代词是具有指示、代替作用的词，可以用来指示或代替人、事物、对象、性质等等，而不用于称名。代词常常按其意义、特征或者在句子中起的作用被划分为不同的种类。英语中的代词可分为人称代词、物主代词、反身代词、指示代词、相互代词、疑问代词、关系代词和不定代词八类(章振邦，2000)。本文将指示代词作为主要讨论对象。

由上可知，指示代词属于代词的一种。作为代词的一个分支，指示代词具有代词的许多特性，例如它也同代词一样，只能用于指示和代替，而无法用于称名。当然指示代词也有着不同于其它代词的个性，比如指示代词可以用来自由地指示或代替人、物、事件、现象、篇章等，在skillful二级以及三级教材中有特定的讲解，并且阅读文章中有大量例子。而人称代词大都用来指示或代替人或动物(第三人称中的“它/它们”与“it/they”除外)。

英语指示代词有两种用法，即指示用法和代替用法。Leech(2006)指出：当英语指示代词后面接名词时，是指示限定词，此时它们具有形容词的特性，如this book，that girl，当作为名词使用时，它们是指示代名词，如“This is his book. These are my parents. Whose shoes are those?”一般来讲，“this、these”表近指，“that、those”表远指。在Skillful Reading and Writing 3 unit 4中介绍了两种代词，一种是人称代词，另一种就是指示物和想法的代词，并且在练习中重点考查了后者，这里的指示物和想法的代词包括this，that，these，those，it，its和there。本文主要讲通过例子来探讨前面六个指示代词在阅读文章中做指示代名词的作用，分别指示或代替人、物、事件、现象、篇章。

（一）指示代词代指事件

1.    A weakness can make a superhero helpless. This is also what makes him or her interesting. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 1 Reading 2)

2.    The superhero often loses but never, ever quits. This is a lesson we can all learn from. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 1 Reading 2)

3.    Most of the foods eaten during the Chinese New Year have symbolic significance. Sometimes this is based on their shape. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 1 Reading 1)

4.    Project Kaisei, a Japanese project which aims to clean up the garbage patch, suggests turning the trash into fuel to burn; however, this would then pollute the atmosphere. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 9 Reading 2)

5.    Wiseman says that when you come upon someone who has charisma, you mimic his or her posture and facial expressions without realizing it. This is called mirroring and it works because to some extent, people’s behavior influences their emotions. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 10 Reading 1)

6.    While this sounds alarming, the chance that Earth will be hit by something large enough to cause worldwide damage during our lifetime is about 1 in 10,000. Those are the same odds of…

代词所指包括前指和后指，这里的this便是典型的前指，也就是指代前文中的内容，而且在这五个例子中this都是指代前面的整句话，可以按照上面的类别归为代替前文的事件。并且在二级以及三级课本中this的这个用法还有很多，这里就不赘述了。同样，those代指的也是前面的事件发生的可能性。这种代指作用主要可以帮助学生解决阅读中找段落主旨的作用。

（二）指示代词代指现象

1. When the water reaches a certain level, it moves a lever, and this shows the hours. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 2 Reading 2)

2. They usually have a light wood frame and are covered with animal skins or mats. This makes it easy to take the tent down and put it up in a new location. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 3 Reading 1)

3. The spirals alternate in opposite directions. This allows a large number of seeds to grow efficiently in a small area. This also allows maximum exposure to moisture, light, and air. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 5 Reading 2)

4. When Herschel saw it with a telescope he had designed and built himself, he realized that it was orbiting (moving around) the sun. This meant that Uranus could be classified as a planet. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 3 Reading 1)

5. Or, if a parent has a fear of heights, it is quite common for their children to also develop a fear of heights. The reason for this is not genetic. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 7 Reading 1)

6. 3. When you see something as an optical illusion, it is because your brain behaves as if the objects in the current images are real, in the same way as images you have seen previously. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 7 Reading 2)

按照上述指示代词的指示作用可以将这五个例子中的this所起到的作用归类为代指前面的现象。在两本教材中，this用来指代现象的情况比其他的多。现象与事件很容易混淆，事件偏向整体的横向发展，现象侧重局部的纵向延伸。需要判断this在文章中代指的部分是哪些，对于解决细节题目会有帮助。

（三）指示代词代指人和物

1. But have you ever considered what and how we eat as a form of communication? Food serves this purpose in two fundamental ways. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 1 Reading 1)（this代指前面what and how we eat as a form of communication）

2. In most cultures, bread represents nourishment. It is also one of the most commonly shared foods in the worlds. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 1 Reading 1)（it代指bread）

3. Critics of vertical farming point out that although crops growing in a tall building would get natural sunlight during the day, it wouldn’t be enough. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 1 Reading 2)（it代指natural sunlight）

4. If a company can use technology to personalize its products and service, it might just gain the loyalty of the least loyal consumers in history.(Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 4 Reading 1)（it代指a company）

5. Since 1901, the world’s tallest building has always been a skyscraper, and until 1974 this was always in New York. The most famous of these was the Empire State Building.(Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 4 Reading 2)（these代指the tallest buildings）

此处出现的指示代词所起的作用都是代指前面出现的名词，并且这里的代词有单复数之分，当代指单数时一般会出现it，this或者时that，如果是复数则是these或者those。第5句前面并未出现复数buildings，这里就需要理解作者想表达的意思是这些之一。

（四）指示代词代指篇章

1. This is why a society without rules is unlikely to become a reality any time soon--- at least mot in the real world. (Skillful Reading and Writing 3 Unit 2 Reading 1)

2. Lights turn on automatically in rooms with people in them… That is only the beginning of what this home has been programmed to do. (Skillful Reading and Writing 2 Unit 3 Reading 2)

一般指代篇章的指示代词都是单数，that和this使用比较多。代词代指篇章出现在下一段的开头部分是比较容易判断的，如以上第1句，可以很快做出判断。也有在段落中间代指前面一部分的情况，例如第2句。That便是代指本段前部分的所有内容。

总之，代词在英语中的使用很频繁。而指示代词只是其中的一个部分，除了其语法作用外，在阅读中的指代判断也是一个重难点，很多时候会忽略这个小小代词所代替或者指代的作用而将整个句子或者篇章理解错误，所以注意这些代词的代指作用，以此来快速对阅读中出现的指示代词进行指代判断，更准确理解月中理解中句子意思，正确完成题目。