考研文章

American no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing. The Degradation of language and Music and why we should like, care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.

But the cult of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing”, has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.

Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive-there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.

Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms-he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

36. According to Mc Whorter, the decline of formal English __________.
A. is inevitable in radical education reforms.
B. is but all too natural in language development.
C. has caused the controversy over the counter-culture.
D. brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s.

37. The word “talking” (Linge6, paragraph3) denotes __________.
A. modesty.  B. personality.  C. liveliness.  D. informality.

38. To which of the following statements would Mc Whorter most likely agree?
A. Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
B. Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
C. Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
D. Of all the varieties, standard English Can best convey complex ideas.

39. The description of Russians’ love of memorizing poetry shows the author’s __________.
A. interest in their language.          B. appreciation of their efforts.
C. admiration for their memory.       D. contempt for their old-fashionedness.

40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as __________.
A. “temporary” is to “permanent”.       B. “radical” is to “conservative”.
C. “functional” is to “artistic”.          D. “humble” is to “noble”.

下面我们列表对两篇文章进行对比分析：
                                                 表一


由表一可以看出，雅思的阅读量和题量都是考研的两倍还要多，所以从表面上看，雅思阅读似乎要难得多。然而，我们再看看下表：


                                                 表二


由表二不难看出，雅思题目的事实细节题量占绝对多数，而考研则不多。再加上雅思的文章在结构上有标题和小标题等因素，这无论是在实际信息提示和视觉效果上，都大大利于考生对文章的理解。所以，雅思的阅读实际上要比考研的容易，只是在时间控制上要比考研难些。

当然，说考研英语阅读难并不意味着就束手无策了。因为不管是哪种类型的英语考试，也不管阅读理解的文章和题目相差有多大，考生始终都得先看文章，把握文章的脉络，理解文章的概要，方能进一步解题。本人将在下期继续和大家分享文章解读的方法经验，请大家时刻关注Channel Only的最新动向。

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