影響語篇理解的因素(Difficulties in Comprehension)
No servants in一he employ of the contractors are allowed under any circumstances to
solicit gratuities, and in the event of any solicitation, incivility, or negligence of du-
ty, the contractors will feel obliged by its being reported to them by letter.
許多讀者感到這段話不易理解，這主要可能是因為陌生詞語太多的緣故。句子中的gratuities, contractors, solicitations, incivility, negligence都是多音節(jié)的“大詞”，一般文章中不大常用;盡管它們顯得莊重正式.但表意卻是拐彎抹角、晦澀難懂。
如果用更簡明通俗的語言表達，它的真正意義可以一目了然，即“We don't allow theservants to ask for tips from you. If they do, you may report it to us by letter."這個例子說明.盡管交際雙方都懂同一種語言，但如果雙方詞匯量差距過大，言語交流也難以順利進行。
Ideas imprinted on the senses are real things, or do really exist, this we do not de-
ny, but we deny that they can subsist without the minds which perceive them, or
that they are resemblances of any archetypes existing without the mind.. since the
very being of a sensation or idea consists in being perceived, and an idea can be like
nothing but an idea.
在這段話中，詞匯似乎不是什么問題。它使用的絕大多數(shù)都是常用詞.只有部分讀者可能不太熟悉subsist(= keep alive), resemblances(= similarity)和，rchetypes ( =originalmodels)，但許多讀者覺得它的意思不好理解。
即使能模糊地理解其大致含義，恐怕也很難解釋清楚作者到底說了些什么。只有曾讀過此類哲學著作的人，才可能真正理解其中的意義。這段話的難點不在陌生的詞語.而在于簡單詞語所表達的復雜概念不為讀者所熟悉。
Methodology is a term that remains inherently ambiguous in the historical profes-
sion. There is no agreement whether methodology refers to the concepts peculiar to
historical work in general or to the research techniques appropriate to the various
branches of historical inquiry.
在這段話中，除ambiguous(= unclear)和methodology(=方法論)外，幾乎沒有什么陌生詞語或者復雜概念.但為什么有的人不能準確理解它的愈思呢?主要原因在于第2句復雜的句子結構。
Edward looked at his red beard in the table knife. Sally was pregnant. Then
Edward and Sally went to Sweden, to the farm. In the mailbox Sally found a check
for Dick from the government of Sweden. In London Sally had been very sick every
day. She put the check in the pocket of her brown coat.
這段話全部由短句組成。雖然每句話都很好理解，但整個語段的意思卻頗令人費解。為什么呢?因為各個句子之間沒有必要的銜接，語義也是忽左忽右、前后跳躍，缺乏必要的連貫。這使得整段話前言不搭后語，既零亂不堪又枯燥無味，這說明連貫性差是這個語段不好理解的主要問題。
Last week President Bush tried to reclaim his long-established reputation as a free
trader. "I would avoid the Siren's call of protection that suggests the way for us to
get strong is to put on quotas and start managing trade."
這段文字語言通俗、結構簡單，屬人們常用的口語體。但能不能充分理解它的意義呢?如果不了解the Siren's call和quota，兩個詞語的來歷，恐怕很難。在希臘神話中，Si-ren(!塞壬)原是一個半人半鳥的海妖，常以美妙動人的歇聲誘惑路過的海員，并使他們因航船觸礁而死亡。Quota是個常見的貿易術語，表示進出口配額。在這里，布什是在暗示對貿易保護的呼吁，就像塞壬的歌聲一樣，聽起來非常動聽，但實際上對經濟卻有害無益�？梢�，充分理解這段話的關鍵是要具有相應的西方文化背景知識。
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