试论雅思阅读平行阅读法的局限性

“平行阅读法是一套完善的方法，目的是一遍阅读完成全部40道题目。雅思阅读的独特之处在于orderly-disorder“有序的无序性”。也就是说文章后面各种题型之间是没有顺序的，而每种题型的内部有顺序。如果我们按照传统的方法做题，大多数文章都会重复看两遍或三遍从能把题目做完，而用平行阅读法可以大大的减少做题的时间一遍阅读把它们做完。它的基本方法就是同时带着不同题型的第一道题回原文找关键词的语言重现。很多考生在最初只认为这样做阅读的负担会很重，可实际上在很多文章不同题目的关键词是相同的，或者有的题目带有明显的标志。例如，人名，地名，时间，数字和生词。”
　　“首先，应明确雅思阅读的顺序性：所谓顺序性是指题目答案的在文章中出现的先后顺序．大题之间是无序的，而一类题中的几个小题之间是有序的．例如：一篇文章中有三种题型，第一种是选择（1－3），第二种是T/F/NG（4－7）,第三种是summary（8－11）．按照以上的规律则表明，第一种题型之中即1－3题是有序的，而第4题在文章中的位置就不一定在第3题后面，也许在第一题后面或第二题后面．所以，抓住阅读文章的顺序性是很重要的．下面介绍平行阅读的方法：假设此篇文章有11道题，且11道题的答案在文章中出现位置的顺序如下：
　　．．．．1．．．．4．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．2．．．．．．．3．．．．．5．．．．．．8．．．．．．9．．．．．．．6．．．．．．10．．．．．7．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．11．．．．．．．．．．．
　　从上面的文章中可以看出，题型一、二、三之间是无序的，但每个题型之中的小题是有序的，即1－3，4－7，8－11是有序的．方法：第一步，我们先带着第一类型的第一题和第二类型的第一题即（第1题和第4题）去阅读文章，首先，我们在读第一行的时候能碰到第1题的答案，此时，我们精读，把第1题做出．第二步，我们在做出第1题后，带着第一类题型的第二小题和第二类题型的第一小题即（第2题和第4题）去读，然后在阅读的时候找到了第4题，精读，做出之后带着第一类题型的第二小题和第二题型的第二小题即（第2题和第5题）去读．在第二行能找到第2题的答案，精读，做出之后带着第3题和第5题去读．然后看到了第3题的答案，精读，做出第3题．此时第一类题型已经做完，于是，我们就带着第5题和第三类题型的第一小题去读，即（第5题和第8题）去读．．．．．．这样就能一次性把阅读做完，能节省不少时间.”
　　首先，让我们来看一下网上对所谓的平行阅读法的解释：
　　平行阅读法是有效的雅思阅读方法吗？笔者对此持保留意见：
　　一， 平行阅读法的使用是有很大的限制的。完全取决于文章题型分配。
　　文中指出“例如：一篇文章中有三种题型，第一种是选择（1-3），第二种是T/F/NG（4-7）,第三种是summary（8-11）。”
　　但是我们会发现这三种题型都是依靠单句的细节类定位类题目，如果考试的题型分别是段落标题配对题，人名观点匹配题以及多选多，那么一旦使用平行阅读法，雅思阅读的连贯性就会被打破，而且同时记忆的信息量会大幅增加，因为这三种题型的阅读解题本身就是一个语篇整体理解的过程。
　　二，平行阅读法的使用是否能够加快阅读速度？
　　文中指出“如果我们按照传统的方法做题，大多数文章都会重复看两遍或三遍从能把题目做完，而用平行阅读法可以大大的减少做题的时间一遍阅读把它们做完。”
　　按照雅思的出题方式，并不是每一种题型都是全文信息分布的，而且每一种题型的阅读解题方式是完全不同的。所以，决不会有“文章都会重复看两遍或三遍”的情况出现。比如说段落标题配对题是要语篇理解类型的，而是非无判断题是细节信息定位和句子理解或者上下文逻辑连贯理解型的。另外，段落细节配对题是考察，语言转换能力的；归纳摘要题是考察对于全文或者部分段落的理解和词汇句型结构转换能力的。所以，平行阅读法的使用会把不同的考试技能混合起来使用，这样一来，不但不会加快做题速度，反而会降低做题的速度和准确率。
　　三， 平行阅读法中的关键词是否那么容易定位呢？
　　文中指出“同时带着不同题型的第一道题回原文找关键词的语言重现。很多考生在最初只认为这样做阅读的负担会很重，可实际上在很多文章不同题目的关键词是相同的，或者有的题目带有明显的标志。例如，人名，地名，时间，数字和生词。”
　　其实，关键词中的??率是不大的（这一点可从剑桥4当中发现）， 很多时候关键词是要依靠词形和词义的转换甚至是句型的转换才能够找到。因此，如果同时记忆三个以上的关键词到文中去定位，就会出现语言转换混乱的状况，也违背了英语阅读的自下而上和自上而下的思维方式的运用。
　　四， 雅思阅读中的顺序原则
　　文中指出“大题之间是无序的，而一类题中的几个小题之间是有序的。”
　　在剑桥4当中我们可以发现即使是是非无判断题也没有完全按照顺序原则来进行的。如果是人名观点配对题，那么，顺序原则有可能会在题目序号中出现；也可能在选项中出现。而归纳摘要题中发生句型变化的时候，也会有非顺序原则的出现。
　　通过以上四点的分析，我们会发现平行阅读法只是在一定的条件下适用，但是对于雅思的应考者来说，平行阅读法只能作为拓宽我们思路的方式，但是绝对不是一个在考试中应用的好方法。
　　下面我们通过对一篇雅思真题来看平行阅读法的应用以及不足之处,文中的数字代表对应的题目的题号：
　　Visual Symbols and the Blind
　　Part 1
　　From a number of recent studies, it has become clear that 27 blind people can appreciate the use of outlines and perspectives to describe the arrangement of objects and other surfaces in space. But pictures are more than literal representations. This fact was drawn to my attention dramatically when a 28 blind woman in one of my investigations decided on her own initiative to draw a wheel as it was spinning. To show this motion, she traced a curve inside the circle. I was taken aback. Lines of motion, such as the one she used, are a very recent invention in the history of illustration. Indeed, as art scholar David Kunzle notes, Wilhelm Busch, a trend-setting nineteenth-century cartoonist, used virtually no motion lines in his popular ?gures until about 1877.
　　When I asked several other blind 29 study subjects to draw a spinning wheel, one particularly clever rendition appeared repeatedly: several subjects showed the wheel’s spokes as curved lines. When asked about these curves, they all described them as metaphorical ways of suggesting motion. Majority rule would argue that this device somehow indicated motion very well. But was it a better indicator than, say, broken or wavy lines – or any other kind of line, for that matter? The answer was not clear. So I decided to test whether various lines of motion were apt ways of showing movement or if they were merely idiosyncratic marks. Moreover, I wanted to discover whether there were differences in how the blind and the sighted interpreted lines of motion.
　　To search out these answers, I created raised-line drawings of five different wheels, depicting spokes with lines that curved, bent, waved, dashed and extended beyond the perimeter of the wheel. I then asked eighteen blind volunteers to feel the wheels and assign one of the following motions to each wheel: wobbling, spinning fast, spinning steadily, jerking or braking. My control group consisted of eighteen sighted undergraduates from the University of Toronto.
　　30-32 All but one of the blind subjects assigned distinctive motions to each wheel. Most guessed that the curved spokes indicated that the wheel was A spinning steadily; the wavy spokes, they thought, suggested that the wheel was D wobbling; and the bent spokes were taken as a sign that the wheel was B jerking. Subjects assumed that spokes extending beyond the wheel’s perimeter signi?ed that the wheel had its E brakes on and that dashed spokes indicated the wheel was C spinning quickly.
　　In addition, the favoured description for the sighted was the favoured description for the blind in every instance. What is more, the consensus among the sighted was barely higher than that among the blind. Because motion devices are unfamiliar to the blind, the task I gave them involved some problem solving. Evidently, however, the blind not only figured out meanings for each line of motion, but as a group they generally came up with the same meaning at least as frequently as did sighted subjects.
　　Part 2
　　We have found that the blind understand other kinds of visual metaphors as well. One blind woman drew a picture of a child inside a heart – choosing that symbol, she said, to show that love surrounded the child. With Chang Hong Liu, a doctoral student from China, I have begun exploring how well blind people understand the symbolism behind shapes such as hearts that do not directly represent their meaning.
　　We gave a list of twenty pairs of 33 words to sighted subjects and asked them to pick from each pair the term that 34 best related to a circle and term that 34 best related to a square. For example, we asked: What goes with soft? A circle or a square? Which 34 shape goes with hard?
　　All our subjects deemed the circle soft and the square hard. A full 94% ascribed happy to the circle, instead of sad. But other pairs revealed less agreement: 79% matched fast to slow and weak to strong, respectively. And only 51% linked 37 deep to circle and shallow to square. When we tested four totally 38 blind volunteers using the same list, we found that their choices closely resembled those made by the 35 36 sighted subjects. One man, who had been blind since birth, scored extremely well. He made only one match differing from the consensus, assigning ‘far’ to square and ‘near’ to circle. In fact, only a small majority of sighted subjects – 53% – had paired far and near to the opposite partners. Thus, we concluded that the blind interpret 34 abstract shapes as sighted people do. 40
　　Questions 27–29
　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 27–29 on your answer sheet.
　　27．In the first paragraph the writer makes the point that blind people
　　A may be interested in studying art.
　　B can draw outlines of different objects and surfaces.
　　C can recognise conventions such as perspective.
　　D can draw accurately.
　　28．The writer was surprised because the blind woman
　　A drew a circle on her own initiative.
　　B did not understand what a wheel looked like.
　　C included a symbol representing movement.
　　D was the first person to use lines of motion.
　　29．From the experiment described in Part 1, the writer found that the blind subjects
　　A had good understanding of symbols representing movement.
　　B could control the movement of wheels very accurately.
　　C worked together well as a group in solving problems.
　　D got better results than the sighted undergraduates.
　ms (Questions 30–32), and the list of types of movement below. Match each diagram to the type of movement A–E generally assigned to it in the experiment. Choose the correct letter A–E and write them in boxes 30–32 on your answer sheet.
　　30 31 32
　　A steady spinning
　　B jerky
　　C movement rapid spinning
　　D wobbling movement use of
　　E brakes
　　Questions 33–39
　　Complete the summary below using words from the box.
　　Write your answers in boxes 33–39 on your answer sheet.
　　NB You may use any word more than once.
　　In the experiment described in Part 2, a set of word 33…… was used to investigate whether blind and sighted people perceived the symbolism in abstract 34…… in the same way. Subjects were asked which word ?tted best with a circle and which with a square. From the 35…… volunteers, everyone thought a circle ?tted ‘soft’ while a square ?tted ‘hard’. However, only 51% of the 36…… volunteers assigned a circle to 37……. When the test was later repeated with 38…… volunteers, it was found that they made 39…… choices.
　　associations blind deep hard
　　hundred identical pairs shapes
　　sighted similar shallow soft
　　words
　　Question 40
　　Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answer in box 40 on your answer sheet.
　　Which of the following statement best summarises the writer’s general conclusion?
　　AThe blind represent some aspects of reality differently from sighted people.
　　BThe blind comprehend visual metaphors in similar ways to sighted people.
　　CThe blind may create unusual and effective symbols to represent reality.
　　DThe blind may be successful artists if given the right training.
　　我们把题目的在文章中作了定位。我们可以看到，如果按照平行阅读法来做，先看每种题型的第一题，不但无法记忆很多的信息，还会产生一系列的问题：
　　1.选择题的题目选项信息太多，会导致做完一题以后后面题目的信息基本已经遗忘， 还要再看题目，因此会浪费时间。
　　2.第二种题型是图表描述配对题，按照平行阅读的方法应该看图到文章中寻找描述信息，但这种方法明显会浪费很多时间。如果按照选项来做，那么平行阅读法就消失了。
　　3.在第三种的题型中，在文章中的信息定位中我们可以看出：用平行阅读法作题就完全不能理解文章最后两段的大意。从而作题准确率就会大幅下降。