商务英语考试:中级写作样题解析汇总
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商务英语考试:中级写作样题解析1
BEC考试的显着特点就是把商业实际和英语运用结合起来,分成初、中、高三级(BEC Preliminary, BEC Vantage, BEC Higher),其中BEC中级最符合广大考生的求职需求。BEC中级考试分成听、说、读、写四项考查,各占总成绩1/4,其中写作部分与听、说、读相比,因其考查形式固定,内容要求有限,因而最易得高分。写作部分包含两个部分:Part One, 备忘录或电子邮件(Memo or Email),占写作成绩的1/3;Part Two, 商务信件、报告或提议(Letter, Report or Proposal),占写作成绩的2/3。两部分相比,Part One要求简单,较之Part Two更容易提高,本文以《剑桥BEC真题集(中级) 第二辑》的Test Two, Part One为例,详细分析Part One的写作流程,并在最后给出BEC写作的复习资料。
样 题
You are the Managing Director of a company whose profits have recently increased and you would like to reward staff for this.
Write a memo to all staff:
Thanking them for their contribution
Explaining why profits increased
Telling them what their reward will be.
Write 40~50 words
题目解读
BEC中级写作考试总时长为45分钟,根据词数要求和分值,通常小作文写作不超过15分钟。应试创作可分成以下三步:1.审题构思Read & Plan (3 mins);2.写作Write (10 mins);3.检查Check (2 mins)。
Part One的题目背景通常是一事、两人、三要点。本题中,最近公司利润增长,“你”作为公司的董事总经理(Managing Director)将对全体员工(all staff)进行奖励,备忘录的内容需包括三个要点:感谢员工的贡献,解释利润增长原因,并告之奖励内容。正文词数要求为40~50个词,因为商务英语要求简洁,词数要求有上限,这和四、六级以及考研写作只规定词数下限有所区别,但实际考试时允许少量超标,比如接近60词。
内容、结构、语言和形式
内容
首先可根据各要点的逻辑关系调整写作顺序,比如在本题中,先解释利润增长的原因,再感谢员工,最后宣布奖励。其次应针对要点简要展开论述,比如利润增长的原因可能是销售量增加(the increase of sales)、成本降低(the reduction of cost)或推出新产品(the launch of the new product);而奖励的内容经常是集体旅行(a company trip)、涨工资(an increase of salary)或发放奖金(bonus)。要点扩展应注意两点:其一,商务交流要求具体,比如利润的增长比去年同时段增加10%;其二,扩展内容应符合商务实际,如全体员工工资上浮50%、增加带薪假期(paid leave)、开派对(a party)或唱卡拉OK(Karaoke)等奖励都是不符合商务实际的。如果确实对商务实务不熟悉,可用简单的理由以避免出错,比如公司业绩增长的原因可以宽泛地写成是员工的努力工作和加班(hard work and long working hours)。
结构
因为文章内容很少,总词数只有50个词左右,写作时应写成一个整体,不应出现每句一段的散文诗文章,而且不要刻意使用first和second之类的过渡词语。
商务英语考试:中级写作样题解析2
语言
Part One题目中的要点通常以三个现在分词形式给出,写作时通常是三句话,即针对每个现在分词写一句话,平均句长在15个词左右。备考时应针对题目中常见的分词动词准备相应的表达方式,尽量避免重复使用题目中的词句即可。
解释原因:
连词:because, since, for, so;短语:because of, due to, owing to
表示感谢:
Thank you very much for...; I would like to thank you for...; I am very grateful for...; It was very kind of you to ...
奖励:
A rise in salary of X%; A bonus of X% of your monthly salary; A trip to Hawaii/Athens/Maldives
需要注意的是,商务英语要求正式文体,较之非正式文体,其有以下常见特点:
正式 非正式
Headquarters, September (不简写) H.Q. Sept. (缩写)
schedule, discuss (精确动词) set, talk about (宽泛动词或词组)
A copy has been sent. (被动语态) I sent you a copy. (主动语态)
形式
最后需要考虑的就是备忘录的形式。正式考试时,文字题目下方会模拟商务实际,附上备忘录开头片段,包括To, From, Date, Subject等细节,但是考生不必直接在片段后书写,应该在试题纸背面写作,写作时不要求必须有From, To等内容,但若能准确而符合商务习惯地写出备忘录细节,无疑会增加文章的印象分,这里简单介绍一下备忘录细节的注意事项。
To: 备忘录对象
如果具体到人,最好写出全名,不要写自己的真实姓名,有作弊嫌疑,尤其不能“重名”,如Bill Tom,Bill和Tom都是名(Given name),而不是姓(Family name),一个简单的处理方法就是use others?name,比如男名Bill Gates, Michael Scofield, Jay Chou或女名
From: 备忘录作者
要点同上,一般不用尊称,只有对方不知道自己身份的时候才后缀职位名称。
Date: 日期
BEC属于英联邦国家的考试,日期的写法一般为日、月、年,比如7 December 2002,注意月份用英文而不是数字,以免和日期混淆,可以缩写,比如将一月写作Jan(也可以用开放标点)。
Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston等;若显示关系亲密,还可以把名字缩写,比如B. Gates, M. Scofield, J. Chou, B. Spears, J. Aniston等;如果写给上级,还应该加上尊称甚至职位,比如Mr. Bill Gates ― Managing Director, Mr. Jay Chou ― Art Director等;现代商务写作中流行开放标点(Open Punctuation),即标点不影响理解的时候可以不用,所以Mr./Ms./Mrs.后面的省略点也可以省去,简单写成Mr/Ms/Mrs;最好不要省去名字。
商务英语考试:中级写作样题解析3
范文示例
To: All Staff
From: Bill Gates
Date: 7 December 2002
Subject: Staff Reward
The profits of our company this month went up 10% compared with the same period last year, due to your hard work and long working hours. I would like to thank you for your long devoted service. A trip to Hawaii has been arranged next month as a prize. Enjoy!
用书推荐
《剑桥标准商务英语教程》(Cambridge Business Benchmark)剑桥大学出版社出版。
《剑桥BEC真题集(中级) 第二辑》,剑桥大学考试委员会编
Cambridge BEC Vantage 2 (Student Book with Answers)
《剑桥BEC真题集(中级) 第三辑》,剑桥大学考试委员会编
Cambridge BEC Vantage 3 (Student Book with Answers)
《新编剑桥商务英语(中级) 学生用书》,经济科学出版社出版
Pass Cambridge BEC Vantage (Student Book)
输入决定输出,阅读决定写作,复习BEC写作时,首先应系统学习《新编剑桥商务英语》,补充商务常识和商务词汇,此书分为10个双单元,共涉及 20个商务场景,每个场景中最易于自学的就是阅读部分,同学们可以先朗读文章,熟悉商务背景,然后学习每个双单元后自学部分总结的词汇和特定语法现象,为写作积累素材,最后做每个双单元后面配备的和考试技能相关的各种练习。而写作复习的冲刺阶段,则要围绕《剑桥BEC真题集(中级) 》,进行真题训练。
仅从语言难度上讲,BEC写作和六级写作接近,只不过是写作内容从一般话题变成了商业内容。既然学英语是为了未来的职业做准备,考完四、六级之后,通过备考BEC考试,完成自己英语水平从一般英语到职场英语的转变,何乐而不为呢?
BEC写作备考指南:写作技巧
笔者上商务英语的课已经有些年头了。个人的体会是,商务英语课程以其务实、针对性强而受到学生的青睐,近年来报考的学生数明显大幅上升。当然要得高分也不易,尤其是作文部分,由于BEC写作和我们传统的作文考试题要求相差较大,学生比较难以适应。
本文通过对BEC中级考生文章的分析,给广大考生一点备考建议。
首先一点,我们必须牢记,归根结底,BEC作文考察的还是考生英语表达能力。所以学生并不需要担心自己缺乏这方面的实际经验是否会影响考场发挥。(顺便提一句,BEC高级对商务知识的要求大大提高,因此考生要在语言功底上苦下功夫。比如说,写商务报告的固定格式和用于必须牢记在心。)
与此同时,试题结合商务实战的特点,要求文章必须包含特定信息点,或者是通过提供信息源,以及考题中的标注,规定考生写作的具体范围和内容。所以审题是关键,所有已知条件都必须充分利用,换言之,如果遗漏已知条件,就会因信息表达不完整而导致失分。以下是对我的一名学员习文进行点评。
PART ONE
You have been informed that next Wednesday your company's computer system will be closed down so that improvements can be made.
Write an email to all staff in your department:
? saying what time on Wednesday the system will be closed down
? suggesting how staff should prepare for this
? saying how the system will be better after the improvements
Write 40--50 words
学生作文:
From: Jenny Xu
To: All Staff
Date: 5 April 2009
Subject: Computer System
I want to tell you that our Intranet based on Linux will be closed next Wednesday at 10 o’clock.. I want to suggesting that you should save all your important documents. The computer system will be faster because we will use a newer SAP system. The new system is according to ISO900 and we will benefit from that.
作文解析:
BEC作文解答时,审题非常重要。题目中给出的要求就好比是解代数题中已知条件,都要用到。小作文处理的时候,大家不妨可以把每一个已知条件扩写成一句句句子,同时兼顾句子之间的连接。
通常学生犯的错误是:
1. 漏掉题中给出的已知条件。
2. 给出的已知条件没有表达清楚,用词过于口语化,没有条理,暴露出语言功底薄弱。
3. 切忌过于花哨的发挥,多说多错。
这篇学生的作品是比较典型的案例。作者有一定的英语表达能力和工作经验,但文章中所暴露出来的不足也是明显的。写作不能从细处下笔,而是先要搭建框架。
以这篇习文为例,作者在具体语言的表达的雕琢上可圈可点,比如说第一个句子中based on引导的过去分词做后置定语,但是显而忘记了这篇文章的主要目的,那就是通知同事公司电脑系统要升级,但update这个词始终没有在文章中出现,因此读下来以后,可能同事还不是非常清楚,为什么computer system will be closed down, 尽管后面提到了improvement,总让人觉得有些如鲠在咽,言之不尽;因此,思路不清晰是这篇习文最大的问题。
此外,本文还有以下一些问题:
1. 有些用词过于口语化,比如说,文章开头, I want to tell you, 文中you should save这样的用语;
2. 建议Linux, 将SAP, ISO900等唬人术语统统除去,诚然BEC涉及到基本的商务知识,但是真正考核的还是语言功底,语用能力;商务知识好比是盖浇饭里面的小炒而已。
3.里面还有一个明显的语法错误,I want to suggesting….,当然阅卷者不会刻意去搜寻语法错误,而是综合考量语法得分,但由于小作文篇幅较短,那么这个错误就显得非常明显。
范文:
Please be informed that our computer system will be closed next Wednesday at 12 o'clock for system upgrade. The closure will last for at least two hours. Make sure that you have saved all your documents before that time. The whole system will run on a new server, much faster than the current one.
PART TWO
l You work for PJT Ltd, a manufacturing company. You need more staff in your department and your line manager has asked you to write a report explaining why.
l Look at the information below, on which you have already made some handwritten notes.
l Then, using all your handwritten notes, write your report.
l Write 120-140 words.
学生作文:
The purpose of this report is to explain why we need more staff in our department.
We compare the number of staff in our department between 2001 and 2003, it only increased five staff. But the average number of ordered units grow up from 200000 to 400000 between 2001 and 2003.
Our sales department has announced a big new order from an international company recently. It will bring us much more workload. And the annual holiday increased to 5 weeks per year. That means that we have more workload and less working days.
If we had more staff the order should be on time. We should save our company’s reputation. And the workflow will be improved.
作文解析:
BEC中级的大作文题型一般以写报告、书信为主,因此,这些必考问题的具体格式必须掌握。英文商务报告的格式有五个部分组成,其中包括报告的Subject, Introduction (This report aims/sets out to……),Findings (it was found that), Conclusions(It was decided/agreed/felt that……), Recommendations (It is suggested that…..) 括号中是每段开头固定的表达方式,考生不宜自己去创造。同样写信也有格式化的表达方式,再此恕不展开。 和第一部分一样,大作文的写作审题是第一步,所有给出的已知条件必须用足。
本文中:
1.考生的习文字数恰当。但没有把报告应有的四个部分写完整,这将导致大量失分。在以上的习文中,考生表现出了不错的语言驾驭能力。
2.在审题上还有一些欠缺,比如 Another reason for more staff is that we will have fewer delays. 在题目中给出的已知条件中,有一份客户的投诉信件,应当作为佐证被引用,否则order should be on time无从谈起。
3.除了没有按照报告的固定格式外,考生语言太随意。比如说,our sales department has announced a big new order,没有出处,而根据文章中给出的已知条件,这是公司Newsletter所通告的,那么根据报告的要求,应该指出信息来源。
4.中国学生还普遍特别敏感的就是企业的信誉,因此经常会看到学生动辄就是喊口号的语言,比如说文中We should save our company’s reputation. 这样空洞无物的话应该避免。
5.还有就是细节处理,句子和段落之间连接忽略了。比如说,It will bring us much more workload. And the annual holiday increased to 5 weeks per year. 以及最后一句话And the workflow will be improved.其中的and 这个词用在这里显随意了些,可以考虑用Meanwhile 有“祸不单行”的意思。后面的And 应该删除。That means that we have more workload 这里两个that离的太近,可以考虑把后面一个去掉,同时时态应该是we will have。
范文:
Report on: More staff in our department
Date: 27.03.2004
Introduction
This report aims to explain why our department needs more staff.
Findings
Statistics show that there exists a big gap between the number of staff in our department and staff workload. While the number of ordered units grew up from only 200000 to 400000 in 2 years, the number of staff grew only by 5 people. According to the Staff Newsletter dated February 2004, we have won a big new order from an international company. That will bring us more work. At the same time, annual holiday has been increased to 5 weeks per year, meaning there won’t be enough staff for all the work. Our customer service department recently received a complaint from one of our clients about a tremendous delay in our delivery.
Conclusion
There are many reasons which explain the need of more staff. It is especially important for reducing the number of delays in delivery and to optimize the workflow.
Recommendations
More staff does not only mean more costs, it also means improved customer satisfaction.
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