2008年6月5日
You should spend 20 minutes on this task.

The table below shows the cost of water in five Australian cities in 2004.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

City Usage charge per kilolitre
(up to 125kl) Usage charge per kilolitre
(over 125kl) Water bill per household
Adelaide $0.42 $1.0 $310
Brisbane $0.78 $0.78 $312
Melbourne $0.84 $0.84 $253
Perth $0.42 $1.5 $332
Sydney $0.98 $0.98 $319

Sample Answer:

The figure gives the information about how the water cost in five cities of Australia Year 2004 is compared. （这不仅仅是单纯的对题目文字的改写，更重要的是暗示考官“我已经充分读懂了题目，下面要把表格阐述的尽善尽美。”）

Specifically,（这是一个信号，标志着整篇文章采取“总分”的形式。考官很容易理解你的思路，并且站在你的角度去考虑问题） in 2004, water bill each household, the least of all items, （不要小看这个插入语，它可以让你的句式更为活泼，逻辑更为严谨，增加强调的意味，体现出你的语言水平）was 253 dollars in Melbourne, where the usage charge per kiloliter was 0.84 dollars, whether the total of water use was up to 125 kiloliter or over. The similar pattern was found in usage charge per kiloliter in Sydney and Brisbane, 0.98 dollars and 0.78 dollars respectively.（我还想向考生推荐这个词。在众多的数字和表格项面前，纵然你能够始终保持清醒，但是你不能保证你啰嗦的描述让考官一直把你的文章看完。用一下这个词，众多的数字可以放在一起，用一个简洁的句型一目了然。） By contrast,(它的意思是“对照、对比”。后面的内容与前面的内容具有相同的量级，但是具有不同的方向。) that of Adelaide, 0.42 dollars, was the same as that of Perth when the total is no more than 125 kiloliters, but once the total was beyond the limit, both increased to 1.0 and 1.5 dollars individually. The water bill per family in Perth, the top, was 332 dollars, but that in other three cities was nearly 310 dollars.

All in all, in many parts of Australia the water charge per kiloliter depends on the total of water use, while the pattern is not in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. And there is a big difference in （这是一个总结，与开头相呼应告诉考官你的英文功底是扎实的，不会写虎头蛇尾的文章）water cost per family in the five cities.