上海大学英语写作考试样题

Part I Notice & Card （30%）

1. Directions: Write an English notice based on the following Chinese: (15%)

欢迎所有研究生参加由上海大学文学院主办的题目为“国际形势的回顾与展望”的讲座。 讲座的日期和时间为2011年3月25日（周五）下午 1点半。 地点为宝山校区伟长楼一楼报告厅。 主讲人为上海大学副校长，叶志明教授。

2. Direction: write a formal invitation card on behalf of Ken and Katy Smith to all of their friends and acquaintances about a New Year Party at 200, Main Street, Knightsbridge this Friday evening. You are Susan. You can be reached at 223.768.2603 or [email protected]. Provide all the necessary details. (15%)

Part II Letter writing (40%)

1. Directions: Read the following complaint letter carefully and then rearrange the order: (10%)

A 26 November 1987

B I bought the hair drier – a RA VLON 405 – on Wednesday 22nd November. Unfortunately, the first time I tried to use it the handle became extremely hot and within a few minutes part of the plastic casing began to melt. I had to turn it off immediately.

C To resolve the problem, I would appreciate it if you could send me a full refund as soon as possible. Enclosed are the hair drier and a copy of the original receipt.

D Yours faithfully,

(Ms) Sabrina Sari

E 48 Hill Road,

London, SE1 4PN.

F Then I returned it with the receipt to your shop on Saturday. I explained the situation to one of the assistant and asked for my money back but was told I had to speak to you. Unfortunately you were not available that day so I am writing instead. G I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problem. Thank you in advance.

H The Manager

Design Shop,

14 Abbey Gate,

London NW3 5AP.

I I am writing to complain about a hair drier bought in your shop last Wednesday and about the treatment I received when I tried to return it a few days later. K Dear Sir or Madam,

2．Directions: 假如你是李明，你的地址为上海市宝山区上大路99号上海大学XXX 学院，根据招聘广告，写一封求职信。写信的日期为2011年3月2日(30%)。

Part III Thesis Writing（10%）

Directions: Fill in the blanks in the following acknowledgements with words given in box. Please note: You do not need to change the forms of the words.

I wish to thank the many friends and _1_ who helped in the preparation of this book. In particular, _2_ appreciation is recorded to Nigel Ellis, former IPR president, who read the early _3_ of every chapter of the first edition and made many helpful _4_ for improvements.

Special _5_ are also due to Pat Bowman, former head of PR at Lloyds Bank, to Don Billett, former public affairs director, Du Pont de Nemours International, to Robin Paterson, formerly senior public affairs specialist, Dupont (UK) and to Peter Jackson, editor and communications consultant, all of whom read individual chapters or sections and made helpful comments and alterations to the original text.

I would like to _6_ my gratitude to a number of friends and colleagues who have helped me with this second edition. I would particularly _7_ to record my sincere thanks to Ian Arnison, former head of press and publications at the British Standards Institution.

Grateful acknowledgement must _8_ to Anne Gregory, assistant dean of the Business school, Leeds Metropolitan University, and editor of this series of IPR textbooks, for her constant support and encouragement and for _9_ me get on with it as I wished.

I have referred to several titles published by Oxford University Press in the preparation of this work and thank them for permission to quote information, references and examples. Acknowledgement is also _10_ to Headline Book Publishing Ltd for permission to quote examples from Debrett’s Correct Form.

Part IV Summary Writing (20%)

Directions: Based on the passage given, write a summary on the advantages and disadvantages of advertisements. Credit will be given for use of your own words，but care must be taken not to change the original meaning. Your summary must be in continuous form and in about 120 words.

We are bombarded by many advertisements every day. Vendors try all means and ways to gain our attention and sell us their products or services. Advertisements appear everywhere; on television programs, radios, in the papers, magazines, pamphlets and so on.

Advertisements are actually very useful though we sometimes feel annoyed when they interrupt our favorite television programs. They provide us with free information on the products and services. There are two types of advertisements. The informative advertisements are the ones which provide us with the details of the products or services. This information is especially useful if the product or service is new. For instance, when we need to buy a computer, advertisements describing the latest models and their different functions would be extremely helpful. However, only a minority of the advertisements are informative ones. Many of them belong to the second category -- the persuasive kind. These advertisements not only tell us more about the products, at the same time, they persuade customers to buy them by claiming that their products are superior to the rivalry ones. These claims may sometimes be untrue.

Besides being informative and persuasive, advertisements also help to subsidize the prices of magazines and newspapers. Our newspapers are sold at a low price of about one dollar, owing to the advertisements in the papers; otherwise, the price would have been higher.

While advertisements can be good helpers for shopping, they do have their shortcomings. Most advertisements aim to sell only. Faults of the products or services are usually hidden from the consumers. Hence, sometimes, we feel deceived if the product or service we bought does not turn out the way the advertisements claim to be.

Sometimes, advertisements by rival competitors can get very intensive, especially when there are many firms producing similar products. One common example is the washing powder. There are so many advertisements for the different brands that customers sometimes get confused over what they should buy. Furthermore, having more advertisements would mean that the production cost of the firm would be increased. These rises in cost are usually passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices.

Hence, in conclusion, though I do advocate advertisements, I do not deny their flaws. Without them, we might have to buy things based on incomplete information or go through more complicated ways before getting to know the products or services. On the other hand, too many advertisements also complicate our buying decisions. So I would say that we cannot live without advertisements but we must be careful how we live with them.