英文摘要范文samples ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

February, 2012, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited the United States. About forty years ago, U.S. President Nixon visited China, which achieved the normalization of Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations. Under this historical background, Xi’s visit has attracted many attentions all over the world. All the reports about his visit become important materials for future Sino-U.S. research.

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) or critical linguistics argues that language cannot be regarded as neural media of communication. On the contrary, critical linguists think that language actually is a product of social practice. From their points of view, language is closely connected with ideology, and should be studied in a social context.

Mainstream media can reflect the basic attitude of a society toward a certain news event, as well as the tendency of the development in political, economic and cultural aspects. Because of its strong public trust and authority, compared with other media, mainstream media is more suitable for researching how political news discourses influenced by governments and societies.

The study undertakes an analysis of coverage, from February 6 to 24, 2012 that cover Xi’s visit in People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, The New York Times and The Washington Post, in the framework of critical discourse analysis.

Keywords: Sino-U.S. relations; mainstream newspaper; political report; critical discourse analysis

Abstract

This thesis makes a comparative study on the issue of English and Chinese ostensible invitations from a pragmatic perspective. In contrast to previous researches, this paper emphasizes the differences of ostensible invitations between English and Chinese speakers. Major contents for this study include phenomena of English and Chinese ostensible invitations and comparisons and contrasts between the two.

This thesis starts with a brief introduction to Austin and Searle’s Speech Act Theory, Grice’s Cooperative Principle, and some related theories on Context. Then through analyzing the data we collect from the two well-known novels The Forsyte Saga and Four Generations under One Roof, finally we find in our research the differences and similarities of English and Chinese ostensible invitations. We conduct a comparative study on them and discuss the reasons behind those distinctions. This research finds that English and Chinese ostensible invitations have differences in such aspects as frequency, attitude, uncertainty and position, and both have some common features of ostensible invitations, such as flouting the sincerity condition, using formula and etc.

After examining to existing literature, our findings indicate that this study is the first attempt to make a comparative study on English and Chinese ostensible invitations. It contributes new data and perspectives to the current studies in this area.

Keywords：ostensible invitations speech act theory cooperative principle context

Abstract

Based on Bachman’s(1990) Communicative Language Ability model and Hedge’s(2001) operational definition of CLA model, this present study intends to investigate the construct validity of PETS Writing Test from the perspective of task and test taker. To answer the research questions, both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be applied to analyze and discuss the task content and scoring criteria of PETS Writing Test, the questionnaire feedbacks, with a special focus on the test takers’ examination essays.

Content analyses of the PETS writing tasks and scoring criteria show that PEST Writing Test at different levels could assess the writing competence reflected in Hedge’s operational definition of CLA model to different extents, and there are significant differences among PETS Writing Test at the three levels studied (II, III, IV). Data obtained from the analysis of test takers’response and performance in light of test score, time spent, and examination essay, further demonstrates the results of content analysis.

On the basis of the findings, this paper tentatively concludes PETS Writing Test is able to test communicative competence to a certain degree, and there are significant differences among tasks, scoring criteria, and test takers’ response and performance at different levels. Thus the study is of great importance to test development and improvement and provides empirical evidence for it. As an investigation of the construct validity of an influential test, this study aims to throw some light to both language testing and teaching practice and promote more relevant excellent studies.

Keywords：PETS Writing Test Construct Validity Content Analysis Test takers’ Performance

ABSTRACT

At the end of the nineteenth century, women were treated not as a figure subject to men but an individual. Women were portrayed either as a wife or a mother, that is, in relation to men; the autonomous self of a woman could not be found in those works. Women should be pure, innocent and submissive. Therefore, in that period, women always tried to find a way for freedom and equality in male-female relationships. One of the ways to soar women’s statue they chose was literature that could make people have correct understanding and have a great ripple effect. To feminist critics, The Awakening is considered kind of a bible of feminism literature by advocating a basic change in the social role of women and by giving them an equal place in society. The feministic aspects appear clearly in the heroine, Edna Pontellier who notably violates the modes of nineteenth-century American women’s b ehavior. Edna is awakened to herself as an individual in the society and resists the given roles and stereotypes of women, which is the role of self-sacrificing mother and wife. Kate Chopin explored the process of Edna’s awakening with the feministic theme of woman’s self-realization and autonomy. This thesis will examine from a feminist approach not only the theme but also the expressions of symbolism in The Awakening.

Keywords:Kate Chopin; The Awakening; Resistance; Self-realization; Autonomy