全国2005年1月高等教育自学考试英语写作基础试题

I. Correct the errors in the following sentences.(改写病句)10%
Example: After seeing an offensive mouthwash ad on television .I resolved never to buy that brand again.
After seeing an offensive mouthwash ad on television, I resolved never to buy that brand again.
1.Those berries are poisonous don’t eat them.
2.Our city’s buildings are not as modern as your city.
3.To get ready for the trip, all the things she needed were put into a suitcase.
4.He told me that Mary had returned home for a week.
5.I read the book on the bus which did not interest me at all.
II. Read the following passages and identify the topic sentence in each by underlining it.(阅读以下每段文章，然后在每段文章的主题句下划线。)20%
1.    The biggest problem in ancient DNA reserch is getting the DNA in the first place. The favorite material to work with is bone, and a small chunk of it is best. Cells can lie inside the hard bone structure waiting to be liberated after the calcium has been dissolved away. That’s the easy bit. Getting the DNA out, what little of it that remains is horrendously difficult and many teams have succumbed to pitfalls in the past. The rule is that it has to be done in a clean room better than used to assemble spacecraft to go into deep space, and it has to be done away from any other source of potentially contaminating DNA.
2.    Names usually have origins, especially for Indians. Indians with distinctive physical characteristics, might be given names such as Big Foot or Crooked Leg. If there had been a big storm on the day of a baby’s birth, the baby might have been named Thundercloud. Grey Eagle, Red-Dog, Big Bear, and Spotted Wolf are examples of Indian names after animals.
3.    Many TV commercials imply that a woman’s self-esteem depends on her cleaning ability. In one commercial, we see a woman terribly upset because her guests find spots on her glassware. Countless other commercials blur out the message that a woman will pass muster as a person if her kitchen floor gleams and her toilet bowl is blue. This idiocy must work, because the images of women scrubbing, moping, waxing and smiling keep on coming over the air.
4.    As human beings, we are constantly in the stage of change. Our bodies change everyday. Our attitudes are constantly evolving. Something we swore by five years ago is now almost impossible for us to imagine ourselves believing The clothes we wore a few years ago now look strange to us in old photographs. Everything is changing. This is a prediction I can make with absolute certainty.
5.    Electric products are closely associated with our lives. Electric alarm clocks and music pouring from our radio awaken us; we operate our roaster, brush our teeth with an electric toothbrush, and shave with an electric razor. We read today’s headlines from newspapers printed on huge electric presses, and we write a letter on our electric typewriter before leaving for work to operate a computer and word processor.
III. Rearrange the following numbered sentences so that they will read logically. Put the numbers in proper sequence in the boxes provided below.(将下列句子按逻辑顺序重新排列组合成段落)10%
Group One
1.They have to learn not only the streets, landmarks and hotels, but also the quickest way to get there.
2.Becoming a London taxi driver isn’t easy.
3.People who want to pass the examination spend much of their free time driving or even cycling around London, studying maps and learning the huge street directory by heart.
4.This is called ‘The Knowledge’ by London cab drivers.
5.They are examined not only on the quickest routes but also on the quickest routes at different times of the day.
6.And it can take years of study and practice to get “The Knowledge”.
7.In order to obtain a license to drive a taxi in London, candidates have to pass a detailed examination.
    4  3
Group Two
1.He slept very well for the first two nights, but on the third night, a storm blew up.
2.Tired of sleeping on the floor, a young man in Teheran saved up for years to buy a real bed.
3.Because the weather was very hot, he carried the bed on to the roof of his house.
4.Although the bed was smashed to pieces, the man was miraculously unhurt.
5.For the first time in his life, he became the proud owner of a bed, which had springs and a mattress.
6.A gust of wind swept the bed off the roof and sent it crashing into the courtyard below.
7.When he woke up, he was still on the mattress.
8.The young man did not wake up until the bed had struck the ground.
9.After he had put it on the floor, he promptly went to sleep again.
10.Glancing at the bits of wood and metal that lay around him, the man sadly picked up the mattress and carried it into his house.
2  3 1   4 7  
IV. Note-writing(写便条)20%
    Arrange to meet a friend somewhere in town. Mention time, place, and reason.(About 50 words)
V. Letter-writing(写书信)40%
    Write a letter to a manager of a certain shop to complain about the poor service you received at it. In the letter you should also raise some specific suggestions to help improve the service quality of the shop.(150—200 words)