寻找阅读苦海中的“灯塔”

刘旸

在做英语阅读理解时，把握作者意图很重要，但更重要的是要了解命题者会在哪些地方出题。英语中就有这样一类灯塔词（或结构），它们就像茫茫大海中的灯塔，可以带领我们迅速找到出题位置，领会命题者的出题意图。常见的灯塔词（或结构）包括转折词、绝对词、比较结构、例证词、递进标志词、因果标志词、总结词、同反义词等。下面我们先来了解其中最常见的一种——转折词。

有个老太太过70大寿，一位文人前去祝寿。看到文人，大家都纷纷要他作诗一首来庆祝。于是文人提笔写下第一句：“这个老妇不是人。”大家看到后都傻眼了，这怎么还骂人啊。刚想出言指责，只见文人写好了第二句：“恰是仙人下凡尘。”众人一看，纷纷觉得这转折甚妙，刚想表扬几番，只见文人又写下了第三句：“子孙个个都是贼。”众人惊呆，这怎么连所有子孙都骂上了。还没等众人缓过神来，文人最后一句也已出炉：“偷得蟠桃献母亲。”众人这才明白，文人这诗看似是骂，实则在夸。

在这个例子中，文人为什么会让大家提心吊胆又不停峰回路转呢？这是因为他连用了两次转折。诗中虽无诸如“但是”“可是”等明显的转折词，不过转折意味却表露无遗，让人们可以把握诗人写诗的重点和想要表达的意思。

转折词在高考英语阅读中也常常出现。一般来说，常见的转折词有but、however、yet、while、whereas、otherwise、although、though、despite、instead、rather、in contrast等。其中，but、however、yet、whereas、in contrast都是转折词后面的内容才是重点。比如：I'd like to attend the party， but I have to finish my homework. 这个句子中but后面表达的内容才是重点。而诸如while （放在句首表示转折）、otherwise、although、though、despite、instead、rather等都是转折词引导的内容算不上重点，句子的另一部分才是重点。比如：Although I want to attend the party， I've decided to finish my homework first. 本句中although引导的部分不是重点，重点在后面的主句部分。这类转折词也是容易出题的地方。在阅读过程中遇到这类转折词时，考生应迅速将其标出，并找出句意重点所在。这样后面做题遇到相关的题目时，即可迅速利用其来帮助解题。

掌握了内功心法，接下来我们利用几道高考真题来验证一下转折词作为灯塔词的作用。

We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the An family _______.

A. started a business in 1975

B. left Vietnam without much money

C. bought a restaurant in San Francisco

D. opened a sandwich shop in Los Angeles

Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California. However， when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975， they didn't have much money. （2015年安徽卷B篇第二段）

题干问的是从第二段可得知这家人_______，因此我们阅读原文第二段，不难发现该段出现转折词however。由上面的内功心法可知，however后面的部分是重点，该部分大意为：这家人在1975年离开越南的家，当时身上没有多少钱。对比四个选项，可以发现B项跟原文完美对应，故答案为B。

The girl's parents got Rashid's phone number from ______.

A. a friend of his family

B. a Sydney policeman

C. a letter in his papers

D. a stranger in Sydney

My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out， although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend. （2014 年新课标II卷A篇第五段）

在阅读第五段时，考生应该养成习惯，见到although就立刻标记出来。由内功心法可知，although前面的her parents had carefully sorted them out是重点，其中的them指代的是前一句提到的papers，而下一句提到从papers中间找到了一封letter，可见最终电话号码是从 a letter in his papers中找到的，故正确答案为C。由此可见，通过寻找灯塔词来解题可以节省大量重新阅读的时间。

What is special about Samuel Osmond？

A. He has a gift for writing music.

B. He can write down the note he hears.

C. He is a top student at the law school.

D. He can play the musical piece he hears.

Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old law student from Cornwall， England. He never studied the piano. However， he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music by listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head. Two years ago， he played his first piece Moonlight Sonata （奏鸣曲） by Beethoven. He surprised everyone around him. （2014年广东卷A篇第一段）

该题题干问的是关于Samuel Osmond的特别之处，由于全文都有提到Samuel Osmond，所以我们无法精确定位到某处。根据阅读理解题文同序原则，可初步判断本题（A篇设置的第一道题）的出题位置大概在第一段。阅读第一段，考生很容易就可以发现灯塔词however，由内功心法可知，however后面的部分是重点。由重点部分he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just a few minutes after he hears them可知，Samuel的过人之处就是听到一个乐曲几分钟后就可以弹奏出来。对比四个选项，只有D项符合文意。本题B项是干扰选项，旨在利用write down给考生设置陷阱。

The research led by Sanbonmatsu indicates that people who multitask ______.

A. seek high productivity constantly

B. prefer handling different things when getting bored

C. are more focused when doing many things at a time

D. have the poorest results in doing various things at the same time

Not surprisingly， the scientists said， most people thought they were better than average at multitasking， and those who thought they were better at it were more likely to report using a cellphone while driving or viewing multiple kinds of media at once. But those who frequently deal with many things at the same time were found to perform the worst at the actual multitasking test. They also were more likely to admit to sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior， which connects with how easily people get bored and distracted. （2013年北京卷D篇第三段）

考生在阅读本题题干时可能会觉得茫然，因为题干和选项中缺乏明显的定位词供考生回原文定位。此时，我们可以阅读文章，找灯塔词。阅读原文第三段，不难发现其中出现了转折词but，由内功心法可知，but后面的部分是重点，该部分大意为：那些经常同时做许多件事情的人在多任务测试（multitasking test）中表现很差。题干意为：研究表明大多数能够多任务工作（multitask）的人_______。对比四个选项，只有D项符合文意，故正确答案为D。考生需要注意的是，but是高考阅读中常见的出题点，通常在文章后面设置的题目中会考查与其所在句子或段落相关的题目，所以大家在做阅读题时，看见but就立刻标记出来，并划出重点部分，以备做题时可以迅速定位。

至此，相信各位同学对灯塔词中的转折词应该有了清晰的认识，对其作用也应该有了深刻的体会。学以致用，希望各位同学在之后做阅读题时可以通过转折词定位出题点，找到命题者的考查点，搞定英语阅读理解题。