SAT Expertise 考经交流

   让“抽象名词”帮你一把

    由于存在语言差异，学英语的中国人很自然地倾向于使用具体名词而不是抽象名词，可能是因为汉语善于运用具体名词而在抽象名词的使用上相对较弱的原因。书面英语，特别是一篇写得好的申请信中常使用抽象名词。中国SAT申请者在文书方面面临的最大挑战之一是如何学会运用包括抽象名词在内的技巧。

    中国的英语学习者不难理解“She married a wealthy person who comes from an influential and powerful political family” 或者 “She married into a wealthy and powerful political family,”因为“family”和“person”都是具体名词，但是要明白 “She married into a powerful political dynasty” 就不是那么容易了。因为 “dynasty”是个抽象名词。

    再举一个大家非常熟悉的“scholarship”为例，作为具体名词，意思是“奖学金”，但很少有人知道它可以作为抽象名词来解释，如：

    Drawing on the scholarship of ancient China, Joseph Needham and his Chinese collaborators at Cambridge University wrote what is to become the colossal 25 volumes of Science and Civilization in China.

    在这里，“scholarship”的意思是学识、学问。

    请对比一下两个例句：

    具体(concrete): She has become so famous that her name is synonymous with one of the labs in this university.

    抽象(abstract): She has become an institution in one of the labs in this university.

    具体: You must seek the word, the verb and the adjective that best captures your ideas -- never be satisfied with ones that only come close to what you want to convey.

    抽象: You must seek the word, the verb and the adjective that best captures your ideas -- never be satisfied with approximations.

    注意，我们承认英语中存在大量的抽象名词，但并不等于说这些词广泛适用。有些时候这些词过于抽象，读者得不到较切实的印象。拿“Miss Wu had great success in her studies”这句话来说，“Miss Wu reached the top ladder of her class”就比它形象具体得多了。我们不说 “We go to great lengths to serve customers with courtesy,”而说“We serve our customers with a smile.”