探究2:说明文命题解读和解题策略

2021-01-29 02:17江苏南菁高级中学李现宝
疯狂英语·新策略 2021年1期
关键词:夏令营说明文段落

江苏南菁高级中学 李现宝

阅读理解是高考英语试题的重点,是考查学生语篇阅读能力、语言意识、英语语感的重要题型。在全国各省市的高考英语阅读理解题中,说明文所占比重尤为突出。它既要求考生能熟练运用词汇和语法知识、理解文章语句、把握语篇整体结构,还要求学生有大量的阅读积淀和知识储备,熟悉不同的话题和不同的题目考查方式。

一、文体特点

说明文通常是使用平实的语言客观地解说事物、阐明事理,给人以知识的文体。它通常运用举例、对比、分类、引用、演绎、归纳等方法,按照时间、空间或事物发展的逻辑顺序进行介绍和说明。通过对实体事物 (如仪器、产品、自然环境)的解说,或对抽象事理(如概念、原理、定律)的阐释,使人们对事物的形态、特征、构造、性能、种类、成因、功能等有所了解,或对事理的特点、来源、演变、异同等有所认识,从而获得相关的知识。说明文实用性很强,它包括广告、说明书、内容提要、规则章程、解说词、操作指南等。

二、命题特点

阅读理解主要测试考生理解主旨与要义、理解文中具体信息、根据上下文推断单词和短语的含义、做出判断和推理、理解文章的基本结构、理解作者的意图、观点和态度等的能力。说明文的主要命题形式有事实细节题、词义推断题、推理判断题以及主旨概括题,其中事实细节题和推理判断题居多。下文将介绍考生在解题过程中容易出现的问题和相应的策略。

三、解题指导

(一)增加外刊积累、避免思维定式

高考英语阅读很大一部分选自国外的网站、报纸、杂志等,时效性和话题性比较突出。因此,考生要熟悉外刊的文章特点、常用写作技巧、话题相关的文化背景知识等相关信息,消除文化隔阂、文化差异造成的理解困难和理解偏差。比如,外刊的标题一般简短概括,非常精练。为了使语句短小而生动、醒目,所使用的词语和句子必须压缩到最精练的程度,这就要求必须有独特的撰写方式。除了大家熟知的省略、缩写等方式,还常常引用或套用名言、典故、谚语和文学著作,运用押韵等修辞手法。这一点是很多考生,甚至是教师的认识盲点。尤其是科普类说明文,很多人对它的认识仅仅停留在标题是文章中心的简单概括,而忽视了它可能采用的修辞手法或者引用或套用所涉及的文化背景知识。

【典型案例】

2019 年 The Economist(《经济学人》)有一篇关于学生参加夏令营的文章,标题是Mutually assured distraction。如果不了解相关的文化背景知识,直接翻译为“相互保证消遣”,就无法体会作者选用该标题的精妙之处,无法体会作者选用该标题所体现出的夏令营如火如荼开展的背后的竞争氛围,也无法准确感受结尾处和该标题的呼应。如果我们多阅读外媒文章、重视对西方文化背景知识的积累,就会了解到文章标题Mutually assured distraction来自军事术语mutually assured destruction,简称M.A.D,中文译名为:相互保证毁灭。这是一种军事战略思想,具体指当两个国家武力相当,都能够毁灭对方时,反而会相互牵制,维持一种紧张但稳定的和平局面。此战略主要应用于美苏冷战时期,并且被当成避免两大阵营全面直接冲突的助力,但这种军事战略也直接导致了军备竞赛,因为双方都要争取保持平手,才能不被毁灭。正如文章中提到的,学生们争相参加夏令营,试图获得竞争优势,但最终谁也无法真正超过同龄人,宛如一场军备竞赛。同时,这和结尾处“But as wealthier parents splash out on ever more specialized programmes,it is getting harder for the less well-to-do to keep up in the summer-camp arms race.”中的arms race构成了首尾呼应,非常精彩。

【试题链接1】

Listen carefully to the footsteps in the family home,especially if it has wooden floors,and you can probably work out who it is that is walking about.The features most commonly used to identify people are faces,voices,finger prints and retinal scans. But their “behavioural biometrics”,such as the way they walk,are also giveaways.

64.What's the best title of the passage?

A.Listen to your footsteps

B.Applaud pattern recognition

C.Love the way you walk

D.Better the mats you step on

在该题的选择过程中,很多考生都不敢选择C项。因为在他们的心目中,说明文的标题就是刻板、直接、枯燥的,这与选项中的love风格极为不符。仔细阅读这一段,其实很容易感受到作者选用该标题的含义。“Listen carefully to the footsteps in the family home,especially if it has wooden floors,and you can probably work out who it is that is walking about.” 此句表示通过分辨脚步声,你就可以辨别出走路的人是谁。这个人一定是自己的家人,或者是非常熟悉的朋友。因此,在听到脚步声的时候应当是充满着亲切和期待,甚至是开心和激动的。当一个人在家的时候,当一个人孤独的时候,当一个人不开心、需要安慰的时候,最喜欢的就是这种熟悉的脚步声。文章介绍的通过识别人的走路方式来识别身份的垫子,也跟脚步声有一样的功效,垫子“喜爱”通过识别人的走路方式发挥作用,垫子主人也“喜爱”熟悉的、亲近的人的到来。

【试题链接2】

In English the sky is blue,and the grass is green.But in Vietnamese there is just one color category for both sky and grass:xanh.For decades cognitive(认知)scientists have pointed to such examples as evidence that language largely determines how we see color.But new research with four-to-six-month-old babies indicates that long before we learn language,we see up to five basic categories of color—a finding that suggests a stronger biological element to perceive(感知) color than previously thought.

The study,published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA,tested the color-discrimination abilities of more than 170 British babies.

60.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A.Rainbow in the Baby's World

B.A Journey to the World of Colors

C.A New Challenge:Language vs.Culture

D.Different Babies,Different Color Perception

本题答案为A。该题同样也向大家传递出了一个信号,说明文的标题同样可以是文艺范的,可以是优美的,可以是充满文学气息的。

【点石成金】平时增加国外报纸、杂志等文本的阅读,熟知其写作特点和套路。同时,关注相关的文化背景知识,体会和感受说明文中独特的语言美。

(二)关注句间衔接,紧扣段落中心

英语文章中有大量的词汇是作者用来联系句子的,从而使整篇文章前后贯通、语义明确。标志词(signal words)就是表明句子间和段落间的逻辑关系,具有词义、语法结构标志作用的词或词组。句子间的逻辑关系和衔接手段不外乎列举、原因、结果、让步、对照、补充、目的、条件等。如表示列举的词:for example,for instance; 表罗列的词:first,second,third,to begin with,to conclude;表转折的词:however,but,whereas;表示原因的词:because,since,as;表示结果的词:so,therefore,thus,consequently,as a result;表示对照的词:on the contrary,by contrast,in comparison;表示目的的词:so that,in order that等。标志词就像指路牌一样,指明作者思路发展的方向和思路之间的逻辑联系。标志词前后的信息往往都是命题和答题的主要线索或依据,因此,识别标志词对考生更快、更好地理解文章具有举足轻重的作用。

【典型案例】

例如,在上文提到的summer camp的外刊中,有这样的段落“In a classroom at Imperial College London,students sit hunched over laptops,typing lines of code.Just nine years old,they are attending Firetech,a British technology summer camp for children.Courses include Junior Augmented Reality and Creating for YouTube.Such programmes are proliferating in many countries.They pander to two common demands from well-off parents:to entertain children over the long summer holidays and to give them a leg-up over their peers.”。该部分为文章首段,通过介绍个例引入话题:特写学生在教室敲代码的场景,引出Firetech夏令营,举例说明Firetech夏令营的具体项目。后面的Such非常关键,起到承上启下的作用,由个例转向普遍趋势,指出父母送孩子进入夏令营的两个目的:娱乐(让孩子得到快乐)与教育(让孩子更具竞争力)。这为后文详细阐述做铺垫,其中代词they实现句间衔接。通过对这些连接词的准确识别和理解,我们可以明确作者的写作意图,把握段落的中心(引出夏令营的两个目的,即to entertain children over the long summer holidays and to give them a leg-up over their peers)。

【试题链接3】

A new commodity brings about a highly profitable,fast-growing industry,urging antitrust(反垄断的)regulators to step in to check those who control its flow.A century ago,the resource in question was oil.Now similar concerns are being raised by the giants(巨头)that deal in data,the oil of the digital age.The most valuable firms are Google,Amazon,Facebook and Microsoft.All look unstoppable.

Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up.But size alone is not a crime.The giants'success has benefited consumers.Few want to live without search engines or a quick delivery.Far from charging consumers high prices,many of these services are free (users pay,in effect,by handing over yet more data).And the appearance of new-born giants suggests that newcomers can make waves,too.

61.Why is there a call to break up giants?

A.They have controlled the data market.

B.They collect enormous private data.

C.They no longer provide free services.

D.They dismissed some new-born giants.

该题的信息源定位到第2段的第一句话“Such situations have led to calls for the tech giants to be broken up.”,显然,问题的根本原因就是该句的第一个词Such所代指的内容。Such既起到承上启下的作用,又是对第1段主要信息的概括。因此,需要把握住第1段的中心句,即Now similar concerns are being raised by the giants that deal in data。同时,要想对该句有精准的把握,还需要对该句中的similar concerns所指的内容有准确的把握,这又体现了句子之间连接的重要性,环环相扣,联系紧密。通过对前几句的理解,我们可以发现similar concerns指的是反垄断,因此,就是因为垄断才要求巨头解体,答案为A。

【试题链接4】

But there is cause for concern.The Internet has made data abundant,all-present and far more valuable,changing the nature of data and competition.Google initially used the data collected from users to target advertising better.But recently it has discovered that data can be turned into new services:translation and visual recognition,to be sold to other companies.Internet companies'control of data gives them enormous power.So they have a “God's eye view”of activities in their own markets and beyond.

62.What does the technological innovation in paragraph 3 indicate?

A.Data giants'technology is very expensive.

B.Google'sideaispopular among data firms.

C.Data can strengthen giants'controlling position.

D.Data can be turned into new services or products.

该题解决的关键仍然是要理清句子之间的逻辑关系。“The Internet has made data abundant,all-present and far more valuable,changing the nature of data and competition.”为中心句,即互联网改变了数据和竞争的性质。其后,Google initially used...虽然没有for example作为标志词,但是,我们可以判断出此处作者正在用具体的事例对中心句做具体的举例论证说明。该句和后面的 “Internet companies'control of data gives them enormous power.”分为两个方面就互联网改变了数据和竞争的性质(变成可以出售的服务和让企业拥有“上帝视角”)进行了具体说明。把握住它们之间的关系,该题很容易看出,只有C项才是符合中心句的观点的 (加强了企业的控制地位,即拥有“上帝视角”)。

【点石成金】在阅读的过程中,理清句子之间的关系,可以更加清晰段落中心,有助于精准把握作者的写作目的和意图,轻松选出正确答案。

(三)把握文章结构,理清作者思路

说明文主题鲜明、脉络清晰,行文结构模式较为固定。弄清文本结构有助于把握文章主旨和阅读重点。作者在谋篇布局上常使用以下说明方法:描述法(description)(包括举例子、下定义、列数据等)、因果法(cause and effect)、问题与对策法(problem and solution)。实验、研究型文章一般会以实验的过程、进展为线索,多用描述法、问题与对策法等方法,通过列数据、做对比等来说明新的科学研究发现及其产生的影响。介绍说明型文章通常是介绍一种新产品、新技术,更多运用描述法从功能、用途、材料和市场前景等方面进行介绍。

在阅读时,首先用略读法快速浏览每段的首尾句,分析原文的文本结构,然后根据作者谋篇布局的逻辑线索归纳主旨大意。如果文章中含有小标题、副标题等,在概括全文主旨大意和写作目的时需要重点考虑。

【试题链接5】

Old Problem,New Approaches

While clean energy is increasingly used in our daily life,global warming will continue for some decades after CO2emissions(排放)peak.So even if emissions were to begin to decrease today,we would still face the challenge of adapting to climate change.Here I will stress some smarter and more creative examples of climate adaptation.

...

Around the world,people are adapting in surprising ways,especially in some poor countries.Floods have...

Elsewhere in Asia even more astonishing actions are being taken.Chewang Norphel lives in a mountainous region in India,where he is known as the Ice Man...

Increasing Earth's reflectiveness can cool the planet.In southern Spain the sudden increase of greenhouses(which reflect light back to space)has changed the warming trend locally,and actually cooled the region.While Spain...

In Peru,local farmers around a mountain with a glacier that has already fallen victim to climate change have begun painting the entire mountain peak white in the hope that the added reflectiveness will restore the life-giving ice.The outcome is still far from clear.But the World Bank has included the project on its list of“100 ideas to save the planet”.

More ordinary formsofadaptation are happening everywhere.A friend of mine...

68.What do we learn from the Peru example?

A.White paint is usually safe for buildings.

B.The global warming trend cannot be stopped.

C.This country is heating up too quickly.

D.Sunlight reflection may relieve global warming.

这是一篇人文社科类说明文。文章举例说明了在全球变暖的情况下,人类应该如何发挥聪明才智,以创新的方式(new approaches)适应气候变化。文章内容新颖,结构清晰,主题鲜明。文章结构如下:

I n t r o d u c t i o n O l d p r o b l e m S o l u t i o n 1 P e o p l e a r e a d a p t i n g i n s u r p r i s i n g w a y s.S o l u t i o n 2 E l s e w h e r e i n A s i a e v e n m o r e a s t o n-i s h i n g a c t i o n s a r e b e i n g t a k e n.S o l u t i o n 3 I n c r e a s i n g E a r t h's r e f l e c t i v e n e s s c a n c o o l t h e p l a n e t.S o l u t i o n 4 M o r e o r d i n a r y f o r m s o f a d a p t a t i o n a r e h a p p e n i n g e v e r y w h e r e.

通过对文章结构的把握,我们很容易发现the Peru example是对上一段的方法“Increasing Earth's reflectiveness can cool the planet.”具体实施的一个案例。因此,答案就可以非常容易选出。而很多同学只阅读试题相关的段落,不顾及该段落在全文框架结构中的位置,就很容易出现理解偏差、选错答案的情况。

【点石成金】了解文章的结构,把握文章的脉络,在阅读中着眼全局(see the big picture),避免只关注细节,能够更加准确和快速地解决问题。

说明文是高考英语阅读理解题中的重点内容。说明文具有与自己特点相适应的说明方法,虽然,说明文抽象度高,解题难度较大,但是,只要考生掌握说明文的文章特点、篇章结构、作者的行文脉络和叙述方式,以冷静的心态阅读原文,重点突破长句结构特点和逻辑关系,对其做出准确的语意理解,轻松解题便水到渠成。

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