谈论严肃话题（Talking about Something Seriously）
美文欣赏
The Creative Way
Because of the rule which requires us to use standard envelopes, there is a problem about to do with the used ones. After thinking for a long time, I have a few suggestions for dealing with old envelopes.
First of all, use them as memos(备忘录). Sometimes we have to ask somebody to take a message for us. We could write the name and address on the envelope as a reminder.
Secondly, we can use them as “little boxes”. That is, we could use them to hold little things, such as tickets and receipts. In this way, they would be organizers for little things, which are easy to misplace.
Thirdly, use them as special photo albums. According to some friends, photos placed in plastic photo albums easily become damp. If we put the photos in envelopes, we could avoid the problem.
The fourth use of the old envelopes is to use them for preparing rough drafts. If we cut them open and spread them out, they provide a large writing surface.
Of course there are many other ways to use them. In a word, all of the above are only my suggestions. So long as we use our heads, we can be creative and find many ways to deal with our old things.
看了题目，到几乎读完全文，作者似乎再也未提及old envelopes与 creative有什么关系，但读到最后一句，我们才会顿悟：原来要具有创造性（to be creative）其实就这么简单--So long as we use our heads! 这正是作者的高明之处：于简单之中显真理！
本文开题简朴、称述条理清楚、结论水到渠成，文笔简单易懂。学习时还应注意到其句子的多样化（划线部分）。
推荐背诵文段
常用表达法
1.五个基本环节
Starting
Giving ideas
Developing
Arguing
Coming to a conclusion
1）起笔（Starting）
（1）称述事实式
The fact that blind people can see things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feeling about colour. (Color and Feelings)
（2）设问式
Right is right. Right? But is left wrong? (Is Left Wrong?)
2）提出观点（Giving ideas）
（1）借助常识：
It is known to all that smoking is harmful to our health. (The Ways of Being Healthy)
（2）直抒己见：
I think it is useful to build a new dam across the river. (Making Full Use of Our Water)
We also believe that doing exercises every day will do us a lot of good. ((The Ways of Being Healthy)
（3）巧用成语：
“Where there is a will, there is a way.” It is the same in learning English. (How to Learn English Well)
“Like father, like son.” So what you do today will be done again tomorrow by your children. (A Letter to Parents)
3）强化论点（Developing）
（1）First…,Second…,Third…Finally…（2）Firstly…,Secondly…,Thirdly…Finally…（3）First of all…,Then…,Next…,At last…（4）Furthermore…;Besides…;Moreover…（5）What’s more,…;At the same time,…; What is worse,…
4）提出反驳（Arguing）
（1）but, yet, still; however; although…
（2） on the other hand…;on the contrary…;
in spite of…;even though…;At the same time…
（3） 60 percent of the students think…and about 10 percent, giving no idea, while the rest of the students are strongly against the suggestion.
Supporters are cheering the new plan but I personally don’t like the idea of an award.
5）得出结论（Coming to a conclusion）
（1）Finally…;Therefore…
（2）In a word…;In short…;In the end…;
In other words…;As a result…;In all…
（3）Generally speaking…
（4）As I have shown…;As has been stated…;
As we (you) all know…
写作练习
①学校附近拟兴建一座化工厂（a chemical works）。请你以该校学生的名义写一篇短文，陈述反对兴建此化工厂的理由。短文内容要点如下：1.不仅你本人，大部分同学都反对；
2.尽管该厂可以为本市赚不少钱，但危害大于好处；
3.防范措施不充分，会严重污染饮用水；
4.造成空气污染；
5.侵占学生们游戏、玩耍的场所。
注意：还可以补充若干理由。不要仅仅翻译各点。（120词左右）②请依据以下内容要点写一篇短文。题目自拟，不要逐句翻译。（120词左右）有人说：时间就是金钱。但我认为，时间对我们来说更为珍贵，因为失去的时间不会再来。
时间流失很快。有些同学说他们没有足够的时间来预习功课。他们在看电视、玩耍或其他事情上花费了过多的时间。
今天，生活在新世纪的青年人应该懂得：时间就是生命。我们应该抓紧时间学习，将来好为社会服务。请记住：时间比金钱更宝贵。
习作点评
① (A) It is reported that a new chemical works will be built here. Certainly, it is a good idea for developing economy. But on other hand, it is also a big problem.
Firstly, many people don’t agree to build this works. The smoke and the soot will bring lots of illness, it is dangerous for every one.
Secondly, it will pollute the water so that the fish will die, even bad for our health.
Thirdly, many experts said it will use a lot of place and the noise will affect us.
The surrounding is the most important thing. We should protect it and return the real face to the nature.
(B) A lot of the students of our school are against the chemical works would be build near our school, certainly, including me.
Although, the chemical works will make a lot of money for our city, we think it must have more harm than good. First of all, it would pollute the drinking water. At the same time, the air over the chemical works must be polluted too. Maybe, the fresh air will disappear in our city. Second, the works will occupy the places which were for the students playing and sporting.
Because of the above reasons, we hope that the chemical works won’t build near our school. A.B两篇均为就同一材料讨论的较为简单的议论文，但在表述方式上各有千秋：
A篇开头好，既道出了消息来源，又称述了各自利弊，提出了反对的观点，为下文的进一步论证确立了论点；
在陈述己方论据时条理分明。
B篇开门见山，提出了己方观点；结尾归纳收笔干净力落，旗帜鲜明。
在陈述己方论据时应用了First of all, At the same time, Maybe等表达法又使语言显得较为丰富。
当然文中也有一些不当之处，请您试着修改划线部分。
② Time Is More Valuable
There is a saying: Time Is Money. It is to say time is valuable. However, in my opinion, time is much more valuable than money for us. If you lost（应为lose） money, you can earn some through making efforts. But if what you have lost is time, you can never have the missed time again.
Time flies with the wind. Some students say they have not enough time to study. It is because too much time has been spent on playing games, watching TV or doing other things.
Now, as teenagers living in the new century, we should learn that time is life. We should do right things at the right time. So students, the hope of the new century, should make the best use of our time to learn new things. Then we can make the society more wonderful when we grow up.
At last, do remember that time is even more valuable than money.
本篇为一高一学生习作。全文立意较高，表述清晰，论点明确，论据充分。所用句型结构较多且准确，启承转合自然贴切，语言流畅，堪称佳作！
文中精彩之笔比比皆是：
if what you have lost is time, you can never have the missed (应为missing) time again.
is because too much time has been spent on playing games, watching TV or doing other things.
3. So students, the hope of the new century, should make the best use of our time to learn new things.
参考范文
① Most students of our school, including me, are against the con -struction of a chemical works near our school.
Although the works will make a lot of money for our city, we do think it will do us more harm than good. The drinking water will be badly polluted. Of course, they have promised to do something to prevent the water from being polluted, however, it is far from enough. On the other hand, the air over the city will be polluted too. We will never be able to breathe fresh air. How can we live here any longer?
Last but not the least, the site of the chemical works has been the only place where we students play games and have sports after school. Where would we go if it were occupied?
② Is Time Money?
People always say that time is money. But I think time is more valuable than money, because time lost never comes back again.
Time passes very quickly. Some students say that they do not have enough time to prepare their lessons. Meanwhile, they spend too much of their time in watching TV, playing games and doing other things.
Today the young people, who are living in the early twenty-first century, should know that time is life. We should spend more time learning what is being taught in school so that we’ll serve our society well in the future.
Do remember: Time is more valuable than money.