Unit 3: Longer Fiction or Drama I
AP English Literature and Composition Topic 3 8:35 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
Chapters
Transcript
Unit 3 is the first longer-fiction-or-drama unit, and the thing to notice is that the length changes what is analysable.
第三单元 是第一个长篇小说或戏剧单元， 要注意的是 篇幅改变了什么东西可以被分析。
Three things become available that a short story rarely offers.
三样在短篇小说中很少出现的东西 变得可用了。
Characters can now change.
人物现在可以改变。
Conflicts can intersect.
冲突可以交叉。
And setting acquires a social and historical dimension.
而背景获得了 社会与历史的维度。
Every tool in this unit is one of those three.
本单元的每一件工具 都属于这三者之一。
The CED's additions on character.
课程大纲在人物方面的补充。
The description of a character creates expectations for that character's behaviour, and how a character meets or fails those expectations is meaningful.
对一个人物的描写 为其行为建立起预期， 而这个人物如何满足 或辜负这些预期，是有意义的。
Details associated with a character contribute to a reader's interpretation of them.
与一个人物相关联的细节 参与了读者对他的阐释。
A reader's understanding of a character's perspective may depend on the perspective of the narrator.
读者对一个人物视角的理解， 可能取决于叙述者的视角。
A character's perspective may shift during the narrative.
一个人物的视角 可能在叙事过程中发生转变。
And when narrators or characters compare another character to something else, they reveal their own perspective as much as the compared character's — so a comparison is always double evidence.
而当叙述者或人物 把另一个人物比作别的东西时， 他们所揭示的 有自己的视角， 不亚于被比较者的视角， 所以一次比较永远是双重证据。
Then the sentence to keep: readers can infer motive from a character's actions or inactions.
接着是要记住的那句话： 读者可以从一个人物的 作为或不作为中推断动机。
That last word is the one worth having.
最后那个词最值得拿走。
What a character declines to do is evidence, and it is usually more revealing than what they do.
一个人物拒绝去做的事 就是证据， 而且通常比他做了的事 更能说明问题。
A dynamic character develops over the narrative and often makes choices that directly or indirectly cause change.
动态人物在叙事中发展， 并常常作出 直接或间接引发变化的选择。
Character change can be visible and external — health, wealth, circumstance — or internal, in belief, value or understanding, and the second is usually the one worth writing about.
人物的变化可以是 可见的、外在的， 健康、财富、境遇， 也可以是内在的， 在信念、价值或理解上， 而后者通常才是值得写的。
And some characters remain unchanged, or are largely unaffected by events.
而有些人物保持不变， 或基本不受事件影响。
Do not treat the unchanged character as a failure of characterisation.
不要把静态人物 当作人物塑造的失败。
It is often the measure by which the change in others becomes visible: the still figure is what lets you see the others move.
它常常是 使其他人的变化变得可见的尺度： 静止的那个人 正是让你看见别人在移动的东西。
Setting now includes the social, cultural and historical situation in which the events occur — not only time and place.
背景现在包括 事件发生其中的 社会、文化与历史情境， 而不只是时间与地点。
That widens what setting can do, and it is the main reason a novel is analysable in ways a short story often is not.
这拓宽了背景能做的事， 也是长篇小说 在很多方面比短篇更可分析的 主要原因。
A social setting supplies the constraints a character must act within, and constraint is what turns a choice into a revealing one.
社会性的背景 提供了人物必须在其中行动的约束， 而约束正是 把一个选择变成有揭示力的选择的东西。
A character who could do anything tells you nothing by choosing; a character who must pay for the choice tells you what they value.
一个想做什么都行的人物， 他的选择什么也说明不了； 一个必须为选择付出代价的人物， 他的选择告诉你他看重什么。
Which events in a plot are significant?
情节里哪些事件是重要的？
A narrative is delivered through a series of events that relate to a conflict.
叙事通过一系列 与某个冲突相关的事件来传达。
Events include episodes, encounters and scenes that introduce and develop plot.
事件包括 引入并发展情节的 片段、遭遇与场景。
And the significance of an event depends on its relationship to the narrative, to the conflict, and to character development.
而一个事件的重要性 取决于它与叙事、 与冲突、 以及与人物发展之间的关系。
That third statement is your test for essay selection.
第三条正是你挑选素材的检验标准。
An event matters to your argument only if you can say what it does to the conflict or to a character.
一个事件对你的论证有意义， 只有当你能说出 它对冲突或对某个人物做了什么。
Retelling a striking scene that does neither is plot summary, which earns nothing — and it is the commonest way a well-read student writes a low-scoring essay.
复述一个惊人的场景 而它两者都不做， 那就是情节复述，一分不得， 而这也是一个读得很多的学生 写出低分作文的最常见方式。
That brings us to the function of conflict in a text.
这就带到冲突在文本中的功能。
Conflict is tension between competing values, either within a character — internal or psychological conflict — or between a character and an external force.
冲突是相互竞争的价值之间的张力， 它可以在一个人物内部， 也就是内在或心理冲突， 也可以在人物与外部力量之间。
A text may contain multiple conflicts, and often two or more intersect.
一个文本可以包含多重冲突， 而且常常有两个或更多相互交叉。
A primary conflict can be heightened by additional conflicts that intersect with it, and that compounding is the standard shape of a novel or a play.
主要冲突 可以被与之交叉的其他冲突所加剧， 而这种叠加 正是长篇小说或戏剧的标准形态。
Inconsistencies in a text may create contrasts that represent conflicts of values or perspectives.
文本中的不一致 可能造成对照， 代表价值或视角上的冲突。
Now note the definition, because it is the one students skip.
现在注意那个定义， 因为这是学生会跳过的一条。
Conflict is between competing values, not merely between people.
冲突是相互竞争的价值之间的， 不只是人与人之间的。
Two characters who want the same object are in a dispute.
两个想要同一件东西的人物 处于争执之中。
Two characters who want incompatible goods are in a conflict — and only the second produces meaning.
两个想要不可兼得之善的人物 才处于冲突之中， 而只有后者产生意义。
So name the values.
所以要说出那些价值。
The writing side is unchanged from Units 1 and 2: a claim requiring textual defence, textual evidence, and details identified in combination.
写作方面与第一、第二单元相同： 一个需要文本辩护的主张、 文本证据， 以及合在一起被辨认出的细节。
But with a longer text there is one extra trap, and it is worth stating plainly.
但面对更长的文本 还有一个额外的陷阱， 值得直白地说出来。
A thesis must state an interpretation, not what happens.
论点必须陈述一种阐释， 而不是陈述发生了什么。
"The novel shows the family falling apart" is a summary, and a summary cannot be defended because nobody disagrees with it.
"这部小说展现了一个家庭的瓦解" 是概述， 而概述无法被辩护， 因为没有人会不同意它。
"The novel makes the family's collapse look inevitable in order to withhold blame from any one member" is an interpretation, and it can be argued with — which is exactly why it can be defended.
"这部小说 让这个家庭的崩塌显得不可避免， 从而不把责任归于其中任何一个人" 是一种阐释， 它是可以被反驳的， 而这恰恰是它可以被辩护的原因。
A thesis statement expresses an interpretation of a literary text and requires defence through textual evidence.
论点句表达的是对一部文学作品的一种解读， 并且需要用文本证据来辩护。
It may preview the development or line of reasoning of that interpretation, but it is not required to list the reasons — so do not spend words building a roadmap the rubric never asked for.
它可以预告这一解读的展开方式或论证脉络， 但并不要求把理由一一列出—— 所以不要花笔墨去搭一个评分标准从没要求的路线图。
The word doing the work is interpretation.
关键的词是"解读"。
A thesis that states what happens in the text is not a thesis; it is a summary, and a summary cannot be defended because nobody would disagree with it.
只说明文本里发生了什么的句子不是论点句，那是复述； 而复述无法辩护，因为没有人会不同意它。
Compare two.
比较两句。
"The protagonist argues with his family about the inheritance" — that is a summary.
"主人公为遗产的事和家里争吵"——这是复述。
Now the stronger one.
再看更强的一句。
"Because the two conflicts share one object, resolving either resolves neither."
"因为这两重冲突指向同一个对象，解决其中任何一个都等于两个都没解决。
A reader could disagree with that, which is exactly why it can be defended.
" 读者可能不同意这句话，而这正是它可以被辩护的原因。
A line of reasoning is the logical sequence of claims that together defend the overarching thesis, and it is communicated through commentary.
论证脉络是共同为总论点辩护的一串有逻辑顺序的分论点， 而它是通过阐释来传达的。
Picture the claims hanging from the thesis, with a quotation under each one — and commentary is the weld.
把这些分论点想成从论点句垂下来的一串，每一环下面挂着一处引文—— 阐释就是焊点。
It is the sentence explaining the logical relationship between that evidence and that claim.
它是说明"这处证据与这个分论点之间是什么逻辑关系"的那句话。
Leave it out and you have a quotation and an assertion sitting side by side, with the reader asked to do the joining.
少了它，你只是把一处引文和一个断言并排放着， 把连接的工作留给读者。
Body paragraphs develop the reasoning and justify the claims using evidence.
主体段落用证据来展开论证并为分论点辩护。
Selecting relevant and sufficient evidence: the rubric uses four words about it, and each one rules something out.
选择相关而充分的证据：评分标准用四个词来说它，每一个都排除了某种做法。
Evidence is used strategically: to illustrate, clarify, exemplify, associate or amplify — it was chosen to do a job, not because it was the first quotable line you met.
证据要"有策略地"使用：用来举例、澄清、示范、关联或放大—— 它是为了完成某项任务被选中的， 而不是因为它是你遇到的第一句可引用的话。
It is effective when the commentary explains its logical relationship to the claim, because quoting is not explaining.
只有当阐释说明了它与分论点之间的逻辑关系时，它才"有效"， 因为引用不等于解释。
It is sufficient when its quantity and quality provide apt support, so one striking word cannot carry a paragraph and eight quotations cannot replace a reason.
当它的数量和质量都能提供恰当支持时，它才"充分"， 所以一个惊人的词撑不起一个段落，八处引文也代替不了一个理由。
And developing an interpretation is a recursive process: an interpretation can emerge, and change, as you read and write, so if your reading changes while you draft, revise the thesis to match it.
而形成解读是一个反复推敲的过程： 解读可以在你阅读和写作的过程中出现，也可以改变， 所以如果你在起草时想法变了，就把论点句改成新的想法。
Notice what all four share. Every one is about the join between the quotation and the claim.
注意这四点的共同之处：每一点讲的都是引文与分论点之间的那个连接。
Finally, control over the elements of composition.
最后是对写作要素的掌控。
Coherence occurs at different levels and it is worth checking all three separately.
连贯发生在不同的层级上，三个层级都值得分开检查。
Within a sentence, the clauses have to point the same way.
在一个句子内部，各个分句必须指向同一个方向。
Between sentences, each one has to follow from the one before it.
在句子之间，每一句都必须承接上一句。
And across the whole essay, the claims have to build in an order that goes somewhere.
而在整篇文章的范围内，各个分论点必须按一个走向明确的顺序推进。
Grammar and mechanics that follow established conventions allow writers to communicate clearly, and on this exam that is not a separate mark but a condition of the others — an unclear sentence cannot deliver commentary a reader can credit.
遵循既定规范的语法与用法让作者表达清楚， 而在这门考试里，这不是单独的一项分，而是其他各项的前提—— 一句不清楚的话，无法承载读者能够认可的阐释。
And remember that the ORDER is a choice you are making, not the order in which the ideas happened to arrive.
还要记住：这个顺序本身就是你做出的选择， 而不是这些想法碰巧到来的先后。
Five things to carry out.
带走五件事。
First, inactions reveal motive — what a character declines to do is often the strongest evidence available.
第一，不作为揭示动机， 一个人物拒绝去做的事 往往是能拿到的最强证据。
Second, the unchanged character is the measure by which change in others becomes visible.
第二，静态人物是使他人的变化 变得可见的尺度。
Third, setting now supplies the constraint that makes choices meaningful.
第三，背景现在提供了 使选择具有意义的约束。
Fourth, conflict is between competing values, so name the values.
第四，冲突是竞争性价值之间的， 所以要说出那些价值。
Fifth, an event matters only if you can say what it does to the conflict or a character — and a thesis states an interpretation, not what happens.
第五，一个事件只有在你能说出 它对冲突或人物做了什么时才重要， 而论点陈述的是阐释， 不是发生了什么。