上海市高等教育自學考試修辭學樣卷

××××年上海市高等教育自學考試

英語修辭學試卷

（英語語言文學專業(yè)）

（考試時間150分鐘）

I. Fill in each blank with an appropriate word or phrase. （10%, one point for each）

1. With the quickened tempo of life today, to be effective in verbal communication is of primary importance. As American linguists Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren write in their Modern Rhetoric: （1）____________“ is the art of using language （2）____________.”

2. Historically, rhetoric used to be applied only to （1）____________ expression, constituting mainly the speech craft in court arguments. This oral nature of rhetoric could be traced back to the 4th century BC, during the time of Aristotle in Greece, and （2）____________ remained so all of the Middle Ages.

3. The denotation, or denotative meaning, of a word is what the word refers to. An error in denotation means that you have used or you have understood a word （1）____________ : the term simply does not mean what you think it （2）____________ .

4. Since different cultural backgrounds and social customs and habits affect one's use of rhetorical operations, it is necessary to be aware of the differences of （1）____________ in English and Chinese and this will help guard against the influence of our （2）____________ tongue.

5. Propriety in rhetoric refers to the use of suitable language forms to express one's ideas on the subject matter to the target reader（s） in （1）____________ a skillful way that the best results can be achieved （2）____________.

II. Determine whether the following statements are correct or not by marking in each bracket with T （True） or F （False） （10%, 1 point for each）

1. Syllogism represents deductive reasoning in a pattern consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. For example, you are reasoning deductively when you notice a ring around the moon and say, “We're in for some bad weather,” because a ring around the moon forecasts bad weather. （?。?/p>

2. Before you say that almost all the schools in that area have very poor facilities, you'd better make certain from some reliable source whether more than 40 percent schools actually do; otherwise you are not really justified in saying it. （　）

3. In many cases, words may fail to communicate clearly for reasons other than that they are difficult or specialized. Sometimes we fail to use words accurately, select not the proper one or one somewhat like it. The trick in avoiding errors of this sort is not to submit a paper until you have checked every word whose meaning you have doubt about. （?。?/p>

4. To be effective in verbal communication is of primary importance. As American linguists Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren write in their book Modern Rhetoric: “Rhetoric is the art of using language effectively.”

5. With the quickened tempo of life nowadays, the increased stress on efficiency and efficacy, and the ascendance of the idea that languages are means of communication, fewer and fewer people have come to regard rhetoric as the art of effective communication.

6. Whatever your purpose in writing, you should express your ideas in language that seems natural to you and the writing should be an honest expression of your own character. As language alone is what presents you to your reader, the most fitting language for you is the language that gives you and your ideas fullest expression.

7. Paragraph writing is built on word choice and sentence variety, which is basic to the writing of a whole composition, a complete essay or even a whole book. In this sense, a good writer is like a good chess player, who moves every chessman skillfully, but he must constantly keep the whole chessboard in mind.

8. A rhetorical question is a question to which no real answer is expected because only one obvious reply can be made — and that reply will either support or restate the writer's point. Rhetorical questions are therefore fairly uncommon in persuasive writing and in argumentation because they offer a way for writers to emphasize the correctness of their viewpoint.

9. The central idea is the writer's focal point or principal theme of information. The central idea of a sentence, a paragraph, or an essay may be compared to be the foundation of a building. It is the main idea upon which some other ideas and details are based; it holds the entire piece of writing together, just as a foundation keeps the whole building standing.

10. Courage is an extension of a person's values, and it demonstrates his or her views in this respect in practice. It should be emphasized, however, that a person's views on values have to be in conformity with the progress of society and his or her courageous actions should abide by the nation's legal and moral standards. （　）

III. Multiple Choice. ?。?0%, 2 points for each）

1. Seeking sentence variety refers to____________.

A） the use of long and complicated sentence patterns

B） using simple and short sentence structures

C） the proper arrangement of different sentence patterns and varied sentence lengths

D） the combination of the declarative sentence, the interrogative sentence, the imperative sentence and the exclamatory sentence

2. Simile and metaphor are two figures of speech____________.

A） that are mainly used in written English

B） used for comparison, and their difference is that a simile compares things implicitly while a metaphor compare things explicitly

C） usually found in spoken language, because they help people explain complicated ideas more clearly and more easily

D） and they are valuable in clarifying unfamiliar concepts and in translating abstractions into images that readers can intuit directly and understand easily

3. The phrase “environmentally damaging waste” should be interpreted as____________.

A） “the waste that damages the environment”

B） “the environment that damages the waste”

C） “the noun ‘waste’ is an entity and ‘damaging’ an activity”

D） “the noun ‘waste’ is an entity, the -ing participle ‘damaging’ is an activity, and the adverb ‘environmentally’ is also an entity that refers to the environment and is used to modify ‘waste'”

4. Identify the denotation of the word “rose”.

A） Healthy-looking, e.g. A brisk walk will put the roses （back） into your cheeks.

B） Full of fun, funny, e.g. Being an actress is not all roses, you know.

C） A garden plant with pleasant-smelling flowers and thorns on its stems

D） Optimistic, e.g. She has always looked at life through rose-tinted spectacles.

5. Which of the following principles do you find applicable in your own writing?

A） The first principle is “appreciation before criticism”, i.e. to place negative aspects before positive aspects.

B） Principle two is “rules before exceptions,” which is to advise a writer to place ideas or examples that constitute or support what is generally or typically the case before looking at those that deviate.

C） Keep your reader in mind so that when you revise, you'll try to make every point clear to yourself instead of others.

D） Use figures of speech as often as you like so as to make your writing vivid and interesting.

6. Point out in which one of the following sentences, the word “land” is used to denote a figurative sense somewhat different from the other three.

A） On the 20th of July, the lunar module of Apollo 11, landed on the moon.

B） I always feel nervous when the plane's landing.

C） The general's plan involved landing undercover troops behind enemy lines.

D） Elaine has just landed an editorial job with a top fashion magazine.

7. Identify the sentence from A,B,C and D which is comparatively satisfactory in both grammar and rhetoric.

A） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least part of the room.

B） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least part of a room.

C） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels he has a right to have his own room, or at least he has a right to have part of a room.

D） The middle-class American growing up in the United States feels it is his right to have his own room, or at least using part of he room.

8. Point out which of the following examples is NOT a sound syllogism.

A） Most men are mortal creatures. Socrates is a man, and so Socrates is a mortal creature.

B） A ring around the moon forecasts bad weather. As there is a ring round the moon now, we are in for some bad weather.

C） If the lines of a poem do not rhyme, the poem may be called blank verse; as this poem is rhymeless, you may call it blank verse.

D） We could have driven there or taken a taxi. Unfortunately our car broke down that day, and so we went there by taxi.

9. Identify the figure of Personification used in one of the following sentences.

A） He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow ....

B） The Wall Street definitely has more say in their policy making.

C） The youth were singing, laughing and playing the music instruments. The trees and flowers around them danced heartily as if touched by merry mood.

D） What I like best are the stern cliffs, with ranges of mountains soaring behind them, full of possibilities, peaks to be scaled only by the most daring.

10. The governing principle of our age is accumulation, and that what is profited is used to gain more profit. Even in the pursuit of knowledge this is so; for knowledge is sought for its own sake and employed for____________.

A） the benefit of the majority

B） its own destruction which tends to lead to construction

C） improvement of conditions of the broad masses

D） its own increase

IV. Rewrite each of the following statements as required.　（20%, 4 points for each）

1. Learning may be likened to climbing up a mountain. Note: Use the figure of Metaphor. （隱喻）

_______________________________________________________________

2. His voice thundered in the hall. Note: Use the figure of Simile. （明喻）

_______________________________________________________________

3. I hear your daughter has got pregnant, hasn't she? Note: Use Euphemism. （委婉語）

_______________________________________________________________

4. A dead ass is better than a living lion. Note: Write out the original saying from which this form of Reverse （序換） comes.

_______________________________________________________________

5. There was an amazed silence. Note: Explain the figure of Transferred Epithet （移就）in your own words.

_______________________________________________________________

V. Improve each of the following passages by making any changes you think necessary.?。?0%, 5 points for each）

1. I got up very early the other day. I caught the first bus, but I still arrived late due to the reason of the heavy traffic jam.

2. Here we come across a traffic sign on which there are school children, and so there must be a school ahead.

3. The applicant opened his letter with “Your letter has been received,” and ended it with “Truly yours,” and two weeks later, a letter came asking him whether he could present some more documents which will prove his English level.

4. Owing to the fact that both their houses are in close proximity to a post office, there is possibility for them to make communications with each other by express mails.

VI. Answer the following questions.?。?0%, 5 points for each）

1. What do you think of the sentence “The unavailability of imported foods was simply beyond their expectations”? How will you interpret the sentence in plain English?

2. Interpret either in English or in Chinese the following labels.

esp —

i.e. —

Hollywood —

the White House —

the press —

3. What do you think of the following statement?

Some elected officials are bribe takers, and as Smith is an elected official, he must be a bribe taker.

4. What have you learned about vagueness in contrast to accuracy? Can you cite an example of using vague expressions in communication?