1. Introduction of General Situation and Background

  背景描述式（Introduction of General Situation and Background）是以叙事故事或时间为开头，从而引进作者对某种现象的观点或看法。背景描述式的开头，好处在于观点的提出是顺理成章的，便于文章的展开，对某种社会现象、倾向或社会问题进行深入剖析。
Example
  Nowadays, there is a prevailing phenomenon-young people are going after the trend and worship the stars. Some yong boys are self-content in having their hero’s name Beckham painted on the face. Still other fans even go far as to spend a huge amount of money–300 dollars on just a chic (=stylish) Backham hair-style. (From Fan)

2. Present and Past

• “抚今式”的表达：
   1. Nowadays, …
   2. The recent years have witnessed an unfavorable social phenomenon …
   3. A recent survey indicates …
   4. Presently, …
   5. At present, …
   6. Lately, …
   7. Recently, …
   8. Since …
• “追惜式”的表达：
   1. Traditionaly, …
   2. In the past, …
   3. Past surveys have shown that …

Example
  Nowadays, there is an increasing trend in globalization in our world. Indeed, it is common to see Chinese teenagers wearing the new arrival Nike shoes walking in the streets, talking about the last Hollywood blockbusters.

3. Opening with Emphasis

• “强调重要性”式/opening with importance
   1. It is essential/vital to maintain a good health.
   2. Nothing is more important than to maintain a good health.
   3. It is crital to …
   4. Nothing can change out life as profoundly and swiftly as … has.
   5. As one of the important communication breakthroughs in the 20th century, … have facilitiated our lives to such a great extent that they have become indispensable to our life.

Example
  Nothing can be more important for student than to get to know as much as possible about the world outside the campus. One reason is that knowledge without experience is like trying walking on one leg. Another reason is that maintaining contact with the world outside the campus helps students become mature and responsible. (From Getting to Know the World ouside the Campus)

• “强调轰动式”/opening with dramatization
   1. There has been a heated discussion about …
   2. There has been a heated dispute and debate about …
   3. There has been much talk recently about … on TVs and radios and newspapers.
   4. It is universally acknowledged about …
   5. There is no denying the fact that … is a heated topic today.

Example
  Parents focus intensely on the factors that affect their children’s acheivement in school. A positive sutding enviroment filled with good students is considered essential.

4. Being Grouped

  对一些具有争议的话题，我们可以使用“复合增强、人以群分”式(Being Grouped)的开头。文章开篇首先比较人们对于该话题不同的观点，然后作者提出自己的观点。这样的话，作者的观点相比之下就显得更加鲜明。

• “Being Grouped”(一)
   1. Many people suppose / contend that …But what they fail to see is
   2. There are generally/mainly/ primarily two points of view on … Some believe that … Others hold the view that
   1. When asked about/When it comes to/Faced with/…, many people beilieve that…

Example
  When it comes to keeping pets, options differ from person to person. Some people think keeping pets is a good thing to do. Others, however, hold the opposite view. They regard keeping pets as a useless and harmful thing to do.

• “Being Grouped”(二)
   1. People’s opinions are always different once they talk about job-hunting. Some…, while others…
   2. There has been much talk recently about…Some…, while othres…
   3. There is no consensus of opinion among people as to face fate.

Example
  In most households, children are given some amount of pocket money as allowance. Some people say that it is very dangerous to let children have money and spend it, while others believe that giving pocket money to children reflects the trust and love of their partents

• “Being Grouped”(三) /opening with a challenge to a commonly held view

Example
 One of the strangest features of motherholld is that the vast majority of mothers perfer to cradle their babies in the left arm. Why should this be? The obvious explanation is that the majority of mothers are right-handed and they wish to keep their right hand free. Unfortunately, this explanation cannot apply, because left-handed mothers also favor their left arm for holding theri babbies. The precise figures are 83 prercent for right-handed mothers and 78 percent for left-handed mothers.

5. Opening with a Definition

Example
 Responsibility is the embodiment of morality, which demands that people do their duty certainly for the other people or the country, not thinking of reward. One person should be accountable to his parents or his own family after having arrived at manhood. An empolyee shouldn’t neglect his duty that many more.

6. Position

  文章开门见山，直截了当地提出作者对文章要讨论的问题的观点，即中心思想。这种开篇方式观点明确直观，直入主题，不易跑题。
Example
  The government has no duty to support artists as though their profossion is more unique class of workers. Artisits should support themselves and not such up valuable resources that are needed for the more critical functions of the government.

7. Quotes

  引文式开篇（Qutotes），就是引用名人名言、谚语或有代表性的观点。名言警句即为文章添彩、又间接支持了作者要展开讨论的观点。在学习过程中，可以搜集一些长度适中、稍加改动既可以套用的引文。

• 引文一：以一个谚语、公理或者格言开篇（opening with a proverb, maximum, or motto）

Example
  A well-known proverb goes that “Where there is a will, there is a way.”, which means one can find a way to success as long as he or she has a strong will. With a strong will, one can focus all his/her energy on one point, which makes his/her success possible. Without a strong will, however, one can be easily distracted from his/her gobal or discouraged by setbacks, which leads to his/her ultimate failure.

• 引文二：以一个具有权威性、历史任务或文学作品的名言开篇（opening with a quotation from arecognized authority, historical figure, or literary source）

Example
  Confucius wisely noted that “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall.” Despite a frustrating series of close losses, my soccer team faced every new game with optimism and determination. My teammates’ never-give-up attitudes have shown me that the value of sport is not winning, but learning how to face defeat and begin again.

• 引文三：以一个认识性的、揭密性的、有洞察力的陈述开篇（opening with a recognition, revelation, or insight）

Example
  As someone who earned “A’s” throughout many Spanish classes, I though I had a good grasp of the language. However, immersion in the Tres Amigo Building Project in Monterrey, Mexico, over Spring Break this year showed me I had much to learn about conversational speech patterns.

• 引文四：以一个悖论式的或者引人入胜的陈述开篇（opening with a paradox or fascinating statement）

Example
  “Eat two chocolate hars and call me in the morning.”, says the psychiatrist to the patient. Such device sounds like a sugar fanatic’s dream, but recent studies have indeed confirmed that cholocate positively affects depression and anxiety.

8. Concession

  让步式写法（Concession）指的式首先提出一个普遍看法，这个看法往往存在质疑的可能，在此基础上提出自己的观点。这种开篇方法话锋一转，提出质疑，突出了作者的观点，提出阅读兴趣。
Example
  Steve is imaginary, but his lifesytel is very common. Indeed, more and more, the inventions of modern technology seem to be cutting us off from contact with our fellow human beings.

9. Comparsion and Contrast

Example
  Compared to the older generation, young people nowadays are more inclined to be independent at an earlier age. In particular, quite a few teenagers leave home to study or work on theri own.

10. Opening with Questions

• 设问法

Example
  Should smoking be banned? Answers to this question vary greatly. Some people are in favor of the banning of smoking, because it is not only strongly offensive to people around the smokers. but it is also harmful to the smokers themselves. I side with opponents of smoking in this regard.

• 反问法

Example
  What can we learn from American managemtn? was the question asked all over the world only 10 years old ago. Now it is perhaps time to ask: What can American management learn from others in the free world, and especially from management in Western Europe and Japan? Indeed, Eurpoe and Japan now have the managerical edge in many of the areas which we used to consider to be American strengths, is not American monopolies