英语课程计划-National Punctuation Day

National Punctuation¹ Day is a very important holiday for teachers and students of English. In fact, anyone who writes in English should celebrate this day. Few of us feel we are experts at the small marks that make up the English punctuation system. The day was founded in 2004 by Jeff Rubin, a former journalist. He wanted to draw attention to the importance of proper punctuation and to promote good writing skills. He said: “Successful people have good communication skills, and that includes knowing how to write properly.” He added: “I’m stunned² at how many executives and CEOs send me articles and correspondence that are poorly written and punctuated…Magazines and newspapers routinely make punctuation errors.”

Punctuation is everything in a written language except the actual letters or numbers. Punctuation marks and other things like spaces and indents³ help the reader understand the structure and organization of writing. Punctuation rules are different in every language. The oldest document containing punctuation dates back to the 9th century BC. English punctuation developed when large numbers of Bibles were produced. A standardized⁴ punctuation system emerged after the invention of the printing press. Many purists believe punctuation is under threat today. They say that the emergence⁵ of text messaging is killing⁶ off commas, colons⁷ and apostrophes. People are in too much of a hurry to bother with correct punctuation.

1 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

2 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

3 indents   

v.切割…使呈锯齿状( indent的第三人称单数 )；缩进排版

参考例句：

• Has Evans collected the indents for Chinese products yet? 埃文斯收集了中国货的订单没有？ 来自辞典例句
• Indent Code-Indents your code to a generally accepted style. 缩进代码-缩进您的代码以一种普遍接受的风格。 来自互联网

4 standardized   

adj.标准化的

参考例句：

• We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
• The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。

5 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 colons   

n.冒号( colon的名词复数 )；结肠

参考例句：

• Enter unlisted values here. Use semi-colons to separate multiple values. 在此处输入未列出的值。用分号分隔多个值。 来自互联网
• Colons separate hours, minutes, and seconds, although all need not be specified. 用冒号分隔小时、分钟和秒，但所有这些内容并非都需要指定。 来自互联网