第2章:非图表描述(1):线形图和柱状图描述(3)

其实即使使用了形容词或副词对趋势的变化加以限定，有时也是很有抽象和模糊的。只有引入数据的限定才是最为准确的。要

想在两种举行中加入数据就需要使用以下三组介词。

icon 1.JPG当我们要描述“从...上升（下降）到...",可以用”from...to...“。例如：

The sales of computers improved from 25 units to 30 units.(电脑的销售改善了，从25台增长到了30台。)

The enrollment dipped from 39 students in November to 20 students in December.(学生入学人数从11月份的39人下降到12月份的20人) enrolment n.登记；入会；入伍；登记人数

icon 1.JPG当我们要描述变化的幅度时，我们用介词by 或 of。 例如：

The sales of computers rose from 25 units to 30 units. The sales rose by 5 units.(电脑的销售从25台增长到30台，增加了5台。)---- 表示趋势的动词+by

The sales of computers rose from 25 units to 30 units. They showed an increase of 5 units.(电脑的销售量从25台增长到30台，增加了5台。)----表示趋势的名词+of

下面是一副汽车生产的趋势变化图和对这幅图的一段较为准确的描述。描述中加入了数据，并准确地使用了介词。请大家学习该段中使用介词表达数据的方法。

For the first three months car production increased from about five cars per month to just under 60 per month. This was an increase of about 55 cars produced for the period. Over the next six months the number of cars produced fluctuated at around 50 cars per month. For a period of five months' production remained at approximately just over 50 cars per month. There was a slight upward trend for the next seven months to a peak of nearly 80 cars produced per month before production decreased rapidly by about 70 cars per month to around 10 cars per month.
fluctuate vi.波动，变动；动摇
approximately ad.大概；近乎

“大约”和“大概”
在描述线形图和柱状图时，读者在很多情况下无法准确找到坐标上的具体数值。这时就需要引入“大约”和“大概”这样的词语让图表描述更加准确和客观。下面是常用的一些表示“大约”和“大概”的短语或单词

just under roughly 粗略地；大体上；大约
well under nearly
almost
just over approximately
well over around
about
前面的“sales of computers”线形图可以写出以下这些句子：
The sales started at about 15 units in January.
The sales started at just under 20 unit in January.
The sales then rose to approximately 90 units in March.
The sales fell to around 60 units in April.

描述趋势
为了更有效的描述一副图表，对图表有深刻的理解和阐释，你还应该抓住该幅图表的变化趋势，而不是若干个细节性的变化。参看下面这幅图你有两种方法来描述，一种是逐月描述，像在记流水账一样；另一种则是将这些变化分割成三段，即从一月到七月之间上升为一段，七月到九月的波动为一段，最后是九月到十二月的下降趋势为一段。两种方法一对比，大家就会感觉到，第二种写法更清楚有效地向读者展示出游客旅游的变化规律。
下面是这段的参考写法。

From January there was an upward trend in the number of tourists and it rearched a peack in July.Then from July to September the number of tourists fluctuated.From Septermber to December there was a downward trend in the number of tourists with a slight rise in October.
tourist n. 旅行者，观光客

下面请大家对照下图学习有关趋势描述的短语或者句型。

时间的表达与时态的应用
对于前面的“sales of customers”线形图中一月到二月之间的变化我们可以写成：
From January to February, there was a slight increase in sales.
我们还可以写成：
For one month, there are a slight increase in sales.
For a period of one month, there was a slight increase in sales.
只有变换时间和表达才能让行文不至于枯燥乏味。
时间的表达还有：

between 1980 and 1990 in 1980
since 1980 over the last twelve months
in the first six months by December last year
in January
在运用以上这些时间表达方法时，一定要注意与相应的时态配合好。

时态的运用
当你看到图表表达的主题发生在过去某个具体的时间时，你就应使用过去时。如果某幅图表是对未来某个事物的预测，那么应该选择将来时。如果某幅图表发生在截至到今天为止，那么则需要用现在完成时来描述。
以上只有一些大的框架原则，具体在描述时还需要一句具体情况而定，尤其是要结合你选用的时间状语表达法。
例如：
Between 1980 and 1990, the number of tourists rose steadily.(一般过去时)
In 1980, most people bought goods from small shops.(一般过去时)
Since the year 2000, most people have bought goods from large supermarkets in the immediate community.(现在完成时)
By December last year, the share price had fallen sharply.(过去完成时)

主语的变化
写主语也应该考虑多角度变换措辞来增强行文的可读性。如前文的“sales of computers”线形图我们可以选择两种方式做主语：
1. Sales/The sales of computers.
2. Computer sales
也就是说一种是通过“The”+measurable of quantity +“of” +topic 构成，另外一种则是根据描述的主题直接说明。如：
话题1： Migrants ['maɪgr(ə)nt]adj. 移居的；流浪的
我们可以用两种方法描述：1.The number of migrants; 2.Migrant numbers。
话题2：Land
我们可以用两种方法来描述：1.The area of land; 2.Land area。