关于21年成都二诊英语阅读理解B篇第25小题的个人解读

【背景介绍】本题争论的焦点在选B还是选C。学校提供的答案以及网上（例如菁优网和学科网）给出的答案均不相同。

【原文原题】

B

[1] North Americans value independence, and Europeans value togetherness. I never fully understood that stereotype until two months ago, when I left Canada for a 4-month period in a lab in France. On my first day, Pierre, a Ph. D. student, tapped me on my shoulder and asked: “Coffee?” I nodded and followed him to the common room, where other grad students were filing in. I sat there, cautiously sipping the bitter liquid and trying hard not to reveal my uncultured tastes, while lab chatter filled the air.

[2] ①Coffee breaks are a ceremonial part of lab culture here. ②The chatter sometimes turns to serious scientific topics. ③But mostly, the meet-ups offer a chance to wind down, to share stories about life inside and outside the lab and to sympathize with people who understand what you’re going through.

[3] The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community is a welcome contrast to my life in Canada, where I spent most of my workdays in isolation. I went into the lab each morning with set goals for my day. At lunch, I’d keep my eyes glued to my computer while I fed forkfuls of salad into my mouth, trying to power through my to-do list. For 9 months, I struggled to figure out why I couldn’t exactly copy the results of another study. I didn’t want to trouble my advisor too much. I was also hesitant to ask my lab mates for help.

[4] How much we were missing! Researchers need community because good ideas don’t just come from reading literature and thinking deep thoughts. It’s helpful to bounce ideas off others, and, to have a venue to share the day-to-day ups and downs of life.

[5] Would coffee breaks have solved all my problems? Probably not. But I think sharing ideas with my peers would have helped solve my research dilemma. My time in France has taught me that it’s important to create space for organic conversations about lab life. A scientist’s life can feel isolating, but it’s not necessarily so when you’re connected to a supportive community.

■ What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A. Cultural ceremonies in France.                B. Various topics of the chatter.

C. The benefits of coffee breaks.                 D. Lab culture in French style.

 【黎叔解析】

    本题是一道段落主旨题，判断段落主旨的本质是比较这段话中句子的大小（即句子的重要性）：如果段落中有最重要的句子，那么这个句子将是本题的答案；如果段落中的句子都是并列关系，那么需要根据概括得出答案。

    本段由三个句子构成，按照“优先考虑首句、除非后面有转折或总结”的原则进行比较：

    首先，句①“Coffee breaks are a ceremonial part of lab culture here”是一个下定义句，kw是coffee breaks。但是请注意，段落主旨题不同于全文主旨题，正确答案不一定必须包含kw。有学生不选B的理由是说选项B里面少了kw的限定，但该选项中的the chatter默认的范围肯定特指在文中的coffee breaks中（有时候出题人为了平衡选项的长度必须舍弃一部分限定词，否则这个B选项就要写成Various topics of the chatter during coffee breaks这么长才对）。也就是说，这道题我们不太可能是因为“觉得the chatter指代的可能是任何场景中的聊天而不是原文中coffee breaks的聊天”而不选B；如果非要按照这个标准来看待C选项，也应该改成“The benefits of coffee breaks of labs in France”或更长才准确……因此，这道题是否选含有coffee breaks的C选项，还需存疑。

    如果句①最大，它作为总括句就需要体现出选项B的topics或选项C的benefits，比如句①写成“Coffee breaks enjoys lots of topics/benefits”才对。这个下定义句只是从客观上告诉读者coffee breaks是实验室文化的一部分，并不具备“统领”以下各句的概括性，所以句子①不可能是全段的重心。

    其次，句②的the chatter显然缩小了kw的范畴，是在讲coffee breaks当中聊天话题“偶尔”严肃且学术。句③由于有转折标志词but，肯定重要于句②。

    综上，句①对coffee breaks下定义、提供背景知识，不那么重要；句②和句③都在讲coffee breaks这种“实验室社交”中的聊天话题，但重心在句③，因此选项B是正确答案。

    但是，这道题部分学校提供的正确答案是选项C：the benefits of coffee breaks. 我认为不准确，基于以下两个维度：

一、【段内维度】

    在认定句③是该段重心的前提下，它和句②肯定构成转折/对比关系，除了but，从sometimes和mostly的对应中也可以看出这样的关系：coffee breaks聊天话题“偶尔”严肃且学术，但“通常”the meet-ups offer a chance to V1, to V2 and to V3。

    根据句子成分分析，三个并列不定式to do都在修饰a chance。其中the meet-ups同义替换coffee breaks（可以理解成实验室的“会面”）。如果你认为三个并列不定式就是coffee breaks的三个benefits，V1姑且可以算作一个benefit（wind down即relax），但V2（分享实验室内外生活的故事）和V3（和某人产生共情）并不能严格算作benefit。如果我们把a chance理解成聊天topic的替换，则逻辑和意思上都说得通：coffee breaks聊天话题“偶尔”严肃且学术，但“通常”这种会面提供V1、V2或V3的机会（= 提供诸如此类的聊天话题）。

二、【段间维度】

    根据系统性思考，我们不妨把这一段放到有上下文的范围来看：

    第一段段末“… while lab chatter filled the air”承上启下，顺接到第二段应该介绍lab chatter都有什么样的话题内容。

    第三段段首“The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community is a welcome contrast to my life in Canada, …”也在承上启下，其中“The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community”说明了第二段聊天内容的benefit，是coffee breaks中的什么产生了这种benefit呢？当然就是在第二段句③写到的那些能让你放松的、分享实验室内外生活的故事和与别人产生共情的topics了。值得注意的是，这句coffee break的好处“The lighthearted atmosphere and sense of community”后面的谓语动词用的是单数is，就说明coffee break的benefit作为整体就一个：“让人觉得氛围lighthearted并有community感”。

    综上，若选项C要正确，应该写成benefit of coffee breaks。这个benefit（单数）的产生是基于和严肃学术话题形成对比的那些topics（即chance to V1, to V2 and to V3）（复数）。因此，相对来说选项B的topics of the chatter更准确，更符合第二段的段落主旨。