邓北平

笔者去年曾撰文《高考英语阅读文本剪裁的“中国味道”》，以2018年高考英语I卷完形填空文章为例，结合命题选文的基本原则与可控范围要求，对文章来源原文与改写定稿版进行逐段对比研究，并简略评析了高考英语来源文章改写入题的得与失。不过，今日为文只是以2019年高考英语卷I语篇填空题为例，客观描述一下该题选文与改编的基本过程，不做任何评述。

我们知道没有人事先为中国的高考英语命题组准备好英语文章，更不用说文章还要符合一系列要求，诸如文长、主题、体裁、难度、长难句集中程度以及选文的教育性、地道性、可读性等等。因此，高考命题之前的选文与改编就显得十分关键。文不好，命题者不仅不好设题，应答时学生也会难受。

如此一来，到什么地方选文？选什么文？选好了之后如何改编？改编需要遵循的技术与原则是什么？改编好了之后是否适合命题？等等，一切都是问题。

由于目前资讯非常发达，国内已有的英文资源早已被人搜索殆尽，无处遁迹。于是，命题组为了避免和市面上各类“押宝题”的文章“撞脸”，只得使出些手段，“远涉重洋”而于浩瀚驳杂的“洋文”中取得心仪的上佳文章了。

今天，咱们就通过观察语篇填空的选文与改编，对命题组的“艰难”爬剔过程做一心怀“可测”的“猜想”。

对！您得先确定主题范围。但囿于题型特点，语篇填空选文的体裁实际上已经被限制性地确定了——说明文，而说明文的主题不外乎人、事、物。这样，路径较为明确。不过，说明类的文体，域外网站哪些比较好呢？维基百科自然首选，当然还有一些比较著名的网站，如change.org, theawardnews.com，一些旅游类的网站也不错。关于文章比较好的网站读者诸君可参见笔者以前的相关文章。这篇关于北极熊（the polar bear）的文章的主体部分就选自change.org网站。

标题图文长得这样：

找到这篇文章当然十分不易，而且文章总的叙述比较平和，没有太多长难句，生词量不大，主题也比较集中，枝叶虽然繁茂，但可以合理剪枝而不影响主干。总之，一切都那么符合选文的可控范围要求。当然，这一切都是相对的。

原文很长，命题组只选了其中6段，共421个单词，这只算了文章主体采集的部分，不标题部分。另外，原文的Habitat的介绍部分被略去。黄色标记为“紧扣”主题下的“文句”采集，绿色标记是换、改的地方，蓝色标记则是削的地方，未加颜色标记的是直接删掉了。

原文：The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and adjacent land masses as far south as Newfoundland.Due to the absence of human development in its remote habitat, it retains more of its original range than any other extant carnivore. While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada.Their southernmost range is near the boundary between the subarctic and humid continental climate zones. They can occasionally drift widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is difficult to estimate a global population of polar bears as much of the range has been poorly studied; however, biologists use a working estimate ofabout 20–25,000 or 22–31,000 polar bears world wide.

请诸君仔细观察一下，这两段经过一番硬性裁剪（直接删去）之后，就得到了年度语篇填空题的文章定稿的第一段：第一句、第二句均只字未动。后面一句改了两个动词：estimate和use a working estimate of。而且，还顺带削掉了or 22–31,000。注意，原文标题中可是有ONLY 30，000 LEFT LARS的。

命题组的删、削、换、改的技术您看明白了吗？具体的技术与原则可参读拙作《“中国味道”》。

定稿：The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and some big land masses as far south as Newfoundland. While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada. It is difficult to figure out a global population of polar bears as much of the range has been poorly studied; however, biologists calculate that there are about 20,000-25,000 polar bears worldwide.  

再来看语篇填空题的第二段的原文与定稿。

原文：There are 19 generally recognized, discrete subpopulations, though polar bears are thought to exist only in low densities in the area of the Arctic Basin.The subpopulations display seasonal fidelity to particular areas, but DNA studies show that they are not reproductively isolated. The thirteen North American subpopulations range from the Beaufort Sea south to Hudson Bay and east to Baffin Bay in western Greenland and account for about 54% of the global population.

POLAR BEAR TERRITORY

The range includes the territory of five nations: Denmark (Greenland), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, the United States (Alaska) and Canada. These five nations are of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which mandates cooperation on research and conservation efforts throughout the polar bear's range. 

Modern methods of tracking polar bear populations have been implemented only since the mid-1980s, and are expensive to perform consistently over a large area. The most accurate counts require flying a helicopter in the Arctic climate to find polar bears, shooting a tranquilizer dart at the bear to sedate it, and then tagging the bear.

In Nunavut, some Inuit have reported increases in bear sightings around human settlements in recent years, leading to a belief that populations are increasing. Scientists have responded by noting that hungry bears may be congregating around human settlements, leading to the illusion that populations are higher than they actually are. The Polar Bear Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission takes the position that "estimates of subpopulation size or sustainable harvest levels should not be made solely on the basis of traditional ecological knowledge without supporting scientific studies."

定稿：Modem methods of tracking polar bear populations have been employed only since the mid-1980s, and are expensive to perform consistently over a large area. In recent years some Inuit people in Nunavut have reported increases in bear sightings around human settlements, leading to a belief that populations are increasing. Scientists have responded by noting that hungry bears may be congregating(聚集) around human settlements, leading to the illusion (错觉) that populations are higher than they actually are. Of the nineteen recognized polar bear subpopulations, three are declining, six are stable, one is increasing, and nine lack enough data.

咦？你会突然发现这最后一句从何而来？

定稿最后一句是Of the nineteen recognized polar bear subpopulations, three are declining, six are stable, one is increasing, and nine lack enough data.在这个网站的页面文章中居然找不到出处！于是，只得根据关键词再找相关网页，最后终于大致找到了。这说明一个什么问题？命题组会根据多篇相关材料改编成可适用于某题型的相对完整的语篇。笔者循迹而至，顺藤摸瓜还找到了真正的文章作者。change.org网站上的这篇文章还只是一个二传手。作者是Emmy Dread！就是这个可爱的男同学。从他的文章中笔者找到了命题改编的最后一句的来源文段！

下面这一段就是从Emmy Dread的原文中找到的。