Like fine food, good writing is something we approach with pleasure and enjoy from the first taste to the last. And good writers, like good cooks, do not suddenly appear full-blown. Quite the opposite, just as the cook has to undergo a particular training, mastering the skills of his trade, the writer must sit at hisdesk and devote long hours to achieving a style in his writing, whatever its purpose is—schoolwork, matters of business, or purely social communication.

　　You may be sure that the more painstaking the effort, the more effective the writing, and the more rewarding.

　　There are still some faraway places in the world where you might find a public scribe to do your business or social writing for you, for money. There are a few managers who are lucky enough to have the service ofthat rare kind of secretary who can take care of all sorts of letter writing with no more than a quick note to work from. But for most of us, if there is any writing to be done, we have to do it ourselves.

　　We have to write school papers, business papers or home papers. We are constantly called on to put words to papers. It would be difficult to count the number of such words, messages, letters, and reports put intomails or delivered by hand, but the daily figures must be extremely large. What is more, everyone who writes expects, or at least hopes whatever he writes will be read, from first word to last, not just thrown into some “l(fā)etters-to-be-read” files or into a wastepaper basket. This is the reason we bend our efforts toward learning and practicing the skills of interesting, effective writing.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. In this passage, good writing is compared to fine food in that _______.

　　A. both writers and cooks have to work a long time every day

　　B. both are essential to life

　　C. both are writers and cooks can earn a good living

　　D. both are enjoyable

　　2. A public "scribe" (Para 2, Line 1) is _____.

　　A.a secretary who does your business or social writing

　　B. a machine that does writing for you

　　C. a public school where writing is taught

　　D. a person who ears a living by writing for others

　　3. According to the passage, some managers don't have to do any letter writing because _____.

　　A. they rely on quick notes C. they have a computer to do it

　　B. they have excellent secretaries D. they prefer making phone calls

　　4. According to the author, if your letter is thrown into some "letter-to-be-read" file, ______.

　　A. it will receive immediate attention

　　B. it will be dealt with by the secretary

　　C. it is likely to be neglected

　　D. it is meant to be delivered soon

　　5. The purpose of the author in writing this passage is _____.

　　A. to explain and persuade

　　B. to comment and criticize

　　C. to interest and entertain

　　D. to argue and demonstrate

　　答案

　　1.[D] 文章首句提到，如同美味的食物,我們可以從好的作品中獲得樂趣和享受，D與之相符，故為答案。

　　2.[D] 原文第2段首句提到，這種public scribe會幫你寫商業(yè)文件或社會交流文章，但他們也會收費的，D與之相符A中的secretary應(yīng)該是不收貴的，故排除;D中的machine與文中的remote places不相符，故也可排除。

　　3.[B] 文章第2段第2句提到，個別幸運的經(jīng)理只需寫下簡便的筆記,其秘書就會寫好所有的信件，因此B為答案。

　　4.[C] 文章第3段倒數(shù)第2句的大意是：我們希望自己寫的東西能被人從頭到尾地讀，能不被扔進“l(fā)etters-to-be read” file,且根據(jù)下文的a wastepaper basket可推測這里說的是希望自己寫的東西不被忽視，故本題應(yīng)選C。

　　5.[A] 由文章的結(jié)尾的this is the reason，知道作者有“解釋”的目的，同時他說“我們要盡最大的努力學習和練習有趣、有效地寫作的技巧”，可知有persuade(說服)的目的,故選A。

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