第五章 如何理解文章上下文的逻辑关系第一节 总述

一篇好的文章不仅要有明确的中心思想，而且在内容和结构上要有严紧的逻辑关系。在一个段落里，句子与句子之间存在一定的逻辑关系，在一篇文章里，段落与段落之间也要有合情合理的逻辑关系。语言的逻辑关系通常是由各种衔接手段来体现的。英汉两种语言的衔接手段（衔接词）虽然有共同之处，但还存在较大的差异，因而正确理解英文的上下文逻辑关系是英语学习者应该掌握的重要技能之一。研究生入学英语考试大纲要求考生不仅能理解个别句子的意义，还要能运用各方面的知识进行分析判断，把握上下文的逻辑关系。这里，我们从以下几方面进一步阐述如何把握上下文的逻辑关系：

  1. 句子之间的指代关系；

  2. 内容上的因果关系；

  3. 段落之间的承接关系；

  1. 句子之间的指代关系

在文章中，为了避免不必要的重复或为了使句子结构平衡(Balance)，常常用一些代词来指代已经提到过的人或事。这类代词包括人称代词，如 he, she, it, they, we; 指示代词，如 this,that, these, those, one; 关系代词，如 who, whose, whom, that, which, as 等。另外还有一些其他的词， 如 there, here ,such, 也常被用来指代上下文中提到过的其他内容。由于这些指代词本身没有明确的意义和所指，指代词的使用直接关系到上下文的逻辑关系，因此作者在使用它们时应该慎重。而读者在阅读时也要正确理解指代词的正确所指(Reference)。作为考生，只要仔细阅读上下文，适当进行推理判断就能看出指代词是指代前面或者后面的哪个词或短语。当然，有的指代词指代的是一句话，甚至几句话所讲的内容。另外，在考试中，关于指代关系的考题往往具有一定的迷惑性，不要把注意力局限于离指代词最近或最醒目的名词短语上。

请看下面的例子：

Spencer's idea of evolution (which is a gradual change) was not a new theory.The ancient Greeks had thought of it, so had Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles, and also the Frenchman, Lamarck, It is one thing to have an idea; we can all of us guess and sometimes make a lucky guess.It is quite another thing to produce a proof of the correctness of that idea.Darwin thought he had that proof in his notebooks.He saw that al animals had a struggle to survive.Those which were best at surving their environment passed on the good qualities which had helped them to their environment passed on the good qualities which had helped them to their descendants.This was called 'the survival of the fittest'.For example, in a cold climate, those who have the warmest fur will live.Darwin believed that this necessity for animals to deal

with its environment explained the immense variety of creatures. Questions:1) What does the word it in Line 2 refers to?

  1. Spencer's idea.

  2. idea of revolution.

  3. a gradual change.

  4. a new theory.

这道题的正确答案是 B，即第二行中的 it 指的是上一句话中提到过的idea of evolution。选项 A 不对，因为从下文来看，在 Spencer 之前已经有人想到过这种思想，如 The ancient Greeks 及 Erasmus Darwin，很显然他们想到的不可能是 Spencer's idea。选项 C 不对，因为 a gradual change 很显然是补充说明 evolution 一词的。选项 D 也不对，理由同选项 A。另外， 这个段落中还有其他很多指代词，请读者自己想一想带有下划线的指代词分别指代什么。

有时语篇中的指代词并不是明确地指上下文中的某个词或短语，而是指上下文所指的内容。下面的例子选自 1995 年试题阅读理解第三篇文章：

⋯In addition to this, there is the growing mobility of people since the World War Ⅱ .As families move away from their stable community, their friends of many years, their extended family relationships, the informal flow of information is cut off, and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable.The almost unconscious flow of information about the simplest aspects of living can be cut off.Thus⋯ Question:The word "it" in Line 5 probably refers to .

  1. the lack of stable communities.

  2. the breakdown of informal information channels.

  3. the increased mobility of families.

  4. the growing number of people moving from place to place.

从整体来看，这个段落的主要内容确实是关于第二次世界大战之后人口的流动问题，但其核心内容是关于人口流动带来的后果，即非正式的信息流动被切断了，这体现在段落的第二句话的中间部分即“the informal flow of information is cut off”，这部分也是这句话的主句，这句话的前半截“As....their extended family relationships”是个状语从句，而后半截是介词短语作伴随状语，也可视为省略句，其含义为（随着非正式的信息流动被切断），人们也丧失了随时可以得到值得信赖和可靠的信息的信心。很显然，句中的 it 指的是 the breakdown of informal information channels”。其实选基 A、C、D 内容基本相同，的读者很快就能把这三个选项排除，因为只要其中一个正确，其他两个都有可能正确。

2)内容上的因果关系

在论说文里，作者一般要陈述某个观点，然后站在某个角度，提供论据， 进行论述。有时作者陈述某个观点或事实，然后论述该观点或事实的原因， 有时则论述该观点或事实带来的结果。这就是我们常说的因果关系。正确把握语篇的因果关系，对于理解文章的主旨十分重要。请仔细阅读下面的段落 A 和段落 B，看看作者陈述观点后是如何进一步论述的。

Paragraph A:

It is difficult for workers to find employment this year. One reason is that many industries are not hiring new workers. In addition, industries are reducing their current staff levels because of a decline in national economic conditions. Another reason isthat workers who once might have considered early retirement are now staying at their jobs. Finally, other workers who used to view their jobs as optional now must keep their positions in order to meet their minimum financial responsibilities.

Paragraph B:

It is difficult for workers to find employment this year. As a result, many recent college graduates are unemployed or are taking part

－time jobs to meet expenses. Unemployment among high school graduates has meant that large numbers of teen－agers are seeking unemployment benefits. The unemployment figures are the highest in decades. Finally, the Federal govern-ment must contribute large amounts of money to support the growing numbers of people who are receiving welfare assistance.

在上面两段落晨，作者陈述的观点是一样的，即“It is diffi-cult for workers to find employment this year”（今年工人就业面临困难）。然而，在段落 A，作者的论据是造成就业困难的原因；在段落 B，作者论说的是就业困难给个人和国家带来的不利影响。

  1. 段落与段落之间的承接关系

为了文章使成为一个整体，文章各段落之间存在一定的承接关系，这种承接关系往往是通过段落的开头或结尾的具有承上启下意义的句子或短语来实现的。由于篇幅的限制，考试中的阅读文章不可能太长。为了考察考生把握较长篇幅的文章的逻辑关系的能力，往往要求考生推测所给篇章的前一段或后一段的内容。由于段落之间通常有承上启下的句子或短语，所以，如果问题要求考生猜测短文之前的内容，就应该注意短文的开头部分；反之，就应该注意短文的结尾部分。当然，不能一味地只看开头和结尾，应该从短文的整个篇章结构和短文的主旨中寻找线索。请看下面的例子：

Hundreds of violins are made every year. However, the finest and most sought after violins ever made were handcrafted by an Italian violin maker over two hundred and fifty years ago. The craftman's name was Antonius Stradivarius. Any one of his violins is worth more than

$ 100 000 today.

Stradivarius was born in 1644. He began his career as a vio-lin maker's apprentice. Working on his own by 1680, he became determined to make instruments that could reproduce tones as rich as those produced by the human voice. He tested several shapes and styles for his violin, until he arrived at a design that pleased him. During his

career he crafted over eleven hundred vi-olins. Those still in existence have become treasured posses-sions.

Unfortunately, the secret of the stradivarius violin died with its maker. During his lifetime Stradivarius kept his notes safely hidden. Even his two sons, who helped him in his work-shop, did not know all the steps involved in each violin's con-struction. Though Stradivarius's apprentices had offered possi-ble explanations for the unique tone of a "strad.", they had been rejected one after another, and the real secret has puzzled people for more than 300 years.

Question: The paragraph following this extract would most like-ly talk about .

  1. the good qualities of Stradivarius's violins.

  2. people'sinterest in stradivarius's violins.

  3. recently discovery about Stradivarius's violins.

  4. the survival of Stradivarius's violins.

这道题的正确答案是 C，即这段节选的下文最有可能谈到的是关于Stradivarius 的小提琴的最新发现。因为短文第三段的主要内容是关于Stradivarius 制作小提琴的秘密，虽然他的徒弟有过多种解释，但都被否定了。短文的最后一句话“这个秘密困扰人民长达 300 多年”，其中隐含的意思是现在终于揭开了谜底。选项 A、B、D 在节选里都叙述过，不大可能再重复。