英语写作试题

课程代码： 10053

Ⅰ . Supply the missing paragraph. (20 points)

The following passage is incomplete with the ending paragraph missing. Study the passage carefully and write the paragraph in no more than 100 words. Make sure your tone and diction are in unity with the passage provided.

Living in the Present

About one of man’s frailties （弱点） Thomas Wolfe wrote, “ he talks of the future and he wastes it as it comes. ” This observation is related to a principle by which I try (without always succeeding) to live. I believe in living in the present because it is futile （无用的） to dwell on the past, to worry about the future, or to miss anything in the only reality I know.

It is futile to dwell on the past. What existed or happened in the past may have been beautiful or exciting and may now bring profound and precious memories; but the past is dead, and it is not healthy for living spirits to linger over a world inhabited by ghosts. The past may also be a place of horror, of regret, of spilled milk, of unfortunate deeds that “ cannot be done ” , of sad words like “ might have been ” . However, it is painful and pointless to fixate on a period that cannot be relived or repaired. It is unproductive self-punishment. The past must be kept in its place, outlived and outgrown.

It is also useless to worry about the future. Why fly to heaven before it is time? What anxious visions haunt the person who thinks too much about the future? He may imagine his own life going awry, appointments missed; advancements given to someone else; his house burned to the ground; his love lost; everything in his life as in a nightmare, slipping away from him. There is no end to the disasters a person can worry about when he focuses anxiously on the future. There are events in his future, including his own demise, over which he has little or no control, but he can ruin his life worrying about them. There are some disasters he may be able to prevent, but he must do that by living well in the present, not simply by worrying about the future.

The present moment, which is even now moving into the past, is the reality I know, and I don’t want to miss it. The wild-cherry cough drop dissolving in my mouth is sweet and soothing. Even my sore throat and back-ache have meaning. The cool night air, the crackling noises of my furnace, my cat yawning and stretching —— these are the tangible realities I can recognize. They exist in this moment, together with my own breathing, the warm lamp overhead, the jerking of my typewriter. Along with these are the realities of other people and of all life on this earth, which is important to me now, not at some past or future time.

Ⅱ . Write an outline. (20 points)

Read the following passage carefully and compose a “ sentence outline ” for it.