英语论文网

由国家教育部批准实施的《高等学校英语专业英语教学大纲》对新闻英语作出明确规定,要求学生在二年级下期能读懂难度相当于美国Newsweek的国际新闻报道;能听懂相当于VOA正常语速和BBC新闻节目的主要内容。因此,学习英语新闻,不仅是学生的主观需要,也是教学大纲的客观要求。但VOA广播英语新闻对中国学生来说始终是一个听力难点。以往对VOA新闻英语的研究基本上停留在语音、词汇、句式、时态等语言结构特点上,认为VOA新闻英语具有语速快、词汇量大、专有名词多、句子长等特点,所以应从语音、词汇和句法上来突破新闻英语听力^[1]。这种分析只注重了语言的表层结构,忽视了语篇分析和整体理解等深层语义联系,使学生缺乏独立分析问题和解决问题的能力,因而很难达到提高新闻英语听力的目的。本文认为,对VOA广播英语新闻语篇模式进行分析能帮助学生处理好句子、句群、段落和语篇的关系,对新闻内容进行有效预测,进而有效提高学生VOA新闻听力理解的能力。

二、VOA英语新闻语篇模式分析

语篇模式(textual pattern)是语篇组织的宏观结构,指语篇中各个成分的组合结果,是人们语言交际中互相遵守和期待的“语言共识”^[2]。语篇模式在语篇的生成与理解中起着重要的作用。正如McCarthy & Carter所说:“要理解一个语篇,读者面临的一个任务之一就是理解语篇不同组成成分之间的联系。”^[3]语篇模式是语义内容的反映,不同的语篇模式是不同语义内容的体现^[4]。在语篇交际过程中,语篇生产者会根据自己的交际目的,选择相应的语篇模式来建构符合语篇交际构成原则的语篇,为其交际目的服务,以实现有效交际^[5]。从语篇分析的角度对语言的各个方面进行审视,不仅是语言学研究的一项重要内容,而且也逐渐演化成为一种有效的英语教学手段,在英语教学实践中越来越引起人们的重视。

语言学家Eugene Winter^[6], McCarthy &Carter^[7], R.B.Kaplan^[8], MichaelHoey^[9]等都对英语语篇结构和模式进行过较为深入地研究,认为英语中存在多种语篇模式。下面以《学VOA英语冲刺四级听力》^[10]中的英语新闻为语料,对几种常见的语篇模式进行分析。

(一)问题—解决模式(Problem – Solution Pattern)

问题—解决模式的宏观结构一般由情景(situation)、问题(problem)、反应(response)、评价(evaluation)或结果(result)四个部分组成,即首先说明背景情况,然后提出问题或者出现某种形式的冲突,再对出现的问题或冲突作出反应,最后对所采取的反应作出评价。其中情景和评价是可选项,可能出现也可能不出现,而问题和解决办法是必选项。例如:

语料1:

(1) The United States says more than one -thousand- million people in the world do not have safe, clean water to drink. This is about one-sixth of the world’s population. More than two-thousand - million people do not have effective sanitation systems to remove bodily wastes. The U.N. estimates that six - thousand people died each day from preventable diseases caused by unclean water or poor sanitation. Most of them are children.

(2) The U.N. has launched an international campaign to help prevent deaths caused by unclean water and lack of sanitation. The campaign is called WASH, which means Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All. The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council is organizing the campaign.

(3) Gourisankar Ghosh heads the council. He says one goal of the campaign is to teach school children about personal cleanliness. Within the next fifteen years, the U.N. council hopes to have hygiene taught in eighty percent of schools in developing countries.

(4) Minister Ghosh also wants the WASH campaign to work closely with local community officials. He says the council will help launch simple water and sanitation projects in twenty – five countries, mostly in Asia and Africa. He says local governments and organizations need to help people deal with hygiene, water and sanitation problems.

(5) The U.N. agency says the average person in a developing country used about ten liters of water a day. Yet, the average person in an industrial country, such as Britain, uses one-hundred-thirty -five liters of water a day. WASH officials say this must change. Within the next twenty- five years, the group hopes all people will have safe, clean water and sanitation. Mister Ghosh says developing countries must learn that good hygiene, clean water and safe sanitation are necessary human rights for all citizens.

在这篇VOA英语新闻中,没有出现背景部分。第1段开门进山提出问题:全世界有1000,000,000人口没有安全清洁本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。