短文听力理解技巧

Ⅰ 概论

短文听力理解是四级考试的常规题型，共3篇文章10个题目，占卷面分数的10%，也是从老四级 到新四级考试改革当中比较稳定，变化不大的题型之一。短文长度约250词，问题基本为特殊问句， 选材集中在学校生活、家庭生活、娱乐、历史、地理和科普知识等方面。问题的内容包括要点和细 节，话题比较集中，逻辑性强。短文理解部分经常被视为难点中的难点，与长对话相比，难度又提 高了一个层次。很多考生在听短文的时候，都会感到文章长，内容多，语速快，很难跟上节奏。往 往前面几句听得很清楚，可是越听就越糊涂，听完后好像弄懂了一大部分，但做起题来却什么也不 记得了。再加上时间紧，没有足够的时间看题干，选项设计模棱两可，就更增加了排除错误选项的难度，结果短文题的正确率往往最低，把握性最小。 大家普遍对短文类题目有畏难情绪，实际上完全不必，作为一种长久出现的问题形式，它已经 和小对话一样有了一些很明显的通用解题技巧。在这个大约15个完整句的篇章里，并不是每句话都同等重要，涉及到考试内容的句子往往只有三到五句话。如何定位这几句话，哪些部分应该是听力的重 点，似乎成了听力理解成败的关键。不过在解读技巧之前，我们先看一下短文理解的出题点在哪里。

Ⅱ 考点分析

现在我们结合新四级样题和2006年6月至2010年6月的9套新四级短文听力真题，寻找一些四级短文的考题规律。

1. 文体及题材

通过对历年四级听力短文文体和题材分布情况的分析，可以看出，四级听力短文仍然是以记叙 文、说明文和议论文三大体裁为基础的听力素材。但是在新四级中短文题型改掉了过去选材单一， 题材以记叙文为主的特点，而是转变为以较难的说明文为主要趋势，并且内容更加广泛了。（见表一和表二）

（表一）

（表二）

从表一和表二中，我们可以看出：

按文章题材来分：近二分之一考说明文，三分之一考记叙文，偶尔也考议论文，新闻报道； 按文章内容来分：三分之一考社科类，三分之一考文化教育，其他还考人物故事及自然科学。

而近几年，科普小短文的比例开始增加，内容涉及到环保、宇航、生物介绍等内容（如2009年12月的第一篇讲述的是地球以外的生命探测），显然难度加大了。

2. 常考的九种文章题材

( 1 ) 学校题材（剑桥大学等）

【重点】学校的地理位置、资金来源、校园环境、师生情况、课程情况、图书馆、课外活动、学校特色

(2) 机构介绍（监狱，图书馆等）

【重点】地点、规模、制度、专业

(3) 社会热点

【重点】轰动效应、背景（产生的原因）、大众观点、作者态度

(4) 灾难题材（毒品，车祸等）

【重点】问题类型、起因、危害、解决方法（尤其是科学家、研究人员提出的事实、观点、方法、结论）

( 5 ) 新闻题材

【重点】when where who why which(what) how

(6  ) 人物题材

【重点】生卒年月、出生地、成就（贡献）、坎坷遭遇、结局

( 7 ) 科普题材（太阳风等）

【重点】物体特征、形成原因、分类、最新研究发现和初步结论

( 8 ) 故事

【重点】主人公遭遇、变故、主人公做的决定、原因、结局等。

( 9 ) 文化教育

【重点】孩子的教育、东西方文化的差异、语言学习的多种性及特性等。

3. 考查的题型

短文听力题型一般有主旨题、推理判断题和细节题三大类。主旨题主要考查考生对全文主旨大 意或所谈论话题的理解。主旨题在一套考题中所占的比例很小，一般只有 ~2题。事实细节题出现频 率最高，10道题中通常都占 道以上，有时多至 、 道题。此种题型主要考查学生对文章细节内容确 切含义的理解，对文中的事实、细节以wh-question和how-question进行捕捉和理解的能力。推理题是 相对较难的一种题型，需要考生对文章的主旨或某些细节有深层次的把握。在实际考试中，推理题所占的比例时多时少，少则  ~2题，多则4~  题。（见表三）

（表三）

1）对主旨的判断

A. 提问的方式主旨题通常以下列方式提问：

What is the main idea/topic of this passage?

What does the passage mainly discuss? What can we learn from the passage? What is the passage mainly about?

B. 选项特点

主旨题的四个选项一般都以短语的方式出现。如：

①A) Two types of only children.

B) Parent’s responsibilities.

C) The necessity of family planning.

D) The relationship between parents and children.

②A) Environmental pollution and protection.

B) Taxes and services for the public. C) Police efforts to protect people. D) People’s attitude toward taxes.

③A) The difference between classical music and rock music.

B) Why classical music is popular with math students. C) The effects of music on the results of math tests.

D) How to improve your reasoning activity. C. 解题技巧

对于主旨题，考生在听的时候应特别注意文章的首句和尾句，首句一般开篇点明主题，而尾句 则总结全文，根据这两句进行推断一般可以确定文章的主题。如上面第②题可根据文章最后一段的尾句解答，请看原文：

We use all sort of services without thinking how we get them. But such services cost money. We pay for them through taxes. What would happen if everyone in a city stop paying taxes? The water supply would stop. The street might not be cleaned. There would be no police force to protect people and property.

The chief duty of every government is to protect persons and property. More than three-fourths of the money spent by our government is used for this purpose. The next largest amount of public money goes to teach and train our citizens. Billions of dollars each year are spent on schools and libraries. Public money is used to pay the teachers and other public officials.

Years ago the government made money from the sale of public lands. But most of the best public lands has now been sold. The money raised was used to help pay the cost of government. There are still some public lands that contain oil, coal, gas, and other natural products. They could be sold, but we want to save them for future years. So we all must pay our share for the services that make our lives comfortable.

从尾句可以看出文章谈论的是人们为什么都应该交税以使我们的生活更加美好。再如第③题，

考生可以通过文章的开始几句，找到文章的主题。请看原文：

Do you have a tough math test coming up? Then listen to some classical piano music just before the test. You might end up with a higher score. Researchers at a university in California conducted an experiment. They asked a group of college students to listen to some piano music by a famous 18th century

composer before taking a math test. They were surprised to find that the students’ scores jumped 8 to 9 points. The music seems to excite nerve activities in the brain; similar to the activity that occurs when a person is figuring out a math problem. However, the scientists warn that before you get too excited about applying the method to your math test, you should remember that brain exciting effects last only 10 or 15 minutes. Would rock music work as well as the piano music did? No, the scientists say. In fact, the less complex music might even interfere with the brain’s reasoning ability.

显然，黑体部分表明了文章的主题，紧接着的实验为支撑细节，用于说明文章的主题。

2）对具体事实的判断

A. 提问的方式

对细节的提问通常以wh-question的方式出现，主要针对文章的有关人物、事件、地点、时间、原因、目的和数据等。

如上面两篇短文的其他几个问题的选项。

①What’s the chief duty of every government?

A) To protect persons and property. B) To collect taxes.

C) To teach and train citizens.

D) To save natural resources for future use.

② How did the government raise money in the past?

A) By selling services that make life comfortable. B) By selling land containing oil.

C) By selling public lands.

D) By selling coal and other natural products.

③Why can classical music play a positive role in problem solving?

A) Because it stimulates your nerve activity. B) Because it keeps you calm.

C) Because it strengthens your memory.

D) Because it improves your problem solving ability.

④ What is one of the findings of the research?

A) Piano music could interfere with your reasoning ability. B) The effects of music do not last long?

C) The more you listen to music, the higher your test scores will be. D) Music, whether classical or rock, helps improve your memory.

B. 选项特点

细节判断题以辨认题居多。有可能几个选项在文章中都有所提及，但只要考生仔细听，注意分别，就能从原文中找到出处。如上面第①题可以在文章中找到The chief duty of every government is to protect persons and property，这同样也是第二段的主题句，是整段要说明的内容。第②题也能从文章中找到Years ago the government made money from the sale of public lands.一句为佐证。

再如③、④两题也都能从文章中找到信息句，如The music seems to excite nerve activities in the brain. 和…you should remember that brain exciting effects last only 10 or 15 minutes。从考查的范围来看， 短文听力中对原因的考查最多，其次是对具体所发生的事情的判断，也包括依据事实所做的推理判 断，还有就是转折关系。如       年 月第二篇短文、2000年 月第二篇短文都是对原因的考查。一般 情况下，对原因的考查多出现在故事性短文中，只要考生能够理清故事的来龙去脉，这种原因题就比较简单。如：

When I was at school, my ambition was to be a pilot in the Air Force. But my eyesight wasn’t good enough. So I had to give up that idea. I went to university and studied physics. I wanted to stay on there and do research, but my father died at about that time. So I thought I’d better get a job and earn my living. I started working in an engineering firm.

I expected to stay in that job for a long time. But then, they appointed a new managing director. I didn’t get on with him, so I resigned and applied for a job with another engineering company. I would certainly have accepted the job if they had offered it to me, but on my way to the interview I met a friend who was working for a travel agency. He offered me a job in Spain. And I’ve always liked Spain, so I took it.

I worked in the travel agency for two years and then they wanted to send me to South America. But I had just got married. So I decided to stay here. Then we had a baby and I wasn’t earning enough to support the family. So I started giving English lessons at school in the evenings. I liked the English teaching more than working for the travel agency, and then the owner of the school offered me a full-time job as a teacher. So I resigned from the agency. Two years later, the owner of the school wanted to retire, so he asked me to take over as the director. And here I am.

14. Why did the man give up studying physics?

15. Why did the man resign from the engineering firm?

16. Why did the man take the job at the travel agency?

17. Why did the man start to teach English part time?

很显然本短文要求考生了解文中“我”工作变化的原因。但考试时考生看不到问题，只能看到选项。在这种情况下，考生应该做的是注意问题的顺序与短文所讲故事发生的时间顺序是一致的。一边听一边判断选项是否符合事实，是否在短文中曾经提到。最后再听问题，这时只是验证一下自己的答案而已。

Ⅲ