Abstract：The content of culture is recorded by language, and language is the vehicle of culture. Their close relation demonstrates that it is culture that has a great influence on every aspect of English learning. Naturally, English reading comprehension, too, is deeply influenced by cultural elements, or, the background knowledge on the readers’ parts. According to the Theory of Schema, put forwarded by Kant in 1781, human’s memory is stored in the form of schema, in his or her long-term memory, in which background knowledge acting as a kind of content schema. When readers come across the reading materials which are similar to the readers’ background knowledge, namely, content schema, then, despite of the new words, it will become easier for them to get comprehension of the reading materials. Therefore, mastering certain background knowledge has been widely accepted as one of the most effective and practical ways to improve reading comprehension. English learners should pay more attentions to the accumulation of the background knowledge. In this paper, the writer will discuss the functions of background knowledge in English reading relating to identifying word and sentence meanings and mastering the main idea of the passage. Furthermore, some helpful methods are brought out for reference to accumulate background knowledge.

Key Words: Background Knowledge, Reading Comprehension,  the Theory of Schema, Content Schema

中文摘要：语言记载着文化的内容，文化是语言的载体，这两者之间的密切联系表明文化对英语学习的每一个方面都有着深刻的影响。同样，各种文化因素，或言之，读者的文化背景知识也影响着英语的阅读理解能力。根据康德在1781年所提出的图式理论，人类的记忆是以图式的方式储存在长期记忆当中的，其中，背景知识就是内容图式。当读者遇到一篇阅读材料与他头脑中的内容图式相似的时候，那么，读者就会更容易理解这篇阅读材料，即使他在阅读的过程中会遇到生词。因此，本人通过调查并做分析，旨在指出掌握好一定程度的背景知识是提高阅读理解能力的一个最行之有效的和实际的方法之一。英语学习者应该注重背景知识的积累。在本篇论文中，研究者将讨论背景知识在阅读理解中的运用，包括在确定词义，句义，抓住文章的大意中起的作用，并且还提出了一些有关如何有效地积累背景知识的有效方法，以供读者参考。

关键词：背景知识，阅读理解，图式理论，内容图式