影响语篇理解的因素(Difficulties in Comprehension)

 

　　No servants in一he employ of the contractors are allowed under any circumstances to

 

　　solicit gratuities, and in the event of any solicitation, incivility, or negligence of du-

 

　　ty, the contractors will feel obliged by its being reported to them by letter.

 

　　许多读者感到这段话不易理解，这主要可能是因为陌生词语太多的缘故。句子中的gratuities, contractors, solicitations, incivility, negligence都是多音节的“大词”，一般文章中不大常用;尽管它们显得庄重正式.但表意却是拐弯抹角、晦涩难懂。

 

　　如果用更简明通俗的语言表达，它的真正意义可以一目了然，即“We don't allow theservants to ask for tips from you. If they do, you may report it to us by letter."这个例子说明.尽管交际双方都懂同一种语言，但如果双方词汇量差距过大，言语交流也难以顺利进行。

 

　　Ideas imprinted on the senses are real things, or do really exist, this we do not de-

 

　　ny, but we deny that they can subsist without the minds which perceive them, or

 

　　that they are resemblances of any archetypes existing without the mind.. since the

 

　　very being of a sensation or idea consists in being perceived, and an idea can be like

 

　　nothing but an idea.

 

　　在这段话中，词汇似乎不是什么问题。它使用的绝大多数都是常用词.只有部分读者可能不太熟悉subsist(= keep alive), resemblances(= similarity)和，rchetypes ( =originalmodels)，但许多读者觉得它的意思不好理解。

 

　　即使能模糊地理解其大致含义，恐怕也很难解释清楚作者到底说了些什么。只有曾读过此类哲学著作的人，才可能真正理解其中的意义。这段话的难点不在陌生的词语.而在于简单词语所表达的复杂概念不为读者所熟悉。

 

　　Methodology is a term that remains inherently ambiguous in the historical profes-

 

　　sion. There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to

 

　　historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various

 

　　branches of historical inquiry.

 

　　在这段话中，除ambiguous(= unclear)和methodology(=方法论)外，几乎没有什么陌生词语或者复杂概念.但为什么有的人不能准确理解它的愈思呢?主要原因在于第2句复杂的句子结构。

 

　　Edward looked at his red beard in the table knife. Sally was pregnant. Then

 

　　Edward and Sally went to Sweden, to the farm. In the mailbox Sally found a check

 

　　for Dick from the government of Sweden. In London Sally had been very sick every

 

　　day. She put the check in the pocket of her brown coat.

 

　　这段话全部由短句组成。虽然每句话都很好理解，但整个语段的意思却颇令人费解。为什么呢?因为各个句子之间没有必要的衔接，语义也是忽左忽右、前后跳跃，缺乏必要的连贯。这使得整段话前言不搭后语，既零乱不堪又枯燥无味，这说明连贯性差是这个语段不好理解的主要问题。

 

　　Last week President Bush tried to reclaim his long-established reputation as a free

 

　　trader. "I would avoid the Siren's call of protection that suggests the way for us to

 

　　get strong is to put on quotas and start managing trade."

 

　　这段文字语言通俗、结构简单，属人们常用的口语体。但能不能充分理解它的意义呢?如果不了解the Siren's call和quota，两个词语的来历，恐怕很难。在希腊神话中，Si-ren(!塞壬)原是一个半人半鸟的海妖，常以美妙动人的歇声诱惑路过的海员，并使他们因航船触礁而死亡。Quota是个常见的贸易术语，表示进出口配额。在这里，布什是在暗示对贸易保护的呼吁，就像塞壬的歌声一样，听起来非常动听，但实际上对经济却有害无益。可见，充分理解这段话的关键是要具有相应的西方文化背景知识。