明明英语句子都读得懂,为何却写不出一篇流利的高分作文?

有同学提到了一个问题:很多文章明明读起来很简单,为什么自己动笔时却写不出那样的文字?对这一问题浅显的解释是:这些文章只是表面上看起来很简单,但实际上里面包含很多知识点,如果阅读时关注点不对,就很容易错过它们。

文|魏剑峰

From 英文悦读

微信号: read_the_economist

复旦大学的葛传椝教授在他的著作《向学习英语者讲话》里面有这样的论述:

虽然阅读时只关注内容能让我们更快获取信息,但从语言学习的角度出发,这种阅读方式对写作和口语提升的帮助却很有限,因为整个过程中并没有多少语言知识点能够真正内化,为我们所用。

因此,要做到从“读得懂”到“写得出”的转变,关键还是要在阅读时多将关注点放在语言本身。举个外刊例子:

Singapore’s welfare state is parsimonious, and the authorities have long regarded hawker centres, with their “almost third-world prices”, as “one of our safety-nets”, as Ravi Menon of the central bank has said.The expectationthat hawker food will be cheapis shared byconsumers.

(正如新加坡央行的拉维·梅农所说,新加坡的福利制度是极其吝啬的,而当局长期以来一直将具有“几乎是第三世界价格”的小贩中心视为“我们的安全保障体系之一”。消费者对小贩中心食品的低价也有所期望。)

最后一句里面的something is shared by somebody这一用法看起来很简单,但懂得这样用的同学并不多,我们可以用the idea/belief/expectation is shared by somebody来表达“某人也同意某个观点/也有同样的期望”。比如:

The idea that regular exercise contributes significantly to physical and mental well-beingis shared bymost health experts, who often recommend incorporating physical activity into our daily routines.

通常情况下,一篇英语文章不管看起来多简单,如果你仔细研究的话,里面肯定会有一些值得我们学习的知识点,而我们要做的就是找出这些知识点并将其内化(这一过程实际上就是精读)。这里再举一个例子,这是TE的一个文章开头片段,加标注的是所有值得注意的语言点:

Business has never been better for America’s tech giants. After slumping in 2022, the combined market value of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft has surged by 70%, to over $10trn, since the start of 2023 amid the hype over artificial intelligence (AI). The technology has also propelled others into the industry’s upper echelons. On February 21st Nvidia, an AI-chip champion, reported that its sales rocketed by 265%, year on year, in the quarter to January. Its market value has risen from around $500bn a year ago to $1.7trn, making it America’s fifth-most-valuable firm. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and other AI builders such as Anthropic have shot to fame, scooping up billions of dollars in funding.

(1)something has never been better是个固定搭配,意思是“某事物从未像现在这样好过”。比如:Relations between the two countries have never been better. 两国的关系从未曾像现在这么好过。

(2)hype意思是“炒作,宣传”,the hype over artificial intelligence即“对人工智能的炒作”。

(3)the upper echelon也是一个固定搭配,意思是“组织或结构中最重要或最高级的成员”,propelled others into the industry’s upper echelons即“将其他科技公司推上行业里面最重要的位置”。

(4)champion意思不是“冠军”,而是“领军者”,相当于leader

(5)要表达“数量急剧增长”,可以用一个很形象的动词rocket(像火箭一样增长),比如:Car sales rocketed from 180 to 2000 a year. 汽车的年销量从180辆猛增到2000辆。

(6)在涉及到数据类的句子中经常会出现year on year的说法,意思是“与去年同期比较”。

(7)somebody shoots to fame也是一个很形象的表达,它的意思是“一举成名”。也可以写成somebody shoots to stardom/prominence

(8)scoop up意思是“赢走,获得”,scooping up billions of dollars in funding 即“获得了数十亿美元的融资”。

做精读时可以按照上面的方法去分析学习,但同时要注意的一点是,这样的分析会比较耗时,如果对每篇文章都这样操作不太现实。一个比较好的方法是每天选择两到三段文本做精读,掌握其中的知识点。

本文系授权发布,By 魏剑峰,From 英文悦读,微信号:read_the_economist,欢迎分享到朋友圈,未经许可不得转载,北美学霸君诚意推荐

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