Summary题一直是PTE里的难点题型,而Paraphrase则是做好summarize spoken text和summarize written text的必修课。在理想的情况下,同学们读完或者听完文章,对内容有了自己的了解,再根据自己理解出的逻辑对文章进行分析总结,得到答案。但是由于PTE考试内容偏向学术化,很多文章内容晦涩、逻辑复杂,这就使得Paraphrase很是难做,不过也有一些小技巧,可以助同学们一臂之力。下面就以一道真题为例,详细讲解一下具体方法。 真题举例It has been claimed that everything of importance that originated in Italy from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century bore the distinctive mark of Fine Arts. Early on, Cimabue and Duccio da Siena were the two masters whose Madonna’s had given the new impulse to painting and brought them immortal fame. They were the heralds of the time when poetry of sentiment, beauty of colour, animation and individuality of form replaced Medieval formality and ugliness; a time when the spirit of art revived with an impulse prophetic of its coming glory. It is important to remember that the art of the Renaissance had, in the beginning, a distinct office to fill in the service of the Church. Later, in historical and decorative painting it served the State, and at length in portrait and landscape painting, in pictures of genre subjects and still-life, abundant opportunity was afforded for all orders of talent, and the generous patronage of art by church, state, and men of rank and wealth made Italy a veritable paradise for artists. Gradually, with the revival of learning, artists were free to give greater importance to secular subjects and an element of worldliness, and even of immorality, invaded the realm of art as it invaded the realms of life and literature. This was an era of change in all departments of life.
Chivalry, the great "poetic lie," died with feudalism.
关键字解析这篇文章的难点在于词义难懂,语句结构复杂,多用修辞方法,使同学们无论是找关键字还是作总结都比较困难。由于本文着重于paraphrase部分,如何寻找关键字便不再赘述,仅将其陈列如下: 1. everything of importance that originated in Italy from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century bore the distinctive mark of Fine Arts 2.two masters;new impulse to painting and brought them immortal fame 3.the art of the Renaissance;service of the Church;served the State;afforded for all orders of talent;generous patronage of art 4.give greater importance to secular subjects;invaded the realms of life and literature;chivalrydied with feudalism 找到了所有关键字之后就是paraphrase的部分了。总的来说,做paraphrase可以从以下三个方面入手。 同义词替换同近义词替换是最省心省力的paraphrase方法,像是本文中的everything of importance that originated in Italy from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century bore the distinctive mark of Fine Arts,这句话限定词很多,又不能一概舍弃,只好找出同近义词来给本句“大换血”。如句中的importance可以换成significance,distinctive可以写作unique。这种方法唯一的要求是一些词汇量的积累。再次建议大家背单词的时候要将同类单词、形音相近单词、同词根放在一起记,这样不仅记起来快,用起来也格外顺手。 词性替换这种方法考过雅思的同学应该都不陌生,主要是名词、动词、形容词之间的互相转换,在转换的过程中也带动了句子结构的变化。还是那刚刚的句子举例。上一句中 bore the distinctive mark of Fine Arts这段,我们已经同第一种方法将它变成了bore the unique mark of Fine Arts,但这还不够,我们还可以进一步将mark变成动词,这样这句就变成了mark with the uniqueness of Fine Arts。 总结与概括
如文中的Early on, Cimabue and Duccio da Siena were the two masters whose Madonna’s had given the new impulse to painting and brought them immortal fame. They were the heralds of the time when poetry of sentiment, beauty of colour, animation and individuality of form replaced Medieval formality and ugliness; a time when the spirit of art revived with an impulse prophetic of its coming glory.这一部分,行文运用了大量的排比,但实际上,从两个the time和前文的指代词they可以看出,它只是为了说明契马布埃和杜乔料位大师的画作为这一时代带来的冲击和将来可预见的荣耀,即new impulse to painting and brought them immortal fame就是他所阐述的内容,在此基础上再做进一步的加工就可以了。
In post-medieval Italy, everything of significance were marked with the uniqueness of Fine Arts, starting by two masters who brought painting vigour and infinite glory, so the Church, followed by States, were provided with artworks in various forms and proffered patronage to artists in return; the revolution altered secular life and forsook obsolete notions while overthrowing feudalism. (57字)