2003年6月举行的大学英语四级考试作文标题是:“An Eye-witness Account of a Traffic Accident。作文的提纲为:假设你在某日某时某地目击一起车祸,就此写一份见证书,见证书须包括以下几点:
1.车祸发生的时间及地点
2.你所见到的车祸情况
3.你对车祸原因的分析
以下是考生在这次作文中出现的一些常见的词汇、语法错误,或一些不符合英语习惯表达法的句子。笔者在此作了适当的修改并附了简短的解释。
1.误:When the aid bus came,the driver was already lying on the ground.
正:When the ambulance came,the driver was already lying on the ground.
解释:词汇误用。救护车是ambulance,不可说aid bus。
2.误:The driver was badly wounded.
正:The driver was badly hurt/injured.
解释:词汇误用。wounded多表示用武器造成的伤害。
3.误:The driver did not fasten his safe belt.
正:The driver did not fasten his safety belt.
解释:safety belt为固定搭配。
4.误:When the man was acrossing the road,a bus hit him.
正:When the man was crossing the road,a bus hit him.
解释:词汇误用。across是介词,不是动词。
5.误:There is a traffic light in the ten-word road.
正:There is a traffic light at the intersection.
解释:生造词汇。ten-word road是典型的汉语式英语。
6.误:The two cars collided with each other hardly.
正:The two cars collided with each other very hard.
解释:词汇误用。hardly表示“几乎没有”,而不是“猛烈地”。
7.误:The cause of the traffic accident was the driver's careless.
正:The cause of the traffic accident was the driver's carelessness.
解释:词性误用。careless是形容词,而非名词。
8.误:One day I went to school like normal.
正:One day I went to school as usual.
解释:生造词组。like normal是典型的汉语式英语。
9.误:The driver sent the injured man to hospital immediately.
正:The driver took the injured man to hospital immediately.
解释:词汇误用。send表示“送某人去某处”,但送者本人不去。
10.误:I think,in my opinion,the driver drove too fast.
正:I think the driver drove too fast.
解释:意义重复。in my opinion即有I think之意。
11.误:That is all I had seen.
正:That is all I have seen.
解释:时态误用。根据句意应用现在完成时,而不是过去完成时。
12.误:I think the reason of the traffic accident is three.
正:I think there are three reasons for the traffic accident.
解释:句型结构错误。此句应用there be句型。
以上错误主要是由于词汇量匮乏和阅读量不足引起的。为避免这些错误,考生应加强语言基本功的训练,要注意积累词汇和常用句型,掌握一些基本词汇和词组的正确用法,增强英语语感。对一些容易混淆的语言现象或单词拼写要细心加以区别,这样才能将已学过的词汇、句型正确、熟练地应用于写作之中。使所写作文结构完整,组织严密,言之有物。