如何对付阅读理解题中的长难句.doc

如何对付阅读理解题中的长难句

五台中学 刘淑康

在做阅读理解题时，长难句是学生们最头痛的问题之一。事实上，学生们对长句和难句的理解普遍较差,一看到长一些、结构复杂一些的句子就把握不住句子的主干结构，读不懂句子的含义，从而抓不住整个篇章的含义,看到篇章中多几个这样的句子就紧张，一点自信心都没有了。这直接影响着阅读理解题的得分。如何解决这一问题呢？就长难句的特点，我把它们归纳为五大类，只要我们判断出它们属于哪一类，并根据我们所学的句法和语法知识去分析它们，找出它们的主干结构，其意也就一目了然。下面我们去一一解剖它们。
一、修饰句：
这种句子的特点是修饰成分多且长，而且经常是在同一个句子里，既有从句又有介词短语或分词短语或不定式短语修饰，且都不止一个。但只要我们把它们一一查出，句子的主干结构就马上露出它本来的面貌。如：
He finds that students who were easy to teach because they succeeded in putting everything they had been taught into practice, hesitate when confronted with the vast untouched area of English vocabulary and usage which falls outside the scope of basic textbooks.
简析：含有三个定语从句和两个状语从句。
First put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Format in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientist who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecolab polytechnique. （NMET2003.C篇）
简析：这个句子中含有过去分词短语、including短语、动名词短语和两个定语从句。
二、分隔句：
这种句子的特点是在正常的句子中插入一些或长或短的成分或句子，比如同位语（从句）、非限制性定语从句、状语从句、分词、插入语等等，打断读者的思路，割裂前后之间的语义，造成理解上的困难。我们称之为“打岔”。有时有逗号分开，有时则没有。只要我们平时多注意多结累一些这样的句子，它怎么分隔我们都不怕了。如：
Science has become so important in the modern world, with its procedures so highly standardized and so widely accepted, that it is included among modern social institutions.
简析：含有一个so……that结构，并被分隔。
Hawking was born on Jan. 8, 1942-----300 years to the day(正好，恰恰), he often notes, after the death of Galileo.
霍简析：he often notes为插入部分。类似的结构有：he says;studies show;the teacher thinks;等等。
After Galileo’s work the feeling grew that there were universal laws governing the motion of bodies and that these laws might apply to motion in the heavens as well as on earth.
简析：grew把the feeling的两个并列同位语从句分隔开来。也可以说是同位语从句后置。
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
简析：介词短语把句子谓语和宾语分隔开来。
My grandfather’s glum genes, which skipped my merry father, have reflowered in me as a major, all-purpose anxiety.
简析：which引导的非限制性定语从句把句子主语和谓语分隔开来。
The students are forbidden,unless they have special passes,to stay out after 11 pm.
简析：unless引导的条件状语从句插在了主句的中间，把主句分隔开来。
三、倒装句：
这种句子的特点是句子的语序“乱套”了。我们不能用通常的思维去对待它。这给我们造成了阅读上的障碍。一种是英语习惯上的倒装，如：only修饰状语置于句首时句子要进行部分倒装等，另一种是由于应该放在句首的成分太长，就把它放在句末。这是为了句子的平衡。只要我们巩固一下我们已学过的相关知识，这个问题就容易多了。如：
Were it not for the feather lost in departure, no one would have known that the white bird had ever been.
简析：这属于虚拟语气中的习惯倒装。
In no country other than Britain, it has been said, can one experience four seasons in the course of a single day.
简析：这是因为短语In no country other than Britain置于句首而进行倒装的。同时这个句子还是个分隔句。
Gone are the days that we were short of food and clothing.
简析：倒装是因为句子主语太长而谓语太短。
四、省略句：
这种句子相对以上三种来讲比较简单，在短句中大家一般都可以看出。但是如果在长句中出现，特别是如果与以上三种之一甚至几种同时出现，也会给同学们带来很大的困难，尤其是复合句中的省略。然而只要我们把英语中的省略现象加以总结归纳并牢记之，省略也就不为其难了。如：
A robot slave can trained to the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or more standard operations (for example, scrubbing, sweeping and dusting, washing up, laying tables, making beds), when so switched by the housewife.
简析：这个句子省略了主语和系动词。
五、并列句：
这种句子的特点往往是长句，它通常由and、or、not only….but(also)等并列两个或两个以上的成分或句子。在这种情况下，只要我们找出这些连词，句子再长，我们也胸有成竹了。如：
I should like to see in her eyes that strength of character which has enabled her to stand firm in the face of difficulties, and that compassion for all humanity which she has revealed to me so often.
简析：两个宾语从句的并列。同时含有两个定语从句。
If I went abroad, I’d travel round the country as much as I could and try to find as many people as possible, not only to practice the language on but to have discussions with, and I’d hope to make some real friends.
简析：and并列了两个简单句；not only…..but(also)并列了两个不定式。
In most cases people go abroad to study in their special subject or to learn and get more practice in the language of that country and you can’t speak a foreign language really well without having lived in that country where it is spoken.
简析：and并列了两个简单句；or并列了两个不定式。
总之，只要我们树立信心，多接触，多解剖一些这样的句子，加之我们再经常复习和巩固一下已学过的相关知识，我们对长难句子结构的分析能力就能逐渐增强。这样一来，我们对阅读理解题中的长难句就不再望而生畏了。

注：这篇论文发表于《英语周报》（教师版）。

4