英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点 〔Abstract〕HeadlinesarequiteessentialforEnglishnews。Theyarethewindowsofnews。Thispaperdescribesthetypesofheadlinesandalsoexplainsthefeaturesofheadlines。Firstly,introductionofclassificationsofheadlinescangivereadersaperceptualknowledge。Secondly,inordertogivereaderssomerationalknowledgeaboutheadlines,thispaperthenexplainscharacteristicsofvocabulariesinheadlines,ie。shortwords,shortenings,quotations,proverbs,wisdoms,idiomsareoftenusedinheadline。Italsogivesexamplesofrhetoricalcharacteristicssuchasmetaphor,contrast,rhyme,pun,metonymyandparadoxandsoonsoforth。Finallythepaperconcludestenseandvoicefeaturesinheadlinesandsumsupthemostimportantfeatureofheadlines:omission。Newsmediaisthebestchannelofknowingeveryfieldincludingpolitics,economics,science,culture,andsociety。ThispaperaimstohelpEnglishlearnersknowEnglishnewswellandreadnewsefficiently。 〔KeyWords〕English;headline;feature 【摘要】英语新闻标题在报刊英语中占有十分重要的地位,可谓是新闻的概要,也是新闻的窗口。本文就新闻标题进行了全面的归类和分析。首先,描述标题在形式上的分类和意义上的分类,让读者对新闻标题有一定的感性认识;然后再进一步说明标题用词短小,喜欢用缩略词和截短词及典故;再对新闻标题善用各种修辞手段:比喻,对比,押韵,双关,借代,矛盾修辞法进行举例分析;又归纳了时态语态在新闻标题中的变换省略和替代;最后对新闻标题最大的特色:省略详加叙述。至此,希望读者已经对英语新闻标题有了理性深入的了解。阅读新闻是对了解当今政治,经济,科学,文化,和社会等信息最有效的方法,而对英语新闻标题的理解掌握,则使英语新闻的阅读更有效率。 【关键词】英语;新闻标题;特点 1。Introduction Apieceofnewsiscomposedbythreeparts:headline,leadingandbodyamongwhichaheadlineistheepitomeandhighlightofthecontentofnewspapersandperiodicals。 Headlinesprintedonthepapersarethewindowsofthenewsanditcanletreadersknowitisworthreading。itisessentialforreaderstounderstandheadlinestodecidewhichcolumnshouldbereadwhilewhichnot。 Inthispaper,featuresofusingvocabulary,tenseandvoice,omissionofwordsandusingofvariousrhetoricofheadlinesfromEnglishnewspapersandperiodicalsareapproachedforthepurposeofgivingabetterunderstandingofthecontentsofnewsandimprovingEnglishlearners’readingability。 2。Typesofheadlines 2。1Categoriesaccordingtotheirforms。 2。1。1flushleftheadline Inaflushleftheadline,everywordtakesuponelineandbeginsattheveryleft。ThatisthecommonformofmodernEnglishnewspapers。Thefollowingexamplecanshowyouwhatisaflushleftheadline。 e。g。IMF WILL HAVE SAYEveryheadlinewordinitislargeandboldandthewholeheadlineoftencoversseveralcolumns。Itisalsocalledfirstlargeheadlineandoftenusedinfrontpageforitsattraction。 e。g。HousePassesBushPlantoCutTaxes 2。1。3dropformheadline Itlookslikealadder。Thereareseverallinesinitandthefollowinglinedrawsbackseverallettersfromtheaboveone。Beautyandniceareitsmerits。 e。g。FBIAgreestoCease ItsIllegalSurveillance OftheResearchInstitute 2。1。4InvertedPyramidheadline Itisalsopopularfornicelooking。ItformsaPyramidlookingheadline。 e。g。FactoryWalkout ThreatOver Sacking 2。1。5Doubleheadline Thiskindofheadlineisusedmostlyforthereportofbigevents。Ithastwolines:oneismainheadlineandtheotherauxiliaryheadline。 (1)e。g。1ExpecttoGotoU。S。 CastrotoFreeThousandsofPrisoners (2)e。g。2ItIsn’ttheCowThatAreMad It’sthePeopleThatAregoingMad 2。1。6Jumpheadheadline Theheadlineispidedintotwoparts:originalheadandjumphead。Aoriginalpartisinonepage,butafterthebodyjumpspages,theoriginalheadwillbechangedintoajumpheadwhichusesdifferentwordsfromoriginalonetoexpressthesamemeaning。 e。g。Pentagen英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点Plans SystemtoFlight RussiaSatellites (original) U。S。PlansWeapon AgainstSatellites (jumphead) 2。2Categoriesaccordingtotheirmeanings 2。2。1Straitheadline Thiskindofheadlinetellsusstraitaboutthesubjectsofnews。Thisisthemostcommononeandiseasytounderstand。 (1)e。g。1RailroadWorkersStrikeinArgentina。 (2)e。g。2ManJailedforMurder (3)e。g。3OilTankerFire 2。2。2Questioningheadline Questionmarksoftenbeseeninthiskindofheadlinesbutmostofthemdonothavemeaningsofquestioning。Theyoftengiveaclueofpossibilityorwriter’sdoubtabouttherealityofsomefacts。 (1)e。g。OilPricetoRise? (2)e。g。NewCabinetToday? (3)e。g。JonesPlannedtoKillBush? (4)e。g。PoliceAllowedJailBreak? 2。2。3Featureheadline Itisoftentousefeatureheadlinewhenapieceofnewsisunusualorreaderswillbequiteinterestedinit。Suchheadlinesarenoteasytounderstand,sometimesthewholenewsshouldberead。 (1)e。g。DownintheMouth,NewsforDentists。 Thisreportisaboutakindofvaccine,whichisstudiedoutandwillbeusedforpreventingteethdecay。 (2)e。g。、TheManWhoReignoverUK’sQueen Reignmeansruleoveranditisonlyusedforaqueenoraking。Sotheconnectionofmanandreignmaygetreadersconfused,thentheymaybeeagertofindwhy。Notuntilthewholenewsareread。TheyfindthemanisjustacaptainofashipnamedQueenMary。 2。2。4。Orationheadline Thiskindofheadlinecanbepidedinto: ()Useofsayingsasheadlines e。g。WeOweOurLivestoOurPilot ()Quotewordsfrominterviewersorreportersorotherpeopleheardbywriters。 (1)e。g。WeHavetoSaveOurPeople (2)e。g。Wewon’tQuit ()Chooseonesentence,somewordsoronewordfromthewholenewsasaheadline。 (1)e。g。IHaveADream (2)e。g。MugwumpBritain MugwumpBritaincriticizeBritainisadoubledealer。SheatonehandkeepsaspecialrelationshipwithU。S。butattheotherhandsheclaimstobeasidewithwestEurope。 ()Somewordsinaheadlinewithquotationmarksareusuallynottheiroriginalmeanings。 e。g。NorseInvasion TheheadlinedoesnotindicatetheinvasionbynorthEuropeinancient。ItreallytellsthatNorwaymengoshoppingandtouringinalargegroupasinvasion。Sothissocalledinvasionisnotitsoriginalmeaning。 3。Featuresofusingvocabulariesinheadlines Headlinesofnewstendtousespecialwordswhichweallknowindailybutmaygetconfusedwhenmeettheminnews。 3。1Shortwordsareoftenused。 Editorsdisgustlongwordsbadlywhichnotonlytakeuplinesbutalsoseemedugly。Forthesakeofniceandbalance,editorslikeshortwordstogeneralizenews。 e。g。aidassistancefoeopponent;enemy bidattemptnabcapture pactagreementwedmarry probeinvestigationrapaccusation,charge routdefeat,completelysetready Ithasbeenlastingseveralyearstouseshortwordsinnewsheadlines。Mncken,anAmericanlinguist,said‘itistheoutstandingcharacteristicofusingveryshortwordsinheadlines。’inhiswork‘AmericanEnglish’。SimilarexamplesasabovearesomanyinmodernEnglishnewspapers。〔1〕p48 Itisworthsayingthatsinglesyllablesbeginningwithexplodeareusedmoreforitsshortnessandpower,suchasbid,bust,pop,cut,chop,kill,curb,gut,mug。ManyofthevocabulariesinheadlinesareAngloSaxsonwordswhichareoral,simple,plainandlively。What’smore,theyhavebeenacceptedbythepublic。〔2〕p48 YetvocabulariesofEnglishheadlinessometimestendtoshortsothattheylackofaccuracy。Thatshouldnotbelearned。〔3〕p48 3。2Useofshorteningswidely。 InEnglish,therearethreekindsofshortenings:acronyms,alphabetismsandclippings,whichare英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点widelyusedinheadlinesfortheirshortnessandconciseness。 (2)e。g。MergerHelpsChryslerCEO (Autoautomobilecompany,Mmillion,CEOChiefExecutiveOfficer) 3。3Useofliteraryquotations,proverbs,wisdoms,idioms。 Terry。L。Fredenkson,inhisJournalEnglishhesaididiomsarefullofheadlines。Theyareusedwidelyaswellaschangedtheirformsveryoftentogiveasenseofbeinghumorandalive。 (1)e。g。AllRoadstoVenice (ChangingformofallroadsleadtoRome) (2)e。g。FarewelltoArms Ittellsaboutthecommunistparty’ssecretaryofsovietunionadvisedUSpresidenttodestroynuclearweaponscompletely。Itquotesthenameofafamousbook,AFareWelltoArms。 (3)e。gRefugeesinDiceStraits Indicestraitsisanidiommeansinadifficultordangeroussituation。 3。4Useofneologismandforeignwords Thiskindofuncommonwordcanalsostrikestheeye。Editorsknowreadersareunfamiliarwiththesewords,sotheyalwaysgiveexplanationinacontext。Neologismandforeignwordsalwaysconnectedwithplacesandcontentsthatarereported。 (1)e。g。YenbenefitsfromEuropeanfunds YenisJapanesemonitoryunit。 (2)e。g。‘Beriozka’bringsRussianForkDance BerioakaisRussianBeriozka(birchtree)Company 3。5Newwordsandwrongspellings Togiveastrikingandfreshfeeling,editorstendtousenewwordsandwrongspellings。 (1)e。g。TheOrangemostestDrinkintheWorld Orangemostestismadeupbyorangemostest,mostandestarebothusedtogethertostressthequalityoftheorangedrink。 (2)e。g。WeKnowEggsactlyHowtoSellEggs Eggsactlyisasimilarsoundofexactlyandrelativetoeggs。Thisuniquewordformationgamecandoubtlesslycatchreaders’eyes。〔4〕p115 3。6Imitation 3。6。1Changletters Thisistheeasiestwaytoimitationbychanginglettersofawordorsomewordswearefamiliarwith。 e。g。ManBehavingDadly ThetextintroducesanEnglishTVprogramManBehavingBadlyinwhichthelastscreenshowsabadmangotasonandbecomeadad,sothewriterreplacethebadlyintodadly。 3。6。2Addletters e。g。Gooooooal!ButPitytheGuyBetweenthePosts AddfiveOandthepictureofkickinginishere。 3。6。3Addhyphens Ahyphencanpideawordintotwoparts,fromwhichnewsenseappears。 e。g。CatastrophicMistakeoverFishyMisery 4。Usingofrhetoricinheadlines。 Thiskindofheadlinesusevariousrhetoricmeanstoattractreaders。 4。1Metaphor e。g。AHouseinTwoParts ThisisaheadlineofareportdiscussingCanadiancountrysystem。Thisreportintroducemainexistingdifferencesinlanguage,law,culturalandconceptbetweenEnglishspeakingCanadaandFrenchspeakingCanada。TherebyillustratetheunsteadyofCanadiansystem。AHouseinTwoPartissuitableaswellasvivid。 4。2Contrast e。g。U。S。isLongonGameShows,ShortonForeignNews ThisisapressonU。S。TVprogram。Itisdistinctlycontrastandirony。 4。3AlliterationandConsonance (1)e。g。SoldiersSalarySoars Sisthebeginningletterofeverywords,andthisisalliterate。 (2)e。gTheGreatWhiteWait’’ Ine。g2。whiteindicatesnowandletterTistherhymeendingofthreewords。〔5〕p36 Alliterationandrhymeheresoundswellandgiveaspecialatmospheretocatchreaderseyes。〔6〕p139 4。4Puns Punsareofteninirony,humorousheadlines。Iftheyareusedproperthistrendwouldbestronger。 (1)e。g。TheSunSetsFortheLastTime IttellsusanEnglishnewspaperinHongKongcalledsunisstopcomingout。The‘sun’hereisapun。〔7〕p111 (2)e。g。AfricanStatesmanStillSowingSeedsforFuture ThisreportisaboutJuliusNyerere,presidentofTansonia,whoissowingseedshappilyinhishometownwhereisfarfrombigcitiesafterretired。ButAf英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点ricaisunsteadythusmanyinternationalleadersgoallthewaytolearnfromhimthewaysofsavingacountry。SoheisstillsowingseedsforthefutureofAfrica。‘Sowingseeds’isapuninthisheadline。〔8〕p349 4。5Metonymy Whenusingmetonymy,thepersonorthethingawriterwanttowritearenotshowndirectlyinaheadline,butbyborrowingotherthingsconnectedtoindicatethemindirectly。 (1)e。g。ARoyalPainFortheCrown HerecrownisnottherealcrownbutindicatetheQueen。 (2)e。g。UncleSam’sIsland UncleSamisnearlyknowntoall。ItisanotherinformalsayingsofAmericangovernmentorAmericans。 Metonymycanavoidrepeatingcertainwordsandstrengthentheaffection,soitisusedlargelyinmodernnewspaper,evensomeofmetonymiesbecometobepublicwords,suchasWhiteHouse,BuckingHamPalace,DowningStreet,MotorCity,andsoon。 4。6Paradox (1)e。g。:ForRamadan,JerusalemisQuietbutTense (安静却不平静,斋月期间的耶路撒冷) (2)e。g。SurgeryWithouttheSurgery?! (动手术不用刀了?!) Aparadoxcanmakereadersthinkfromtwosidewaysandletthemunderstandnewsdeeply。Tounderstandthiskindofheadlinewellweshouldchewthemtwiceorevenmore。 5。Tenseandvoiceofheadline Verbsshowactions。Apieceofnewswillbereinforcedandanimousifaverbisusedproperly。Asforourforeignreaders,althoughitsmerits,itismoredifficulttounderstand。Verbshavetheirowntenses。Soareonesinheadlines。Butheadlinesmustshortandaccurate,sotheverbsinthemhavespecialtenseshowingmethods。Englishheadlinesdonotusepasttensebutpresenttense,thusreadersfeeltheyareinthesituationandthenewsisintime,thiscalledJournalisticPresentTense,thesameasHistoricalPresentTenseinliterature。Aboveall,headlinesoftenusethreekindoftense。 5。1Useofthesimplepresenttense (1)e。g。wegetupatsix (Theyusuallydoasthis。) (2)e。g。Sheisanurse (Presentsituation。) Innews,presenttenseisoftenusedtodescribethingshappenedjustnow,thatistosay,itisusedtoinsteadofpasttense。 Englishlearnersshouldpayattentiontothissituation,donotconsiderpresenttenseinheadlinesastheyusuallyare。 e。g。ComebackGivesChinaASensationalThomasCapWin (TheComebackgaveChinaasensationalThomasCupWin。) 5。2Useofthesimplefuturetense Thesimplefuturetensedescribesthingswillbehappeninthefuture。Theformsoffuturetensearewill(shall)do,begoingtodobetodobeabouttodoandsoon。ButinEnglishheadlinesbetodoforminwhichbeisomittedisusedmost。Soinheadlinestodoformsexpresswriters’predictionoffuturetrends。 (1)e。g。BandstoGatherForJazzFestival (BandsaretogatherforJazzFestival。) (2)e。g。LastTwoIraqHostagestoGoFree (ThelasttwohostagesinIraqaretoGoFree。) 5。3Useofthepresentprogressivetense PresentProgressiveTenseemphasizescertainthingisdoingatpresenttimeanditsresultisnotknownatnow。Alsobeisusuallyomittedfortheneedofshortness。 (1)e。g。SinoBritishPartnershipProgressing (SinoBritishPartnershipisProgressing) (2)e。g。SignsofRiftsAppearinginArgentina’sJunta (ThesignsofriftsareappearinginArgentina’sJunta。) 英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点5。4Useofpassivevoice Whenverbsinheadlinesshouldusepassivevoice,thebeinbeparticipleformandtheoperatorfollowedbyareusuallyomitted。Thustheonlyleftpastparticiplecangiveapassivemeaningdirectlyinheadlines,learnersmustnotconfusedpassivevoiceaspasttense。 (1)e。g。DemolitionRegulationWelcomed (Demolitionregulationiswelcomed。) (2)e。g。Girlof18RapedafterThreatwithBreadKnife (Agirlof18wasrapedaftersheisthreatedwithabreadknife。) (3)e。g。12ReportedKilledinaSuicideBomb (Itwasreportedthat12personwaskilledinasuicidebomb。) Infact,afterlearnersreadmore,theywillfondactivevoiceisusedfarmorethanpassivevoice。Onlywhenobjectisemphasize,passivevoiceisused。〔9〕p80Pleasepayattentiontothis。 Tenseandvoiceofaheadlinecanbeconcludedinonesentence,presentparticiplecanexpresstheprogressivemeaning,pastparticiplethepassivevoice,infinitiveformthefuturetense。 (1)e。g。GunSafetyEducationFacingManyHurdles (2)e。g。AircraftCarrierNamedAfterPresidentReagan (3)e。g。HouseToVoteonErgonomicsRules Aswereadtheseheadlineshowcanwedistinguishwhatkindoftenseandvoicethepresentparticiple,infiniteandpastparticipleindicate?Firstly,learnerscandecidebytheirknowledge。Secondlyleadingcanbereadforfurtherunderstanding。 Itshouldbenotedthatothertenseattimesareusedinorationorquestionheadlines。 (1)e。g。IWasNotHisMistress (2)e。g。WeWon’tQuit (3)e。g。TonesPlannedtoKillBush? Thesetensesmainlyusedtoemphasizethetime。 6。OmissioninHeadlines Economyandcompressionarethemostimportantfeaturesofheadlines。〔10〕p108Inordertomeettheneedoflargeamountofinformationinmodernsociety,Englishnewspapereditorsatonehandenlargetheirvolume,addingmoreinformation,attheotherhandcuttingthenumberofwordsinonepieceofnewstosaveplacebutcontainmoreinformation。Thatiswhythefunctionwordshavingnorealmeaningsarealltendtobeelectedinheadlines。 Waysofomissionarevarious: 6。1Mostofthewordsdeletedarefunctionwords。 Thedeletedwordsareoftenarticles,linkverbs,prepositions,conjunctions,auxiliarywordsandpronouns。〔11〕p341 (1)e。g。ChinaHappyForMiddleEast (Chinahappyforthemiddleeast。) (2)e。g。Charles,32SeeksBride (PrinceCharles,whois32yearsold,islookingforsomeonetomarry。) (3)e。g。Microsoft,EricssonFormingJointVenture (MicrosoftandEricssonformingjointventure。) (4)e。g。AlaskanOilforJapan? (WilltherebealaskanoilforJapan?) (5)e。g。IrishGroupKillsexchief (TheIrishgroupkillsitsexchief。) Whereasnotallofthearticlescanbeomitted。 (1)e。g。WestPointMakesaComeback Makeacomebackisanidiomsoamustberemained。 (2)e。g。HowAmericaSeestheWorld。 Infrontofworldtheremustbeathe。 (3)e。g。KillInTheNameOfGod Theshouldbehereforthesakeofdefinitconnection。 6。2Usepunctuationstosavepages (1)e。g。Tailand,MalaysiaInkSeareaty。 (TailandandMalaysiainkaseatreaty。) (2)e。g。WomanKillsHusband,Self (Awomankillsherhusbandandherself。) 6。2。2Useofcolon Saidorsaycanbeinsteadbycolonsordoublequotationmarkstogiveameaningthatsomeonesayssomethingorsomeconclusionsaredrawn; tobesometimesisreplacedbyacoloninheadlines。 (1)e。g。Hu:WeShouldSupportThirdWorldCountries (Husaysthatweshouldsupportthethirdworldcounties。) (2)e。g。Chinesecooks:mastersatturningaturnipintoaflower。 (Chinesecooksaremastersatturningaturnipintoaflower。) 6。2。3Useofsinglequotationmarks Singlequotationmarksca英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点英语新闻标题的特点nquotesomeone’ssaying;orthewordsinsideofthemhaveadeeporothermeanings。Singlequotationmarksareofteninsteadofdoublequotationmarksfortheyareshorter。 (1)e。g。TeenKillerWasAngryYoungMan。 (2)e。g。ChinaDemandsU。S。Stop‘Interfering’onHumanRights (3)e。g。BushUnveilsA‘CanDo’Budget。 6。3Tosavepages,abbreviationsandacronymsareused。 6。3。1。Abbreviations Theabbreviationsoftenreadinheadlinesarelikefollows: Afr。Africaapp。appendix Amt。amountappox。approximately 6。3。2。AcronymsAcronymscanbepidedintothreetypes: ()NamesofagentsororganizationssuchasCPPCC(TheChinesepeople’spoliticalconsultativeconference)andPLO,WTO ()NamesofsomethingthatweuseveryoftensuchasAIDS,UFO,PC ()Nounsforcareers,positionsorcreditslikePM(primeminister),MP(memberofparliament),GM(generalmanager),PA(personalassistant)。 6。4Usingnouns,participlesandshortadjectivetoembellishwordstoreplacelongadjectiveorclauses。 (1)e。g。PoisonGasFearHauntsCity (Afearofpoisongasishauntingthepeopleinacertaincity。) (2)e。g。3HeldOverCollegeHorrorCrash (3peoplearebeingdetainedbythepoliceconcerningahorrifyingcrashatacollege。) 6。5Useofnumbersbutwithoutofthefollowingnouns。 (1)e。g。41DieasSchoolCollapses (41studentsdieasschoolcollapses) (2)e。g。Mullerchargedinfondlingofboy,14 (Mullerwaschargedinfondlingofaboyof14yearsold。) 7。Conclusion Aboveall,inafastchangingworld,newsmediaisthebestchannelofknowingeveryfieldincludingpolitics,economics,science,culture,andsociety。ToreadEnglishnewsisthebestwaytogetintouchwithmodernEnglishandunderstandingheadlineswellcanhelpreaderscomprehendthewholenewsandthusreadnewsefficiently。Thoughitbenefitsyoualot,tounderstandheadlinesisnotsuchaseasyasABC。Ifyouarereallyeagertoknowwellofheadlines,thehistoryandculturesofEnglishcountries,theworksofEnglishwriters’,theEnglishidiomsandwisdomsthatallthesekindsofknowledgeshouldbemastered。Thisneedsyouworkhardandpersevere。 Note Exceptforthosemarkedinreferences,theotherexamplesareselectedfromEnglishDigest,EnglishSalonandChinaDailyinrecentyears。 References〔2〕同〔1〕 〔3〕同〔1〕 〔4〕王今生。英文的标题语言〔J〕。黑龙江教育学院学报,2002,1 〔5〕许菊。英语报刊标题的美感功能的表现手法及翻译〔J〕。山东外语教学,1999,4 〔6〕孙玉芝。谈英语新闻标题的特点〔J〕。辽宁师专学报,2001。1 〔7〕孙崇英,常天龙。英语报刊标题特色浅析〔J〕。淮阴师专学报,1997,3 〔8〕林林。英语新闻标题的修辞与翻译〔J〕。辽宁师专学报,2004,1 〔9〕李万敬,马苏勇。如何读懂英美报刊的标题〔J〕。兵团教育学院学报,2001,1〔11〕王玉龙,吴建清主编。新闻英语〔M〕。北京国防工业出版社,2005,9 〔12〕同〔6〕 〔13〕沈志和。英语新闻标题研究〔J〕。柳州师专学报,2003,9P