一、文章特點
記敘文就是記載、敘述人們在生活中看到、聽到、經歷過、接觸過的一些人物和事件的文章,它是借助敘述、描寫、抒情等手段記敘社會生活中的人、事、景、物的形態及其發展過程,用以表達作者的思想、抒發作者的某種情感的文章。
從內容來看,作者為了敘述的方便,往往會按照時間先后順序來安排情節和內容,其特點就是條理清楚,層次分明。不過有時為了突出某個情節或為了增加閱讀趣味性,或為了其他目的,作者可能會采用插敘,甚至倒敘的寫作手法。弄清了文章篇章信息的分布情況,有助于抓住文章的主線,理清文章的脈絡。
從語言來看,作者往往用生動形象的語言,將人物、事件或景物的存在與變化作精細的描繪,使讀者有如見其人、如臨其境的感覺。另外,這類文章的謂語動動詞以一般過去時態為主,也會同時兼有別的各種時態。還有,這類文章會有較多的動態動詞,使文章充滿“動感”,讓往事歷歷在目。文章會適當運用直接引語,簡潔、生動地表達事件發展的過程和各種人物的心理活動,充分展示人物的獨特個性和人物之間的相互關系。
二、解題技巧
做記敘文類完形填空時,除同樣重視文章的首句外,考生還應把握好以下幾點:
1. 了解記敘文的六要素。
記敘文,無論是記人還是敘事,都會交代清楚是什么人或事、在什么時間、什么地點、做什么事或發生什么事,其原因是什么,結果又怎樣。這就是記敘文的“六要素”。弄清了這六個要素,基本上就理解了整篇文章。
2. 明確作者的寫作目的。
就事論事一般來說不是作者記敘的目的,作者往往通過敘述闡明一個道理。作者總是為了某個目的,在情節選擇和細節描寫上作出合理的安排。讀者明晰了寫作目的,就能抓住文章的主題。
3. 讀懂作者觀點或態度。
解題時要認真分析全文,看作者是否一直采用某種態度敘事或描述人。為了增加試題難度,命題人往往采用變化的形式,考生只有在語境的指導下,對文章進行準確地邏輯推斷,才能推測出文字之下的深層信息。
4. 弄清作者敘述的視角。
弄清文章是以第幾人稱的視角展開記敘的,通常英語記敘文展開記敘的視角有兩個:第一人稱和第三人稱。用第一人稱就是從“參與者”的角度進行記敘,讀者可從字里行間感受到作者親切的態度和深厚的感情。用第三人稱就是以“觀察者”的身份展開敘述,作者的語氣客觀,與讀者保持著一定的距離,讀者的注意力更多集中在故事本身。了解了作者的寫作角度有助于我們走進作者的思維,深入理解文章的意義,把握好語境。
三、實例分析
閱讀下面短文,掌握其大意,然后從21—30各題所給的A、B、C和D項中,選出最佳選項,并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
James has never forgotten that day. It happened to be a public holiday, though for____21____ sake all the food stores were____22____for business till midday. James and his wife went shopping in town, and on their____23____by taxi, the first thing James noticed was the open front door of their house.____24____he had locked it when they left. Jumping out of the taxi, he ran up the front____25____and called out loudly, “Who is there?” That was a mistake; he ought to have 26 in quietly and caught the unwelcome visitor, whoever he was, by surprise. In the event, the house-breaker, hearing James’s voice, made his____27____through the back door of the house and over the garden fence. He____28____in the roadway, not twenty paces from the taxi, which had just started to drive away. The driver seemed____29____to be waved down by a gentleman who suddenly appeared in front of him as if from nowhere. He stopped and picked up his unexpected____30____.
21. A. comfort B. purposes
C. needs D. convenience
22. A. closedB. beautiful C. openD. broken
23. A. home B. wayC. return D. seat
24. A. StrangelyB. Fortunately
C. HopefullyD. Naturally
25. A. stepsB. streetsC. doorsD. houses
26. A. climbedB. broken C. entered D. crept
27. A. jumpB. escape C. road D. way
28. A. landedB. leftC. jumped D. stood
29. A. surprisedB. interested
C. unsurprised D. uninterested
30. A. thief B. passenger
C. customer D. man
答案與分析
本文講述了James夫婦兩人在一天公休日出去購物。當他們打的回來時,發現家中被盜,James 情急之下驚動了盜賊,當他進屋時,盜賊從后門逃走。跳過后門的籬笆,剛好落在James回來時乘坐的的士門口,的士正要開走,所以司機想也沒想就載上盜賊開走了。文章記敘文的要素齊全,場景生動。作者以第三人稱的視覺,描述了James的捉賊經歷,是一篇典型的記敘文題材的完形填空。
21. D。表示“為了方便”是固定短語for the convenience sake。
22. C。本句大意“雖然是公休日,但是為了方便,許多店都開張營業到中午”。解題時要利用表示讓步的though 一詞;open 是形容詞,意為“營業著的”。
23. C。句意“當他們打的回來(return)的時候”。
24. D。聯系上下文,James 篤信自己走的時候是鎖了門的,所以看到門開了才會那樣迫不及待地跳下車走上前去看究竟是誰開了門。
25. A。指“沖上臺階(steps)”。door 是易錯選的干擾項。
26. D。句意“James本該躡手躡腳地進去把賊捉住”。
27. B。聯系下文,made his escape是指“盜賊成功逃脫了”;made his way though the back door 指“從后門走了”,雖然搭配正確,但不符合語境。
28. A。此處用landed 一詞,很形象地描述了盜賊從后門脫身,又跳過籬笆,跳到路面上。
29. C。從下文的士司機不慌不忙把盜賊帶走了可以推知,當盜賊截住他的的士時,他是一點也沒有覺得奇怪的。
30. B。從上下文來看,的士司機是把盜賊當成了一個普通的乘客passenger而已。
四、即時練習
閱讀下面短文,掌握其大意,然后從21—30各題所給的A、B、C和D項中,選出最佳選項,并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
(1)
A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had a(n)____21____, and one friend slapped the other in the face. The one who got slapped was____22____, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand: Today my____23____friend slapped me in the face.
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a____24____. The one who had been slapped got____25____in the mire(泥潭) and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he____26____from the fright, he wrote on a stone: Today my best friend saved my life.
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?” The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of ____27____can erase it____28____. But,when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can____29____erase it.” Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your____30____in stone.
21. A. appointment B. discussion
C. argument D. settlement
22. A. injuredB. wounded
C. damaged D. hurt
23. A. oldest B. worstC. bestD. nicest
24. A. bath B. restC. sleep D. walk
25. A. held B. stuckC. fallen D. trapped
26. A. recovered B. woke
C. survived D. returned
27. A. forgiveness B. happiness
C. hopelessness D. thankfulness
28. A. from B. offC. away D. out
29. A. notB. neverC. always D. ever
30. A. blessedness B thankfulness
C. wistfulness D. desirableness
(2)
In order to build interest in his traveling show, the great escape artist Houdini would frequently arrive in a town early and challenge the local jailer to try to keep him locked in a cell. If he couldn’t escape within an hour, he would offer the jailer a $ 1,000____21____ .
In one____22____, he made the challenge and was____23____ ushered(引導) into a jail cell. As soon as the door clanged____24____ behind him, he began trying to find a way out. As the minutes slipped by, he soon found that this escape was going to be ____25 than he had expected. He tried every____26____, but he couldn’t find a way out. Finally, the jailer found him ____27____in the middle of the cell sobbing in frustration. He had failed.
The biggest surprise came when the jailer returned and discovered that he had____28____to lock the door. Houdini could have walked out any time he wanted by just pushing the door open. The irony was that his escape route was one that he had never considered-an ____29____door!
So many times we have the door locked in our minds long before it shut behind us.
How many times have we failed because we didn’t consider the____30____answer to our problems?
21. A. prizeB. reward C. price D. award
22. A. townB. city C. timeD. day
23. A. happily B. carefully
C. dutifully D. slowly
24. A. fellB. openedC. locked D. shut
25. A. slower B. longer
C. easierD. tougher
26. A. trick B. idea C. ruleD. activity
27. A. walking B. sitting
C. standingD. running
28. A. wondered B. remembered
C. forgotten D. wanted
29. A. unclosed B. unopened
C. unlocked D. open
30. A. unrealB. unclear
C. unknown D. unexpected
答案與解析
(1)本文講述了兩個朋友穿越沙漠時的經歷。其中有一個人在爭執中被另一個人扇了一巴掌,前者就把這件事寫在了沙地上;后來,那個挨打的人溺水,好在他的朋友救了他,獲救后,他把這件事刻在了石頭上。當朋友問他用意何在時,他說:當別人傷害我們時,我們只宜把它寫在沙地上,寬恕的風會將它吹得了無痕跡;但當別人幫了我們時,我們應當將它刻在石頭上,什么風也不能將其磨滅。揭示了我們在生活中應寬己待人,知恩圖報的道理。
21. C。根據下文,應該是兩個朋友在旅途中起了爭執。
22. D。因hurt指受傷害,指精神或感情上的痛苦;其它幾個單詞,injure指肉體上的傷害;wound 一般用來指刀傷或槍傷;damage指的是對有用或有價值的人或財產的破壞。
23. C。從下文可知是the best friend。
24. A。從上下文看,他們在沙漠中走了那么久,好不容易見到綠洲,自然想到要洗(bath)一下;而且,下文也提到了溺水(drowning),如果不是下到水里面,怎么會被泥潭困住呢?
25. B。因get stuck 指人陷入泥潭,被爛泥粘住了一樣,脫不了身。trapped 是干擾項,但它一般指的是掉到了陷阱里。
26. A。從險些溺水的驚嚇中清醒過來(recovered from the fright)。
27. A。從上下文來看是要讓寬恕的風將它吹得了無痕跡。
28. C。因erase...away 指的是“擦去,擦掉”。
29. D。因no wind can ever erase it=wing can never erase it。
30. B。別人幫助了你,自然要對他充滿感激了。
(2)本文講的是一位逃脫專家霍第尼到演出地,讓當地的獄警把自己關在一間牢房里,如果他不能夠在一小時內成功逃脫,他就會獎勵獄警1000美元。結果,他逃脫失敗,在牢房里傷心落淚。而獄警回來時卻發現原來自己忘記了鎖門,霍第尼原本可以推門就走出來,可逃脫專家卻從未考慮到這一點。故事揭示了生活中的一個道理:我們處理問題時的失敗很多時候就是因為我們沒有考慮到那些出其不意的解決方式。
21. B。辨析:reward指的是為相應的行為做回報而授予或收到的東西;prize指“獎金,獎賞,獎品”;price “價格,價錢”;award 因優點或善行而給予,通常是要通過評委的評判才能獲得。
22. A。根據上下文,逃脫專家有一次來到了一個小鎮,所以是in one town。
23. C。根據語境,那個獄警是盡忠職守地把逃脫專家引入了一間牢房。
24. D。表示“關”是shut。
25. D。從下文來看,這次的逃脫的難度比霍第尼想象中的要大。
26. A。表示“嘗試了各種竅門”是try every trick。
27. B。從下文來看霍第尼應該是逃脫失敗,很傷心地坐在地上。
28. C。獄警忘記了鎖牢房的門。
29. C。霍第尼忽略了“一道未上鎖的門(an unlocked door)”。
30. D。最后一句:“有多少次我們處理問題時失敗是因為我們沒有考慮到那些出其不意的解決方式”。
責任編校蔣小青