increase the dataset Further studies are still necessary... / essential... 为了强调自己研究的重要性，一般还要在However之前介绍自己研究问题的反方面，另一方面等等, 比如： 1)时间问题 如果你研究的问题时间上比较新，你就可以大量提及对时间较老的问题的研究及重要性，然后说(However)，对时间尺度比较新的问题研究不足 2)物性及研究手段问题 如果你要应用一种新手段或者研究方向，你可以提出当前比较流行的方法以及物质性质，然后说对你所研究的方向和方法，研究甚少。 3)研究区域问题 首先总结相邻区域或者其它区域的研究，然后强调这一区域研究不足 4)不确定性 虽然前人对这一问题研究很多，但是目前有两种或者更多种的观点，这种uncertanties, ambiguities，值得进一步澄清 5)提出自己的假设来验证 如果自己的研究完全是新的，没有前人的工作进行对比，在这种情况下，你可以自信地说，根据提出的过程，存在这种可能的结果，本文就是要证实这种结果。 We aim to test the feasibility (reliability) of the ... It is hoped that the question will be resolved (fall away) with our proposed method (approach). 1.3. 如何提出自己的观点 We aim to This paper reports on provides results.. extends the method focus on.. The purpose of this paper is to.. Furthermore, Moreover, In addition,, we will also discuss... 1.4.圈定自己的研究范围 前言的另外一个作用就是告诉读者包括(reviewer)你的文章主要研究内容。如果处理不好，reviewer会提出严厉的建议，比如你没有考虑某种可能性，某种研究手段等等。为了减少这种争论，在前言的结尾你就要明确提出本文研究的范围： 1)时间尺度问题 如果你的问题涉及比较长的时序，你可以明确地提出本文只关心这一时间范围的问题。 We preliminarily focus on the older (younger)... 或者有两种时间尺度的问题 (long-term and short term)，你可以说两者都重要，但是本文只涉及其中一种 2) 研究区域的问题 和时间问题一样，明确提出你只关心这一地区 1.5. 最后的原场 在前言的最后，还可以总结性地提出，这一研究对其它研究的帮助。 或者说，further studies on ... will be summarized in our next study (or elsewhere) 总之，其目的就是让读者把思路集中到你要讨论的问题上来。减少争论(arguments). 2. 怎样提出观点 在提出自己的观点时，采取什么样的策略很重要。不合适的句子通常会遭到reviewer的置疑。 1)如果观点不是这篇文章最新提出的，通常要用 We confirm that... 2)对于自己很自信的观点,可用 We believe that... 3)在更通常的情况下，由数据推断出一定的结论， 用， Results indicate, infer, suggest, imply that... 4) 在及其特别的情况才可以用We put forward (discover, observe..) .. for the first time. 来强调自己的创新。 5) 如果自己对所提出的观点不完全肯定，可用 We tentatively put forward (interpret this to..) Or The results may be due to (caused by)/attributed to / resulted from.. Or It seems that .. can account for (interpret) this.. 要注意这些结构要合理搭配。如果通篇是类型1)和5)，那这篇文章的意义就大打折扣。如果全是2)，肯定会遭到置疑。所以要仔细分析自己成果的创新性以及可信度。 3. 连接词与逻辑 写英文论文最常见的一个毛病就是文章的逻辑不清楚。解决的方法有： 1)句子上下要有连贯，不能让句子之间独立 常见的连接词语有, also, in addition,afterwards, moreover, Furthermore, further, However, although, unlike, in contrast, Unfortunately, Similarly, alternatively, parallel results, Compared with other results, In order to, despite, For example consequently, thus, therefore... 用好这些连接词，能够使观点表达得有层次，更加明确。 比如，如果叙述有时间顺序的事件或者文献， 最早的文献可用AA advocated it for the first time. 接下来，可用Then BB further demonstrated that.. 再接下来，可用Afterwards, CC.. 如果还有，可用More recent studies by DD.. 如果叙述两种观点，要把它们截然分开 AA put forward that........In contrast, BB believe or Unlike AA, BB suggest or On the contrary (表明前面的观点错误，如果只是表明两种对立的观点，用in contrast)， BB.. 如果两种观点相近,可用 AA suggest .. Similarly ( alternatively),BB.. Or Also, BB or BB also does 表示因果或者前后关系，可用 Consequently, therefore, as a result, 表明递进关系，可用furthermore, further, moreover, in addition, 当写完一段英文，最好首先检查一下是否较好地应用了这些连接词。 2) 段落的整体逻辑 经常我们要叙述一个问题的几个方面。这种情况下，一定要注意逻辑结构。 首先第一段要明确告诉读者你要讨论几个部份 ...Therefore, there are three aspects of this problem have to be addressed. The first question involves... The second problem relates to The third aspect deals with... 上面的例子可以清晰地把观点逐层叙述。 Or, 可以直接用First, Second, Third..... Finally,.. 当然,Furthermore, in addition等可以用来补充说明。 4. 正文部份的整体结构 小标题是比较好的方法把要讨论的问题分为几个片段。 一般第一个片段指出文章最为重要的数据与结论。补充说明的部份可以放在最后一个片段。 一定要明白文章的读者会分为多个档次。文章除了本专业的专业人士读懂以外，一定要想办法能让更多的外专业人读懂。所以可以把讨论部份分为两部份，一部份提出观点，另一部份详细介绍过程以及论述的依据。这样专业外的人士可以了解文章的主要观点，比较专业的讨论他可以把它当成黑箱子，而这一部份本专业人士可以进一步研究。 5. 关于abbreviation 如果文章用了很多的Abbreviation, 两种方法加以解决 1) 在文章最好加上个Appendix，把所有Abbreviation列表 2) 在不同的页面上，不时地给出Abbreviation的含义，用来提醒读者。 总之，写文章的目的是要让读者读懂，读得清晰，并且采取各种措施方便于读者。 5. Discussion 部分 5. 1时态 (a) 指出结果在哪些图表中列出，常用一般现在时。如：Figure 2 shows the variation in the temperature of the samples over time. (b) 叙述或总结研究结果的内容为关于过去的事实，所以通常采用过去时。如：After flights of less than two hours, 11% of the army pilots and 33% of the civilian pilots reported back pain. (c) 对研究结果进行说明或由其得出一般性推论时，多用现在时。如：The higher incidence of back pain in civilian pilots may be due to their greater accumulated flying time. (d) 不同结果之间或实验数据与理论模型之间进行比较时，多采一般现在时（这种比较关系多为不受时间影响的逻辑上的事实）。如：These results agree well with the findings of Smith, et al. 6. 讨论部份包括什么内容? 6.1 主要内容 1) 主要数据特征的总结 2) 主要结论以及与前人观点的对比 3) 本文的不足 第三点，在一般作者看来不可取。事实上给出文章的不足恰恰是保护自己文章的重要手段。如果刻意隐藏文章的漏洞，觉得别人看不出来，是非常不明智的。 所谓不足，包括以下内容: a) 研究的问题有点片面 讨论时一定要说， It should be noted that this study has examined only We concentrate (focus) on only... We have to point out that we do not Some limitations of this study are... b) 结论有些不足 The results do not imply The results can not be used to determine be taken as evidence of Unfortunately, we can not determine this from this data Our results are lack of ... 但是，在指出这些不足之后，随后一定要再一次加强本文的重要性以及可能采取的手段来解决这些不足，为别人或者自己的下一步研究打下浮笔。 Notwithstanding its limitation, this study does suggest However, these problems could be solved if we consider Despite its preliminary character, this study can clearly indicate 用中文来说，这一部份是左右逢源。把审稿人想到的问题提前给一个交代，同时表明你已经在思考这些问题，但是由于文章长度，试验进度或者试验手段的制约，暂时不能回答这些问题。但是，这些通过你的一些建议，这些问题在将来的研究中游可能实现。 P.S. 坚信观点的真实性：prove, demonstrate 不确定性： show，indicate，found 表示推测:imply，suggest 6．2 关于结论中的时态: (1) 回顾研究目的时，通常使用过去时。如：In this study, the effects of two different learning methods were investigated. (2) 如果所概述结果的有效性只是针对本次特定的研究，需用过去时；如果具有普遍的意义，则用现在时。如： In the first series of trials, the experimental values were all lower than the theoretical predictions. The experimental and theoretical values for the yields agree well. (3) 阐述由结果得出的推论时，通常使用现在时。如：The data reported here suggest (These findings support the hypothesis, Our data provide evidence) that the reaction rate may be determined by the amount of oxygen available. Some points of style (摘自一个老外的Writing a Paper, 第一点和最后一点是我们经常用错的) ? Do not use nouns as adjectives （不要把名词当作形容词用） Not: ATP formation; reaction product But: Formation of ATP; product of the reaction ? The word this must always be followed by a noun, so that its reference is explicit. （This 后面必须跟一个名词） Not: This is a fast reaction; This leads us to conclude.., But: This reaction is fast; This observation leads us to conclude ? Describe experimental results in the past tense.（试验结果用过去时） Not: Addition of water gives product. But: Addition of water gave product. ? Use the active voice whenever possible.（尽可能使用主动语态） Not: It was observed that the solution turned red. But: The solution turned red. ORWe observed that the solution turned red. ? Complete all comparisons. （使用完整的比较形式A is higher than B） Not: The yield was higher using bromine. But: The yield was higher using bromine than chlorine Beginning l In this paper, we focus on the need for l This paper proceeds as follow. l The structure of the paper is as follows. l In this paper, we shall first briefly introduce fuzzy sets and related concepts l To begin with we will provide a brief background on the Introduction l This will be followed by a description of the fuzzy nature of the problem and a detailed presentation of how the required membership functions are defined. l Details on xx and xx are discussed in later sections. l In the next section, after a statement of the basic problem, various situations involving possibility knowledge are investigated: first, an entirely possibility model is proposed; then the cases of a fuzzy service time with stochastic arrivals and non?fuzzy service rule is studied; lastly, fuzzy service rule are considered. Review l This review is followed by an introduction. l A brief summary of some of the relevant concepts in xxx and xxx is presented in Section 2. l In the next section a brief view of the .... is given. l In the next section, a short review of ... is given with special regard to ... l Section 2 reviews relevant research related to xx. l Section 1.1 briefly surveys the motivation for a methodology of action, while 1.2 looks at the difficulties posed by the complexity of systems and outlines the need for development of possibility methods. Body l Section 1 defines the notion of robustness, and argues for its importance. l Section 1 devoted to the basic aspects of the FLC decision?making logic. l Section 2 gives the background of the problem which includes xxx l Section 2 discusses some problems with and approaches to, natural language understanding. l Section 2 explains how flexibility which often ... can be expressed in terms of fuzzy time?window l Section 3 discusses the aspects of fuzzy set theory that are used in the ... l Section 3 describes the system itself in a general way, including the ..and also discusses how to evaluate system performance. l Section 3 describes a new measure of xx. l Section 3 demonstrates the use of fuzzy possibility theory in the analysis of xx. l Section 3 is a fine description of fuzzy formulation of human decision. l Section 3, is developed to the modeling and processing of fuzzy decision rules l The main idea of the FLC is described in Section 3 while Section 4 describes the xx strategies. l Section 3 and 4 show experimental studies for verifying the proposed model. l Section 4 discusses a previous fuzzy set?based approach to cost variance investigation. l Section 4 gives a specific example of xxx. l Section 4 is the experimental study to make a fuzzy model of memory process. l Section 4 contains a discussion of the implication of the results of Section 2 and 3. l Section 4 applies this fuzzy measure to the analysis of xx and illustrate its use on experimental data. l Section 5 presents the primary results of the paper: a fuzzy set model .. l Section 5 contains some conclusions plus some ideas for further work. l Section 6 illustrate the model with an example. l Various ways of fuzzification and the reasons for their choice are discussed very briefly in Section 2. l In Section 2 are presented the block diagram expression of a whole model of human DM system l In Section 2 we shall list a collection of basic assumptions which a ... scheme must satisfy. l In Section 2 of this paper, we present representation and uniqueness theorems for the fundamental measurement of fuzziness when the domain of discourse is order?dense. l In Section 3, we describe the preliminary results of an empirical study currently in progress to verify the measurement model and to construct membership functions. l In Section 5 is analyzed the inference process through the two kinds of inference experiments... This Section l In this section, the characteristics and environment under which MRP is designed are described. l We will provide in this section basic terminologies and notations which are necessary for the understanding of subsequent results. Next Section l The next section describes the mathematics that goes into the computer implementation of such fuzzy logic statements. l However, it is cumbersome for this purpose and in practical applications the formulae were rearranged and simplified as discussed in the next section. l The three components will be described in the next two section, and an example of xx analysis of a computer information system will then illustrate their use. l We can interpret the results of Experiments I and II as in the following sections. l The next section summarizes the method in a from that is useful for arguments based on xx Summary l This paper concludes with a discussion of future research consideration in section 5. l Section 5 summarizes the results of this investigation. l Section 5 gives the conclusions and future directions of research. l Section 7 provides a summary and a discussion of some extensions of the paper. l Finally, conclusions and future work are summarized l The basic questions posed above are then discussed and conclusions are drawn. l Section 7 is the conclusion of the paper. Chapter 0. Abstract l A basic problem in the design of xx is presented by the choice of a xx rate for the measurement of experimental variables. l This paper examines a new measure of xx in xx based on fuzzy mathematics which overcomes the difficulties found in other xx measures. l This paper describes a system for the analysis of the xx. l The method involves the construction of xx from fuzzy relations. l The procedure is useful in analyzing how groups reach a decision. l The technique used is to employ a newly developed and versatile xx algorithms. l The usefulness of xx is also considered. l A brief methodology used in xx is discussed. l The analysis is useful in xx and xx problem. l A model is developed for a xx analysis using fuzzy matrices. l Algorithms to combine these estimates and produce a xx are presented and justified. l The use of the method is discussed and an example is given. l Results of an experimental applications of this xx analysis procedure are given to illustrate the proposed technique. l This paper analyses problems in l This paper outlines the functions carried out by ... l This paper includes an illustration of the ... l This paper provides an overview and information useful for approaching l Emphasis is placed on the construction of a criterion function by which the xx in achieving a hierarchical system of objectives are evaluated. l The main emphasis is placed on the problem of xx l Our proposed model is verified through experimental study. l The experimental results reveal interesting examples of fuzzy phases of : xx,xx l The compatibility of a project in terms of cost, and xx are likewise represented by linguistic variables. l A didactic example is included to illustrate the computational procedure Chapter 1. Introduction Time l Over the course of the past 30 years, .. has emerged form intuitive l Technological revolutions have recently hit the industrial world l The advent of ... systems forhas had a significant impact on the l The development of ... is explored l During the past decade, the theory of fuzzy sets has developed in a variety of directions, l The concept of xx was investigated quite intensively in recent years l There has been a turning point in ... methodology in accordance with the advent of ... l A major concern in ... today is to continue to improve... l A xx is a latecomer in the part representation arena. l At the time of this writing, there is still no standard way of xx l Although a lot of effort is being spent on improving these weaknesses, the efficient and effective method has yet to be developed. l The pioneer work can be traced to xx . l To date,none of the methods developed is perfect and all are far from ready to be used in commercial systems. Objective / Goal / Purpose l The purpose of the inference engine can be outlined as follows: l The ultimate goal of the xx system is to allow the non?experts to utilize the existing knowledge in the area of manual handling of loads, and to provide intelligent, computer?aided instruction for xxx. l The paper concerns the development of a xx l The scope of this research lies in l The main theme of the paper is the application of rule?based decision making. l These objectives are to be met with such thoroughness and confidence as to permit ... l The objectives of the... operations study are as follows: l The primary purpose/consideration/objective of l The ultimate goal of this concept is to provide l The main objective of such a ... system is to l The aim of this paper is to provide methods to construct such probability distribution. l In order to achieve these objectives, an xx must meet the following requirements: l In order to take advantage of their similarity l more research is still required before final goal of ... can be completed l In this trial, the objective is to generate... l for the sake of concentrating on ... research issues l A major goal of this report is to extend the utilization of a recently developed procedure for the xx. l For an illustrative purpose, four well?known OR problems are studied in presence of fuzzy data: xx. l A major thrust of the paper is to discuss approaches and strategies for structuring ..methods l This illustration points out the need to specify l The ultimate goal is both descriptive and prescriptive. l Chapter 2. Literature Review l A wealth of information is to be found in the statistics literature, for example, regarding xx l A considerable amount of research has been done .. during the last decade l A great number of studies report on the treatment of uncertainties associated with xx. l There is considerable amount of literature on planning l However, these studies do not provide much attention to undertainty in xx. l Since then, the subject has been extensively explored and it is still under investigation as well in methodological aspects as in concrete applications. l Many research studies have been carried out on this topic. l Problem of xx draw recently more and more attention of system analysis. l Attempts to resolve this dilemma have resulted in the development of l Many complex processes unfortunately, do not yield to this design procedure and have, therefore, not yet been automated. l Most of the methods developed so far are deterministic and /or probabilistic in nature. l The central issue in all these studies is to l The problem of xx has been studied by other investigators, however, these studies have been based upon classical statistical approaches. l Applied ... techniques to l Characterized the ... system as l Developed an algorithm to l Developed a system called ... which l Uses an iterative algorithm to deduce l Emphasized the need to l Identifies six key issues surrounding high technology l A comprehensive study of the .. has been undertaken l Much work has been reported recently in these filed l Proposed l Presented l State that l Point out that the problem of l Described l Illustrated l Indicated l Has shown / showed l Address l Highlights l A study on ...was done / developed by and is l The system developed by l ' model draws attention to evolution in human development l . l Studies have been completed to established l The ...studiesindicated that l Though application of xx in the filed of xx has proliferated in recent years, effort in analyzing xx, especially xx, is lacking. Problem / Issue / Question l Unfortunately, real-world engineering problems such as manufacturing planning do not fit well with this narrowly defined model.They tend to span broad activities and require consideration of multiple aspects. l Remedy / solve / alleviate these problems l ... is a difficult problem, yet to be adequately resolved l Two major problems have yet to be addressed l An unanswered question l This problem in essence involves using x to obtain a solution. l An additional research issue to be tackled is .... l Some important issues in developing a ... system are discussed l The three prime issues can be summarized: l The situation leads to the problem of how to determine the ... l There have been many attempts to l It is expected to be serious barrier to l It offers a simple solution in a limited domain for a complex problem. l There are several ways to get around this problem. l As difficult as it seems to be, xx is by no means new. l The problem is to recognize xx from a design representation. l A xx problem can trace its roots to xx. l xx used a heuristic approach to simplify the complexity of the problem. l Several problems are associated with them. l Although some progress has been made in this area, at least two major obstacles must be overcome before a fully automated system can be realized. l Most problems in practice are complicated l More problem surface here. l Hamper effort toward a xx system l In order to overcome the limitations due to incomplete and imprecise xx knowledge, a xx program has been developed, which bases its knowledge upon the statistical analysis of a sample population of xx l The above difficulties are real challenges faced by researchers attempting to develop l This type of mapping raises no controversy to the issue of membership function determination. l However, attempts to quantify the xx have met both theoretical and empirical problems. l It has become apparent that in order to apply this new methodological framework to real?world problems and data, we have to pay attention to the problems of xx and xx. Chapter 3. Proposed methodology Assumption l In the case when the assumption of a xx seems to be too restrictive or inadequate, the formulation with Fuzzy termination time, i.e. given by a fuzzy set in the space of control stages, may be applied. l We assume here the fuzzy constraints to be state?dependent, and the fuzzy goal to be the same for all the control states, xx, which stems from the problem's nature. l An approach to the solution of this problem is presented under the assumption that the sampling rate Decision can be made prior to the execution of the experiment, as opposed to being made while the experiment is in progress. l Another assumption made above is that there are precise odds at which the expert is indifferent. l Main simplifying assumptions are: l This, in our view, is a questionable assumption. Outline / Structure / Module l An outline of the research l Information is incorporated within the scheme l Is built into ... structure l A nice modular structure. l The principles of ... are applied as modularized criteria Classification l A xx system comprises three main components: l Must decompose the original .. into a set of .. l Consists of the following steps: l This is summarized in the following steps: l Can be broadly classified into the following areas: l Can be characterized by its function of effectively processing the l Can allow further breadth of application of ...into more l The following steps should be followed l xx can be classified by a different ways. l Based on the xx, one may classify xx into the following: l This catalog may change due to wear, breakage, and purchasing. System l Unlike many conventional program, expert systems do not usually deal wit h problem for which there is clearly a right or wrong answer. l The system consists of both ... and ... l The system has a hierarchical modular architecture organized on three levels. l expert system domains are area of expertise l To develop a xx system for xx, the following factors must be considered: l The system has been developed / designed to determine l The system has proven to be able to l The domain in which an expert system operates is a particular domain l The system comprises a ... with l The system is / based on the ... technique l The system environment must be relatively stable l The system is utilized to generate, load, store, update and retrieve ... l The development of a xx system has two stages:xx stage and xx stage. l The most essential part of .. system is the ... l The successful developments in ESs have made them an important tool in the development of l An automated system was developed for l In this case, the system can be considered to be generative. l An interactive automatic ... system l A .. is commonly thought of as a truly integrated .. system l Should be capable of being generated from a ... system l xx is an important part of the integrated system. l The model consists of four rule bases, each of which addresses a separate problem in the hierarchy of scheduling decision. l The rule bases are linked to each other in a chin?like manner in the sense that the consequent of one rule base constitutes a part of the antecedent of the next rule base. l The rule base consists of all possible combinations of the linguistic terms associated with the linguistic variable of the antecedent of a rule. Computer System l The system has been implemented using Prolog language in an MS?DOS environment.Prolog was chosen because it offers a well known and flexible environment in which fuzzy reasoning may be easily implemented. l The current version of the xx program when compiled with WATFOR77 result s in an executable code of about 270K bytes.Typical run time, when run on a XX computer (an IBM compatible machine) operating at 4.77 Mhz with 640K RAM, ranges from 10 min to 2h, depending on the size (or complexity) of the problem. l Time consuming procedures have been implemented in C?language and directly linked to the Prolog environment. l The xx process, once the xx's data has been entered, requires approximately 180 seconds. l It should be noted that the computation was done with a 20 Hhz, 80386#8 209;based microcomputer equipped with a 80387 math co?processor. l The computer programs used for the analyses, one based on the xx method and the other based on the new method, were written in FORTRAN with a compiler that supports the math co?processor. l Lisp, Prolog give maximum flexibility but also maximizes development time. l Internal representation is the way a model is represented in the computer. l An interactive menu-driven procedure is used in this study l Shell can be develop very fast at the cost of time fairly severe limitations. l While there is no measurable saving of time for the case involving five criteria, the saving is dramatic for the case involving 10 criteria -- the computation time reduces from 10 hr 40 min to about 1 min. l This combination is being implemented in an objected?oriented programming environment (Smalltalk?80 system) to solve problems encountered in construction xxx. Method / Approach / Study / Process Model / Equation /Algorithm / Rule / Formula / Technique l A discussion is presented of a problem-solving system l To improve the efficiency of the method, the following approach may be applied. l In order to an investigation was made to find the causes of the l Although large collections of rules and equations have been complied, none are generally accepted l This approach will be explained and discussed thoroughly in the body of the report. l This can be accomplished by l This algorithm to compute the total cost can be described step by step as follows: l The above preliminary analysis has provided important information l Various methods have been proposed for selecting an optimum... l These concepts have been applied to l On the basis of the concept mentioned above, l This can be achieved by l This fact suggests that a new concept l This was accomplished by taking ... l The preparatory stage is very time consuming process. l Test are performed for validity, completeness, and compatibility l There is little hope of achieving successful ... l There has been an increasing awareness of the potential of using most ..so far made have not taken this approach, with the exception of l Only a few studies can be found. l It is a very tedious process to go through l It is only when .. has been completed that .. may be effected l The entire interpretation process is conducted in one's head. l These approaches are sometimes very tedious. l Several techniques can be used l A polynomial parametric model can be written as / : l A xx model is constructed/formulated using xx. l A xx model represents an xx by its xx. l A process decision model captures the logic essential to l From the equation above, xx is equal to the summation of xx times the ... l The validity of a xx model can be checked using Euler's formula. l Given a model, one can mathematically determine whether ... or ... l Equations for xx need to be derived and implemented in the system. l A number of heuristic rules have been developed for l Optimum .. techniques can be made more reliable by ... so that l An algorithm based on the characteristic ... is used to determine l Euler's formula states the following: l The completed model should agree with the formula. l For manufacturing purposes, a detailed and precise model of the object is necessary l Engineering design models are very well defined; therefore, l To keep the domain narrow enough to be implementable, yet wide enough to be useful. Point of View l from an implementation standpoint, l From the point of view of this application, l From this point of view, Zadeh suggested an inference rule named xxx (CRI for short). l Information is the meaningful interpretation and correlation of some aggregation of data in order to allow one to make decisions. l From a practical point of view, the computational aspects of an FLC require a simplification of the fuzzy control algorithm. l The use of a hammer to insert screws, although partly effective, tends to distort, destroy, and generally defeat the purpose of using a screw Justification l We choose the so called xx in our experiment because it has received wide acceptance and can l Prolog was chosen because it offers a well known and flexible environment in which fuzzy reasoning may be easily implemented. l The rationale behind this is that it can be much easier for an estimator to rate a cost as high than to attempt to place a dollar value on the estimate. l This strategy has been widely used in fuzzy control applications since it is natural and easy to implement. l A function definition expresses the membership function of a fuzzy set in a functional form, typically a bell?shaped function, etc.Such functions are used in FLC because they lead themselves to manipulation through the use of fuzzy arithmetic. l It should be noted that in our daily life most of the information on which our decisions are based is linguistic rather than numerical in nature.Seen in this perspective, fuzzy control rules provide a natural framework for the characterization of human behavior and decisions analysis. l Many experts have found that fuzzy control rules provide a convenient way to express their domain knowledge.This explains why most FLCs are based on the knowledge and experience which are expressed in the language of fuzzy if?the rule. Chapter 4. Examples Example/ Data l The data used in the following example was taken from an experiment in which xx was measured between x and x using a xx technique. l The data consists of over xx measurements. l An example of xx is discussed and the control rules of xx are compared with a xx l Examples of complex processes to which this technique may be applied are xx, xx, etc. l The following example is constructed only for the purpose of illustrating the computational procedure discussed. l This example clearly demonstrates that the profile of an individual xx, or a very small group of xx, with no enough data to be studied statistically, can be meaningfully analyzed by fuzzy possibilistic methods. l There is no space here to go into detail on all these methods, but deserve a mention and the bibliography will point to detailed references for those wishing this level of detail. l Note that the golf ball spotting example is used throughout the paper. Comparisons l As well, the pros and cons of these representations from a process planning point of view will be discussed. l The method of using xx to implement xx described by Zadeh (1973) appeared more suitable l As discussed / , Relation l We can not invert F' directly because it defines a many-to-one mapping. l The relationships appear very complicate l Lifting tasks involve complex and imprecise relationship between the task variables and the human operator's characteristics. l These methods are based on the relationship between ... and ... l The fundamental concept of a fuzzy rating language is that we can establish a relationship among terms such as high, medium, and low, and then modify these relationships. l This article will thus mention the latter as well as the former. l The former two bear a close relation to a fuzzy Cartesian product. Importance l The emphasis is on an implementation of a general approach to rule based decision making. Consideration / Attention l Careful evaluation is necessary to ensure l Such a formulation does not change further considerations. l Considerable attention has been paid to l Attention should be paid to an important finding of this investigation. l Caution should be exercised in this process to avoid ... l Primary consideration is given to ... components, though others can be accommodated l After ... has been defined by ..., a carefully analysis is carried out/performed to determine l A number of factors such as ...need to be taken into consideration before making the appropriate decision. l It should be noted that l It is important to point out that ... l These considerations have heightened interest in the possibility of providing ... l We should stress the fundamental importance of the xx Chapter 5. Results. Advantages / Disadvantage l One of the major advantages of this new measure of xx is that it can be applied to the experimental study of l One advantage of using a .. is the ease of preparing it. l The xx system is versatile l It has a very fast decision making process l All the algorithms involve mostly logical operations. lIt can be easily and without additional cost implemented in a microprocessor?based environment. l It can reduce the waste of designing from scratch. l The advantages of using a xx to represent xx are the following: l However, xx is not without its shortcomings. l In most cases, the xxx shows an improvement over the existing xxx. l Compared to the existing xx, the impacts of the xx are generally reduced by 5% to 9%. l The best case results shows a savings of 6% to 9%. l Most of the existing works based on xx approach can only recognize a xx . l Most of the above methods are computational expansive and limited to xx. l Some other advantages of xx are the following: l The problem is the limitation of this method to a limited domain of parts. l It proved limited in application because it demanded precision in system modeling that was impossible in practice. l There are advantages to be gained in the structuring of costs and benefits, the use of xx, l The disadvantages of this method are also disadvantages of conventional xx approaches. l This combines the best features of both techniques l Hopefully, this tool can be as the reference framework of for developing a xx platform, and helping the administration, marketing, and knowledge management activities in virtual communities. Results l An improvement on the result shown above can be made by based on the data provided l Discussion of these theories is beyond the scope of this review l Based on the information contained in this l The result can be categorized into nine classes l The results are illustrated by an example l The experimental results for each xx time are reported in Table 2. l From the results obtained so far, it seem that l Because of the inaccuracy of the ..., a conclusion cannot be drawn as l Although much effort has been made to., this reality is far from completion. l The results indicate that the total benefits are higher than the total costs. l Their results may then serve as guidelines for lower level models, less fuzzy and more detailed. Chapter 6. Conclusion l From the discussion, one may conclude that ... l Form the above discussion, the conclusion can be reached that l The conclusions drawn are also valid l In conclusion to this, it becomes obvious that the problem of xx lies not only in... l We have attempted to introduce some concepts associated with a theory of xx based on fuzzy sets. l Considerable more work, hopefully, will be done in this area l A fuzzy set procedure is proposed to solve xx selection problems interwoven with imprecise data l Employing the compositional rule of inference, the assessment of the xx compatibility in achieving prescribed xx projectiles in any level of the hierarchy is made possible. l This paper has presented a theoretical and experimental study of the xx process and xx concept. l The experimental research results will hopefully serve as useful feedback information for improvements for xx work. l The scope of this contribution was to introduce a xx method. l In general, fuzzy sets theory provides an alternative foundation for xx analysis in a fuzzy environment. Future Research l Thus, first extension of the approach could be, l Present some cues for a further approach from Fuzzy Sets Theory application to l Some improvements to the scheduling aspect of the model may be brought through additional levels in the hierarchy for more detailed representation of the scheduling activity. Tables and Figures l Figure 7-1 sketches these relationships. l The graphical representation of these functions is shown in Figure 1. l The xx may be depicted as in Figure 1. l Figure x shows the schematic diagram ofthe l Figure 1 though 2 provide a ... that l the architecture of this expert system for .... is illustrated in Figure 2. l Figure 2 gives the outline of an ... system l Table shows the l as shown in Table 1 and 2 l This concept is illustrated in Figure 2 l At the top of Table xx are shown two blocks of data. l Each table or matrix has constructs xx through xx as row?headings, xx through xx as column?headings. l A table of .. is developed and significant recommendations are made. CONJUGATION To Indicate Addition l additionally, again, also, and then, as can be easily understood, besides, equally important, especially, finally, for the same reason, first, further, furthermore, in addition, last, likewise, moreover, next, second, third, too, evidently, obviously, roughly speaking, broadly speaking To Indicate Cause and Effect l accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason, hence, in short, otherwise, then, therefore, thus, truly To indicate Comparison l in a like manner, likewise, similarly , alternatively To Indicate Concession l after all, although this may be true, at the same time, even though, even so , I admit, naturally, of course To Indicate Contrast l and yet, at the same time, but, for all that, however, yet, in fact, in contrast, in the real life, in spite of, nevertheless, notwithstanding, normally, on the contrary, on the other hand, still, traditionally, rather, unfortunately, To Indicate Time Relationships l after a short time, afterwards, as indicated earlier, as long as, as soon as, at last, at length, at the moment, at that time, at the same time, before, earlier, currently, immediately, in the meantime, in recent years, lately, later, meanwhile, often, of late, presently, recently, soon, shortly, since, thereupon, temporarily, therefore, until, when, while To Indicate Special Features or Examples l for example, for instance, incidentally, indeed, in fact, in other words, in particular, in practice, specifically, that is, to illustrate, in this respect, theoretically, as mentioned before / above To Indicate Summary l in brief, in conclusion, in short, in summary, on the whole, to conclude , in general, to summarize, to sum up, as a result, ultimately, VERB PHASE l build a .. model l build up the key link l began a new era in ... l can be regarded as / achieved / used to/for / found / obtained through l can result in l carries out... tasks l production information in order to simultaneously l contains all information necessary to describe l do not make use of production information l deals with l end with failure l fetch the information from the model directly l has great potential / yet to be resolved / spurred the development of/ been recognized as l BE aimed at / built up / carried out by / essentially concerned with / considered to be the key technology / associated with each feature of a compo site component / cable of / currently implemented for / demonstrated by an example / finally reached / made equal to / equivalent to/ more suitable to / oriented to / interpreted as / pointed out / potentially of great benefit in the complex task of/ shown in/ used to effectively guide the search l makes use of l make up l meets the needs of real life production,/ the current demands placed upon it l must be justified l point out l play an important role l relates to l rely on l satisfy the needs l determine the total requirements for the ... l uses ... as a key to search for... l without relying on l will be available/ performed/ overlooked NOUN PHASE l a basic technical function of l a critical need l a key / principle feature of l a substantial impact on l an intensive review was conducted l an increasing need for expanding the application of .... l an important component / function / aspect / issue l each rule is numbered in sequence l each of these involves l for this calculation, it is necessary to define l in the physical environment / integration of l in the reality of situations where l many aspects of l most past efforts have been spent on ... l common sense to a well studied and documented technical field. l sources of additional information on ... are listed l systematic and rationally structured format l the basis on which arange of ...operations can be established is shown l THE basic philosophy / principles of / key element / general hypothesis / candidate list of / concept of... has attracted wide interest /function is concerned with / heart / impact / nature / role / task of / kernel functions l the number of parts needed to l the above statement means that l the output data is passed to l the proposed method /underlying principle l the recommendations made in this report, if implemented, should l this information resides in l this process is composed of ... different ... operation l along with the use of l concerning general aspects of l due to l for later use in generating..., l in turn, l IT IS believed / noted / assumed / suggested / shown / quite evident / appears / implies that / intended for / of no important to l it can be claimed/concluded that l it demonstrates the decisions required of l it also provides information to .. l it becomes essential to l let ... be the probability that l once... is written, it is compiled into... l suppose it is observed that l this is because l this results in a l upon completion of the ... analysis, l when the knowledge is of mathematics or quantum physics, it will also be recorded in books and papers l selection of rules for using the tools, for generating operation plans, is another matter of preference, since practice varies greatly. l for the sake of convenience l correct decision to be reach l keeping the number of rules to a minimum. l a good process plan will result exhibiting several characteristics: 以下转自 http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=386423 曾老师的博客，只是因为很有用，留给自己参考。望曾老师勿怪！ 不管是说英文的外国人还是说中文的中国人，用英语进行写作都有很大的难度，因为写作是有规则的，违背这些规则就等于犯错。英文写得好不好，首先要看是不是符合语法，其次是看用词是否恰当，搭配是否合理。因此，如何用英语写作其实是一门高深的学问，一辈子学习都嫌不够。 我本人的英语写作刚入门，而且仅限于科技英语写作。在这里不想班门弄斧谈如何写作英语科技论文，只是根据自己的体会，总结一下在英语科技论文写作中的几个小窍门，仅供广大青年学子参考，恐令学者们见笑。 一、时态的使用 有人在一篇文章中时态的使用很混乱，前后不一致，可能是因为不能活学活用英语语法的缘故。虽然时态错用并不会严重影响读者对文章内容的理解，但体现了作者的写作手法不规范，表达不严谨。一般而言，在Introduction和Discussion中提到一些普遍的认知或常识时，应该用现在时，如Cancer is a disease that fails tocontrol cell division。如果提到别人的发现或报道，可以使用现在完成时，如Those authors have found that 、Someone has reported that 。在Materials and methods和Results中，若涉及动作，通常用过去时，如The wavelength was measured after 10 min。 二、从句的使用 过去分词短语可以放在名词后作定语，但当这个过去分词出现在作谓语的动词之前时，容易被误认为就是句中的谓语，此时宜将过去分词短语改用that引导的定语从句修饰，如There are isoprenoid products used in cancer therapy中的过去分词短语在下面的句子中宜改为that引导的定语从句：Isoprenoid products that are used in cancer cells have not been fully explored。又如：The enzymes that maintain tight control over the carbocation species will produce a single dominant product。 三、被动式的使用 众所周知，科技英语中多使用被动语态，以避免主观表述之嫌。但是，若分不清及物动词还是不及物动词就容易出错，如A fresh idea occurred to him容易误写成A fresh idea was occurred to him。 四、The的使用 何时用the、何时不用the是个最令人头痛的选择，而知道用the和不用the却最能体现英语水平的高下。一般来说，单数名词要用the，复数名词可省略the，但在动宾关系句里即使复数名词也要用the：We identify the relevant genes in the present study。以下复数名词前都加the：The enzymes often lack the characteristic aspartate-rich motifs，因为其中的the有those的含义。位于of之前的名词要用the，但当名词位于句首并有动宾关系时可省略the：Production of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide is achieved by photosynthesis。 五、选词 英语不喜欢重复，单词也是如此。这样就要求用英语写作时必须要有很大的同义词词汇量，否则就会理屈词穷。例如demonstrate、indicate、elucidate、reveal等用来引出某种客观结果，可以交替使用。 六、搭配 有主谓一致的问题，如200l of the diluted cell suspension was placed at 37?C中的was应为were，也有动宾搭配的问题，如reply the question应为reply to the question。还有一些固定搭配，如pave the path、raise the question、share the homology等。 七、拉丁语 科技英语中经常使用拉丁语，一般用斜体表示，如动植物及微生物的拉丁学名、 in vivo （活体内）、 in vitro （试管中）、 in situ （原位）、 per se （本身）等。注意：这些外来词用来修饰名词时放在名词前，修饰动词时放在动词后。注意区分They haveintroduced the in vivo synthesis of vitamin D和Microorganisms are not ordinarily destroyed in vivo by bacteriostatic drugs。不过，有些拉丁词已被当做英语词汇使用，在文章中出现时不用斜体，如et al.和e.g.等。 八、专有名称 基因与蛋白质的名称一般用相同词汇表示，但基因名称要用斜体，蛋白质名称要用正体。大小写的规定似乎不严格，但基因名称用小写、蛋白质名称用大写较常见。另外，基因工程中的限制性内切酶名称要用斜体，而且第一个字母要大写，但表示菌株来源及酶编号的英文字母及罗马数字用正体，如 Eco RI、 Bam HI等。
最近又开始写论文了，尽管已经发表过几篇英文文章，但是老板还是对我的英文不满意，回邮件说you should tell us a good story and explain the results completely . 作为我们英语不是母语的人来说，可能提高英文写作水平和表达，是相当长时间的一个任务，感觉上，中文和外文写作套路和表达习惯还是很大不同的！前段时间，看过马臻老师一篇博文提供的链接，分析如何提高英文写作水平，如何自我修改论文，觉得很有用！ 借此分享一下！其它博友有什么经验的，还望赐教！ 中国人英文写作的常见错误
转载自理文编辑 Dr.DanielMcGowan 的一篇博客文章， http://www.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=286482 我读后深以为然，遂转载过来作为传播收藏。后来在翻译过程中，更是体会到了 McGowan博士所表达的科学心：我们科研工作者是在为人类知识库添加信息，不能唯SCI是从。所有的人类知识都应该按照科学的标准去记录，这样才能传承进步，为整个人类共享。我想这可能也是为什么西方医学发展远远快于我国的中医学的一个缘由吧。 同行评议标准究竟如何影响着期刊影响因子 中文引言： 影响因子较低的刊物接收的文章水准必定不高？ 刊物影响因子较低的原因有哪些？ 稿件被拒，仅仅通过改投影响因子较低的刊物就能发表？ Dr. Daniel McGowan 将给出哪些积极建议？ 博客原文： It has recently come to my attention that many scientistauthors in Asian countries, and perhaps also in Western countries, hold the idea that low impact factor journals will accept papers of a lower overall standard than high impact factor journals. This is largely a fallacy. Although some (hopefully very few) journals with low impact factors may indeed accept and publish papers describing research that has been poorly thought out, conducted and/or reported, it would be foolish to assume that this is commonplace. There are numerous reasons why a given journal might have a low impact factor: it might only describe research in a very narrow, specialized field, or relating to a particular geographic area or patient group, it might be relatively new, or it might publish a large proportion of theoretical papers requiring few references to the literature. However, all journal editors should be striving to protect and improve their journals image in the relevant scientific community, and this means holding submitted manuscripts to the same standards that the editors of journals with much higher impact factors apply to the submissions they receive. Ultimately, studies need to stand up to peer review before entering the collective knowledge as part of the literature, and this means that criteria regarding technical rigour, novelty and accurate unbiased reporting need to be met, regardless of the impact factor of the target journal. At Edanz/Liwen Bianji, we are frequently approached by would-be clients asking us to help them to rewrite their paper following rejection from a journal and negative peer review. In many cases we can work with the client to address the concerns of the journal editor and reviewers and help them prepare a re- or new submission. However, where there are major flaws in the study design or analysis that will prevent publication in any journal, even those with low impact factors, regardless of the any rewriting, we are obliged to tell them that more than rewriting is required: reanalysis of data, or worse, repeating whole experiments. Authors unwilling to do this need to be aware that there is no place in the literature for poorly planned and executed research, that journals with low impact factors do not exist to publish incomplete or deficient studies. And that is the purpose of this blog post: to dispel the myth that impact factor correlates with the rigor that your paper will be subjected to during peer review. My advice is to avoid major problems at the peer review stage by planning well ahead. Ensure that your experiments are well designed with appropriate controls before conducting them; ensure that you have a large enough sample; use the correct statistical tests ; and report the results in an accurate and appropriate manner. Getting these things right before and during the research will save you time, money and potential heartache later on. 翻译： 最近我注意到很多科学家－特别是在亚洲国家，可能还有少数西方国家的作者，他们认为低 SCI 影响因子的期刊接受文章的标准会低于高分期刊。这是极大的谬论。诚然有少数低分期刊（希望是极少数）的确接受和发表了一些想做写很差的文章，但是如果据此认为这是低分期刊的特点那就是愚昧了。 一份期刊影响因子低有很多原因：可能这份期刊的文章定位在比较专业和狭窄的特殊领域，或者是跟某个特别的地理生态环境相关，或者是与特殊的疾病群体相关；或者这份期刊创刊不久相关领域较新知名度还没有建立起来；或者这份期刊发表的文章大部分是原创性较高所以可引用的文献较少的理论性文章。但是不管是什么情况下，期刊的编辑都将会竭尽全力的维护和提高期刊在相关科学团体中的学术形象，这就意味着他们肯定会用高分期刊同样的学术标准来衡量所有来稿。最终，研究者都必须经受住严格的同行评审才能够作为文献进入人类知识库，这就是说不管期刊的影响因子的高低，相关技术的难度和先进程度以及精确客观的实验描述这些学术标准都是一致的！ 在 Edanz 中国的课题组内，我们常常接触到一些客户要我们帮他们重写被拒被批的文章。大多数情况下，我们能够帮助客户阐述清楚期刊编辑和评审的问题，帮他们再投或重投。但有些时候，文章中有些设计和分析上大的纰漏，不管如何写不管投多低，都不可能被期刊接受。我们不得不告诉投稿人：写作不能解决这些问题，必须要重新分析结果甚至是重做整个实验。不愿意接受这个事实的作者必须清楚：科学界没有专门放烂实验的地方，低分期刊绝对不是发表不完整和有缺陷文章的地方。而这也是我写这篇博客的目的：不要天真地以为你的文章被同行评审时的标准与你所投期刊的影响因子正相关。（同行评审只有一个标准，那就是科学的标准） 要避免在同行评审时遇到这些大问题我的建议是实验要预先计划好再做。确保你的实验设计的完备有充分的对照；确保你有足够多的实验样本，而且安排实验样本的统计学分析是正确的；精确而合适地报道你的结果。在实验前和实验中把这些事情做好将节省你的时间金钱以及以后少些头痛。
出处: http://www.sciencenet.cn/bbs/showpost.aspx?id=33230 1 The Most Common Habits from more than 200 English Papers written by Graduate Chinese Engineering Students By Felicia Brittman This paper presents some of the most common Chinese-English habits observed from over two hundred English technical papers by Chinese writers. The habits are explained and in most cases, example text from an actual paper is given along with preferred text. An attempt is made to explain how to correct and prevent such mistakes. In some cases a possible explanation of why the habit occurs is also given. This paper can serve as an individual guide to editing technical papers especially when a native English-speaking editor is unavailable. Introduction Most Chinese universities require their doctoral and master candidates in technical and scientific fields to publish at least one English paper in an international journal as a degree requirement. However, many factors make this task difficult to accomplish. First, previous English studies may not have focused enough on writing, let alone technical writing. Current studies may not include English, causing the writers English fluency level to decline. Second, most writers have never lived in an Englishspeaking country. Third, due to the special aspects of technical writing, even native English-speaking engineering students have a technical writing course as part of their study. Too often, students papers are returned unaccepted because of poor English. If available, students may have their papers edited by a native English speaker. However, this can get expensive for a department that has many students with each paper typically needing to be edited twice. Hiring someone to edit papers is difficult, costly and only puts a patch over the problem. A native English speaker can do a good job at getting rid of most of the grammatical mistakes. However, if this person does not have a technical background, particularly in the area of the papers he is editing, he is unable to get rid of all of the mistakes and make sure that the meaning is clear. He cannot recognize the incorrect translation of technical terms for which there is a standard word. Such mistakes will not be picked up by the processors spelling and grammar checker. In addition, if they are not familiar with the topic or field, they may not grasp the meaning of the entire article and fail to make critical edits. Hiring a person with a technical background similar to that of the papers being edited is a better option. Nevertheless, while a person with a technical background may be able to edit the paper sufficiently, he may not be able to explain to the writer how to prevent such mistakes in the future. Besides, it is difficult for most Chinese universities to hire such staff simply for editing. Universities may consider inviting a visiting scholar who will edit papers in addition to doing research or teaching as part of an exchange. Although editing may be the fastest way to publish papers, it does little in the way of teaching the writers how to prevent common mistakes and colloquial habits that prevent a clear understanding of the writers ideas. Writers who have already obtained an 2 impressing command of the English language can only truly benefit if they are made aware of their common mistakes and colloquial habits and how to prevent them. Purpose The purpose of this report is to introduce the most common habits in Chinese- English writing as noted from the over two hundred papers I have edited. The habits include grammar mistakes, colloquialisms, and formatting problems and in most cases prevent a clear understanding of the writers ideas. A few of the habits, such as writing extremely long sentences, can be corrected with careful use of the MS Word grammar and style checker. However, most habits, such as missing articles, go unnoticed by automatic grammar checking devices. Still, Chinese-English colloquial habits are not recognized by such software tools. Structure The common habits are presented in two sections. The first section lists the habits that, in my opinion, need the most attention. These habits interrupt the flow of the paper making it difficult to understand and occur most frequently. In this section, the habits are explained, example sentences from actual papers are given to show the habits, and the sentences are rewritten to show the correct way to write them. In the case of missing articles, a flow chart is also given to aid in choosing the correct articles. In the second section, an additional list of habits is given. In some cases, example sentences are given. In other cases, advice is given. The second section is very useful in becoming familiar with small nuances. Not all of the common habits I observed are presented mainly because they can only be dealt with on an individual basis. For example, writers had difficulty titling their papers and naming new technical ideas to express their contents and functions concisely. This problem frequently occurred but it can only be addressed individually. Once writers are aware of their habits, they would be able to write better technical English articles. Section 1 a, an, the The single most common habit is the omission of articles a, an, and the. This occurs because Mandarin has no direct equivalent of articles and the rules for using them are somewhat complicated for a non-native speakers. Articles signal that a noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun (a big blue bicycle / the first award). A and an are indefinite articles; the is a definite article. Every time a singular noncount noun, a common noun that names one countable item, is used the noun requires some kind of determiner. 3 Mistake: The, a, and an are 1) omitted where they are required, 2) used where they are not needed or contribute to wordiness 3) used wrongly in place of the correct article. Examples of incorrect usages: Incorrect Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on surface of main and splitter blades.15 Correct Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on the surface of the main and splitter blades.15 Incorrect The software PowerSHAPE is chosen to be a 3D modeling tool; it is good at dealing with free surfaces and curves.4 Correct The software PowerSHAPE is chosen to be the 3D modeling tool; it is good at dealing with free surfaces and curves.4 There was only one 3D modeling tool used in this study, therefore 3D modeling tool is specific and requires the article the. Incorrect A theoretical method for calculating the inner flow-field in centrifugal impeller with splitter blades and investigation of the interactions between main and splitter blades is presented in this paper. The vortices are distributed on the main and splitter blades to simulate the effects of flows. Systematical study of number and distribution of vortices is conducted.15 Correct A theoretical method for calculating the inner flow-field in a centrifugal impeller with splitter blades and an investigation of the interactions between main and splitter blades is presented in this paper. The vortices are distributed on the main and splitter blades to simulate the effects of flows. A systematical study of the number and distribution of vortices is conducted.15 Incorrect Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in EOF product thereby minimizing impact on environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.16 Correct Theoretically, remanufacturing could fully take advantage of resources contained in an EOF product thereby minimizing the impact on the environment to the greatest extent compared to landfill or recycling of materials; consequently it contributes greatly to resource conservation.16 Definitions: Articles Also called determiners or noun markers, articles are the words a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles, and the is a definite article. Articles signal that a 4 noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun. ( a cold , metal chair/ the lightning-fast computer). Determiners A word or word group, traditionally identified as an adjective, that limits a noun by telling how much or how many about it. (expression of quantity, limiting adjective, marker) They tell whether a noun is general (a tree) or specific (the tree). The is a definite article. Before a noun, the conveys that the known refers to a specific item (the plan). A and an are indefinite articles. They convey that a noun refers to an item in a nonspecific or general way (a plan). Common nouns A noun that names a general group, place, person, or thing: dog, house. Count noun A noun that names an item or items that can be counted: radio, streets, idea, fingernails. Noncount nouns A noun that names a thing that cannot be counted: water, time. Specific noun A noun understood to be exactly and specifically referred to; uses the definite article the. Nonspecific noun A noun that refers to any of a number of identical items; it takes the indefinite articles a , an. Very long sentences Very long sentences are especially common in Chinese-English writing because the writers often translate directly from Chinese to English. Although, in Chinese writing it is acceptable to put several supporting ideas in on sentence to show their relationship, in English, the main idea and each supporting idea is typically written in separate sentences. One can usually recognize a very long sentence by its length sixty words or more. However, sentences of smaller lengths can also be too long if they contain multiple statements that confuse the main idea. Long sentences can be avoided by limiting each sentence to one or two topics. Semicolons should be used where the writer really wants to emphasize the relationship between ideas. Too long According to the characteristic of fan-coil air-conditioning systems, this paper derives the cooling formula of fan-coil units based on the heat transfer theories and puts forward a new method to gauge cooling named Cooling Metering on the Airside, which can monitor the individual air-conditioning cooling consumption during a period of time by detecting the parameters of inlet air condition temperature and humidity of the fan-coil air-conditioning system as well as the parameters of inlet cooling water provided by the chiller. 5 Correct This paper derives the cooling formula of fan-coil units based on the characteristics of fan-coil air-conditioning systems and heat transfer theories, and puts forward a new method to gauge cooling called Cooling Metering on the Air-side. The new method can monitor individual air-conditioning cooling consumption during a period of time by detecting the condition of inlet air temperature and humidity of the fan-coil air-conditioning system as well as the parameters of the inlet cooling water provided by the chiller. Too long The gear transmission is grade seven, the gear gap is 0.00012 radians, the gear gap has different output values corresponding to any given input value, nonlinearity of the gear gap model can be described by using the phase function method, the existing backlash block in the non-linear library of the Matlab/zdimulink toolbox can be used, the initial value of gear gap in the backlash block is set to zero.9 Correct The gear transmission is grade seven. The gear gap, which is 0.00012 radians, has different output values corresponding to any given input value. The nonlinearity of the gear gap model can be described by using the phase function method. The existing backlash block in the non-linear library of the Matlab/zdimulink toolbox can be used; the initial value of gear gap in the backlash block is set to zero. Another type of super-long sentence that frequently occurs in technical papers is that of a list. The writer wants to give a large amount of data, usually parameter values, and puts this information into one long, paragraph-sized sentence. However, the best way to give such type and quantity of information is to tabulate it (put it in a bulleted list). Too long where m is the mass of the heavy disk mounted at the mid-span of a massless elastic shaft, e is the eccentricity of the mass center from the geometric center of the disk, is the angle between the orientation of the eccentricity and the axis, k and k are the stiffness coefficients in two principal directions of shaft respectively, c is the viscous damping coefficient of the shaft and the disk, ci is the inner damping coefficient of shaft, is the rotating speed, s and s are the components of initial bend in directions of , axes respectively: s = rb cos ,s = rb sin .1 Correct Where m is the mass of the heavy disk mounted at the mid-span of a massless elasticshaft, e is the eccentricity of the mass center from the geometric center of the disk, is the angle between the orientation of the eccentricity and the axis, k and k are the stiffness coefficients in the two principal directions of the shaft, 6 c is the viscous damping coefficient of the shaft and the disk, ci is the inner damping coefficient of the shaft, is the rotating speed, s and s are the components of initial bend in directions of , axes, respectively: s = rb cos ,s = rb sin . Too long The clear height of the case is 6.15 meters; the thickness of the roof is 0.85 meters; the thickness of the bottom is 0.90 meters, the overall width is 26.6 meters, the overall length of the axial cord is 304.5 meters, the length of the jacking section is about 148.8 meters; the weight of the case is about 24127 tons.3 Clear Case clearance height 6.15 meters Roof thickness 0.85 meters Bottom thickness 0.90 meters Overall width 26.6 meters Overall length of the axial cord 304.5 meters Length of the jacking section 148.8 meters (approx.) Weight of the case 24127 tons (approx.) Prefacing the main idea of a sentence by stating the purpose, location or reason first Chinese writers often preface the main topic of a sentence by first stating the purpose, location, reason, examples and conditions as introductory elements. However, this has the effect of demoting the importance of the main idea and making the reader think the author is indirect. Bring the main idea to the beginning of the sentence stating any locations, reasons, etc., afterwards. Incorrect For the application in automobile interiors, this paper studies the nesting optimization problem in leather manufacturing. 5 Correct This paper studies the nesting optimization problem in leather manufacturing for application in automobile interiors. Incorrect Especially when numerical control (NC) techniques are widely used in industry and rapid prototype methods bring a huge economical benefits, the advantage of constructing 3D model becomes extremely obvious.2 Correct The advantage of constructing a 3D model becomes extremely obvious especially when numerical control (NC) techniques are widely used in industry and rapid prototype methods bring a huge economical benefits. Incorrect Inside the test box, the space was filled with asbestos.15 Correct The space inside the test box was filled with asbestos. 7 Incorrect In practice, we employed this approach to dispose of a wheelhouse subassembly of one kind of auto-body, and the results show that this method is feasible.16 Correct We employed this approach to dispose of a wheelhouse subassembly of one kind of auto-body, and the results show that this method is feasible. Incorrect To ensure sheet metal quality as well as assembly quality, CMMs are widely used in automotive industry production.16 Correct CMMs are widely used in automotive industry production to ensure sheet metal quality as well as assembly quality. Tendency of placing phrases which indicate time at the beginning of a sentence Incorrect When U is taken as the control parameter, the BDs for =0.0, 0.001, 0.005 are shown in Fig. 8. Correct Figure 8 shows the BDs for =0.0, 0.001, and 0.005 when U is taken as the control parameter. Place the most important subject at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis Incorrect Based on the triangulation structure built from unorganized points or a CAD model, the extended STL format is described in this section.4 Correct The extended STL format is described in this section based on the triangulation structure built from unorganized points or a CAD model. Incorrect The 3D dentition defect and restoration element models are designed precisely with complicated surfaces.4 Correct The 3D dentition defect and restoration element models with complicated surfaces are designed precisely. which/ that The antecedent (noun or pronoun) to which which refers is not specific, causing confusion. Antecedent The noun or pronoun to which a pronoun refers. The Shijiazhuang south road underground bridge possesses the largest jacking force, which is built at 1978(10680t). Correct The dynamic characteristics of a rotor with asymmetric stiffness or with initial warp have been studied before . Incorrect The inlet and outlet temperature of the air cooler were measured using two thermocouples respectively.17 Correct The inlet and outlet temperature of the air cooler were measured by using two thermocouples. In this paper, in this study Two errors occur when these phrases are used. The first is overuse. In some papers written by Chinese, these phrases can occur as much as twice per page. In papers written by native English writers these phrases are reserved for primarily two uses 1. In the introduction and conclusion to emphasize the content of the paper. 2. In the body of the paper, after referring to work not done by the author such as in other journal articles or in standard. Therefore, if either phrase occurs more than three times in a paper, its use is questionable. Actually, the reader is aware that the work presented is by the author (unless the author states otherwise) so there is no reason to repeat these phrases. The second error is more subtle. The two phrases are interchanged. Awkward In this paper, IDEAS was used to . Correct In this study, IDEAS was used to. Awkward In the paper, a SZG4031 towing tractor is used as the sample vehicle, it components equivalent physical parameters are obtained by UG design and testing.9 Correct In this study, a SZG4031 towing tractor is used as the sample vehicle, it components equivalent physical parameters are obtained by UG design and testing. 10 The study is the work the author/s did. The paper is the mode to present this work and is what the reader is holding/ reading. Keep in mind the writer can also use other phrases such as in this research, and this paper present. Numbers and Equations Two very common errors are those concerning the presentation of Arabic numerals, and equations. Chinese writers usually write Arabic numerals instead of spelling out the word. The use of Arabic numerals, itself, is not an error however; they should never be used at the beginning of sentences. Incorrect 12 parameters were selected for the experiment. Correct Twelve parameters were selected for the experiment. In addition, Arabic numerals are overused. Arabic numerals should be used to give data in technical papers, however they should not be used to give general information. Incorrect All 3 studies concluded that the mean temperature should be 30C. Correct All three studies concluded that the mean temperature should be 30C. This probably stems from the fact that Mandarin is a symbolic language and not alphabetic. Thus, the writer will find it easier to write a symbol that expresses the idea instead of the word. This problem is even more serious when equations are used in place of words in a way that is not practiced by native English speakers. Consider the following examples. Equations should be introduced as much as possible, not inserted in place of words. Most journals, like the International Journal of Production Research, discourage the use of even short expressions within the text. Incorrect If the power battery SOC SOClo and the driving torque belongs to the middle load, Correct If the power battery SOC is greater than SOClo and the driving torque belongs to the middle load, Incorrect All 3 studies concluded that the mean temperature should be 30C. Correct All three studies concluded that the mean temperature should be 30C. Format Paragraphs A paragraph is a group of sentences that develop one topic or thought. Paragraphs are separated to indicate the end of one idea or thought and the beginning of another. All English paragraphs start on a new line with an indent of about one inch or 11 with an extra line between the two paragraphs. The latter is more typical for business writing. Chinese students are often puzzled by separating paragraphs; the may perform one of two error. One error occurs when the writer fails to distinguish between two paragraphs. Although the new paragraph starts on a new line, there is no indentation, therefore, the reader in is not aware of the change in paragraphs or ideas. The second error occurs when a paragraph is preceded by a single sentence on a single line. The single line is indented along with the succeeding paragraph as in example #. This commonly occurs in Chinese texts but is never done in English. Figure and Table The abbreviations for figure and table are Fig. and Tbl, respectively. However, the abbreviation of table is rarely seen in text. One can also write fig. for figure. However, one should choose one convention and use it throughout the paper. You should not switch between, Figure, figure, Fig, or fig. In addition, abbreviations are not used at the beginning of sentences and a space belongs between the word/ abbreviation and the number. Incorrect Figure.6, Figure6, Fig.6, Tbl10 Correct Figure 6, Fig. 6, Tbl. 10 Variables Variables, especially those of the English alphabet, should be italicized in technical papers to distinguish them from English words. Of course, this depends on the style required by the journal. Capitals Be careful that capitals are not in the middle of the sentence. Incorrect In table 1, The mark Correct In table 1, the mark such as and etc. Such as and etc. are commonly misused by Chinese-English writers. Such as means for example and implies that an incomplete list will follow; etc. means and so on and is used at the end of a list to show it is not complete. Therefore, using such as and etc. together is redundant. Incorrect Studies of methodology and process of implementing remanufacturing mainly focus on durable products such as automobile motors, printers, and etc.11 Correct Studies of methodology and process of implementing remanufacturing mainly focus on durable products such as automobile motors, and printers. Such as means that an incomplete list will be given and should not be used when a complete list is given. 12 Incorrect Compared to traditional industry, Micro-electronic fabrication has three characteristics such as high complexity, high precision and high automation. Correct Compared to traditional industry, Micro-electronic fabrication has three characteristics: high complexity, high precision and high automation. Section 2 1) Some words have identical singular and plural forms and do not need an s added on to make them plural. These words include: literature (when referring to research) equipment, staff (referring to a group of people) faculty 2) Avoid redundancy in the following types of phrases frequently used by Chinese English writers Instead of Say Or say Research work Research Work Limit condition Limit condition Knowledge memory Knowledge Memory Sketch map Sketch map Layout scheme Layout scheme Arrangement plan Arrangement plan Output performance Output performance Simulation results results simulation Knowledge information Knowledge information Calculation results results calculation Application results Results Application 3) Certain words demand that the noun they modify is plural. These include different, various, and number words. Dont write Instead write Different node Different nodes Various method Various methods Two advantage Two advantages Fifteen thermocouple Fifteen thermocouples 4) Never begin an English sentence with abbreviations and Arabic numerals such as Fig. and 8. Instead write Figure and Eight. 5) Do not write by this way. Instead write by doing this, or using this method. 6) Never write How to at the beginning of a sentence. (Dont say it ither.) 13 No How to find the optimal parameter is the main objective. Yes Determining how to find the optimal parameter is the main objective. 7) Do write the results are shown in Figure 2. Do not write the results are showed as Figure 2. 8) Italicize variables appearing in the text to differentiate them from words. This is especially important when the variables are English alphabets. Write The graph shows t, a, and C as a function of time. Do not write The graph shows t, a, and C as a function of time. 9) Refrain from using the word obviously in a technical paper in the following way No Obviously, detecting regimes by means of PMH maps is a novel method.8 Yes Detecting regimes by means of PMH maps is a novel method.8 10) International papers should not use location dependant terms such as at home, abroad, here, our country because the reader most likely is not Chinese and not in China. Instead, write in China. 11) Avoid overusing the phrases that is to say and namely. Instead, try to convey your meaning in one sentence. 12) Do not use too at the end of a written sentence, especially in a technical paper. 14 Appendix A 15 1. LIN Fushen, MENG Guang, Dynamic Behavior of an Unbalanced and Warped Jeffcott Rotor with Asymmetric Stiffness, The State Key Lab of Vibration, Shock and Noise Shanghai JiaotongUnversity, Shanghai 200030, P.R. China, Institute of Vibration Engineering Northwester Polytechnic University, Xian 710072, CHINA, 2003 2. ZHANG Yuping, JIANG Shouwei, Review and Analysis of 3D-Model Reconstruction and Application, Shanghai Jiaotong University, School of Mechanical and Dynamic Engineering, 2003 3. DU Shouji, Long Distance Box-bridge Jacking Research: Report of Starting Research, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shijiazhuang Municipal Traffic Project Provided a loan by World Bank, Contract number: TA3.1.4, 2003 4. ZHANG Wenqiang, YAN Heqing, HUANG Xuemei, WEI Bin, and WANG Chengtao, 3D Modeling and Rapid Prototyping for Dentition Defect Restoration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 200030, China, The Ninth Peoples Hospital, Attached to Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200011, China, 2003 5. ZHANG YuPing, JIANG Shouwei, YIN Zhongwei, A Generic Approach for Leather Nesting with an Heuristic Simulated Annealing Based Genetic Algorith, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Mechanical Dynamic Engineering, Huashan Road 1954, Shanghai, 200030, 2003 6. HU Xin, XI JunTong, JIN Ye, Shape analysis and parameterized modeling of a hip joint, Institute of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Post Code 200030, Shanghai, China, 2003 7. LI LiJun, JIN XianLong, LI YuanYin, WEI JinQiao, WU WeiWei, A Parallel Solver for Structural Modal Analysis, High Performance Computing Center, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Republic of China, 2003 8. CHEN YongGuo, TIAN ZiPing, MIAO ZhengQing, Application of Time-frequency Analysis to Fluidization Regimes Recognition in Circulating Fluidized Beds, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Road 800, Shanghai, P.R. China, 200240, 2003 9. REN ShaoYun, ZHANG JianWu, GAO ChangYun, Modeling and Simulation Analysis of the Torsional Vibration of a FR Driveline System, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2003 10. WU LiJun, CHEN HuiEr, Mathematical Model for on-line Prediction of Bottom and Hearth of Blast Furnace by Particular Solution Boundary Element Method, Department of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai, 200030, Peoples Republic of China, 2003. 11. JING XueDong, ZHANG GuoQing, PU GengQiang, WANG ChengTao, XU BinShi, ZHU Sheng, Study on Architecture of Remanufacturing System, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, Surface Engineering Institute, Beijing, China 12. CAI XiaoPing, JIN Chen, WU JunBiao, HIRAOKA Sumito, CHEN ShaoLin, Application of Partial Singular Value Decomposition Analysis to Location of Vibration Sources of Elevator, 1. State Key Laboratory of Vibration, Shock Noise, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, 200030, 2. Fujitec CO., Ltd. Osaka, 547-8510, Japan, 2003 13. YE Yao, LIAN ZhiWei, HOU ZhiJian, Heat Exchange Analysis of Cooling Coils Based on a Dynamic Model, Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, China 14. NIU XinWen, DIN Han, XIONG YouLun, Assembly Plans Generation Based on Precedence Graphs, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 16 200030, China, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China 15. LIU ZhengHua, TONG TieFeng, Critical Heat Flux of Steady Boiling for Subcooled Water Jet Impingement on the Flat Stagnation Zone, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200030, P.R. China, 2003 16. WANG Jian, LIN ZhongQin, ZHANG YiZhu, Matching Clearance Analysis for Sheetmetal Assembly, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2003 17. DENG D. Q., XU L., Experimental investigation on the performance of an air cooler under frosting conditions, Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, P.R. China, 2002 18. YIN ZhongWei, JIANG ShouWei, Iso-phote based adaptive surface fitting to digitized points and its applications in region-based tool path generation, slicing and surface triangulation, 2003 19. GU ZhengLing, WANG LiYa, QIAN ShanYang, An AHP-based Method for Improving the Manufacturing Processes of Mass Customization, Industrial Engineering and Management Department, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, P.R. China, 2003 20. XU Jie and GU ChuanGang, Numerical Calculation of the Flow-Field in a Centrifugal Impeller with Splitter Blades, School of Power and Energy Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 20003. 21. Zhu ZhengLi, YIN ChengLiang, ZHANG JianWu, Matching and Optimization of HEV Powertrain Based on Genetic Algorithm, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030 . Is the word a noun? (person, place or thing) When to use a, an, and the Start Is the noun countable? Count Non-count Is the noun singular? (refer to only one thing) Is the noun countable? Count Non-count Does the noun begin with a consonant or a consonant sounding h? (i.e. house, half)? Requires a, an, or the. Is the noun specific? Is the plural, countable noun specific? Is the noun already preceded by a determiner below? one, any some, every, each, either, neither another, the other my, our, your, his, her, its, their, nouns with s or s this, that one, no, the first, the second, etc. Is the plural countable noun already preceded by a determiner below? some, any, both, many, more, most, few, fewer, the fewest, a lot of, a number of, other, several, all, all the my, our, your, his, her its, their, nouns with s or s these, those no, two, three, etc.; the first, the second, the third, etc. The noun must begin with a vowel or vowel sounding h (i.e. hour, hierarchy) and therefore requires an an. th e th e a yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes no, plural no no no no no no end no end end end end
标签: 英文写作
