TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2006)
-GRADE EIGHT-
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION
SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
So when we and other readers including the author as well are said to come up with similar interpretations, that kind of agreement could be created by common traditions and conventions of usage, practice and interpretation. In other words, we have some kind of shared basis for the same interpretation. But that does not mean that readers agree on the meaning all the time. In different time periods with different cultural perspectives, including class, belief and worldview, readers, I mean, competent readers, can arrive at different interpretations of texts. So meaning in the text is determined by how readers see it. It is not contained in the text in a fixed way.