标点符号，一般人容易忽视，但它特别重要，往往在阅读中起较大的作用。特别是冒号、引号、破折号和分号。 (1)冒号 其用来说明冒号前的部分，对发生的原因进行进一步阐述和强调。 Mary Ann Evans is better known by her pen name: George Eliot. 玛丽·安·埃文思的笔名更为人们熟知：乔治·艾略特。 I have seen several plays in Shaw Festival in Canada recently:Much Ado about nothing，An Ideal Husband，Man and Supreme and Saint Joan 最近，在加拿大的“萧伯纳节”期间，我看了好几部戏：《无事生非》、《理想丈夫》、《人与超人》和《圣女贞德》。引号常用于引用他人的语言或引用重点部分。 Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results，as proverb says，there are only two creatures who can surmount the pyramids—the eagle and the snail. 毅力在效果上有时能同天才相比。
　　如谚语所说：能登上金字塔的生物只有两种—鹰和蜗牛。 Some people consider that all such words as “good” “bad” “beautiful” “ugly”only indicate one's own emotional reactions towards actions or things and in no sense properties of the actions or things themselves. 一些人认为，所有这些词，比如好、“坏”、“美”、“丑”仅表明人对待行为或事物的感情，而并不说明行为或事物本身的性质。 (3)破折号 一般对其前面的部分加以补充说明。
　　“Then — then I saw a — it wa horrible. I just can't tell you how — how he was — he was — you see，still alive. And when I —” Jim suddenly stopped talking and stared back at the door，which was opening slowly. “然后—我看见一个—真是太可怕了。我简直说不出来怎么—他怎么—他—你看，他还活着。当我—”吉姆突然停了下来，转身盯着正慢慢开着的门。 SAN FRANCISCO — Michael，the most popular boy's name in the United States for decades，was ousted this year by a newcomer—Jacob. 旧金山讯：迈克尔，这个十几年来在美国最流行的男孩的名字，今年已经被另一个新名字所取代—雅各布。
　　分号 一般起解释说明的作用。 There were many reasons for Joe's appalling behavior:his parents although they always did their best，had never made him behave properly; the school，recommended by his aunt，had a lax attitude to discipline; and finally，according to Peter，Joe enjoyed being in trouble. 乔做出骇人听闻的行为是有多种原因的：尽管他的父母已经尽了努力，他们仍然无法让他规规矩矩地做人。他所在的那所由他姑妈推荐的学校纪律松散;最后，据彼特说乔就喜欢惹是生非。