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[al:]www.hxen.com
[by:]恒星英语学习网
[00:26.48]Test Three
[00:29.87]SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
[00:31.84]In this section, you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY.
[00:37.41]While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked,
[00:43.32]but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture.
[00:46.83]When the lecture is over, you’ll be given two minutes to check your notes,
[00:51.74]and another 10 minutes to complete the gap-filling task.
[00:54.48]Now listen to the mini-lecture.
[00:57.21]Good morning. Before you write something, you need to have a clear idea of the topic,
[01:03.99]the audience, and the purpose of your writing.
[01:06.73]In this lecture, we’ll concentrate on one of these elements, the audience.
[01:11.87]This is a very important concept for writing.
[01:15.70]The term audience usually refers to viewers of movies and TV shows and listeners of radio programs.
[01:23.79]Here we expand it to include readers of written materials in discussions of writing activities.
[01:30.14]Why is this concept so important? As shown in the example in our book, the same topic,
[01:37.24]when written to different audiences, can have very different content, structure, style, etc.
[01:43.81]Thus, the importance of a keen awareness of your audience throughout
[01:48.51]the writing process can not be overemphasized.
[01:51.68]Audiences can be examined from three different perspectives:
[01:55.73]1. your social relations to your audience
[01:59.56]2. your audience’s knowledge about your subject
[02:03.93]3. your audience’s attitudes or viewpoints to the subject and your position in the writing
[02:11.37]Let’s discuss them one by one. Now, first point, analyze your audience in terms of your social relations.
[02:20.12]Whenever you write, you are interacting with other members of the society.
[02:25.26]Are you writing to a friend of yours? To a colleague? To the director of your business firm?
[02:31.60]To the admission office of an American college?
[02:35.35]In each situation, you have a different social relationship with your audience and this relationship
[02:41.69]has a definite impact on the shape of your writing. No one in his or her right mind would write a letter
[02:48.58]of application to the dean of the graduate school as if the dean was one of his or her buddies.
[02:54.93]The second point, analyze your audience in terms of their knowledge of the subject you are writing about.
[03:01.93]This analysis is valuable particularly in informative and explanatory writing. Suppose you are writing a
[03:10.02]paper comparing the Mid-autumn Festival to Thanksgiving, how much knowledge would you assume your
[03:15.82]American readers already have about the Chinese holiday and how much about their own? Obviously,
[03:23.03]very little about the former and a whole lot about the latter.
[03:27.19]In such a paper, you want to take care not to bore your readers to death by telling them what they already
[03:34.09]know while leaving them tantalizingly unsatisfied about what they are so eager to learn.
[03:40.53]The emphasis here should be to show the striking differences and subtle parallels
[03:45.56]rather than to give exhaustively detailed information on each holiday.
[03:50.05]Now, the third point, analyze your audience in terms of their attitudes or viewpoints to the
[03:57.27]subject and your position in the writing. This analysis is vitally important in writing persuasive
[04:03.61]or argumentative essays, which is much more complex and challenging. In a persuasive essay you present
[04:11.49]reasons and arguments to convince your readers that they should accept a belief or to take a position
[04:17.61]or a specific action. For persuasive or argumentative writings, you can classify audiences into three groups:
[04:25.27]those who agree, those who are neutral or undecided, and those who disagree.
[04:30.63]When writing to an audience who already sees eye to eye with you about a controversial issue,
[04:36.87]is there much you need to do? Not much.
[04:40.25]If you are addressing an audience who already shares your view about developing and maintaining a mature a
[04:47.37]nd constructive relationship between China and the United States in the 21st century, all you need to do
[04:53.60]reiterate why such a relationship is in the vital interests of both countries and of the whole world.
[04:59.82]When writing to audiences who are neutral or undecided, you have the most to do and can hope to achieve a lot.
[05:08.46]Say you want to propose that a new financial aid system be
[05:12.61]established to help those bright students in rural and
[05:15.90]less prosperous areas of the country. You are concerned that with today’s new tuition policy and practice,
[05:22.68]those students will be priced out of a chance for the high education they deserve so much. Some people may be
[05:31.43]undecided because they have some doubts and concerns: where does the money needed for such an aid come from?
[05:37.77]What are the specific standards whereby to award scholarships?
[05:41.71]Are there more fair and efficient alternative solutions?
[05:45.54]Once you find out why your audiences are undecided,
[05:50.27]you need to address their doubts and concerns as directly and fully as possible.
[05:55.41]You have a fairly good chance of winning them over when their questions are answered satisfactorily.
[06:02.19]And audiences who disagree are the most difficult to write to.
[06:07.66]Different people disagree with you for different reasons.
[06:11.49]Some of them may have already given the issue a thought and have already made a choice; therefore,
[06:18.27]it is extremely difficult to change their minds.
[06:21.12]Others who disagree may not have had the time to think it over seriously.
[06:26.36]There are two main possible reasons why your audiences may disagree with you:
[06:31.95]1) because they don’t have the “facts” or because they look at the same “facts” differently.
[06:37.63]2) because they are influenced by their personal opinion, prejudice, and political or religious beliefs.
[06:44.96]Once you have found why they disagree, you can decide what is the best approach to such audiences.
[06:51.30]If it is a lack of information, your job is to give them
[06:55.78]the relevant historical as well as up to date information
[06:59.18]as accurately as possible. If it is for personal, political and religious reasons,
[07:05.09]you need to recognize them, understand them, and address them accordingly.
[07:09.35]Now, we can see that audience awareness is so crucial to the success of your writing.
[07:15.91]In actual practice, you may need to analyze your audience in terms of three factors:
[07:21.71]social relations, knowledge, and viewpoints in order to decide the best approach for your writing.
[07:28.16]And in the next lecture, we’ll discuss the writing purpose and your role in the writing.
[07:33.90]Thank you for your attention!
