Ugly teachers can have charm

在本期大学英语四六级考试专栏中，南京大学杨治中教授指点你一些简答题的答题窍门。杨教授是大学英语考试委员会的委员，参与试题的设计和阅卷工作。在四六级考试中，简答题要求考生读完一篇文章后，用正确、简洁的语言回答8个问题。每题满分为1分或2分。因为考生需要从文章中自己找出答案，而不是从选项中挑出答案，所以很多考生感到做简答题有一定难度。本文对2002年6月的四级考题进行了分析，希望读者能对简答题这一题型有更多的了解。因为篇幅有限，我们只选取了文章和试题的一部分。

Ugly teachers can have charm

(1) What personal qualities are desirable in a teacher? I think the following would be generally accepted.

(2) First, the teacher's personality should be lively and attractive. This does not rule out people who are plain-looking, or even ugly, because many such people have great personal charm...

(3) Secondly, it is not merely desirable but essential for a teacher to have a genuine capacity for sympathy, a capacity to understand the minds and feelings of other people... Closely related with this is the capacity to be tolerant — not, indeed, of what is wrong, but of the weaknesses and immaturity of human nature which induce (诱导) people to make mistakes.

(4) Thirdly, I hold it essential for a teacher to be both intellectually and morally honest. This means that he will be aware of his intellectual and (moral) strengths and limitations... There is no contradiction in my going on to say that a teacher should be a bit of an actor. That is part of the technique of teaching, which demands that every now and then a teacher should be able to put on an act — to enliven (使生动) a lesson, correct a fault, or award praise...

Questions:

1. Plain-looking teachers can also be admired by their students if they have _____. (1 point)

2. The author says it is _____ that teachers be sympathetic with their students. (1 point)

3. A teacher should be tolerant because humans tend to have ____ and to be _____. (2 points)

4. A teacher who is _____ will be able to make his lessons more lively. (1 point)

Answers: 1. personal charm; 2. essential; 3. weakness, immature; 4. good at acting

本文谈论的是教师应该具有的基本素质。第一个问题考察的是对第二段第二句话的理解。长得不漂亮的老师对学生也有吸引力。这是为什么呢？就是因为他们有"personal charm"。有的考生答了"great personal charm", "charm", "great charm", "lively and attractive personality"，有的甚至答了"attraction", 由于意思接近，都可算作答案。有的考生答了"great personal charming", 用错了词性，构成语法错误，会被扣分。也有的考生在"personal charm"前加了冠词"a"或"the"，这也构成语法错误，也会扣分。

第二个问题显然是文章第三段第一句话的改写。这句话中出现了两个形容词："desirable"和"essential"，应该就是答案了。答题时可以用"desirable"，也可以用"essential"，也可以用"desirable and essential", "not merely desirable but essential", "desirable and essential"。有的考生用了"important"，说明充分理解了文章的意思，并用自己的语言表达，也是很好的答案。另外一些考生用了"merely desirable"， "genuine capacity",，"understand"等，则说明对篇章的意思没有理解，造成信息错误，因而不能得分。

第三个问题考察的是对第三段最后一句话的理解。教师对学生应当宽容，不仅宽容他们的错误，还要宽容导致他们犯错误的人性中的弱点和欠成熟之处。注意，这里原文中"immaturity"需要改成形容词形式，以使问题的语法正确。有的考生在第一空格中填入了"weaknesses and immaturity"，造成多余信息，被扣了分。有的考生在第一空格中用了"mistakes", "hortages", "faults"一类的词，均不能表达原意，因而不能得分。有的考生在第二空格中填入了"weaknesses", "make mistakes", "immaturitive", "immatural"，构成了语法或拼法错误，被扣了分。

第四题考察对第四段第三句和第四句话的理解。为了把课上得生动活泼，教师需要有一点表演才能。理解了这一点，就不难回答第四道题。有的考生用了"good at acting"， "a bit of an actor", "like an actor", "a good actor"等，都是很好的答案，有的考生用了"able to put on an act"，也是可以接受的答案。但有的考生用了"good at act", "an actor who have technique of teaching", "has act ability"等，构成了语言错误，被扣了分。

从以上分析可以看出，简答题是一种能够测试考生综合语言运用能力的题型。做好简答题要做到以下几点：

1. 看清题目的要求，用最简洁的文字作答。能用一两个词作答的问题，就用一两个词作答，切切不要以为用词越多越好，尤其不能超过10个词，超过10个词是要扣分的。

2. 答案的语言(包括拼法和语法)要正确。每题语言错误要被扣0.5分。

3. 答案中不能涉及无关内容，也不能有相互矛盾的内容。涉及无关内容或有相互矛盾的内容是要扣分的。