6.4 英语说明文写作

四、说 明 文
    说明文就是对事物的发生、结果、特征、性质、状态和功能进行解释、介绍和阐述。目的在于提供知识, 表明观念。在写作说明文时可以采用举例、比较、对比、类比、分类、分析、说明和叙述的方法。例如:

How to Use a Library

    A library is a building for a collection of books, magazines, periodicals and newspapers. The books are kept on the shelves in the stack room whereas the magazines, journals, etc. in the reading rooms. Modern libraries also have Xerox rooms and audio-visual rooms.
    If you want to borrow books, you can go to the loan desk, look over the correct call numbers in the card catalog and ask the librarian to take them out for you. Or you are allowed to enter the stack room to find the books for yourself. You can look up the bound volume of index in the retrieval room for the articles relative to the subject on which you are going to write a thesis. If the library doesn't subscribe to the magazine which carries the article you want, you can borrow the magazine from the other libraries by means of interlibrary loan service. Don't forget to show your library card or I. D. card to the librarian before you go into the reading room, where you can read magazines or newspapers. If you find a good article and want to keep it, you can have it duplicated in the Xerox room. Besides, if you want to watch films or slides, you can ask the projectionist to play the videotape for you in the audio-visual room, where you can also listen to language tapes and music tapes.