哲学家奥斯汀把言语和相关的行为概括为三部分：言中行为(locution),言外行为(illocution)和言后行为(perlocution)。通俗讲就是字面意思、言外之意和有没有效果。由于言外之意往往是话里有话，因此在我们日常生活中引起的笑话还真不少。请看下面一则笑话：

　　Besty：If you have＄2,and you ask your father for 4,how much will you have?

　　Bill：Two dollars.

　　Besty：You don't know your math!

　　Bill：You don't know my father1

　　Besty根据字面意思认为Bill回答的"two dollars"不对，所以说："You don't know your math!"言外之意有"你怎么这么笨呀，怎么连2＋4这么简单的算术都不懂，等等"。言后行为是希望Bill改正。可是Bill非但不改，还说了句："You don't know my father!"

　　如果这是一道听力试题，最后问你：

　　What does Bill's answer imply?

　　A.Bill has poor calculating ability.

　　B.Bill's father has poor calculating ability.

　　C.Besty doesn't know about Bill's father.

　　D.Bill's father is mean with money.

　　我们在选择时，可以排除不是Bill的数学不好，也不是他爸爸的数学不好，而可推断Bill的言外之意是D项"爸爸对他的零花钱管得紧"。

　　上面这个笑话只起到一个抛砖引玉的作用，让我们从中领悟到能否在短时间内捕捉到相关信息，听懂弦外之音，对说话人的言外之意进行准确判断是通过六级听力考试的关键。弦外之音的揣摩十分复杂，要依据特定的说话场合、说话氛围、说话语调和说话对象等。下面就让我们一起来看看弦外之音都有哪些类型。

　　类型一：部分考。(第二人的答语中，只考前一部分)

　　例题：99,1,5

　　W：How did your interview go?

　　M：I couldn't feel better about it!The questions were very fair and I seemed to find answers for all of them.

　　Q：How does the man feel about the interview?

　　分析：第一个人的话多为简单的问句或陈述句。第二个人的话前句短，后句长。考生很容易把重心放在后句话的语意理解上，然后挖空心思地猜答案。若能针对M话语中的前句I couldn't feel better about it！(感觉再好不过了！)及相应的自豪语气，就可找对答案：The man is very confident.

　　类型二：But题型。(第二人的答语中，but是考点)

　　例题：2002,1,1

　　A：Is the rescue crew still looking for survivals of the plane crash?

　　B：Yes,they have been searching the area for hours,but they haven't found anybody else.They'll keep searching until night falls.

　　Q：What do we learn from this conversation?

　　分析：A可为问句或陈述句。B由两句话组成，其中带but的句子是考核重心。这样的考题在六级听力中所占比重很大，考生要排除they have been searching the area for hours等的干扰，注意听but they haven't found any- body else表示转折的这一句。日常会话也是如此，大凡有but的句子，往往是否定A的陈述，另提新观点，言外之意也就由此产生。所以此题答案应为：No more survivors have been found.

　　类型三：建议题型。(关键句型引出考点)

　　例题：98,6,10

　　M：This machine has so many buttons.I can't figure out which one makes it run.

　　W：You'd better read the instructions first. Pressing the buttons randomly may cause the machine to break down.

　　Q：According to the woman,what should the man do first?

　　A.Read the instructions first.

　　分析：这种题型数量虽多，但是句型相对固定。熟悉以下三类句型就会做到事半功倍，特别是在语速快的情况下，更要把握住下列句型后出现的句子，那里常常是考查点，多是建议功能。

　　第一类：固定句式。how about,what about,what if,you'd better,why not,why not bother....

　　第二类：反问句。Wouldn't it be better...? Hadn't you better tell...?Can't you...?

　　第三类：一般疑问句。Have you tried...? Would...be better?

　　类型四：If I were you题型。(建议或虚拟)

　　例题：2000,1,1

　　M：I hope I won't sleep over.I've simply got to catch the first flight to New York.

　　W：If I were you,I'd request the wake-up call from the hotel reception.

　　Q：What does the woman advise the man to do?

　　分析：这样的句子一出来，考生要格外注意。If I were you引导的句子为考核中心，其隐含着提建议或表虚拟的意思。提建议时，答案往往就是其后紧随的句子；表虚拟时，答案通常是反着给的，即把字面的意思否定掉，答案一般表现为否定句形式。另外If only(要是……就好了)也有异曲同工之妙。再如：

　　M：Hey,I heard you bought a parrot.

　　W：That's right.Now if I could only get it to talk.

　　Q：What does the woman want to do?

　　A.Teach the parrot to talk.

　　类型五："明确肯定"题型。(答语肯定语气明显)

　　例题：2002,6,8

　　M：You are looking a little overwhelmed.

　　W：Exactly.You know,I've got millions of things to do,and all of them have to be finished within 3hours.

　　Q：What does the woman mean?

　　分析：M往往是肯定句，W是以一个短词开头(同意还是不同意M的观点一听便知)，W中的长句起着介绍说明的作用。答案的特点就是找与M的话意思相近，但表述不同的句子。如例题M中You are looking a little overwhelmed.的不同表述就是答案：She's been kept extremely busy.在交际中，对前一句起着确认作用的短句有：you are right，all right，I know，that's right.

　　类型六："鼓励安慰对方"题型(态度真诚)

　　例题：2001,1.8

　　M：Though we didn't win the game ,we were satisfied with our performance.

　　W：You did a good job，you almost beat the world champions.

　　Q：What do we learn from this conversation?

　　A.They both feel good about the results of the game.

　　分析：第一个人的话里表达了不太如意的一面，常带有否定词，而第二个人的话多以鼓励或劝慰的小短句开头。如：Don't worry；I have the same feeling with you；Take it easy；It's OK！Don't be upset！I know you can do it；Come on！It doesn't matter；Don't blame yourself！You deserve it！这些短语蕴含的言外之意就是别紧张、别急，我们对你有信心。后面还伴有相应的长句，往往起补充说明的作用，所以答案里面一定会出现表示肯定意义的词汇。

　　类型七：口语小短句(不懂真要命)

　　例题：2002,6,9

　　M：Er，it looks like I'm going to be a little late for class.I hope Prof.Clark doesn't start on time today.

　　W：Are you kidding ?You can set your watch by the time he starts his class.

　　Q：What can we infer about Prof.Clark?

　　分析：第一个人的话不难，第二个人的话越听越糊涂。如果把握住小短句的言外之意就不怕了。Are you kidding?意味着对第一个

　　人的话语进行否定，例题中也就是说Prof. Clark will not be late,答案He is always punctual for his class.就是正确选项。与之相反，you can say that again;you bet I am;you said it;isn't it though?(可不是嘛！)；of course，等小短句的背后，多半是表示对前一句的肯定。这些技巧的掌握，有利于解决长难句的听力问题。

　　类型八：比较和顺序题型(一锤定音)

　　例题一：99,6,4

　　W：I thought Tom said he got A in all his tests.

　　M：Mary,you should know better than to take Tom's words too seriously.

　　Q：What are they talking about?

　　例题二：99,6,7

　　M：You know,the Browns have invested all their money in stocks.

　　W：They may think that's a wise move,but that's the last thing I'd do.

　　Q：What's the man's opinion about the Browns' investment?

　　分析：两句话语速快，都有一锤定音之感。听懂了当然感觉爽，听不懂，越想越没着落。两个例子中，例一有比较级know better than to take Tom's words too seriously，言外之意就是Tom的话不可靠；例二言中之意表示that's the last thing I'd do，但言外之意表示"最不想做的是……"，所以答案中常有否定词出现，此题的正确答案是：He doesn't think the Browns' investment is a wise move.要想做好这种类型的题，一要熟悉固定句式：the last thing(最不想做的是)；二要勤于比较和总结。如：fitting the shower pipe is far more important than installing a telephone；we couldn't have played worse；I need your help fixing the shelf before I pain it；that was no the first dangerous situation he was in.

　　类型九：重复反问题型(什么？就是这么简单！)

　　例题：

　　M：Can't we slow down?I'm tired.

　　W：Slow down ?Don't you realized how late we are going to be?

　　Q：What does the woman mean?

　　A.They aren't going to be on time.

　　分析：由于W话里有重复部分，所以有极明显的听觉特征：放慢语速，突出语调、重音等。考试重心落在第二个人的第二句话上面，推出的意见有两种可能：一是否定上句，二是肯定上句，加重语气。具体结果要根据实际情况来判断。这种能力可以通过跟读、模仿来得以培养，而且短时即可见效。

　　类型十："所答非所问"题型(跟你绕个小圈子)

　　例题：99,1,6

　　W：I just made a jar of jam this morning and now I can't find it anywhere.

　　M：Did you hear a crash.That was it.I'm just as clumsy as ever.

　　Q：What is the problem?

　　分析：第一个人发起了话题，第二个人没有正面回答，给出了好像没内在联系的答语。其实不然，交际会话中有一个合作原则，即第二个人说的一定和第一个人的话题有着必然联系，否则就是交际失败。有时由于面子效应，第二个人会间接回答第一个人，我们分析来看就是话里有话。如例子中，W发现果酱罐不见了，M问：你听见撞击声了吗？言外之意就是有人把它打碎了，谁干的呢？接着又补充一句：I'm just as clumsy as ever.我和以前一样笨手笨脚。我们因此可以断定：The man broke the jar of jam.这样的题根据语境、场景进行联想，越是直截了当、不用绕弯子的答案越不可能是正确答案。

　　以上是近年来，出现频率较高的言外之意题型。通过对上述十种类型的分析，相信读者朋友们心里大概也有了一定的了解。那么为了此文的完美，再附上两条应对此类听力题的建议，仅供参考。第一，由于弦外之音的判断十分复杂，平时在复习时要做到精听，就是要大家能准确听出个别词的读音及词义，不懂的地方要一遍一遍地听，直到听懂为止。这样有助于大家发现个体差异(连读有问题？还是个别词不熟悉？词组没听出来？俚语不懂？)，然后对症下药。简单的泛听，只能是培养语流和语调，难免有囫囵吞枣之嫌。第二，听力考试中要集中精力，一旦有个别词没听懂，不要费时去猜，要尽可能结合场景和语气，做到对整体的把握。

　　(文/北京师范大学祝珣；英语通大学英语六级考试版2003年第10期；版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)