指代关系识别.doc

英汉两种语言指代差异对高中学生英语阅读理解影响浅析

--------城桥中学 唐静忠

摘要：
识别指代关系是中国学生英语阅读理解的难点之一，在英语短文阅读过程中是否能正确把握代词的指代，则成为考察阅读理解能力高低的一个重要标志。本文从英语及汉语两种语言在这方面的差异着手，通过教学实例分析认为，造成这种困难的原因在于：在表示指代关系时，英语多用代词以避免重复，而汉语则有多用实词或重复名词的倾向，这种差异对中国学生的英语阅读理解造成了困难。最后，提出了克服这一困难的建议，以期对英语阅读教学及提高学生的英语阅读能力有所帮助。

关键词：英汉对比，指代差异，英语阅读理解，母语干扰

一、引言

阅读能力是英语考试中重点考查的英语语言运用能力。以高考英语试题为例，阅读理解题在试题中所占的比重最大，同时听力、完形填空、书面表达、单项填空等题型的答题效果也直接或间接地依赖于阅读能力。如完形填空，如果学生不能读懂短文的大意，就无法正确地填上所缺的单词。因此，提高英语阅读能力在英语学习中常起着至关重要的作用。

从全国各地高考英语试题的设计去分析，涉及阅读技巧和语篇能力方面的考点主要有：理解主旨大意与细节、根据上下文线索猜测生词词义、识别具体事实和抽象概念、把握全篇的结构与逻辑关系、理解文章的字面意思与深层含义、理解图表信息，识别文中的指代关系等。

识别指代关系是中国学生英语阅读理解的难点之一，在英语短文阅读过程中是否能正确把握代词的指代，则成为考察阅读理解能力高低的一个重要标志。本文拟从英语及汉语两种语言在这方面的差异着手，分析造成这种困难的原因并提出相应的建议，希望能对英语阅读教学及提高学生的英语阅读能力有所帮助。

二、英汉两种语言的指代差异
识别文中的指代关系是抓住作者思路的一个有效手段。作为一种语篇连缀手段，指代关系的作用仅次于关联词。然而，许多读者对于像 it，he，them，this，that，these，those这样的代词却不以为然甚至视而不见，结果在复杂的句子或段落中就容易失去线索。指代关系有回指及下指的区分。回指是作者为避免重复，使用名词、代词、副词、助动词替代上文中提到的名词、时间、地点、动词，或使用同义词或近义词代替已出现的名词、形容词等。在以it作为形式主语或形式宾语的句子中，则是下指的一种情况。
代词对于学习英语的人来说并不陌生。无论是汉语还是英语都有代词的概念。但比较起来，英语使用人称代词和指示代词的频率显然高于汉语，而汉语通过零式指代和名词的重复使用来表达照应关系的现象则远远高于英语（朱永生，2001：38

）。请看下面两句英文及其对应的汉语译文：
( 1 ) Translation from English into Chinese is not so easy as that from English into French. 英译汉不如英译法容易
( 2 ) He hated failure; he had conquered it all his life, risen above it, and despised it in others.
他讨厌失败，他一生中曾战胜失败，超越失败，并且藐视别人的失败。
再看两例汉译英的译文：
( 1 ) 我们的学校是一所美丽的学校。Ours is a beautiful school.
( 2 ) 共同富裕的构想是这样提出的：一部分地区有条件先发展起来，一部分地区发展慢点，先发展起来的地区带动后发展的地区，最终达到共同富裕。《邓小平文选》
Our plan is as follows: Where conditions permit, some areas may develop faster than others; those that develop faster can help promote the progress of those that lag behind, until all become prosperous. ( Selected works of Deng Xiaoping Foreign Language Press)
三、指代差异对学生阅读理解的影响分析
　　　　　总的说来，英语多用代称,以避免重复； 汉语少用代称， 多用实词，因而较常重复。这种差异对中国学生的英语阅读产生不小的干扰。笔者曾对自己的学生所做的有关指代关系的阅读理解题的情况作过统计。先以高一第一学期英语新世纪教材第八单元补充阅读课文Hacking为例
Hacking
By the end of 1946, technology had advanced so greatly as to make the electronic computer a part of life. The year 1976 saw the appearance of a more advanced type of computer, which was performing 100 million calculations a second. This record, however, was quickly rewritten. The fast development of computer speed brings endless benefits to human life. There are always two sides to a thing, though.
There are problems with using computers and storing useful data in them. In 1988, a US official said that a German student had been regularly reading their top secret papers. That student had been able to carry out his break-ins without leaving home. That was a typical example of “hacking”. A “hacker” is a highly skilled computer user who spends his free time reading the secret files of others.

A hacker needs only to discover the password that gives entry to a network. With clever guesswork, this can be done simply by trying again and again
A lot of hackers are only in it for fun --- like Robert Schifreen and Steve Gold, who had read all the data in Prince Philip’s electronic mailbox before the police discovered the hacking.
The possibility for hackers to commit crimes is great. In the 1980s some experts pointed out that American banks were losing up to $5,000 million a year to computer crimes. Once a hacker gained entry to a bank’s system, he could order it to move large sums of money to another bank in a foreign country --- just what a traditional robber would do.
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课后的练习中编了四道识别指代关系的练习题：
What do the bold-faced words refer to in the context?
1. This record (1st Paragraph): _________________________________________
2. That (2nd Paragraph): _____________________________________________
3. it (4th paragraph) ________________________________________________
4. it (5th Paragraph): ________________________________________________
答题的准确率分别为第1题80%，第2题约10%，第3题约6%，第4题约60%。准确率为什么会有如此大的差异呢？请看这四句英文及其译文：1. This record, however, was quickly rewritten. 不过这个记录很快被改写；2. That was a typical example of “hacking”. 这种行为是典型的黑客行为；3. A lot of hackers are only in it for fun.许多黑客从事黑客行为只是为了好玩；4. he could order it to move large sums of money to another bank in a foreign country. 他有可能命令这个银行系统把巨款转入到国外的另一家银行。
为什么第1题的准确率高达80%？原来英语和汉语两种语言表达这一意思时没有差别，因此母语起了正迁移的作用。那么第2，3题的准确率为什么这么低呢？从相应的译文可以看出，英语及汉语表达上的差异造成了学生理解的困难，That对应的汉语为“这种行为”，而第3题的it到了汉语里要用“黑客行为”来具体化。第4题则由于指代的对象简单而又靠得很近，从而对学生的理解没有造成很大的障碍。
下面再来看一段全国高考测试指代关系的阅读理解题。
In 1901, H.G. Wells, an English writer, wrote a book describing a trip to the moon. When the explorers (探险者) landed on the moon, they discovered that the moon was full of underground cities. They expressed their surprise to the "moon people" they met. In turn, the "moon people" expressed their surprise. "Why," they asked, "are you traveling to outer space when you

don’t even use your inner space?"
H.G. Wells could only imagine travel to the moon. In 1969, human beings really did land on the moon. People today know that there are no underground cities on the moon. However, the question that the "moon people" asked is still an interesting one. A growing number of scientists are seriously thinking about it.

What does the underlined word "it" (paragraph 2) refer to?
A. Discovering the moon’s inner space. B. Using the earth's inner space.
C. Meeting the "moon people" again. D. Traveling to outer space.

统计表明这道题的准确率也只有10%左右，其中还包括瞎蒙而选对的答案。如把该句译成中文则为：越来越多的科学家正在认真考虑这个问题。在阅读时由于受汉语名词重复倾向的影响，学生还没有习惯于根据上下文正确识别指代关系。以这一题为例，学生首先要知道“it ”是指代这个问题 （the question ）， 其次还要进一步往回找这个问题指的是上一段最后一句话，即"Why," they asked, "are you traveling to outer space when you don’t even use your inner space?" 在汉语的上下文里，这种指代关系是很明确的，而到了英语里用了代词“it”，中国学生就摸不着方向了。

四、结论及建议

从以上的分析可以看出，在表示指代关系时，英语多用代词以避免重复，而汉语则有多用实词或重复名词的倾向，这种差异对中国学生的英语阅读理解造成了困难。如何帮助学生克服这一困难，提高阅读理解能力？笔者提出如下建议，望能促进英语阅读教学及提高学生的英语阅读能力。首先，教师应帮助学生不断增加英语语言的有效输入，尽可能让学生通过多种接触地道的英语，以更好地培养学生的英语语感；其次，通过让学生做些针对性的翻译练习，使其真切感受两种语言指代关系表达上的差异，从而使学生能逐渐自觉地扫清阅读障碍。

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