品读英文原著 提升备考能力

浙江

品读英语文学作品尤其是经典名著可以为学生打开了解别国历史、文化、风俗的窗口。通过阅读英语原版文学作品，学生可以拓展视野，感受不同文化的魅力。在学生阅读这些名著的同时，教师要指导学生深入品味名著语言并把握语篇结构，着眼提高他们的高考备考能力。

仔细分析，高考备考能力的提高建立在词（词语）、句（句子）和文（篇章）这三个不同层面的能力提高的基础上。下面笔者结合Jack London的著名短篇小说To Build a Fire，谈一下如何通过品读英文原著来促进这三个层面的能力提高，希望能够起到抛砖引玉的作用。

一、词

熟词多义是英语学习中的一个难点，如形容词wild既可以表示褒义，意为“狂喜的”，也可以表示中性，意为“野生的”，还可以表示贬义，意为“野蛮的”。在不同的语境中，wild这个单词表示不同的意思，而如何判断该词的词义是考生较难把握之处，因为这需要具体语境的支撑，英语原版名著无疑提供了很好的范本。下面请看小说To Build a Fire中关于熟词多义的具体例子：

Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below zero.That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head.

precisely在常规用法中表示褒义，意为“精确地”，如：He has formed a good habit of expressing his feelings precisely.（他养成了精确表达自己情感的好习惯。）但是在这里，结合语境precisely则表示贬义，意为“仅仅”，与后面的“that never entered his head”相呼应，以此强调他的盲目和无知。

如果学生能够掌握一定数量熟词的生义，并在写作中自由运用这些词会使其文章增色不少。比如，同样是表达“因为我关心你，我才不要你太晚回家。”使用“It's precisely because I care about you that I don't like you staying out late.”明显比“It's because I care about you that I don't like you staying out late.”更胜一筹。precisely在此意为“正是，确实”，强调真实或明显。

二、句

经典名著中通常会有一些长难句或亮点句，而这些句子恰好是值得学生学习的好素材，因为高级句型的使用会为学生的书面表达增分添彩。

比如，同样表示“一想到父亲去年买来的那些每只看起来都很可爱的猫，他就很高兴。”，不少考生习惯表达成He became quite happy when he thought of those cats.Each of them had been bought by his father the year before.Each of them looked very lovely.虽然这样的表达在准确性上没有问题，但是要想打动阅卷老师取得高分却非常困难。那么，该如何突破这个瓶颈呢？我们不妨从名著To Build a Fire中找寻答案。

He smiled agreeably to himself as he thought of those biscuits,each cut open and sopped in bacon grease,and each enclosing a generous slice of fried bacon.（一想到那些饼干，他就欣然一笑，那些饼干每块都被切开，吸收了熏肉的油脂并包裹着一大片煎熏肉。）

此句为长难句，其中as引导的是时间状语从句，表示“当……的时候”，而后面的句子则是省略了with的独立主格结构，读者的常见疑问是“为什么cut与sop（湿透，渗透）这两个动词使用过去分词，而enclose（包，装）这个动词却使用现在分词？”实际上，作者Jack London非常注重语言上的细节，对于名词和动词之间的关系拿捏得非常到位，由于名词biscuits与动词cut与sop是被动关系，所以使用过去分词，而与动词enclose则是主动关系，所以必须使用现在分词。

通过分析上面引自To Build a Fire中的句子，学生豁然开朗，并尝试着把上文那几个平淡无奇的句子改写如下：

He became quite happy as he thought of those cats,each bought by his father the year before and each looking very lovely.

修改后的句子借鉴了原著中的独立主格结构，让人眼前一亮。不过，如果学生缺乏对经典原著或其他优秀文章的积累，若想在高考书面表达中写出令人耳目一新的高级表达显然是不太现实的。

综上所述，学生在句型、结构上借鉴经典名著，可以使自己的表达更加地道，从而为书面表达增分添彩。

三、文

学生通过品读经典名著提升备考能力，最终要落实到文中，因为文对学生的要求在理解词语、句型的基础上更进了一步，文要求学生对英、美经典名著的写作手法，如细节描写（description）、比喻（simile或metaphor）和拟人（personification）等有非常深入的体会，感知这些文学作品的语言魅力。在Jack London的To build a Fire这本小说中，上述写作手法运用得非常娴熟和恰当，下面笔者摘选一些具体的实例来分析一下这些写作手法的具体使用。

1.细节描写（description）

He had no chance to take a bite of biscuit.He struck the fingers repeatedly and returned them to the m itten,baring the other hand for the purpose of eating.He tried to take a mouthful,but the ice-muzzle prevented.He had forgotten to build a fire and thaw out.He chuckled at his foolishness,and as he chuckled he noted the numbness creeping into the exposed fingers.

本段通过行为动作描写，展示了主人公在寒冷中吃饼干的情景，起到烘托恶劣环境对主人公吃饼干造成困难的作用。

The man was shocked.It was as though he had just heard his own sentence of death.For a moment he sat and stared at the spot where the fire had been.Then he grew very calm.Perhaps the old-timer on Sulphur Creek was right.If he had only had a trail-mate he would have been in no danger now.

本段通过心理活动描写，展现了主人公在面临死亡时的后悔之情，得出人不能太固执这一文章主题。

2.比喻（simile或metaphor）

He tried to poke them together again,but in spite of the tenseness of the effort,his shivering got away with him,and the twigs were hopelessly scattered.Eachtwig gushed a puff of smoke and went out.

本段的最后一句话运用了隐喻的写作手法，暗指“随着树枝火苗的熄灭，主人公的生命也走到了尽头。”这里的树枝并非只是指具体的物象，而是代表了主人公自己的生命希望。

3.拟人（personification）

The dog was disappointed and yearned back toward the fire.

这里的yearned以拟人化的手法非常传神地刻画出这条狗的落寞失望之情。

掌握了这些手法后，学生要尽量在自己的书面表达如读后续写中运用这些手法，以使自己的语篇灵动、具体，从而得到阅卷老师的青睐。如同样表示“累”，我们应该抛弃笼统的表达“I was very tired.”，可以使用具体的描写“My clothes were all wet with sweat.”。在描述湖面的美丽时自觉摒弃刻板的表达“The lake was very beautiful.”，可以用“The lake was just like a pure mirror in the setting sun.”这种比喻手法。

在掌握词、句和文的基础上，教师要引导学生在理解和欣赏英、美经典名著后进行仿写和改写等相关创作活动，这有助于学生体会这些名著的精华并提升自己的思维能力。

请先欣赏小说原著最后三段：

He pictured the boys finding his body next day.Suddenly he found himself with them,coming along the trail and looking for himself.And,still with them,he came around a turn in the trail and found himself lying in the snow.He did not belong with himself any more,for even then he was out of himself,standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow.It certainly was cold,was his thought.When he got back to the States he could tell the folks what real cold was.He drifted on from this to a vision of the old-timer on Sulphur Creek.He could see him quite clearly,warm and com fortable,and smoking a pipe.

“You were right,old hoss; you were right,” the man mumbled to the old-timer of Sulphur Creek.

Then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most com fortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known.The dog sat facing him and waiting.The brief day drew to a close in a long,slow twilight.There were no signs of a fire to be made,and,besides,never in the dog's experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and make no fire.As the twilight drew on,its eager yearning for the fire mastered it,and with a great lifting and shifting of forefeet,it whined softly,then flattened its ears down in anticipation of being chidden by the man.But the man remained silent.Later,the dog whined loudly.And still later it crept close to the man and caught the scent of death.This made the animal bristle and back away.A little longer it delayed,how ling under the stars that leaped and danced and shone brightly in the cold sky.Then it turned and trotted up the trail in the direction of the camp it knew,where were the other food-providers and fire-providers.

由上文可以看出，To Build a Fire这本小说以主人公被冻死和一条狗在无望的情况下无助逃生这样的悲怆结局来收尾，阅读完这样的结局我们不免心生唏嘘。但学生可以在教师的指导下运用他们的开放性思维和创造性思维去大胆地改写结局，以下是一位学生改写的结局：

The intelligent dog tried his best to run to the camp it was familiar with and succeeded in finding someone who was so kind as to go there to accompany him and saved him eventually.Then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most com fortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known.In the dream he found he was almost frozen and that he was very scared at that time.Luckily he woke up the next morning and found it was merely a dream.

在上文中，学生运用了be familiar with,accompany,eventually,satisfying,luckily和merely等高级词汇，也运用了so...as to do...结构和what引导的名词性从句等高级句型，同时还使用了梦境这样的细节描写，最重要的是学生通过阅读原著，提高了想象能力。

提升高考备考能力的方法有很多种，但是阅读经典名著无疑是诸多方法中比较保险且高效的方法之一。通过品读这些经典名著，学生的阅读能力和书面表达能力将不断提升。

To Build a Fireis a short story by American author Jack London.There are two versions of this story,one published in 1902 and the other in 1908.The story written in 1908 has become an often anthologized classic,while the 1902 story is less well known.The 1908 version is about an unnamed protagonist who ventures out in the subzero boreal forest of the Yukon Territory,accompanied by his dog,to visit his friends — ignoring warnings from an older man about the dangers of hiking alone in extreme cold.The protagonist underestimates the harsh conditions and slowly begins to freeze to death.After trying and failing to build a fire,he slips into unconsciousness and dies of hypothermia.

The 1908 To Build a Fire is an oft-cited example of the naturalist movement that portrays the conflict of man vs.nature.It also reflects what London learned in the Yukon Territory.

1908 version p lot

Anunnamed man sets out to hike through the forests bordering the Yukon River on a w inter day whose temperature has reached -75℉ (-59℃).Having ignored the advice of an old prospector against traveling alone in such weather,he is accompanied only by his large husky dog.The animal's instincts warn it about the dangers of the extreme cold,and it follows the man unwillingly.As they follow the course of a frozen creek,the man is careful to avoid patches of thin ice,hidden by the snow,that cover pockets of unfrozen water.His goal is to reach a group of prospectors (“the boys”) at their camp by 6：00 that evening.

At half past noon,the man stops and builds a fire so he can warm up and eat his lunch.Shortly after resuming his hike,he breaks through the ice and soaks his feet and lower legs (“half-way to the knees”),forcing him to stop and build another fire — this one under a tree — in order to dry himself.As he pulls twigs from the brush pile around the tree to feed the flames,the vibrations eventually cause the snow to tumbledown from the branches overhead and extinguish the fire.The man quickly begins to lose sensation in his extremities and hurries to light another fire,now starting to understand the life-threatening danger posed by the extreme cold.He lights the fire,igniting all of his matches and burning himself,but accidentally pokes it apart while trying to remove a piece of moss.With no more matches on hand,the man tries to kill the dog and use its insides for warm th,but his hands are so stiff that he can neither strangle it nor draw his knife.Finally he tries to restore his circulation by running toward the camp,but stumbles and falls in the snow.The man dies of hypothermia,imagining himself standing with“the boys”as they find his body,and the dog leaves the body after dark to find food and shelter at the camp.