新东方09年英语专业四级阅读真题点评

三、 透析描写手段，进行合理推断

专业英语四级阅读还有一个独特的考点，就是对描写手段的考查，一般会出现在记叙文和描写文当中。描写手段可以分为外观描写、行为描写、对话描写和心理描写四类。如09年Text C就是一篇记叙文，讲述作者在电脑出故障后，修理过程中遇到的一系列尴尬和摩擦。该文的92题"Which of the following is the author's opinion about the woman at the Global Support Centre?"就涉及文中对该女性的一段精彩描写。原文内容如下：

I opened the special drawer where I keep CDs. But no Windows CD in there. I was forced to call the computer company's Global Support Centre. My call was answered by a woman in some unnamed, far-off land. I find it annoying to make small talk with someone when I don't know what continent they're standing on. Suppose I were to comment on the beautiful weather we've been having when there was a monsoon at the other end of the phone? So I got right to the point.

"My computer is telling me a file is corrupted and it wants to fix itself, but I don't have the Windows Setup CD."

"So you're having a problem with your Windows Setup CD." She has apparently been dozing and, having come to just as the sentence ended, was attempting to cover for her inattention.

原文中划线部分涉及到两种描写方式：对话描写和行为描写。先是作者陈述自己问题，这位女士对问题进行反馈，这是对话描写。紧接着，作者描写了这位女性在回答作者问题后的反应，这里采用了行为描写。

我们在一般的对话描写中会遵循一个关联原则，即双方对话必须有意义相关性，一方提出问题，另一方就要回答问题。但这个对话明显违背这个原则，因为这位女士只是把作者的话重复了一次，并未回答作者心头的疑问。这种反正常原则的对话方式恰好说明这位女士说话心不在焉。在行为描写中，作者也用几个简单的动词（doze, come to, attempt to cover for her inattention），准确刻画出该女士当时的状态。据此，我们不但推断出当时作者对这位女士失望至极。因此，我们很容易认定92题答案是B项She was there to make the callers frustrated。

以上就是笔者对2009年专业英语四级阅读理解部分的综合评述。建议各位考生在今后考试当中不要片面地认为词汇量大，读懂文中每句话的字面意思就可以达到解题的目的，最关键的是要搞清楚文中句与句之间、段与段之间的逻辑关系，清晰把握作者的思路，才能达到准确理解和合理推断的目的。