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怎样对一篇文章进行复述?

2017-07-05 魏剑峰 英文悦读

我在前一篇文章口语和写作遇到瓶颈了应该怎么办?里面介绍了一种练习口语和写作的方法:复述。但有不少人反映不知道如何操作,今天我在这里重点说一下复述的具体操作流程。


对于刚开始接触复述的人来说,应该优先进行笔头复述练习,等到笔头练习比较熟练了再进行口语复述。这样做的主要原因是笔头复述时有更多的时间思考以及组织语句,难度要比口头复述低,更加适合入门。


复述的材料建议选择议论文,比如与教育、科技、环境、社会、经济、政府管理等话题相关的文章。这类主题在严肃讨论中经常遇到,同时也是各类考试作文的常见话题,实用性比较高。推荐使用新概念英语三和四,以及《经济学人》等外刊文章作为复述材料。


在入门复述之前可以先找一些句子,做单词以及句义的转换练习。比如:


1. 利用同义词进行转换:


原句:The survey showed that Britain’s trees are in good health.

转换:The survey revealed that Britain’s trees are in good health.


原句:The company is losing ground to its competitors.

转换:The company is falling behind its competitors.


2. 利用词性不同进行转换:


原句:New technology has also made its own contribution to noise.

转换:New technology has also contributed to noise.


原句:In autumn they often weekend in the West Hills.

转换:In autumn they often spend their weekends in the West Hills.


3. 利用不同句型进行转换


原句:It is impossible to look for life on another planet using earth-based telescopes.

转换:Searching for life on another planet using earth-based telescopes is impossible.


原句:He was so weak that he could hardly stand up.

转换:He was too weak to stand up.


在练习的时候可以尝试结合这三种方法,对一个句子进行改写。


在对词句的转换练习比较顺手后,可以着手对文章进行复述。在复述之前先精读文章,弄清楚所有生词的意思以及每一段的主要内容。


复述的时候可以采用“提纲法”:提取出每一段的中心句,同时标记出关键词。这些关键词相当于一个个“线索”,在复述的时候根据这些线索就能把整篇文章的意思概括出来。


下面我会以新概念三的一篇文章:Too high a price? 为例子,说明一下复述的流程。



这篇文章主要指出目前随着科技发展而产生的一系列问题,包括日益堆积的垃圾,各种疾病以及噪声污染,这些问题都值得我们深思。


文章第一段:


Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it, there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish: dump it, burn it, turn it into something you can use again, attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods, but the sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.


中心句:Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet.


关键词:the sheer volume of rubbish, threatens to overwhelm us


文章第二段:


Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products: beef, pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables. The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high: Mad Cow Disease (BSE) in cattle, salmonella in chicken and eggs, and listeria in dairy products. And if you think you’ll abandon meat and become a vegetarian, you have the choice of very expensive organically-grown vegetables or a steady diet of pesticides every time you think you're eating fresh salads and vegetables, or just having an innocent glass of water!


中心句:The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution.


关键词:industrialized farming methods, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, Mad Cow Disease, listeria, vegetarian, pesticides


文章第三段:


However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise. Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed (surprisingly?) that dogs barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike. Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day, late-night parties in apartment blocks, noisy neighbors, vehicles of all kinds, especially large container trucks thundering through quiet village, planes and helicopters flying overhead, large radios carried round in public places and played at maximum volume. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of people object to mobile phones, especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather surprising and possibly amusing old fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring! Men were found to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties. Against these figures, it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly, while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners. Whatever the source of noise, one thing is certain: silence, it seems, has become a golden memory.


中心句:However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise.


关键词:burglar alarms, car alarms, a source of profound irritation, survey, dogs barking, the highest form of noise pollution, new technology, invade our thoughts, interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat, surprising and possibly amusing, snoring, only 5% of women snore regularly, silence, a golden memory


现在我们将各个段落的中心句和关键词整合在一起,组成一个提纲:


1. Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. (the sheer volume of rubbish, threatens to overwhelm us)


2. The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution. (industrialized farming methods, the use of pesticides and fertilizers, Mad Cow Disease, listeria, vegetarian, pesticides)


3. However, there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives, and that is noise. (burglar alarms, car alarms, a source of profound irritation, survey, dogs barking, the highest form of noise pollution, new technology, invade our thoughts, interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat, surprising and possibly amusing, snoring, only 5% of women snore regularly, silence, a golden memory)


接下来将课文原文遮住,根据这份提纲的中心句和关键词,把课文复述出来。复述的时候可以对关键词和句式进行转换。复述后可以对照原文,看看是否有遗漏或者写错的地方。这是我们最终得到的版本:


Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over-industrialized planet. One of the problems arising from pollution is the sheer volume of rubbish, which threatens to overwhelm us.


Our need to produce ever more cheap food leads to another problem. Industrialized farming methods and the use of pesticides and fertilizers are the culprit of diseases such as Mad Cow Disease and listeria. Even if you choose to become a vegetarian, you still cannot stay away from pesticides.


However, there exists an even more insidious kind of pollution: noise. Burglar alarms and car alarms are a source of profound irritation in our daily lives. A recent survey found that the barks of dogs at night rated the highest form of noise. Other sources of noise pollution include lawn mowers, late-night parties, and so forth. New technology has also contributed to noise. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat. The survey revealed a rather surprising and amusing old-fashioned source of noise: snoring. Men were found to be the worst offenders, and the proportion of men who snore rises with age. By contrast, only 5% of women snore regularly. It seems that silence has become a golden memory.


这种形式的复述练习能让我们彻底弄清楚一篇文章框架以及内容,同时在复述的过程中我们还会用上文章里面的好词好句,并且学会用自己的语言去转述一个概念,这对于主动输出能力的提升会有很大帮助。推荐每一个人都去进行口头和笔头复述练习。




推荐:写作提升的一个重要方法:阅读与模仿

上篇:精读能力训练与提升:外刊看中国计划第九期招募


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