AP Chinese language and culture

576 Pages·2009·12.036 MB·English

by  Shen, Yan

7-9400-AP-Chinese-TP:Layout 1 7/2/09 2:38 PM Page 1
BARRON’S
AP
®
CHINESE LANGUAGE
AND CULTURE
Yan Shen, M.A.
DepartmentofAsian
Languages&Cultures,UCLA
Contributingauthor:
Joanne Shang, B.S.
ChineseLanguageTeacher
RaleighCharter HighSchool
Raleigh,NorthCarolina
®APandAdvancedPlacementProgramareregisteredtrademarksoftheCollegeEntranceExaminationBoard,whichwasnotinvolvedinthe
productionof,anddoesnotendorse,thisproduct.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Yan Shen has been a lecturer in Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA, Los Angeles since 2005. She has a
Masters in Sinology and Anthropology from University Trier, Trier, Germany and a Bachelor in Chinese Language
and Literature from Capital Normal University, Beijing, China. She was born in China and has lived in Beijing for
more than two decades. She served as a lecturer at the International Chinese Language and Culture Center,
Tsinghua University, China, during 1993 and 2004. Yan speaks standard Mandarin fluently and has written
numerous articles for journals.
Joanne Shang has taught all levels of Mandarin Chinese at Raleigh Charter High School, Raleigh, North Carolina
since 1994 and has been elected to serve as the K-12 Chinese Teacher Lead in North Carolina. She is a frequent
speaker at regional and national conferences.
Both authors have been readers for the AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to my husband, Wei Li, for his support while I worked on the book. Thanks also to my daughter, Yunyi Li,
for her help in translating much of the Chinese into English. Many thanks also to Joanne Shang for checking the
manuscript and offering valuable suggestions for improvement. Special thanks are due to my editor at Barron’s,
Pat Hunter.
© Copyright 2009 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this product may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the written permission
of the copyright owner.
All inquiries should be addressed to:
Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
250 Wireless Boulevard
Hauppauge, New York 11788
www.barronseduc.com
Book ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-3815-7
Book ISBN-10: 0-7641-3815-4
Book & audio package ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-9400-9
Book & audio package ISBN-10: 0-7641-9400-3
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 2008000986
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shen, Yan.
AP Chinese language and culture / Yan Shen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-3815-7
ISBN-10: 0-7641-3815-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-9400-9
ISBN-10: 0-7641-9400-3
1. Chinese language–Examinations. I. Title.
PL1071.S44 2008
495.1076–dc22 2008000986
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
1 5
Introduction 1 Speaking Skills 331
General Information 1 General Information 331
The AP Chinese Course 1 Evaluation Criteria 332
The AP Chinese Exam 2 Conversation Samples and Scores 336
Navigating the Computer 5 Cultural Presentation Samples and
Suggested Resources 11 Scores 350
Using This Book 15 Speaking Tips 355
Vocabulary Tips 356
2
Listening Speaking Preparation 356
Comprehension 17 Presentation 359
Speaking Skills Practice 364
General Information 17 Speaking Skills 390
Rejoinders 19
6
Listening Selections 22 Grammar Review 399
Listening Strategies 23
Listening Comprehension Practice 55 Complements 399
Answers and Answer Explanations 70 Sentences with Special Predicates 405
The Passive Voice 407
3
Reading Comprehension 162 The “(cid:6238)”—Sentences 408
Existential Sentences 410
General Information 162 Sentences with Verbal
Reading Strategies 162 Constructions in a Series 411
Reading Selections 178 Pivotal Sentences 412
Reading Comprehension Practice 181 Comparison 413
Answers and Answer Explanations 210 Expressing Emphasis 416
Complex Sentences 417
4 Common Sentence Patterns in
Writing Skills 227
Spoken Chinese 426
General Information 227
7
Evaluation Criteria 228 Cultural Notes 441
Scoring Guidelines 229
Types of Essays 240 Physical Geography of China 441
Writing Strategies 261 Survey of Modern History 445
Common Writing Mistakes 261 Festivals and Customs 447
Writing Skills Practice 270 Chinese Mythology 450
Idiom Story 452
Four Grand Works in Chinese
Literature 454
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iv AP Chinese Language and Culture
Chinese Characters 455 Traditional Food 476
Calligraphy 456 Chinese Astrology 478
Chinese Arts and Crafts 457 Chinese Taboos 479
Four Great Inventions of Important Idioms 483
Ancient China 459 Useful Proverbs 489
Traditional Chinese Medicine 460
8
Traditional Chinese Architecture 462 Model Exam 1 499
Classical Gardens 464
Traditional Performing Arts 465 Answers and Answer Explanations 516
Education 466
Chinese Martial Arts 469 9
Model Exam 2 535
Traditional Entertainment 471
Cultural Heritage 473
Answers and Answer Explanations 552
Traditional Clothing 474
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1
Introduction
CHAPTER
GENERAL INFORMATION
The AP Chinese program offers high school students an opportunity to earn credit
for Chinese courses at the college level. Like other College Board programs, it is
available to anyone worldwide who wishes to participate. The AP Chinese Language
and Culture exam was first held in May 2007 and is used to assess a student’s pro-
ficiency in Chinese equivalent to completing a fourth-semester Chinese course in
college.
The AP Chinese exam consists of two essential aspects: Chinese language and
Chinese culture. Because language and culture are so closely intertwined, culture is
acquired in the process of learning a language, and language is learned when study-
ing culture. As such, students should try to absorb as much Chinese culture as
possible while learning the language, because it is impossible to separate the two.
THE AP CHINESE COURSE
The curriculum and assessment frameworks for the AP Chinese Language and
Culture course undergo continuous improvement. In order to prepare for the AP
Chinese exam, students are strongly encouraged, although not required, to enroll
in an AP Chinese course in high school. Like other AP courses, the AP Chinese
course should match the level of a fourth-semester university/college course in
Mandarin/Putonghua Chinese. This level requires students to complete approxi-
mately 250 hours of classroom instruction.
In the AP Chinese course, students should intensively practice Chinese in three
modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. In addition, they should
develop Chinese language skills in the five goal areas: communication, cultures,
connections, comparisons, and communities.
The first goal involves communication in Chinese. Students are expected:
1. to engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings
and emotions, exchange opinions, and make presentations
2. to understand, write, and discuss a variety of topics
1
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2 AP Chinese Language and Culture
The second goal involves the acquisition of cultural knowledge. This
includes:
1. understanding social patterns
2. the active practice of conventions
3. appropriate use of Chinese in cultural settings
In particular, students should understand significant components of Chinese culture,
such as traditions, history, literature, art, and so on.
The third goal is to establish a connection between Chinese and other disciplines
and to further acquire information and recognize distinctive viewpoints that are
only available through Chinese language and culture.
The fourth goal concerns the student’s ability to compare and contrast the
Chinese language and culture with his or her native or other language and
culture.
The fifth goal emphasizes that students should apply the Chinese language in
communities both within and beyond the school setting.
THE AP CHINESE EXAM
The AP Chinese Language and Culture course and exam incorporate Chinese cul-
tural information with listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Like other AP
foreign language exams, the AP Chinese exam measures fluency. Students should
be able to recognize and understand both spoken and written Chinese at a sophis-
ticated level. In addition, they should demonstrate their ability to speak and write
Chinese fluently and accurately in a culturally appropriate manner.
Format of the Exam
Here is a summary of the important information on the AP Chinese exam. Table
I and Table II represent the format of the exam. The exam assesses the communica-
tion ability of AP Chinese students in two sections: multiple-choice and free-
response questions. Each section of the AP Chinese exam contributes a specific
portion to the final AP grade. Detailed rubrics for the Writing and Speaking free-
response sections will be given in the related chapters. Table I and Table II list the
time distribution and weight of each part on the final grade.
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Introduction 3
TABLE I
Section I: Multiple Choice
Section/ Question Type # of Knowledge/ Time
Weight of Problems Skills Assessed
Final Score
Part A: Rejoinders: Listen to 10–15 Interpersonal 10 mins:
Listening 25% the beginning of a communication— 5 seconds
conversation, then Understanding 2+- response
determine an character phrases time per
appropriate and sociocultural problem
continuation of the formulae; expressing
conversation. opinion, attitude,
intent
Listening Selections: 15–20 Interpretive 10 mins:
Answer questions after communication— 12 seconds
listening to a variety of Comprehension, response
stimuli, e.g., inference, application time per
conversation, of basic cultural problem
instructions, voice knowledge
message, report,
announcement.
Part B: Reading 35–40 Interpretive 60 mins
Reading 25% Comprehension: communication—
Answer questions after Comprehension,
reading a variety of inference, application
stimuli, e.g., note, of basic cultural
public sign, poster, knowledge
e-mail, letter, story,
advertisement, article,
brochure.
TABLE II
Section II: Free Response—Writing
Section/ Question Type # of Knowledge/Skills Time
Weight of Tasks Assessed
Final Score
Part A: Writing Story Narration: Write a 1 Presentational 15 mins
25% story according to a series communication—
of picture prompts. Writing
E-mail response: Write an 1 Interpersonal 15 mins
e-mail response after communication—
reading one from a friend. Reading, writing
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4 AP Chinese Language and Culture
TABLE III
Section II: Free Response—Speaking
Section/ Question Type # of Tasks Knowledge/ Time
Weight of Skills
Final Score Assessed
Part B: Conversation: 6 Interpersonal 4 mins: 20
Speaking 25% Engage in a 6-part communication— seconds
conversation by Speaking response
responding in a time per
culturally appropriate problem
manner.
Cultural Presentation: 1 Presentational 7 mins: 4
Make an oral communication— minutes to
presentation Speaking prepare, 2
describing and minutes to
explaining the record the
significance of a presentation
Chinese cultural
practice or product.
To do well on the exam, it is important to understand the structure of the AP
Chinese Language and Culture exam.
SECTION I
Section I, as illustrated in Table I, is the multiple-choice section and covers listening
and reading comprehension.
THE LISTENING SECTION consists of two types of multiple-choice questions
developed to evaluate interpersonal and interpretive communication skills.
1. Rejoinders—AP students must
(cid:127) first listen to and fully understand the expressions in the beginning part
of a conversation, then
(cid:127) listen to a list of choices and select a culturally acceptable discourse to
continue or complete the conversation.
2. Listening Selections—AP students must
(cid:127) first listen to a selected discourse, which may be an instruction, voice
message, report, announcement, or conversation, then
(cid:127) read the question and choices and make the correct choice within 12
seconds. (Students will be told whether a selection will be played once or
twice.)
THE READING SECTION assesses interpretive communication skills through
multiple-choice questions related to a variety of reading materials, such as a story,
sign, poster, note, letter, e-mail, brochure, article, or advertisement.
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Introduction 5
SECTION II
Section II is the free-response section and covers writing and speaking.
THE WRITING SECTION assesses writing skills in both the presentational and
interpersonal modes. It requires test-takers to complete two tasks by writing in
Chinese for different purposes and to specific people.
Task 1: Narrate a complete story based on a four-picture sequence.
Task 2: Write an e-mail response.
THE SPEAKING SECTION assesses speaking skills in the interpersonal and presen-
tational modes. It requires students to complete two tasks using their speaking
skills.
Task 1: Participate in a simulated conversation with a Chinese speaker on a given
topic.
Task 2: Make an oral presentation on one or more Chinese cultural practices,
products, or customs.
Complete and appropriate cultural expressions are the important scoring stan-
dard for both writing and speaking tasks.
Standard time allowance for each section is listed in Table I and Table II. It also
appears on the instructions for each section during the exam. If the scheduled time
for the section is extended during the actual exam, the clock on the computer screen
will be updated to show the adjusted time for all related sections.
The AP Chinese Language and Culture exam is a computer-based test. AP
students are advised to practice using a computer with a multimedia system, and
to familiarize themselves with Chinese input techniques. Test-takers will be seated
in front of a desktop computer to work on the exam questions, which are burned
on a CD.
Prior to starting the exam, you will be instructed to enter your student informa-
tion into the computer. This information includes, but is not limited to, your heri-
tage or background, date of birth, Social Security number, parents’ education, first
language, home address, and phone number or international phone number. These
answers will not be graded.
NAVIGATING THE COMPUTER
Display Option:
During the course of the exam, you will read directly from a computer screen,
listen through a headset, type on a keyboard, and speak into a microphone. The
questions on the AP Chinese exam are formulated in both traditional and simplified
characters. Chinese texts for the multiple-choice questions in Section I, Listening
and Reading Comprehension, can be displayed in either traditional or simplified
characters. You can click on an on-screen button, “Switch to Traditional” or
“Switch to Simplified,” to display the character version with which you are
more familiar.
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6 AP Chinese Language and Culture
Input Option:
After inputting the student information described above, but before the exam
begins, you will be presented with the Typing Options setup screen on their com-
puters, which allows you to configure your typing options for the writing part of
Section II, Free Response. Two input techniques are available:
1. Microsoft Pinyin IME (MSPY), which uses Hanyu Pinyin to type in either
simplified or traditional characters, or
2. Microsoft New Phonetic IME, which uses Zhuyin Fuhao (Bopomofo) to
type in traditional characters.
If you intend to use the Pinyin input, you can decide between traditional and
simplified by using the toggle button labeled (cid:13333) (traditional) or (cid:12628)(simplified) on
the IME toolbar on the Typing Options setup screen.
A white text box on the screen allows you to test your chosen setting. Be sure to
try it out by inputting a few words and verify that, indeed, it is accepting the input
in the chosen character version correctly. Be sure to notify the exam proctor imme-
diately if you can’t find the white text box, or the toggle button does not function
as described.
Note that you must decide the input technique and character version you intend
to use in the writing section on this screen. This configuration cannot be changed
once you exit the screen and the exam starts. It is highly recommended to also test
the microphone and headset volumes before the test starts.
Clock / Timer
Throughout the exam, a digital clock is displayed at the top of the screen to show
the remaining time to respond for each part.
In addition, a timer, in the form of a progress bar, is displayed to indicate the
remaining time for each problem in the Listening section.
When a question in the Listening section has timed out, the screen automatically
moves on to the next question. Note that you cannot go back to any previous
question in the Listening section. However, in the Reading section, you may skip
questions and go back to them later as long as there is sufficient time remaining
on the clock.
Listening Controls
There are two parts in the Listening section: Rejoinders and Listening Selections.
There are two buttons on the top right of the screen:
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