作為走在上海應試教學研究最前沿的上海新東方學校,這一次又在國家教委發(fā)布大學英語四級考試試點樣題之際第一時間組織一線教師對試題作了仔細的研究和討論。我們聽力組經過討論后總結出如下聽力部分的改革要點。首先,如以前的改革考綱所示,聽力部分的分值已經從以前的20%上升到35%,和閱讀理解部分并列成為整張試卷中分值比例最重要的兩部分。其次,題型的種類和以往相比改動不大。老題的聽力題目由兩部分組成,一部分叫做短對話(short conversation),和新題的第一部分是一模一樣的。老題的第二部分有兩種選擇,一種是長段子(passage),另外一種是復合式聽寫(compound dictation),而新題中這兩種題型都必須考察,考察的形式和題目數(shù)量均與以往完全一致。唯一不同的部分是新題中增設了一個長對話部分(longer conversation),而且和以往我們預測的稍有出入的一點是樣題中把原有的短對話從10題減少到8題,而長對話比我們預測的5題增加了2題,對話數(shù)量也由我們預測的1個增加為2個。不過對話部分題目總數(shù)保持不變,還是15個?偟膩碚f,題目的總量增加了,做題時間增加了,本身對學生是否能夠長時間的集中聽力注意力就增加了考驗。另外以往有同學在考聽力的時候存在僥幸心理,特別是懼怕復合式聽寫的同學往往會在考前祈禱這次考試不要出現(xiàn)這種題型。改革以后以往所有的題型都必考了,無形中還是增加了總體的難度。接下來我將就其中的兩種題型:長對話和長段子給大家分析一下,著重于和以往題型的對比,目的在于給大家的復習方向以明確的指導。
首先我們來看一下樣題中給出的兩篇長對話。
Conversation One
W: Hello, Gary. How’re you?
M: Fine! And yourself?
W: Can’t complain. Did you have time to look at my proposal?
M: No, not really. Can we go over it now?
W: Sure. I’ve been trying to come up with some new production and advertising strategies. First of all, if we want to stay competitive, we need to modernize our factory. New equipment should’ve been installed long ago.
M: How much will that cost?
W: We have several options ranging from one hundred thousand dollars all the way up to half a million.
M: OK. We’ll have to discuss these costs with finance.
W: We should also consider human resources. I’ve been talking to personnel as well as our staff at the factory.
M: And what’s the picture?
W: We’ll probably have to hire a couple of engineers to help us modernize the factory.
M: What about advertising?
W: Marketing has some interesting ideas for television commercials.
M: TV? Isn’t that a bit too expensive for us? What’s wrong with advertising in the papers, as usual?
W: Quite frankly, it’s just not enough anymore. We need to be more aggressive in order to keep ahead of our competitors.
M: Will we be able to afford all this?
W: I’ll look into it, but I think higher costs will be justified. These investments will result in higher profits for our company.
M: We’ll have to look at the figures more closely. Have finance draw up a budget for these investments.
W: All right. I’ll see to it.
Questions 19 to 20 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
19.What are the two speakers talking about?
20.What does the woman say about the equipment of their factory?
21.What does the woman suggest about human resources?
22. Why does the woman suggest advertising on TV?
第一篇文章給我們的第一印象是篇幅非常的長。之前我們的預測是6-8個回合的對話考5道題目,而現(xiàn)在發(fā)現(xiàn)篇幅遠遠超過了這個預測,題目卻少了一道,這也給同學們在短時間內從大量信息中尋找答案制造了困難。不過如果大家再回過頭仔細去看看我用下劃線標示出來的這些內容,馬上就可以發(fā)現(xiàn)這些部分就是4道題目的答案出處,而且每次答案的出現(xiàn)都伴隨著一個問題。這首先就說明了一點,每每遇到問答的形式都是考官青睞的考點,而且考試的重點往往落在答語上。這一點和短對話中體現(xiàn)的原則不謀而合,而且短對話中的建議請求原則也和此處的情況及其相似。另外還有一個特點,大家觀察后不難發(fā)現(xiàn),并不是每一組問答都被作為考點,而作為考試重點的幾組問題之間關聯(lián)性是不大的。換句話來說,第一個問題考察了文章的main idea, 從第二個問題開始分別考察了new business strategy 所呈現(xiàn)的3方面問題。其中每一個方面選擇了一個最重要的問題來考察,這一點又和以往的passage考察方法很類似,特別是人物生平發(fā)展或者故事類的題目很相似,每一方面的內容只考察一道題目,而且出題的順序和文章的順序是一致的。
Conversation Two
W: Sir, you’ve been using the online catalogue for quite a while , Is there anything I can do to help you?
M: Well, I’ve got to write a paper about Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, and I’m really struggling. There are hundreds of books, and I just don’t know where to begin.
W: Your topic sounds pretty big. Why don’t you narrow it down to something like…uh… the history of the studios during that time?
M: You know, I was thinking about doing that, but more that 30 books came up when I typed in “movie studios.”
W: You could cut that down even further by listing the specific years you want. Try adding “1930s” or “1940s” or maybe “Golden Age.”
M: “Golden Age” is a good idea. Let me type that in … Hey, look, just 6 books this time. That’s a lot better.
W: Oh… another thin you might consider… have you tried looking for any magazine or newspaper articles?
M: No, I’ve only been searching for books.
W: Well, you can look up magazine articles in the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. And we do have the Los Angeles. Times available over there. You might go through their indexes to see if there’s anything you want.
M: Okay, I think I’ll get started with these books and then I’ll go over the magazines.
W: If you need any help, I’ll be over at the Reference Desk.
M: Great, thanks a lot.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
23. What is the man doing?
24. What does the librarian think of the topic the man is working on?
25. Where can the man find the relevant magazine articles?
從劃線出我們再次發(fā)現(xiàn),驚人的相似!問答式的考點,分層次的考察,建議請求的運用。特別明顯的是對話的開頭部分一直在糾纏如何narrow down topic, 所以只考察了一道題目,第二道題目直到對話的中后部才出現(xiàn),因為兩個人直到那時才從book轉到magazine這個話題上來。此外,這兩則對話還秉承了passage的一個重要的考場方式,就是在對話的開頭部分一定會出題目。這一點的考察利用的是考生往往很難在一個段落剛開始的時候集中注意力,所以這時候考察的題目難度就顯得很高。
綜上所述,長對話并不可怕,它結合了短對話對問答句式,建議請求,和關鍵場景賜予的考察和長段子對文章層次和理解能力的要求。所以做這樣的題目往往需要具備綜合的素質,既要注意其中的細節(jié),又要注意整體的把握,還要能夠應付7道題目的題量,這比以往的四級題目對綜合能力的要求顯著提高了。建議考生在練習的時候可以先把短對話和長段子兩部分分別練好,再尋找一些長對話題目進行綜合練習。我們熟悉的雅思考試和托?荚嚨恼骖}中都有大量的長對話題目可供大家參考。
最后簡單的說一下passage。因為樣題中給出的passage不論從出題的形式,考察的重點,以及題目的數(shù)量來看都和原來考察的題目一模一樣,就連樣題中的文章和題目也有部分是完全照搬以前的真題。所以對于這部分大家完全不用擔心,該怎么練習就怎么練習,不必特別的對待。不過由于passage題目對許多考生來說一向是很難攻克的部分,在這里強烈建議大家采用聽寫的方式練習,即把聽到的內容逐句寫下來,這對短時間提高passage的正確率以及長遠來說提高聽力的能力都是有好處的!現(xiàn)在又有了長對話,我個人認為聽寫練習的必要性將進一步的提高。
總的來說,對于四級考試的聽力部分,改革并不是一件可怕的事情。從上面的分析大家也不難看出,我們復習的策略并不應該有很大的變動,更不需要因為改革而慌了手腳,盲目的認為以前所學的知識都沒有用處了。就聽力部分而言,我建議以前好的方法完全可以沿用下來,以前的真題也完全可以繼續(xù)使用。唯一需要增加的是對長對話的訓練,增加題感,這樣才能做到有的放矢,從容應對。
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