诗歌、小说、戏剧，都能使人心情愉悦，享受艺术之美。
但是，当这些文本成为考题，原本优美的语句瞬间就会变得晦涩难懂。
SAT的文学类文章一直让同学们头大，今天，机构SAT名师张世轩老师将从例题出发，为大家详细剖析文学类文章的难点和应对方案。
#01
古英语用词
SAT文学类文章横跨了小说、诗歌、戏剧三种细分体裁，其中诗歌和戏剧，以及年代偏久远的小说会有大量古英语单词，就像灭绝的恐龙复活一样，直接给人整不会了！比如下面这篇：
The following text is from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, first performed in 1611. Miranda has lived on an island with her father, Prospero, since she was three years old. Prospero has stated that Miranda likely does not remember anything other than her life on the island.
MIRANDA:
Tis far off.
And rather like a dream than an assurance
That my remembrance warrants. Had l not
Four or five women once that tended me?
PROSPERO:
Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it
That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else
In the dark backward and abysm of time?
If thou remember'st ought ere thou camest here.
How thou camest here thou mayst.
这篇文章里古英语用词的密度就太高了，如果不知道这些词的意思一定会影响对文章的理解，比如 Tis、thou、hadst、ought、ere、mayst……
#02不标准的语法，丧尸般的句子
小说其实还好，句子的主谓宾还是规规矩矩的，一到了戏剧和诗歌，语法老师的30米大刀可就收不住了。
这些诗人和剧作家，明显没来机构上过语法课啊！
继续来看例题：
In monotone the lizard shrills his tune.
The wild goose, homing, seeks a sheltering,
Where rushes grow, and oozing lichens cling.
Late cranes with heavy wing, and lazy flight,
Sail up the silence with the nearing night.
And like a spirit, swathed in some soft veil,
Steals twilight and its shadows o'er the swale.
Hushed lie the sedges, and the vapours creep.
Thick, grey and humid, while the marshes sleep.
比如第二句，只有主语没有谓语，这不就是语法题里经典的错误选型么！
其实，读诗歌，不要过于执着于语法结构，而是根据诗歌中的要素，构建画面感就可以了。
这首诗中的几个要素，lizards、goose、lichens、cranes、swale、vapours，构成一副水草繁茂、鸟飞莺舞的和谐画面，我们捕捉到这个感觉就可以了。
#03文学修辞
很多同学看文学文章，胸中的怒火熊熊燃烧，只想对作者大吼一句，说人话！
没错，文学文章大量使用修辞，让本来清晰的意思包裹在比喻和拟人当中，像是给生活加一层朦胧感的滤镜。
美感确实是有了，扛不住咱现在是考试急着出答案啊！
In hearts like thine ne'er may I hold a place
Till I renounce all sense, all shame, all grace
That seat, --like seats, the bane of Freedom's realm,
But dear to those presiding at the helm--
Is basely purchased, not with gold alone;
Add Conscience, too, this bargain is your own
'T is thine to offer with corrupting art
The rotten borough of the human heart
比如这首诗，开始讲到诗人纠结自己在对方心中有无位置，结果第二句就提到买票的事情，同学们肯定有点懵，诗人思路有点跳跃啊？！
其实，诗歌再跳脱，也不可能是疯子写的，前后句一定是连贯的合情合理的。
所以，一旦我们觉得文学中有不合理的描述，就要考虑修辞手法。此处，买票其实是比喻，比喻的是在付出一些东西来获得在对方心中的位置。
The following text is Emily Dicknison's circa 1873 poem “There ia no Frigate like a Book". A Frigate like a Book” A Frigate is a light fast ship; courses are swift horses.
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry
This Traverse may the poorest take
Withut oppress of Toll
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears the Human soul.
再比如这首诗歌中，同学会觉得，诗人读书的时候还又坐船又骑马的，这是要上天？
其实，船和马都是一种比喻，把书本这种人思维的载体比作了交通工具。还是那句话，不合逻辑，就想修辞。
#04文学文章的间接表达方式
很多文学类文章话不直说，而是绕着弯子，通过双重否定、改变前提假设、反问的方式表达某个意思。
The following text is from Anthony Trollope's 1855 novel The Warden. The narrator is describing a rectory, the residence of a clergyperson.
There was an air of heaviness about the rooms which might have been avoided without any sacrifice of propriety; colours might have been better chosen and lights more perfectly diffused; but perhaps in doing so the thorough clerical aspect of the whole might have been somewhat marred; at any rate, it was not without ample consideration that those thick, dark, costly carpets were put down; those embossed, but sombre Iwallpapers] hung up; those heavy curtains draped so as to half exclude the light of the sun.
在这段小说节选中，作者想表达房间的装修来刻意体现住的人的身份，但并不直说，而是假设如果房间的装饰如果改变的话，住户作为神职人员的神圣感会被玷污，让本来可以很直白的意思，隐藏在语言幽深曲折的暗巷里，你开着车还到不了，要七拐八拐才能抵达……
对于这种情况，一是要靠专业老师拆解，熟悉这类说话方式的原理；第二，也是更重要的是，要增加文学文章的阅读量，让自己大量接触这种说话方式，再曲折的巷子，多走几次也就摸着门了。
#05对于情感和心理的间接表达
古人云，知人知面不知心，没错，还有比人类的情感、人性、和心理更复杂和阴暗的存在吗？而文学家的一大使命，就是把这种曲折蜿蜒的人性展现在阳光之下。
理解这些心理和情感，需要文字功力，也需要阅历和思考。比如下面这段文字：
The following text is adapted from George Eliot's 1857short story "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. AmosBarton." The Countess Czerlaski is a newcomer to thetown of Milby.
I am by no means sure that if the good people of Milbyhad known the truth about the Countess Czerlaski, theywould not have been considerably disappointed to findthat it was very far from being as bad as they imaginednice distinctions are troublesome. It is so much easierto make up your mind that your neighbour is good fornothing, than to enter into all the circumstances thatwould oblige you to modify that opinion.
在这段例子中，第一句提到邻居当知道一个贵妇太太生活的比他们想象的更好时，感到非常失望。这是一种怎么样的心理呢？
其实，人可以忍受远在天边的人飞黄腾达，却受不了近在咫尺的人比自己更好，这种人性阴暗心理的理解，是需要岁月的淬炼和阅历的。
The following text is adapted from Charles Dickens's 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities. Mr. Lorry, traveling to France on business, is delivering some news to Miss Manette, the daughter of one of his friends.
"Miss Manette. I am a man of business. I have a business charge to acquit myself of. In your reception of it, don't heed me any more thanif I was a speaking machine-truly. I am not much else. I will, with your leave, relate to you, miss, the story of one of our customers.”
"Story!"
He seemed wilfully to mistake the word she had repeated, when he added, in a hurry."Yes, customers; in the banking business we usually call our connection our customers. He was a French gentleman: a scientific gentleman; a man of great acquirements--a Doctor.”
很多时候，文学中人物的心理会通过动作细节表现出来。
这个例子中，当女孩大声喊出“story”后，男人是willfully to mistake，这个willfully非常传神，体现了男人听懂了但是装傻的心理，但是文章没有明示，需要我们深挖。
怎么解？
要注意，在读文学时，不是读字，而是体察，也就是老话说听话听音，不是看一个人说了什么做了什么，而是体会语言和动作背后的心理。
总之，文学文章的难点克服，需要了解一些知识（古英语用词、文学特色的句式原理），更需要在大量阅读文学文本的过程中，刻意练习。
菜，就多练！无他，唯手熟尔！
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