如何掌握英文文章的主旨?

如何掌握英文文章的主旨?
如何掌握英文文章的主旨?

如何掌握英文文章的主旨?
南昌一中外语组： 庄蓉芳摘要：语文和英语两门学科都是关于语言学习的,在掌握文章主旨的方法上有许多相同和相通之处.但尽管如此,不是每个学生都能顺利地进行知识迁移,用我们的母语经验去帮助掌握英文文章的主旨.本文将列举五个典型案例来探究如何掌握英文文章的主旨常用的方法.关键词：知识迁移 ,母语经验, 英文文章的主旨, 常用方法 在阅读任何一篇英文短文时,第一件要思考的事就是了解文章大意.英文短文有明显的特点,那就是每一自然段的开头或结尾句就是该段的主题句.可以说,绝大多数学生都知道这一特点,却依旧无法准确的理解文章主旨.为什么?因为了解这一特点仅仅是掌握文章主旨的初始阶段,如何能将主题句有机地联系在一起才是知识迁移的关键阶段——即用语文学科中掌握主旨的知识去指导掌握英文文章主旨. 方法1：重视第一自然段的作用.第一自然段主要有两个作用：第一：抛砖引玉,引出下文；第二：总括全文,即文章主旨段落. 例题一、2006年高考题重庆卷阅读C篇When a Swedish ship that sank in 1628 was recovered from the port of Stockholm, historians and scientists were overjoyed with the chance to examine the remains of the past. The ship construction showed how ships were built and operated during the seventeenth century. In this way, artifacts ,objects made by human beings, provided a picture of daily life almost 400 years ago.\x0dUnderwaterarchaeology-the study of ships, aircraft and human settlements that have sunk under large bodies of water-is really a product of the last 50 years. The rapid growth of this new area of study has occurred because of the invention of better diving equipment .Besides the Swedish ship wreck(残骸）,underwater archaeologists have made more exciting discoveries such as the 5000-year-old boats in the Mediterranean Sea.\x0dUnderwater archaeology can provide facts abut the past. In ancient ports all over the world are ships sunken in the past 6,000 years. There are also sunken settlements in seas and lakes telling of peoples way of life and their systems of trade in ancient times. Underwater archaeologists want to study these objects to add to the world's knowledge of history, but they have to fight two enemies. One enemy is treasure hunters who dive for ancient artifacts that they can sell to collectors. Once sold, these objects are lost to experts. The second enemy is dredging machines(挖掘机）often used to repair ports. These machines destroy wrecks and artifacts or bury them deeper under sand and mud. By teaching the public about the importance of underwater “museums” of the past, archaeologists are hoping to get support for laws to protect underwater treasures. 全文共三段,第一自然段讲了发现了一艘1628的沉船,历史学家和科学家们欢呼雀跃有机会了解过去的遗迹；第二自然段讲了水下考古学的的定义；第三自然段讲了水下考古学的作用.如果,学生非常清楚第一自然段的主要作用,就很容易发现第一自然段是抛砖引玉引起下文而不是总括全文,全文主要讲的是水下考古学. 63. What purpose does Paragraph 1 serve in the passage?\x0dA. To provide background information of the topic\x0dB. To attract readers' attention to the topic\x0dC. To use an example to support the topic\x0dD. To offer basic knowledge of the topic 所以该考题答案应选择B.\x0d例题二、2011年高考题福建卷阅读理解D篇 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of the most private women in the world, yet when she went to work as an editor in the last two decades of her life, she revealed (展现) herself as she did nowhere else.After the death of her second husband, Greek shipping magnate Aristotie Onassis laqueline’s close friend and former White House social secretary Letitis Baldrige made a suggestion that she consider a career in publishing. After consideration, Jacqueline accepted it. Perhaps she hoped to find there some ideas about how to live her own life .She became not less but more interested in reading. For the last 20 years of her life, Jacqueline worked as a publisher’s editor, first at Viking, then at Doubleday ,pursuing（追求）a late-life career longer than her two marriages combined. During her time in publishing, she was responsible for managing and editing more than 100 successfully marketed books. Among the first books were In the Russian Style and Inventive Paris Clothes. She also succeeded in persuading TV hosts Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell to transform their popular television conversation into a book ,The Power of Myth. The book went on to become an international best-seller. She dealt too. with Michael Jackson as he prepared his autobiography(自传),Moonwalk.Jaequeline may have been hired for her name and for her social relations, but she soon proved her worth.. Her choices, suggestions and widespread social relations were of benefit both to the publishing firms and to Jacqueline herself. In the books she selected for publication, she built on a lifetime of spending time by herself as a reader and left a record of the growth of her mind. Her books are the autobiography she never wrote, Her role as First lady, in the end, was overshadowed by her performance as an editor. However, few knew that she had achieved so much. 全文共三段.第一自然段的主旨是肯尼迪夫人Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis 在生命的最后二十多年作为一名编辑,在工作中表现比她以前做的任何事情都出色；第二自然段的主旨是在她第二任丈夫去世后,她接受了进入出版业的建议；第三自然段的主旨是她被雇佣也许是因为她的名声和社会关系,但很快她就证明了她的价值.很明显,第一自然段是总括段落. The passage is mainly A. an introduction of Jacqueline’s life both as Fist Lady and as editor. B. a brief description of Jacqueline’s lifelong experiences. C. a brief account of Jacqueline’s career as an editor in her last 20 years. D. an analysis of Jacqueline’s social relations in publishing 所以该考题答案是C. 方法2：利用分段理顺主题句之间的关系.这种方法很适用于篇幅较长,段落较多的传记、议论文和说明文. 例题一、2011年高考题浙江卷阅读理解C篇 ① In the more and more competitive service industry , it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today , customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share.②It is accepted in the marketing industry , and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people : those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal ③ New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet. For example , many companies now have to invest(投资)a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls ,being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.④“Many people do not like talking to machines ,”says Dr . Storey Senior Lecturer in Marketng at City University Business School.“Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them .The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust— the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.” ⑤ Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying that a repair will be calmed out within five hours ,but getting it done within two );replacing a faulty product immediately : throwing in a gift voucher(购物礼卷)as an unexpected “thank you” to rental customers ;and always returning calls ,even when they are complaints. ⑥ Aiming for customer delight is all very well , but if services do not reach the high level promised , disappointment or worse will be the result . This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example,“ I know how you must feel”) , and possible solutions (replacement , compensation or whatever fames suggests best meets the case). ⑦Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care . Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather ,unclaimed luggage and technical problems . ⑧For British Airways staff , a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times . They are trained to answer quickly ,with their name , job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen. ⑨ British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service. ⑩Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as "we do as we please”. On the other hand , the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment. 这是一篇议论文,一共有十个自然段.十个主题句如果不加以进一步的整理,很难在短时间里看出全文的主旨.分段是整理多段落文章的一个很实用的方法.议论文分段要考虑论点、论据和论证,文章主要由提出问题（what）、分析问题(why)、和解决问题(how)几个部分构成这些因素.这篇文章根据提出问题（what）、分析问题(why)、和解决问题(how)等三个因素大体可以分成三大段,第一段包括①②自然段,提出问题,即尽力取悦顾客是很多公司保住或增加市场份额的方法,并讲述了原因；第二大段包括③④自然段,分析问题,即照顾好客人在出现电话和网络等购物方式时面临的新挑战；第三大段包括⑤-⑩自然段,解决问题,即在取悦顾客的多种方法中,特别要注意一项原则“许诺越多,失望的几率就越大,不要轻易许诺”.文章用了六个自然段放在解决问题这一块,用意非常明显.文章的主题应该是：现在,面临新的挑战,取悦顾客依然是好的经营策略,但具体使用不同方法时一定要注意一项原则“许诺越多,失望的几率就就越大,不要轻易许诺”,这样,才能真正实现取悦顾客的经营策略. 55. Which of the following is conveyed in this article? A. Face-to-face service creates comfortable feelings among customers. B. Companies that promise more will naturally attract more customers. C. A company should promise less but do more in a competitive market. D. Customer delight is more important for airlines than for banks. 所以,该考题答案应选择C. 例题二、20011年高考题江苏卷阅读理解A篇①We know the famous ones—the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells —but what about the less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper(雨刮器)?Shouldn’t we know who they are?②Joan Mclean think so. In fact, Mclean, a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, feels so strongly about this matter that she’s developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning “who” invented ”what”, however, Mclean also likes her students to learn the answers to the” why” and ”how” questions. According to Mclean,” When students learn the answers to these questions, they are better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more motivated to give inventing a try.”③Her students agree. One young man with a patent for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of McLean’s statement. “If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper’s invention,” said Tommy Lee, a senior physics major, “ I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rainstorm into something so constructive. “ Lee is currently negotiating to see his patent to an umbrella producer.④So, just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well, Mary Anderson came up with the idea in 1902 after a visit to Mew York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see the sights ,so she jumped aboard a streetcar. Noticing that the driver was struggling to see through the snow covering the windshield, she found herself wondering why there couldn’t be a built-in device for cleaning the window. Still wondering about this when she returned home to Birmingham, Alabama, Anderson started drafting out solutions. One of her ideas, a lever(操作杆)on the inside of a vehicle that would control an arm on the outside, became the first windshield wiper. ⑤Today we benefit from countless inventions and innovations,It’s hard to imagine driving without Garrett A. Morgan’s traffic light. It’s equally impossible to picture a world without Katherine J.Blodgett’s innovation that makes glass invisible, Can you picture life without clear windows and eyeglasses? 这篇文章在分析过程中有一点曲折之处,这要特别注意.其中①④⑤三个自然段能构成一个完整主题即“我们也应该去了解那些不知名的发明家,因为他们的发明是我们从中受益 ”.而且,①、⑤两段正好是文章的开头段和结尾段,是我们通常认为的最重要的两个段落.所以这个主题很容易被误解成这样.但是,如果考虑分段,就会发现一个矛盾,若按这样的主题,那②、③自然段,主旨是“老师Joan McLean和她的学生都认为要开关于不知名的发明家的课程”,放在文章的中间是不是有点问题?而且这个文章主旨显然没有包括②、③自然段.所以,这篇文章要重新考虑-----文章的开头段应是引出话题,然后进入正文,说要开Invention Courses这种课程,④、⑤自然段则是解释为什么开这种的课的原因. 59. Which of the following can best serve as the title of this passage? A How to Help Students to Sell Their Inventions to Producers? B How to Design a Built-in Device for Cleaning the Window? C Shouldn’t We Know Who Invented the Windshield Wiper? D Shouldn’t We Develop Invention Courses in Universities? 文章的主旨的我们为什么要开Invention Courses,所以,该考题答案为D. 方法3：找出内在的联系线索. 例题一、2011年高考题安徽卷阅读理解B篇 Think about the different ways that people use the wind . You can use it to fly a kite or to sail a boat . Wind is one of our cleanest and richest power source(来源), as well as one of the oldest . Evidence shows that windmills(风车) began to be used in ancient Iran back in the seventh century BC . They were first introduced to Europe during the 1100s, when armies returned from the Middle East with knowledge of using wind power. For many centuries, people used windmills to grind(磨碎) wheat into flour or pump water from deep underground . When electricity was discovered in the late 1800s, people living in remote areas began to use them to produce electricity. This allowed them to have electric lights and radio. However, by the1940s when electricity was available to people in almost all areas of the United States, windmills were rarely used. During the 1970s, people started becoming concerned about the pollution that is created when coal and gas are burned to produce electricity . People also realized that the supply of coal and gas would not last forever . Then, wind was rediscovered , though it means higher coasts. Today , there is a global movement to supply more and more of our electricity through the use of wind. 文章共三段,第一段主旨是风能不仅仅是最干净丰富的资源还是最古老的能源之一；第二自然段的主旨是几个世纪以来,人们都使用风能,但在上世纪40年代,由于电力的发明,风能很少被利用；第三自然段的主旨是今天,全球都有利用风能发电的倾向.不要孤立每一段落,将三个主旨联系起来就可以看出文章在叙述风能利用的发展史. 63.What would the author probably discuss in the paragraph that follows? A. The advantage of wind power. B. The design of wind power plants. C. The worldwide movement to save energy. D. The global trend towards producing power from wind. 后面作者会写什么?当然还是风能发展.所以该题答案为D. 在理解英文文章主旨中,灵活运用我们在学习语文中理解文章主旨的方法会有很多益处.首先,思维上轻车熟路,这会加快分析英文文章的速度；其次,加强了学生对文章重点涉及的问题的记忆.当学生回去寻找答案时,速度会更为迅速.再次,强化了学生的阅读记忆能力.这为提高了阅读速度和阅读质量打下了坚实的基础.我们知道,对语言文字的过度推理会引起了理解力的减弱.正如熊学亮先生（1999）所说的,“认知的加倍投入并不等于加倍的获得信息”. 高考阅读理解题中关于文章主旨题的提问角度也是在检查和督促学生将语文学科中获得的掌握主旨方法运用到英语学科中的知识迁移过程. 所以无论是从提高自身的英文阅读理解能力上说,还是从提高应试能力上说,掌握这些方法都是很有必要的.