「隨著……的發展」怎樣說才清新脫俗？
大家寫作文的時候開頭一般會這麼寫：With the development of society/technology..., 這個句式曾是香餑餑，但後來輔導機構說這個開頭已經被用濫了，於是我們換成了"as society/technology develops"......
風起於青萍之末。要想寫好作文，還需要回歸外刊。在第四期外刊精讀與寫作的第六、七單元，我們分別做了人工智慧、在線教育這兩個話題的《經濟學人》精讀，又從《紐約時報》等其他外刊中尋找到相關話題的文章，進行了泛讀，學習了一些表達，最後，我們分別以人工智慧、在線教育的利弊為命題，借鑒了外刊中的內容、語言，寫了兩篇作文。
像這種利弊/觀點類話題，開頭一定要先介紹背景，也就是「隨著...的發展，...應運而生」。
如何表達？
在讀了《經濟學人》、《紐約時報》後，學員擺脫了"with the development""as ... develops"這樣俗套的句式，使用的句型句式也呈現出多樣化的特點，比如A：
Recent years have witnesseda spurt of progress inAI technology,...
「時間+see/witness等詞」可以表示「在...期間，發生了...」，spurt的意思是a sudden increase in sth. 能夠體現出一種迅速、突然的感覺。
這句話的意思是：最近幾年，人工智慧技術迅猛發展，...。
這一表達源自2018年2月17日的《經濟學人》文章：Artificial intelligence: Peering into the black box. 原文是這麼說的：
Handing complicated tasks to computers is not new. Buta recent spurt of progress inmachine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI), has enabled computers to tackle many problems which were previously beyond them.
將複雜工作交由計算機處理並非新鮮事，但最近人工智慧的一個分支——機器學習突飛猛進，這使計算機能夠處理很多之前無法處理的問題。
B同學是這麼寫的：
As the internet hasfound its way intopeople』s everyday life, online higher education is enjoying a rising popularity among individuals of all stripes.
find one"s way into...用的非常生動形象，賦予the internet以主體地位。B同學的這句話是說，隨著互聯網進入了人們的日常生活……，這和「隨著互聯網的發展」所表達的意思是一樣的，因此，「隨著...的發展」也可以用"find one"s way into..."來表示（注意：這裡談的是寫作，不是翻譯。）
這個表達源自《紐約時報》，原文是這樣說的：
Increasingly, the innovations that aremaking their way intoyour personal technology aren"t physical electronics or gadgets at all.
我們在「外刊中的「無靈主語句」現象」中講過「無靈主語」，其實這一句也可以看成「無靈主語」與「有靈動詞」的結合。我們改成簡單句的形式：The innovations are making their way into your personal technology.
「無靈主語」是」innovations」, 「有靈動詞」為」make their way into」，雖然沒有「人」，但」make their way into」就把句子意思激活了。
新概念三 15 課也出現了這麼一個句子：
Very few of and the fifty pence pieces and the pound coins I have given him havefound their way there.
我們看一下學員C的開頭：
...But with internet technologyentering intohigher education...
Enter into用的沒有問題，但比較生硬，如果我們把它改成find its way into，句子則增色不少。
所以要先嘗試著動筆寫，然後再和外刊做對比，才能發現差距，從而更有針對性的提高。
我們再來看學員D的開頭：
Online courses arespringing upnowadays...
spring up也是一個非常好的表達，意思是「迅速發展」，取「spring n. 春天」之意。比如：
New Internet companies were springing up every day.
每天都有很多新的互聯網企業湧現出來。
也可以用mushroom來替換. Mushroom是「蘑菇」的意思，蘑菇有個特點，就是長得很快。所以，mushroom名詞動用時可以表示「快速發展」。這個我們在「外刊中有哪些表示「上升、增加」的詞語或搭配」中講過。
學員E：
The ever-burgeoningMOOCs, short for Massive Open Online Courses, promise a bright future.
大型開放式網路課程，簡稱「慕課」，獲得空前發展……
burgeoning是一個高級辭彙，意思是：developing quickly. 比如，中國中產階級迅速崛起，就可以說：China"s burgeoning middle class.
《經濟學人》曾經有一篇關於中國對非投資的報道，文章引言是這麼說的：
Western worries about China』sburgeoninginfluence in Africa may be overblown.
西方可能過於擔心中國在非迅速增加的影響力。
Overblown的意思是bigger or more important than it should be 誇張，過分渲染，相當於exaggerated. 比如：an overblown news story 過分渲染的新聞報道，an overblown dream 不切實際的夢想。
除了以上這些，我們還可以用be roaring ahead(咆哮著向前，體現出發展勢頭猛烈), boom, explode(爆炸，體現出發展迅速), move ahead等代替development、develop.
最後和大家分享一下我寫的作文，若有錯誤或不足之處，歡迎批評指正！
題目：線上高等教育之利弊。
With the burgeoning technology, traditional universities were suddenly being exposed to threats. While online ones, which promise to be a supplement, or even a replacement, have caught the eyeballs all over the world. Will online higher education become widely accepted, or, will it just become a flash in the pan, dying in the cradle? That is a hot question.（背景介紹、引出主題）
Online education brings benefits.One is the access to lifelong learning. As the world becomes automated, jobs risk being lost, which requires people to top up their human capital throughout their life to fend off being replaced. Second, as an internet-based education, it can reach a wider group at a lower cost. Third, online universities outperform their offline peers by providing more flexible courses. Thus, students can choose those that are in need or interesting.（線上教育的優勢：①終身學習，應對挑戰；②受眾廣泛，成本低廉；③課程靈活，按需選擇。）
Pitfalls also stand out, however.In the degree-hungry world, that the new form of education cannot provide credentials is the top concern. Even if it does, there will be a lag between the introduction of such new credentials and their widespread social acceptance. Moreover, universities are not only a place to learn, but also a place to socialize, to debate, and to inspire. Unfortunately, this is what the online education lacks.（線上教育的劣勢：①缺少學位，難被認可；②缺乏社交）
Perhaps the best way is to combine the two. With their marriage, online education is more likely to prosper than fade.（總結：線上線下優勢互補，線上前景光明。）
P.S.：線上教育也是英語考試寫作熱點話題之一，平日里可多加留心。
希望通過這篇文章，不僅能讓大家學會如何清新脫俗的給一篇作文寫開頭，還能掌握一種寫作訓練方法，即回歸外刊，閱讀大量同話題的文章，梳理內容、總結語言點，並仿寫、對照、修改。
感謝閱讀！
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