武汉大学博士课程考试英语段落分析

Unit 1 para3Our second major discovery was that the Information Marketplace will dramatically affect people and organizations on a wide scale. Besides its many uses in commerce, office work, and manufacturing,it will also improve health care, provide new ways to shop, enable professional and social encounters across the globe, and generally permeate the thousands of things we do in the course of our daily lives. It will help us pursue old and new pleasures ,and it will encourage new art forms, which may be criticized but will move art forward, as new tools have always done. It will also improve education and training, first in specific and established ways and later through breakthroughs that are confidently awaited. Human organizations from tiny companies to entire national governments will benefit too, because so much of the work they do is information work.Topic :The affection of the Information Marketplace Perspective: people--organizationAspect(s):material-spiritual, individual-society Method: classification Skill:examples Questions: what howUnit1 para12The wise eye will also see that the information Marketplace is much more influential than its parts –the interfaces, middleware and pipes that make up the three-story building on which we stand. Once they are integrated, they present a much greater power — the power to prevent an asthmatic from dying in a remote town in Alaska, to enable an unemployed bank loan officer to find and succeed at a new form of work, to allow a husband and wife to revel in the accomplishments of a distant daughter while also providing emotional and financial support. These powers are far greater than the ability to send an e-mail message, or to have five hundred TV channels.Topic :The influence of information marketplace Perspective: powerAspect(s):material-spiritual Method: hierarchical structure 层次结构（life-work-pleasure）Skill:examples Questions: what howUnit8 para1Countless cultures around the world have disappeared,along with their mythologies. In Mesoamerica, dozens of ornate Mayan temples lie mute, as do an untold number of Incan monuments in Peru, Celtic cairns in Wales, Khmer statues in Cambodia, and magnificent ziggurat-like structures in central Africa.Topic : The disappearance of culture Perspective: worldAspect(s):culture【material】Method: space orderSkill:examples Questions: what howUnit8 para2Easter island, celebrated for the giant statues left by its vanished civilization, is unique in archaeology because of its isolation from its neighbors. current archaeological evidence indicates that some 1,600 years ago the island's first settlers, explorers from Polynesian, found themselves in a pristine paradise with subtropical forests, dozens of wild bird species, and no predators. they multiplied and prospered, distributing resources in a manner that suggests a sophisticated economy and complex political system. rival clans erected ever-larger statues platforms, emulating the stone carvings of their Polynesian forebears, trying to surpass each other with displays of power and wealth.Topic : The civilization of easter island Perspective: island/civilizationAspect(s):enviroment-society Method: progression-classificationSkill:statement-example Questions: what→howUnit8 para4It is likely that changes in the forest occurred over decades and would have been difficult to detect immediately. An islander might easily have missed the long-term trend, thinking: “This year we cleared those woods over there, but trees are starting to grow back again over here.” Furthermore, any islander who issued a warning against the oncoming disaster would have been silenced by the ruling class. Chiefs, priests, and stone carvers all depended on the status quo to retain their positions and privileges.Topic : The detection of change Perspective: islanderAspect(s):idea behavior - Method: classification progressionSkill:quotation statement Questions: what whyUnit8 para6Humanity may not act in time to prevent the decimation of the rain forests, fossil fuels, arable land, and fisheries. In only 40 years, Ethiopia’s fo rest cover shrank from 30% to 1%. During the same time period, the rest of the world lost half of itsrain forests. Powerful decision-making groups ignore those who sound an alarm; their political, economic, and religious agendas fail to address the problem of disappearing natural resources.Topic : The prevention of the decimation Perspective: humanityAspect(s): decimation 消亡 (material-spiritual ) - Method: causal order 因果顺序Skill: statistics - statement Questions: what how(what howwhy)Unit8 para8If we are going to avoid the fate of the Easter Islanders, we must change the myths that are leading us toward extinction an find inspiring visions of a plausible and appealing future. The old myths have collapsed, but no new ones have emerged to fill the vacuum. For transformation to occur ,human beings must actively shape the future , an enterprise that goes to the heart of mythmaking. If we are each a cell in what Peter Russell calls “The Global Brain,” then this is an individual as well a collective venture.Topic : The change of the myths Perspective: mythmakingAspect(s): myths—idea：understanding Method: problem-solution orderSkill: statement-statement Questions: what why how(what how )Unit8 para12But as the Grand Narrative of Progress came to dominate other values and views,it cast a malignant shadow. The invention of the automobile was the quintessenceof progress, but it left overcrowded highways, air pollution, and deforestation inits wake. Fertilizers in creased crop production but also increased the growth of algae in lakes and canals. The discovery of powerful insecticides —first greeted with enthusiasm and a Nobel Prize — was followed by the unintentional poisoningof fish, birds, and animals. Nuclear power plants increased available energy butled to storage problems, life-threatening contamination, and at least one accident with worldwide repercussions. The waste products of technological living began to choke great cities and foul once-pristine lands. Although Western housing, clothing, and religion were brought to abotiginal people, and the rate of infectious disease went down, the rate of alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, and spouse and child abuse went up.topic :The shadow of GNP Perspectivs: science-societyAspect(s): shadow (material) Method: classificationSkill: examples Questions: what howUnit8 para25The third principle is to identify real-life situations in which antagonists can find common ground. With a recognition of the limitations of linguistic exchange, postmodernists urge that groups “press beyond dialogue.” For example, athletes and musicians from all walks of life can generate smooth and effective teams or musical groups. Business executives and scientists from conflicting backgrounds are often able to work together to generate multinational corporations and cooperative research undertakings.topic :The principle of common ground Perspectivs: situation（common ground）Aspect(s):press beyond dialogue Method:antithesis对比(homogeneity-heterogeneity)同质异质Skill: examples Questions: what how词汇：Rational 理性的、合理的Illustrate 说明——Illustration 例证Linear thinkingLinear way of thinking pattern 线性思维方式Discourse 论述Material——spiritual 物质——精神Point of view ——perspective 角度Micro 微观Macro 宏观Advantage disadvantageNowadays, it becomes more and more important for Chinese PhD candidates to write English well, not only for studying abroad, but also for writing English research papers. Actually, a number of papers written in English by most PhD candidates seem to be far from English, though many of them can write high quality papers in Chinese. Thus how to improve the writing ability of English has become a problem that needs to be considered.The reason why we Chinese students cannot write an accurate “English” paper is that our mother language, especially the thinking patterns, influences us. The features of a discourse have close relation with those of culture. What is reflected on the writing discourse is the sentence and passage organization form. There are different ways of expression with different thinking patterns. For example, When a Chinese student writes an English paper, he is used to using our Chinese thinking patterns to construct the discourse and organize the sentences. Well we may consider it a good writing, but an English–speaker may dislike it. So we should know about these differences between Chinese and English and be able to converse our thinking patterns to English.Generally, it is vital to know how to use words suitably, how to write sentences correctly, andhow to organize paragraphs logically.Firstly, at the sentence level, the basic grammar such as word spell and sentence structure must be all right. When it comes to the written form of the sentence, the thinking pattern must be taken into account. For example, Chinese people are usedto using personal and active voice just like“we did this experi ment” , contrast to the Chinese, English people always use impersonal and passive voice just like “this experiment was done by us”.Secondly, writing a paper is just like building a house. To finish the house is far away from our aim. And there are buildings with different styles in different countries. Every sentence and every paragraph has a close relation with its neighbors. Only spelled out some sentences could not make a good writing. So it is necessary to analyze discourse from logic construction, deductive reasoning, and so on. To the paragraph writing, we should adopt the “Triple style” which divides the paragraph structure into three parts: topic sentence, body/development and conclusion. In every passage, materials must be prepared around the topic. These materials are organized by some skills and methods from the special perspective and aspects which used to develop the topic.In a word, all these elements are influenced greatly by culture and thinking patterns. From sentence to paragraph and then to passage, we need not only to develop the writing skill, but also the linear way of thinking.。