GEPT GEPT Study Group -- General: How to prepare for the oral and writing tests? -- How to do Chinese-English translation? -- Composition: Task and Reminders -- Error Correction and sth. For Fun

GEPT Keep listening and reading English (input). Take notes, expand your vocabulary -and use it! (output). Think in English(make it a habit).Practice the different oral and written question types.

Composition (2) Thinking in English Translation and Writing

Chinese-English Translation: What is required? 5 (1)(3)(text)(2)Idea Expression Syntax (Sentence Construction), Language (wording, grammar {tense; active/passive}, spelling, punctuation, capitalization) Express the ideas in English in correct and colloquial English.Fluency and Coherence (later)

Translation: Basic PrinciplesNo word-for-word translation. Find the dynamic equivalents(). Get the ideas and then express them in your own words(colloquial English).

Why? Chinese and English are different languages with different syntactic rules (sentence structures; collocation) and semantic fields ().

Translation: Basic Principles e.g. e.g. (x) seen frequently.Such type of handbags can be found everywhere. Such type of handbags is a dime a dozen.e.g. : (x) raise liftincrease, improve, enhance; spend, take, cost ; travel, trip. (while traveling, during the trip/journey/voyage)e.g. (x) People in the past were inconvenient and dangerous to have a long trip.It was + adj + for sb + to have a long trip Going on a long trip was adj for sb.

e.g. (1) Tense: He had wanted to go, but changed his mind at the last minute. e.g. (2) Impersonal Passive (used in objective language in scientific reports and news reports)Many skin products on the market are said to have whitening functions, which are actually undue exaggerations. To lighten and whiten ones skins, it is suggested that one seek doctors advice to design a medical plan based on ones personal conditions. ref: 1, 2

Impersonal passive: some more examples1. general situationIt is believed that It is generally considered that It is well known that 2. Nuclear powers danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation. ()3. emphasis placed on the action or the object but not human subject as agent. Great efforts should be made to inform young people especially about the dreadful consequences of taking up the habit. (source.)

Translation: e.g. (3) order of ideas in a sentence: adv

(x) I wanted to go to Bangkok in January, but I had to put it off, and it was disappointing. (loose sentence) I had to put off the visit I wanted to make to Bangkok in January, which was quite disappointing. It was a keen disappointment when I had to postpone the visit which I intended to pay to Bangkok in January.

Which is the two is better? It depends on the context (development of the main idea).

Translation: e.g. (4) e.g. ()Things would have been easy if you hadnt said it. e.g. (4) e.g. e.g. The invention of airplane not only shortens travel time, but also improves (whose?) safety. The invention of airplane shortens the time needed for such a travel, and increases its safety. (source.)

Chinese-English Translation: What to avoid? Chinese English e.g. (5) (ref. 1, 2) -- () 1.?2. (e.g. It is necessary ..) In that era, wars broke out very often between countries.

Chinese-English Translation: What to avoid? Frequent ErrorsAvoid frequent errors: (x)He suggests me to take more vegetables.(x) Discuss about; mention about [transitive verb] Avoid awkward sentence -- -- Her depression was because she thought she was not physically appealing to the opposite sex. She felt depressed because Avoid blunt responses in oral English esp. () I cant stay any longer. This is not true. I dont think I can stay any longer. Im afraid I have to go. I dont think this is true.

Stumbling blocks!!! Proper Nouns, or four-word idioms ()200615

(a try) In the international evaluation done to 15-year-old students by the International Economic Cooperation and Development Organization in 2006, Taiwanese students were ranked no. 1 in math among the students from all over the world.

(published) In 2006, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment, which compared 15-year- olds, ranked Taiwanese students number one in the world in mathematics. (source: http://www.sinorama.com.tw/en/show_issue.php?id=200939803006e.txt&table=3&year=2009&month=3 )

Chinese-English Translation: Fluency and Coherence [Writing] Develop the main idea by paragraphs [Writing and Translation] Coherence and Cohesion

Each should be coherent (; with a logical sequence of ideas) & cohesive (; the sentences are well structured, well linked together, not repetitive) achieved thru key words, transitions, parallelism and other sentence patterns to foreground the main idea.

Chinese-English Translation: Fluency and Coherence e.g. e.g. The invention of airplane shortens the time of travelling and increases the safety of persons(unclear). [Gap]The dream that travel (V-ing) to the Moon would be carried out because of the speedy development of technology.(add pronouns; ) and increases its safety. Considering the speedy development of these technologies, the dream of traveling to the Moon would not be impossible to carry out.

Guided Writing (60%)Main Idea & Task Task may include not just reading, but also summarizing, responding to a text and discerning the purpose of the timed writing. Despite the time needed for reading and summarizing, try to give a [Thesis Statement]by leaving a space at the end of the first . Try to pick up what you can handle. (Traffic plan? Media education? Propagation? tax policy) If the task is too difficult, start from yourself (giving your own examples, or suggesting what you can do). The bar graph peak hours include the morning rush hours.

Task --summarizing(one example)

According to a statistical data sample in 1999, the traffic accidents happened frequently during 2 pm to 2 am, and reached the peak after 6 pm. Not until 2 am did the accident number decline and fall below 10. However, the number rose again from 6 am to 10 am.

Writing: Frequent Errors

Writing: Frequent Errors (2) [wording 1]The main reason may be there was not enough lighting on the roads. (But there is usually lighting on the streets in the evening; the problem is the lack of natural light, right?)The main reason may be there was not enough lighting on some roads.One reason is that, without sunlight, the visibility is lower, which prevents the drivers from seeing the road clearly.[wording 2]--They usually hurry to work in the morning or to go home after work so that they are easy to [word choice: tend to]be unwary.tend to can also be used when you want to modify your statement to avoid sweeping generalization.

Error Correction: tend to, learn, graduate Learn I have learned English. (x) I have been learning English. OK I have learned how to play tennis. (the skills) Graduate -- Tom has just graduated with distinction in psychology.Tom graduated last year. Tom was graduated() from Yale in 1980.Tom has graduated for one year. (x) See more explanation here.

Learning with fun!!!InsideStory Flashcardshttp://insidestoryflashcards.com/printable_flashcards/ Engrossed: aborbed in something The cat was completely engrossed.

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