成人学位英语阅读理解解题方法：指代题

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    做阅读理解题目时常碰到如下这样的问题。

　　The word "it" in line× most probably refers to .

　　In line×, the word "one" could best be replaced by .

　　What does the word "they" in line×refer to ?

　　这里所说的指代，主要是指代词的指代。

　　代词指代总的原则是就近指代：指代在性(阴性或阳性)、数(单数或复数)、格(主格或宾格)、逻辑、意义、位置等方面与之接近的名词。就位置而言，如上所述，代词所指代的名词通常在本句或其上句之中;就数而言，单数代词指代单数名词，复数代词指代复数名词，例如：it指代单数名词(单数可数名词或不可数名词)，也可指代一个句子;they指代复数名词主格;them指代复数名词宾格;one指代单数可数名词等。除了位置、性、数和格等方面的要求外，逻辑和意义也是衡量的标准，也就是说，正确的答案应该从意义(主要指语法搭配)上和逻辑(主要指思想内容)上都说得通。

　　通过单数和复数做题

　　就it来说，指代有两种情况。

　　1.指代单数词或词组

　　例如，He poured into his writings all the pain of his life, the fierce hatred of the bourgeoise that it had produced in him, and the conviction it had brought to him that the world could be made a better place to live in.

　　it不能指代复数的his writings，从语法规则，能指代的只有the pain of his life，也即the fierce hatred of the bourgeoise that it (the pain of his life) had produced in him, and the conviction it (the pain of his life) had brought to him…

　　2.指代句子意思

　　例如，Long afterwards the U-2 pilot recalled that when got into trouble he was asked whether he was an American."It seemed," he said,"pointless to deny it."

　　这里的it就是指代前面he was an American整个句子的意思。也即It seemed pointless to deny that l was an American.

　　就they和them来说，尽管指代的必须是复数名词，但具体的指代也有两种情况。

　　一是有生命的，如复数男的，复数女的，以及复数动植物;二是无生命的东西。在中文分别用他们、她们和它们指代，英语中都用they，them。如Some of the bigger firms are engaged in researches which are of such general and fundamental nature that it is a positive advantage to them not to keep them secret.

　　句中有两个them，符合指代条件的有firms和researches。根据句子意思，第一个them指代firms;第二个them是指代researches，也即it is a positive advantage to them (the bigger firms) not to keep them (researches) secret.(不保密这些研究肯定对大公司是有利的。)

　　至于one，也有既可指代有生命的又可指代无生命的，但能够被one指代的必须是不可数名词。而且one还可以是one person的简略形式，也就是说先行词可以不出现，直接用one。

　　例如，There will be no heroics in a war where the safest place will be the front line, if there is one, and the most dangerous the house of our civilization population.

　　句中的one就是指代无生命the safest place。也即if there is one (the safest place)。

　　再如，My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable.句中的the one就是指代有生命的9eneration。

　　例

　　In most situations where music is performed in our culture it is not difficult to dis-tinguish the audience from the performers, but such is often not the case in Africa. Alban Ayipaga, a Kasena semiprofessional musician from northern Ghana, says that when his flute(长笛) and drum ensemble(歌舞团)is performing. "Anybody can take part.. " This is true, but Kasena musicians recognize that not all people are equally ca-pable of taking part in the music. Some can sing along with the drummers, but rela-tively few can drum and even fewer can play the flute along with the ensemble. It is fairly common in Africa for there to be an ensemble of expert musicians surrounded by others who join in by clapping, singing, or somehow adding to the totality of musical sound. Performances often take place in an open area (that is, not on a stage) and so the lines between the performing nucleus and the additional performers, active specta-tors, and passive spectators may be difficult to draw from our point of view.

　　The word "such" (Line 2) refers to the fact that

　　A. music is performed with the participation of the audience

　　B. music is performed without the participation of the audience

　　C. people tend to distinguish the audience from the performers

　　D. people have records, television sets and radio to fulfill their musical needs

　　such可以就近指代上文的名词或一个句子，在这里指代前一分句的主句：it is not difficult to distinguish the audience from the performers(不难区分演员和观众)，这是我们文化里的情况，与非洲文化里的情况相反，因为“such”所在的句子说：but such is often not the case in Africa。而根据文章后半部分的叙述，在非洲文化的音乐表演中观众积极参与，反之，我们文化里的音乐表演中就没有观众参与，因此B为正确答案。C说的是人们倾向于区分演员与观众，与原文是否难以区分意思不符，所以应该排除。

　　例

　　The statuses we assume often vary with the people we encounter，and change throughout life.Most of US can，at very high speed, assume the statuses that various situations require.Much of social interaction consists of identifying and selecting among appropriate statuses and allowing other people to assume their statuses in relation to us.This means that we fit our actions to those of other people based on a con-stant mental process of appraisal and interpretation.Although some of US find the task more difficult than others，most of US perform it.rather effortlessly.

　　In the last sentence of this paragraph.the pronoun "it" refers to

　　A.fitting our actions to those of other people appropriately

　　B.identification of other people’s statuses

　　C.selecting one’S own statuses

　　D.constant mental process

　　“it”所在的句子为：Although some of us find the task more difficult than others，most of us perform it rather effortlessly.由这个句子可知，两个分句结构相同，而且前一分句的find与后一分句的两个动词处于同等位置上，因此这属于上述一句话内部指代的第二种情况：一句话中并列动词的宾语代词指代的是第一个动词后的名词，那么it指代task，而task又指的是上一句：This means that we fit our actions to those of oth-er people based on a constant mental process of appraisal and interpretation中that引导的宾语从句的内容，因此A为正确答案。

　　3.两句话间指代

　　①假如第二句话的代词主语指代前一句话的名词主语，表示刚才谈论的话题仍在延续。例如：假如第一句话使用了there引导的表示存在的句型，那么第二句话的代词主语指代前一句里的名词主语;

　　②假如第二句话的代词主语指代第一句话就近的名词概念，那么第一句话的名词概念为第二句的新概念，即第二句所要谈论的内容;

　　③this和that既可以指代单数名词，也可以指代它们之前的句子。

　　例

　　Just seven years a90，the Jarvik一7 artificial heart was being cheered as the model of human creativeness.The sight of Barney Clark--alive and conscious after trading his diseased heart for a metal—and—plastic pump--convinced the press，the public and many doctors that the future had arrived.It hadn’t.After monitoring production of the Jarvik一7, and reviewing its effects on the l 50 0r so patients (most of whom got the device as a temporary measure) the U.S.Food and Drug Administration concluded that the machine was doing more to endanger lives than to save them.Last week the agency cancelled its earlier approval，effectively banning(禁止)the device.

　　The recall may hurt Symbion Inc，maker of the Jarvik-7，but it won’t end the request for an artificial heart.One problem with the banned model is that the tubes connecting it to an external power source created a passage for infection(感染). Inventors are now working on new devices that would be fully placed, along with a tiny power pack, in the patient's chest. The first sample products aren't expected for another 10 or 20 years. But some people are already worrying that they'll work--and that America's overextended health-care pro-grams will lose a precious $ 2.5 billion to $ 5 billion a year providing them for a relatively few dying patients. If such expenditures (开支) cut into funding for more basic care, the net effect could actually be a decline in the nation's health.

　　The word "them" in Para. 2 refers to

　　A. doctors who treat heart diseases

　　B. makers of artificial hearts

　　C. America's health-care programs

　　D. new models of artificial hearts

　　“them”所在的句子与其上句为：The first sample products aren’t expected for another 10 0r 20 years.But some people are already worrying that they’ll work--and that America’s overextended health-care programs will lose a precious$2.5 billion to$5 billion a year pro-viding them for 3 relatively few dying patients.由此可知，them与they’ll work中的they指代同一对象，即人工心脏新模型。首先，根据两句话间指代的第一种情况，they指代前一句的sample products，表示第二句仍在讨论sample products这个话题。而them指代sam-pie products，即“人工心脏新模型”也表示在延续同一话题。根据上下文，C与D成为选择对象(因为provide sth.for…中的sth.指物，而不指人)，但将C代人them所在的位置，语法上说得过去，但从逻辑上而言讲不通，因为文章一直在谈向心脏病患者提供人工心脏而不是一般保健项目的问题。所以D为正确答案。

　　例

　　For any given task in Britain there are more men than are needed. Strong unions keep them there in Fleet Street, home of some London's biggest dailies, it is under- stood that when two unions quarrel over three jobs, the argument is settled by giving each union two. That means 33 percent overmanning, 33 percent less productivity than could be obtained.

　　A reporter who has visited plants throughout Europe has an impression that the pace of work is much slower here. Nobody tries too hard. Tea breaks do matter and are frequent. It is hard to measure intensity of work, but Britons give a distinct im-pression of going at their tasks in a more leisurely way.

　　But is all this so terrible? It certainly does not improve the gross national product or output per worker. Those observant visitors, however, have noticed something else about Britain. It is a pleasant place.

　　Street crowds in Stockholm. Paris and New York move quickly and silently heads down, all in a hurry. London crowds tend to walk at an easy pace (except in the profi-table, efficient City, the financial district).

　　Every stranger is struck by the patient and orderly way in which Britons queue for a bus.- if the saleswoman is slow and out of stock she will likely say, "oh dear, what rest of the gang taking hold by twos until it is clear of the car. They come forward at a run.

　　At the word of command, the rail is dropped in its place, right side up. Less than thirty seconds to a rail for each gang, and so four rails go down to the minute. "

　　In Para. 2, the word "they" refers to

　　A. men

　　B. valleys

　　C. Mountains

　　D. jobs

　　在And they did all these jobs largely by their own muscle power句子中，把四个选项的内容men，valleys，mountains，jobs依次代入they的位置，就可发现只有A men和did all these jobs形成意义上的搭配。valleys，mountains，jobs不可能did all these jobs.更不可能有their own muscle power。所以这一句无须读上下文就可找到答案。