I . Write a short note of about 100 words on Las Vegas.
　　Suggested Reference Books [ SRB ]
　　1. any standard gazetteer
　　2. Encyclopedia Americana
　　3. Encyclopaedia Britannica

Ⅱ. Questions on content:
　　1. Why did John Koshak decide to stay and face the dangers of a devastating hurricane?
　　2. What does “Magna Products” stand for?
　　3. Why did Charlie think they were in real trouble when he found the water tasted salty?
　　4. Why did Grandmother Koshak, at this critical moment, tell her husband she loved him?
　　5. Why did John Koshak feel a crushing guilt?
　　6. Why did Grandmother Koshak ask the children to sing?
　　7. What did Janis understand when John put his arm around her?

Ⅲ. Questions on appreciation:
　　1. What is the organizational pattern of this piece of narration? How would you classify the first six paragraphs?
　　2. What does the writer focus chiefly on -- developing character, action (plot), or idea (theme) ?
　　3. Who is the protagonist or leading character in the story?
　　4. What opposing forces make up the conflict?
　　5. How does the writer build up and sustain the suspense in the story?
　　6. How does the writer give order and logical movement to the sequence of happenings?
　　7. At what point in the story does the action reach its highest point?
　　8. At what point would you have ended the story? Why?
　　9. Is the last paragraph important? Why?

Ⅳ. Paraphrase：
　　1. We're elevated 23 feet. (para 3)
　　2. The place has been here since 1915, and no hurricane has ever bothered it. (para 3)
　　3. We can batten down and ride it out. (para 4)
　　4. The generator was doused, and the lights went out. (para 9)
　　5. Everybody out the back door to the cars! (para 10)
　　6. The electrical systems had been killed by water. (para 11)
　　7. John watched the water lap at the steps, and felt a crushing guilt. (para 17)
　　8. Get us through this mess, will You? (para 17)
　　9. She carried on alone for a few bars; then her voice trailed away. (para 21)
　　10. Janis had just one delayed reaction. (para 34)


V. Translate paras 21--27 into Chinese.

Ⅵ. Look up the dictionary and explain the meaning of the italicized words:
　　1. since the water mains might be damaged (para 5)
　　2. sit out the storm with the Koshaks (para 6)
　　3. another neighbor came by on his way inland (para 6)
　　4. the French doors in an upstairs room blew in (para 8)
　　5. the generator was doused (para 9)
　　6.the electrical systems had been killed by water (para 11)
　　7.it devasted everything in its swath (para 19)
　　8.she carried on alone for a few bars (para 21)
　　9.make it a lean-to against the wind (para 25)
　　10.and he pitched in with Seabees in the worst volunteer work of all (para 33)


Ⅶ. Discriminate the following groups of synonyms:
　　1. demolish, destroy, raze, annihilate
　　2. disintegrate, decay, rot, spoil, molder, decompose
　　 Suggested Reference Books [ SRB]
　　1. Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language
　　2. Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms
　　3. Reader's Digest, Use the Right Word


Ⅷ. Analyse the formation of the following words and list 5--10 ex- amples of each:
　　1. television
　　2. northwestward
　　3. motel
　　4. bathtub
　　5. returnees
　　Suggested Reference books [SRB]
　　1. any standard dictionary
　　2. Walker's Rhyming Dictionary
　　3. any book on lexicology or word building

Ⅸ. In this narration, the writer makes effective use of verbs. List 10 verbs you consider used most effectively and give your reasons.

Ⅹ. Mention two examples of each of the following: simile, metaphor, personification.

Ⅺ. Why does the writer use so many elliptical and short simple sentences? Illustrate your answer with a few examples.

Ⅻ. Analyse paragraph 1. Does it have a topic sentence, a central idea? How is the paragraph developed? What is the function of the last sentence?

ⅩⅢ. Correct the mistakes in the following sentences. Avoid run-on sentences, sentence fragments, dangling modifiers, illogical or faulty parallelism and unnecessary shifts in point of view.
　　1. The basketball game was canceled. Because half of the players were in bed with the flu.
　　2. These snakes are dangerous however, most snakes are quite harmless.
　　3. Looking out toward the horizon, she saw only the old cabin in which Mary had been born. A single cottonwood that had escaped the drought. The apparently boundless expanse of sunburned prairie.
　　4. With the knowledge that, although the documents have been stolen, they have not yet been seen by a foreign agent.
　　5. Last year, after graduating from high school, my father put me to work in his office.
　　6. To appreciate the poem, it must be read aloud.
　　7. I helped my mother wash clothes last Sunday, thus causing me to miss that film.
　　8. Driving across the state, many beautiful lakes were seen.
　　9. Unselfish people not only are happier but they are more successful.
　　10. I finally realized that my daydreaming was not making me beautiful, slender, or friends.
　　11. He is a man of wide experience and who is also very popular with the farmers.
　　12. I am interested in electronics, because it is a new field and which offers interesting opportunities to one who knows science
　　13. We swept the room carefully, and the furniture and shelves were dusted.
　　14. If one's mouth is dry, eat a lump of sugar or chew gum.
　　15. You must make yourself interesting to the group that listen to you and are constantly trying to detect your mistakes.

ⅩⅣ. Topics for oral work:
　　1. What are the strong and weak points of the narration?
　　2. Whom do you admire most in this story? Why?
　　3. What have you learned about people and society in the United States? Does the story give a true and complete picture? XV. Write a short narration of around 300 words relating your ex- perience of an earthquake, a flood, a typhoon or a hailstorm. 15