大学英语阅读理解题的设计

大学英语阅读理解的 英语阅读-婷婷书库 英语阅读精品 文章编号:1671—8178(2002)04—0058—04 大学英语阅读理解题的设计 熊咏萍 ,孝感职业技术学院 人文艺术系，湖北 孝感 432000, [摘 要] 文章介绍了在设计阅读理解题时应该注意的两个问题:一是内容及难度须合宜;二是设计应巧妙。 [关键词] 阅读理解题; 设计;合宜;巧妙 [中图分类号] H319.4 [文献标识码] A 阅读是语言运用中最频繁的一种活动。可以解能力。So it is very important for ESL/EFL teachers to bear in mind what we read in real life 说，一个人在具备了基本的文化素质后，主要是通[1]so that when we select reading materials for our 过阅读来吸取信息，陶冶文化情操的。大量的阅college students, we not only have a great variety 读还能促进其它语言运用技能的提高，譬如说，要but also meet the needs of different students.只有选提高英语口语水平，就不能满足于简单的会话，你择内容适宜考生阅读的文章，才能检验出考生真实的的谈吐要有深度，对问题有自己的见解就必须有大阅读理解能力。 量阅读的“输入”;要写出地道的英文，也得先从阅读理解题材非常广泛，大的方面可以分为自阅读入手，因此阅读理解题几乎出现在每一类型的然科学和社会科学，具体的内容可以包括科普常考试中。阅读理解题的设计貌似容易，实际隐含着识、自然现象、文化现象、文艺理论、日常知识、不易觉察的问题。所以阅读理解文章的选择、阅读人物传记、社会生活、哲学探讨等，不管选哪一种理解考题的设计一定要认真对待，谨慎从事。 题材的文章，应尽量考虑其趣味性及阅读价值。一 内容及难度须合宜 Because there are two broad levels in reading: 1) 阅读理解主要考查考生的英语理解水平及理visual signals from the eyes; 2) a cognitive task of [收稿日期] 2002—09—10 [作者简介] 熊咏萍(1966?)女，湖北广水人，孝感职业技术学院人文艺术系讲师，主要研究英语教学。 英语阅读-婷婷书库 interpreting the visual information, relating the 个段落(passage)都包括这几种类型，宏观微观信 received information with the reader’s own general 息都要出现。 knowledge, and reconstructing the meaning that 在考查宏观信息的时候，要避免自始至终、经[2]the writer had meant to convey.如果不能引起考常性地出这样的问题:What does the passage tell 生的兴趣，他们就很难有足够的耐心读完整篇文us? What does the third paragraph tell us? What 章;如果考生通过阅读而没有获得一些知识和信does the author want to tell us in the passage? 息，那阅读这篇文章又有什么意义呢, What’s the best title for the passage? 因为这样的从材料的角度来说，难度要适当，主要是控制 大题目让学生抓不住焦点，一下总结不出来。命题生词量。国外对母语为英语的读者的研究明:对 黔驴技穷的时候，完全可以换另一种形式来出这种一个学生来说，阅读材料的生词平均不宜超过总词 数的1%，那么，对将英语作为外语的中国学生来宏观的、总结性的题。比方说:Concerning „, the [2]说，阅读材料的生词以不超过总词数的5%为宜。author wants to tell us„?或者What does a certain 一般说来，与母语读者比，外语学习者的词汇量及word mean in a particular sentence? 这样考生至[3]阅读量有限，但却有较强的语言意识。这个因素往少有个焦点(focus), 知道从什么方面去考虑。 往造成短时记忆中的认知负担过重而影响阅读处其次，要避免出常识性考题。比如热胀冷缩、理速度，在这种情况下，生词过多将进一步影响阅电灯电视、自然现象等。这些简单的科普知识，除读理解的效率。要提高阅读能力，应提倡学生广泛了语言上的障碍外，没有其它的障碍，所以回答测阅读难度适中的一些文章。以大学英语四级考试为试题的正确度与读不读文章没有太大的关联。 例，学生必须是在有限的时间内(一般35分钟左 下面这5道题是关于在丛林中旅行的考题，只右)阅读4篇文章，然后针对所给的问题进行选择 靠生活常识，就基本上都能答对。 或回答。如果文章篇幅太长，而且生词量又多，恐 1. For keeping alive in the jungle, the right 怕考生很难在规定的时间内完成任务。所以选择阅 equipment is ______. 读文章要认真谨慎，要考虑到阅读理解题所涉及的 A(more important than a knowledge of woodcraft 背景知识应能为学生所理解;文章的词汇量必须符 B(less important than a knowledge of woodcraft 合教纲的要求及学生的实际水平;而且篇幅不宜太 C(just as important as a knowledge of woodcraft 长(以300字左右为宜);并且里面有足够的语言 D(the most important thing 点(points)，你才能设计出5道题来。如果找不到类2. For checking your position in the jungle, 似的难易程度合适的文章，可以把找来的材料进行you should rely on ______. 修改。这就要求阅读理解的设计者们有深厚的英语A(known marks 功底，敢大胆放弃中间的某一段，把难懂的复合句B(a compass 改成简单句，把一些不常用的生僻词改成常用词，C(the sun 然后用合适的连接词重新把文章连接起来，这样既D(the moon and stars 不失原汁原味，又浓缩了原文。但浓缩后的短文要3. In moving through the jungle, you should 保证自成一体(self-contained)，不给人掐头去尾的______. 感觉，且要言之有物，还要保证篇章里有答对这五A. set a fairly rapid pace 道题的points，这样才能保证每出的1道题也是言B. retrace your steps from time to time 之有物的。 C. stop and rest often D. run as fast as you can 二 设计应巧妙 4. The author probably advises against 阅读理解的测试类型主要可以划分为两大类:traveling at night because _____. 宏观信息和微观信息，换句话说，就是全文理解和A(one tends to move too quickly at night 局部理解。顾名思义，前者需要阅读全文才能回答;B(it is difficult to check your position then 后者可以从局部寻找答案。但准确说来，所有题目C(emergencies occur most frequently at night 在一定程度上都要依赖于对全文的理解。此外，还D(unbroken stretches of jungle can be avoided 5. The best way to be sure of having enough 可以考查对个别句子的理解;对作者的态度和情感 food in the jungle is to ______. 的判断(judgment)，或者推理(inference):是支A(learn ahead of time what plants can be eaten 持，还是反对;是同情，还是愤恨等。但不是每一B(travel only along streams and rivers 英语阅读-婷婷书库 to attack white settlers, and the Indian War began. C(watch the animals’ eating habits For thirty years, until the late 1880s, different D(pick nuts and fruits in the jungle groups of Indians fought against the injustice of the 如果你知道单词woodcraft的意思(knowledge white man. They had a few famous successes, but of woodland conditions)，那第一道题靠一般常识the result of the struggle was never in doubt. There (common sense)就能够答对，答案是C。因为人were too many white soldiers, and they were too powerful. Many Indians were killed; the survivors 们都知道，要想在丛林中生存，携带适当的设备和 were moved from their homelands to different 了解森林环境知识同等重要。第二题肯定应该选B。areas of the country. It was a terrible chapter in the 丛林中容易迷失方向，所以要带针(compass)。history of a country that promised freedom and 第三题应该选C。因为害怕迷路，所以就得走走停equality to everyone. 停，以辨别方向。第四题选B。根据生活常识，晚1. What is said about the land of the American Indians in the passage? 上旅行容易迷路，更何况是在大森林中。最后一题A. The land of the American Indians was 选A。丛林中有些植物和果子是有毒的，所以丛林taken from them without their consent. 旅行之前要阅读有关在丛林中吃什么(Things to B. The American Indians had very few Eat in the Jungle)的书籍。所以这道题的设计不够successes in their fight against the injustice of the white man. 科学。 C. The US law about the land of the American 此外，阅读理解题不管是考一个词(word)或Indians was violated as soon as it was passed. 者是一个词组(phrase)，一定要和文章的内容有D. The American Indians have finally 点关系，学生通过阅读能够获得某些知识或信息。regained the right of their own land 2. Why did American Indians begin to see the 以下面这道阅读理解考题为例。 white as a danger to them? In 1789 the US government passed a law A. They fought against any law protecting the which said that the land of American Indians could right of Indians. never be taken from them without their agreement. B. The settlers killed the animals and brought One hundred years later, however, the Indians had new diseases. only a very small part of the land that originally C. They took away their animals and sold belonged to them. How did this great injustice them to other white people. occur? D. They made American Indians work hard After 1812, white settlers began to move west without pay. across North America. At first, the settlers and the 3. What does the writer mean by “the old Indians lived in peace. However, the number of respect for the rights of the Indians disappeared”? settlers increased greatly every year, and slowly the A. The government had a new respect for the Indians began to see the white settlers as a danger rights of the Indians. to their survival. To feed themselves, the settlers B. The government of the US never had any killed more and more wild animals. The Indians, respect for the rights of the Indians. who depended on these animals for food, had to C. The white settlers began to ignore the law struggle against starvation. The settlers also concerning the rights of the Indians. brought with them many diseases which were D. The government began to ignore the rights common in white society, but which were new for of the Indians. the Indians. Great numbers of Indians became sick 4. The US government began to move Indians and died. Between 1843 and 1854 the Indians off their original land. How did the Indians react? population in one area of the country went down A. They became sick and died. from 100,000 to 30,000. B. They began to fight the whites. More land was needed for the increasing C. They had to struggle against starvation. numbers of white settlers. In Washington, the old D. They launched a war against the whites respect for the rights of the Indians disappeared. which lasted for 100 years. The old promise to the Indians was broken; the 5. What is the writer’s opinion about the federal government began to move groups of treatment that the Indians received from the US Indians from their original homelands to other government? poorer parts of the country. Some Indians reacted A. He believes that the government always angrily and violently to this treatment. They began 英语阅读-婷婷书库 respected the rights of the Indians. 最后，阅读理解题应尽量避免使用否定形式和 B. He believes that the government should “除了……都是对的”这种形式。比如:Which of pass law to protect the Indians. the following is not true? Which of the following is C. He believes that the government treated the not included in the text? Which of the above Indians very unjustly. following is not mentioned? 还有The following D. He believes that the government cannot be statements are true except……一些研究者认为，这criticized for its treatment of the Indians. 种排除性的、否定式的句子不太合适。此外，all of 第1题是“中心议题”题。文章一开始就谈到the above(所有选项都对)及none of the above(所美国政府1789年通过一部保护印地安人的土地所有选项都不对)也要少用，因为它会降低题目的区有权的法令。但是100年以后，印地安人所拥有的分度，把原来的四个选择变成了三个选择。只要学土地只有极小的一部分。是什么原因造成了这种不生在三项里头辨出两个是正确的就可以立刻选这公平呢,这就要求考生在理解全文的基础上，找出个all of the above;反过来呢，只要发现一项是错其中的原因:白人殖民者没有经过印地安人的同意[3]误的，就立刻排除all of the above。 而强行侵占了他们的土地。因此选择A。第2题是阅读理解部分的目的是测试学生通过阅读获“事实判断”题。它要求考生在几个选项中判断哪取信息的能力，包括掌握所读材料的主旨及大意;一个是事实的表述。文章第二段指出，白人殖民者了解说明主旨和大意的事实和细节，既理解字面的刚到美洲时和印地安人和平相处，但是随着殖民者意思，又能根据所读材料进行一定的判断和推论;数量的不断增加，他们杀死了印地安人赖以生存的既理解个别句子的含义，又能理解上下文的逻辑关动物以养活自己;同时大批的印地安人还死于殖民系，理解文章的深层含义。所以对阅读理解的设计，者所传播的疾病，所以白人殖民者处处威胁着印地命题者必须高度重视，要研究学生的英语水平能安人的生存。因此选B。第3题是“推论/暗示”题。力，要研读教学大纲，要研究考试学(主要是目标它要求考生根据文章的信息推断选项的对错。殖民与技巧)。只有这样，才能够检验出受试者的实际的者的种种行径已经违背了法令，且联邦政府也开始英语水平能力，才能有效地促进学生阅读能力的提高。 把大批的印第安人驱赶到更加贫困的地区，他们对 印地安人的处境熟视无睹。因此选D。第4题也是[参考文献] “事实判断”题。联邦政府及殖民者的做法必然引[1] 庞继贤. 有效提高英语阅读[J]. 英语学习～2002,起印地安人的强烈不满，于是印地安人和殖民者之,6,:51. 间爆发了战争。因此选B。第5题是典型的“作者[2] 张剑. 2001年英语六级考试 阅读理解题型分析及命题意图”题。它要求考生归纳出作者写这篇文章的意思路[J]. 英语学习～2002, ,4,:56,58. 图。文章的结尾部分提到:许多印地安人死于这场[3] 刘润清. 论大学英语教学[M]. 北京:外语教学与研究战争，幸存者也被迫离开他们的家园，迁徙到其他出版社～1999:248-258. 地区，这的确是印地安人历史上悲惨的一页。显然， 作者非常同情印地安人的遭遇。因此选C。这篇文 (责任编辑:樊红霞) 章既测试了考生对整篇文章的理解;又测试了考生 对一些事实的掌握程度，因此设计比较巧妙。 The Design of Reading Comprehension for College English XIONG Yong-ping (Xiaogan Vocational-Technical College, Xiaogan 432000, Hubei, China) Abstract: This article introduces two aspects we should pay attention to when we design reading comprehension: 1) the content and the degree of difficulty should be appropriate; 2) the design should be skillful. Key Words: reading comprehension;design;appropriate; skillful. ?学术活动信息? 英语阅读-婷婷书库 ?2002年11月20日下午华中农业大学龚祖文教授在孝感职院作学术，题为《高职教育与高职院校的教学管理》。 ?2002年11月28日下午，原天津警备区司令员杨志兵在孝感职院作《国际形势》报告。 ?2002年12月4日下午，湖北省教育厅高教处周一志教授在孝感职院作学术报告，题为:《高职院校教学改革与评估》。 ?2002年12月7日下午，湖北省“十六大精神宣讲团”在孝感职院大礼堂举行“学习贯彻十六大精神报告会”，报告人为湖北省委组织部副部长张兆本，全体教职员工及学生代表听取了报告会。