文章的开头对大多数人来说往往是最难写的一部分。总觉得千头万绪，无从下笔。如果能够掌握几种开头的方法，就会得心应手的多。当然，文章的开头并没有固定的模式，主要应根据文章的内容、问文体来决定。下面是几种常见的开头方法。

　　一、引语法：引用名人名言、人们熟悉的谚语、格言、俗语、成语等，使文章富于哲理，也可直接引用文章的人物的话语。例如：引用这一名言作为开头，就基本上确定了文章的发展方向。

　　As the proverb goes,“No one knows the value of health until he losesit.”In other words, nothing is more valuable than health.

　　二、主题句法：文章的一开头就点明全文的主题，然后再围绕这一主题进行发挥。例如：Oneof life's pleasures is friendship. And one of life's sorrows is the loss ofsuch a relationship. There are three common causes for lost of friendship:betrayal, boredom, and distance. 文章一上来就点明失去友谊的三种原因、下文分别加以详细地描述和分析。

　　三、数字统计法：引用具体的数字作为文章的开端，使读者对要阐述的问题有更感性的认识，再进一步分析、说明、进入正文。例如：

　　Look at your watch for just one minute. During that time, thepopulation of the world increased by many eighty-five people. Perhaps you thinkthat isn't too much. In the next hour, more than 5,000 additional people willbe living on this planet. So it goes, hour after hour. In one day, there areabout 12,000 additional mouths to feed. Multiply this by 365. What will happenin a hundred years?

　　文章的开端并没有老生长谈说人口问题如何严峻，而是采用生动的数字，给读者留下深刻的印象。在这一基础上，作者在进行论述则势如破竹了。

　　四、提问法：在起始段提出一个或几个问题，引出论点和主题。再解释展开论证。例如：

　　Should men and women be equal? This a question much talked about bymany people. Some hold the opinion that men are superior to women in many ways.For one thing, many a job men do can hardly be done by women, who arephysically not strong enough; and for another, most of the world-famousscientists or statesmen are found to be males. Moreover, the whole humansociety seems to have all along been dominated by men only. Isn't it evidentenough to show that men are a lot stronger than women? Hence, the former shouldenjoy more rights than the latter.

　　文章开头就提出问题：男女是否应该平等，然后列举出一些人的答案，在进行综合阐述，全文条例十分清晰。

　　五、惊语法：采用令人该你到惊奇、震动的句子开头，引起先声夺人的效果，使文章引人入胜。例如：

　　If a person has a terrible secret, we may say he had "askeleton in the cupboard". But the only one I know who has a real skeletonin the cupboard is George Carlton. 碗橱里面藏着骷髅，令人心惊胆战，不由得想看个究竟。

　　六、定义法：定义法即对说明的事物、现象等下定义，再进入正文。通常是对文章的标题、主题、关键词予以定义，然后再用举例、推理等各种方法进行发挥。例如：What is health food? Health food is such as improves your health ifyou take it according to a proper arrangement.

　　七、背景法：介绍文章时间发生所处的背景，即时间、地点、人物，为事物的发展创造条件。例如：

　　The path led to tiny village perched on the steep side of amountain. The place consisted of a straggling unmade road which was lined oneither side by small houses. Even under a clear blue sky, the village lookedforbidding, as all the houses were built of grey mud bricks.

　　八、人物法：交待文章的主要人物或其他人物，以人物为线索展开故事情节。例如：

　　My paternal grandmother, who lived with us from the time my parentsmarried until she died in 1980, was the most decisive influence in my life. Shesat at the centre of our household. Her room —and my mother always saw to itthat she had the best room, specious and sunny, with a fireplace if possible—was the place to which we immediately went when we came in from playing orfrom school. There my father went when he arrived in the house. There, sittingby the fire, erect and intense she listened to us and to all of mother'sfriends and to our friends. In my early childhood she was also veryactive—cooking, preserving, growing flowers in the garden, and attentive to allthe activities of the country and the farm.

　　九、故事法：通过故事开头，转入正题，再进一步进行说明、议论，能起到引人入胜的效果。例如：

　　In one way of thinking, failure is part of life. In another way,failure may be a way towards success. The "spider-story" is oftentold. Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13th century, was hiding in acave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried toreach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times to span the gap. Onthe seventh time he made it and went on to spin his web. Bruce is said to havetake heart and to have gone on to defeat the English...Edison, the inventor ofthe light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the rightway to make one. Once he was asked why he kept on trying to make a new type ofbattery when he had failed so often. He replied, “Failure? I have no failures.Now I know 50,000 ways it won't work.”

　　文章起始就采用两个著名的故事，说明伟人们如何从失败中吸取经验教训，毫不气馁，走上成功之路。

　　英语写作四种落笔应试方法

　　好的文章通常有精彩的结尾，不仅使文章显得完整，而且深化主题，给读者留下深刻的印象，让人回味。记叙文、描写文章原则上把事物陈述、描写完毕就可以结束。说明文、议论文常用结论性的语言结束文章。结尾端应短而有力。常见的结尾方法有：

　　一、总结式：即把全文的主要观，中心意旨进行概括总结，或重申已提过的主要内容。例如：

　　Thetotal effect of most TV is dangerous. It is time for parents to take charge andsupervise their children's play instead of parking them by the tube and hopingit will act as a baby-sitter. The influence if TV is so important that parentswill have to be on their guard to make sure their children are not being harmedby exposure to it.

　　二、引语式：与文章的开头一样，结尾处也可采用格言、谚语、名人的语言等来结束全文。例如：

　　Allof us wish for bright future and hope to master a useful career. Those whopersist in remaining in idleness will never fulfill their ambitions. “No pains,no gains” is a motto with meaning. Meditate and live by it.

　　三、反问式：结尾处对文章所提出的观点提出反问，引起读者思考。例如：

　　Nowscientists are going on with their efforts to hunt for monsters. Perhaps one ormore of these creatures may one day discovered. We are expecting to hear theexciting news. But who knows then?

　　四、提出希望，或展望、预测未来：这种方法常用在总结式、报告式的说明文中，表达作者的希望、忧虑、预测等。例如：

　　Thisenormous increase of population will create immense problems. By A.D.2000,unless something terrible happens, there will be as many as 7,000,000,000people on the surface of the earth! So this is a problem which you are going tosee in your life time.

　　这一结尾预测了未来严峻的人口问题，表达了作者的忧虑。