1、专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 64及答案与解析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 Most major educational systems utilize some sort of standardized test for university admissions. The importance of these tests varies between countries. In China, the result of College Entrance Examination almost solely determines university admission. It
2、has been suggested that they encourage standardized test schools to “teach to the test“ rather than focus on the installation of pure knowledge. The followings are opinions on whether standardized tests should be abolished. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summariz
3、e briefly the arguments; 2. give your comment on the issue. Wen Zhisa from Standardized tests are inherently arbitrary. They reduce an applicants entire academic career to a single one-day session. The result is an inherently unrepresentative test which fails to paint an accurate picture. What if a
4、 student has a bad day? What if they do poorly on the specific test questions? By contrast, looking at their entire academic record ensures that admissions officers will get a far more comprehensive picture of their actual ability. The law of averages means that bad days and tests will be balanced o
5、ut with good ones, with the result that their academic record, the result of years of work, will reflect their true performance. Peng Xingting from Beijing Youth Daily Standardized tests are inherently in favour of high-income students. Tutoring is an industry unto itself and the resulting rise in s
6、cores among high income students turns the scale against students whose families cannot afford it. By contrast, even if the money is available, the impact that tutoring can have on a students academic performance is limited. A tutor cannot write papers or take tests for them, and nor can they answer
7、 questions in class, or participate in sports or other extracurricular activities. As a consequence, eliminating easily tutored standardized tests helps even the playing field between richer and poorer students. In addition, the importance attached to such tests leads to teachers actively “teaching
8、the test.“ The result is that many teachers, rather than instilling useful skills or providing a balanced curriculum, end up trying to focus on things that occur on given tests. This undermines the provision of education in the country. Wu Lihua from Zhuhai Evening News All measures applied during u
9、niversity admissions processes are arbitrary to one extent or another. Grades depend on the whims on individual instructors, curriculum choices, and school quality. Every single one of the flaws the proposition applies to the Gaokao or other standardized tests may well be true, but the fact is that
10、they are true for everyone who takes them. Gaokao is the only part of the application to a university that every single applicant will likely have been taken, and therefore the only one where all applicants can be objectively compared. Xiao Shizi from Xinmin Evening News College Entrance Exams is ma
11、thematical and it is therefore possible to objectively evaluate them. They provide a benchmark of comparison across the whole education system in a way that any non-standardized assessment never could. This does not only benefit universities in providing an objective measure to compare admissions ca
12、ndidates but it also gives the government statistics with which to measure the progress of schools. Any other form of assessment would mean switching to much more subjective factors. Traditionally such factors, such as extracurricular activities, volunteer work, and even access to references are all
13、 more easily available to high income students. Opportunities may not even be offered in poorer school districts. Complaining that poorer and minority students do less well on the College Entrance Exam ignores the fact that the test provides one of their best opportunities to impress admissions offi
14、cials. 2 Plagiarism, meaning the undocumented use of another persons work, is the most serious offense in academia. Universities pursue plagiarising students, but in fact it is also a big problem among college faculties. The following news report gives a general view of the phenomenon. Write an arti
15、cle of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the article; 2. give your comment. When Plagiarism Is Academic This week at Durham University, professors are investigating whether a former dean of the business school is guilty of plagiarism. Professor Tony Antoniou resigned
16、this month over allegations he copied the work of his peers for his DPhil thesis and a later journal article. He remains a professor of finance at the university. Meanwhile, at Wolverhampton University, lawyers are preparing for the tribunal of a senior lecturer who is appealing against being dismis
17、sed for plagiarism. “The cases we hear about are probably just the tip of the iceberg,“ say Jude Carroll, a plagiarism expert at Oxford Brookes University, and Mike Reddy, a member of the Plagiarism Advisory Service for universities, students and academics. “Probably“ is the word. No one actually kn
18、ows the true scale of plagiarism among academics in the UK, or elsewhere. Scores of researchers have been funded to look into the numbers of students who may or may not have cheated on their coursework. But when it comes to their tutors, the plagiarism experts will tell you not one research project
19、comes to mind. “Theres no proper research on this,“ says Reddy. “And its time there was.“ Plagiarism the taking and using as ones own of the thoughts, writings or inventions of another comes in many guises in the academic world. It might involve the straightforward stealing of a colleagues work or w
20、ords. It could be self-plagiarism, where similar pieces of work are sent to various journals. It might involve using teaching materials without acknowledgement, stealing the work of postgraduate students, or insisting on co-authorship of a postgraduates paper without actually doing any of the work.
21、Opinion is divided over whether it is easier or harder to do than in the past. “Of course it is easier,“ says Carroll. “The resources available are phenomenal.“ Staff at highly esteemed institutions, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have temptingly started to put all their lecture
22、notes and teaching materials online, free for all to use. “But its a moral judgment as to whether you acknowledge the author of those resources or notes or not,“ says Reddy. “And that choice has always been there.“ “Its become easier to track violations and there is much evidence that many people ar
23、e willing to invest the time to do that,“ says Don McCabe, from the Centre for Academic Integrity at Duke University in North Carolina. Fiona Duggan, of the Plagiarism Advisory Service, says there is now “heightened awareness of the issue“ and “more efficient detection“. What is not up for dispute i
24、s why academics, now more than ever, might cave in and commit the crime. The “publish or perish“ environment of todays academia means young and not so young academics can only scale the career ladder and build a reputation if they produce a certain number of papers in highly-regarded publications ea
25、ch year. “If you are expected to turn out six to eight papers a year, you cant exactly start from scratch each time,“ says Carroll. 3 Some local education commissions recently announced teachers who have accepted gifts or cash from students or their parents will be disqualified from applying for pro
26、fessional titles. The move seeks to further curb gift-giving by parents seeking more opportunities or individual attention for their children. The following article discusses related regulations. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the article briefly, and t
27、hen 2. express your opinion towards those regulations. It would be a shame for the education system in fact, the nation as whole if Teachers Day were to become a time for parents to wrack their brains thinking about what gifts to give teachers to ensure that their children get “special treatment“ or
28、 to prevent them from being discriminated against in class. To give or not to give gifts is a decision that puts huge pressure on parents whose children are in school. Several surveys conducted by Internet portals, forums and special survey agencies in recent years have indicated that a majority of
29、Chinese parents had been haunted at least once by such a dilemma before Teachers Day. Apart from flowers, fruits, watches as well as expensive handbags, jewelry and shopping vouchers or cards, some parents have also gifted cash to teachers. A few wealthy parents have even arranged overseas trips for
30、 teachers. Surveys, however, have also shown that some teachers do not enjoy the gifts they receive from students parents. Quite a few teachers who responded to surveys said they usually make a painful choice between accepting and declining a gift. Last year, some 10 well-known elementary and middle
31、 schools used the Ministry of Educations website to appeal to teachers across the country to decline gifts from students and their parents. The appeal resonated strongly across educational institutions and was welcomed by many parents. Traditionally, teachers have always been held in high esteem in
32、Chinese society. Most Chinese people still believe in the maxim, “a teacher for a day is a father for a whole life“. We have also long viewed teachers as “engineers of the human soul“ and “hardworking gardeners“ helping “flowers“ blossom for the motherland. We also know that the nation cannot fulfil
33、l its aspiration of greatness without the selfless dedication of its teachers, who nurture talents from one generation to another. Therefore, the entire society should respect teachers. And indeed it is understandable and acceptable that students give a token gift to teachers to show their respect t
34、o and gratitude toward them. But the sacred relationship between teachers and students is soiled when students give gifts to teachers with some ulterior motives to get favors or special treatment, for example. Many people desperately wanted the education authorities to take measures to check the com
35、mercialization of dealings between teachers and parents, and that is precisely what the Ministry of Education has done. But then the creation of a series of Internet technologies and means for giving and receiving gifts, such as e-vouchers and e-cards, and WeChat red packets, have made the malpracti
36、ce difficult to detect. So the education authorities, aside from passing rigorous regulations banning the malpractice, should also take stricter measures to improve the education system as a whole to ensure that there is no room for corruption. 4 Some educators believe the majors offered at higher e
37、ducation institutions should be based on social demands and graduates career prospect. However, others believe that a prospective employment rate is not the only measure by which to judge a degrees worth. For example, despite the difficulty of finding a job in many undergraduate programs, many progr
38、ams, like philosophy and history, are still necessary in larger society. The following are two excerpts of opinions concerning this issue. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the opinions and then 2. express your opinion towards the main determinant
39、of college major setting. Excerpt 1 Market Needs First When planning to offer a new major, universities must first have sufficient educational resources, including qualified teaching staff and classroom equipment and space, to name but a few. Lately, quite a few universities have added as many as 10
40、 new majors to their ranks in just one year. Observers cant help worrying whether or not these schools are operating beyond their capabilities. Without a normal “recruitment system“ for majors, outdated majors continue to recruit students. Similarly, when currently popular majors become obsolete in
41、several years time, students pursuing these degrees will find themselves in extremely difficult conditions in terms of job hunting. In most developed countries, colleges have to take market needs into account, and they are also under strict management by education authorities, which provide informat
42、ion on employment prospects and thus guide the programs on offer. Sometimes companies cooperate with universities in terms of student recruitment and internship or job opportunities. On occasion, students are even allowed to submit suggestions for majors or coursework. In China, universities tend to
43、 have the final say on degrees and their curricula, and this detachment from market needs has inevitably resulted in high unemployment rates in specific areas. Excerpt 2 Wide-Ranging Education When college graduates are faced with the ever-growing pressures of employment, its necessary to adjust how
44、 undergraduate degree programs are designed in order to make job-hunting easier for students. However, this does not mean that universities are right to rush in the opposite direction, suddenly offering several new majors that enjoy high employment rates. Low employment prospects among college gradu
45、ates can be attributed to two things: expanding student recruitment efforts over the last decade and structural problems in the labor market. Even with the majors that are most saleable in the job hunt, employment rates will not always necessarily be ideal. Labor surpluses exist everywhere, most esp
46、ecially in cases of increasing numbers of students flocking to oversubscribed programs that promise better chances of employment. No matter how favorable a degree is in the labor market, when so many people are competing for jobs, any major can come to carry a major risk of unemployment. Its imprope
47、r for universities to expand recruitment by offering dead-end degrees and misleading students about employment prospects. However, its also improper to judge a degree track simply by its expected employment rate. Actually, many majors and training programs in universities silently contribute to soci
48、al progress despite their graduates not enjoying promising career paths. If schools suddenly stopped recruiting students for these degrees just because employment prospects are low, the damage done to society in the long term would be immeasurable. 专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 64答案与解析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 【正确答案】 O
49、n Standardized Tests Many arguments have been made in regard to whether to abolish the standardized tests in the education system. One allegation against these tests is that standardized tests for college admission only measure a small portion of a students entire academic performance. Concern also arises about its inherent discrimination against financially inferior students, or the tendency that teacher have to “teach to test“. However, defenders for standardized tests often bring forth some of their advantages and positive effects, s
