《技术与商务交流英语（第二版）》课件Chapter 2 Effective Reading Strategies

ObjectivesandOutcomesLearntousethefourstrategiesintechnicalandbusinessreading:Skimforanoverviewofadocument.Scanforspecificinformation.Determinemainpointsbytellingthetopicsentencefromsupportingsentences.Drawinferencesfromassumptionsandimplications.Lead-inQ:Inanageofinformation,howtodealwiththeproblemofreading?Toreadeffectively,weneedtofollow4steps:SelectwhatyoureallyneedtoreadReadquicklyFindmainpointsaccuratelyUnderstandindirectorimpliedmeaningcorrectlyTofollowthe4steps,weneedtolearn4strategiesaccordingly:Skimming&ScanningIdentifyingstructureandhierarchyDistinguishingmainpointsDrawinginferencesI.SkimmingandScanningBeforegettingdowntoreadadocumentindetail,youshouldaskyourselfthefollowingquestions:DoIreallyneedtoreadthisdocument?IfIdo,shouldIreadthewholedocumentoronlyapartofit?WhichpartofthedocumentshouldIfocuson?WhichpartshouldIreadfairlyquickly?WhichpartshouldIskip?Toanswerthesequestions,youshouldlearnhowtoskimandhowtoscan.1.Skimming(浏览或略读)Skimmingmeanstogothroughtheentiredocumentquicklytogetanoverallsenseofwhatisinthedocumentandwhereitislocated.Skimmingstrategies:Forabook:Lookthroughthecovers,thepreface,andthetableofcontentstogetanoverviewofthecontent,thescopeandapproach.Example:EnglishforTechnicalCommunicationThefrontcoverprovidesmajorcontents.Thebackcovergivesapproachesofcompilationandscopesofapplication.Theprefaceprovidesanoverviewofthebook.Thecontentstellswhateachchapterincludes.Foranarticle:Glancethroughthetitle,headings,topicsentences,andthefirstandthelastparagraphtoidentifymainideas.E.g.WhatisEnergy?(P.16)Skimmingadocumentwillhelpyoudecide:whetheryoushouldreadthedocumentornot;whetheryoushouldreadthewholeoronlyapartofthedocument;whatyouneedtoconcentrateon;whatyoucanreadfairlyquickly;whatyoucansimplyskip.2.Scanning(寻读或查阅）Scanningmeanstorunyoureyesdownapagetolookforspecificinformation.Youscanadocumentforthefollowingpurposes:IdentifyingkeytermsthatarenewtoyouLocatingparticulartextfeaturessuchastables,graphsandexamplesDeterminingcriticalinformationforyoutoremember,suchasprinciples,laws,definitions,formulas,andstepsinaprocessE.g.EffectiveReadingStrategies(p.4&5)Figure1-1WallofWordsFigure1-2InformationMap

Conclusiondrawnfromtheexamples:Thearticlewithlabelsofinformationismucheasiertoscanthantraditionalparagraphs.II.UsingVisualCues（使用视觉提示）Visualcuesaresignalsinatextthatcancatchyourattentionimmediately,likeheadings,subheadings,orothervisualcues.AlistofcommonlyusedvisualcuesVisualcuesFunctionandexamplesFontsize字号Differentsizesofprintusuallyusedtodistinguishdifferentlevelsofthetext:E.g.twelvepointsfortext;eighteenpointsfortitlesFontstyle字形Differentformsofprintusedtodrawreader’sattentiontoelementssuchasheadings,keyterms,andimportantcharacteristics:E.g.CAPITALS,bold,italics,underscore.Fonttype字体Differentdesignsofprint:E.g.TimesNewRoman(usu.usedforlongdocuments),Arial(usu.usedforshortdocuments)VisualcuesFunctionandexamplesList一览表AseriesofparallelitemsineithernumberedorbulletedformatIndentation缩进Theblankspacebetweenamarginandthebeginningofaline,usedtochunkrelatedinformationLinespace行间距TheleadingorspacebetweenlinesusedtochunkrelatedinformationIcons图标Asmallpicturethatrepresentsaspecificmeaningorfunction:Internationalstandardiconsarenonverbalinformationforpeopleofdifferentlanguages.(SeeFigure2-3,p16)TableofContentswithVisualCuesFontsizesindicatehierarchyofthecontents.Fontstyles,bold

and

italics,showhierarchyofthecontentsandchunksofinformation.Indentationmarkshierarchyofthecontents.Numberedlistsgroupdifferentcontents.Iconsbyeachsectionserveasaquickreferenceofvisuallanguage.III.DistinguishingMainPointsHowever,ifthearticledoesnotprovidethekeyinformationwithvisualcues,youwillhavetofindthemainpointsthroughreading.Aparagraphintechnicalwritingisgenerallycomposedoftwokindsofsentences:atopicsentence,whichstatesthemainidea;supportingsentences,whichprovidedetailedexplanationsofthemainideainaparagraph.Guidelinesforidentifyingthetopicsentence:Thetopicsentenceprovidesthemainideaorthetopicoftheparagraph,whilesupportingsentencesgivedetailedexplanationstosupportthetopicsentence.Thetopicsentenceintroducesnewinformation,whilesupportingsentencesprovideinformationthatisalreadyknown.Thetopicsentenceisusuallygeneralinmeaning,whilesupportingsentencesaremorespecificinmeaning.E.g.ReadFigure2-5(p.17)fortopicsentences.IV.DrawingInferencesForspecificpurposes,suchas,tomaketheirwritingvivid,interesting,orpersuasive,writersmayuseindirectorimpliedexpressions.Youshouldbeabletodrawinferences:Understandtheimpliedmeaningbyreasoning.Makeconnectionsanddrawconclusionsbeyondwordsbycommonsense,expertiseknowledgeandimagination.Usepragmaticinference.一语未了，忽听外面人说：“林姑娘来了。”话犹未了，林黛玉已摇摇的走了进来，一见了宝玉，便笑道：“嗳哟，我来的不巧了！”宝玉等忙起身笑让坐，宝钗因笑道：“这话怎么说？”黛玉笑道：“早知他来，我就不来了。”宝钗道：“我更不解这意。”黛玉笑道：“要来一群都来，要不来一个也不来，今儿他来了，明儿我再来，如此间错开了来着，岂不天天有人来了？也不至于太冷落，也不至于太热闹了．姐姐如何反不解这意思？”

宝玉因见他外面罩着大红羽缎对衿褂子，因问：“下雪了么？”地下婆娘们道：“下了这半日雪珠儿了。”宝玉道：“取了我的斗篷来不曾？”黛玉便道：“是不是，我来了他就该去了。”宝玉笑道：“我多早晚儿说要去了？不过拿来预备着。”宝玉的奶母李嬷嬷因说道：“天又下雪，也好早晚的了，就在这里同姐姐妹妹一处顽顽罢．姨妈那里摆茶果子呢，我叫丫头去取了斗篷来，说给小幺儿们散了罢。”宝玉应允。李嬷嬷出去，命小厮们都各散去不提。《红楼梦》第八回比通灵金莺微露意探宝钗黛玉半含酸Figuresofspeech（比喻、修辞格）Figuresofspeechistheusageofwordsorexpressionsotherthanitsoriginalorliteralmeaningtocreateavividpicture.Commonlyusedfiguresofspeech:SimileMetaphorMetonymySynecdoche1.Simile（明喻）:anexplicitcomparisonbetweentwothingsunlikeinnaturethatyethavesomethingincommon.E.g.Theheartislikeapumpandworksasapump.TheDNAmoleculeformsadouble-helixstructurelikeastaircase.Simileisusefulintechnicaldescriptions.Peopleunderstandthenewonthebasisofwhattheyalreadyknown.Thepurposeofasimileistohelpclarifyacomplexorunfamiliarthingbycomparingitwithsomethingthereaderisfamiliarwith.Simileisusuallyintroducedby“as”or“like”.2.Metaphor（暗喻）:animpliedcomparisonbetweentwothingsunlikeinnaturethatyethavesomethingincommon.Eg.Theheartisamuscularpumpthatdrivesthebloodthroughthebloodvessels.Theclearnighthasathousandeyes.Conventionalairplanescreateradarsignatureswhentheyaredetected.3.Metonymy（转喻）:afigureofspeechthatcallsonethinginthenameofanotherrelatedtoit.

Thekettleisboiling.Burningtherainforestmeanswearesilencingthousandsofsongswehaveneverevenheard.4.Synecdoche（提喻）:afigureofspeechinwhichapartismadetorepresentthewholeorviceversa.Howtoearndailybreadwithmypenwastheproblem.ChinadefeatedJapaninthemen’sworldtable-tennischampionships.Theriveriscongestedwithathousand

masts.ReadPara.2(p.20)writtenbyAlGore

Mysearchfortheunderlyingcausesoftheenvironmentalcrisishasledmetotravelaroundtheworldtoexamineandstudymanyoftheseimagesofdestruction.Attheverybottomoftheearth,highintheTrans-AntarcticMountains,withthesunglaringatmidnightthroughaholeinthesky,Istoodintheunbelievablecoldnessandtalkedwithascientistinthelatefallof1988aboutthetunnelhewasdiggingthroughtime.Slippinghisparkabacktorevealabadlyburnedfacethatwascrackedandpeeling,hepointedtotheannuallayersoficeinacoresampledugfromtheglacieronwhichwewerestanding.Hemovedhisfingerbackintimetotheiceoftwodecadesago.“Here’swheretheU.S.CongresspassedtheCleanAirAct,”hesaid.Atthebottomoftheworld,twocontinentsawayfromWashington,D.C.,evenasmallreductioninonecountry’semissionshadchangedtheamountofpollutionfoundintheremotestandleastaccessibleplaceonearth.thebottomoftheearth:theSouthPoleArea(metaphor)thesunglaringatmidnight:thepolardayperiodaholeinthesky:thedamagedozonelayerduetoseriousairpollution(metaphor)abadlyburnedface:afacehurtbythestrongsunlightshiningthroughtheholeAnozoneholeintheAntarcticCirclethetunnelhewasdiggingthroughtime:…hewasdiggingatunnelthroughlayersoficeformedintimeorder(metonymy)annuallayersofice:layersoficeformedindifferentyearsHemovedhisfingerbackintime:Hemovedhisfingerbackalongthelayersofice(metonymy)Here’swhere:HereisthelayeroficeformedatthesametimewhentheU.S.Congress....ThisiswheretheUSCongresspassedtheCleanAirAct.TwocontinentsawayfromDCtwocontinentsaway:AntarcticaandSouthAmericaremotestandleastaccessibleplace:Antarctica,implyingtheearthisd