三、 透析描寫手段，進行合理推斷

專業英語四級閱讀還有一個獨特的考點，就是對描寫手段的考查，一般會出現在記敘文和描寫文當中。描寫手段可以分為外觀描寫、行為描寫、對話描寫和心理描寫四類。如09年Text C就是一篇記敘文，講述作者在電腦出故障后，修理過程中遇到的一系列尷尬和摩擦。該文的92題"Which of the following is the author's opinion about the woman at the Global Support Centre?"就涉及文中對該女性的一段精彩描寫。原文內容如下：

I opened the special drawer where I keep CDs. But no Windows CD in there. I was forced to call the computer company's Global Support Centre. My call was answered by a woman in some unnamed, far-off land. I find it annoying to make small talk with someone when I don't know what continent they're standing on. Suppose I were to comment on the beautiful weather we've been having when there was a monsoon at the other end of the phone? So I got right to the point.

"My computer is telling me a file is corrupted and it wants to fix itself, but I don't have the Windows Setup CD."

"So you're having a problem with your Windows Setup CD." She has apparently been dozing and, having come to just as the sentence ended, was attempting to cover for her inattention.

原文中劃線部分涉及到兩種描寫方式：對話描寫和行為描寫。先是作者陳述自己問題，這位女士對問題進行反饋，這是對話描寫。緊接著，作者描寫了這位女性在回答作者問題后的反應，這里采用了行為描寫。

我們在一般的對話描寫中會遵循一個關聯原則，即雙方對話必須有意義相關性，一方提出問題，另一方就要回答問題。但這個對話明顯違背這個原則，因為這位女士只是把作者的話重復了一次，并未回答作者心頭的疑問。這種反正常原則的對話方式恰好說明這位女士說話心不在焉。在行為描寫中，作者也用幾個簡單的動詞（doze, come to, attempt to cover for her inattention），準確刻畫出該女士當時的狀態。據此，我們不但推斷出當時作者對這位女士失望至極。因此，我們很容易認定92題答案是B項She was there to make the callers frustrated。

以上就是筆者對2009年專業英語四級閱讀理解部分的綜合評述。建議各位考生在今后考試當中不要片面地認為詞匯量大，讀懂文中每句話的字面意思就可以達到解題的目的，最關鍵的是要搞清楚文中句與句之間、段與段之間的邏輯關系，清晰把握作者的思路，才能達到準確理解和合理推斷的目的。