新托福提分之如何看懂长难句

 托福长句历来是中国考生，或者说大部分英语学习者的痛处。人们常说得长句者得天下，虽说其中有夸大的成分，但长句理解确实是托福阅读非常重要的一环。Seatle University的Eli Hinkel写过这样一篇文章，Simplicity Without Elegance: Features of Sentences in L1 and L2 Academic Texts, 这篇文章用数据分析了L1 (first language)和L2 (second language)使用者（基于ESL学生）在学术写作时的特点，以下是其中的一个例子和数据：

Children’s opinions are always a controversial topic. Children are important to their parents, and some believe that older children are mature enough to flourish their opinions without parents’ interference. Some argue that children are incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, and therefore it is the responsibility for parents to construct their children’s opinions. The two beliefs are contradictory to each other, and many parents are anxious about this dilemma. (Excerpted from a native Chinese speaker)

从以上中国学生写的段落和数据分析不难看出亚洲学生在学术写作时对于简单句的使用是大于native English speakers的，换言之亚洲学生对于简单句的把握是没有问题的。有趣的是，如果让一个处于intermidiate level的亚洲学生从一句托福阅读长句中抽出最一般的简单句时，结果却是令人失望的。所以许多学生读不懂长句，写不好长句的现象是很普遍的。

那么到底怎样才能基于文章理解长句呢？笔者的态度是Simplicity Without Elegance, 去寻求长句的simplicity, 简而言之就是把握basic unit, 何为basic unit? 无非就是组成长句的单词和基本句型。就像你有了简单的代数、几何的基础，才能去学习线性代数、立体几何；明白了基本的投资学，才能够涉及衍生金融。可是很多同学又会说，我的词汇量不错，简单句掌握得也不错，但是依然理解不了长句，那到底是什么环节出了问题？

一、基本策略

在分析如何看懂长句之前，先请读者看下面一段话：

Socrates begins by asking Glaucon to imagine a cave inhabited by prisoners who have been imprisoned since childhood. These prisoners are chained in such a way that their legs and necks are fixed, forcing them to gaze at the wall in front of them. Behind the prisoners is a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway. Along this walkway is a low wall, behind which people walk carrying objects ‘...including figures of men and animals made of wood, stone and other materials.’ In this way, the walking people are compared to puppeteers and the low wall to the screen over which puppeteers display their puppets. The people walking are behind the wall on the walkway, so their bodies do not cast shadows on the wall, but the objects they carry do. The prisoners cannot see any of this behind them, and are only able to view the shadows cast upon the wall in front of them. The sounds of the people walking echo off the shadowed wall, the prisoners falsely perceive these sounds to be that of the shadows. Socrates suggests that, for the prisoners, the shadows of artifacts would constitute reality, because they have not seen the light. They would not realize that what they see are shadows of the artifacts, which are inspired by real humans and animals outside of the cave.

喜欢哲学的同学看到这段话应该就知道讲的是Plato的囚徒困境，简而言之就是从小就被囚禁的囚犯只能看见他所面对的墙以及墙上所展现的现实生活中的事物的影子，然后把墙上的影子理解成他意识中的“现实”。这里我们不从哲学角度分析，而从阅读理解的角度来看这段话，一眼看上去其实不难，大部分是细节性的描述。那我们应该怎么读词、句子以及段落去smooth整段对话，使之变得更加易懂以节约阅读的时间成本呢？这段话里的主题词应该归结于law, 如prisoner, imprison, chain, puppeteer（从puppy联想，小狗很容易被操纵，到puppetize操纵，再转到puppeteer操纵木偶的人），其他一些细节性描述的词主要是对人的行为的描述，比较简单，这样我们其实就确定了单词的基本话题范畴。下面进行句子的解剖。

1. Socrates（苏格拉底）ask Glaucon about Prisoners.

2. Prisoners cannot see any of this behind them, and are only able to view the shadows.

3. Socrates suggests that shadows of artifacts would constitute reality.

如果你在扫读文章时，潜意识地在脑中自动给这三句话加下划线，那么很快你就能知道这段话要传递的内容。我们暂且不从哲学角度去探讨what on earth is reality, 在托福学习中，同学们如果不及时转身，自然会落入囚徒困境，你看到的只会是句子、段落和文章的shadow。而如果你跳出困境，去抽象化的理解文章，get that simplicity, 那你就会知道什么是句子、段落和文章的reality.

下面我们转到具体的三个例子来进一步阐述阅读长句的基本策略：

1. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance.

Words Topic: Engineer (mechanical; soften; metal; finest; instrument)

Reality: 这段话我们需要把握的是mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century and finally produced an awesome instrument. 笔者不排斥对于语法锱铢必较的方法，但是笔者认为Soul of reading is hitting that instinct!就像Berklee College训练出来的学生演唱soul未必会比一个不受训练的soul singer好，原因就在于The former cannot get that soul!

2. In fact, throughout the animal kingdom, from sponges to certain types of worms, shellfish, and all vertebrates (creatures possessing a spinal column), there is evidence that transplants of cells or fragments of tissues into an animal are accepted only if they come from genetically compatible or closely related individuals．

Words Topic: Biology (shellfish; spinal; cell)

Reality: transplants of cells or fragments of tissues into an animal are accepted only if they come from genetically compatible or closely related individuals.

3. A few art collectors Tames Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginia, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.

Words Topic: Art; History (collectors; colonists; privileged; gallery)

Reality: A few art collectors introduced European art traditions to those colonists and established...

二、关于基本要素

l  Lexical Resource

Keith S.Folse在他的Myth about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary: What Recent Research Says (2004) 中指出Myth 1: Vocabulary is Not as important in learning a foreign Language as grammar or other areas. Comprehensible input helps learners figure out how a language works. If the language that a learner is hearing or reading has many unknown words, then that language is not comprehensible and therefore cannot be input. In other words, without vocabulary, comprehensible input is neither comprehensible nor input.

那么对于各种语言考试，词汇量的upper bound和lower bound是多少？多少词汇量可以达到ETS的要求？怎样一个程度可以达到Keith所说的comprehensible input呢？

Keith在文章中指出他曾经在日本想要买面粉，他知道在日语中怎么说Excuse me, where is the______这样的句子结构，但是他不知道flour这个词用日语怎么说，要命的是That’s the key word！他甚至用英语说了pre-bread这个单词，最后依然是徒劳。所以一味地讲structure有可能让我们忽略了语言学习的本质。

另外，还有一些同学认为学习复杂词汇是没有用的。这样的观点有失偏颇，关于是否需要学习高级词汇，应该根据学生本身的英语水平而定。所以对于有基础的同学，应该去涉及高级词汇，甚至是其所学专业的专业词汇。因为很多学生即使掌握了主题词以及句子结构，在读长句或者段落时依然觉得很吃力也很困扰，读起来不够fluent。对于一些追求细节和完美的考生而言，甚至希望可以把每个词都读懂！词汇是无穷无尽的，考生不可能掌握所有的单词，所以在读句子的时候应该结合猜词技巧，这里不再做进一步阐述。要说明的是并不是每次猜测都会给你正确的引导，文章有可能利用你想要猜词的动机引导你去错误的方向，那么你就可能无法正确地得出单词的reality！

l  Sentence Structure

上文中提到对于sentence要有一种直觉，但是这种直觉实际上是基于最基本的语法技能的，至少你应该了解到基本的句子结构有哪些：

主语＋谓语

主语＋谓语＋宾语

主语＋谓语＋间接宾语＋直接宾语

主语＋谓语＋宾语＋宾语补足语

主语＋系动词＋表语

There be句型

这些都是非常基本的结构，很多初级课程都会涉及这些基本语法的教学。问题是很多学生知道这些结构也会写这些结构，但是一碰到长句，又变成了瓮中之鳖。那到底什么环节出了问题？很多时候我们需要整合，这不是独立的技巧或结构。有人会说，I’m good at words and sentence structure, but not long sentences。擅长单词和句型并不意味着擅长长句，就像你拥有汽车的前轮和后轮，但是不组装依然不能让车子跑起来。所以长时间的语感练习也是必要的！

三、总结

KLDR strategy:

Know more words

Learn sentence structure

Do more practice

Read everyday

结论是我们又回到了原先的基本策略：使用你已有的知识，找到最小的语言单位，寻找到长难句的reality。用每一个环节累积组装，最后达到效用最大化！