The Ministry of Education's "Standards for Ordinary High School Chinese Curriculum" (2017 edition revised in 2020) sets up 18 learning task groups based on the core qualities of "language construction and application", "thinking development and improvement", "aesthetic appreciation and creation", and "cultural inheritance and understanding", and juxtaposes "whole book reading and discussion" at the top of the task group.
Standards for General High School Chinese Curriculum
As a classic representative of the ancient Chinese Zhanghui novel, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is embedded in the seventh unit of the "Reading and Discussion of the Whole Book" under the compulsory textbook of "High School Language", and obviously has the tendency to enter the scope of the college entrance examination language test. Therefore, the reading of the whole book of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the responsibility of basic education in the new era to high school language education, and it is also the content that should be focused on in literary education and literary research in colleges and universities.
The two sides work together, and while promoting the reading and discussion of the entire book "Dream of the Red Chamber" at the high school level, we should also think and explore a question: as a test of literary reading literacy and level, what aspects should be studied and how to design test questions?
In daily life, the reading of novel literature is a relatively happy thing; but in the language test, the novel genre is not easy to enter the scope of the question because of its rich content and relatively long article system, especially the long novel, under the immersion of the long-term test-taking education atmosphere, it is a work that candidates have less time and interest in reading, and it is also an object that test experts do not easily choose.
But "Dream of the Red Chamber" seems to be an exception. Judging from the college entrance examination materials collected by the author so far, "Dream of the Red Chamber" began to enter the college entrance examination language examination paper at the latest in 2004, and in the 18 years from 2004 to 2021, there were at least 8 provinces and cities with "Dream of the Red Chamber" as the content of the college entrance examination language test, and the number of questions was as many as 40.
With the exception of 2005, when there were no questions, the years with the lowest number of questions were 2006 and 2015, 1 each, and the highest number of questions, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2020, each had four questions.
In the 13 years from 2008 to 2020, 1 question was from "Dream of the Red Chamber"; followed by the Beijing volume 7 years and 8 questions, and the Fujian volume also had 8 questions, intermittently distributed between 2004 and 2015.
2004 Fujian College Entrance Examination Language Examination Paper
The Fujian volume was the first to start the examination of red questions, and the Tianjin volume was the latest to join the ranks of the examination red. In the college entrance examination test system of a small number of novel styles, there is such a number of "test red" questions, which can see the courage and ability of the propositioner.
Judging from the "Kao Hong" question type, there are mainly single choice questions, multiple choice questions, silent writing questions, short answer questions, micro writing and large writing. The only one big writing question, from the 2004 Fujian volume, has a score of 60 points.
There are certain risks involved in red at 60 points, but the propositioners make a positive balance:
The first is divided into two series, "Characters", "Literary Images", the former has Confucius, Su Shi, Zeng Guofan, Lu Xun, and Stephen Hawking, and the latter includes Cao Cao, Song Jiang, Xue Baochao, Tonya, and Santiago; the second is to choose one of the characters or literary images as a "topic" to write. This provides candidates with a large space for writing freedom from the two dimensions of object and writing.
On the other hand, most of the writing options given by the "Literary Image" series are literary images with rich and complex personalities, and candidates may not have read these works, but it is not easy to grasp the characteristics of the image and write topics. This may be an important reason why almost all the propositional people in the future no longer use big writing to "test red".
"Reading the Red Chamber", edited by Yu Xiaohong, Anhui Education Publishing House, December 2021.
After a year of silence, Hunan Volume took the lead in experimenting with the form of "micro-writing", listing the poems of the two of them, and giving Bao Chao poems two sentences of appreciation text, asking to complete the appreciation of Dai Yu's poems according to the prompts.
The demonstration paragraph is less than 200 words, and the material is also given, the scope is relatively small, and the score is only 6 points, but the appreciation of the poetry of the novel characters is different from the appreciation of the usual poet's poetry, it needs to be related to the temperament and personality of the specific character and even the story to appreciate the connotation of the poem, in the historical stage of not starting the "whole book reading", which is obviously difficult and therefore has certain risks.
Perhaps out of rational cognition of the gains and losses of this propositional form, hunan volumes no longer involve red after the "flash mob". In 2007, Fujian Volume restarted the "Kao Hong" action, changed the way of thinking, and found another way, changing to short answer questions, followed by multiple choice questions, and insisted on until 2015.
Jiangsu volume, as the third provincial volume involved in red, began to adhere for 13 years since 2008, except for 2010, which was a multiple choice question, the remaining 12 years were short answer questions, and the score was between 4-6 points. This attitude reflects the constraints and balance between a clear concept of reading famous books and a prudent college entrance examination test behavior.
Since 2010, Hubei Volume has carefully selected 3-point single-choice questions and 4-point micro-writing four times. Jiangxi Volume also began to explore the water the following year, but it used 3-point single-choice questions all three times.
Since 2014, the Beijing volume has also clearly paid tribute to "Dream of the Red Chamber", and by 2021, it has produced 5 micro-writings, 2 single-choice questions, and 1 short answer question. The only one silent inscription comes from Shanghai, and the Shanghai volume of the good collar era is only involved in popularity once. The "Kao Hong" questions of the Tianjin volume that shanshan came to were all micro-writing.
From the point of view, the single-choice questions are mostly 3 points, and the multiple-choice questions are mostly 5 points; 8 of the 17 short-answer questions are 6 points, 5 times 5 points, 2 times 4 points, 1 time 10 points; micro-writing 5 times 10 points, 3 times 6 points, 2 times 4 points. The regularization of scores reflects the gradual maturity of propositional thinking.
Appreciation of The Poetry and Songs of the Dream of the Red Chamber (Revised Rearrangement)
From the perspective of the test center, there are 12 test questions involving the poetry and song of "Dream of the Red Chamber", followed by the storyline and character personality, 11 each. The test content involved Lin Daiyu the most, 9 times; Jia Baoyu 5 times, Xue Baochao 2 times; "Concave Jingguan Lianshi" 3 times, "Daguanyuan Trial" 2 times; related to the last 40 episodes of 2 times.
This distribution is more in line with the reading reality of high school students. The core literacy of the "curriculum standard" points to the high-level goal of literary reading, but when middle school students read novels, especially long-form blockbusters such as "Dream of the Red Chamber", the first thing they pay attention to is the characters who are close to their age and the stories that arouse their interest in reading, this reading experience is more partial and less holistic, more emotional and less rational, language construction, aesthetic appreciation and thinking development often need to be gradually upgraded to rational cognition in the process of immersive reading.
Therefore, in the earlier stage of the "examination of red", there is indeed a certain risk in the production of test questions that require rational appreciation, comprehensive thinking and induction ability. At this stage, the personality of the main characters, the elements of the key plot, the judgment and the direction of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" are suitable for the content selection of the reading test, while single-choice questions, multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions and open-ended micro-writing may be more stable question types.
Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Founding of the China Dream of the Red Chamber Society, The Collector's Edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber"
When the concept of "Reading the Whole Book of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is gradually recognized by society, and even has become a compulsory course for high school students, the aesthetic appreciation and comprehensive evaluation of the original text, the diversified experience and self-reflection of social life, should enter the research vision of test experts, infiltrate and change the new test question system ideas.
From this point of view, to examine the red questions involved in the college entrance examination in previous years, the overall level of single-choice questions and multiple-choice questions in each volume is relatively high; 70% of the short answer questions are reasonable and moderate, such as a brief description of Bao Dai's reading of the story of "West Chamber", a brief description of the reasons and processes of Wang Xifeng's assistant Ning Guofu, the meaning of "Jinyu Liangyuan" and "Mushi Qianmeng", who is "Youling" and "Gongzi" in the attack sentence, who is the "female film" and summarizes its personality characteristics, etc., of which the two questions of the 2013 Jiangsu volume and the 2020 Beijing volume are particularly good [1]; The micro-writing questions show the level and value of the test question system because they set up a guided reading situation, or require candidates to combine self-experience and cognition to talk about reading the original work, or have the free space for object selection.
The short answer questions for the 2013 Jiangsu volume first outlined the results of the copy inspection of the Grand View Garden, and then asked the question: "Whose mane is it?" What is the attitude of their masters when dealing with the painting and driving away the siqi? ”
On the surface, this question tests the candidate's impression of the belonging and ending of the two ordinary servants in the novel, and the knowledge points are narrow and small, but it actually examines the reader's understanding of the important plot of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the relationship between master and servant, and the character of welcoming Erchun.
There is no doubt that the inspection of the Grand View Garden is one of the "big key" plots of "Dream of the Red Chamber", involving multiple thematic levels [2]. Examining the reading and understanding of this plot is bound to extend to the fuse of the copy inspection and the results of the copy inspection, and both of these are related to Si Qi, and the painting is the mud brought out when pulling the radish, which is used to foil the "chess piece" of Si Qi; Ying Xi Er Chun is an indispensable figure in the Twelve Chao of Jinling, without their existence, the bright can of the Collection of Chao DaiYa and the brilliance of the Tan Chun Li Family can not be prominently displayed.
Dai Dunbang painted "Copy inspection of the Grand View Garden"
The short answer questions in the 2020 Beijing volume first list the Qingwen sentences, and underline the words "the heart is higher than the sky", "dexterity", "slander life", and "amorous prince empty thoughts", requiring "three places to choose from the drawing part of the judgment, each citing a specific plot in the original work to confirm".
Qingwen is the most glorious one in the group portrait of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and is also one of the characters that high school students like very much[3], this question also requires the combination of specific plots to confirm the meaning of the relevant words and sentences of the sentence, summarizing Qingwen's main personality and lifelong encounters, showing the meaning of "overall reading" from the vertical dimension of plot development, so the propositional idea is excellent.
In contrast, some "test red" questions are flawed in moderation and reasonableness. If you ask for the reason for the change in Daiyu's understanding of Baochao according to the forty-fifth time Lin Daiyu's confession of mistakes, this is a bit difficult.
Some test questions first explain that the versions are different and have different texts, and then ask for "from the two aspects of the novel plot and theme, respectively, to explain the basis of 'burial flower soul' and 'burial poetry soul'", which is not appropriate.
As we all know, the "flower soul" and "poetic soul" is a relatively old topic in the red academic circles, whether it is a dispute over written shape or word pronunciation at the version level, that is, whether the word "flower" is mistakenly copied as "dead" and then mistakenly copied as "poetry", or by the word "poetry" mistakenly copied as "dead" and then mistakenly copied as a flower. It is surprising that middle school students reading novel masterpieces do not have to deal with the topic of versionology, but are used for college entrance examination test questions.
Peng Lianxi painted the concave crystal hall joint poem sad and lonely
Looking at the reference answer again, it is even more muted: "The basis of 'Burying the Soul of the Flower': There is an important plot of Daiyu's burial of the flower in the novel; it expresses the destruction of the female spirit in an era." The basis of 'burying the soul of poetry': the novel often has the plot of Daiyu's poetry; it expresses mourning for the demise of poetry. ”
Whose basis does the word "basis" refer to here? Is it the author of the novel, or is it the question that the question points to? Or can the respondent subjectively think about it? Compared with this 6-point short answer question, it is too simple to ask a 2-point single choice question to select the author of the "Cold Moon Burial Flower Soul" verse among Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochao, and Miao Yu.
This phenomenon of "loss of degree" away from the original text is also manifested in the propositional thinking of interpreting the character of the character. For example, a 6-point short answer question requires that according to the sentence "One night the north wind is tight", the image of Wang Xifeng is briefly analyzed, and there is nothing wrong with the stem itself, but the reference answer shows the subjective intention of the question maker, and the sword goes sideways: "The verse is shallow, indicating that its knowledge is shallow; the verse can lead the whole text, indicating that it is intelligent and enlightened, and has a certain leadership ability; the poetic mood is solemn, indicating that it is worried." ”
At a glance, you know that this is three scoring points, 2 points per point. The first sentence is particularly good; the second sentence is also good to read separately, "the verse can lead the whole piece" and "wisdom and enlightenment, there is a certain leadership ability" are objective facts, but there is no causal logical relationship between the two; the third sentence is even more outrageous, if Wang Xifeng is really "worried", and can also express it to the public out of personal will and with the help of chanting, then she is not such a Wang Xifeng who is full of private pockets and does not have much cultural upbringing, but a similar "self-shrewd and self-determined" The Jia Tanchun-style character image has gone.
Another 6-point short answer question requires the analysis of Jia Mu's image characteristics according to the behavior of Jia Mu in the "Scattered Yu Zi Jia Mu Ming Great Righteousness". The proposition involves the last 40 times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and there is not much of a problem, the problem is to refer to the answer: "Do not be alarmed, have a strong personality; handle decisively and have outstanding ability; properly distributed, handle things fairly; light money and heavy righteousness, and consider the overall situation." ”
Stamp "Jia Mu Receives Granddaughter"
If there are 4 points separated by semicolons, then it should be that as long as you write 3 points, you can get a full score, which also leaves room for candidates. Jia Mu, who is at the top of the pagoda of Jia Fu's power and position, is not alarmed and treats things fairly, but using words such as "strong personality" and "outstanding ability" to describe Old Lady Shi is too naïve for such a person who has experienced many storms in life and family, and whose young housekeeper ability is outstanding, and whose old age takes pleasure as the main content of life.
When it comes to micro-writing, there is also a problem of moderation and normativity. Not all open-ended test questions are suitable and valuable, and when juxtaposing such a classical masterpiece as "Dream of the Red Chamber" with 20th century novel masterpieces such as "Scream", "Border City", "Red Rock", "Ordinary World" and foreign masterpieces such as "The Old Man and the Sea", if the same standard is used to test the candidate's reading ability, sometimes there will be a situation that is incompatible with the original work or even alienated from each other.
For example, when testing the understanding of the character image of the novel, the selection criteria of the characters of different famous works are uniformly set to "both sad and lamentable" or "the heart is as clear as water", which will produce a phenomenon of "micro-dislocation". However, "why do you feel sorry" and "what kind of inspiration do you bring" as the selection criteria for character evaluation, but there is no sense of violation at all. This means that when considering "qualitative" words for standards, they also need to consider how well they fit into the original characters.
Gao Ma de painted the red chamber figure
Based on the above analysis, it can be seen that the examination questions of the college entrance examination language volume "Dream of the Red Chamber" since 2004 not only reflect the sincerity and courage of the propositioners who frequently pay tribute to classical masterpieces, intentionally guide the vision and courage of high school students to read thinking, and actively explore the efforts and achievements of the test question types and dimensions; they also present the imbalance in the type of ability and ability level of the test questions in different provinces and cities, and the paradox of the subjectivity and objectivity of the answers to the original reading comprehension test. The openness of writing questions based on the level of understanding and reflection and the moderation of the original intention.
Regarding the test of reading comprehension of "Dream of the Red Chamber", this article only makes a preliminary combing and analysis, and it is inevitable that there will be various problems such as incomplete materials, deep thinking, and poor semantics. Wen is eager to know the new, and pushing the old is the new. After "Reading the Whole Book of "Dream of the Red Chamber" enters the compulsory scope of high school Chinese textbooks, the reading test research of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is bound to become the target category of higher education and basic education.
exegesis:
[1] See Page 194 of "Reading the Red Chamber", "Past College Entrance Examination Language Paper Questions".
[2] Yu Xiaohong, "From the "Copy inspection of the Grand View Garden" to the overall reading view", in Learning Language, No. 5, 2020.
[3] See pages 160-167 of The Red Chamber, "2021 National "Whole Book Reading" Theme Essay Analysis Report".