阅读是GRE考试中所占比重大、花费时间多、又很容易失分的一个题型,许多考生在复习阅读时都投入了大量精力,可结果还是不尽如人意。阅读考查的范围非常广,不像填空、类比和反义那样注重基础和词汇量,而GRE阅读又与其他考试中的阅读有很大区别,所以在技巧方法上也要区分对待。GRE阅读中多见长句,对理解造成很大障碍,然而这一大特点也促使形成了解决GRE阅读的一个制胜法宝——从原文中来,到原文中去。因为长句具有较高的难度,所以出题者会把很大的精力放在对句子本身的理解上,而不像其他考试中的阅读那样主要侧重对文章内容的理解。在实际解题过程中,我们如果真正理解并掌握了这一点,就能提高做题速度和准确性,因为实实在在能从原文中找到证据的答案必定是正确答案。
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虽然答案是绝对忠于原文的,但它的出现往往都披着迷惑人的外衣,同时其他四个似是而非的选项也会对考生进行干扰。对原文中句子变形的方法多种多样,变形后的句子所使用的句式和词组搭配常常不同于原句,一般会是对原句的解释和概括,但基本框架不变。一旦正确掌握了原句的复杂结构,选择出正确答案就不会困难了。以下几个例子都来自考生容易选错的题目:
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: V# G4 O P0 K: B: X2 PEg1. According to the passage, random failures in automatic control systems are "not merely trivial aberrations" because
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' R, q. Y q/ W(A) Automatic control systems are designed by engineers who have little practical experience in the field
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(B) The failures are characteristic of systems designed by engineers relying too heavily on concepts in mathematics
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(C) The failures occur too often to be taken lightly & |7 Q0 ~5 P1 g6 f
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(D) Designers of automatic control systems have too little training in the analysis of mechanical difficulties 7 |* W8 n; e9 H3 N
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(E) Designers of automatic control systems need more help from scientists who have a better understanding of the analytical problems to be solved before such systems can work efficiently
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本题在原文中的定位为:Absurd random failures that plague automatic control systems are not merely trivial aberrations; they are a reflection of the chaos that results when design is assumed to be primarily a problem in mathematics. 这个句子中间用分号隔开,分号前的部分对应着题干中的问题,分号后即是对前半句的解释,也就是说这个句子本身就是一问一答型,答案就是后半句话,在选择答案时我们只要看哪个选项是对这句话的变形即可。注意这半句话中chaos是一个关键词,that 引导定语从句,而这个定语从句中又有一个关键短语:result in,这个短语是表示结果的,然后看它的宾语是mathematics,而这个名词是不能被替换掉的,直接从五个选项中挑选,只有B说出了mathematics,无疑这就是正确答案了。解答本题时能看出mathematics这一重心之后,根本不需要自己进行任何总结和概括,看出哪个选项是对原句的变形就全部搞定了。我们再仔细看一下B答案,其中rely heavily on代替了原句中的chaos result in,而意义与先前保持一致。
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Eg2. According to the passage, certain serious contemporary photographers expressly make which of the following claims about their photographs? / C# r$ h6 R' b3 R6 g! D) H% y
) o9 K- S, [7 ^2 H# R. J9 S(A)Their photographs could be created by almost anyone who had a camera and the time to devote to the activity.- V) I" s( B; T" a9 D
, r+ r8 y1 u) ? z3 j- f+ d5 E8 s(B)Their photographs are not examples of art but are examples of the photographers' impartial observation of the world.: K+ N, U2 h$ Y0 T6 p, g/ N8 L5 i" ?
# P; o5 @) F, U3 @(C)Their photographs are important because of their subjects but not because of the responses they evoke in viewers. 2 I/ H+ d; v9 S% H* Y6 u5 ]
- ^. S3 v& N( _(D)Their photographs exhibit the same ageless principles of form and shading that have been used in painting.; U$ r4 l5 E& M+ {! f: i
3 c- ?( \$ p1 H(E) Their photographs represent a conscious glorification of the mechanical aspects of twentieth-century life.
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1 [" R2 Z% v j本题在原文中的定位为:Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art. 注意anything but 是“决不”的意思,B答案就是对这句话的变形,只不过是把原文中所列出的几种形式用examples概括罢了。在这个例子中还要注意的是原句中的anything but注定了其变形应该表示否定,按照这种理解很容易选出正确答案。3 I; r1 T5 a/ x4 f% t$ L
1 N I2 d; T* X7 P3 N& m6 ~6 u; sEg3. According to the passage, what did Hargrave and Green do in the laboratory?
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- v7 M) D) E3 R; i3 j* E7 p(A) They compared the grazing rates of individual zooplankton species in the laboratory with the natural grazing rates of these species.& t+ ~0 O- v+ N1 t1 W2 u. a
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(B) They hypothesized about the population density of grazers in natural habitats by using data concerning the population density of grazers in the laboratory. |