就广东高考试题谈高中英语阅读教学
2013-04-29张桂芬
张桂芬
【摘要】本文以广东省高考英语试题中凸显的英语语言文化因素导向为例,来谈高中英语阅读教学。文章认为,广东省高考英语试题中凸显的英语语言文化因素,要求英语阅读教学关注这一倾向,补充相关教学内容,提升学生阅读准确性。期待本文的研究对相关人士有启发的意义。
【关键词】高考试题 文化因素 阅读教学
对于高中英语课程中的阅读教学来说,要在教学之中不断提升学生娴熟地运用英语这一语言工具,更要让学生能够在高考英语考试中提高得分。就广东省来说,高考试题的导向性,对我们的阅读教学来说极其重要。作为高中英语老师,在日常的英语教学当中,可充分遵循高考英语试题的导向,要通过对广东省英语试题命题倾向的深度把握,来提升高中英语阅读教学效果,提升学生的高考英语试题当中阅读理解题目的得分,提高英语教学的整体水准。本文以广东省高考英语试题中凸显的英语语言文化因素导向为例,来谈高中英语阅读教学。
一、试题凸显的英语语言文化因素,要求阅读教学关注这一倾向
从英语高考试题本身来说,要做到准确地解答试题,阅读能力首当其冲。例如,从2012年广东省的高考英语试题来看,整体上依然强调学生的英语阅读能力的考查。下面我们来重点看一下2012广东高考英语试题的阅读理解部分的第一节A篇试题:
“Have a nice day!” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.
“Have a nice day. Next!” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone(腔调) with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else?蒺s is the management?蒺s attempt to increase business.
The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don?蒺t know what to say “Oh, you may have a tooth out? I?蒺m terribly sorry, but have a nice day.”
The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heart?鄄warming because someone you don?蒺t know has tried to be nice to you.
Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it?蒺s nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don?蒺t care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like.
从整个试题来看,广东省英语试题命题之中的英语语言文化因素倾向十分明显,文章是在讲“have a nice day”这一表达的问题。尽管这句话有时不那么真诚,好像是一句无意义的社交用语,但其存在的意义就在于人们想说的时候就把它说出来。这一试题的内容,充分体现了英语语言中的文化因素。
这对于我们的高中英语教学来说,有相当重要的启示的。一般来说,语言是以语音为外壳,用词汇和语法组成,用来表达人们思想的符号系统。语言既然是用来表达人们的思想,就不免受到人们的世界观、价值观、哲学观的渗透[1]。对于英语语言来说,要讨论英语语言中的文化因素,就需要把握文化哲学因素在语言中的整体体现。教师在相关的教学活动之中,要引导学生充分关注这一高考试题命题倾向,有针对性地组织阅读教学。
二、试题凸显的英语语言文化因素,要求阅读教学补充相关教学内容
我们再看2011年广东高考英语试题的阅读理解部分的第一节C篇的试题:
A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase(公文包) and standing before my full?鄄length mir?鄄ror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I?蒺m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day even?鄄tually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12?鄄year?鄄old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okey, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forests of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you?蒺ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
以上的短文,明显地是在叙述一个英语国家的学生在毕业后工作的经历。全文叙述了该学生在毕业一年后,找到了一份教写作课的工作。作者想象学生能积极发言,但事与愿违,他只得让学生打开笔记本,写一篇关于深深失望的短文。若学生在理解这篇文章时,没有意识到文章本身凸显的西方文化因素,而是用我们的固有的思维方式来阅读和答题,往往得分是不理想的。
因而,作为高中英语老师,在教学中要及时地补充一些英语文化因素方面的教学内容。例如,笔者在高中英语教学中,对学生指出:在西方人看来,人与自然是二元对立的,这种二元对立的思想,渗透到语言中,影响着人们的思维,也影响着西方人的语言思维[2]。西方人习惯用分析的思维,用句多以主语与谓语充当句子关键部分,对从句起到了统摄的作用。这与汉语的遣词造句有很大的不同,这也反映出中英思维方式的巨大差异。
通过相关语言事实结论的阅读教学导入,来展开英语教学当中的阅读理解教学。我在教学当中,不满足于让学生选出或者解答好阅读理解文章的答案,而是尽可能地让学生翻译英文,提升他们的阅读能力。如,笔者在学生阅读试题之中,选出2011年广东高考英语试题的阅读理解部分的第一节C篇中的一句:“A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.”让学生进行翻译,一方面锻炼他们的阅读理解中的语境分析能力,另一方面让他们体会英语阅读理解中常出现的文化因素差异。对于这一试题,学生多按照汉语的思维方式,译为:“房间里是可怕的一片寂静,没有其他意见,我让学生拿出他们的笔记本,来写深深的失望主题的文章。”这个直接的译文读起来支离破碎,句子没有连贯性,表达的意思亦让人费解。
这也可以看出,平时在阅读理解教学中,学生对于英语阅读理解方面的训练深度是不够的,对于英语语言中体现的文化因素差异,关注也是不够的。我在高中英语教学当中,通过对广东省英语试题命题之中凸显的英语语言文化因素倾向的深度把握,来让学生关注英语运用中的中英思维方式相异导致了文化因素的差异,这不仅仅可以提升高考英语答题的准确性,还能够提升学生的英语综合水准。我注意引导学生理解并理顺英语阅读理解中的文化因素差异,例如将上例子中的英文与学生讨论之后,将译文译成:“可怕的安静笼罩了教室,没有人发言,于是我让学生打开他们的笔记本,写一篇关于深深失望的小短文。”这时非常切合汉语言的表达,注意了英语语言中的文化因素差异,形成了一段不错的译文。
三、试题凸显的英语语言文化因素,要求教学中提升学生阅读准确性
从广东省近两年的高考英语试题的考查中,我们发现,英语试题命题中凸显的英语语言文化因素倾向明显,对学生的阅读理解的准确性要求极高。因而高中英语教学中,要不断地融入对中西文化差异方面的教学,引起学生在阅读理解中的关注。要高标准高要求,可以尝试运用英语译为汉语的教学形式,来提升学生英语阅读理解的水准。从广东高考试题对于学生阅读理解能力考查的关注来看,高中英语阅读教学要提升日常教学的效能,要不断强调学生英语阅读理解的准确性。
当然,我们的教学活动也可以“化整为零”,在教学当中,每堂课抽出5分钟左右,引导学生积极关注在英语语言中有大量的习语、惯用语、俚语等等,这些基本的语言因子中,潜藏着十分丰富的文化因素,体现着西方人的价值观念、文化底蕴,这是我们值得重视的。例如在英语中:spend money like water,而汉语的习惯说法是“挥金如土”,而英语习语,如to keep ones head above water(奋力图存),all at sea(不知所措)等。我们从这些习语中可以窥见西方人对于“水”的警觉。当然,若从地域文化学角度来说,英语语言中的这些与“水”等信息相关的语言,可以知道西方人对于海洋的认识较早,较早地进行了航海活动,渗透到语言之中,形成习语、惯用语、俚语等[3],这些惯用的语言形式,记录和继承了西方人的文化因素,再现了西方世界的文化因素[4]。这是我们进行高中英语阅读教学中应该关注的,也是近年来广东省高考英语试题凸显的一个重要的命题倾向。
可以说,通过对广东省英语试题命题中凸显的英语语言文化因素倾向的深度把握,对提升高中英语教学来说,是大有裨益的。
四、结语
综上所述,从高考英语试题的倾向当中,我们可以看到广东省英语试题命题中凸显的英语语言文化因素倾向,因而在教学中,阅读教学也要跟上节奏,关注英语阅读中的文化因素,不断地引导学生进行必要的答题训练,关注英语语言中体现的文化因素,提升教学效果。
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