(continued)

段落的主題甚至可以在body部分出現(xiàn),尤其是一個(gè)段落的中前部(圖3)。由于過(guò)度的渲染,我們已經(jīng)“過(guò)于”熟悉段落首句或者末句可能出現(xiàn)TS 的陳詞濫調(diào),而實(shí)際的閱讀過(guò)程中由于作者的個(gè)人表達(dá)需要,往往這種經(jīng)典的段落結(jié)構(gòu)并非容易看到,這就為我們把握段落主題帶來(lái)了挑戰(zhàn)。了解,同時(shí)熟悉段落中部(非首末句)的TS出現(xiàn)情況,對(duì)于我們把握Gist從而完成Heading題目有著相當(dāng)重要的作用。

什么時(shí)候段落的主題會(huì)出現(xiàn)在中間呢?

分析認(rèn)為,一種主要的情形就是在段落首句/前句后出現(xiàn)轉(zhuǎn)折類(lèi)型表達(dá)。從最熟悉的but,到次常用的whereas,抑或是片書(shū)面的nevertheless,我們都需要意識(shí)到轉(zhuǎn)折類(lèi)型表達(dá)的出現(xiàn)否定——或很大程度上削弱了——段落首句/前句的作用。段落的重心從而向后轉(zhuǎn)移。我們可以從劍橋系列的真題中看到很多這種例子。

例: Technical solutions can reduce the pollution problem and increase the fuel efficiency of engines. But fuel consumption and exhaust emissions depend on which cars are preferred by customers and how they are driven. Many people buy larger cars then they need for daily purposes or waste fuel by driving aggressively. Besides, global car use is increasing at a faster rate than the improvement in emissions and fuel efficiency which technology is now making possible.

例證類(lèi)型表達(dá)的出現(xiàn)是另一種典型的跡象。Example的作用就是用來(lái)支持和證明,因此出現(xiàn)例子的地方,前面就意味著存在需要被support的內(nèi)容。如果這部分內(nèi)容在段落的開(kāi)始,那么首句是TS沒(méi)有什么異議,如果在body部分,則有可能該段的要點(diǎn)后移了。

例:All of these are applications of biometrics, a little-known but fast-growing technology that involves the use of physical or biological characteristics to identify individuals. In use for more than a decade at some high-security government institution in the United States and Canada, biometrics are now rapidly popping up in the everyday world.(TS) Already, more than 10,000 facilities, from prisons to day-care centres, monitoring people’s fingerprints or other physical parts to ensure that they are who they claim to be. Some 60 biometric companies around the world pulled in at least $22 million last year and that grand total is expected to mushroom to at least $50 million by 1999.(劍2 Test 3)

而在段落首句或開(kāi)頭出現(xiàn)的強(qiáng)指代型用語(yǔ)——如各種指示代詞this/that/these——?jiǎng)t從又一個(gè)角度展示給我們首句并非“萬(wàn)能”。和中文相似,段首的指代類(lèi)型表達(dá)很多時(shí)候使得他們所在的句子變成了承接上文的transition,而本身則無(wú)法肩負(fù)起本段大意的作用了。

例:In the late 1940s the World Health Organisation challenged this physically and medically oriented view of health. They stated that ‘health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease’ (WHO, 1946). Health and the person were seen more holistically (mind/body/spirit) and not just in physical terms.(TS)(劍2 Test 1)

以上種種情況的存在,都告訴我們具體段落閱讀中首句并不能夠解決所有問(wèn)題,甚至不能解決多數(shù)問(wèn)題,我們必須對(duì)于其他可能并常見(jiàn)的段落寫(xiě)法和段落結(jié)構(gòu)進(jìn)行熟悉。在本文中,所舉例的幾種典型情況分別是:

轉(zhuǎn)折類(lèi)型表達(dá)的出現(xiàn)

例證類(lèi)型表達(dá)的出現(xiàn)

強(qiáng)指代類(lèi)型表達(dá)的出現(xiàn)

那么最后一種段落圖形——圖4——代表了Heading題解析過(guò)程中的哪種段落呢?