昂立：2008年12月英语四级考试新题型透析

　　W: Sure. I’ve been trying to come up with some new production and advertising strategies. First of all, if we want to stay competitive, we need to modernize our factory. New equipment should’ve been installed long ago.

　　M: How much will that cost?

　　W: We have several options ranging from one hundred thousand dollars all the way up to half a million.

　　M: OK. We’ll have to discuss these costs with finance.

　　W: We should also consider human resources. I’ve been talking to personnel as well as our staff at the factory.

　　M: And what’s the picture?

　　W: We’ll probably have to hire a couple of engineers to help us modernize the factory.

　　M: What about advertising?

　　W: Marketing has some interesting ideas for television commercials.

　　M: TV? Isn’t that a bit too expensive for us? What’s wrong with advertising in the papers, as usual?

　　W: Quite frankly, it’s just not enough anymore. We need to be more aggressive in order to keep ahead of our competitors.

　　M: Will we be able to afford all this?

　　W: I’ll look into it, but I think higher costs will be justified. These investments will result in higher profits for our company.

　　M: We’ll have to look at the figures more closely. Have finance draw up a budget for these investments.

　　W: All right. I’ll see to it.

　　Questions 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

　　19. What are the two speakers talking about?

　　20. What does the woman say about the equipment of their factory?

　　21. What does the woman suggest about human resources?

　　22. Why does the woman suggest advertising on TV?

　　二、快速阅读

　　阅读分仔细阅读(Reading in Depth)和快速阅读(Skimming and Scanning)两部分。仔细阅读部分包含两个部分：第一部分是选词填空，在一篇约320词的文章中设有10个单词空缺，文章后给出15个单词选择，每个单词只可能使用一次;第二部分为两篇文章，每篇约350词，分别配有5个客观选择题。第一种题型是上海外语教育出版社出版的《大学英语精读》里常见的练习，第二种题型是传统的四级阅读题型，所以在此一并就不再加以详解。

　　快速阅读部分是一篇长约1200词的文章，后面设有7个Yes, No, Not Given判断题和3个句子填空题。此题与雅思阅读的考题几乎是同出一则，也是雅思阅读最为常见的考题之一。所以，考生完全可借鉴雅思阅读的考试经验和技巧进行备考。因选词填空相对容易，所以在此只对是非判断题进行详细讲解。

　　1.纵览全文，心中有数

　　解答快速阅读题的首要步骤是浏览全文，熟悉文章主题和结构安排，做到有的放矢。快速阅读的文章与一般文章的不同之处在于，它往往有标题(Title)，甚至还可能含有附标题(Subtitle)或段落小标题(Heading)。而标题、附标题和段落小标题是整篇文章主题内容的概要，所以考生应首先浏览文章，看看有没有这些线索，从而借助这些线索提前把握文章主旨要义。以样卷为例，文章有标题Landfills和7个段落小标题How Much Trash Is Generated?, How Is Trash Disposed of?, What Is a Landfill?, Proposing the Landfill, Building the Landfill, What Happens to Trash in a Landfill?, How Is a Landfill Operated?。由此，我们可以断定文章的主题是landfills(垃圾填埋)，并且文章围绕此主题讨论了垃圾是如何产生的、如何处理垃圾、何谓垃圾填埋、垃圾填埋注意事项、垃圾填埋场的建设、垃圾填埋场的垃圾情况和垃圾填埋场的运营等问题展开。

　　除了标题、附标题和段落小标题之外，考生还应注意文章中的Typographical Aids，并加以充分利用。所谓的Typographical Aids是指文章的印刷排版格式，如字体、颜色、斜体、下划线、粗体等等。而样卷的文章里就含有这些辅助手段，如段落小标题就是粗体字，这容易引起我们的注意。此外，文章还用了一些项目符号，如实心黑圆点和空心圆点，这些符号都可以明显告诉我们，圆点出为细节的罗列，这对我们迅速定位答案是很有帮助的。

　　2.不求甚解，只求大意

　　快速阅读的本质要求就是要考生在尽可能短的时间内读完全文，把握文章要义。所以，考生应牢记“不求甚解”的原则，以浏览中文报纸的方式进行阅读，每读一句话或是一段话，只求读懂大意即可。这当中，关键是要把握文中的指称词(如we, they, it等)和连接词(如therefore, in addition, however等)，因为这些往往是表明前后句和上下文关系的重要关节。