2009AS 小说
文章讲解：
首先，Blurb。
一篇文章的引言部分非常重要。我一定会在课上强调大家在开始读文章之前研读blurb。尽管不是每篇文章的blurb都一定会有有效信息，但Blurb就相当于一篇文章的标题，我们总能够通过文章标题，大体预测文章的内容。
这篇文章的blurb就在一开始告诉了我们人物关系以及故事背景：
This passage is from James Baldwin, Another Country. ©1990 by Gloria Baldwin Karefa-Smart. Originally published in 1962. Eric, an actor, and Vivaldo, a writer, are watching Vivaldo’s girlfriend, Ida, sing with a band that her brother, the Kid, once played with.
接下里我们展开故事阅读。
这篇文章分段较散，那么我们就自行20行左右作为一个小层次，一步一步的读故事。
line 1-21
She was not announced; there was merely a brief huddle with the piano-player; and then she stepped up to the mike. The piano-player began the first few bars, but the crowd did not take the hint.
“Let’s try it again,” said Ida, in a loud, clear voice.
At this, heads turned to look at her; she looked calmly down on them. The only sign of her agitation was in her hands, which were tightly, restlessly clasped before her—she was wringing her hands, but she was not crying.
Somebody said, in a loud whisper, “Dig, man, that’s the Kid’s kid sister.”
There were beads of sweat on her forehead and on her nose, and one leg moved out, trembling, moved back. The piano-player began again, she grabbed the mike like a drowning woman, and abruptly closed her eyes:
You
Made me leave my happy home.
You took my love and now you’ve gone,
Since I fell for you.
【
她没有报幕，舞台上人也不多，她就直接上台了。刚开始，钢琴手弹了几个音，但是观众并没有太在意。
她清了清嗓子，吸引了一些观众的注意。她表面看起来很淡定，但是她紧握的双手表明她心里其实非常的紧张。
有人认出了她：“诶，那不是他姐么~”
她额头鼻尖冒汗，腿都紧张在抖。但是当音乐响起，她抓住麦克风。闭上眼睛，开始唱歌。
】
人物+场景描写，推动故事情节发展。
bar
agitation
接下来：
line 22-50
She was not a singer yet. And if she were to be judged solely on the basis of her voice, low, rough- textured, of no very great range, she never would be. Yet, she had something which made Eric look up and caused the room to fall silent; and Vivaldo stared at Ida as though he had never seen her before. What she lacked in vocal power and, at the moment, in skill, she compensated for by a quality so mysteriously and implacably egocentric that no one has ever been able to name it. This quality involves a sense of the self so profound and so powerful that it does not so much leap barriers as reduce them to atoms—while still leaving them standing, mightily, where they were; and this awful sense is private, unknowable, not to be articulated, having, literally, to do with something else; it transforms and lays waste and gives life, and kills.
She finished her first number and the applause was stunned and sporadic. She looked over at Vivaldo with a small, childish shrug. And this gesture somehow revealed to Eric how desperately one could love her, how desperately Vivaldo was in love with her. The drummer went into a down-on-the-levee-type song, which turned out to be a song Eric had never heard before:
betty told Dupree
She wanted a diamond ring.
And Dupree said, betty,
I’ll get you most any old thing.
【
她的嗓音其实并不能算是一个好歌手。但是技术上的不足，她用一种专属的个人风格做了很好的弥补。（然后后面的line 31-38应该是这篇文章当中最难读的部分，后面的第2题也考到了。的确是常错题。不过结构大于内容，等到了那一题我们再回来看。不要因为局部的难读而丢失了整个故事的完整性。）
一曲终了，观众反应一般。她也没有觉得很尴尬。（后面加入了一些Eric的心理描写。心理描写一般体现人物性格，但是因为这里篇幅不多，考场上的阅读过程当中很有可能会被一笔带过。但是也不影响整体故事的抓取，所以我们继续往下抓故事。）
很快，随着鼓声，她又唱了一首歌。
】
进一步的场景描写。
implacably /ɪmˈplækəbli/
number
down-on-the-levee-type song
line 51-63
“My God,” muttered Vivaldo, “she’s been working.” 【场景切换】
His tone unconsciously implied that he had not been, and held an unconscious resentment. And this threw Eric in on himself. Neither had he been working—for a long time; he had merely been keeping his hand in. He looked at Vivaldo’s white, passionate face and wondered if Vivaldo were now thinking that he had not been working because of Ida: who had not, however, allowed him to distract her. There she was, up on the stand, and unless all the signs were false, and no matter how hard or long the road might be, she was on her way. She had started.
【
她男朋友都震惊了。‘她还真下功夫了啊~’
然后让这俩哥们觉得有点自惭形秽。
】
主要是Eric的心理描写
threw Eric in on himself
To apply or devote someone, something, or oneself to some activity or endeavor.
自我代入，反观自己
keeping his hand in
to remain involved in something, perhaps only a token involvement.
e.g. I want to keep my hand in things even after I retire.
e.g. I always have to keep my hand in so I will feel a part of things.
也就是做做样子
最后，line 64-74
【镜头又切回Ida】
She and the musicians were beginning to enjoy each other and to egg each other on as they bounced through a ballad of cupidity, treachery, and death; and Ida had created in the room a new atmosphere and a new excitement. Even the heat seemed less intolerable. The musicians played for her as though she were an old friend come home and their pride in
her restored their pride in themselves.
The number ended and Ida stepped off the stand, wet and triumphant, the applause crashing about her ears like foam. She came to the table, looking at Vivaldo with a smile and a small, questioning frown, and, standing, took a sip of her drink. They called her back. The drummer reached down and lifted her, bodily, onto the stand, and the applause continued.
【
Ida和乐队的表演渐入佳境，带热全场。
】
egg each other on （有怂恿之意，在这里可以理解为舞台表演者之间形成了默契）
to urge or encourage (someone) to do something that is usually foolish or dangerou
e.g. He continued to take off his clothes while the crowd egged him on.
题型解析：
1 间接细节题
其实故事读明白了，这一题很好选~
选项排除就能做。
A B D里都有很好排除的元素。可能D会有些收到Line 42的干扰，但是回文稍稍确认就可排除。
C的对应在line 25
“把每一题都做成循证题”
2 结构功能题。常错题。
BD都比较好排。
常错是A，obstacles和singing career无关。
C服务于上句
What she lacked in vocal power and, at the moment, in skill, she compensated for by a quality so mysteriously and implacably egocentric that no one has ever been able to name it. This quality involves ... 技术上的不足，她用“quality”来补。
后文在描述这种“quality”，也就是舞台表现力。
3 直接细节，找到定位就能做。对应在line 23
4 间接细节，看着难，但是选项好排
结合第5题组合循证，定位在line 55
6 结构功能题
不认识italicize（斜体字）也不影响解题，但是最好能认识。
这一题也常错。常选A。注意这是一道写法题，而非内容推断题。
原文
He looked at Vivaldo’s white, passionate face and wondered if Vivaldo were now thinking that he had not been working because of Ida: who had not, however, allowed him to distract her.
（找到定位一定要读完整句子。句子才是理解的最小单位。）
这个解析很好，直接用了。
这一题是难。但是十题丢一题，不影响350+
7 可以算送分题。但是还是会有同学选B并觉得很有道理。请自行查阅，并做好“去自我中心化”。同理对应line 7
8 直接细节题。按照出题层次和第9题，可以直接定位，并不算难题。
当然需要积累rapport和exhilarating（兴奋）
干扰是A。只是个安可返场，没有让乐队再次流行的说法。
以及C，不是推断题。就算是推断，也是有过度联想。
10 单词意思题。C有干扰，还是要结合原文，并加强查阅，做好“去自我中心化”。
背景拓展：
James Baldwin
詹姆斯·鲍德温，美国黑人作家、散文家、戏剧家和社会评论家。1924出生在纽约市黑人聚居区，一生著述颇为丰厚，共写有六部长篇小说、四部剧本和十几部散文集，其作品涉及的范围非常广泛。他的小说《向苍天呼吁》与赖特的《土生子》和埃利森的《看不见的人》被并列为20世纪四五十年代美国黑人文学的典范。在二战后的美国黑人文学发展进程中，鲍德温起着承上启下的作用，是一个“真正的必不可少”的作家。
Another Country is a 1962 novel by James Baldwin. The novel is primarily set in Greenwich Village and Harlem, New York City, in the late 1950s. It portrayed many themes that were taboo at the time of its release, including bisexuality, interracial couples and extramarital affairs.
The book uses a third-person narrator who is nevertheless closely aware of the characters' emotions.
The first fifth of Another Country tells of the downfall of jazz drummer Rufus Scott. He begins a relationship with Leona, a white woman from the South, and introduces her to his social circle, including his closest friend, struggling novelist Vivaldo, his more successful mentor Richard, and Richard's wife Cass. Initially, the relationship is frivolous, but it turns more serious as they continue to live together. Rufus becomes habitually physically abusive of Leona, and she is admitted to a mental hospital in the South. Depressed, Rufus returns to Harlem and commits suicide, jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
The rest of the book explores relationships between Rufus' friends, family, and acquaintances in the wake of his death. Rufus's friends cannot understand the suicide, and experience some guilt over his death. Afterwards, they become closer. Vivaldo begins a relationship with Rufus's sister Ida, which is strained by racial tension and Ida's bitterness after her brother's death.
Eric, an actor and Rufus' first male lover, returns to New York after years living in France, where he met his longtime lover Yves. Eric returns to the novel's social circle but is calmer and more composed than most of the group. Everyone's relationships become strained in the course of the novel. Ida starts having an affair with Ellis, an advertising executive who promises to help with her career as a singer. Cass, who has become lonely due to Richard's writing career, has an affair with Eric after he arrives in New York. At the novel's climax, Cass tells Richard about her affair with Eric, who in turn has a sexual encounter with Vivaldo, who himself learns about Ida's relationship with Ellis.
Ida Scott 是个黑妞，仇视白人，却找了个白人男朋友。Eric也是个白人，而且没有爱上Ida，却爱上了Vivaldo.
