First, analyze the structural rules of the article.
Generally speaking, the purpose of reading articles is to obtain information. Different genres of articles have different structural characteristics. Therefore, one of the most effective ways for us to obtain information is to learn and understand the structure of the article, so as to locate the information we are looking for more accurately and quickly.
There are three main genres of reading comprehension articles in CET-4: narrative, expository and argumentative. Based on the real questions of CET-4 in February 2000, this paper explains in detail how to use the structural characteristics of the article to achieve the purpose of reading.
1, narrative
Narrative is generally based on personal life experience, and the narrative of experience is usually run through by a certain concept of time, either smooth or reverse. However, there is generally no simple narrative in CET-4, because simple narrative is relatively simple and easy to understand. Therefore, most of the narratives in CET-4 are articles with narration and discussion. The basic structural model of this kind of article is:
1) Introduce the experience (topic) to be described in general sentences.
2) Describe the previous experience (e.g. 1) and its insights or findings.
3) Describe the next experience (Example 2) and its insights or findings.
4) make a summary or conclusion
65438+February 2000 The second part of CET-4 reading comprehension is such a structure. We can simplify its structure to:
1) Sum word:
Engineering students should be role models of practice and rationality, but when it comes to my college education, I am an idealist and a fool.
2) previous experiences or ideas
In high school, I wanted to be … but I didn't choose a university with a big engineering department.
3) Future experience
I chose to study engineering in a small liberal arts university to get a wide education.
4) The next experience
I'm sure I will have an advantage over others.
5) The experience of coming down again
Now I'm not sure. ..... I understand why few engineering students try to combine engineering with liberal arts courses in universities.
6) Conclusion
I realize that it is difficult to reconcile engineering and liberal arts studies.
As long as you understand the structural characteristics of such articles, it is quite simple to answer questions, because most of the reading comprehension questions after such articles are detailed questions in the same order as the contents of the articles.
2. Explanatory text (descriptive text)
The general structural pattern of expository writing is similar to that of narrative writing, that is, asking questions (or eliciting questions with examples)-(experts) discovering direct causes-analyzing deep causes-drawing conclusions or finding a way out.
65438+February 2000 The third article of College English Reading Comprehension Band 4 is such an article.
1) Priscilla Ouchuida's "energy-saving" house became a terrible dream.
Experts finally found out the cause of her illness. (direct cause)
3)ou chida is the victim of indoor air polarization, ...
The problem arises that the newly built house is more troublesome than the old one. (draw a conclusion)
Knowing the structural characteristics of similar articles, we can predict the examination questions accordingly. For example, when we see that the article belongs to this structural type, we can judge that one of several problems must have a reason and may have an inference.
3. Argumentative essay
For all of us, the most recognizable argument model is the propositional-anti-propositional model. In this model, the author first puts forward a generally recognized point of view or some people's ideas or opinions, and then expounds his own ideas or opinions, or puts forward counterclaims or real situations. 1996 1.00 the fourth part of college English reading comprehension is such a structure.
At the beginning of the article, a university teacher thinks: "English teachers in senior high schools have not done their job well." Because his students are not good at English.
The author's rebuttal view is:
1) It is inevitable for one generation to complain about the next. It is human nature to look for reasons for one's dissatisfaction.
2) Those who criticize high school teachers don't realize that their language ability has been developed over the years.
The final conclusion is that the attention to English underline and degradation has been going on for a generation, which is nothing new for young people today.
This structural feature of argumentative writing determines that its main types are the author's viewpoint and attitude, the theme of the article and reasoning judgment. As long as this structural feature is discovered, the main task of answering questions becomes to find answers in paragraphs, which is basically not difficult.
By studying the structural characteristics of the above-mentioned articles, we can easily find that in the reading comprehension of CET-4, no matter what genre of articles, they all follow the same pattern: raising topics (opinions or examples)-analyzing reasons (or refuting opinions) with examples-and drawing conclusions. Grasping the structural characteristics of the article will help readers pay more attention to the beginning and end of the article in CET-4 reading comprehension, distinguish opinions from example sentences, and thus accurately locate and answer questions quickly.
Second, skillfully bypass new words.
The method of skillfully circumventing new words mentioned here is the same as the idea of analyzing the structural characteristics of the article above. That is to say, as long as you grasp the article as a whole and don't know every word, you can still understand the whole article.
1. Not all words in English articles have the same function. Some words are responsible for conveying the main information, some words mainly play a grammatical role or convey information that has nothing to do with other information below. Such words include proper nouns such as names of people, places and institutions. When we meet these words, as long as we can recognize them as proper nouns, we can understand the article without knowing their meanings. For example, in the following sentence, "In fact," said David Dinges, a sleep expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, "it is even forbidden to admit that we need sleep." You don't have to pay attention to the part between quotation marks. Similarly: "We must completely change our attitude towards siesta," said Dr. William Dement of Stanford University, the god of sleep research.
2. We don't need to understand some of the above parts because there is often an appositive behind them to explain their meaning. This leads to the second reason, why we don't have to understand the meaning of all the words. In other words, if we are not familiar with a word in the article, we can also help to judge it according to other information in the unified article. This kind of information includes appositives, definitions, explanations, examples, synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms and punctuation marks (such as dashes and colons).
Third, grasp the trunk of the sentence
In order to understand the article quickly and accurately, we should not only grasp the key sentences, but also grasp the key components in the sentences. It is mainly the backbone of a sentence, such as subject, predicate and object, because they are the main carriers of information transmission, and other components are auxiliary components no matter how long and complex. For example, the following sentence: another element of the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that attaches importance to Excellence in a certain field and can cultivate talents. As long as we grasp that the element is society, we can know that society is a factor in the emergence of prodigies.
The core issue to be explained in today's lecture is that when reading English articles, we must have a global concept and grasp the articles from a macro perspective. When we do this, we can calmly deal with various problems in various articles.
Fourth, master the "third vocabulary"
Function words in grammar are very important for understanding sentences, as are the real words that play an organizational role in the article, because mastering them can greatly enhance the ability to predict the following in reading comprehension. We call these words "the third vocabulary" (different from function words and general content words that only play a grammatical role). If you catch them, you catch the core meaning of the article. There are many such words, the most common are:
Realization, addition, attribute, reason, change, consequence, denial, effect, explanation, fact, form, reason, example, kind, way, problem, method, contrary, point, problem, reason, respect, result, same, situation, thing, way.
In addition, some people think that the "third vocabulary" is mainly some "reference nouns", including:
Abstraction, method, belief, classification, doctrine, dogma, evaluation, evidence, insight, investigation, explanation, notice, opinion, position, support, there, viewpoint and so on.
Others summed up some "third words" for a certain article type. For example, in the article mode of "solving problems", these "third words" are more fixed and clear. They are:
Problems: concerns, difficulties, dilemmas, shortcomings, obstacles, obstacles, problems, obstacles, etc.
Reaction: change, fight (v), propose, develop, discover, measure, respond, respond, etc.
Solution or result: answer, consensus, effect, result, result, solution, (re) solution, etc.
Evaluation: effectiveness, management, future, success, unsuccessfulness, feasibility and work.
The words gathered in the structure mode of "proposition-anti-proposition" articles include: proposition, state, truth, falsehood, fact, truth and belief.