一、平时缺乏训练、没有掌握写作能力。许多考生的写作仍停留在句子水平上，还没有上升到语篇水平上，因此写出的文章不流畅很生硬。还有一些学生的语言基础薄弱，中学所学的语言基础知识在大学里没能够得到巩固。
（砖家点评：请考生朋友注意 1）我们作文写作的段落要符合英文段落的写法，即要有主题句和拓展句——具体请参考我们前面探讨过的“中英文思维、语言、语篇的差异”。2）大学英语四六级作文，包括以后可能大家考到“研究生入学考试公共英语”的作文，只是要求根据所给提纲写出三个段话——鄙人称之为“三股文”；不能算作篇章写作，只能算段落扩写。这跟专业英语四级、八级作文考试完全不同——平时监考时常发现有考生朋友把这混淆了，特别是英语专业的同学把CET-4/6作文写成了TEM-4/8，真是伤心太平洋！这两类作文要求是完全不同的，例子请看：
（一）英语四六级、研究生入学考试公共英语作文
Part Ⅰ. Writing
Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a essay on Spring Festival Gala on CCTV . You should write at Least 120 words following the outline given below:
1.许多人喜欢在除夕观看春节晚会.
2.有些人提出取消春节晚会.
3.我的看法.
（范文）
It has been a hot topic for a long time whether the CCTV Spring Festival Gala should be cancelled or not. Many people advocate that CCTV Spring Festival Gala offers a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this traditional festival, for the Chinese all over the world can share the same happiness and excitement brought by the TV program. In addition, many performances are very impressive, and some can even positively affect our life value.
（本段写“许多人喜欢在除夕观看春节晚会”，拓展段落，给出原因）
However, every coin has two sides. Some people hold that CCTV Spring Festival Gala should be cancelled. One of the most significant reasons may be that this form of celebration force people to spend the eve more passively. What’s more, a great proportion of the programs are not attractive enough.
（本段写“有些人提出取消春节晚会”，拓展段落，给出原因）
As to me, my favor goes to the former opinion, because spring CCTV Spring Festival Gala gives us another option to celebrate this important moment. But it is really essential to improve the quality of the programs. And I hope some better forms of celebration will be created in the near future.
（本段写“我的看法”——赞同哪个观点，莫两边倒，拓展段落，给出原因）
（纵观全文，文章没有主题段和结尾段，所以说大学英语四六级、研究生入学考试公共英语的作文“不能算篇章写作，只能算段落扩写”）
（二）专业英语四、八级作文
Part Ⅵ. Writing
Directions:
Some people consider CCTV Spring Festival Gala to be a wonderful program; some others think that this program should be canceled. What is your opinion? Please write a composition of about 200 words.
You are to write in three parts. In the first part, state specifically what your view is. In the second part, support your view with two or more reasons. In the last part, bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or a summary.
（下文是本人学生的一篇专四课堂作业——原版，原文有些错误，未作改动）
CCTV Spring Festival Gala has been played on new year’s eve for many years. Many people watch it as an entertainment. With the development of the industry of television, some people think that this program is dull and should be cancled. In my opinion, Spring Festival Gala on CCTV should be remained.
（第一段是主题段，给出个人观点，赞同或反对，作者选其一：“Spring Festival Gala on CCTV should be remained.”）
There are mainly two reasons: to bring us happiness and to broaden our horizons.
（拓展段：说明自己给出这个观点的理由）
As we know, spring festival is very important in our life. And spring festival Gala, which contains songs, dance, cross talks, magic and so on, is the focus. It serves not only as an entertainment, but also an occasion for the whole family to get together, chat and laugh. Its forms are diverse and it has been improved to draw our attention. There is no doubt that it is a form of celebration of Chinese lunar new years. People are accustomed to enjoy it.
（拓展段：说明自己给出这个观点的理由）
On the other hand, it can broaden our horizon. Some contents of it may reflect the hot topics of last year. When we watch it, we can learn more about the inside information about the topic. Some programs, for example, Peking opera, is the top-level arts of our country. It can enhance our aesthetic abilities.
（拓展段：说明自己给出这个观点的理由）
In a word, the Spring Festival Gala is a tradition and treasure of Chinese people. I hope more and more people can enjoy it.
（总结段：再次表述观点，呼应前文）
（纵观全文，文章紧紧围绕一个中心去论述，符合英文文体的统一性——unity。这才是一篇完整的英文文章。所以请注意：如果把大学英语四六级作文写成了专四专八作文，评卷专家可以给我们很高分，也可以给5—9分，因为我们只论述了“三段论”中的一段——吉祥三宝，共享天伦，缺一不可）
二、对四六级作文的答题方法缺乏了解。四六级考试的题型以写Argument类型的文章为主，偶尔也会出现图表作文、信或描述性、说明性的题目。
（砖家点评：四六级作文考试形式中，给出英文题目和中文提纲式的作文占80%，图表和提纲作文占20%；不管写什么，不能脱离的是题目所给出的纲要，把题目所给的outline 扩写成段落，大功告成矣）
三、母语干扰的痕迹非常明显。例如，在1998年1月的作文题目为
“Harmfulness of Fake Commodities”。有一位考生要表达“别人赚钱有人眼红”这样的意思，他不会使用“envy”或“envious”等词语，而是直接把眼红翻成了“red eyes”，使人感到费解。
（砖家点评：“red eyes”为美国西海岸的导航灯，真正的红眼病医学术语叫做结膜炎，英文是conjunctivitis，口语是pink eyes。其实，在真正考试过程中，不懂“嫉妒”如何写也不要紧，完全可以用“hate”来替代；要是连“hate”拼写也不确定，也可以用“dislike”；如过还不行，可以用“don’t like”。
仿《陋室铭》，鄙人也来个“词不在多，够用则行；词不在深，达意则灵。斯是陋词，唯吾得分”。
要知道，美国黑社会里黑人交易时词汇量从来不超过1000；牛津书虫简写本系列所用词汇量不超过1500，却能把《飘》、《简.爱》(简单恋爱,少花钱)等名著缩写成惟妙惟肖的让人看了爱不释手的浓缩本，可见英文的最高境界之一：用最简单的词表达最深邃的思想。——在此也顺便推荐牛津书虫，不是做商业广告，乃因书好，一两块钱一本，真正的物美价廉。听说某名牌大学外语专业的新生一入学，他们的老师要求他们做的第一件事是缴费注册，第二件事就是看十来本牛津书虫简写本，一是为了提高英文思维的能力，二是为了清楚要上到自己的宿舍，登堂入室，就象外语学习一样，要跨过《三十九级台阶》）
四、对待作文考试的态度不够认真，存有碰运气的侥幸心理。一些考生认为作文的好坏没有客观的标准，分数的高低取决于评阅人一时的好恶。这是对作文批阅的误解。这种心理反映在卷面上就是敷衍了事，不加思索，一挥而就。许多考生拿到作文题目以后没有认真审题、构思，而是提笔就写。在写作过程中也没有斟词酌句，严密地组织句子。在阅卷过程中发现许多考生字迹潦草，卷面凌乱，大小写、标点符号等都被一概忽略了。
（砖家点评：此外，以前还有考生从阅读里抄来一段忽悠评卷员的——可惜，现在作文放在第一部分完成，没机会了。建议：1、用5分钟构思、列好提纲或拓展句论点——如果不发草稿纸，可以在试题册的空白处挥毫，用20分钟写作，用5分钟润色；2、注意书写和排版，答题纸上下左右不要写得太靠边，要留点空，以展现版面之美，给改卷专家留下甜蜜蜜的印象，以便心旷神怡，改卷水平超常发挥。）
