解析高考英语的“分隔”现象及其解题思路

马爱生

英语句子为避免主语、宾语等主要句子成分过长，往往将其与其修饰语分隔开来, 此即英语中的分隔现象。分隔现象产生的主要原因一是为了强调或者平衡句子，二是为了使行文精炼，句子结构紧凑，语言表达言简意赅。分隔成分可以是单词、短语或是句子，用来补充含义或做出一些解释。

分隔现象是英语与汉语的一个显著区别，分隔现象很容易干扰考生对句意的理解，打断正常的解题思路，造成句意、文意理解方面的障碍。通过对高考试题的分析，较常见的分隔现象概括起来主要有以下六种形式：

一、主语和谓语之间的分隔

英语句子的主语和谓语一般都紧密相连，它们之间很少插入介词等比较长的结构。但有时为了避免头重脚轻，保持句子的平衡或者为了语义严密、结构紧凑，在主语和谓语之间也会插入其他成分，从而形成分隔现象。例如：

1. The country life he was used to_____ greatly since 1992. （2005山东卷）

A. changeB. has changed

C. changingD. have changed

解析：答案为B。此题中he was used to为定语从句，前面省略了关系代词that，修饰主语The country life，它起着分隔主谓语的作用。因为句子的主语the country life后需要谓语动词，所以应选用has changed。

2. Professor Smith, along with his assistants,_____ on the project day and night to meet the deadline. （2005上海卷）

A. workB. working

C. is workingD. are working

解析：答案为C。句子的“along with his assistants”是介词短语，分割它前后的主谓语，起补充说明的作用。因主语是Professor Smith，所以谓语动词要用第三人称单数形式。

二、同位语从句和先行词的分隔

1. A story goes_____ ElizabethⅠof England liked nothing more than being surrounded by clever and qualified noblemen at court. （2004年上海卷）

A. whenB. where

C. whatD. that

解析：答案为D。句中的“ ... ElizabethⅠof England liked nothing more than being surrounded by clever and qualified noblemen at court.”是主语A story的同位语。由于该同位语较长而谓语较短，为保持句子平衡，谓语动词goes放在了主语与同位语从句之间，造成同位语从句与主语的分隔。

2. —Its thirty years since we last met.

—But I still remember the story, believe it or not,_____ we got lost on a rainy night.（2006四川卷）

A. whichB. that

C. whatD. when

解析：答案为B。此题中“the story”和其同位语从句“that we got lost on a rainy night”被插入语“believe it or not”分隔，在一定程度上影响了考生对句子结构的判断。

三、定语从句和先行词的分隔

1. The film brought the hours back to me _____I was taken good care of in that faraway village.（NMET2001）

A. untilB. that

C. whenD. where

解析：答案为C。此题的主体结构为The film brought the hours back to me.它语义清晰，结构紧凑，同时也避免了出现类似于the hours when I was taken good care of in that faraway village这样太长的定语，那样易造成句子失去平衡而且把宾语hours与其补足语back to me分隔开来也造成理解困难。

2. He is the only one of the students who_____ a winner of scholarship for three

years. （2002年上海春季卷）

A. isB. are

C. have beenD. has been

解析：答案为D。此句中of the students分隔了先行词the only one和定语从句who has been a winner of scholarship for three years， 影响了考生对定语从句的先行词的判断，使得考生很容易错误地把the students作为先行词而误选C选项。

四、连词和其所连接的主体分句的分隔

1. —Is that the small town you often refer to？

—Right，just the one_____ you know I used to work for years. (2005福建卷)

A. thatB. which

C. whereD. what

解析：答案为C。此句中的you know为插入语，它分隔了关系词和定语从句的主谓语结构，干扰了考生对句子结构的理解。因为定语从句缺少地点状语，所以应该选择where引导的定语从句。

2. We thought there were 35 students in the dining hall,_____, in fact, there were 40.（2006全国卷）

A. whileB. whether

C. whatD. which

解析：答案为A。句中in fact是插入语，起到了强调“事实上”的情况，整个句子“原以为”与“事实上”的对比并列关系，因此选择while，表示两者之间的对比。

五、复合谓语内的分隔

1. An awful accident_____, however, occur the other day.

A. doesB. did

C. has toD. had to

解析：答案为B。 这是一个强调谓语的句子。时间状语the other day为过去时间，所以谓语用did加动词原形。副词however插入其中，起到了突出强调的作用。

除此之外在英语阅读中还会出现动词和宾语之间的分隔、复合宾语内的分隔、介词与其宾语的分隔、某些词语与其所要求的介词的分隔等。英语的分隔应遵循尾重原则，即应把长而复杂的成分放在句末，以使结构匀称。

在解题时，当分隔成分在英语句子中运用是为了提高英语句子的效果时，可以把插入语从原文中抽取出来，句子结构不会发生变化。如果插入语过长，可以先跳过这部分，等从整体上把握句意之后再回头看插入部分的内容。虽然插入语会使考生思路被打断，容易分散他们的注意力，但实际上在这种情况下它对句子结构的理解不造成任何影响。若先把插入语省略掉，句子的结构就清晰了。

【巩固练习】

1. The teacher, with 6 girls and 8 boys of her class,_____ visiting a museum when the earthquake struck.

A. wasB. were

C. had beenD. would be

2. Nowadays, a large number of women, especially those from the countryside, ____ in the clothing industry.

A. is workingB. works

C. workD. worked

3. —Each of the students, working hard at his or her lessons,_____ to go to university.

—So do I.

A. hopeB. hopes

C. hopingD. hoped

4. We live day by day, but in the great things, the time of days and weeks_____ so small that a day is unimportant.

A. isB. are

C. has beenD. have been

5. Danby left word with my secretary_____ he would call again in the afternoon.

A. whoB. that

C. asD. which

6. A fast food restaurant is the place_____, just as the name suggests, eating is done quickly.

A. whichB. where

C. thereD. what

7. We all know that,_____, the situation will get worse.

A. not if dealt carefully with

B. if not carefully dealt with

C. if dealt not carefully with

D. not if carefully dealt with

8. The number of the people present, as we had expected,_____ very large.

A. wasB. were

C. isD. are

9. The other day, my brother drove his car down the street at_____ I thought was a dangerous speed.

A. asB. which

C. whatD. that

10. What we used to think_____ impossible now does seem possible.

A. isB. was

C. has beenD. will be

11. The film brought the hours back to me__________I was taken good care of in that far-away village.

A. untilB. that

C. whenD. where

12. Jim plays football_____, if not better than, Mike.

A. as wellB. as well as

C. so wellD. so well as

13. He told me the news_____, believe it or not, he had earned $1, 000 in a single day.

A. thatB. which

C. asD. because

14. He ran as fast as he could_____ the bus.

A. catchB. to catch

C. catchingD. caught

15. A warm thought suddenly occurred to me__________I might use the pocket money to buy some flowers for my mothers birthday.

A. ifB. when

C. thatD. which

16. Helen was much kinder to her youngest son than to the others,_____, of course, made the others envy him.

A. whoB. that

C. whatD. which

17. He made another wonderful discovery, __________of great importance to science.

A. which I think is

B. which I think it is

C. which I think it

D. I think which is

18. He is the only one of the students who________good at English.

A. isB. are

C. have beenD. were

19. Information has been put forward_____more middle school graduates will be admitted into universities.

A. whileB. that

C. WhenD. as

20. He arrived in New York in 1896,_____, some time later, he became an actor.

A. whenB. where

C. thatD. which

答案: 1-5 ACBAB6-10 BBACB

11-15 CBABC16-20 DAABB