gre考试阅读真题解析(A)

　　It is possible for students to obtain advanced degrees in English while knowing little or nothing about traditional scholarly methods. The consequences of this neglect of traditional scholarship are particularly unfortunate for the study of women writers. If the canonthe list of authors whose works are most widely taughtis ever to include more women, scholars must be well trained in historical scholarship and textual editing. Scholars who do not know how to read early manuscripts, locate rare books, establish a sequence of editions, and so on are bereft of crucial tools for revising the canon.

　　To address such concerns, an experimental version of the traditional scholarly methods course was designed to raise students consciousness about the usefulness of traditional learning for any modern critic or theorist. To minimize the artificial aspects of the conventional course, the usual procedure of assigning a large number of small problems drawn from the entire range of historical periods was abandoned, though this procedure has the obvious advantage of at least superficially familiarizing students with a wide range of reference sources. Instead students were engaged in a collective effort to do original work on a neglected eighteenth-century writer, Elizabeth Griffith, to give them an authentic experience of literary scholarship and to inspire them to take responsibility for the quality of their own work.

　　Griffiths work presented a number of advantages for this particular pedagogical purpose. First, the body of extant scholarship on Griffith was so tiny that it could all be read in a day; thus students spent little time and effort mastering the literature and had a clear field for their own discoveries. Griffiths play The Platonic Wife exists in three versions, enough to provide illustrations of editorial issues but not too many for beginning students to manage. In addition, because Griffith was successful in the eighteenth century, as her continued productivity and favorable reviews demonstrate, her exclusion from the canon and virtual disappearance from literary history also helped raise issues concerning the current canon.

　　The range of Griffiths work meant that each student could become the worlds leading authority on a particular Griffith text. For example, a student studying Griffiths Wife in the Right obtained a first edition of the play and studied it for some weeks. This student was suitably shocked and outraged to find its title transformed into A Wife in the Night in Watts Bibliotheca Britannica. Such experiences, inevitable and common in working on a writer to whom so little attention has been paid, serve to vaccinate the studentI hope for a lifetimeagainst credulous use of reference sources.

　　17. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

　　 revealing a commonly ignored deficiency

　　 proposing a return to traditional terminology

　　 describing an attempt to correct a shortcoming

　　 assessing the success of a new pedagogical approach

　　 predicting a change in a traditional teaching strategy

　　18. It can be inferred that the author of the passage expects that the experience of the student mentioned as having studied Wife in the Right would have which of the following effects?

　　 It would lead the student to disregard information found in the Bibliotheca Britannica.

　　 It would teach the student to question the accuracy of certain kinds of information sources when studying neglected authors.

　　 It would teach the student to avoid the use of reference sources in studying neglected authors.

　　 It would help the student to understand the importance of first editions in establishing the authorship of plays.

　　 It would enhance the students appreciation of the works of authors not included in the canon.

　　19. The author of the passage suggests that which of the following is a disadvantage of the strategy employed in the experimental scholarly methods course?

　　 Students were not given an opportunity to study women writers outside the canon.

　　 Students original work would not be appreciated by recognized scholars.

　　 Little scholarly work has been done on the work of Elizabeth Griffith.

　　 Most of the students in the course had had little opportunity to study eighteenth-century literature.

　　 Students were not given an opportunity to encounter certain sources of information that could prove useful in their future studies.

　　20. Which of the following best states the particular pedagogical purpose mentioned in line 28?

　　 To assist scholars in revising the canon of authors

　　 To minimize the trivial aspects of the traditional scholarly methods course

　　 To provide students with information about Griffiths work

　　 To encourage scholarly rigor in students own research

　　 To reestablish Griffiths reputation as an author

　　21. Which of the following best describes the function of the last paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole?

　　 It summarizes the benefits that students can derive from the experimental scholarly methods course.

　　 It provides additional reasons why Griffiths work raises issues having to do with the canon of authors.

　　 It provides an illustration of the immediate nature of the experiences students can derive from the experimental scholarly methods course.

　　 It contrasts the experience of a student in the experimental scholarly methods course with the experience of a student in the traditional course.

　　 It provides information that emphasizes the suitability of Griffiths work for inclusion in the canon of authors.

　　22. It can be inferred that which of the following is most likely to be among the issues mentioned in line 38?

　　 Why has the work of Griffith, a woman writer who was popular in her own century, been excluded from the canon?

　　 In what ways did Griffiths work reflect the political climate of the eighteenth century?

　　 How was Griffiths work received by literary critics during the eighteenth century?

　　 How did the error in the title of Griffiths play come to be made?

　　 How did critical reception of Griffiths work affect the quantity and quality of that work?

　　23. It can be inferred that the author of the passage considers traditional scholarly methods courses to be aspects of the conventional course, the usual procedure of assigning a large number of small problems drawn from the entire range of historical periods was abandoned, though this procedure has the obvious advantage of at least superficially familiarizing students with a wide range of reference sources.此题考的理解较深，原文中的这句话是说传统方法教程中的人工痕迹明显，为了达到教学目的，布置了太多的范围广泛的小问题，与真正的研究并不符。)

　　 irrelevant to the work of most students

　　 inconsequential because of their narrow focus

　　 unconcerned about the accuracy of reference sources

　　 too superficial to establish important facts about authors

　　 too wide-ranging to approximate genuine scholarly activity

　　Experiments show that insects can function as pollinators of cycads , rare, palmlike tropical plants. Furthermore, cycads removed from their native habitatsand therefore from insects native to those habitatsare usually infertile. Nevertheless, anecdotal reports of wind pollination in cycads cannot be ignored. The structure of cycads male cones is quite consistent with the wind dispersal of pollen, clouds of which are released from some of the larger cones. The male cone of Cycas circinalis, for example, sheds almost 100 cubic centimeters of pollen, most of which is probably dispersed by wind. Still, many male cycad cones 球果) are comparatively small and thus produce far less pollen. Furthermore, the structure of most female cycad cones seems inconsistent with direct pollination by wind. Only in the Cycas genus are the females ovules accessible to airborne pollen, since only in this genus are the ovules surrounded by a loose aggregation of megasporophylls rather than by a tight cone.

　　24. According to the passage, the size of a male cycad cone directly influences which of the following?

　　 The arrangement of the male cones structural elements

　　 The mechanism by which pollen is released from the male cone

　　 The degree to which the ovules of female cycads are accessible to airborne pollen

　　 The male cones attractiveness to potential insect pollinators

　　 The amount of pollen produced by the male cone

　　25. The passage suggests that which of the following is true of the structure of cycad cones?

　　 The structure of cycad cones provides conclusive evidence in favor of one particular explanation of cycad pollination.

　　 The structure of cycad cones provides evidence concerning what triggers the first step in the pollination process.

　　 An irresolvable discrepancy exists between what the structure of most male cycad cones suggests about cycad pollination and what the structure of most female cones suggests about that process.

　　 The structure of male cycad cones rules out a possible mechanism for cycad pollination that is suggested by the structure of most female cycad cones.

　　 The structure of male cycad cones is consistent with a certain means of cycad pollination, but that means is inconsistent with the structure of most female cycad cones.

　　26. The evidence in favor of insect pollination of cycads presented in lines 2-4 would be more convincing if which of the following were also true?

　　 Only a small variety of cycad species can be successfully transplanted.

　　 Cycads can sometimes be pollinated by means other than wind or insects.

　　 Insects indigenous to regions to which cycads are transplanted sometimes feed on cycads.

　　 Winds in the areas to which cycads are usually transplanted are similar to winds in cycads native habitats.

　　 The transplantation of cycads from one region to another usually involves the accidental removal and introduction of insects as well.

　　27. The passage suggests that which of the following is true of scientific investigations of cycad pollination?

　　 They have not yet produced any systematic evidence of wind pollination in cycads.

　　 They have so far confirmed anecdotal reports concerning the wind pollination of cycads.

　　 They have, until recently, produced little evidence in favor of insect pollination in cycads.

　　 They have primarily been carried out using cycads transplanted from their native habitats.

　　 They have usually concentrated on describing the physical characteristics of the cycad reproductive system.

答案：17-27：CBEDCAEEEDA