学术英语阅读方法.docx

学术英语阅读方法.docx

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学术英语阅读方法

AcademicReadingcomprehension

Reading-comprehensionquestionscanbequitedeceptive.Ononehand,theanswertothequestionidsomewhereinthepassage.Ontheotherhand,answerscanbecraftedtoseemrightbuttheyare,infact,wrong.Thispassagewillteachyouthebestwaytoapproachthereadingpassagesonthetest.

1.Reading

Athoughitmightseemlikereading-comprehensionquestionsshouldn’tbeveryhard,butthesequestionswouldbemadedifficultbyexploitingsomecommonassumptions.

Thereadingskillyou’llneedtouseforreading-comprehensionquestionsarequitedifferentfromtheonesyouuseinyoureverydaylife.Thebiggestchallengewillprobablybethelimitedtimeyouhavetoanswerthequiestions.

Foronthing,readingpassagesareintentionallychoosedtobecomplicatedandareconcernedwithunfamiliarand,insomecases,intimidatingtopics,hopingthatyou’llhaveatoughtimeabsorbingtheentiretyofpassageintheshortamountoftimetheygiveyou.inmanycases,thatisexactlywhathappens:

testtakersspendtoomuchtimetryingtounderstandwhatthey’vreadandnotenoughtimeworkingontherquestions.

Youwerealsohopedtobeoveranalyzingthetext.Thisleverofcriticalthinkingiswhollyapproporiateformosttypesofacademicreading,butitonlyleadstotrouble.Thewaytocrackthereadingportionistoreadlessintothepassages,notmore.

Althoughitmaysoundcounterintuitive,insomewaysthepassageitselfistheleastimprotantpartofreading-comprehensionquestions.Thisisforsimplereason---youdon’tgetanypointsforreadingthepassage,andtheonlywaytodowellistoamassasmanypointsaspossible.

Readingcomprehension:

thebasicapprach

1.Attackthepassage.Thisstepwillvaryslightlybasedonthelengthofthepassageyou’redealingwith,butineachcase,thegoalistoreadless,notmore.

2.Sizeupthequestion.Reading-comprehensionquestioncanaskyoutodoavarietyofthings.Makesureyouknowwhatthequestion’saskingyoutodo.

3.Findandparaphrasetheanswer.Thisisthekey.Alwaysreturntothepassagetofindyouranswers;neveransweritfrommemory!

4.Useprocessofeliminationtoselecttherightanswer.

ATTACKTHEPASSAGE

Youshouldneverreadapassagejustforthesakeofreadingit;thatis,youshouldalwayshaveagoalinmindbeforeyoustartreading.Mostofthetimeyou’llbereadingwiththegoalofansweringaparticularquestion,butforyourintitialreading,you’reconcernedonlywithdiccoveringthefolloing:

1.Themainidea/purpose.Whatistheauthorwritingaboutandwhy?

2.Thestructure.Howisthepassageorganized”

3.Thetone.Howdoesthewriterfeelaboutthetopic?

Fortunately,youcanoftenfigurethesethingsoutwithjustacursoryinitialreading.Additionally,youcanalsoexpectthatyouwillseemanypassagedtypesthatarefairlysimilarintheirtoneandorganization.

Understandingstructreinwriting

Whilethereadingpassagesmaynotrepresentsomeofthemostengagingwritingyou’veencountered,itisimprotanttokeepinmindtheauthor’sbasicgoal.Nonfictionwriterswanttheirwritingtobeunderstood;ifyoucan’tfollowtheirargumentsortheirprogressionofideas,they’vefailedintheirjobsaswriters.Whenyou’rereadingorskimmingapassage,agoodgraspofthestructuralelementsinwritingwillaidyourunderstanding.

First,payattentiontothestructureofeachparagraph.Themostimportantinformationisprobalygoingtobefoundatthebeginningandendoftheparagraph.If,whilereadingapassage,youeyesstarttoglazeover,restassuredyou’renottheonlyone.Goodauthorsknowthisandmakesuretoputkeypointswheretheyarelikelytostandout.So,focusonthebeginningandendofeachparagraph.

Second,lookfortriggerwords.Writersusethesewordsassignpoststodirectyourreading.Whenyouseesamedirectionwordssuchasforexampel,inaddition,and,orfurthermore,youknowtheauthorisgoingtobesupportinganearlierstetement.Ifyoualreadyunderstandthepointoftheparagraph,feelfreetoskimthroughtheselines.However,oppositedirectionwordslikealthough,butyetandhowever,signifyanimportantshift.Writersusewordslikethistodirectthereader’sattentiontoanimportantchangeorrevelationintheprogressionofideas.Thesewordsthatpointsdirectiontoyoucalled“triggerwords”.

Finally,theconclusionofthepieceofferstheauthoronelastchancetogethistoherpointacross.Alwaysreadthelastparagraph.Doesthepiecewrapthingsupnicelyoristheresomedoubt?

Doestheauthorsuggestfurtheravenuesofinquiry?

Thewaythepassageendscanhelpyoutounderstandwhattheauthor’smainpointorprimatypurposeinwritingthepassagewas.

Payingattentiontostructuralcluesliketheonesmentionedherecanhelpyoubeamoreeffectivereader.Follwingtheseprinciplesinyourownwritingwouldn’thurteither.

TpeseofPassage

Passagescovertopicinthescience,socialsciences,andhumanities.Butregardlessofthetopic,thepassageitselfwillconformtothestandardsof“good”academicwriting---meaningthattheauthorswillgenerallywriteinastylethat’scharacterizedbyclearorganization,strongtopicsentencesantransitions,andsummaryinformationroconcludingthoughts.Youshouldexpecttoseethefollowingtypesofpassages:

1.Expositiorypassages.Inthispassagetype,theauthor’spurposeistoinformorexplainsomething,whetheritbeanewfinding,aviewpoint,atrend,oranoccurrence.Inthistypeofpassage,thetoneisgenerallyneutral.

2.Argumentativepassage.Heretheauthor’spurposeistoconvincethereaderofthevalidityofacertainbelieforperspective.Argumentativepassagesusuallyhavestrongertonesandarestructuredaroundprovidingsupportfortheauthor’sconclusion.

3.Evaluatingpassages.Somepassageswillpresentanideaorperspective,thetonecanbestrongorneutral.

Ofcourse,othertypesofpassagesmaycropup,butingeneralyoushouldexpectonesthatfitintothecategoriesabove.Nowlet’slookatsomepassagesandpracticefindingtheirmainidea,tone,andstructure.

Approchaingpassages

Whenyoucameacrossapassage,readthefirstlineofeachparagraphandthenskimtherestofit,payingparticularattentiontoany“triggerwords”（samedirectionwordsandespeciallydifferentdirectionwords）.Whenyougettothelastparagraph,readthefirstline,skimtherest,andthenreadthelastlineoftheentirepassge.

Drill:

Scientistsresearchingtheagingprocessareincreasinglyinvestingatingtheroleoftelomeres,portionsofDNAontheendsofchromesomesfoundineverycell.Unliketherestofthechromosome,telomeresdonotcontaingenes,thestrandsofDNAthatcodeforparticularenzymesandproteins.Telomeresprimarilyserveaprotectiveroleincell,playingtwokeyrolesinmaintaininghealthycells.First,telomerespreventimportantgeneticmaterialfrombeinglostduringcellreplication,functioningasa“cap”ofsortsonetheendofeachchtomosome.Second,telomeresservesasabiologicalmarkertahtethechromosomeis“complete”;whitoutatelomeresisfairlywellunderstood,sceinteistsareinterestedinanotherfacetoftelomeres.TelomerescontainbetweenontotwothousandcopiesofaparticularDNAsequenceislooppedoff.Whentelomeresbecometooshort,thecellbecomesimpaired,inabletodivide,andpronetomalfunction.Cellswithcriticallyshorttelomereseventuallydie,leadingmanyresearcherstocomparetelomerestobiologicalclocksorfuses,countingdowntothedeathofacell.

Althoughtheroleoftelomersincellularagingandmalfunctioniswelldocumented,newresearchisfocusedonsearchingforalinkbetweencellularagingandaginganddiseaseinhumans.Onestudyhasfoundthatsubjectswithshortertelomeresaremorelikelytodevelopcancersofthelungsandkidneysthanthosewithlongertelomereswereatahigherriskofdevelopingheartdiseaseandalsiappearedmorepronetoinfectiousdesease.Anotherstudypositedalinkbetweentelomerelinkandlifespan.Inthatstudy,patientswithshortertelomerelinkandlifespan.Inthatstudy,patientswithshortertelomeresdiedabout4or5yeearseaelierthanthosewithtelomeresofgreaterlength.Ofcourse,manyreseachersarehesitanttoconcludethatshortertelomeresareacausativefactorfromthisdata,particularybecausetelomeresaresusceptibletocorruptionfromanumberoffactorsbesidescelldivision.Forexample,scientistshavenotedthattelomeresareespeciallyvulnerabletothebyproductsofthebody’soxidationprocess,bywhichoxygenisconvertedtoenergy.Thebyproductsofthisprocess,calledfreeradicals,cannotonlyharmcellandDNA,butalsoartificiallyshortentelomeres.Futherresearchisnecessarytobetterestablishwhatlink,ifany,existsbetweentelomeresandaging.Onepromisingavenuetoconsideriswhetherlengtheningdamagedtelomereshastooppositeeffectonsubjects,makingthemhealthierandconferinggreaterlongivity.Andwhilesomescientistsoptimisticallybelievethatafullunderstandingoftelomereswilleventuallybestowdominionovertheveryagingprocessitsellf,suchascenarioisbothunlikelyandtechnologicallyfeasibleatthisjuncture.

Whenfirstfinish.Askyourself:

Mainidea/purose?

Structure?

Tone?

Aquickreadingofthispassageshouldrevealthefollowing:

first,fromthefirstsentenceofthefirstparagraph,welearnthatscenetistsareinterestedintheroletelomeresplayintheprocessesofagingandisease.Skimmingthroughtherestoftheparagraph,weseealotoftechnicaldetails,whichweofcoursedon’twanttocaoncernourselveswith.

Wemightnotethataroundlinesfiveandsixtheauthor