昂立：2008年12月英語四級考試新題型透析

　　W: Sure. I’ve been trying to come up with some new production and advertising strategies. First of all, if we want to stay competitive, we need to modernize our factory. New equipment should’ve been installed long ago.

　　M: How much will that cost?

　　W: We have several options ranging from one hundred thousand dollars all the way up to half a million.

　　M: OK. We’ll have to discuss these costs with finance.

　　W: We should also consider human resources. I’ve been talking to personnel as well as our staff at the factory.

　　M: And what’s the picture?

　　W: We’ll probably have to hire a couple of engineers to help us modernize the factory.

　　M: What about advertising?

　　W: Marketing has some interesting ideas for television commercials.

　　M: TV? Isn’t that a bit too expensive for us? What’s wrong with advertising in the papers, as usual?

　　W: Quite frankly, it’s just not enough anymore. We need to be more aggressive in order to keep ahead of our competitors.

　　M: Will we be able to afford all this?

　　W: I’ll look into it, but I think higher costs will be justified. These investments will result in higher profits for our company.

　　M: We’ll have to look at the figures more closely. Have finance draw up a budget for these investments.

　　W: All right. I’ll see to it.

　　Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　19. What are the two speakers talking about?

　　20. What does the woman say about the equipment of their factory?

　　21. What does the woman suggest about human resources?

　　22. Why does the woman suggest advertising on TV?

　　二、快速閱讀

　　閱讀分仔細閱讀(Reading in Depth)和快速閱讀(Skimming and Scanning)兩部分。仔細閱讀部分包含兩個部分：第一部分是選詞填空，在一篇約320詞的文章中設(shè)有10個單詞空缺，文章后給出15個單詞選擇，每個單詞只可能使用一次;第二部分為兩篇文章，每篇約350詞，分別配有5個客觀選擇題。第一種題型是上海外語教育出版社出版的《大學(xué)英語精讀》里常見的練習(xí)，第二種題型是傳統(tǒng)的四級閱讀題型，所以在此一并就不再加以詳解。

　　快速閱讀部分是一篇長約1200詞的文章，后面設(shè)有7個Yes, No, Not Given判斷題和3個句子填空題。此題與雅思閱讀的考題幾乎是同出一則，也是雅思閱讀最為常見的考題之一。所以，考生完全可借鑒雅思閱讀的考試經(jīng)驗和技巧進行備考。因選詞填空相對容易，所以在此只對是非判斷題進行詳細講解。

　　1.縱覽全文，心中有數(shù)

　　解答快速閱讀題的首要步驟是瀏覽全文，熟悉文章主題和結(jié)構(gòu)安排，做到有的放矢。快速閱讀的文章與一般文章的不同之處在于，它往往有標題(Title)，甚至還可能含有附標題(Subtitle)或段落小標題(Heading)。而標題、附標題和段落小標題是整篇文章主題內(nèi)容的概要，所以考生應(yīng)首先瀏覽文章，看看有沒有這些線索，從而借助這些線索提前把握文章主旨要義。以樣卷為例，文章有標題Landfills和7個段落小標題How Much Trash Is Generated?, How Is Trash Disposed of?, What Is a Landfill?, Proposing the Landfill, Building the Landfill, What Happens to Trash in a Landfill?, How Is a Landfill Operated?。由此，我們可以斷定文章的主題是landfills(垃圾填埋)，并且文章圍繞此主題討論了垃圾是如何產(chǎn)生的、如何處理垃圾、何謂垃圾填埋、垃圾填埋注意事項、垃圾填埋場的建設(shè)、垃圾填埋場的垃圾情況和垃圾填埋場的運營等問題展開。

　　除了標題、附標題和段落小標題之外，考生還應(yīng)注意文章中的Typographical Aids，并加以充分利用。所謂的Typographical Aids是指文章的印刷排版格式，如字體、顏色、斜體、下劃線、粗體等等。而樣卷的文章里就含有這些輔助手段，如段落小標題就是粗體字，這容易引起我們的注意。此外，文章還用了一些項目符號，如實心黑圓點和空心圓點，這些符號都可以明顯告訴我們，圓點出為細節(jié)的羅列，這對我們迅速定位答案是很有幫助的。

　　2.不求甚解，只求大意

　　快速閱讀的本質(zhì)要求就是要考生在盡可能短的時間內(nèi)讀完全文，把握文章要義。所以，考生應(yīng)牢記“不求甚解”的原則，以瀏覽中文報紙的方式進行閱讀，每讀一句話或是一段話，只求讀懂大意即可。這當(dāng)中，關(guān)鍵是要把握文中的指稱詞(如we, they, it等)和連接詞(如therefore, in addition, however等)，因為這些往往是表明前后句和上下文關(guān)系的重要關(guān)節(jié)。