摘 要

在经济全球化的大背景下，中国的快速发展创造了经济效益、增加了就业机会，对英文简历内容、格式的正确应用能为即将走入社会的毕业生申请工作时锦上添花。被中国式思维束缚的申请者并不能简洁明了地运用一纸简历“推销”自己。

修辞性叙事是一种特殊的叙事手段。迄今为止，已有的修辞性叙事理论主要集中在文学叙事而忽视了对在现实生活中具有实用价值的英文简历等非叙事主导语篇中的修辞性叙事。

绪论部分主要阐述了本文的选题背景、写作目的和意义，指出英文简历的写作确实是申请者面临的普遍问题。第一章回顾了与本文研究相关的理论基础知识包括修辞性叙事的概念和国内外研究现状。第二章以英文简历为基础阐述了英文简历的特点和修辞性叙事在英文简历中的基本作用。第三章对当前国内外申请者英文简历的写作内容进行对比，用修辞性叙事对其进行分析解释并讨论造成这种不同的原因。第四章总结部分分析目前研究存在的缺点和不足，客观分析限制因素，以期能改善中国申请者对英文简历的写作现状，最后得出全文的研究结论。

关键词：英文简历；修辞性叙事；区别；原因

Abstract

Under the background of globalization, the rapid economic development in China has fostered a number of opportunities for job hunters. For the graduates, a good command of English resumes’ writing can add brilliance to the potential success. However, Chinese applicants always cannot “sell” themselves successfully.

Rhetorical narration is a special narration which serves for upper-discourse. So far, a majority of rhetorical narration research still focus on literature narration, while rhetorical narration relating to English resume and some other types has been ignored, which is of significance in our practical life.

Introduction section describes the background, propose and significance of this study, and points out the writing of English resume is the main problem of applicants. Chapter one reviews the related background elementary knowledge including the rhetorical narration definition and previous studies on rhetorical narration in China and abroad. Chapter two narrates the functions of rhetorical narration in English resume. Chapter three makes a comparison about English resume content between Chinese applicants and American applicants. Through the rhetorical narration analysis from different angles, it deeply summarizes the experience and offers various significant ideas. Chapter four points out limitations of in this study. Finally, the research conclusions of the whole paper are drawn.

Key Words: English resume; rhetorical narration; differences; reasons

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 2

2.1 Definition of Rhetorical Narration 2

2.2 Studies on Rhetorical Narration in China and Abroad 3

3 Rhetorical Narration in English Resume 5

3.1 English Resume and Its Communicative Function 5

3.2 Rhetorical Narration in English Resume 6

4 Different Rhetorical Narration Approaches in English Resume Writing 7

4.1 Corpus Establishment 7

4.2 Position Arrangement of Subject 8

4.3 Differences Between Illustrations of Move-step 11

4.4 Differences Between Conveyance of Value 15

5 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

Rhetorical Narration in English Resume

1 Introduction

After entering WTO in 2001, China quickened his step of development in science and technology. During the past fifteen years, the strengthen in cooperation and exchanges between countries lead to the emergence of job opportunities for Chinese job hunter in the same period. Thus, the ability to build a brief, effective and convictive English resume which can catch interviewer’s attention is very important to those people who want to join foreign company or study abroad.

Rhetorical narration in English resume is manipulated by applicants to persuade and prove through telling his ability to handle the job or academic position in brief. Almost applicants pay their attention into how to fill their experience in the resume which ignore the function of rhetorical narration. Actually, rhetorical narration is a special form exists in article, no matter in novel, speech or resume. The studies about narration is mature while the rhetorical narration is unfamiliar. Thus, our study will tell the importance of rhetorical in English resume and give a direct direction in applicants’ English resume writing.

The significance of the study is to solve these problems: What’s the English interviewer’s reading features? What’s the meaning of Rhetorical narration? How to make an effective combination with Rhetorical narration and English resume? How to select and use accurate words to express what job hunter want to say in this special paper just like native? How to guide inexperience job hunters to write an appropriate English resume? In order to solve these problems, this study focus on English resume’s and rhetorical narration’s definition and correlation theories, analyses the differences in English resumes between Chinese applicants and American applicants. This study analyses differences in English resumes and finds the rhetorical narration is an essential prerequisite of a successful English resume’s writing.

2 Literature Review

Rhetorical narration is a sub-discourse which included in non-narrative-oriented discourse like description, expository and argument. Because of the control from the upper discourse’s genre, form and theme, the narrative mode, rhetorical function and formation mechanism from rhetorical narration are clearly different from that discourse narrative with separate chapter. In this part, the author will discuss something about the definition and theoretical principle of rhetorical narration.

2.1 Definition of Rhetorical Narration

In A Companion to Narrative Theory (Phelan, 2007), the definition of Rhetorical narration can be found. Rhetorical narration refers to a summary about an event has occurred assisting the realization textual theme of argumentation, illustration, persuasion, etc. in non-narrative oriented discourse. Narrative discourse and its upper belonging to two different genre, including narrative is a kind of rhetoric device for realization of upper discourse theme. The combination of narrative discourse and upper discourse depends on the fit between upper discourse theme and effect after narrative discourse act.

Viewed from the perspective of discourse, the rhetorical narration is a kind of rhetorical device adhere to the main discourse, rather than the normal discourse narration. Rhetorical narration itself does not have qualification to build a separate discourse, it must attach its upper discourse like parasite. Due to the the clamp from the subject, the structural model of rhetorical narration must deviate from usual practice of discourse narration and different from conventional discourse narration in operating, planning and coherence. Viewed from the perspective of operating mechanism, the function of rhetorical narration can run smoothly depends on narrative discourse’s effect of indirect. The article’s construction is focus on indirect effect of narration which created by narrator’s manipulation of discourse, but the transfer of information and event, in order to stimulate the audiences experience, control theirs emotion tendency and value judgments develop along the purpose of direction which conducive to article theme’s expression. Narrator say something by speaking or writing acts but express another certain implication in order to make target audience generate some kinds of post-narrative effect.

2.2 Studies on Rhetorical Narration in China and Abroad

So far, there are two main kinds of the researches on rhetorical narration theory: Convincing argument discourse and Stylistic discourse, narration seen as a significant way of persuasion in the first one while the later focus on the researches of narrative article’s organization model.

2.2.1 Previous Study on Rhetorical Narration by Scholars Abroad

Once people mentioned narrative theory in rhetorical field, in The Republic “ to expel the poet from the city ”（Plato, 1990）have to appear in people’s mind. Plato’s thinking is no matter what kinds of artistic form including poetry is imitation, the creators are imitators. The attack by Plato to poets triggered Aristotle’s reflection and make a solid foundation for Poetics（Aristotle, 1998）which is the first classical, specific and systematic work about narrative theory. This book describes narrative of imitation, narrative scenes, comedy narration, tragedy narration and epic narration narrative theory. The book Rhetoric is regarded as the beginning of rhetoric, Aristotle started a special chapter for discussions about morphological characterization and rhetorical function in government and courts discourse.

In modern research about rhetorical narration, A Companion to Narrative Theory (Phelan, 1996) which book analyzed framing skills of rhetorical narration from ethics, ideology and interaction between readers and authors is well-known. Almost research based on his theory.

2.2.2 Previous Study on Rhetorical Narration by Scholars in China

The rhetorical theory in ancient China always focus on figures and types of writing and speech and some scattered studies on narrative. In Sui and Tang dynasty, the Xu Shi section in Shi Tong（Liu, 1577）talks about parallel and reduction about figures of writing.