尋找閱讀苦海中的“燈塔”

劉旸

在做英語閱讀理解時，把握作者意圖很重要，但更重要的是要了解命題者會在哪些地方出題。英語中就有這樣一類燈塔詞（或結(jié)構(gòu)），它們就像茫茫大海中的燈塔，可以帶領(lǐng)我們迅速找到出題位置，領(lǐng)會命題者的出題意圖。常見的燈塔詞（或結(jié)構(gòu)）包括轉(zhuǎn)折詞、絕對詞、比較結(jié)構(gòu)、例證詞、遞進標志詞、因果標志詞、總結(jié)詞、同反義詞等。下面我們先來了解其中最常見的一種——轉(zhuǎn)折詞。

有個老太太過70大壽，一位文人前去祝壽?？吹轿娜耍蠹叶技娂娨髟娨皇讈響c祝。于是文人提筆寫下第一句：“這個老婦不是人?！贝蠹铱吹胶蠖忌笛哿?，這怎么還罵人啊。剛想出言指責，只見文人寫好了第二句：“恰是仙人下凡塵。”眾人一看，紛紛覺得這轉(zhuǎn)折甚妙，剛想表揚幾番，只見文人又寫下了第三句：“子孫個個都是賊?！北娙梭@呆，這怎么連所有子孫都罵上了。還沒等眾人緩過神來，文人最后一句也已出爐：“偷得蟠桃獻母親。”眾人這才明白，文人這詩看似是罵，實則在夸。

在這個例子中，文人為什么會讓大家提心吊膽又不停峰回路轉(zhuǎn)呢？這是因為他連用了兩次轉(zhuǎn)折。詩中雖無諸如“但是”“可是”等明顯的轉(zhuǎn)折詞，不過轉(zhuǎn)折意味卻表露無遺，讓人們可以把握詩人寫詩的重點和想要表達的意思。

轉(zhuǎn)折詞在高考英語閱讀中也常常出現(xiàn)。一般來說，常見的轉(zhuǎn)折詞有but、however、yet、while、whereas、otherwise、although、though、despite、instead、rather、in contrast等。其中，but、however、yet、whereas、in contrast都是轉(zhuǎn)折詞后面的內(nèi)容才是重點。比如：I'd like to attend the party， but I have to finish my homework. 這個句子中but后面表達的內(nèi)容才是重點。而諸如while （放在句首表示轉(zhuǎn)折）、otherwise、although、though、despite、instead、rather等都是轉(zhuǎn)折詞引導的內(nèi)容算不上重點，句子的另一部分才是重點。比如：Although I want to attend the party， I've decided to finish my homework first. 本句中although引導的部分不是重點，重點在后面的主句部分。這類轉(zhuǎn)折詞也是容易出題的地方。在閱讀過程中遇到這類轉(zhuǎn)折詞時，考生應迅速將其標出，并找出句意重點所在。這樣后面做題遇到相關(guān)的題目時，即可迅速利用其來幫助解題。

掌握了內(nèi)功心法，接下來我們利用幾道高考真題來驗證一下轉(zhuǎn)折詞作為燈塔詞的作用。

We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the An family _______.

A. started a business in 1975

B. left Vietnam without much money

C. bought a restaurant in San Francisco

D. opened a sandwich shop in Los Angeles

Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California. However， when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975， they didn't have much money. （2015年安徽卷B篇第二段）

題干問的是從第二段可得知這家人_______，因此我們閱讀原文第二段，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)該段出現(xiàn)轉(zhuǎn)折詞however。由上面的內(nèi)功心法可知，however后面的部分是重點，該部分大意為：這家人在1975年離開越南的家，當時身上沒有多少錢。對比四個選項，可以發(fā)現(xiàn)B項跟原文完美對應，故答案為B。

The girl's parents got Rashid's phone number from ______.

A. a friend of his family

B. a Sydney policeman

C. a letter in his papers

D. a stranger in Sydney

My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out， although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend. （2014 年新課標II卷A篇第五段）

在閱讀第五段時，考生應該養(yǎng)成習慣，見到although就立刻標記出來。由內(nèi)功心法可知，although前面的her parents had carefully sorted them out是重點，其中的them指代的是前一句提到的papers，而下一句提到從papers中間找到了一封letter，可見最終電話號碼是從 a letter in his papers中找到的，故正確答案為C。由此可見，通過尋找燈塔詞來解題可以節(jié)省大量重新閱讀的時間。

What is special about Samuel Osmond？

A. He has a gift for writing music.

B. He can write down the note he hears.

C. He is a top student at the law school.

D. He can play the musical piece he hears.

Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall， England. He never studied the piano. However， he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head. Two years ago， he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata （奏鳴曲） by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him. （2014年廣東卷A篇第一段）

該題題干問的是關(guān)于Samuel Osmond的特別之處，由于全文都有提到Samuel Osmond，所以我們無法精確定位到某處。根據(jù)閱讀理解題文同序原則，可初步判斷本題（A篇設(shè)置的第一道題）的出題位置大概在第一段。閱讀第一段，考生很容易就可以發(fā)現(xiàn)燈塔詞however，由內(nèi)功心法可知，however后面的部分是重點。由重點部分he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them可知，Samuel的過人之處就是聽到一個樂曲幾分鐘后就可以彈奏出來。對比四個選項，只有D項符合文意。本題B項是干擾選項，旨在利用write down給考生設(shè)置陷阱。

The research led by Sanbonmatsu indicates that people who multitask ______.

A. seek high productivity constantly

B. prefer handling different things when getting bored

C. are more focused when doing many things at a time

D. have the poorest results in doing various things at the same time

Not surprisingly， the scientists said， most people thought they were better than average at multitasking， and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior， which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted. （2013年北京卷D篇第三段）

考生在閱讀本題題干時可能會覺得茫然，因為題干和選項中缺乏明顯的定位詞供考生回原文定位。此時，我們可以閱讀文章，找燈塔詞。閱讀原文第三段，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)其中出現(xiàn)了轉(zhuǎn)折詞but，由內(nèi)功心法可知，but后面的部分是重點，該部分大意為：那些經(jīng)常同時做許多件事情的人在多任務(wù)測試（multitasking test）中表現(xiàn)很差。題干意為：研究表明大多數(shù)能夠多任務(wù)工作（multitask）的人_______。對比四個選項，只有D項符合文意，故正確答案為D?？忌枰⒁獾氖?，but是高考閱讀中常見的出題點，通常在文章后面設(shè)置的題目中會考查與其所在句子或段落相關(guān)的題目，所以大家在做閱讀題時，看見but就立刻標記出來，并劃出重點部分，以備做題時可以迅速定位。

至此，相信各位同學對燈塔詞中的轉(zhuǎn)折詞應該有了清晰的認識，對其作用也應該有了深刻的體會。學以致用，希望各位同學在之后做閱讀題時可以通過轉(zhuǎn)折詞定位出題點，找到命題者的考查點，搞定英語閱讀理解題。