英语议论文常用衔接语小结

闫　跃

英语作文应做到“意形并重”，除了考虑“说什么”，还得考虑“怎么说”，衔接语的使用是后一方面的要求，它的使用力求新颖灵活，要能使语言表达走出单调枯躁的阴影。下面笔者将英语议论文中与观点论述相关的一些常用衔接语小结如下，希望对中学生朋友们有所帮助。

一、表示话题“涉及方面”的短语

这类短语多半表示“关于”、“就……而言”之类的意义，除了常用的about, on, as to(for)等词语，还有许多表示相同意义的其他方式，如in the matter of, on the subject of, in connection to / with, in point / regard / respect of, in reference / regard / relation to, with reference / regard / relation / respect to, as concerns / regards（后接名词、动名词或what从句）, concerning, regarding, respecting, as / so far ... be concerned, where ... be concerned等等。例如：

In connection with / In point of / In reference to / With respect to / In the matter of / On the subject of what you were just saying, there is one point I would like to emphasize. 关于你刚才所说的话，有一点我要强调。

I have little information as regards/ concerning her fitness for the post. 至于她是否适合这个职位，我无可奉告。

As far as / Where sovereignty is concerned, there is no latitude for negotiation. 在涉及主权的问题上没有谈判的余地。

二、表示“观点来源”的短语

这类短语主要用来引出陈述者的立场或论断。大致分为两类：一类用于引出陈述者根据个人的看法或意愿在某一事件上所形成的“立场”，表示“在某人看来；某人认为”之类的含义；另一类则用于引出陈述者根据所了解的客观情况所做出的主观性相对较弱的“论断”，表示“据某人所知”之类的含义。为了方便论述，第一类短语，以“在我看来；我认为”为例，除常用的personally, speaking for myself, in my opinion / view等结构，还有为数甚多的其他表达，如：in my understanding, to my mind, to my (way of) thinking, from where I stand, as / so far as I am concerned等介词短语、状语从句均可表达这一意义；第二类短语，以“据我所知”为例，一般可表示为: to (the best of) my knowledge, from what I know / understand, as / so far as I know / understand 等等。例如：

To my (way of) thinking / From where I am standing, it ought to be banned altogether. 我认为这应该全部取缔。

To (the best of) my knowledge / As far as I know, the new project will be starting in June. 据我所知，新项目将于六月开始进行。

三、表示“观点给出方式”的短语

这类短语通常用来表示“……地说”这类意义，最普通的表达就是“adv + speaking”，除这一模式外，还存在多种表达方式，比如要表示“简要的说”，可以有如下选择：in brief, to be brief, to speak briefly, to put it briefly, putting it briefly, put briefly（put是过去分词）, if I may speak briefly。这些介词短语、非限定性分句或从句，如选用得当，作文也会给人耳目一新的感觉。例如：

To be frank / To speak frankly / To put it frankly / Putting it frankly / Put frankly / If I may speak frankly, I am not quite of the opinion that children should receive foreign language education since childhood. 坦率地说，我不大赞同儿童应该从小就接受外语教育的看法。

四、表示行为发生“依据”或“凭借”的短语

表示“鉴于”、“由于”这类解释原因或理由概念的词有considering / given(that), in view / consideration of, with ... in view等，其中considering / given可用作介词，后接一名词性成分，也可作连词，后接一从句（该从句如由that引导，that可省略）；表“由于”、“因为”这类概念，除常见的介词because of等，还有by reason of, for reasons of, for ... reasons, in consequence of, on account / grounds of, what with（用于列举各种理由，至少两个）, by / in the virtue of, on the score of等表示法，表该类意义的从属连词，除常见的because, as, since,还可用by reason that, for the reason that, on the ground(s) that, being as / that, now (that), seeing (as / that)等。例如：

Considering / Given her age（= Considering）, she had done remarkably well. 考虑到她的年龄，她已经做得相当不错了。

By reason of / On account of / What with the cold weather and my bad leg, I havent been out for weeks. 由于天冷，我的腿又不好，我已好几个星期没出门了。

Her claim was disallowed on the ground(s) that / by reason that / being as / being that she had not paid her premium.她要求赔款遭到拒绝，原因是她事先没有交纳保险费。

Now (that) / Seeing (as / that) it is ten oclock, we will not wait for Mary any more. 既然已经十点了，我们就不再多等玛丽了。

五、表示行为发生“条件”的短语

这类短语多表示“如果”、“万一”、“只要”等意义，引导条件状语，除常用的in case (of), if外, 还有in the event (of), providing / provided (that), on(upon) condition (that), on the understanding that等结构，其中in case of与in the event of是介词，其他的是从属连词。例如：

Britain agreed to support the US in the event of war / in the event (that) there is a war. 英国同意一旦发生战争将支持美国。

Providing / provided (that) we got good weather, it will be a successful holiday. 如果天气良好，我们的假日将会过得非常好。

I lent him five pounds on condition (that) / on the understanding that he would repay me today.我借他五英镑，条件是他今天得还给我。

六、表示“观点汇总”的短语

这类短语用作独立成分，主要表示“总的看来”与“总之”的含义，表示前者的主要有：on the whole, on balance, by and large, wholly speaking, taken / seen as a whole, all things considered, everything taken into consideration,其中taken / seen as a whole是过去分词作状语，其逻辑主语须与主句一致，all things considered, everything taken into consideration是独立主格结构作状语，它们都属非限定性分句的范畴。表示后者的主要有：all in all, in a word, in conclusion, to conclude, in sum / summary, to sum up。例如：

On the whole / On balance / By and large, our firm has had quite a good year despite some failures. 总体看来，我们公司虽然存在某些不足之处，但这一年还是相当不错的。

Taken / Seen as a whole / All things considered / Everything taken into consideration, her proposal is more practical.总体说来，她的建议更切合实际。

All in all, its been a pretty bad year for John Major. 总体来说，对约瀚·梅杰来讲这是最糟糕的一年。

And so I would say, in sum / in summary, that the campaign has been a great success. 因此我认为，总的看来，这项运动成绩巨大。

衔接语的合理运用既可以使得英语作文避免在措辞上的生硬和单调，又可以增强观点的亲和力。需要指出的是，上文同一条目下的短语可以表示同类意义，但有些并非完全对等，就如同均为表示原因的because, as, since之间的差别一样，像being as / that 比较口语化，而by / in the virtue of则显得较正式文雅；if与on the understanding that虽同样可以表条件，但前者只表示“如果”，而后者含有“只要；在……的条件下”，在意义上存在细微差别，并且后者多用于正式文体当中。