About this year's controversy 'Mango'
' There has been a great deal of controversy over the interpretation of the first text on the Area of Study Standard and Advanced paper.
The question asked ‘explain how the poet conveys delight of discovery?’The general background that appears to be behind the controversy that arose seems to be a belief that the poet did not give permission for the poem to be published, the poem, it is said, is about rape and students criticized the poem.That is all, it seems, unfortunate. However that is not the issue I have been asked to consider.
To answer any question in paper 1 (focus study) it is necessary to use the question as stated and then consider how the text uses language or visual techniques and what components of the rubric are present in the text.
All poems are subject to interpretation and unless very obvious information is provided then any group of people will form different views. In the HSC exam it is techniques and rubric that concern the marker.In this poem the first thing to note is that there are no capital letters or full stops. The technique is syntax (the deliberate choice of words and punctuation). It could be argued that the absence of full stops is close to enjambment and the absence of conjunctions creates asyndeton. All of these techniques create a sense of urgency and excitement which, it seems reasonable and correct to ague, with the mass of information about objects produces a sense of ‘ delight of discovery’.
The rubric states.
Discovery can encompass the experience of discovering something for the first time or rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed. Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected, or they can emerge from a process of deliberate and careful planning evoked by curiosity, necessity or wonder. Discoveries can be fresh and intensely meaningful in ways that may be emotional, creative, intellectual, physical and spiritual. They can also be confronting and provocative. They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities. They can lead us to new worlds and values, stimulate new ideas, and enable us to speculate about future possibilities. An individual’s discoveries and their process of discovering can vary according to personal, cultural,historical and social contexts.
To answer the question it is necessary to write that the poem is concerned with;‘rediscovering something that has been lost, forgotten or concealed.’ Because the persona is eight, the poem states, and it would seem that this persona is now older and is looking back at the events.‘discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical and social contexts.’ This would be a response that applies to most texts because of context.The significant word in the question is delight. That word does not appear in the rubric but wonder does, as do physical and provocative. These words could be invoked in the answer.The other texts and the answers to the questions asked about them require the same focus on technique and rubric. Q2 uses ‘journey’ and Q3 ‘speculation’.
The best approach is to know the rubric (totally) and apply the significant words in the question to the rubric and, effectively, find a match to the idea in the rubric. The imaginative writing prompts were not difficult if you know the rubric and can look for an association between the rubric and the prompt.
Use language techniques, the senses and colour and have written a number of imaginative pieces about discovery that (I would suggest) are based on your own experience or a family member’s experience.Remember the question asks for ‘imaginative ‘. It does not say ‘tell a story’. You could write a poem , a newspaper article, a feature article or any other type of text. You could write a response that includes more than one type of text.In conclusion: Know the rubric, know your texts and have written many practice essays and have them assessed by someone who knows the rubric and knows the texts and what the intent of the rubric is.''
- Written by Mr Bruce Andrew (Harry's Education Centre)
中译：2017英语高考卷‘芒果’一文的评论
想必大家都对此次高考英文卷中网上引发争议的‘芒果’一文有所耳闻。因此诗首先未经诗人同意，作为考试文本发表；再次这首诗的暗义是有关儿童受强奸的经历。而考题要求考生就此诗诠释“ 诗人是如何表达发现的喜悦？”
文章原题是这样的：
Text 1 — Poem (a) Explain how the poet conveys the delight of discovery.
解释以下诗词是如何传达愉悦的新发现。
那是否考卷就是要求考生推断出诗词的背景？显然，这不是被要求考虑的问题。
作为考生，应对考题文本中所提出的任何问题，先要细细品位考题问的是什么？然后考虑文本是如何运用语言或视觉艺术让读者去阐述其中的含意。这也是阅卷人评卷的本意。所有的诗歌都含诗人原本的寓意，但因为读者人群的不同，会有对其不同的理解。
在这首诗中要注意的第一件事是全文没有大写字母或句号。 该技术是英文语法（字和标点的刻意选择）。 可以认为，因为没有句子的停顿（enjambment），没有连词的创造（asyndeton），诗人运用这些语言技巧去营造一种紧迫感和兴奋感，从而是读者对诗词中产生的大量信息由发出一种‘发现的乐趣’(delight of discovery)。
对 "发现"(discovery) 的定义
发现可以包括第一次发现某些东西的经历，或者重新发现丢失，遗忘或隐藏的东西。 发现可能是突然的，意外的，也可能是由好奇心，必然性或者奇观所引发的仔细窥探的过程。 发现可以是新鲜和强烈的含义，可能是一种情感，创意，智慧，身心和精神。 它们也可能是一种挑衅。 发现可以引导我们去探索新的世界和价值观，激发新的想法，使我们能够推测未来的可能性。而一个人的发现或他/她在探索发现的过程可以根据个人， 文化 ，历史，和社会背景产生不一样的认知。
重读此诗，读者还不难发现：
“ 这首诗背景很可能是发生在过去，因为诗中提到主人公的年龄是八岁，而主人公现在应以长大，回顾之前丢失，遗忘，或者是隐瞒的过往成事。
请记住“ 发现可根据个人，文化，历史和社会背景而有所不同 。”这将是一个适用于大多数对考试文本的回应。
此外，引起争议的是考题中的显著的‘喜悦’一词。 此词没有出现在诗词中，另考生无从入手，不知如何去阐述对‘喜悦’一词的理解。而其实在诗词末诗人已对此的来源给了答案。
其实，如果你能读懂考题，并且可以在考题和提示之间寻找联系。 运用语言技巧，感官和颜色， 并平时依据自己或家庭成员的经历，写一些有关发现为主题，富有想象力的作品（ 我的建议），那么撰写一个富有想象力的写作就不难了。
注意：这个考题的要求是“发挥想象力”，而不是说'给写个故事'。 你可以写一首诗， 报纸文章，特刊或任何其他类型的文本。 您甚至可以编写一个包含多种文本类型的考题回复。
总结：应对考试，先要理解这些考试问题的意图，了解你所学的文章，并平时养成积累，撰写大量的练习文章，及时由专业的老师对你所撰的文稿进行评估，就可以做到 "考前不慌，考中不忘，考后不伤"。
