搞定省略难题的经典方法

■湖南  周天教

省略是指在不影响句子意思明了、清楚的前提下，将句子中的某些成分省略掉，从而使所表达的内容更加紧凑和简洁。近年来，许多高考试题为增加其灵活性和考查考生综合运用语言的能力，经常利用省略这一手段来编制试题，或考查考生对省略句的判断和理解，或借省略为干扰考查其他相关知识点，并因此出现了不少同学们望而生畏的难题，本文拟就如何应对这类试题作一分析，并为同学们介绍五大攻克省略难题的方法。

一、整句还原法

所谓整句还原法，即指通过分析题干所提供的情景或句子结构，将命题者省略的部分补充完整，然后再根据完整的句子进行分析和答题。如：

1. “What were you trying to prove to the police?”  “_________ I was last night.”

A. That      B. When         C. Where           D. What

分析：此题应选 C，其余三项均有可能误选。做对此题的关键是要明确答语部分为省略句，若将其补充完整，即为：I was trying to prove to the police where I was last night. 其中where 引导的是一个宾语从句。请再看以下类似试题：

(1) “What made her so happy?”  “_________ her son passed the college entrance examinations.”

A. That        B. 不填        C. Since          D. For

此题选A，若将其补充完整，即为：That her son passed the college entrance examinations made her so happy.

(2) “What made you so upset?” “_________ my wallet.”

A. Lost        B. Losing       C. Having lost     D. Being lost

此题选B，若将其补充完整，即为：Losing my wallet made me so upset.

(3) “What did she tell you?” “_________ she would be late”

A. That        B. When         C. Where       D. Whether

此题选A，若将其补充完整，即为：She told me that she would be late.

2. I want to improve my English, but I don’t know _________. What can you suggest?

A. when       B. how        C. why       D. where

分析：此题应选 B，其余三项均有可能误选，其实此句为省略句，若将此句补充完整，即为：…but I don’t know how to improve my English. 请看以下类似试题：

(1) I think the door is locked, but I’d better go and make sure it _________.

A. does        B. has         C. was               D. is

答案选D，为 …and make sure it is locked 之省略。

(2) Dr Black comes from either Oxford or Cambridge. I can’t remember _________.

A. where      B. there       C. which             D. that

答案选C，为I can’t remember which city he comes from 之省略。

(3) He didn’t sell half as many computers as he thought he _________.

A. had        B. was        C. would              D. sold

答案选C，为He didn’t sell half as many computers as he thought he would sell 之省略。