概要写作(Summary writing)
概要写作。阅读下面的短文,根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
Exercise 4
The brown widow spider became established in Southern California in early 2000 and has become part of the local spider family in urban Los Angeles and San Diego. The brown widow spider is1 continuing its expansion in Southern California and could possibly move northward into Central California. The brown widow is suspected to have evolved in Africa although it was first described from South America, which adds confusion as to where it might have originated. It is a tropical and subtropical spider having established populations in Hawaii, Florida, parts of Australia, South Africa and Japan. The brown widow builds its web in protected sites around homes and in woody vegetation with branches. Some typical sites selected by brown widows for web building are empty containers such as buckets and nursery pots, entry way corners, storage closets and garages. They choose places that are more exposed than sites chosen by black widows and therefore, appear to be at higher risk for interactions with humans as far as bites are concerned. . One recent study demonstrates that the brown widow spider is less poisonous than other widowspecies. The reason for the weaker effect of brown widow bites on humans is possibly because the brown widow does not have much poison as its larger relatives, but it is really a threat to humans as to its poison. The two major symptoms of a brown widow bite were that the bite hurt when it was given and it left a red mark. , There is no specific information regarding the control of brown widows by farm chemicals. Most current advice is what is used for controlling spiders in general. Therefore, most commercially available farm chemicals should work on brown widows. Avoiding a mess of the house and the garage should reduce nest sites for them. Also, one should store garage items in plastic bags where there might be interactions with spiders.
一、 试题详解
.核心内容
本文是一篇说明文,全文共分五段。第一段主要讲褐寡妇蜘蛛在美国生存并繁衍的过程。第二段说明了褐寡妇蜘蛛可能起源于非洲,主要生活在热带、亚热带国家和地区。第三段说明了该种蜘蛛的生活习惯及特征。第四段主要说明尽管与其他寡妇蜘蛛相比褐寡妇蜘蛛毒性较小,但对人类来说仍是一个威胁,并说明了被褐寡妇蜘蛛咬的特点。第五段说明目前还没有消灭它的办法,人们只能尽力控制和通过保持整洁来预防。
.写作思路
(1) 理清文章脉络,概括段落大意。该文第一段中可以发现本文的关键词为“the brown widow spider",以及一些美国的地名,可以确认本段的一个关键词为expansion;第二段的主题句是第一句,并且从“where it might have originated”可以清楚地看出说的是蜘蛛的起源。第三段和第四段的主题句都很清晰,都是段首第一句,第五段前两句也表明了段落主要内容,即只能通过一些化学药品来控制。
(2) 确定表达要点,灵活准确表达。将每段的段落大意都作为表达的要点可以确保不遗漏。在确定表达要点后要思考如何准确灵活表达,这是难点。因为评分标准要求完全使用自己的语言。灵活表达的重要技巧是对原来的语言进行同义替换(paraphrase),同时要对相关内容进行整合。要点1要点出全文的关键信息"brown spider"正在美国蔓延。要点2说的是褐寡妇蜘蛛的起源及分布地区,这两点内容可以适当整合; 为了避免重复,我们可以把一些词进行转换,比如将establish表达为settle, expansion 可以表达为enlarge/spread等。要点3要根据第三段第一句即该段的大意,来表达要点。蜘蛛的栖息地,可用habitat 一词表达。最后一句有过渡作用,引出第四段说明该蜘蛛的危害即要点4, 表明虽然危险相对较小,但人们更容易接触到它。最后一段说明了我们需要做的预防工作,可以用“what we can do is…”来引出。
参考范文
The brown widow spider, suspected to develop in Africa and live in tropical and subtropical countries and areas,(要点 2) has settled in America and has been found enlarging its population in California.(要点 1) It has a preference for protected places as their habitats.(要点 3) Though it's less dangerous than other widow spiders, it's more exposed to humans.(要点 4) Therefore,what we can do is to use insecticides to control them, and reducing clutter around the house should be another way to get rid of its nests.(要点 5)
范文解析
范文把要点1和2表达为一句,主要是为了使句子更加紧凑并突出表明其在美国的蔓延,“其有可能源于非洲,生活在热带和亚热带地区”用过去分词作定语来处理。要点3用“have a preference for... as their habitats”灵活替换第三段的第一句。第四句把第三段最后一句和第四段的内容整合成让步关系,用though来连接。最后,用therefore连接最后一个要点,讲述如何防范与控制。
四、 提炼归纳
语义转换
语义转换是新题型概要写作中很重要的一项基本技能,因为评价标准对“使用自己的语言进行观点的独立表达”有较高的要求。每一段的关键词都可以进行替换,本范文中我们将establish表达为 settle或者简单地表达为live,第三段的places用habitat替换,第四段的poisonous用dangerous来替换等,这可以避免重复原文内容,使用不同的语言进行准确的表达。
要点整合
为了达到概要写作规定的词数,在准确梳理原文要点的基础上,我们需要对原文的观点进行必要的整合,这可以帮助我们更简洁、有效地表达。本范文中每段看似都是独立的内容,但也存在主次和因果联系,如在一、二两段的内容中,第一段是重点,第二段可以变成"brown widow spider”的定语;三、四两段有连接关系;最后一段则是一个对人们的提示。可以用恰当的连接词将要点进行整合。