Opening Paragraphs of Times Supplement News Stories

紐約時報精選周報新聞之起始段落

10.7118/JHSS.200912.0101

謝健雄(Jian-Shiung Shie)

報紙新聞 ； 紐約時報精選周報 ； 文類結構 ； 誘導文 ； 主題文 ； news stories ； the Times supplement ； generic structure ； the hook ； the nut graph

人文暨社會科學期刊

5卷2期（2009 / 12 / 01）

101 - 112

英文

本文探討聯合報與紐約時報共同編輯之精選周報新聞之起始段落，從「誘導文(hook)」、「主題文(nut graph)」的觀點探索其文類結構之特色。作者從該報紙新聞推斷出下列六種起始段落模式：(1)漏斗型、(2)懸疑型、(3)辯證型、(4)三角型、(5)場景型、(6)螺旋型。研究結果顯示誘導文、主題文是報紙軟性新聞文類結構中相當重要的概念。紐約時報精選周報新聞之文類結構有下列二種組合：(1)導言（包括置於前景之主題文）＋本體、(2)誘導文（後置之主題文位於誘導文之後段或之後）＋本體。但第二種組合遠較爲常見，約佔所有紐約時報精選周報新聞的三分之二。這個簡單的文類結構有助於英文報紙軟性新聞之研究，亦可協助台灣英語學習者理解紐約時報精選周報之新聞。

This paper explores organizational patterns of New York Times supplement news stories' opening paragraphs with reference to the hook and the nut graph to show genre-specific features. From the data for this study, six types of news story openings are extrapolated: the funnel opening, suspense opening, dialectic opening, delta opening, scene opening, and spiral opening. The results show that the hook and the nut graph are two key concepts in the generic structure of a Times supplement news story's opening paragraph(s). Taking into account these two important elements, this paper concludes that the generic structure of a Times supplement story includes the following two combinations of elements: (1) the lead (containing the foregrounded nut graph) + the body of the story, and (2) the hook (with the delayed nut graph in or below the hook) + the body of the story. But the second combination is far more common, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the data for the present study. This simple framework can help us approach the generic structure of English soft-news stories and assist Taiwanese EFL learners in their effort to comprehend Times supplement news stories.

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