影響語篇理解的因素(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.
許多讀者感到這段話不易理解，這主要可能是因?yàn)槟吧~語太多的緣故。句子中的gratuities, contractors, solicitations, incivility, negligence都是多音節(jié)的“大詞”，一般文章中不大常用;盡管它們顯得莊重正式.但表意卻是拐彎抹角、晦澀難懂。
如果用更簡明通俗的語言表達(dá)，它的真正意義可以一目了然，即“We don't allow theservants to ask for tips from you. If they do, you may report it to us by letter."這個(gè)例子說明.盡管交際雙方都懂同一種語言，但如果雙方詞匯量差距過大，言語交流也難以順利進(jìn)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.
在這段話中，詞匯似乎不是什么問題。它使用的絕大多數(shù)都是常用詞.只有部分讀者可能不太熟悉subsist(= keep alive), resemblances(= similarity)和，rchetypes ( =originalmodels)，但許多讀者覺得它的意思不好理解。
即使能模糊地理解其大致含義，恐怕也很難解釋清楚作者到底說了些什么。只有曾讀過此類哲學(xué)著作的人，才可能真正理解其中的意義。這段話的難點(diǎn)不在陌生的詞語.而在于簡單詞語所表達(dá)的復(fù)雜概念不為讀者所熟悉。
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.
在這段話中，除ambiguous(= unclear)和methodology(=方法論)外，幾乎沒有什么陌生詞語或者復(fù)雜概念.但為什么有的人不能準(zhǔn)確理解它的愈思呢?主要原因在于第2句復(fù)雜的句子結(jié)構(gòu)。
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.
這段話全部由短句組成。雖然每句話都很好理解，但整個(gè)語段的意思卻頗令人費(fèi)解。為什么呢?因?yàn)楦鱾�(gè)句子之間沒有必要的銜接，語義也是忽左忽右、前后跳躍，缺乏必要的連貫。這使得整段話前言不搭后語，既零亂不堪又枯燥無味，這說明連貫性差是這個(gè)語段不好理解的主要問題。
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."
這段文字語言通俗、結(jié)構(gòu)簡單，屬人們常用的口語體。但能不能充分理解它的意義呢?如果不了解the Siren's call和quota，兩個(gè)詞語的來歷，恐怕很難。在希臘神話中，Si-ren(!塞壬)原是一個(gè)半人半鳥的海妖，常以美妙動(dòng)人的歇聲誘惑路過的海員，并使他們因航船觸礁而死亡。Quota是個(gè)常見的貿(mào)易術(shù)語，表示進(jìn)出口配額。在這里，布什是在暗示對貿(mào)易保護(hù)的呼吁，就像塞壬的歌聲一樣，聽起來非常動(dòng)聽，但實(shí)際上對經(jīng)濟(jì)卻有害無益。可見，充分理解這段話的關(guān)鍵是要具有相應(yīng)的西方文化背景知識(shí)。
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