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融精听泛听,促听力提升(下)

2022-08-15焦丽霞

英语世界 2022年12期
关键词:文段语调主旨

文/焦丽霞

在上一篇文章中,我们分享了如何通过精听练习来提升听力水平。除精听外,泛听也非常重要。所谓泛听,一是听力材料的选择范围要广(练习的选材不仅局限于课本,也要从书籍、网络、app 等渠道获取不同体裁不同题材的听力练习材料,涵盖音频视频);二是听力练习要保证一定的频次和时长,比如一周可以练习三至四次,每次坚持半个小时(当然每天能坚持练习更好);三是对于材料的理解不必做到逐字逐词逐句都能理解,只要能掌握篇章大意以及重要细节即可。泛听练习有以下需要注意的方面:

一、增加输入,积累词汇。

词汇就如盖房子的砖瓦。没有词汇,英语学习就无从谈起。因此,要想提高英语各项技能,包括听力,都需要以积累词汇为前提。词汇既包括积极词汇,也包括消极词汇。所谓的积极词汇就是在英语实际使用过程中能够运用的词汇,这类词汇在正常语速时听见就明白,想说就能说,想写就能写;消极词汇一般是指在阅读中碰到,经过短时间思考,或者根据上下文能够有把握地推断出它的含义的词汇。在日常学习中,学生可以通过大量阅读来积累词汇,进而促进听力水平的提高。

以下列听力文段为例:

Successful future professionals will be those who continuously learn and adapt both their skills and themselves.Based on global research and insights,we’ve identified future skills that matter: complex problem solving, creativity,emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility, collaboration.With these, you’ll always be in demand.And you’ll need to adapt yourself to the new world of work.Have self-reliance, resilience.Self-promote, and constantly develop yourself but crucially don’t do it all on your own because networks will be even more critical.So if you can continuously adapt, the developments around you will no longer be a threat.Instead change becomes an opportunity.

如果学生熟悉professional、insight、identify、cognitive、flexibility、collaboration、self-reliance、resilience、threat 等词汇,文段理解起来就会容易很多,反之就会听得比较吃力。

实际上,听力练习也能帮助学生积累词汇。英语是音形合一的语言。在练习听力的过程中,学生可以积累一些对于文段理解很重要、但是自己又不认识或者不熟悉的词汇。例如,当多数学生听到 [ˌrefəˈrendəm] 这个读音,会觉得这是一个生词,这时可以尝试可以根据读音把单词拼写出来。它可能会被拼写为referendom 或 referendum,然后学生可查字典核实,发现其正确形式应该是 referendum。通过这种方式习得的词汇会深刻地储存在记忆中。

另外,学生还可以尝试根据话题搭建词汇或语块网络。比如,在练习听了多篇关于“气候变化及应对”话题的新闻报道的基础上,学生可以收集到如下词汇或语块:气候变化(continuous high temperature, greenhouse effect,glacier melting)、气候变化的影响(pose severe challenges to human survival and development, break the ecological balance)、应对气候变化的努力(call on the international community to work together, to foster a community for man and nature with unprecedented ambition and action, jointly build a community of life for man and nature, be committed to harmony between man and nature, jointly advance global environmental governance)。这些词汇和语块的积累有助于学生提升对某个话题的熟悉程度,在听力练习或考试中更容易理解相关文段。

二、把握主题,掌握重要细节。

在泛听练习中,学生们需要注意:一定不能只听慢速英语或者大学英语四六级中发音和语调非常标准、阅读速度非常适中的听力材料,而是要适当练习听一些发音语调可能不一定很标准、阅读速度很快的听力材料。多听多练快速听力材料有助于提升整体的听力水平。

在练习这类材料的过程中,不要试图逐字逐词去理解,要尝试把握段落主旨以及重要细节。例如:有一个对于Madonna 的英文采访,语速较快,学生听起来会有一定困难。这时,不需要做到100%的理解,只要能把关键的问题以及答案识别出来即可。实际上,视频只提出并回答了三个关键问题:

1) Why did Madonna think it a commitment to help those African children?

Because she connected the children’s experience to her own.She grew up as a motherless child and she could understand the sufferings of those children.

(Madonna grew up as a motherless child.Although she had roof over her head,she had food and she had school to go to, she still thought her world was going to collapse on her.Most of these children are orphans.Life is tougher for them.)

2) Why did Madonna undergo some changes in herself?

老贾取回自己手机,又一阵捣鼓,再递给孟导时手机里显示了一张‘乾隆通宝’专用的满汉文的对照图,孟导拿出自己的手机让老贾调出价格表的网页,则辨认起满文来。

According to Madonna, having children and having a family forced one to think about people besides oneself.And she realized that she had had so much.It would be a tragedy if she did not use what she had to make the world a better place.

3) Was it complicated to adopt a child?

Yes.(Take Madonna’s case for example.She was not even granted full adoption.For the past eighteen months, she had been the foster parent.Every six months, she has been visited by social workers, who would visit her house to make sure she was being the good parent and the child was thriving and ask her a lot of invasive questions.She had been fingerprinted for about twenty times and undergone psychological evaluations.)

学生在听第一遍时,可以初步回答这些问题。在听第二遍和第三遍时,可以抓住一些关键细节,即上面答案中括号里面的内容。

三、适时参照听力原文。

所谓适时,指的是在进行听力练习时,不要一开始就直接参考听力原文。

正确的做法:先专注认真地听两到三遍,把握文段主旨并抓住主要细节。在此过程中,记录自己听力的难点在哪里、障碍在哪里。随后可以参考听力原文,了解自己为什么会出现障碍:是因为对于某些词汇不够熟悉?或者是对某些长句的理解上有困难?还是某些方面的背景知识不够?最后,可以在分析问题的基础上找出相应的提升策略。如果从一开始就参照原文进行练习,很容易产生错觉,即材料的所有内容已经听懂了。其实事实并非如此。以下列文段为例:

学生在练听上面文段的过程中,可能会因为不熟悉某些词汇产生理解障碍,比如 governance 和 multilateral;也可能由于对于时事新闻关注不足或者背景知识匮乏产生理解障碍,比如 peak carbon dioxide(碳达峰)和carbon neutrality(碳中和)。在分析清楚自己所存在问题的基础上,学生可以找到相应的对策。

四、注重听说结合。

在日常学习中,学生要注意提升自己的语音语调。正确的发音语调可以帮助学生更快更准确地听懂听力文段。所以,学生在平时要多多朗读,对于不熟悉的词汇要勤查词典,把握重要词汇的发音、拼写、搭配和例句等。另外,要练习听一些慢速材料,注意把握语音语调以及句子中的抑扬顿挫。

此外,还可以进行一些文段复述练习。在复述文段的过程中,要把握好文段的主旨和重要细节,同时理清文段的层次。比如,有一个关于“压力”的视频,视频开头提出 stress may accelerate aging,随后提及一个相关实验,最后提出了压力的应对办法。学生可以根据这个层次复述如下:

①Stress may accelerate aging.②In one study, 39 women with chronically ill children were compared to 19 women with healthy children.③They were asked to rate how overwhelmed they felt by daily life.④It was found that for the women with the highest stress, their cells did appear to be prematurely aged,around a decade older.⑤But what it matters is not the stress itself, but how one perceives stress.⑥How people perceive stress is a very important factor in protecting their health.⑦People have to find buffers to stress, like family,friends, meditation, exercise or even medicine.

以上这个短小的段落层次清晰:主旨句为第①句,第②-④句是例证,第⑤⑥句指出“人们如何看待压力是影响健康的重要因素”,最后一句提出缓解压力的方法。

再例如,有一个关于“年轻人失业问题”的视频。学生也可以在听的基础上进行复述练习如下:

Youth unemployment is a global problem.It affects all types of economies in every region of the world.These days, young women and men are three times more likely to be unemployed than their older counterparts.In developed countries like the US, nearly one young person in every six is unemployed.Young people in the Middle East and North Africa have the highest rate of unemployment as there is a youth bulge in the Middle East.In Egypt, the government used to guarantee jobs for all graduates, but no longer.And many of the graduates are not qualified for the private sector jobs.Gender also plays a role in the Middle East.Fewer than one in three young women are employed even though women are generally more educated than men.The outlook for young people all of the world is bleak because they have two thrusts against them: they lack large network and also work experience.

以上段落的结构非常清楚。首句为段落中心句,指出“年轻人失业是全球性的问题”;中间部分通过举例证明年轻人失业无论是在发达国家还是欠发达国家都是严重问题;末句指出:年轻人就业前景不佳,因为他们既缺乏社会关系网,又缺乏工作经验。

学生通过理清思路进行这样的复述练习,可以提高学生的逻辑思维能力。在复述的过程中,学生可以尽可能使用原文词语,来积累更多词汇。学生也可以了解如何在语境中准确运用这些词汇。

最后,还需要指出一点:学生要通过大量阅读扩大知识面、积累学科知识,同时要关注时事新闻。这些都会助力听力水平的提高。 □

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