同义替换是雅思听力选择题一个常考的考点。同义替换经常出现在对选项的替换上,以此来干扰我们做题。我选取了剑4 Test 2 Section1的这篇听力来解释一下三种同义替换的情况。
1. 词的同义替换
最常见的同义替换是同义词的转换,也就是原文中出现的单词与选项中的单词意思相同或相近。原文没有原样出现选项中的词,而改用这些词的同义词,以此来干扰考生做题。例如C4T2S1中的这道题:
>>What do Peter and Sally decide to order?
A. food and drinks B. just food C. just drinks
下面两句话是原文中对应这道题目答案的对话:
-- Yes, here's the waitress. Let's order. Do you want something to eat? Or should we just have a drink?
-- Well. I'm hungry. And we've got a lot of sightseeing to do. So let's just have a snack and drink.
有的同学听到了drink,就选择了C。但其实对话中出现的snack意思是零食,snack和food两个词意思相近,指代的基本是同一个东西,所以两者同义替换,snack and drink就是food and drink,答案应该选A。
另一道也是这篇听力中的一道题,但替换的内容相对复杂一些。
>>What does Peter want to drink?
A. tea B. coffee C. a cold drink
原文中对应答案的对话是这样的:
-- You look very hot and tired. What would you like to drink?
-- I'd love really chilled mineral water or something.
chilled mineral water意思是冷的矿泉水,选项C是指一种冷的饮料,两者意义一致,所以答案选C。这道题虽然把选项中的三个单词都替换了,但意思是一样的,体现了听力考试中的同义替换的考点。
2. 句的统一替换
另一种同义替换不但把词汇替换了,而且需要结合句子的理解来完成。同样是出自C4T2S1中的一道题目:
>>What caused Peter problems at the bank?
A. the exchange rate was down B. he was late C. the computers weren’t working
原文的这段对话比较长:
-- Why are you so late? Did something happen?
-- Yes. You know I went to the bank to cash something traveller's cheques. Well the exchange rate was looking very healthy but I went to the teller they told me that the computer system was temporarily down. So they couldn't do any transactions. They said the problem would be fixed in a few minutes so I waited. And then I started talking to another guy in the bank and I forgot the time.
对应选项的句子是the computer system was temporarily down,意思是电脑系统临时坏了,这与选项C电脑不能工作了是一样的。这是需要理解这个由多个单词组成的句子之后才能做出的选择,相对第一种词汇的同义替换来说更难一些。
3. 举例
还有一种同义替换是原文出现了选项中的某一种情况,就是说选项是一个较大的范围,而原文提到了这种范围里的某一个情况。比如C4T2S1中的这道题:
>>Who did Peter talk to at the bank?
A. an old friend B. an American man C. a German man
原文是这样说的:
-- Oh, really? Someone you met in the bank. Does he work there?
-- No, he was a tourist, from New York. His name is Henry. And he's been here for a week, but he's moving on to Germany tomorrow.
原文中的from New York就是选项B的美国人的一种举例情况。这也是一种同义替换的形式。
以上是三类同义替换的情况,在做选择题的时候要特别小心题目这样的“陷阱“,可能原文中没有出现与选项一模一样的词,但他们的意思是一致的,这时候很容易因为漏听而错过答案。平时练习时需要结合听力文本积累同义词和同义句,最好能把题目中碰到过的有相似意思的单词整理在一起,集中复习。
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