商务英语阅读技巧：句子段落

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英美经济贸易报刊文章与其他类型报刊文章除在所涉及的内容和专业词汇上有所不同之外，在句子与段落的连接方法上基本一致。其连接手段可主要归纳为以下四种：上下文句子间内容的内在联系；替代；省略和采用连接词。

1. 上下文句子间内容的内在联系：

例：So far, the national trends in costs for wages, salaries, and benefits have glossed over these concerns. The growth in labor costs continued to slow in the second quarter - a pattern that held true in all major regions. However, the slowdown in labor costs is due solely to sharp cutbacks in what companies, mainly large corporations, are paying for benefits, which make up about a fourth of total compensation costs nationally. Because of slower growth in health care costs, workers' compensation, and state unemployment insurance, benefits grew only 2.6% during the past year, the lowest pace on record.

在这一段落中，作者用了五个cost。虽然每一句中的cost未必是前一句中同一词的简单重复，但都与labor cost 相吻合，使整个段落所表达的内容连贯地表述出来。第一句和第二句提出劳工费用问题，第三句提出原因，最后一句阐述了劳工费用增加所生产的后果，意思层层加深，彼此相衔接。

2. 替代

例：But since few have marked down their own prices in line with the metal's fall, they will be able to recoup much of the difference. Not so the producers, whose income is directly related to the fluctuating daily price on the London Metal Exchange.
但由于迄今没有几家公司按照金属价格的下跌程度来降低价格，他们将能够获得差价的大部分收益。但是生产商家却不是这样，他们的收入与伦敦金属交易所的每月浮动价格直接相关。

这里so代替了to recoup much of the difference.

3. 省略

例：The Japanese have their electronics, the Germans their engineering. But when it comes to command of global markets, the U.S. owns the service sector.
日本人占有电器市场，德国人占有工程市场。但谈及全球市场的占有量时，美国拥有服务市场。

第一句the Germans后面省略了have一词。

例：Meanwhile, pressure has been growing from the car companies. GM ships about 60% of its cars and trucks with Ryder, while Chrysler ships some 40%.
与此同时，汽车公司方面的压力在不断增大。通用公司60％的轿车和卡车由莱德公司拖运，而克莱斯勒公司也需该公司拖运其40％的车辆。

最后一句结尾some 40% 后面省略了of its cars and trucks.

4. 连接词

介词和副词常在句子和段落间起衔接作用，把句子和段落间的意思连贯地表述出来。西方经贸报刊中用于承上启下的连接词可表示对比，如：but, however, whereas等；表示原因，如：since, because, due to等；表示结果，如：with；表示目的，如：so that, in order to等；表示时间发展的先后顺序，如：first, second, next, then等，以及表示情况的内在联系，如：and, as well as, in the case等。

例：Still, August's strong output gains don't look sustainable.
而8月份强劲的生产量增长趋势不会持续下去。

First of all, current modest demand growth will not support any more increases that large. Second, now that manufacturers have worked to get their inventories lower, they will be cautious about adding goods in coming months.
首先，目前较小的需求增长不需要如此大的生产增长额。此外，既然生产企业已经设法去压低其库存量，所以他们对今后几个月增加生产一事持谨慎态度。