网考托福写作部分有两题，第1题为综合题（Integrated Task），先看一段课文，然后听一段课堂讲座。第2题为独立题（Independent Task），根据自己的知识和经验答题。本页的的样题是第1题，综合题。 愿意自测的同学，请仔细阅读底下说明，不要看底下的粗体字的课文。现在请按右键点击光盘图形8 ，下载存盘后，开始自测。先花3分钟时间看粗体字的课文，接着再听课堂讲座的音频文件。 听的时候，请别忘了做笔记，并根据录音的指示，进行做答。 Example of Task #1
Let’s try a sample Task #1 related to the writings of Maya Angelou. In the real test, you will have 20 minutes to write a response about the relationship between the lecture and the reading. You have three minutes to read the following short academic passage. You may take notes.
Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970) appeared at the end of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and carries with it the bitter and hard-won fruit of this era. From the violence the poet experienced as a child, Angelou knew first-hand the harsh realities of life in the Deep South. And the critic Roger Rosenblatt has asserted, “No black American author has ever felt the need to invent a nightmare to make a point.” As Maya Angelou writes of her Stamps, Arkansas childhood: “High spots in Stamps were usually negative: droughts, floods, lynchings and deaths.” Touched by the powerful effects of these destructive forces, Maya Angelou steeled herself together with dignity and self-respect. She moved forward toward a goal of self-sufficiency, combining a consciousness of self and an awareness of the political realities of black life in the South. Throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou embraces realism-- not only as a practical political philosophy but also as the dominant mode of the book. She linked her writings to the tradition of black slave narratives, and used idioms and special vocabulary to capture the texture of Southern Black Life. But as Angelou has written, “I speak to the black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition—about what we can endure, dream, fail at, and still survive.
Narrator: Now listen to part of a lecture on the same topic.
Both the reading materials and the lecturer sing high praise for Maya Angelous’s autobiography “I know why the caged bird sings” and the illuminating spirits of perseverance and endurance depicted in. In addition to portray the realistic and political background of the 1960s and the unique language style of the book, both of which are discussed in the reading materials, the lecturer gives us more details about Maya’s childhood and how her writing style was formed.
First, the lecture mentions that the general environment young Maya lived in was very harsh. The civil rights movement was widely censured in the 1960s. Moreover, Maya had confronted many inhumane violence and abuses in her childhood, only to go through the hardship with the help of her grandma and the black community. That is the reality background of which her works had come out.
Second, the lecturer stresses that Maya’s powerful language styles should merit us attention and then she informs us with how this style was formed. The author states that Maya installed her writing with the tradition of black slave narratives and the used idioms and special vocabulary. To illustrate how this style formed, the lecturer depicts Maya’s passion in literature when she was a child. She states that Maya derived great inspiration from a variety of sources, including black American music, black American literature and English literature, especially Shakespeare’s poems. It is through her extensive reading that the unique writing style was formed.
2. Marked up text and comments
Both the reading materials and the lecturer sing high praise for Maya Angelous’s autobiography “I know Know why Why the caged Caged bird Bird singsSings”[s1] and the illuminating[s2] spirits of perseverance and endurance depicted in. it. In addition to portray portraying the realistic and political background of the 1960s and the unique language style of the book, both of which are discussed in the reading materials, the lecturer gives us more details about Maya’s childhood and how her writing style was formed.
First, the lecture mentions that the general environment young Maya lived in was very harsh. The civil rights movement was widely censured in the 1960s. Moreover, Maya had confronted many acts of inhumane violence and abuses in her childhood, only to go through the hardship with the help of her grandma and the black community. That is the reality background of from which her works emergedhad come out.
Second, the lecturer stresses that Maya’s powerful language styles should merit us our attention, and then she informs us with how this style was formed. The reading author passage states that Maya installed her writing with the tradition[s3] of black slave narratives and the used idioms and special vocabulary. To illustrate how this style formed, the lecturer depicts Maya’s passion in literature when she was a child. She states that Maya derived great inspiration from a variety of sources, including black American music, black American literature and English literature, especially Shakespeare’s poems. It is through her extensive reading that the unique writing style was formed.
Comments on this essay:
1) Organization: Very good. The introduction is solid. The two points are clearly drawn. The integrated essay doesn’t really need a traditional “conclusion” the way the independent essay does, and so I think your ending is fine.
2) Language: Good. There are a few errors, but they don’t get in the way of the meaning. For example, “In addition to portraying…” needs the gerund form because it is a dependent clause. “Violence” is a mass noun, and cannot be modified by “many.” (See my suggested revisions.) In a few of the complex sentences, prepositions are used incorrectly (“and then she informs us with how this style was formed”à Delete “with”). In low-frequency expressions, make sure you are using the correct term: (“illuminating spirit”-> “uplifting spirit”. “installed”à “instilled in her writing the tradition of…”) Finally, there were several instances where the writing was ambiguous (“the author”=? =Maya? =The reading passage?) Be explicit whenever you can.
3) Targeted areas for improvement: Keep up the good work, practicing writing often. Watch your use of prepositions. Check that your language is unambiguous and crystal clear. This student’s future is a bright one.
Other comments: This student has clearly reached the “discourse competency” level and now just needs to focus on use of phrasing, proper use of low-frequency words, inverted clause structures, and good self-editing practices. Unofficially, I would give this essay a low 5-- based on its organization, precision and clarity. The errors do not get in the way of the meaning. A few raters might give the essay a very high 4, due to errors such as “Maya’s powerful language styles should merit us attention.”-> (our attention) and
3. Cleaned-up text
Both the reading materials and the lecturer sing high praise for Maya Angelous’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and the uplifting spirit of perseverance and endurance depicted in it. In addition to portraying the realistic and political background of the 1960s and the unique language style of the book, both of which are discussed in the reading materials, the lecturer gives us more details about Maya’s childhood and how her writing style was formed.
First, the lecture mentions that the general environment young Maya lived in was very harsh. The civil rights movement was widely censured in the 1960s. Moreover, Maya had confronted many acts of inhumane violence and abuses in her childhood, only to go through the hardship with the help of her grandma and the black community. That is the reality from which her works emerged.
Second, the lecturer stresses that Maya’s powerful language style merit our attention, and then informs us how this style was formed. The reading passage states that Maya instilled in her writing the tradition of black slave narratives and used idioms and special vocabulary. To illustrate how this style formed, the lecturer depicts Maya’s passion in literature when she was a child. She states that Maya derived great inspiration from a variety of sources, including black American music, black American literature and English literature, especially Shakespeare’s poems. It is through her extensive reading that the unique writing style was formed.
Book titles are underlined or put in italics. Short stories, articles and poems are put in quotations. ＂Illuminating” is not really wrong here, i.e., it means that the spirit clarifies our vision. But I think you may be wanting to use the word “uplifting.” This phrase is not terrible, but it is not really native. I think you want to say “instilled in her writing the tradition of…” 有机英语教材给学生参考的答案： In her lecture, the professor talks about Maya Angelou’s autobiography entitled I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She describes Angelou’s realistic account of her painful childhood in the Deep South, the history of which was also alluded to in the reading passage. Angelou personally had to endure unspeakable acts of violence and abuse, and she witnessed many acts of abuse of the Black community of which she was a part. In that respect, Angelou’s autobiography is also a history of Civil Rights. Additionally, the professor calls attention to Angelou’s descriptive powers and use of language. She mentions, for example, how Angelou used to memorize the poetry of Shakespearean. She was also influenced by African American literature and, as was noted in the passage, she models her narratives after black slave narratives, using idioms and other special vocabulary to capture the cultural richness of her community. Both the professor and the reading passage make reference to the fact that Maya Angelou’s powerful voice represents not only the Black experience, but also the human condition, in which obstacles must be overcome and in which survival is achieved only through perseverance.