According to the provisions of the examination syllabus, CET-4 reading articles should reflect the characteristics of a wide range of topics, but the background knowledge involved should be understandable by students. Throughout 1997 ~ 2002, among the nearly 60 short articles, 30 are related to humanities (including culture, history, education, literature, customs, music, etc. ), accounting for 50% of the total; Social sciences (such as sociology, psychology, economics, etc.). ) accounts for about 25%, and the rest are popular science essays.
The above statistics show that although reading articles has a wide range of topics, from the perspective of subject categories, it has the characteristics of relatively concentrated analysis, that is, humanities and social sciences that students are familiar with account for about 3/4 of the total, while popular science topics (such as natural sciences and life sciences) that involve certain scientific knowledge but students are not familiar with only account for about14 of the total. It can be seen that CET-4 reading texts are basically common themes and should be within the grasp of students. However, it should be noted that the number of popular science reading articles has increased in recent years.
As far as genre is concerned, although the syllabus stipulates that reading short essays should be diversified, from all the real questions over the years, argumentative and expository essays account for nearly 90%, and there are also a certain number of descriptive essays.
To sum up, the theme and genre distribution characteristics of CET-4 are obvious. When the subject matter is not difficult, candidates can focus on discussing the stylistic features and argumentation skills of English argumentative and expository essays, so as to cultivate correct reading and problem-solving ideas.
Genre analysis of reading materials
A good reading essay should be self-contained, and the viewpoints and arguments in it should be closely related to the theme or central idea, that is, the so-called formal cohesion and content coherence. Whether it is an argumentative or an expository essay, there is a main line running through the whole text: introduction-theory-conclusion. If readers always grasp this main line in the process of reading and judge the details and facts around it, then no matter what kind of problems, they can be solved.
1. Structural characteristics and argumentation methods of argumentative essays
The purpose of argumentative writing is "persuasion", that is, the author tries to make readers agree with and support his own views, or refute a certain point of view. A good argumentative essay must have the following basic structural characteristics: (1) There is a controversial point of view; (2) There is sufficient evidence; (3) strong logic. Mastering the above three characteristics, readers will have a clear judgment when reading a short article and take corresponding countermeasures. Look at the following example:
Example 1 (CET-4, June 2006, Chapter 2)
Sports is not only a physical challenge, but also a spiritual challenge. Criticism from coaches, parents and other teammates, as well as the pressure of winning will bring too much anxiety or pressure to young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional or psychological, and research shows that it can lead to burnout. Burnout is described as giving up or quitting an activity that was once enjoyable.
The first few years of growing up are a crucial period to know yourself. The sports environment is a place where valuable experience can be gained. For example, young athletes can learn how to cooperate with others, make friends and acquire other social skills that will be useful for life. Coaches and parents should always be aware that their feedback to teenagers will greatly affect their children. Young people may take the criticism of their parents and coaches to heart and find shortcomings in themselves.
Coaches and parents should also be careful not to let teenagers participate in sports as children's work. The result of the competition should not be more important than the process of learning this sport and other life courses. In today's youth sports environment, young athletes may be more worried about who will win than enjoying themselves and the sport. After the game, many parents and coaches pay attention to the results and find fault with the performance of young people. Whatever the outcome, we should provide active support. Research shows that positive reinforcement can stimulate learning more than criticism and have a greater impact on learning. Similarly, criticism can produce high stress, which can lead to exhaustion.
This is a typical essay. Firstly, this paper discusses the pressure brought by the criticism of parents and coaches to young athletes. Physical, emotional and psychological pressure will lead to the fatigue of athletes, thus emphasizing the importance of positive and intensive education for children from the opposite side. The main line of this paper is shown in the underlined part above. In the first paragraph, the author first puts forward the theme he wants to show (but it can also be a physical challenge. ), and then in the second and third paragraphs, it is demonstrated with typical examples of positive and negative aspects. In the last paragraph, it is pointed out that the criticism of parents and coaches will make children highly nervous, and nervousness will make children exhausted. It goes without saying that parents and coaches should give their children more positive and intensive education. Therefore, the whole article adopts the general-sub-general reasoning method, with clear structure and strong logic.
There are two main ways to demonstrate argumentative essays in CET-4: deduction and induction. Deduction is a method of reasoning from general statements to specific conclusions. Induction refers to starting from individual cases and finally reaching a general conclusion, which is a reasoning method from individual to general. Judging from the argumentative papers in recent years, deductive reasoning is often used. Understanding the proportion and structure of argumentative essays in CET-4 reading essays will help candidates to consciously strengthen their ability of discrimination in this respect, make them pay attention to grasping the main line in the process of solving problems, and clarify the author's argumentation ideas, so as to overcome their hectic and blind psychology and enhance the rationality and logic of doing problems.
2. The structural characteristics and interpretation methods of explanatory text
The purpose of expository writing is "informing", that is, telling people something and explaining it so that readers can understand it. The fundamental difference between it and argumentative writing lies in its objectivity and authenticity, emphasizing detailed description and ignoring abstract comments. Its language mostly uses objective words and seldom uses subjective words, such as adjectives and adverbs that express personal likes and dislikes. Therefore, such articles are relatively easy for candidates to master.
The structural characteristics and interpretation methods of expository writing are similar to those of argumentative writing, and deduction and induction are often used, but induction is more used in expository writing than argumentative writing. Look at another example:
Example 2(CET-4 200 1 June 3)
Humans use less than half of the world's available water. However, shortages and droughts are causing famine and suffering in some areas, and individuals and agricultural by-products are polluting water sources. As the world population is expected to double in the next 50 years, many experts believe that we are on the verge of a general water crisis.
But this is not necessarily the result. If we pay more attention to water resources than in the past, the shortage of water resources will not necessarily plague the world. Just as we began to pay more attention to oil after the oil crisis in the 1970 s, today we must start to look at water from a new economic perspective. We can no longer think that water is an almost free resource, and we can use it at will in any way.
On the contrary, for all purposes except the domestic needs of the poor, the government should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging for the water itself and the cost of water supply.
The government should also protect this resource and supply water in a more economical and environmentally friendly way. For example, the cheapest way to provide irrigation water in arid tropical areas is usually through small-scale projects, such as collecting rainwater in depressions and pumping it to nearby farmland.
No matter what steps the government takes to supply water more effectively, they must change the system and legal method of water use. Countries should establish a central organization to coordinate water policies, instead of dispersing control power to hundreds or even thousands of local, regional and national institutions, which are responsible for supervising all aspects of water resources use.
This paper expounds the problems existing in human utilization of water resources and their solutions. In the first paragraph, the author first points out the potential water crisis facing mankind. At the beginning of the second paragraph, the author leads out the theme of this article with the turning conjunction "but": We must cherish water resources from now on, otherwise the shortage of water resources will bring trouble to mankind. In the next three natural paragraphs, the author expounds some concrete measures to protect the existing water resources of mankind.
In the method of explanation, this paper adopts the inductive method of separate description-general description to guide candidates to draw general conclusions from specific facts.
Generally speaking, the types of descriptive articles are more detailed, so candidates should be more confident in the face of such articles.
(Text/Wenzhou Vocational and Technical College Li; English tutoring newspaper, the first-year college edition in 2003-04,No. 13; Copyright belongs to English Tutorial, and Sina Education, a network partner, may not reprint it in any form without permission. )