者:胡庚申 申雲楨(清華大學外語係,北京 100084)
一、引 言
科學論文的寫作在常用句型、用語方麵有一定的規律可循。掌握這些基本規律,寫作論文時可收到事半功倍的效果。那麽,常用的句型、句式怎樣分類比較科學?通常用到的句式為哪些類型?各種類型又有哪些基本表達方法? 所有這些問題,都擬在本文內例述和研討。
為什麽要掌握分類句式用語呢?
- 有利於避免不必要的重複。許多有用的句型,通常出現在科學論文的不同部分,如表示研究目的用語,不僅在論文摘要中用到,而且在引言、討論、甚至結論等部分都會用到。如果我們在講述怎樣寫作各部分時都列舉類似的用語,勢必造成重複、贅述。現在把它們集中起來分類例述,就能避免不必要的重複。 
- 掌握分類句式用語有利於比較地道、規範的英語表達。把英美人寫作論文時的句式用語集中地進行分類選擇,有利於廣大專業技術人員和研究生們學習、模仿比較地道、規範的英語表達,有利於節約時間,避免費力耗時地造出“蹩腳的”、甚至“中國式”的英語表達。 
- 掌握分類句式用語有利於寫作中的多樣化表達。把表達相同或相似概念的不同表達方式集中分類,便於寫作中選擇、比較,有利於交替使用不同的句型,避免句式單調、用詞單一,實現表達多樣。 
- 掌握分類句式用語也符合科學論文的寫作規律。因為常用的句型是寫作中客觀存在的,它們的使用已基本上格式化,而且使用的頻率又很高,所以對常用的句式用語進行科學的分類,是一件有實用意義的工作。 
至於怎樣分類,這主要是從兩個方麵考慮。
- 從邏輯思維角度考慮。人們總是首先提出問題,然後分析和解決問題,最後得出結果或結論。這可以看作是解決問題的一種“模式”。這種“模式”,也可作為我們分類選擇句式用語時的指導思想。 
- 從寫作程式角度考慮。任何一篇科學論文的寫作,大都要:①指出其研究的目的,②限定其討論的範圍,③說明其理論的依據,④描述其實驗的步驟,⑤介紹其工作的方法,⑥展示其研究的結果,⑦作出科學的評價等。這種基本“程式”,正是我們分類選擇句式用語的實踐依據。 
鑒於上述,我們在本文內對科學論文寫作中常用的句式用語進行了分類,並選擇了240餘條例句供參考。 
俗語說:“熟讀唐詩三百首,不會作詩也會吟”。我們深信,掌握英語科學論文寫作中常用的句式用語,無疑會有助於科學論文的寫作。
二、“指出目的”的句式用語
主要用場
指出研究目的句型在英語科學論文中反複出現,這類句型用語比較集中地使用在論文的摘要、引言、討論、結論等部分。指出研究目的的常用表達有:“本文的主要目的……”,“該項工作主要是關於……”,“該項工作的主要目的是……”,“該項研究的主要目的是……”,“該項實驗主要是為了……”等等。
常用句式
(1)本文的主要目的是…… 
- The purpose of this paper is… 
- The primary goal of this research is… 
- The intention of this paper is to survey… 
- The overa11 objective of this study is… 
- In this paper,… was provided (given,i11ustrated) 
- Our goal has been to provide… 
- In this paper,we aim at… 
- The emphasis of this study lies in… 
(2)該項工作是關於…… 
- The present work is concerned with the processes underlying… 
- The above work deals with the mechanism involved in… 
- Our work at present is devoted to the changes occurring in… 
- The work we have done bears on the effects produced by… 
- The work we are doing is closely related to the deliberations described in . 
- Compared with the current research, the previous work was in connection with the investigation made by… 
- The work presented in this paper focuses on several aspects of the following… 
- The authors are now initiating some experimental investigation to establish… 
- Our studies were performed to determine the amount of… 
- The problem we have outlined deals largely with the study of… 
(3)該項工作的主要目的是… 
- The chief aim of the present work is to investigate the features of … 
- The main purpose of our recent work was to examine the properties of… 
- The major object of their further work will be research into the nature of… 
- Our work in this direction has been intended to provide some information about… 
- The work which is being done now is designed to find some solution to the problem of… 
- Work of this kind has been started in order to assess the role of … 
- Previous work in this area was initiated in the hope of obtaining data in… 
- We did this work hoping to establish… 
- The authors undertook the work with a view to show… 
- By doing this work we expect(ed) to demonstrate… 
- Doing this joint work, we intend(ed) to show… 
- The primary objective of our work was to define the reasons for redundant protection systems and give examples of systems used in … 
- With research of many years, the author’s endeavour is to explain why in… 
- The above-mentioned work has been performed with a view of … 
(4)該項研究的主要目的是 … 
- The chief aim of the present study is to find out… 
- The primary object of this fundamental research will be to reveal the cause of … 
- The main objective of our investigation has been to obtain some knowledge of… 
- The study of …was made in order to clarify… 
- The above study has been carried out to determine… 
- Their(pioneer)studies were intended to elucidate… 
- Those earlier investigations are in hopes of providing evidence for… 
- We performed this present study in the hope that we might bring to light some facts about… 
- The authors attempted their studies in order that they might… 
- We undertook the above study to the end that we might… 
- They initiated the present study so that they might… 
- Carrying out this study we hope to find out… 
- Performing these studies the author intended to reveal… 
- With recent research, the author intends to outline the framework of… 
(5)該項實驗主要是為了 
- We made these experiments in order to show a correlation between… 
- The author attempted the set of experiment with a view to demonstrate certain phenomena… 
- Experiments on…were made in order to measure the amount of… 
- Experiments involving…have been carried out to determine… 
- Experiments using this technique are (not )under way test(check) … 
- Experiments on…are made to answer the question whether… 
- The experiment being made by our research group is aimed at obtaining the result of… 
- We have designed such an experiment for the purpose of … 
三、“限定範圍”的句式用語 
主要用場
限定主題範圍的句式用語,在英文科學論文中常出現在“引言”和“討論”中。限定主題範圍時的常用表達有:“該問題是關於……的研究”,“該問題在……範圍之內(外)”,“該問題涉及到……範圍”,“該問題可進一步推廣到……範圍”等等。 
常用句式 
(1)該問題是關於……的研究 
- This problem is concerned (chiefly)with the study of… 
- The problem of …deals (largely)with the determination of … 
- The problem they have advanced bears on the elucidation of … 
- The problem to be discussed in this paper is related closely with… 
- The problem described previously was directed to the example of…, which differs from… 
- The problem under investigation involves some significant agreements and disagreements in… 
(2)這是研究……的問題 
- The problem concerned with the nature of… 
- The problem relating to the influence of… 
- The problem which deals with the role of… 
- The problem which bears on the effect of… 
- The problem in connection with… 
- The problem as mentioned previously in… 
(3)該問題在……範圍之內(外) 
- The problem is within the scope of … 
- Our problem lies beyond the range of … 
- The problem you have just outlined seems to be outside of the province of… 
- The problem the authors have raised goes off the limits of… 
- The problem I have referred to falls within the field of… 
- The problem under discussion is not within the scope of… 
(4)該項研究涉及到……範圍 
- Studies of these effects cover(ed)various aspects of…… 
- Investigations on…involve(d) also specific situations. 
- Our studies with this technique are confined to one particular aspect. 
- More recent studies by this worker were chiefly concerned with the influence of… 
- The research on the conventional techniques explains well the phenomenon of 
- The new findings from the experiment agree to the result obtained in… 
(5)該研究進一步推廣到……範圍 
- The authors have extended their studies to some other related species. 
- We hope to expand our investigations to include other materials. 
- The research we have done deserves further studies. 
- The investigation carried out by the experts suggests an increase of the application in … 
- The approach under study predicates a wider range of application. 
四、“說明理論”的句式用語 
1. 主要用場
說明有理論根據的句式用語,在英語科學論文中常出現在引言、實驗描述及討論等部分。說明理論根據時常用表達如下:“該理論是……提出來的”,“該理論的內容(特點)是……”;“根據該理論,可以得出……”,“該理論認為 ……”,“應用該理論能(或不能)說明……”等等。 
2. 常用句式 
(1)該理論是……提出來的 
- The theory of…was created 50 years ago 
- The alternative theory was constructed in 50’s. 
- The theory of…was developed in the 1930’s… 
- The theory of…was elaborated in the early 70’s. 
- The theory of…was formulated as early as 1900. 
- The theory of…was advanced as long ago as the 1860’s. 
- The theory of…was put forward as far back as 1897. 
- The theory of…was proposed last year. 
- The theory of…was suggested the year before last year. 
(2)該理論的內容(特點)是…… 
- Underlying this theory is the idea that… 
- The underlying concept of this theory is… 
- The underlying principle of the theory is as follows… 
- This is an alternative theory that… 
- This is a similar theory to the effect that … 
- This is a working theory which is based on the idea that… 
- A basic feature of this theory is … 
- The fundamental feature of this theory is as follows. 
- The theory is characterized by… 
- …prove to be the outstanding features of the theory. 
(3)根據該理論,可得出…… 
- According to B’s theory both processes occur simultaneously. 
- As follows from the theory by N, such situations lead to… 
- As can be seen from the theory and theory advanced by…such interactions are the basis of… 
- In the light of the theory ,we have developed a variation method to handle such problems. 
- Based on the theory, the author has obtained sufficient information from recent experiments with… 
(4)該理論認為… 
- The kinetic theory holds that… 
- This newly-developed theory maintains that… 
- The theory advanced by…claims that… 
- The theory of …predicts that… 
- The principal concept of the theory lies in… 
- The investigating theory… 
(5)應用該理論(不)能說明…… 
- We can interpret these findings in terms of the above theory. 
- We cannot explain these phenomena using the above theory. 
- We can hardly explain these findings applying this theory. 
- These findings can be interpreted in terms of the above theory. 
- Such phenomena cannot be explained on the basis of this theory. 
- The theory can (not) apply to other cases of… 
- The theory developed by…is valid (invalid)for other species. 
- X’s theory proved to be true for all steps of… 
- The above theory has been verified by many other authors. 
- This very peculiar theory can be applied to a wider range of experiments in … 
五、“描述實驗”的句式用語 
1. 主要用場 
描述實驗過程的句式用語,顧名思義常用在與實驗有關的段落之中。描述實驗情況時的常用表達為“該項實驗具體包括……”,“到……,從未有過該項實驗研究”,“進行該項實驗,以便檢驗……”,“該項實驗證實(未能證實),……”等等。 
2. 常用句式 
(1)某項實驗(所用設備)包括……
- The experiment consisted of three steps, which are described in Table 3. 
- The test equipment which was used consisted of five force-measuring transducers and two recording instruments furnished by… 
- Included in the experiment were a high- pressure vessel assembly, 2 UA –3 uranium 5 
 analyzers, and a complete 100*50*50 cm soil bin.
- All high-pressure hydrogen creep rupture tests were carried out in specially designed high pressure equipment rated at… 
- The winch is composed of the following main parts: a welded frame, a safety-brake clutch, a chain drum and a worn reducing gear. 
(2)到……,從未有過某方麵的實驗 
- An experiment of the kind has not been made. 
- The kind of experiment you have in mind has never been carried out until now. 
- The kind of experiment you mentioned would not be undertaken in the near future. 
- So far we have not performed any experiment of this kind. 
- Until now the authors have not attempted any field experiments of… 
- Researches on the mobility of ions in neutral gases began more than 75 years ago, but very accurate data obtained through actual experiments have not appeared as yet. 
- …However, no direct experimental measurements of this have been reported. 
(3)進行該項實驗,以檢驗…… 
- We (have)carried out several sets of experiments to test the validity of… 
- They undertook many experiments to support the hypothesis which… 
- We initiated experiments to prove… 
- They have undertaken special experiments to disprove… 
- A number of experiments were performed to check… 
- Many studies have to be attempted to verify… 
- More than one set of experiments must be initiated to substantiate… 
(4)某項實驗證實(未能證實)…… 
- Experiments by M and his associates (have) showed… 
- Recent experiments in this area (have) suggested that… 
- The present series of experiments (have) indicate(d) that… 
- The experiments reported here (have) demonstrate (d) 
- These experiments involving…confirm(ed) our evidence that… 
- Our experiments with…failed to prove… 
- These highly-technical experiments support(ed) our assumption that… 
- Our initial experiment confirms that the choice of concept is correct. 
- The above-mentioned experiment has proved the newly –developed technique is very reliable. 
- This conclusion is also supported by the experiment as has been described previously. 
六、“介紹方法”的句式用語 
1. 主要用場
介紹研究(實驗)方法的句式用語,在英語科學論文中常見於摘要(資料型摘要)、引言、實驗描述及建議等部分,介紹研究方法時的常用表達如:“該方法首先由……發明(使用)”,“該方法與其他方法有 ……差別”,“應用該方法可以進行……工作”,“該方法稱為……”,“使用該方法已獲得……”等。 
2. 常用句式 
(1)該方法首先由……發明(利用) 
- The method of … was first developed by N. 
- The method of … was first applied by B. 
- The method of … was first used by A in the early XXth century. 
- The method of … was first brought into used by C. 
- The method of … came into use as long ago as 1920. 
- The original proposal of this method was first made and published in 1963. 
- The method of making a frequency standard was not invented till the existence of… 
(2)該方法與其他方法有……差別 
- The method of … does not differ at all the routine one 
- The method of we use differs greatly from the one used earlier. 
- The method they developed is somewhat different from the conventional one. 
- The new technique is quite different from the old one. 
- The newly-elaborated technique has something (nothing, little) in common with the one previously used. 
- The method of deriving a program described here differs from previous practice in that… 
(3)應用該方法可以進行……工作 
- The method allows us to demonstrate… 
- This technique enables us to observe… 
- The above procedure makes it possible to defect… 
- This method is capable of providing… 
- By the method we are able to investigate the insight of… 
- We have adopted the integrated filtering cell approach to miniaturize the prototype. 
- The method proves to be useful in… 
- The interpretation effects were successfully evaluated by employing AIA. 
(4)該方法可稱為(描述為)…
- The method used is known as… 
- The technique we applied is referred to as… 
- The procedure the followed can be briefly described as … 
- The approach adopted extensively is called… 
- Since the method was first put in use, we might as well name it as… 
(5)用該方法已獲得 …… 
- We have obtained this information from recent experiments with… 
- Detailed information has been acquisited by the authors using X-ray analysis. 
- The researches have recorded valuable data using the newly-developed method. 
- The experts in the research center are satisfactory with the experimental results achieved by the application of… 
七、“展示結果”的句式用語 
1. 主要用場 
展示研究結果的句式用語,在英語科學論文中常見於摘要、實驗結果、結果與討論及結論等部分。展示研究結果時常用的表達有:“該項研究結果說明了……”,“根據該項研究結果可以得出……”,“該項工作提供了……結果”,“該項實驗取得了……結果”,“……概括了該項結果”等。 
2. 常用句式 
(1)該項研究說明(指出、揭示)了……
- The studies we have performed show(ed) that these particles are responsible for … 
- These pioneer studies that the authors attempted have indicated marked variations in… 
- We carried out several studies which have demonstrated that the substance acts on … 
- The research we have done suggests an increase in… 
- The investigation carried out by…has revealed no resistance of… 
- Our research has supported the assumption that… 
- Their studies have confirmed the opinion that… 
- This research bore out the idea that… 
- Laboratory studies of…did not furnish any information about… 
- Our research carried out to the same effect failed to reveal any variations in… 
- Recent research into the nature of… fails to support the theory that… 
- Most recent studies showed no changes in… 
- Further research reveals no evidence of… 
- All our preliminary results throw light on the nature of… 
(2)根據該項實驗結果可得出…… 
- More recent experiments in this area lead us to conclude that the phenomenon is related to … 
- Most recent experiments to the same effect have led the authors to believe that the mechanism is out of action. 
- Further experiments in this area have enabled these workers to suggest that… 
- As a result of our experiments, we concluded that… 
- From our experiments, the authors came to realize that… 
- From these experiments one can conclude that… 
(3)該項工作提供了(沒有得出)……結果 
- This fruitful work gives explanation of… 
- Their fundamental work provides some knowledge of … 
- The author’s pioneer work has contributed to our present understanding of… 
- This joint work of many years has led to further progress in… 
- Our integrated work of the past few years adds to our current concept of… 
- The research work has brought about a discovery of… 
- The research by workers (has) result(ed) in a solution of… 
- Our work on…(has) failed to give… 
- Their initial work with…did not result in… 
- This initial work with…did not result in… 
- Further work in this field failed to contribute to… 
- These findings of the research has led the author to a conclusion that… 
(4)該項實驗(研究)取得(沒有取得)……結果 
- Some results of…are obtained in the experiment with… 
- Sufficient result for…has been observed with the new method… 
- Further progress can be provided by these experiments… 
- No clear advancement has (so far)been see in… 
- No direct outcome was then reported in… 
- No such finding could be available in… 
- No further result can be found with that technique. 
- No experimental evidence has come to the studies of… 
(5)某數據(圖、表)總結(概括)了從……得到的……結果 
- Figure 3 shows the results obtained form studies of… 
- Table 5 presents the data provided by the experiments on… 
- This table summarized the data collect during the experiment of … 
- The results reported above have been shown in Figure1. 
- Our experimental data briefly summarized as follows. 
- Some of the authors’ findings are listed in tables. 
八、“作出評價”的句式用語 
1. 主要用場 
研究成果評價的句型用語,在英語科學論文中常見於:摘要,討論及結論等部分。從狹義上講,研究成果評價是論文作者對自己所做工作的評價,從廣義上講,這種評價不僅限於對個人工作的評價,同時也包括作者對別人的評價,提出自己的觀點和見解。作出評價時,肯定和否定是兩種最基本的評價。 
2. 常用句式和詞語 
- The author’s work on…has been very successful 
- Our work involving studies of…did not prove to be encouraging. 
- The new information has been insufficient to indicate that the change is dramatic. 
- On of the assets of this technique is that it is very simple. 
- The theory by…seemed quite competent. 
- We consider the new idea quite likely a suitable one 
- The data available in literature are quite important. 
- The newly-developed method has certain advantages over the existing methods. 
- The author has satisfactorily come to a conclusion that… 
- These highly-technical experiments failed to provide any correlation between… 
- The theory of…did not explain how much modifications arose. 
- These findings are not consistent with the current theory. 
- The above hypothesis seems rather interesting. 
- So far there is not enough convincing evidence showing… 
- The data obtained appear to be very similar to those reported earlier by… 
- There may be a different approach to the above findings 
- Our experimental result does not seem to suggest the following assumptions 
利用上述句式,表示肯定評價的形容詞,如:good, satisfactory, competent, convincing , 
adequate, reliable, correct, valid, helpful, fruitful, successful, stimulating, attractive, interesting, promising, exciting, careful;, profound, comprehensive, useful, encouraging, extensive, clear, sufficient, etc. 
表示否定評價的形容詞,如:deficient, faulty, inadequate, incomplete, unconvincing, unsatisfactory, meaningless, unreliable, incorrect, wrong, invalid, confusing, inexplicit, contradictory, controversial, divergent, puzzling, conflicting, ambiguous, insufficient, etc. 
英語科學論文的寫作句型用詞方麵有一定的規律可循。為了避免不必要的重複,有利於比較地道,規範的英語表達,有助於寫作中的多樣表述,並遵循科學論文的寫作規律,本文對常用句式用語進行分類選擇。根據表達科學研究成果的一般邏輯思維順序和科學論文的結構程式,寫作英語科學論文時常用句型用語可作如下分類:
- 指出研究目的,常用句型用語54條; 
- 限定主題範圍,常用句型用語30條; 
- 說明理論依據,常用句型用語36條; 
- 描述實驗過程,常用句型用語30條; 
- 介紹工作方法,常用句型用語 32條; 
- 展示 研究結果,常用句型用語46條; 
- 作出科學評價,常用句型17條及48個表示肯定或否定的形容詞。 
實踐表明,集中掌握這些常用的型用語,對於寫好英語科學論文大有裨益。