浙江师范大学2010年硕士研究生入学考试初试试题
科目代码: 适用专业: 851
科目名称: 英语写作
050201英语语言文学、050211外国语言学及应用语言学、 420108学科教学（英语）
I. Summary writing (40%) Read the following passage and write a summary of it in around 100 words For purposes of analysis, culture may be examined at four levels: concrete behavior, values, assumptions, and generalized cultural forms. The last three are necessarily derived from observations of behavior but can be usefully treated as a motivational explanation underlying most human behavior. Viewed at the individual level they are, in effect, internalized components of personality that are generally shared with other members of the cultural group Values are relatively concrete, discrete, and specific; for instance, typical American values are the sanctity of private property, the desirability of physical comfort, and the need for tangible measures of success. Values also have a quality of “oughtness” and are relatively available to individual awareness. A person will often discuss values when explaining his or her own or others’ feelings or behavior. Assumptions, on the other hand, are more abstract and more outside of conscious awareness. They represent the predispositions the individual employs to pattern the world and are usually felt by the individual to be an aspect of the world itself and not simply his or her perception of it. Examples of American assumption are a predisposition to see the self as separate from the world and the usual endorsement of “doing” as the preferred means of self-expression. Assumptions provide a person with a sense of reality--which is only one of several possible realities--and values provide a basis for choice and evaluation. However, assumptions and values merge into one another. What is an assumption for one individual, or for one culture, may be a value for another individual or for another culture. Any one concept held by a person is likely to combine aspects of both assumptions and values; hence it is difficult, and often unimportant, to determine whether it is one or the other. 第 1 页，共 3 页
In some cases the cognitive processes underlying cultural thinking are so abstract and lacking in substantive reference that they are probably best distinguished from assumptions and called cultural forms. Examples include assumptions about time, space, essence, energy, and logical process. Cultural forms tend to overlap with assumptions and, to a lesser degree, values. For training purposes it is probably not critical to be able to make firm distinctions; consequently, after the nature of forms, assumptions, and values is illustrated, these concepts will generally be treated under the label “value and assumption” or, where it seems more appropriate, “predisposition.” Occasionally, “perspective” or “frame of reference” will be used with more or less the same meaning. A frequent objection made to efforts to analyze any culture is that people differ from one another in many ways, even within a culture, and any attempt to describe a people according to broad generalizations, such as cultural characteristics, results in stereotypes. It is clear that people differ widely with respect to any particular behavior or value. Nevertheless, certain values and assumptions are dominant in, for example, American culture and are shared to one degree or another by most members. Thus, when we speak of an American value (or assumption), we refer to a peak or modal tendency for a range (distribution) of that value in the culture. All points on the distribution can be found in any society; thus, when two cultures are compared on a given dimension, there is overlap (i.e., some members of Culture A will be more typical of Culture B than many members of Culture B who may be far from the modal point of their culture). In addition, an individual’s reactions will vary from situation to situation and from time to time in the same situation. However, there is a relative internal integration and stability in behavior over time and situation. Variations, thus, should not obscure systematic differences which do exist or the validity of stereotypes (modal tendencies) in understanding intercultural phenomena. Cultural patterns, including their variations, may be seen as guides to a limited number of common human problems for which all peoples at all times must find some solution. These problem areas can be used as a framework for identifying inclusive cultural dimensions on which all cultures can be plotted. The common human problems covered by such a system of assumptions and values can be classified under five categories: activity, social relations, motivation, perception of the world, and perception of the self and of the individual. Each category is briefly 第 2 页，共 3 页
identified by describing some American values and assumptions, together with non-Western alternatives, which fall within each category. Their identification follows the work of Florence R. Kluckhohn, with a few divergencies. II. Exposition writing (50%): In your opinion, what is the most important characteristic ( for example, honesty, intelligence, a sense of humor, sensitivity, etc.) that a teacher of English should have if he or she is to succeed in his or her teaching career? Write a composition in no less than 200 words, using specific reasons and examples from your experience to state your view. Marks will be awarded on the basis of your organization, diction, grammar and appropriateness. III. Argumentation writing (60%): Beijing University is said to decide to enroll some talented middle school students in the year of 2010. The candidates concerned will be recommended by their principals of some known key middle schools of the nation. However, people have different opinions about the issue. Some people support the decision, while others disagree with it. What is your opinion of the issue? Write a piece of argument in about 500 words. In the first part you should state your position clearly; in the second, you should supply relevant evidence to support your position and refute the opposing side’s view; and finally you should bring your essay to a logical conclusion. Marks will be awarded on the basis of your organization, diction, grammar and appropriateness.
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