新四级长对话和短文技巧(2)

　　W: Sir, you've been using the online catalogue for quite a while , Is there anything I can do to help you?

　　M: Well, I've got to write a paper about Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, and I'm really struggling. There are hundreds of books, and I just don't know where to begin.

　　W: Your topic sounds pretty big. Why don't you narrow it down to something like…uh… the history of the studios during that time?

　　M: You know, I was thinking about doing that, but more that 30 books came up when I typed in "movie studios."

　　W: You could cut that down even further by listing the specific years you want. Try adding "1930s" or "1940s" or maybe "Golden Age."

　　M: "Golden Age" is a good idea. Let me type that in … Hey, look, just 6 books this time. That's a lot better.

　　W: Oh… another thin you might consider… have you tried looking for any magazine or newspaper articles?

　　M: No, I've only been searching for books.

　　W: Well, you can look up magazine articles in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. And we do have the Los Angeles. Times available over there. You might go through their indexes to see if there's anything you want.

　　M: Okay, I think I'll get started with these books and then I'll go over the magazines.

　　W: If you need any help, I'll be over at the Reference Desk.

　　M: Great, thanks a lot.

　　Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　23. What is the man doing?

　　24. What does the librarian think of the topic the man is working on?

　　25. Where can the man find the relevant magazine articles?

　　从划线出我们再次发现，惊人的相似！问答式的考点，分层次的考察，建议请求的运用。特别明显的是对话的开头部分一直在纠缠如何narrow down topic, 所以只考察了一道题目，第二道题目直到对话的中后部才出现，因为两个人直到那时才从book转到magazine这个话题上来。此外，这两则对话还秉承了passage的一个重要的考场方式，就是在对话的开头部分一定会出题目。这一点的考察利用的是考生往往很难在一个段落刚开始的时候集中注意力，所以这时候考察的题目难度就显得很高。

　　综上所述，长对话并不可怕，它结合了短对话对问答句式，建议请求，和关键场景赐予的考察和长段子对文章层次和理解能力的要求。所以做这样的题目往往需要具备综合的素质，既要注意其中的细节，又要注意整体的把握，还要能够应付7道题目的题量，这比以往的四级题目对综合能力的要求显著提高了。建议考生在练习的时候可以先把短对话和长段子两部分分别练好，再寻找一些长对话题目进行综合练习。我们熟悉的雅思考试和托福考试的真题中都有大量的长对话题目可供大家参考。

　　最后简单的说一下passage。因为样题中给出的passage不论从出题的形式，考察的重点，以及题目的数量来看都和原来考察的题目一模一样，就连样题中的文章和题目也有部分是完全照搬以前的真题。所以对于这部分大家完全不用担心，该怎么练习就怎么练习，不必特别的对待。不过由于passage题目对许多考生来说一向是很难攻克的部分，在这里强烈建议大家采用听写的方式练习，即把听到的内容逐句写下来，这对短时间提高passage的正确率以及长远来说提高听力的能力都是有好处的！现在又有了长对话，我个人认为听写练习的必要性将进一步的提高。

　　总的来说，对于四级考试的听力部分，改革并不是一件可怕的事情。从上面的分析大家也不难看出，我们复习的策略并不应该有很大的变动，更不需要因为改革而慌了手脚，盲目的认为以前所学的知识都没有用处了。就听力部分而言，我建议以前好的方法完全可以沿用下来，以前的真题也完全可以继续使用。唯一需要增加的是对长对话的训练，增加题感，这样才能做到有的放矢，从容应对。