商务英语阅读句子段落的衔接指导（1）

　　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 to 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 costs of health care， workers‘ compensation， and state unemployment insurance， benefits grew only 2.6% during the past year， the lowest pace in 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。