开头段在全文中起到了概括或陈述主题，提出观点或者论点，表面写作意图的作用，因此一定要语言精练，并且直接切入主题。开头段一般不对主题进行深入的探讨，具体的论证或叙述应该在扩展段进行。一般在开头段写四、五句即可。开头段有多种表达方法，如开门见山法，提问法，引语法，数据法，背景法，定义法等。

（1）开篇点明主题，用主题句，然后围绕主题内容进行发展。例如：

Now people become increasingly aware of the importance of acquiring a mastery of a foreign language. To them, the knowledge of a foreign language, say, English, often means a good opportunity for one’s career, even a passport to a prosperous future. Many of them equate success in life with the ability of speaking a foreign language.

（2）提出有争议或探讨性的具体问题，然后加以简要回答或展开引导性简短讨论。例如：

What do you want from your work? Money? Promotions? Interesting challenges? Continual learning? Work based friendships? The opportunity to develop your own idea and potentials? Though we are all individuals and so our answers will differ, all agree that work provides more than material things.

（3）使用引语(use a quotation)：使用一段名人名言，或人们常用的谚语、习语，以确定文章的写作范围和方向。例如：

“Great minds must be ready not only to take the opportunity, but to make them.”Colton, a great writer once remarked. But it still has a profound significance now. To a person, in whose lifetime opportunities are not many, to make opportunities is more essential to his success.

（4）使用具体详实的数字或数据，然后作出概括性分析，指明问题的症结所在。例如：

In the past 5 years, there has been a marked decline in the number of young married couples who want to have children, coupled with a growing trend toward delayed childbearing. According to official statistics, in 2003, about 28 percent of married couples with wives under 35 gave no birth to children, compared with the 1993 level of 8 percent. 

（5）给出背景，描述具体事件的时间、地点和发生背景等，例如：

Once in a newspaper I read of a crowd of people who remained appallingly indifferent to the plea of a mother. As she failed to offer the required amount of cash as a price to save her drowning son, the woman at last watched her son sink to death. The story is not rare in newspapers and on TV, and the casualness and detachment our people now have developed has aroused nationwide concern. 

（6）针对讨论的主题或问题加以定义，然后进行深入探讨。例如：

Flexibility is defined as being adaptable to change. In the course of your lifetime, it is essential that you learn to bend and flex around every new circumstance, as rigidity deprives you of the opportunity to see new possibilities. Paradigms change over time, and so must you. Your company may restructure, and you will have to survive. Your spouse may choose to leave the marriage, and you will have to cope. Technology will continue to advance and change, and you must constantly learn and adapt or risk becoming a dinosaur. Flexibility allows you to be ready for whatever curve lies ahead in life instead of getting blindsided by it

段落是文章的缩影。写好了段落，就能比较成功地写出较好的文章。中间段落往往是一篇文章的主体部分。进行段落层次上的写作训练，是写好英语文章的关键一环。段落发展主要有主题句、推展句 ；例如：

（主题句）No one can avoid being influenced by advertisements. （推展句1）Much as we may pride ourselves on our good taste, we are no longer free to choose the things we want, for advertising exerts a subtle influence on us. （推展句2）In their efforts to persuade us to buy this or that product, advertisers have made a close study of human nature and have classified all our little weakness.

常用的展开方法有：因果展开，举例展开，对比展开，类比展开，列举展开，叙述展开等。

（1）在阐述某一现象的段落中，常采用因果分析法。例如： 

The role of women in today's society is changing. One reason is that women have begun to assert themselves as independent people through the women's movement. Also, women are aware of the alternatives to staying at home. Another reason is that increasing numbers of women who enter new fields and interests serve as role models for other women. Moreover, men are becoming more conscious of the abilities of women and have begun to view their independence positively. 

本段中，主题句提出了一种社会现象，推展句则对产生这种现象的原因作出各种解释。 

（2）作者通过举出具体事例来阐述、说明主题句的内容，严格地讲，举例法也是列举法的一种，它们的区别在于：列举法侧重罗列事实，所列事实力求全面；而举例法侧重通过举出典型事例来解释作者观点，且事例可多可少。我们来看下面这个用举例法展开的段落。

There are many different forms of exercises to suit different tastes. For example, those who enjoy competitive sports may take up ball games. For another example, if they prefer to exercise alone, they can have a run or take a walk in the morning or in the evening. Besides, people can go swimming in the summer and go skating in the winter. In short, no matter what their interests are, people can always find more than one sports that are suitable to them.

本段采用了三个事例来说明主题句中的关键词组different forms of exercises，这三个例子分别由连接词for example, for another example 和 besides引出，最后由引导的结尾句总结全段内容。

（3）将同类的事物按照某种特定的规则进行比较分析是一种常用的思维方法。通过对比，更容易阐述所述对象之间的异同和优缺点，例如： 

The heart of an electronic computer lies in its vacuum tubes, or transistors. Its electronic circuits work a thousand times faster than the nicer cells in the human brain. A problem that might take a human being a long time to solve can be solved by a computer in one minute. 

在这段文字上， 作者为了突出电子计算机运行速度之快，首先将它与人脑进行了比较， "-- a thousand times faster than --" ;而后，又将这一概念具体到了 "a problem"上，通过对比使读者从 "-- a long time -- in one minute"上有更加直观的认识。

（4）所谓类比,就是借助某个或某几个类似的故事、实例或写作者安排的情境,进行由此及彼的推理。运用某个材料的引申义,通过类比,来论证文章的观点。例如：

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death…The best way to overcome it-so at least it seems to me-is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river-small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue…

（5）通过列举一系列的论据对topic sentence中摆出的论点进行广泛、全面地陈述或解释，列举的顺序可以按照所列各点内容的相对重要性、时间、空间等进行。例如：

Yesterday was one of those awful days for me when everything I did went wrong. First, I didn't hear my alarm clock and arrived late for work. Then, I didn't read my diary properly and forgot to get to an important meeting with my boss. During the coffee break, I dropped my coffee cup and spoilt my new skirt. At lunch time, I left my purse on a bus and lost all the money that was in it. After lunch, my boss was angry because I hadn't gone to the meeting. Then I didn't notice a sign on a door that said "Wet Paint" and so I spoilt my jacket too. When I got home I couldn't get into my flat because I had left my key in my office. So I broke a window to get in and cut my hand.

（6）主要是按照事物本身的时间或空间的排列顺序，通过对一些特有过渡连接词的使用，有层次分步骤地表达主题句的一种写作手段。用这种方法展开段落，作者能够清楚连贯地交待事物的本末，从而可以使读者可以清晰、完整地理解文章的含义，例如：

In the flat opposite, a woman heard the noise outside. When she looked out through the window, she discovered that someone threatened her neighbor. She immediately called the police station. In answer to the call, a patrol police car arrived at the scene of the crime quickly. Three policemen went inside the flat at once, and others guarded outside the building to prevent anyone from escaping.

好的结尾会使读者对全文的中心思想留下深刻的印象，可以增添文章的效果和说服力，让人深思，回味无穷。确切地说，结尾的作用就是概括全文内容；有时也用于展望未来，提出今后方向或令人深思的问题给读者留下回味和思考的余地。结尾段有多种表达方法，如重申主题，作出结论，引用名言，反问结尾，提出展望或期望等。

(1) 回到文章开头阐明的中心思想或主题句上，达到再次肯定和强调的效果。例如：

1. A sense of humor is really one of the keys to happiness. It gives zest to life to make it worth living. 

2. With all these benefits, it is no wonder that sports and games have now become more popular with people than ever. 

(2)文章最后用几句话概括全文内容，并进一步肯定文章的中心思想或作者的观点。例如： 

1. In conclusion, a good teacher-student relationship can be mutual beneficial. The students gain knowledge eagerly and enjoyably, and the teacher gains satisfaction from his job. 

2. On the whole there are more advantages than disadvantages in the use of TV. Yet different people may have different attitude toward TV. But we must realize that television in itself is neither good nor bad. Its value to people and society depends on how we look at it. 

(3)用格言、谚语或习语总结全文，既言简意赅又有更强的说服力。例如： 

1. If you have anything to do, try to do it yourself, for that is the safest way to 

permanent success. Remember the famous saying. "Heaven helps those who help themselves." 

2. If we stick to studies day after day, there is nothing that can't be achieved. As an old saying goes: "Constant dropping of water wears away a stone." 

(4)虽然形式是问句，但意义却是肯定的，具有明显的强调作用，引起读者思考。 

1. Therefore, listening skills must be consciously improved. Since it is such an important means of learning and communication, why should we not develop this ability as far as possible? 

2. So，what can we benefit from wealth if we do not have health? 

(5)表示对将来的展望或期待读者投入行动。 

1. I am sure that Chinese will become one of the most important languages in the world in the next century. As China will open further to the outside world the language is sure to be spread world widely. 

2. If everyone has developed good manners, people will form a more harmonious relation. If everyone behaves considerately towards others and social ethics，people will live in a better world. With the general mood of society improved, there will be a progress of civilization.