杭州环球教育阅读名师：邓军

    众所周知，雅思阅读解题技巧的两大重要原则是：定位和同义替换。一旦定位准确，剩下的解题只要词汇过关语句理解到位，迅速获得正确答案就手到擒来了。但是笔者在雅思阅读教学过程中发现，很多考生感觉在雅思阅读各类题目中选择定位词颇费心思或者难以定夺。那么定位词到底该怎么找呢？或者什么样的单词或短语适合扮演定位词的角色呢？为了回答这些问题，笔者建议各位考生，不妨回忆一下我们早年学习语文的时候，老师在课堂上不断提醒我们的“记叙文四要素”——时间，地点，人物，事件。笔者在长期的教学过程中发现，这“记叙文四要素”其实非常适用于雅思阅读各类题目定位词的选择原则，即我们在选择定位词的时候，要尽力找到表达“时间”，“地点”，“人物”，“事件”的单词或短语。那么下面我就以剑桥雅思真题系列里的原题为例，给各位考生一一解释。

时间

例句：

1）In 1764 Dr. Johnson accepted the contract to produce a dictionary. (C5-T1-P1 SUMMARY)

2）This was followed by a wartime application in devices for finding  

  _______. (C7-T1-P1 SUMMARY)

3）In the future, governments should maintain ownership of water  

  infrastructure. (C7-T1-P2判断题)

4）Only two Japanese pagodas have collapsed in 1400 years. (C7-T2-P1判断题)

5）Prior to the start of MIRTP the Makete district was almost inaccessible

  during the rainy season. (C7-T2-P3判断题)

6）Between 1940 and 1959, there was a sharp decrease in Alaska’s salmon

  population.（C7-T4-P2判断题）

7）How the 1670 lever-based device worked (title) (C8-T1-P1 DIAGRAM COMPLETION)

8）Some improvements were made in radio communication during World War II. (C8-T1-P2判断题)

9）Early methods of producing flat glass (title) (C8-T2-P1 TABLE COMPLETION)

10）Nineteenth-century studies of the nature of genius failed to take into

account the uniqueness of the person’s upbringing. (C8-T3-P2 判断题)

上面的例句中，表示“时间”概念的词，很多是以非常醒目的数字的形式出现，作为定位词的首选自不必说。而in the future这个词出现，考生们应该能够预测这个题目的出处应该在文章的结尾部分，因为整个文章的论述到了结尾部分通常会出现论述总结或者对未来展望这些信息。Rainy season 是对题目信息一个相当具体的时间限定，较好在原文中扫描到相应的信息，而该题中prior to the start也能给考生一个信息预判，即这个题目应该是出现在这篇工程结项报告的前部。考生们碰到Early这样的单词，应该告诉自己这个题应该在文中较靠前的部分定位。

地点

例句：

1）Several of the subjects were psychology students at Yale University. (C5-T1-P2判断题)

2）Deserts, mountains and Arctic regions are examples of environments

  that are both ecologically and culturally fragile. (C5-T4-P1判断题)

3）Japan imports more meat and steel than France.（C6-T1-P2判断题）

4）If you visit the Canadian Arctic, you immediately appreciate the

  problems faced by people for whom this is home. （C6-T1-P3 SUMMARY）

5）Several species of wildlife in the British countryside are declining.(C7-T2-P2判断题)

6）City life is one factor that encourages the development of intelligence.(C7-T3-P1判断题)

7）Problems in Nordic countries were excluded because they are outside

  the European Economic Community. (C7-T3-P3判断题)

8）In addition, over two thousand years ago kites were used in China as

  weapons, as well as for sending_______. (C7-T4-P1 SUMMARY)

9）The inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands renamed their islands ‘Aleyska’. (C7-T4-P2判断题)

10）The writer suggests that people may have difficulty sleeping in the

   mountains because … … (C7-T4-P3 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS)

   上述含有“地点”概念的例句中，表示地点的词或短语大部分本身属于专有名词，首字母大写，从文中定位较为容易。而像deserts, mountains and Arctic regions, in the British countryside, city, in the mountains这些词或短语表达的意义非常具体，可以说“过目不忘”。考生们通过短时记忆，即使在注意力高度集中的情况下快速扫描文章时，这些信息也不容易在脑海里丢失。故选择表示具体地点的词作为定位词是非常有效的阅读解题手段。

人物

例句：

1）As a reward for his hard work, he was granted a _______ by the king. (C5-T1-P1 SUMMARY)

2）Not all of the assistants survived to see the publication of the dictionary. (C5-T1-P1 判断题)

3）The identity of the pupils (C5-T1-P2 MATCHING)

4）Before the experiment took place the psychiatrists … … (C5-T1-P2

  MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS)

5）Environmentalists take a pessimistic view of the world for a number

  of reasons. (C5-T1-P3判断题)

6）The number of starving people in the world has increased in recent years.(C5-T1-P3判断题)

7）The word ‘echolocation’ was first used by someone working as a

  _______.(C7-T1-P1 SENTENCE COMPLETION)

8）Shuzo Ishida performs experiments in order to … … (C7-T2-P1 MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS)

10）Weather forecasters are intensely interested in Diels’s system.(C8-T3-P1判断题)

    以上这些标注的词都是代表某类人，这些人物要么带有极强的专业色彩，如psychiatrists, environmentalists, weather forecasters，要么表达了一个非常具体的概念，如the king, the assistants, starving people等，而这些词要么在文中几乎难以用其他词替换，要么再文中极其显眼极易辨识出，而例7）中的someone可以给考生提供明晰的信息，即该空格一定是需要填进一类人或者职业者。故上面的例句中表达“人物”的词很适合作定位词。以“人物”为定位词的案例在剑桥真题中不在少数，考生们可以在练习时多做总结。

事件

例句：

1）Some pollution problems have been correctly linked to

  industrialization. (C5-T1-P3 判断题)

2）It would be best attempt to slow down economic growth. (C5-T1-P3 判断题)

3）By how much did some cyclists’ performance improve at the 1996 Olympic

  Games? (C6-T1-P1 SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS)

4）The effects of the introduction of electronic delivery (C6-T1-P2 MATCHING)

5）The Hanshin earthquake of 1995 destroyed the pagoda at the Toji temple. (C7-T2-P1判断题)

6）Ants have sophisticated methods of farming, including herding

  livestock and growing crops, which are in many ways similar to those

  used in human agriculture. (C7-T3-P1 SUMMARY)

7）The Strasbourg conference decided that a forest policy must allow for

  the possibility of change. （C7-T3-P3 判断题）

8）They created a calendar to organize public events and work schedules. C8-T1-P1 MATCHING)

9）Air Traffic Control started after the Grand Canyon crash in 1956. (C8-T1-P2判断题)

10)Pilkington invested some of his own money in his float plant. (C8-T2-P1判断题)

   同样的，在上面的例句中所标识出的表示“事件”的词或短语表达了非常具体的含义，或者直接以专有名词，即单词首字母大写出现。所谓“事件”，即“发生了什么？”,考生可利用自己的“好奇心”，将这些特定信息点短时储存在自己脑海里。在动辄长篇大论的雅思阅读文本中，考生在高速扫描文章寻找定位信息的时候，即使眼睛稍微掠过相关内容，也能迅速捕捉住这些定位信息。所以，以“事件”作为定位词，实在高效。

所谓的“记叙文四要素”法选择定位词，其实说到底就是要从雅思阅读考试题目入手，寻找那些具有特定含义的，醒目的，而且在文章中不易被替换的单词或短语作为定位信息。希望考生在备考雅思的时候，多思考，多总结，慢慢积累起寻找定位词的经验和感觉。有了经验，再打造出自己坚实的语言功底，你们一定能够考出理想的高分！