寫摘要主要包括三個步驟：（1）閱讀；（2）寫作；（3）修改成文。 第一步：閱讀A．認真閱讀給定的原文材料。如果一遍不能理解，就多讀兩遍。閱讀次數(shù)越多，你對原文的理解就越深刻。B．給摘要起一個標題。用那些能概括文章主題思想的單詞、短語或短句子作為標題。也可以采用文中的主題句作為標題。主題句往往出現(xiàn)在文章的開頭或結尾。一個好標題有助于確定文章的中心思想。C．現(xiàn)在，就該決定原文中哪些部分重要，哪些部分次重要了。對重要部分的主要觀點進行概括。D．簡要地記下主要觀點——主題、標題、細節(jié)等你認為對概括摘要重要的東西。 第二步：動手寫作A. 摘要應該只有原文的三分之一或四分之一長。因此首先數(shù)一下原文的字數(shù)，然后除以三，得到一個數(shù)字。摘要的字數(shù)可以少于這個數(shù)字，但是千萬不能超過這個數(shù)字。B. 摘要應全部用自己的話完成。不要引用原文的句子。C. 應該遵循原文的邏輯順序。這樣你就不必重新組織觀點、事實。D. 摘要必須全面、清晰地表明原文所載的信息，以便你的讀者不需翻閱原文就可以完全掌握材料的原意。E. 寫摘要時可以采用下列幾種小技巧：1) 刪除細節(jié)。只保留主要觀點。2) 選擇一至兩個例子。原文中可能包括5個或更多的例子，你只需從中篩選一至二個例子。3) 把長段的描述變成短小、簡單的句子。如果材料中描述某人或某事用了十個句子，那么你只要把它們變成一兩句即可。4) 避免重復。在原文中，為了強調(diào)某個主題，可能會重復論證說明。但是這在摘要中是不能使用的。應該刪除那些突出強調(diào)的重述句。5) 壓縮長的句子。如下列兩例：“His courage in battle might without exaggeration be called lion-like.”可以概括為：”He was very brave in battle.”“He was hard up for money and was being pressed by his creditor.”可以概括為：“He was in financial difficulties.”6) 你還可以使用詞組代替整句或者從句。請看下面的例子：“Beautiful mountains like Mount Tai, Lushan Mountain, and Mount Huang, were visited by only a few people in the past. Today, better wages, holidays with pay, new hotels on these mountains, and better train and bus services, have brought them within reach of many who never thought of visiting them ten years ago.”可以概括為：”Beautiful mountains like Mount Tai, once visited by only a few people, are today accessible to many, thanks to better wages, paid holidays, new hotels and better transportation services.”7) 使用概括性的名詞代替具體的詞，比如：“She brought home several Chinese and English novels, a few copies of Time and Newsweek and some textbooks. She intended to read all of them during the winter vocation.”可以概括為：”She brought home a lot of books to read during the vocation.”8） 使用最短的連接詞。比如，可以使用but, then, thus, yet, though，不能使用at the same time, in the first place, because of these, on the other hand等較長的連接詞。通常，使用分號就能夠達成使用連接詞的效果。9) 文章中的第一人稱說的話通常在摘要中轉換成第三人稱，從而把大段的對白簡化，比如：Kate looked at Paul disapprovingly: You use too much salt on your food, Paul — it’s not good for you!” Paul put down his knife and frowned:”Why on earth not! If you didn’t have salt on your food it would taste awful… like eating cardboard or sand… just imagine bread without salt in it, or potatoes or pasta cooked without salt!” Kate was patient. She didn’t want to quarrel with Paul. She wanted to persuade him. She said firmly:”But too much salt is bad for you. It cause high blood pressure and latter on, heart-attacks. It also disguises the taste of food, the real tastes which are much more subtle than salt, and which we have lost the sensitivity to appreciate any more.”可以用第三人稱概括為：Kate suggested to Paul that he should eat less salt. She thought that eating too much salt would do harm to Paul’s health and that it could reduce the real tastes of food. But Paul disagreed. He said that food without salt would be tasteless. 第三步：修改成文草稿擬好以后，對它進行修改。首先，與原文比較看是否把所有重要的觀點都概括了，摘要中的觀點是否與原文中的完全一致。其次，如果摘要中出現(xiàn)了不必要的詞匯、短語或長句子，刪除它們。第三，檢查拼寫、語法和標點符號的錯誤。最后，保持語言簡單明了。 經(jīng)過上述步驟和方法，一篇摘要就可以完成了。