考研英语阅读理解新题型语篇应对策略
张ANDY
(东南大学，江苏 南京 210096)
摘要：今年考研英语中阅读理解部分新增了一种题型，考查考生对文章的总体结构以及单句之间、
段落之间的关系的理解和掌握。本文以2005 年考研英语阅读理解7 选5 真题为例，尝试将语篇分析
中的篇章模式和衔接理论用来处理这种新题型。
关键词：考研英语，阅读测试，语篇分析，篇章模式，衔接
A DISCOURSAL APPROACH TO THE NEW
Zhang Andy
Abstract: There appears a new reading task in this year’s KYET, which aims at candidates’ capability to skim text to gain the general structure and idea and understand relations among sentences and parts of text. The paper intends to apply the knowledge of text patterns and cohesion in text analysis to approaching the task. It takes the test item of 2005 as a case to demonstrate the feasibility of the conception.
Key words: KYET; Reading testing; Text analysis; Text pattern; Cohesion
1. Introduction
Reading comprehension test is a very important part of English test. At sentence level it tests linguistic competence in straightforward grammatical and lexical abilities; at discourse level, macro-skills, such as those of identifying stages of argument and recognizing logic relations of context, are tested. In English test of National Postgraduate Entrance Examination, reading comprehension section takes up about one third of the full mark.
According to English Testing Syllabus for 2005 National Postgraduate Entrance Examination, there shall be a new task (10 points), Part B in Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension. In this part there is a reading passage of 500 to 600 words and with five blanks, and six or seven groups of sentences following the passage. Candidates are required to choose five paragraphs to fill in the blanks and complete the passage according to their understanding of the passage and the sentence groups.
The new reading task aims to test candidates’ ability to skim text to obtain the gist, to understand relations among sentences and parts of text by recognizing indicators in discourse, especially for the introduction, development, transition and conclusion of ideas.
The inclusion of the new task, no doubt, demands higher reading ability on the part of the candidate. For one thing, it presents a longer text as usually reading passages have about 400 words. At the same time no much time can be spared for this part. As a result, reading volume is increased and reading speed is challenged. For another, there are six or seven choices with two extra. For each question, candidates have at least two distractors to rule out. Besides, these questions are closely related to each other, so one wrong act of choosing will very possibly result in one or two more mistakes. Thus the task becomes more difficult and confusing.
How to handle this matter? Generally, there are three steps to follow. First, read through the text quickly to grasp the theme and the basic structure. Second, examine the choices and the text to identify semantic relations, especially cohesion devices. Finally, go over the complete text again to check understanding and answers. It has become evident now that text analysis, to be exact, mastery of text pattern and interpretation of cohesion, plays a significant role during the whole reading process. It is to this that we turn next.
2. Text Analysis and Reading Comprehension
To interpret a text, we are to explore the relationship between its macro-structural organization and micro-structural properties. In this part our goal is to discover some of the underlying patterns that different texts can have in common and the common semantic relations between its sentences, segments.
To make sense of a text, one of the tasks facing the reader is to comprehend the connections between its various elements. Consider the following example:
They wouldn’t like a national agency, but self-interest would lead them to deal with it.
Here “but” clearly signals that what follows is to be interpreted as an adversative circumstance to their dislike referred to in the first clause. If we rewrite the example as
They wouldn’t like a national agency. Self-interest would lead them to deal with it.
Even with no overt signaling, the reader infers the nature of the connection. These connections, either signaled or inferred are called clause relations by Winter (1977):
A clause relation is the cognitive process whereby the reader interprets the meaning of a clause, sentence, or groups of sentences in the context of one or more preceding clauses, sentences, or groups of sentences in the same text. Winter (1977)
Clause relations may combine in text to form recognizable patterns. These are the “macro” patterns of text organization referred to above. In section 2.1 we shall consider some of these commonly occurring patterns of text organization.
2.1 Common patterns of text organization
According to Winter (1977), three patterns of organization have been identified. They are labeled problem-solution, hypothetical-real and general-particular.
The problem-solution pattern occurs frequently in expository text. To illustrate this, let us consider the following advertising text:
①One of the irritations for joggers is having to stop every five or ten minutes and retie their shoe laces. ②A new device – the Lacelock – puts an end to those involuntary pauses. ③The laces are threaded through the ends of a simple plastic barrel. ④This is pushed down on the tongue of the shoe and locked into place. ⑤a The tie is then completed and ⑤b the shoes will stay done up, throughout a bout of running, cycling or squash playing.
Sentence ① presents a situation and a problem associated with it. Sentence ② introduces a response to the problem. Sentences ③ to ⑤a give details of how the device works, while ⑤b gives a positive evaluation of the effectiveness of the device, in other words, evaluates it as a solution to the problem. That a positive evaluation is to be given is also indicated in sentence ② by put an end to. Thus we have a pattern: situation – problem – response - evaluation of response.
It is worth noting that the sentence and clauses marked ②to ⑤a are all covered by one label: response. Text segments such as response, evaluation, and so on, do not necessary coincide with sentences. They may contain less than a sentence, one sentence, or several sentences.
In the problem-solution pattern, the key element that marks the completion of the pattern is a positive evolution of at least one of the possible solutions offered. If possible evaluation for any particular solution is withheld, the writer normally turns to consider other possible solutions. Most problem-solution patterns will end with a preferred solution, but may have stages in between where solutions are rejected, or partially accepted, creating more complex patterns.
The second pattern we shall consider is termed a hypothetical-real structure. In the hypothetical element the writer reports what has been said or written but does not accede to its truth: the statement to be affirmed or denied is presented. In the real element the writer gives what he or she considers to be the truth: the statement is affirmed or denied.
The third common pattern to be presented is a general-particular structure, where a generalization is followed by more specific statements, perhaps exemplifying the generalization. Generalization followed by example or examples is one type of general-particular structure. Another type is a preview-detail relation in which the detail element provides information about what is referred to in the preview element.
Almost all texts contain, more or less, some narrative texts or text segments. In addition to the three patterns, there was another common pattern, that is, the narrative pattern, which has been extensively analyzed. One of the most widely employed models was developed by Labov (1972). It divides the main stages of the narrative pattern into six parts: abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, resolution and coda. Of course, not all narrative have these ingredients and many narrators dispense with a formal abstract and coda. However, a narrative text cannot normally be considered to a well-formed narrative if it lacks any of the other main constitutes.
As can be seen, among the four common patterns of text organization, most attention was paid to the problem-solution pattern. Partly it is out of the consideration of the thesis length. More important, in our case study the text taken as an example complies with this pattern.
2.2 Cohesion: semantic relations within the text
Spoken and written discourses display grammatical and lexical connections between individual clauses and utterances. In analyzing the connections we have an important concept – cohesion.
“Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another.” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976) It refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text. The new reading task just tests candidates’ ability in interpreting the semantic relations within a text so as to fill in the blanks accordingly. So, a theoretical knowledge of cohesion and cohesion devices will do a lot to promote good performance in the task. For this reason, we shall give a brief introduction to cohesion devices in the coming part.
Halliday and Hasan (1976) establish two ways of creating cohesion in a text: grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion. Grammatical cohesion consists of reference, ellipsis, substitution and discourse markers and conjunctions. Lexical cohesion or “the cohesive effect achieved by the selection of vocabulary” refers to reiterationand collocation.
Reference is the relation between an element of the text and something else by reference to which it is interpreted in the give instance. Reference is a potentially cohesive relation because the thing that serves as the source of the interpretation may itself be an element of text.
Substitutionandellipsis are very similar to each other. The former is the replacement of one item by another, and the latter is the omission of an item and can be defined as substitution by zero. Substitution is a relation in the wording within the text. Generally the substitute item has the same structural function as that for which it substitutes.
Conjunction is somewhat different from the other cohesive relations. It is based on the assumption that there are in the linguistic system forms of systemic relations between sentences. Conjunction elements express certain meanings which presuppose the presence of other components in the discourse.
Reiteration is a general lexical cohesive phenomenon which includes several different procedures of cohesion: the repetition of a lexical item, the use of a synonym, near-synonym or superordinate and the use of a “general noun”. Consider the following example:
Collocationis defined as the tendency of two lexical items to appear in similar contexts. This co-occurrence provokes cohesion. For instance, it would be easy to find a text on English literature where words such as poetry, literature, reader, writer, style may appear. These collocations cooperate in the creation of texture, the quality of a text being a unity.
To illustrate these, let us consider the following examples:
①If the provinces want to run the health-care show, they should prove they can run it.
②For Questions 41—45, choose the most suitable one from choices A—G to fit into each of the numbered blank.
③Instead of each province having its own list of approved drugs, bureaucracy, procedure and limited bargaining power, all would pool resources…
④Both the Romanow commission and the Kirby committee on health care say nothing of reports from other experts recommending the creation of anational drug agency. Instead of each province having its own list of approved drugs, bureaucracy, procedure and limited bargaining power, all would pool resources, work with Ottawa, and create a national institution.
⑤They’re all groaning about soaring health budgets, the fastest-growing component of which are pharmaceutical costs.
In sentence ①, they refers anaphorically to the provinces, and if presupposes the presence of a precondition. In example ②, one substitutes for choice. After the word all in ③ we something is left unsaid, which can be retrieved from the preceding items. It is province. Sentence ④ contains an example of reiteration: agency is synonymous with institution. With regard to ⑤, cohesive chains are also built up out of budgets and soaring and costs and growing. It is an example of collocation.
3. Case Study: The New Reading Test Item in KYET of 2005
In the preceding two sections we devoted much space to exploring the four common core patterns of clause relations and examining the cohesive relations and devices with a text. In this section we continue to apply what we have discussed to the analysis of the choose-5-among-7 reading task of this year’s KYET. What follows is a copy of it:
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Part B
Directions:
In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41—45, choose the most suitable one from the list A—G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
1 Canada’s premiers (the leaders of provincial governments), if they have any breath left after complaining about Ottawa at their late July annual meeting, might spare a moment to do something, to reduce health-care costs.
2 They’re all groaning about soaring health budgets, the fastest-growing component of which are pharmaceutical costs.
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41
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4 What to do? Both the Romanow commission and the Kirby committee on health care say nothing of reports from other experts recommending the creation of a national drug agency. Instead of each province having its own list of approved drugs, bureaucracy, procedure and limited bargaining power, all would pool resources, work with Ottawa, and create a national institution.
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42
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6 But “national” doesn’t have to mean that. “National” could mean interprovincial -- provinces combining efforts to create one body.
7 Either way, one benefit of a “national” organization would be to negotiate better prices, if possible, with drug manufacturers. Instead of having one province-or a series of hospitals within a province-negotiate a price for a given drug on the provincial list, the national agency would negotiate on behalf of all provinces.
8 Rather than, say, Quebec, negotiating on behalf of seven million people, the national agency would negotiate on behalf of 31 million people. Basic economics suggests the greater the potential consumers, the higher the likelihood of a better price.
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43
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10 A small step has been taken in the direction of a national agency with the creation of the Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment, funded by Ottawa and the provinces. Under it, a Common Drug Review recommends to provincial lists which new drugs should be included, predictably and regrettably Quebec refused to join.
11 A few premiers are suspicious of any federal-provincial deal-making. They (particularly Quebec and Alberta) just want Ottawa to fork over additional billions with few, if any, strings attached. That’s one reason why the idea of a national list hasn’t gone anywhere while drug costs keep rising fast.
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44
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13 Premiers love to quote Mr. Romanow’s report selectively, especially the parts about more federal money perhaps they should read what he has to say about drugs.
14 “A national drug agency would provide governments more influence on pharmaceutical companies in order to constrain the ever-increasing cost of drugs.”
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45
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16 So when the premiers gather in Niagara Falls to assemble their usual complaint list, they should also get cracking about something in their jurisdiction that would help their budgets and patients.
A. Quebec’s resistance to a national agency is provincialist ideology. One of the first advocates for a national list was a researcher at Laval University. Quebec’s Drug Insurance Fund has seen its costs skyrocket with annual increases from 14.3 per cent to 26.8 per cent!
B. Or they could read Mr. Kirby’s report: “the substantial buying power of such an agency would strengthen the public prescription-drug insurance plans to negotiate the lowest possible purchase prices from drug companies.”
C. What does “national” mean? Roy Romanow and Senator Michael Kirby recommended a federal-provincial body much like the recently created National Health Council.
D. The problem is simple and stark: health-care costs have been, are, and will continue to increase faster than government revenues.
E. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, prescription drug costs have risen since 1997 at twice the rate of overall health-care spending. Part of the increase comes from drugs being used to replace other kinds of treatments, part of it arises from new drugs costing more than older kinds. Part of it is higher prices.
F. So, if the provinces want to run the health-care show, they should prove they can run it, starting with an interprovincial health list that would end duplication, save administrative costs, prevent one province from being played off against another, and bargain for better drug prices.
G. Of course the pharmaceutical companies will scream. They like divided buyers, they can lobby better that way. They can use the threat of removing jobs from one province to another. They can hope that, if one province includes a drug on its list, the pressure will cause others to include it on theirs. They wouldn’t like a national agency, but self-interest would lead them to deal with it.
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To deal with a reading task of this kind, candidates have to, first of all, read through quickly the first one or two paragraphs to get a gist, that is, what it is about. In the first paragraph, the writer says that Canada’s premiers should spare some efforts to reduce health-care costs and in paragraph 2 the author writes they’re all complaining about soaring health budgets, especially pharmaceutical costs. Judging from the two paragraphs candidates may arrive at a presumption that the text tells about the problem of the increasing drug prices and how to deal with the problem. If so, the text can be said of the problem-solution pattern. With a glance of the following paragraphs candidates can easily find words and expressions such as drug agency, bargaining power, a better price, what to do, and a small step has been taken. All these confirm the assumption. Now choices are to be made with sufficient consideration of the theme of reducing drug prices.
Next candidates are faced with the during-reading task. In order to fill in the blanks with the right groups of sentences, they have to take into count another two factors in addition to the textual theme. They are what the neighboring paragraphs mean and what the choices say.
Now come to blank 41. In the previous paragraph the key words pharmaceutical cost has been introduced as a topic and a problem as well. Therefore, what follows in the place of 41 is likely to be the extension of the topic statement. The beginning sentence What to do? following the blank suggests the information to be filled must be a problem, a phenomenon or a reality requiring a solution. Going through the seven choices candidates will find only choice E mentions and analyzes the problem of rising drug costs. So we have E as the best choice.
Right after blank 42 is the sentence But “national” doesn’t have to mean that. Two safe inferences can be made with regard to what is left out in 42. First, blank 42 proposes a possible explanation of what is meant by “national”. In addition, the explanation is quite different from what is offered in its following paragraph, which justifies the existence of But. In view of the inferences C is sure to be chosen, which gives a possible definition of national as federal-provincial.
Let us look at blank 43. The previous two paragraphs states one benefit of a national organization in a theoretical and ideal way, and takes Quebec for an example. Reading this, most candidates can’t help thinking over the practicality and feasibility of the idea since it is beneficial. What will come next? Among the remaining choices, G is the right, which is about the dissatisfaction and dislike about the idea of a national agency on the part of pharmaceutical companies and their reluctant cooperation. It is well consistent and coherent with the context. What about other choices? Quebec’s resistance in A presupposes a referent in the preceding text; or in B indicates simple alternative additive relation; so in F is a signal of general causal relation. D serves actually a distractor when candidates deal with blank 41.
Turn to 44. The previous two paragraphs read Quebec refusedto join, and A few premiers are suspicious of any federal-provincial deal-making. In other words, there are obstacles in the implementation of the idea of a national list. Imaginably, the writer can not leave the problem unsolved. Predictably, possible solution will be mentioned or discussed in the following text. A and F come up as the potential choices. Which is the right one? Quebec’s resistance to a national agency is provincialist ideology obviously does not accord with A few premiers are suspicious of any federal-provincial deal-making. Besides, resistance is concurrent with refused, but they have a distance of a paragraph while the paragraph theme has been changed. Then we choose F. Reasonably, since some provinces do not have much confidence in a federal-provincial organization, they have to come up with their own solutions to the problem of soaring drug costs.
After completing four blanks, candidates will find it easy to have the last blank filled. That is B. B is also a quote from the report of Mr. Kirby, which has been mentioned in the paragraph following blank 41. It goes on to say the significance of the creation of a national agency.
Now that candidates have got a whole text, the third step to take is to go over it and check their answers. As has been mentioned above, the text falls into, generally speaking, problem-solution pattern. The progression of it topic is evident. The first three paragraphs present a situation and a problem: the drug costs are soaring and how to deal with the situation? The sentence What to do? in paragraph 4 signals a possible response which is to be introduced. The response is to establish a national drug agency. Paragraphs 5 and 6 give two alternative definition of national. Paragraphs 7 and 8 evaluate the idea of a national agency. Paragraphs 9 to 12 narrate two sources of resistance in the application of the idea, one from pharmaceutical companies and the other from some provinces. In paragraphs 13 and 14 quotes from two experts’ reports are used to emphasis the necessity and significance of the creation of a national drug agency. Positive evaluation is repeated in the final paragraphs. The text can be schematized thus:
Situation and problem
↓
Potential solution (interpretation)
↓
Positive evaluation
↓
Complication of problem
↓
Positive evaluation
One of the skills of efficient readers of English is the ability to recognize typical patterns of organization in texts. So, for example, if we read of a problem we look for some response to it; if we read a generalization we anticipate some support for it. Once a pattern is recognized, the reader’s task in inferring connections between the elements is largely done.
4．Backwash and Implications
English test for National Postgraduate Entrance Examination is a national proficiency test, which candidates of different learning experience have to take in order to be admitted to a university for their master degree. Among those candidates many are college graduates. Inevitably the English test exerts a great effect on college English teaching.
As a new blood of the test, the new reading comprehension item is directed straight at candidates’ ability to recognize macro-patterns of text and interpret relations of meaning among elements of text. It is a constructive attempt to construct a discourse-oriented test. It tells us to have a thorough understanding of a text, grammar and lexical knowledge alone does not suffice. What’s more, in terms of material development, it causes an urgent need to design more discourse-based activities.
As teachers, then one of our tasks is to develop through more practice at the discourse level the necessary linguistic skills in our students so that they can recognize these typical patterns, make the appropriate anticipation, and draw the underlying relations. In so doing, students’ performance in reading test can be advanced, and more important, their reading comprehension will get well-developed and English proficiency will be greatly promoted.
Bibliography
1. Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English﹝M﹞. London: Longman.
2. Heaton, J.B. 1988. Writing English Language Tests﹝M﹞. 2nd edition. London: Longman
3. Hughes, A. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers﹝M﹞. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Labov, W. 1972. Language in the Inner City﹝M﹞. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
5. McCarthy, M., & R. Carter. 1994. Language as Discourse: Perspectives for Language Teaching﹝M﹞. London: Longman.
6. Winter, E.O. 1977. “A clause-relational approach to English texts”﹝J﹞, Instructional Science 6(1)1-92.
10. http://edu.beelink.com.cn/20050128/1776664.shtml，新航道名师团详解考研英语7选5及完型填空
考研英语阅读理解选配题语篇应对策略
(巢湖学院外语系，安徽 巢湖 238000)
根据《2005年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语考试大纲》修订部分的要求，试卷第二部分是阅读理解新增B节，为一篇阅读文章 (500-600词)，其中有5段空白，文章后有6-7段文字，要求考生根据文章内容从这6-7段文字中选择能分别放进文章中5个空白处的5段。对比看来，2008年的大纲除了多了两种备选题外，对选择搭配题型的要求没有发生实质性变化，出现的只是措词上的细微变化。
新题型主要考察考生对诸如连贯性、一致性、逻辑联系等语篇、语段整体特征的理解，即要求考生在理解全文的基础上弄清文章的整体和微观结构。05和06年考查的是难度相对较大的第一种选择搭配题。一般来说，在解题时可以遵循以下三个步骤：首先，浏览全文，了解文章主题和基本结构；其次，认真阅读各选项，研究它们和所给文章可能存在的逻辑语义关系（尤其注意衔接手段的运用），做出初步选择；最后，快速通读全文，检查对文章理解的正确性和所做答案的合理性。显然，语篇分析，特别是对篇章模式的掌握和对衔接关系的理解在整个解题过程中起到了至关重要的作用。
2、 语篇分析与阅读理解
3、 个案分析：2005年考研英语阅读理解选配题真题
4、 结语
作为考研英语测试的新鲜血液，阅读理解选配题把测试目的对准考生提取篇章宏观结构模式和理解篇章各部分意义关系的能力。这是构建语篇测试的一次建设性的尝试，向我们有力地证明了要彻底理解一篇篇章仅靠语法词汇知识是行不通的。就教材编写而言，选配题型使我们更加清醒地认识到设计更多基于语篇的练习以提高学生语篇能力的必要性和紧迫性。
作为英语教师，我们应该通过更多语篇层面的训练培养和锻炼学生必要的语言技能，使他们能够有效辨认常见篇章模式、作出合理预测判断和正确分析潜存关系。这样学生就能在阅读测试取得更好成绩，更重要的是他们的阅读理解能力得到了全面提高，英语语言水平也得到了成功提升。
