影響語(yǔ)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(huà)不易理解，這主要可能是因?yàn)槟吧�詞語(yǔ)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(jiǎn)明通俗的語(yǔ)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(shuō)明.盡管交際雙方都懂同一種語(yǔ)言，但如果雙方詞匯量差距過(guò)大，言語(yǔ)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(huà)中，詞匯似乎不是什么問(wèn)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(jué)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(shuō)了些什么。只有曾讀過(guò)此類(lèi)哲學(xué)著作的人，才可能真正理解其中的意義。這段話(huà)的難點(diǎn)不在陌生的詞語(yǔ).而在于簡(jiǎn)單詞語(yǔ)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(huà)中，除ambiguous(= unclear)和methodology(=方法論)外，幾乎沒(méi)有什么陌生詞語(yǔ)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(huà)全部由短句組成。雖然每句話(huà)都很好理解，但整個(gè)語(yǔ)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(méi)有必要的銜接，語(yǔ)義也是忽左忽右、前后跳躍，缺乏必要的連貫。這使得整段話(huà)前言不搭后語(yǔ)，既零亂不堪又枯燥無(wú)味，這說(shuō)明連貫性差是這個(gè)語(yǔ)段不好理解的主要問(wèn)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(yǔ)言通俗、結(jié)構(gòu)簡(jiǎn)單，屬人們常用的口語(yǔ)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(yǔ)的來(lái)歷，恐怕很難。在希臘神話(huà)中，Si-ren(!塞壬)原是一個(gè)半人半鳥(niǎo)的海妖，常以美妙動(dòng)人的歇聲誘惑路過(guò)的海員，并使他們因航船觸礁而死亡。Quota是個(gè)常見(jiàn)的貿(mào)易術(shù)語(yǔ)，表示進(jìn)出口配額。在這里，布什是在暗示對(duì)貿(mào)易保護(hù)的呼吁，就像塞壬的歌聲一樣，聽(tīng)起來(lái)非常動(dòng)聽(tīng)，但實(shí)際上對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)卻有害無(wú)益�？梢�(jiàn)，充分理解這段話(huà)的關(guān)鍵是要具有相應(yīng)的西方文化背景知識(shí)。