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在备考英语四级的过程中，各位考生不仅要注意词汇的积累，句型的掌握，还要注意标点符号的正确使用。
冒号的用法
冒号表示停顿，其停顿时间比分号长比句号短。它可用逗号，有时也可用句号代替。尽管现在冒号的使用不如50到75年前频繁，但现在它使用仍很方便，因为它告诉读者其后仍是对上文进一步的陈述。冒号还能产生轻微的戏剧效果。
冒号常用于引出一个词、短语、或完整的句子(子句)来强调，举例解释，或证明刚才所说过的内容。
注意：冒号之后的词可用大写也可用小写字母开头。如果冒号之后的词是另一个完整句子的开始，则用大写字母开头。反之，如果冒号之后的词只是句子的一部分，则用小写字母开头。
例 May I offer you a suggestion: don’t drive without your seat belts fastened.
The thought continued to perplex him: Where will I go next?
用于引出一连串用来解释或强调已叙述过的内容。如：
In the basement, he kept some equipment for his experiments: the test tubes, some chemical agents, three sun-lamps, and the drill.
冒号后常为缩排且不用引号、与全文分离的长引文。
President Jiang Zemin enjoys quoting the first line of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
精典范例
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
--英国作家Oscar Wide
写作时，切忌这样写：
The four major reasons for the landslide victory were: the candidate’s personal popularity, the enthusiastic support of his party, his stand on budget issues, and the general mood of the nation.
这样用的问题在哪?问题出在冒号用于动词were之后，你可能在英语为母语的人写的报纸或流行刊物中见到这类用法，但它在学术写作中不被大学教师所接受。 在学术论文中，主语补足语或直接宾语应紧跟在冒号之后。主语补足语的修饰词(obvious)使原本存在句子中的问题得到解决：冒号不应紧跟在动词之后。
上面例题中，取得压倒性胜利的四个原因是明显的：the candidate’s personal popularity, the enthusiastic support of his party, his stand on budget issues, and the general mood of the nation.
破折号的用法
用于表示句子正常语序中突然或出人意料的中断。如果意义明确，它也可用于代替括弧或逗号。通常，破折号特别强调它所隔开的部分。
破折号常用于对一长项已表达过的内容进行总结。
例 The day was the longest in her life - or so it seemed to her.
Could you - I hate to ask! - help me with these dishes?
When we left town - a day never to be forgotten - they had a record snowfall.
Most of the paintings in the gallery - in fact all but one - were done in the early 19th century.
What he lacked in intelligence - and he lacked a good deal - he made up for in physical strength.
The three of them were seated at one end of a long dining table that could hold - had once often held - eighteen people.
William Harvey did not discover the circulation of the blood in the body. It was discovered - or rather, always assumed - in China.
More than 600 unforgettable - and often surprising - photographs and Illustrations will rivet your attention, no matter what your age.
破折号常用来总结一系列已表达过的内容。如：
Time and patience - two simple words - yet why are they so hard for me to remember.
分号的用法
分号有时又称为小句号。它表示一个停顿，其停顿时间在逗号与冒号的停顿时间之间。文章如采用许多分号，其风格则变得严肃、正式。为了正确使用分号，有必要先学会辨认主句。当两个主句没有任何连接词(and, but, or, nor, for)连接而出现在同一个句子里，这时最好采用分号使之分离。分号的主要作用很简单，它常用于分离没有连接词连接的句子。但最好不要在从句之间形成如此之强的停顿。如果你要连接从句，而又不愿意用连接词时，则采用分号。
The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel.
You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say.
In the past, boy babies were often dressed in blue; girls, in pink.
Can’t you see it’s no good to go on alone; we’ll starve to death if we keep traveling this way much longer.
John F. Kennedy said at his inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
Our power to apprehend truth is limited; to seek it, limitless.
Science needs to be lived alongside religion, philosophy, history and esthetic experience; alone it can lead to great harm.
下列各词和短语如用于连接复合句时，常与分号连用：
then however thus furthermore
hence indeed consequently also
that is nevertheless anyhow in addition
in fact on the other hand likewise moreover
still meanwhile instead besides
otherwise in other words henceforth for example
therefore at the same time even now
例：
Being clever and cynical, he succeeded in becoming president of the company; meanwhile his wife left him.
The weather was cold for that time of the year; nevertheless, we set out to hike to the top of that mountain.
According to one national survey, high school boys expected a starting salary of $19,500 for their first full-time job; on the other hand, high school girls expected a starting salary of only $15,000.
