郭庆民

考生已获得的知识及常识是帮助自己进行正确阅读的一个很重要的部分。只要有意识地利用它，考生在阅读时就会发现：自己只不过在通过英文来阅读自己已通过汉语了解了的知识。

在阅读下面例子前，考生先想一下市场经济的基本特点以及价格在市场经济中的作用。

【例50】

An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy,this mechanism is provided by a price system,a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand,the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If,on the other hand,producing more of a commodity result in reducing its cost,this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers,which will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

(1994年考题)

了解市场经济一般特征的考生都对这段文字了如指掌。

再请参考对例7、例38的分析。

在阅读下面例子前，考生先想一下汽车的发展给人们带来的危害和坏处。

【例51】

When considering the drawbacks,perhaps pollution is of importance. As more and more cars are produced and used,so the emission from exhaust pipes contains an ever larger volume of poisonous gas. Some of the contents of this gas,such as lead,not only pollute the atmosphere but cause actual harm to the health of people. Many of the minor illnesses of modern industrial society,headaches,tiredness,and stomach upsets are thought to arise from breathing polluted air; doctors’ surgeries are full of people suffering from illnesses caused by pollution. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to deal with the problem of traffic in towns; most of the important cities of the world suffer from traffic congestion. In fact,any advantage gained in comfort is often canceled out in city driving by the frustration caused by traffic jams,endless queues of cars crawling one after another through all the main streets. As an increasing number of traffic regulation schemes are devised,the poor bewildered driver finds himself diverted and forced into one-way system which cause even greater delays than the traffic jams they are supposed to prevent. The mounting cost of petrol and the increased licence fees and road tax all add to the driver’s worries. In fact,he must sometimes wonder if the motor car is such a blessing and not just a menace.

(1989年考题)

【分析】本段第一句的前半句是全段的主题， 它告诉我们以下所谈的是越来越多的人拥有汽车的害处。其实，考生对文中所列举的三方面(污染、交通、花费)的害处了如指掌，而且甚至也了解：在所列举的三个方面的害处中，第一方面(污染)最为普遍并首当其冲。

由此可见，在阅读过程中充分利用自己已有的知识(无论是一般性知识还是某个特定领域的知识)，可以大大帮助考生理解文章并加快阅读速度。