國立台中師範學院九十學年度研究所碩士班入學招生考試

英文試題
I. Reading comprehension: (50%)
(I) Sharpshooter Annie Oakley is a mainstay in the folklore of the Old West. Born
Phoebe Ann Moses in 1860, Annie learned to shoot at a very young age out of
necessity: she hunted for birds and small game animals to help feed her family
and to make some extra money by supplying the local hotel restaurant with her
catch. She soon became known for her excellent marksmanship and began
taking part in such competitions but to win over older, more experienced male
competitors. At the age of fifteen, she defeated Frank Butler, a professional
marksman, in a competition. She and Butler were married a year later, and
together they took part in shooting exhibitions.
In 1885, they joined probably the most famous of all western shows,
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West touring show. As part of their act, Annie shot a
cigarette out of her husband’s mouth; Frank Butler’s participation in this part
of the act clearly demonstrated his faith in his wife’s shooting ability. Annie
also accepted volunteers from the audience to take part in her act, and on
occasion, while touring Europe, she even shot a cigarette out of the mouth of
Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.

1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to “folklore” in line 1?

(A) Traditional stories
(B) Western stories
(C) Children’s stories
(D) Cowboy stories

2. The passage indicates that

(A) the name Annie Oakley was given to her at birth
(B) Annie changed her name to Phoebe at a young age
(C) The name Phoebe Ann Moses was Annie’s choice
(D) Annie did not use her given name

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3. The passage indicates that Annie learned to hunt
(A) for pleasure
(B) in order to survive
(C) as part of a competition
(D) because it was a normal activity for someone her age
4. The passage suggests that Annie took a shot at Crown Prince Wilhelm because
(A) Wilhelm wanted her to do it
(B) Annie disliked him tremendously
(C) Germany was at war with the U.S.
(D) Annie disliked smoking

5. The information in the passage

(A) lists a cause followed by an effect
(B) moves from general to specific ideas
(C) is in chronological order
(D) is in spatial order

(II) Few people are moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. There
are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I
suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign
languages very much better they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of
the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about
tackling it in the right way. So the first point I want to make is that English
pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of
the lesson time to this, and by his whole attitude to the subject should get the
student to feel that here is matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So,
there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or
spelling, are allowed for the moment to take the second place. Apart from this
question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements
for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique. It is important that
the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can
generally be obtained from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of
the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also
possible in this way to get clear mental picture of the relationship between the
sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and
those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any
comments he may make on his students pronunciation are unlikely to be of
much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.

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6.What does the author actually say about pronouncing foreign languages?
(A) Only a few people are really proficient.
(B) No one is really an expert in the skill.
(C) There aren’t many people who are even fairly good.
(D) There are even some people who are moderately proficient.
7. The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong way
is ________.
(A) an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctly.
(B) a fundamental consequence of not speaking well.
(C) a consequence of not grasping the problem correctly.
(D) not an obvious cause of speaking poorly.

8. The best way of learning to speak a foreign language, the author suggests, is
by _________.
(A) picking it up naturally as a child.
(B) learning from a native speaker.
(C) not concentrating on pronunciation as such.
(D) undertaking systematic work.

9. The value the student puts on correct speech habits depends upon _______.
(A) how closely he attends to the matter.
(B) whether it is English that is being taught.
(C) his teacher’s approach to pronunciation.
(D) the importance normally given to grammar and spelling.

10.How might the teacher find himself wasting lesson time?

(A) By spending lesson time on pronunciation.
(B) By making ill-informed comments upon pronunciation.
(C) By not using books on phonetics in the classroom.
(D) By not giving students a clear mental picture of the difference between
sounds.

II. Please use the title given in below to write an English essay:（50％）
Qualities of being a successful language teacher