Getting the author's meaning

Now let's analyze the possible errors students may commit in the test.

Question 1 tests the ability of making generalizations.

After reading a passage, a student should be able to know what is talked about in the passage and why that topic is talked about. To make generalizations a student has to be able to read between the lines (i.e. to guess the author's real feelings from his writing), besides understanding the surface meaning of sentences.

The author of this passage explains the difference between "being a writer" and writing on the basis of his own experience. For instance, he says: "writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair." Why? "When I left ... to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room" which "was cold and had no bathroom." "It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat." Writing "meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure."

Throughout the article the author stresses the hardships one must bear to be a writer. Therefore, the correct answer is A). But about 39 per cent of the students selected C). They are trapped into believing that the term "wealth and fame" in the 1st paragraph was important and failed to notice what is really stressed in the passage.

In Question 2, though the word "concluded" is used, what is tested is drawing accurate inferences. The clue to the inference lies in the 2nd paragraph: "For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded." In that sentence "For every" is part of a ratio.

Thus, students can draw the inference that "the chances for a writer to become successful are small." The correct answer is D). However, about 33 per cent took C) as the answer. Their accuracy in reading needs to be improved because C) says: "Famous writers usually live in poverty and isolation." Nowhere does the passage mention famous writers.

Question 3 is a specific question. It tests the ability to recognize facts. The 1st sentence in Paragraph 3 says: "After a year or so, I still hadn't gotten a break and began to doubt myself." The two predicates (or the two verbs) are connected as cause and effect. Therefore, the correct answer to this question is B). About 62 per cent got the right answer.

Question 4 tests the ability to understand difficult sentences.

"What if" is a case in point.

It is an expression used to ask about the consequences of something. But we have to put the sentence of the above passage in context to find its connotative (隐含的) meaning. The sentence before the phrase "What if" says: "I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those people..." The sentence after it says: "I would keep putting my dream to the test-even..." To think carefully about the meaning of the phrase "What if" in relation to the situation, we can paraphrase it as "(who die wondering,) what would happen if I did not give up my career halfway?" So the correct answer to Question 4 is B).

Question 5 tests the ability to guess unknown words.

Students can make use of a contextual clue, the previous sentence "...even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure" to determine the meaning of "Shadowland." The correct answer is C), of course. 60 per cent found the answer.

This passage is almost straightforward and so is not very difficult for students. What prevented half of them from getting the correct answers to Questions 1, 2, and 4 is that they were not sensitive enough to the author's figurative usage of language.

For instance, the author uses "kissed by fortune" to mean "became successful," "whose longing is never rewarded" to mean "whose hopes have never come true," "I still hadn't gotten a break" to mean "The situation hadn't improved," "This is the Shadowland of hope" to mean "the uncertainties of life."

A large amount of reading will probably help sensitivity to language.

Coming up: Another CET reading passage and its answers.

By Zhang Yanqiu, Professor of PekingUniversity