GRE考試閱讀部分各項技能分析

能力3-5都涉及對文章主旨的理解和把握，由于篇幅限制，這三條的內(nèi)部區(qū)別我們暫且不論。很多考試都涉及文章中心思想的把握，我們從小學(xué)開始的閱讀教育中，老師們也要求我們提煉文章的中心思想。然而，在過去的考試當(dāng)中，我們面對的文章中心思想相對較簡單，經(jīng)常中心句在文章開頭或結(jié)尾明確給出，或者至少文章會有一個明確的中心句。然而，在GRE考試當(dāng)中，難度偏高的文章通常根本就不會明確指出它所表達的主旨是什么，而需要作為讀者的我們主動的思考文章的主要目的是什么。比如：

Some archaeologists speculate that the Americas might have been initially colonized between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago. However, to support this theory it is necessary to explain the absence of generally accepted habitation sites for that time interval in what is now the United States. Australia, which has a smaller land area than the United States, has many such sites, supporting the generally accepted claim that the continent was colonized by humans at least 40,000 years ago. Australia is less densely populated (resulting in lower chances of discovering sites) and with its overall greater aridity would have presented conditions less favorable for hunter-gatherer occupation. Proportionally, at least as much land area has been lost from the coastal regions of Australia because of postglacial sea-level rise as in the United States, so any coastal archaeological record in Australia should have been depleted about as much as a coastal record in the United States. Since there are so many resource-rich rivers leading inland from the United States coastlines, it seems implausible that a growing population of humans would have confined itself to coasts for thousands of years. If inhabitants were present 25,000 years ago, the chances of their appearing in the archaeological record would seem to be greater than for Australia.

The passage is primarily concerned with doing which of the following?

A. Presenting an objection to a claim

B. Accounting for an apparent anomaly

C. Outlining an alternative interpretation

D. Correcting a particular misconception

E. Questioning the validity of a comparison

答案：A

在這篇文章中，一開始指出考古學(xué)家認為如今的美國地區(qū)最初被人類所居住是在4萬到2萬5千年前。但是，作者說，考古學(xué)家需要解釋為什么找不到那個時期人類居住的痕跡。接著，一系列細節(jié)讓作者得出了一個判斷，即假如考古學(xué)家的觀點為真的話，他們理應(yīng)能夠找到考古遺跡才對。所有這些信息指向一個最終的目的，即考古學(xué)家的觀點是不靠譜的。然而，這個觀點從頭到尾作者都沒有直接說出，而需要由我們自己從文章信息中推斷出來。其論證過程是由前提(考古學(xué)家觀點若為真 → 能找到遺址)，加前提(沒找到遺址)，推斷出結(jié)論(考古學(xué)家觀點不為真)，符合邏輯學(xué)基本定理modus tollens，即前提(p → q)加前提~q可以推出結(jié)論~p。我們都希望一篇否定他人觀點的文章以如下明確的方式表達態(tài)度，比如“某人認為XXX是對的。但是，很顯然，他的觀點沒有道理的。”可是，在GRE偏難的文章中，我們很難期待作者把話說得這么直接，而題目恰恰就會考察我們能否把文章隱藏的目的推敲出來的能力。顯然，如同先前幾條能力所要求，GRE考試對文章的主旨考察也需要我們主動的介入文本，而不是被動的接受文章的字面意思。

能力6、7兩條能力點考察的是從文章中推出隱藏信息、缺失信息的能力。與3-5的區(qū)別在于，文章的缺失信息不一定是主旨沒有說明，而是很多細節(jié)部分有信息的隱藏。比如：

Most seismologists assume that following a major earthquake and its aftershocks, the fault (a break in Earth’s crust where pressure can trigger an earthquake) will remain quiet until stresses have time to rebuild, typically over hundreds or thousands of years. Recent evidence of subtle interactions between earthquakes may overturn this assumption, however. According to the stress-triggering hypothesis, faults are unexpectedly responsive to subtle stresses they acquire as neighboring faults shift. Rather than simply dissipating, stress relieved during an earthquake travels along the fault, concentrating in sites nearby; even the smallest additional stresses may then trigger another quake along the fault or on a nearby fault. Although scientists have long viewed such subtle interactions as nonexistent, the hypothesis has explained the location and frequency of earthquakes following several destructive quakes in California, Japan, and Turkey.

For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

The passage suggests that most seismologists believe which of the following about fault stresses?

A. They are dissipated when they result in an earthquake.

B. They are transferred between neighboring faults.

C. They will not cause a major earthquake along the same fault in the space of a few years.

答案：AC

GRE的推斷題是GRE閱讀方式精髓的體現(xiàn)。比如在這道題當(dāng)中，主流觀點認為XXX，然而，新觀點可能會顛覆這個想法。新觀點認為，地震之后的能量，非但不會dissipate，然而會……很多學(xué)生在讀完這句話之后，很可能只記住了新觀點認為能量不會dissipate，卻不能立刻意識到，舊觀點一定認為地震之后的能量會dissipate，而題目最終恰恰考到了這一點。能不能做到這一點就體現(xiàn)了是否真的掌握了主動閱讀的精髓。和日常生活的對話不同，在日常生活當(dāng)中，當(dāng)我們聽別人說的話是，我們不會默認別人說的是對的，相反，我們會評估對方的論證的合理性。然而，在GRE閱讀考試當(dāng)中，由于題目都是在問我們文章的觀點，或者哪些信息符合文章的看法，則顯然，題目要求我們默認文章的合理性?？墒?，文章之合理，不僅僅在于我們要當(dāng)文章的每一條獨立信息本身為真，更重要的是，我們要認定文章所使用的邏輯必然合理。因此，主動閱讀是日常閱讀的反向，我們假設(shè)作者的邏輯成立的基礎(chǔ)上，反思還需要哪些額外的信息才能使得原文的邏輯成立。這些額外的信息即是推斷題的考點。比如，“Mary非常努力學(xué)習(xí)，但是Mary卻從來都得不到別人的尊重”。如果以上這句話是合理的，則作者必定認為“努力的人通常得到別人的尊重”。再比如，“與過去的理論不同，新觀點并不認為地震后的能力會dissipate”。顯然，如果以上這句話的邏輯成立，則作者必定認為過去的理論認為“地震后的能量會dissipate”。這種主動性的反思作者邏輯的隱藏前提的能力，決定了我們在GRE考場上推斷題的準(zhǔn)確率和效率。

能力8聚焦在理解文章結(jié)構(gòu)，理解信息之間關(guān)系的考察上。兩種核心題型涉及這種能力，即論證結(jié)構(gòu)題(organization of passage)以及信息功能題(function of text)。

Having a larger assortment to choose from increases consumers’ expectations about matching their preferences. The heightened expectations seem logical, since assortments containing more or more varied items should increase the degree to which preferences can be matched. In practice, however, as assortment size increases, the degree to which consumers realize better preference matches often rises relatively little. Larger assortments may not actually offer more variety, the market may simply not supply an envisioned offering, or in the absence of sophisticated search tools, consumers may miss a better preference match even if it is available. Therefore, larger assortments can increase the likelihood that expectations will not be met, leaving consumers less satisfied with options chosen from larger rather than smaller assortments.

Which of the following best describes the function of the first sentence in the author’s argument as a whole?

A. It states a premise on which the author’s conclusion is based

B. It provides information to support the inference made in the following sentence

C. It introduces a concept that the author proves is illogical

D. It summarizes a position that the author proceeds to dispute

E. It presents the phenomenon the argument is intended to explain

答案：A

這道題無數(shù)考生選擇了C。C看起來太合理了，第一句話確實引出了一個概念，即人們在某種情況下期待的增高，然后確實說了這種期待的增高看似合理，然后其實不合理。因此C選項所說的是完全正確的。然而，這種信息功能題型所需要的，并不是去就事論事的選擇一個說得對的選項。一條信息在文章中可以起到的作用可能有多個，可以傳遞的信息也可以有多個，信息功能題所需要的答案是在各種可能起到的功能當(dāng)中對文章目標(biāo)的實現(xiàn)最有幫助的功能。很顯然，在以上文章當(dāng)中，作者想真正證明的是“更多選擇會更有可能帶來消費者的不滿”(最后一句后半句)。這個結(jié)論需要哪些前提呢?有兩條，“更多選擇增高消費者的期望”(第一句)，以及“更多選擇帶來期望值無法實現(xiàn)”(最后一句前半句)。換句話說，為什么不滿，因為期望值高了，而期望值無法實現(xiàn)。所以，第一句話的最根本作用是去支持最后一句話當(dāng)中的結(jié)論，即第一句充當(dāng)了文章結(jié)論的前提條件。

能力9是一個在過去閱讀考試當(dāng)中幾乎從未被涉及到的能力點，然而卻是閱讀最基本的能力點，即對不同視角的區(qū)分。這個能力對于事實信息類題目、主旨類題目，以及信息功能類題目都有決定性作用。比如：

Historian Colin Calloway argues that in the late colonial period preceding the American Revolution (1775-1783), the British government sought to seal off territory west of the Appalachian Mountains from the encroachment of land-hungry White settlers, to negotiate with Native American peoples as independent foreign states, and to guarantee the integrity of traditional Native American hunting grounds. By contrast, White Americans, released by the outbreak of the Revolution from the constraints of Britain’s allegedly benevolent policies, are portrayed by Calloway as ruthless land-grabbers whose new national government endorsed their rapacity. Bernard Bailyn argues, however, that the “Americans” who encroached on Native American land during the Revolution had been British only a few years before. When, during and after the Revolution, White Americans seized Native American land by any available means, they were continuing a tradition dating back to the earliest years of English settlement in North America. And, according to Bailyn, the British government’s prewar efforts to preserve the trans-Appalachian west for Native Americans resulted not from humanitarian virtue or ethnic tolerance but from British merchants’ desire to maintain their lucrative trade with Native Americans and the government’s desire to control immigration and avoid costly conflict between Whites and Native Americans over land.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. suggest that two different arguments about a particular historical period are both questionable

B. present historical evidence that undermines a widely accepted viewpoint

C. defend a revisionist historian’s thesis against traditionalist criticism

D. outline opposing interpretations of a particular historical phenomenon

E. resolve a dispute among historians over a controversial historical episode

答案：D

這道題應(yīng)該是秒選。為什么呢?原文結(jié)構(gòu)是：CC說了某些東西，然而BB不同意，BB說了某些東西。A錯在suggest，B錯在undermine，C錯在defend，E錯在resolve。因為，所有這些詞如果是作者的主旨，則文章當(dāng)中作者必須持有明確態(tài)度，而這篇文章作者是沒有立場的，他只是純粹引用了CC和BB不同的觀點，沒有傾向，而選項中只有D表現(xiàn)的是引用。剛才的分析體現(xiàn)的就是區(qū)分視角的能力。一篇文章，只有三種可能的最終視角類型，即提出作者自己的觀點，引用別人的觀點，以及作者對別人的觀點發(fā)出評論。任何一個句子，也只可能是這三種作用。這個簡單的思維習(xí)慣，即隨時判斷觀點發(fā)出者，對GRE題目選項的快速排除有著極其重要的價值。

GRE的閱讀考試中還有一種特殊的題目類型，即人們常稱為邏輯單題的題目。這類題目在一篇文章之后只出一道題(其它每篇閱讀文章之后都是2-4道題)，而這篇文章通常語言難度遠低于其它閱讀文章。這道題僅僅考察學(xué)生的邏輯思維能力，而幾乎不對我們的語言能力本身有任何高的要求。能力10-13都是針對這種題型的。比如“登山器材變安全了，但是登山受傷的人多了?！边@篇短文后，題目問“能否給出以上現(xiàn)象的可能解釋”。這個題目就是考邏輯的。這種題型與閱讀題目的做法區(qū)別是，我們在閱讀中默認作者的邏輯是合理的，成立的，而在邏輯題目當(dāng)中，它考察的恰恰是作者的論證如何被加強、削弱，則顯然，我們又回歸了日常思維模式，不默認作者的合理性，而是去評估其合理性。

細心的讀者讀到這里，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，GRE考試聲稱自己考察的是理性思維能力“critical thinking”，可以說并不是夸大其詞。和過去語言類閱讀考試考查句意理解詞義理解的形式不同，整個GRE考試幾乎沒有多少題目是直接看懂原文語句字面意思本身可以直接解決的。所以，這種考試要求讀者提高主動性閱讀的能力，而非被動接受字面信息。ETS官方建議考生：

Try to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas or evidence.

Try to distinguish ideas that the author is advancing from those he or she is merely reporting.

Similarly, try to distinguish ideas that the author is strongly committed to from those he or she advances as hypothetical or speculative.

Try to identify the main transitions from one idea to the next.

Try to identify the relationship between different ideas.

用中文重述，即我們要在閱讀文章時：

1. 區(qū)分觀點本身與觀點的背后的理由與證據(jù);

2. 區(qū)分作者支持的觀點與作者僅僅是在引述的觀點;

3. 區(qū)分作者贊同的觀點與作者只是作為可能性提出的觀點;

4. 留意文章是否出現(xiàn)了觀點的推進，即從一個觀點轉(zhuǎn)向了新的觀點;

5. 辨識不同觀點之間的關(guān)系。

希望勤奮的你在認真讀完以上信息之后能夠意識到自己過去閱讀習(xí)慣和GRE考試所需要的閱讀習(xí)慣之間的差距，能夠在未來的努力當(dāng)中逐漸修正自己的閱讀方式，早日走向人生的巔峰。

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