(单词翻译:单击)
说起雅思阅读,很多“烤鸭”的一致感受就是:做!不!完!先抛开海量生词、解题技巧不熟练和定位出错,很多“烤鸭”认为“只有读完全文才能做完题”。
然而,并不是!
学习过英语论文写作或者常读外刊的同学应该知道,英语文章写作忌讳重复。为了避免重复,就会使用大量的指代,也就是我们从一开始学习英语就会接触到的“代词”。
说起代词,大家肯定都能想到人称代词、指示代词、物主代词、不定代词等等。大家肯定都知道概念,但是放在雅思阅读文章中,还会用吗?
Skimming(即略读),如果你掌握了Skimming的技巧,那么你能少读不少的篇幅。我们首先就来看一下指代在Skimming上的用法。我用C6T2P2的句子结尾匹配题举个栗子。
Q23 Home medical aids
Q24 Regular amounts of exercise
Q25 Feelings of control over life
Q26 Feelings of loneliness
对应原文:Paragraph 8
The increasing self-reliance of many elderly people is probably linked to a massive increase in the use of simple home medical aids. For instance, the use of raised toilet seats has more than doubled since the start of the study, and the use of bath seats has grown by more than 50%. These developments also bring some health benefits, according to a report from the MacArthur Foundation's research group on successful ageing. The group found that those elderly people who were able to retain a sense of independence were more likely to stay healthy in old age.
我们审题后,能将Q23定位在原文第8段,并且通过第一句话的self-reliance, is probably linked to锁定答案G。但是这一段后面还有三句话是否要读?Q24是否也会在这段出题??我们来分析一下:
第二句话以For instance开头,我们知道For instance/ example这种表达,前一句话为theory部分,后面是具体case,所以此段第二句话仍为第一句话做案例阐述。
第三句话以These开头,很明显,还是指代上文,所以跳过不用读。最后一句话主语为The group,定冠词the指代的肯定是上文已经出现过的某group,并且这句话也出现了第一句中self-reliance的同义替换independence,由此我们可以判断,这篇文章的句子结尾匹配题极有可能为一道题对应原文一段的内容。
当然,雅思真题中在代词上出题的不在少数,C9T4P1就是非常典型的一篇文章。我们来看看这篇文章的一道判断题:
Q3 Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister's financial contribution.
原文:
Paragraph 2 … From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education.
Paragraph 3 In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris).
通过题干中的Sorbonne很容易就定位在了原文第三段,读来读去发现没有出现her sister's financial contribution,于是很多同学就放心的写下了NOT GIVEN。为何没有出现题目关键词?因为出现了this这个单词。需要我们回到第二段寻找this指代的内容,即Bronia would, in turn, later help her to get an education。
再举个栗子,C9T4P2中的人名理论匹配题。
Q21 A child's awareness of self is related to a sense of mastery over things and people.
原文:Paragraph B
Cooley (1902) suggested that a sense of the self-as-subject was primarily concerned with being able to exercise power. He proposed that the earliest examples of this are an infant's attempts to control physical objects, such as toys or his or her own limbs. This is followed by attempts to affect the behaviour of other people.
做完这道题需要读完原文对应的三句话内容,但我见过学生有只读一句话或两句话就做题的,然后说:老师,这个人没有对应的理论…
我们来看一下。
第一句话出现人名Cooley,这肯定得读,画出这句的关键词self-as-subject,exercise power,发现题干中没有对应内容。第二句话以he开头,肯定指代上一句的Cooley了,他在这句的主要观点是婴儿会尝试控制物品(当然,不认识physical objects的同学可以通过后面的such as推测出含义)。
题干中没有单独的一道题是说小孩自我意识的形成与控制物品有关系,到这里,很多同学就慌了:难道这个人与做题无关?一定要注意,后一句话还有一个this指代呢,读完了就能发现一个并列关系physical objects and other people,从而锁定Q21。
希望这几个简单的例子能提醒各位烤鸭,做题不要慌,先弄清指代内容,再决定是略读还是一定读!