点点英语
丁晓钟:全国著名四六级辅导专家,恩波特聘优秀核心教师,六级辅导实力派领军人物,“阅读超精读”和“词汇超链接”学习理念的创始人。全国唯一在同一城市招生超过两千人的六级老师,被业界人士惊呼为“奇迹”、“不可能完成的任务”。其编著的多本六级辅导书均进入畅销书行列。亲自担任恩波网站的主力辅导老师, 使不能参加丁老师辅导班的同学同样能接受丁老师的指导。
经常有同学问我:有没有什么捷径能够顺利地通过四六级、考研英语考试?我的回答总是:没有。但是,帮助同学们找到一套科学的学习方法,不仅可以提高英语能力,而且对考试也有切实的帮助,是我一直所追求的。结合我个人的学习体会,并经过长时间的思考和教学中的摸索,我总结出了一套以阅读为纲,提高英语综合能力和突破四六级和考研英语考试的“超精读”方法,希望对同学们有点帮助。
大家不管在阅读英文报刊还是真题的时候,第一遍都必须首先注意提高阅读速度。对报刊上的文章来说,第一遍读的时候不要查字典,记下起止时间,计算单位时间的阅读量。对真题来说,更加要控制在规定的时间内完成,阅读的时候就需要随时对可能的考点作出标记,最后结合解题技巧进行解题。此时的重点放在训练速度、掌握文章大意、结构、作者、专家等的观点。
下一步就是对文章和考点、干扰项等进行详细的分析、总结。这个时候就要仔细体会文章中精彩的语言,注意词的使用、内涵、搭配和扩展,代词和名词的指代,以及对精彩句型的模仿和重要语法现象的长句、难句、文章结构的分析。另外,还要注意句子和句子之间的关系是什么,是因果、递近、转折还是什么,尤其注意文章的第一句和最后一句,以及每段的第一句和最后一句与其它句子的关系。体会每句话在文章中的作用。在此过程中,要培养自己对文章主要讨论对象、关键词、作者、专家的观点和语气的把握,注意作者和专家的观点,专家和专家之间的观点是否相同或相反或互补,以及作者和专家的语气是赞成还是反对,是关注还是乐观等等。如果是真题,还要仔细分析考点和正确、干扰选项的规律与特征。在这个过程中,把文章尽可能的多读几遍,提高对文章中单词、短语、句型等的反应速度,阅读速度自然也会提高。
如果能做到上面几点,那么你才能说真正的理解了文章,阅读理解能力以及综合英语能力都会得到很大的提高,其结果是对考试中的每个题型的把握都会更上一层楼。先从听力说起,据研究,一个人的阅读理解能力和听力水平是成正比关系的。试想,有的同学连听力原文都看不懂,怎么可能听懂呢。另外,在超精读的过程中,所积累的词汇能力,对词汇题也有很大帮助,我做过统计,如果对10套左右的四六级、考研阅读真题中的词汇进行过深入学习,那么大纲中的重点词汇就已经被囊括大半了。而且,最好的词汇记忆方法就是通过阅读来学习,记得又牢又准确。对翻译、完形、改错、简短回答问题等小题型,你就会觉得得心应手了,因为你对这些题型的解题能力和你的阅读、词汇能力最相关。另外,还有作文,许多同学喜欢背模版,其实模版作文千篇一律,很难拿高分。如果大家在读报刊和真题的过程中有意识地摘抄和模仿一些精彩地道的词汇和句型,考试时信手拈来,无疑会吸引评卷老师的眼球。其实,大家想一想,我们所阅读的英文文章不都是精彩的作文范文吗?如果同学们能够在早晨或者傍晚朗诵或者背诵英文报刊文章或者就是真题阅读文章,那么你眼睛里、耳朵里接触到的都是地道的英语,那么坚持下去,你的听说读写能力都会很自然地提高了!
下面,我结合一些例子,说明一下如何进行超精读。
例一、 四级2001年6月Passage Four
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. when it was introduced,most people did not like it as well as“regular”coffee and it took several years to gain general acceptance(introduction stage).At one point,though,instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth).After a while,people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off(stage of maturity).Sales went into a slight decline (衰退)when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline).
26.According to the passage,when people grow fond of one particular brand of a product,its sales will_____.
A)decrease gradually
B)remain at the same level
C)become unstable
D)improve enormously
第一段中有三个句型可以在图表作文中应用:
1. Instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity.
我们可以这样模仿:The mobile phone has grown rapidly in popularity.
2. Sales leveled off.
或者也可以这样说:Sales remained constant/steady/stable/much the same
3. Sales went into a slight decline.
或者也可以这样说:Sales declined slightly.如果下降幅度大可以说:Sales declined dramatically/substantially/sharply/greatly/hugely.
词汇扩展( 同学们可以看一看是否掌握了这些文章的词汇和扩展词汇):
life cycle/energy cycle/eternal cycle/business cycle/business circles/instant coffee/ instant star/the instant/the minute/the moment/instantaneous/introduce a bill/general acceptance/general public/specific/at one point/on the point/to the point/brand/loyalty/become attached to/be detached from/maturity/mature/premature/ripe/sophisticated
例二、 四级2000年1月Passage Two
Some studies suggest that straight,horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
30.What does the author say about straight, horizontal bars painted across roads?
A) They cannot be applied successfully to traffic circles.
B) They tend to be ignored by drivers in a short period of time.
C) They are falling out of use in the United States.
D) They are applicable only on broad roads.
请用心体会一下initially 这个词的内涵,其实,你一看到这个词,就必须准确predict出后面可能会有考点,而且肯定会出现but, however, ultimately 一类的转折、对比词。答案B)。
例三、 六级2001年6月Passage Two
For centuries,explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons thatwere to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. …
Although their missions blended commercial and political—military imperatives,the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where no scientists had gone before.
Today Mars looms as humanity’s next great terra incognita.And with doubtful prospects for a short—term financial return,with the cold war a rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in large space ventures,it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet’s reddish surface.Could it be science,which has long played a minor role in exploration,is at least destined to take a leading role?…
With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. …
36.According to the passage,the chief purpose of explorers in going to unknown places in the past was_____ .
A) to display their country’s military might
B) to accomplish some significant science
C) to find new areas for colonization
D) to pursue commercial and state interests
37.At present,a probable inducement for countries to initiate large—scale space ventures is _____ .
A) international cooperation
B) nationalistic reasons
C) scientific research
D) long—term profits
同学们有没有发现:economic/commercial/financial/profit;nationalistic/plitical/military/cold war/nationalism;science/scientist/scientific 都是近义词或同一范畴的词,也就阅读文章中经常出现的同义换词现象。如果一个词的同义词、相关词在一篇文章中多次重复出现,必定是这篇文章的强调的地方,必定和考题相关。另外,请注意这两到题的考法,先考过去,再考现在,一个是was, 一个是is。答案D,C。
例四、 考研2004年Text 1
Hunting for a job late last year,lawyer Gant Redmon stumbled across CareerBuilder,a job database on the Internet.He searched it with no success but was attracted by the site’s “personal search agent”. It’s an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, and salary, then emails them when a matching position is posted in the database.…
Some sites design their agents to tempt job hunters to return.When CareerSite’s agent sends out messages to those who have signed up for its service,for example,it includes only three potential jobs—those it considers the best matches.There may—be more matches in the database;job hunters will have to visit the site again to find them—and they do.
44.Why does CareerSite’s agent offer each job hunter only three job options?
A) To focus on better job matches.
B) To attract more returning visits.
C) To reserve space for more messages.
D) To increase the rate of success.
请各位同学仔细看一下下面这句话中them是指代什么: then emails them when a matching position is posted in the database.有的辅导书上是这么翻译的:然后给网上贴出的对应岗位发个邮件。当时,你就通过email给这些人寄去相关的资料。其实,这里them指visitors。比如说你访问某个求职网站,登记了你的要求,那么该网站可能会根据你的要求给你发email通知你,这就是所谓的interactive feature。
44题答案B, 实际上考的是一个例证题,但是表面上不很容易看出来,这就是考研难的地方。如果你平时注意分析第一句话和后面句子的关系,那么你就会知道,例证题的答案经常指向段落第一句话。答案中attract替换原文tempt。如果你在解题的时候只注意后面几句话,就可能会做错答案或者速度慢了。
例五、 考研2002年Text 4
The Supreme Court’s decisions on physician—assisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering.
Although it ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician—assisted suicide,the Court in effect supported the medical principle of “double effect”,a centuries—old moral principle holding that an action having two effects—a good one that is intended and a harmful one that is foreseen—is permissible if the actor intends only the good effect.
56.From the first three paragraphs, we learn that_____ .
A) doctors used to increase drug dosages to control their patients’pain
B) it is still illegal for doctors to help the dying end their lives
C) the Supreme Court strongly opposes physician—assisted suicide
D) patients have no constitutional right to commit suicide
答案B, 这几段里有不少和法律相关单词可以学习,比如constitutional/rule/supreme court, rule 这个词在这里是裁决的意思,很多死背词汇书的同学考试中就不一定能够反应出这个意思。这道题目的干扰项之一C很有意思,大家有没有注意到strongly这个词,这个选项就错在这里。请看一下第二段Although这句话,体会一下这句话的内涵(尽管,但是),这句话的内涵是最高法院尽管认为医生协助病人自杀是非法的,是持反对态度的,但并不是强烈反对!所以大家在做题的时候一定要注意选项中的形容词和副词等限定词,这些地方经常是陷阱,同样文章中出现这类词汇也需要高度警惕。
因为时间关系,就简单地举这些例子,大家还有什么问题,或者我说的不当的地方,欢迎一起讨论!英语学习的道路是永无止境的!
最后引用一个我与一个网上同学的对话来结束这篇文章,希望各位同学都能早日视深刻地理解英语为一种享受,并顺利攻克四六级考研英语。
同学:您说的超精读会花费很多时间的难道不是吗?
答:呵呵,你搞错了,你做题目的时候是在40分钟之内完成。研究题目的时候超精读,知道吗?精读之外,研究好出题点,解题技巧,怎么会过不了?不花时间,怎么提高?你不精读,这次过不了,下次还要再考,更花时间。
最关键的是要下苦功,才能享受甜蜜的胜利果实!