浅谈英语语篇衔接特色

王雪乔

语篇理解是高考英语考试的一个重要考查方面，具体题型包括完形填空、阅读理解、七选五、语法填空、改错以及书面表达。可以看出，对语篇理解的考查贯穿高考英语试卷的方方面面，以此可以看出英语语篇理解的重要性。语篇理解的重要性凸显出对英语语篇衔接方式把握的重要性。英语语篇衔接手段主要依赖代词、同义词、同位词替换和语篇的语序，以此来避免重复和保持行文的逻辑合理性。

英语行文不喜欢重复，除非有特殊需要，这和汉语有较大的区别。以下，我们就从句子层面到篇章层面来考查英语是如何进行衔接的。

1. 句子层面

句子是构成篇章的基本单位，所以先来看句子层面上英语衔接的特点。

例1 Mary received a Christmas gift from her Grandmother and she liked it.

使用代词代替上文出现的名词“a Christmas gift”，避免重复。

例2 I bought two books， both of which were written by a world famous woman writer.

使用关系代词指代先行词“two books”，避免重复，起到衔接作用。

例3 The second home-made aircraft-carrier is now being built. It is expected that she is among the most advanced in the world.

同例句1，用“she”指的是“The second home-made aircraft-carrier”，避免重复。在英

语里，船舶等交通工具可以用代词“she”来指代。

例4 Jack had his own smart phone but he took mine as his own， which was something I felt terribly sick of.

名词性物主代词可以指代上文提到的名词“smart phone”，起到上下衔接的作用。

例5 The southerners are in preference to rice while the northerners are keen on wheat.

英语里，相同的意思可以选择不同的近义词或者短语来表达，比如该句中的“are in preference to”和“are keen on”就属于这种情况。

例6 He expressed his pessimism that all of the efforts we took were in vain but I objected to this kind of outlook.

两个不同的名词，表达相同的意思，用法同上。

例7 Our unemployment rate is up， but our salary is down.

连词起到上下文的衔接作用。

例8 My mother asked me to go to the market with her， but I didnt want to.

不定式的省略，省略了上文的“go to the market with her”，避免了重復累赘。

2. 语篇层次

关于语篇层次的衔接，本文想从两个方面进行展示，首先从词的角度看英语的语篇衔接。

Jack is well-received in his class. As the monitor of the class， he often holds fascinating activities in which many students are ready to participate and make friends with each other. If one is in trouble in study or in life， the monitor always offers to lend a hand as soon as possible， which makes the boy one of the most popular students in the class. What is more， not only is he an able monitor but he has a gift for music， whose performance always arouses much admiration among the students whenever there is a party in class or in school. Now， you see， how popular Jack is！

这篇短文是介绍杰克是一个受欢迎的人。文中一共有8处涉及到这个学生，但是我们能看到，除了开头和结尾两句话出现了“Jack”，其他地方用了另外的指代方式来衔接全文，避免了从头到底重复“Jack”，符合英语的行文特点。

其次，本文想从篇章内部句子之间顺序的角度来看看英语特有的衔接方式。以下例子来自《语篇衔接与翻译》（胡明亮（2006），四川出版集团）。

a. Its the sun thats shining， the day thats perfect. The astronauts come here. The Great Hall they are just passing; hell perhaps come out to greet them， the President. No， its the admiral whos taking the ceremony.

b. The sun is shining， its a perfect day. Here come the astronauts. They are just passing the Great Hall; perhaps the President will come out to greet them. No， its the admiral whos taking the ceremony.

按照胡明亮的观点，a. 很难看懂，一个重要的原因是该段句子的语序衔接不合适，句子主题和焦点频繁转换，让人迎接不暇。他认为，第一句两个小句子就显得突兀。第二句“The astronauts come here.”是个主谓结构，和上文没有联系。第三句是宾语提前，将主题句改为“the Great Hall”，也很突兀。第四句主题又变为了“he”;最后一句“No， its the admiral whos taking the ceremony”，用“It is...who...”强调句的形式将“the admiral”标为焦点，和前边不协调。总之，由于句子主题的频繁转换，造成语篇衔接混乱，不具备可读性。相比较而言，b.的行文衔接就流畅了很多，符合英文的行文习惯。

无论是句子层面还是语篇层面，英语行文都有独特的衔接方式。教师在平时的教学中，应该有意识地引导学生去观察英文的衔接特点，这不仅在审美上能感受到英文之美，提高其学科的核心素养，在实际学习中更能提高英语的应用能力特别是阅读能力和写作能力。

（作者单位：河北省石家庄市鹿泉区第一中学英语组）