文章最忌“假大空”：假，言不由衷，讲出连自己听了都不好意思的话。大，气壮山河，大有“天将降大任于斯人”来解放全世界3/4水深火热老百姓的豪言壮语。空：缺乏具体细节描写的能力。
我捋了捋头发，轻轻仰头一甩，潇洒地对学生说，“先把解放全人类的事情放一放。把我刚才捋头发甩头发的动作准确地描写出来再说。”
“…………”
我说，“等你能够写出‘He re-feathers his hair with his fingers and flicks his bangs back using only his neck muscles.’之类的句子后，才考虑解放全人类吧！”
具体细节的描写，要求笔者用词如狙击手般精准弹无虚发，仅着一字，尽得风流。
文采，是我教学的核心。如何让任何题材的写作活色生香？我要学生们学会熟练自如地运用各种修辞手段：比喻，夸张，讽刺，对比，拟人，委婉，自相矛盾，意外结局，一语双关等等。
我选择一些例句，让学生辨认属于哪种修辞手段：
It gets so cold in Alaska, some of the people go to Siberia for the winter. （夸张）
The barber asked me if I had ketchup on my shirt. I said no. And he dialed 911. （委婉语）
America is the only country where a housewife hires a woman to do her cleaning so she can do voluntary work at the day-care centre where the cleaning lady leaves her children. （讽刺）
Even your wisdom teeth are retarded. （自相矛盾）
In a backward country you can’t drink the water, and in an advanced country you can’t breathe the air. （对比）
Bill Clinton was only a microscopic polyp in the colon of national politics. （比喻）
She got her good look from her father. He is a plastic surgeon. （意外结局）
As soon as you find key to success, somebody always changes the lock. （一语双关）
我希望我的学生写的文章都是轻舞飞扬，幽默俏皮，而不是一脸旧社会苦大仇深的沉重，或是毫无想象力的刻板。我奉为圭皋的写作最佳境界是：
庄谐雅谑皆妙句，嬉笑怒骂尽文章。
