朋友們：
經過一兩個月的休整，「英語教學法原著選讀」系列文章重新起航了。首先，我要感謝大家不離不棄，在我沒有打招呼就停止更新的情況下，仍然堅守在這裡，等待著本系列的歸來；其次，我要向大家表態，這期間損失的各期內容，後面我都會補回來！請你們放心，我把這個系列做下去的決心並沒有絲毫改變，它只會越來越好！
今天給大家選讀的是上海外語教育出版社出版的《英語閱讀技巧教學》（Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language，作者Christine Nuttall）第一章「What is Reading?」中的一段，講的是Top-down、Buttom-up兩種文本閱讀的方法。前者叫「自上而下法」，就是從整體考察一段文本，利用閱讀者自身的已有知識和經驗去推斷接下來作者會怎樣行文；後者叫「自下而上法」，就是從具體的字詞句分析入手，從文字的字面意思著眼，先理解作者的基本意思，再和前者所推斷出的東西相對照。
自上而下法和自下而上法都不是孤立的，二者在閱讀中頻繁地、大量地發生聯繫、互動、焦點的轉換。
朋友們有什麼想讓我選讀的，也請留言推薦。感謝你們！
（選文翻譯：武太白）
Top-down and bottom-up processing
自上而下與自下而上認識法
These are complementary ways of processing a text. They are both used whenever we read; sometimes one predominates, sometimes the other, but both are needed. And, though normally unconscious processes, both can be adopted as conscious strategies by a reader approaching a difficult text.
這是兩種互補的文本認識法。我們不管什麼時候閱讀，都會用到這兩種方法；有時一種方法為主，有時另一種為主，但兩種都需要。並且，儘管正常情況下兩種方法都是無意識的過程，在閱讀有難度文本的時候，這兩種方法卻都可以被用作有意識的策略。
The top-down approach
自上而下法
In top-down processing, we draw on our own intelligence and experience - the predictions we can make, based on the schemata we have acquired - to understand the text. As we saw, this kind of processing is used when we interpret assumptions and draw inferences. We make conscious use of it when we try to see the overall purpose of the text, or get a rough idea of the pattern of the writer’s argument, in order to make a reasoned guess at the next step (on the grounds that having an idea of what something might mean can be a great help in interpreting it).
自上而下法是利用自身的智力和經驗——根們所習得的現有圖示所能做出的預測——來理解文本。如同我們所見，這種認識法是在解讀假定和做出推斷時使用的。當我們試圖看清文本的總體目的，或者對作者的觀點結構做出總體理解，從而對下一步做出有理有據的猜測（前提是，對某事物可能意味著什麼有個了解，會大大有助於對其加以解讀）的時候，就是在有意識地運用這種方法。
We might compare this approach to an eagle's eye view of the landscape. From a great height, the eagle can see a wide area spread out below; it understands the nature of the whole terrain, its general pattern and the relationships between various parts of it, far better than an observer on the ground.
我們可以把這種方法和鷹眼所看到的景觀相類比。從很高的地方，老鷹能夠看到下方鋪開的廣大地區；它能夠理解整個地形的本質，其總體規律，及其各部分之間的關係，比地面上的觀察者的理解要強得多。
Figure 6 Top-down processing
A reader adopts an eagle's eye view of the text when he considers it as a whole and relates it to his own knowledge and experience. This enables him to predict the writer's purpose, the likely trend of the argument and so on, and then use this framework to interpret difficult parts of the text. The top-down approach gives a sense of perspective and makes use of all that the reader brings to the text: prior knowledge, common sense, etc, which have sometimes been undervalued in the reading class.
當讀者把文本看作整體、將其與自身的知識與經驗相聯繫時，他就是在運用鷹眼視角來看待文本。這使他有能力預測作者的目的，論證的可能走向，如此等等，然後用這一框架來解讀文本中有難度的部分。自上而下法給人一種透視感，能夠充分利用閱讀者面對文本時所具備的一切資源：此前的知識，常識，等等，有時這些在閱讀教學中未能予以重視。
The bottom-up approach
自下而上法
In bottom-up processing, the reader builds up a meaning from the black marks on the page: recognizing letters and words, working out sentence structure. We can make conscious use of it when an initial reading leaves us confused. Perhaps we cannot believe that the apparent message was really what the writer intended; this can happen if our world knowledge is inadequate, or if the writer's point of view is very different from our own. In that case, we must scrutinize the vocabulary and syntax to make sure we have grasped the plain sense correctly. Thus bottom-up processing can be used as a corrective to 『tunnel vision』（seeing things only from our own limited point of view).
自下而上法是閱讀者用書頁上的白紙黑字積累出意思來：辨認字母，認出單詞，分解句子結構。當第一遍閱讀使我們感到困惑，我們就會有意識地運用這種方法。也許我們不能相信表面上看到的信息就是作者意圖傳達的；如果我們的世界知識不足，或者作者的觀點與我們的觀點大相逕庭，就可能發生這種情況。如果是這樣，我們就必須審視詞彙，鑽透句法，以確保我們正確地理解了基本的意思。這樣一來，自下而上法可以被用作一種糾正手段，彌補「隧道視野」（僅從我們有限的視角看問題，即「坐井觀天」）的不足。
Our image of bottom-up processing might be a scientist with a magnifying glass examining the ecology of a transect - a tiny part of the landscape the eagle surveys.
我們「自下而上法」的圖像可以是一位科學家，拿著放大鏡，仔細端詳一個橫切面——是老鷹俯視的風景中的極小的一部分。
The scientist develops a detailed understanding of that one little area (which might represent a sentence in the text); but full understanding only comes if this is combined with knowledge of adjacent areas and the wider terrain, so that their effects on one another can be recognized. In other words, bottom-up and top-down approaches are used to complement each other.
科學家形成了對那一小塊地方的詳細理解（這可能代表了文本中的一個句子）；但只有把這種理解和對於鄰近地區以及更大範圍地區的了解相結合，才能達成完整的理解。換句話說，自下而上法和自上而下法在實際使用中是互補的。
The interaction of top-down and bottom-up processing
自上而下、自下而上法的互動
Although logically we might expect that we ought to understand the plain sense if we are to understand anything else, in practice a reader continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict the probable meaning, then moving to the bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says. This has become known as interactive reading (confusingly: the meaning is quite different from interaction in the sense discussed on pll). Both approaches can be mobilized by conscious choice, and both are important strategies for readers.
儘管邏輯上我們可能認為，要想理解別的什麼東西，我們應該先理解基本意思，在實踐中閱讀者卻是不斷地從一個焦點轉向另一個焦點，一會使用自上而下法，來預測可能的意思，一會轉而使用自下而上法，來檢驗那是否真的是作者要說的。這被稱為「互動閱讀」（令人困惑的是，這個說法的意思和第II頁上的interaction意思完全不同）。兩種方法都有可能受到有意識選擇的調用，對於閱讀者來說也都是很重要的策略。
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小站維護不易，有條件的朋友請長按下面圖片，在彈出的菜單中選擇「識別圖中的二維碼」，即可打賞。感謝你們的支持和厚愛！