2. Procedure

(1) Reading.

A. First read the passage through carefully to get the gist of it. If reading it once is not sufficient to give you a clear understanding of it, read it over again. The more you read it, the more familiar to you will be its subject, and what is said about the subject.
B. Give a title to your summary. Think of some word, phrase or short sentence that will sum up briefly the main idea of the passage. Sometimes what is called a topic sentence may be used. The topic sentence may be found at the beginning or at the end of the passage. To find a suitable title will help you to define what exactly the subject, or main theme, of the passage is.
C. You should now be in a position to decide what parts of the passage are essential and what parts are comparatively unimportant and can be omitted without much loss.
D. Jot down in brief notes the main points - the subject, the title, and the details which you consider essential or important.

(2) Writing.

A. A summary should usually be about one-third to one-fourth as long as the original passage. So count the number of words in the passage and divide it by three. You may use fewer words than the number prescribed, but in no case may you exceed the limit.
B. The summary should be all in your own words. It must not be a patchwork made up of phrases and sentences quoted from the original passage.
C. You should follow the logical order of the original passage, if possible (and desirable). Ideas and facts need not be rearranged.
D. The summary should be self-contained, that is, it must convey the message of the original fully and clearly, so that your reader need no reference to the original to understand what its main ideas are.
E. Summary writing is an exercise in compression. In writing a summary, you may:
- Omit the details. Only the important points should be included in the summary; all the details that explain the main points can be left out.
- Reduce the examples. Out of five or six examples given in the original passage one or two may be chosen for the summary； the rest are to be omitted.
- Simplify the descriptions. If in the passage there are ten sentences describing a person or an object, it will be enough to keep one or two in the summary.
- Eliminate all repetitions. Sometimes a statement is repeated for emphasis. This is not necessary in a summary. Sometimes an idea is repeated in different words. Such a veiled repetition should also be avoided.
- Compress wordy sentences and change phrases to words. Here are a few examples:

     "His courage in battle might without exaggeration be called lion-like."
He was very brave in battle.

     "The account the witness gave of the incident made everyone that heard it laugh."
The witness's story was absurd.

     "They acted in a manner that rendered them liable to prosecution."
They acted illegally.

     "John fell into the river and, before help could reach him, he sank."
John was drowned in the river.

     "He was hard up for money and was being pressed by his creditor."
He was in financial difficulties.

     You may also make phrases do the work of clauses or sentences. Here is an example:

     Beautiful mountains like Mount Tai, Lushan Mountain, and Yellow Mountain, were visited by only a few people in the past. Today, better wages, holidays with pay, new hotels on those mountains, and better train and bus services, have brought them within reach of many who never thought of visiting them ten years ago.

These two sentences may be abridged in this way:

     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 communication.

- Use general words instead of specific words. Here is an example:

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 vacation.

This may be turned into:

She brought home a lot of books and magazines to read during the vacation.

- Use the shortest possible transitions. For example, but, then, thus, yet, and for, can be used in place of longer transitions like at the same time, on the other hand, etc. Often the semi-colon can take the place of a transitional word or phrase.
- Put the main points of a dialogue in indirect speech. This is advisable because indirect speech can be made very brief while it is difficult to abridge dialogues. Here is an example:

     Kate looked at Paul disapprovingly: "You use much too much salt on your food, Paul - it's not at all 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 causes high blood pressure and later on, heart-attacks. It also disguises the tastes of food, the real tastes, which are much more subtle than salt, and which we have lost the sensitivity to appreciate any more."

This may be rewritten into:

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.

(3) Revision.

     Revise your draft. Campare it carefully with the original to see that you have included all the important points. If it is too long, further compress it by omitting unnecessary words and phrases or by remodelling sentences. Correct all mistakes in spelling, grammar and idiom, and see that it is properly punctuated. Make the language simple and direct.
Read the following examples and try to find out the methods used in them.

A

Original

     A third kind of thinking is stimulated when anyone questions our beliefs and opinions. We sometimes find ourselves changing our minds without any resistance or heavy emotion, but if we are told that we are wrong we resent the imputation and harden our hearts. We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposes to rob us of their companionship. It is obviously not the ideas themselves that are dear to us, but our self-esteem, which is threatened. We are by nature stubbornly pledged to defend our own from attack, whether it be our person, our family, our property, or our opinion. We may surrender, but rarely confess ourselves vanquished. In the intellectual world at least, peace is without victory.
     Few of us take the pains to study the origin of our cherished convictions; indeed, we have a natural repugnance to so doing. We like to continue to believe what we have been accustomed to accept as true, and the resentment aroused when doubt is cast upon any of our assumptions leads us to seek every manner of excuse for clinging to them. The result is that most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

(229 words)
- James Harvey Robinson

Summary

     A third kind of thinking occurs when we are told that our beliefs and opinions are wrong. We may have been heedless in their formation, but our self-esteem will not permit us to change. We may have to give up, but we are not convinced. We do not study the origin of our beliefs; we believe as we have been accustomed to believe, and we seek arguments for continuing to believe as we already do.

(75 words)

B

Original

     Xiao Liu is a sanitation worker in a restaurant, a much honored one. She has been awarded for her "excellent work and satisfactory service" by the National Tourism Administration four times since she took the job six years ago.
     Her job seems simple. Every morning, she is required to clean two washrooms, two bathrooms, two locker rooms, the balcony and the corridor. But it is hard and demanding work, especially for a girl who suffers from heart disease. "I usually have to come at 8:30 - half an hour before the working time begins, and start to bustle in and out without a break," says Liu. At 11 o'clock - the opening time of the restaurant, everything is washed up. So is she. Then she stands in front of the washrooms to greet every guest with a smile, help them and do the cleaning whenever it is necessary.
     "It is unusual work for such a young woman," says the manager of the restaurant. "It is not only the hard work but also the psychological pressure that she has to stand."
     "I felt very ashamed and humble when I stood in front of the washroom on my first working day," recalls Liu. Then only 17 years old she blushed whenever a guest came. Her colleagues poked fun at her and her friends called her a fool.
     "Because of my work, they think I am inferior and can only work in the washrooms. But I am not," she says. And the young woman, who had been eager to do everything well since she was a child, vowed to prove it.
     Four years ago, she was honored as Excellent Sanitation Worker by the National Tourism Administration. It was the happiest day of her life. "Standing on the stage, I cried, because it is not only a prize, but a kind of understanding and recognition," Liu says.
     In spite of the heavy work during the daytime, Liu spends every night learning from her sister's textbooks. "Sometimes I read till 3 o'clock in the morning and get up at 6 to go to work," she says. Two years ago, she passed the entrance examination for the "Worker College", and this year, she obtained a diploma in finance. Her thesis was selected for excellence and was honored at the commencement.

     (380 words)
- Zhang Xiaohong

Summary

     Xiao Liu is a model worker doing clean-up work in a restaurant. Her daily chores include cleaning the washrooms and bathrooms. When she first started at the age of 17, she felt ashamed of it, and people laughed at her. But the young woman has overcome all difficulties and excelled in her work. For this, she won an award. She also studied hard at night, sometimes well into the small hours. In the end she graduated from the "Worker College" with good results.

(83 words)

     For the summary of a novel or a play, an outline of the plot is sufficient. The summary may be only one-hundredth or even one-thousandth of the length of the original book. Usually, it is written in the present tense. The following is a brief summary of the classic novel Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Fils.

     Mr. Armand Duval is struck one day by the sight of a tall, slender black-haired woman stepping from her carriage into a shop, attired in white and carrying a bouquet of her favorite camellias. She is Miss Marguerite Gauthier, a notorious courtesan in Paris. The young handsome Frenchman sees her for but an instant, but her beauty burns itself on his brain forever and he makes every effort toward gaining her acquaintance. Finally he catches sight of her in a theater box one evening and is able to secure an introduction. Armand's passion does not abate. He follows and worships from a distance this beautiful creature; when Marguerite is ill - she is dangerously consumptive - he inquires daily for her at her home. One day, a friend of Armand's takes him to see Marguerite. During the gaiety and wine that follows she suffers again from one of her consumptive attacks. The rest of the company ignores the episode but Armand begs the frail woman to take better care of herself. Strangely moved by his sincerity, Marguerite responds to his love by agreeing to be his mistrees. But the elder Duval learns of his son's liaison; he commands him to break it off but Armand refuses. The father then pleads to Marguerite to leave his son so as not to ruin his future. She loves him so much that she finally agrees. Her departure without an explanation infuriates Armand who then leaves the country. It is at Alexandria that he learns that Marguerite is ill and that her dying thoughts are of him. He starts at once for Paris but it is already too late. She leaves a diary for Armand in which she explains the truth. She dies in a church, comforted by her penitence and the memory of having truly loved.

- After Roland A. Goodmanqt