How to introduce a book (explanatory text)

I'll give you some explanatory materials, and you can study them yourself. The general structure of explanatory text is: first make a general introduction to the object of explanation, and then import the specific explanation.

First, the general way of introduction

1. Summary formula

At the beginning, introduce the general situation of things in concise language, giving people an overall image. For example, the Palace Museum begins like this:

In the center of Beijing, there is a city within a city, which is the Forbidden City. Now people call it the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City is the imperial palace of Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is the largest and most complete ancient palace complex in China with a history of more than 500 years.

The beginning introduces the geographical location, name, nature and age of the Palace Museum. Through the general introduction, we can have a general understanding of the Palace Museum.

2. Descriptive expression

Describe the characteristics or state of things at the beginning, so that readers have an intuitive overall understanding. For example, the beginning of "China Stone Arch Bridge" is described as follows:

The bridge opening of the stone arch bridge is curved, just like a rainbow. According to ancient mythology, the rainbow is a "bridge connecting heaven and earth" after rain, and you can go to heaven through the rainbow. Chinese poets compare the arch bridge to a rainbow, saying that the arch bridge is "lying rainbow" and "flying rainbow", and describing the water arch bridge as "Changhong lying wave".

Firstly, the state characteristics of the bridge hole, an important part of the stone arch bridge, are described, and then this feature is supplemented by myths and legends and poets' descriptions of the stone arch bridge.

ask questions

Asking questions at the beginning can stimulate readers' thirst for knowledge and interest, and they are eager to know things or things. For example, the first paragraph of Why Flowers Are So Red. By describing the brightness and beauty of safflower, it is natural to ask the question "Why are flowers so red", so that people can understand the reasons and explore the knowledge under the author's specific explanation.

4. Definition

Begin to define things, prompt the connotation (essential characteristics) and extension (including scope) of things, and let people know the essence of things. For example, the beginning of the Overall Planning Law defines things like this: "The Overall Planning Law is a mathematical method for arranging the work process, and its practical scope is extremely wide."

Second, the specific structural ideas.

The structure of explanatory text is determined by the nature of things. Generally speaking, determining its structure can be considered from the following two aspects:

1. Arrange the structure according to the self-organization of the description object.

Everything has its own organizational rules. Grasping this law and arranging the structure accordingly can make the content of the explanation orderly and clear. Generally speaking, the organization of movement, change and development of things is expressed in chronological order, and different times have different forms, so the structure can be arranged in chronological order when explaining. For example, books from Oracle Bone Inscriptions to microfilm are arranged in chronological order. First write the embryonic form of the book, then write the formal book, and finally write the modern book, thus the evolution and development process of the manual.

Things at rest, such as buildings, places of interest, objects, etc. , often reflect its order from the spatial position. To explain this kind of things, we should press spatial order, first table, then inside, first table, then inside. For example, the Palace Museum describes an ancient architectural complex, which is in a certain spatial orientation and arranged in an orderly manner. The internal building has two main buildings. According to the spatial position, the article first writes the external city gate, then the buildings in the city, and when writing the interior, it writes the lords first, then the times. The whole article is well organized.

2. Arrange the structure according to people's understanding of the object.

Explanatory objects that are unfamiliar to readers and difficult for readers to understand are often from concrete to abstract, from superficial phenomena to internal reasons. From the individual to the universal. In the concrete explanation, it is advisable to write the state first, then the function or reason, and finally reveal the nature and characteristics. For example, the Dead Sea is a rational exposition, and the specific explanation part begins with a phenomenon: it is said that about two thousand years ago, the Roman commander-in-chief Imperial City threw the captive slaves into the Dead Sea, but the slaves were safe and sound. Then explain the reason, this is because the salinity of the dead sea water is very high. Then the cause of the Dead Sea is further explained, indicating that it is the result of natural changes in the first place. This explanation is easy for readers to understand.

For things or things familiar to readers, we can give a general explanation first, and then describe individual phenomena. This kind of writing should first write the nature and characteristics, and then write the state, so that people can have an overall understanding of things or things, and then understand them in detail. For example, Suzhou gardens, most readers know gardens, but Suzhou gardens are different from other gardens. Therefore, when writing, we should first state its different nature and characteristics, and then specifically say its form. This structural arrangement helps readers to understand things as soon as possible.

The end of an expository article usually ends naturally. Explain clearly, and the article will be over. Some discourses sum up their characteristics at the end, which helps readers distinguish things. For example, the Palace Museum finally wrote: "Standing on the height of Jingshan Mountain, overlooking the Forbidden City, there are many halls, pavilions and walls, which are scattered and orderly. Such a magnificent building complex and such a harmonious and unified layout are amazing. " The end directly points out the characteristics of the Forbidden City complex: grandeur, harmony and unity. Some explanatory articles make some supplementary explanations at the end, or broaden readers' horizons, or enhance the accuracy and rigor of explanations. For example, the end of "Looking at the Weather from the Clouds" reads: "In some cases, understanding the weather from the clouds is often limited, so it is still necessary to rely on the weather forecast." This supplement fully explains the function of "knowing the weather by observing the clouds" and enhances the scientific nature of the explanation.