06专八听原.doc

听力原文2006 Part 1, Listening Comprehension SECTION A MINI-LECTURE Good morning! In todays lecture we shall discuss what meaning is in literary, works. When we read novels, poems, etc. , we invariably ask ourselves a question—that is, what does the writer mean here? In other words, we are interested in finding out the meaning. But meaning is a difficult issue in literature. How do we know what a work of literature is supposed to mean or what its real meaning is? Id like to discuss three ways to explain what meaning is. No. 1, meaning is what is intended by the author. ( Q1) No. 2, meaning is created by and contained in the text itself. And No. 3 , meaning is created by the reader. Now, lets take a look at the first approach—that is, meaning is what is intended by the author. Does a work of literature mean what the author intended to mean? And if so, how can we tell? If all the evidence we have is the text itself and nothing else, we can only guess what ideas the author had according to our understanding of literature and world. In order to have a better idea of what one par?ticular author means in one of his works; I suggest that you do the following: First, go to the library and read other works by the same author. ( Q2) Second get to know something about what sort of meanings seem to be common in literary works in that particular tradition and .at that time. In other words, we need to find out what the literary trends were in those days. ( Q3) And last, get to know what were the cultural values and symbols of the time. I guess you can understand the authors meaning much more clearly after you do the related background research. Now, lets move on to the second approach to meaning—that is, meaning is created by and con?tained in the text itself. Does the meaning exist in the text? Some scholars argue that the formal prop?erties of the text like grammar, diction, uses of image and so on and so forth, contain and produce the meaning, ( Q4) so that any educated or com