历年四级阅读真题解析2007(3)

　　Passage One

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　Ive been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction and one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel no matter how much we might like to think so.

　　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.

　　The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls free writing. In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.

　　Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that youve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.

　　Instead of staring at a blank start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through you available time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.

　　注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

　　57. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind cannot work in parallel in the writing process, he means ________.

　　A) no one can be both creative and critical

　　B) they cannot be regarded as equally important

　　C) they are in constant conflict with each other

　　D) one cannot use them at the same time

　　58. What prevents people from writing on is ________.

　　A) putting their ideas in raw form

　　B) attempting to edit as they write

　　C) ignoring grammatical soundness

　　D) trying to capture fleeting thoughts

　　59. What is the chief objective of the first stage of writing?

　　A) To organize ones thoughts logically.

　　B) To choose an appropriate topic.

　　C) To get ones ideas down.

　　D) To collect raw materials.

　　60. One common concern of writers about free writing is that ________.

　　A) it overstresses the role of the creative mind

　　B) it takes too much time to edit afterwards

　　C) it may bring about too much criticism

　　D) it does not help them to think clearly

　　61. In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process?

　　A) It refines his writing into better shape.

　　B) It helps him to come up with new ideas.

　　C) It saves the writing time available to him.

　　D) It allows him to sit on the side and observe.

　　这是一篇语言较为平易的说明文，作者以简练、亲切、对话式的语言向读者阐述了自己的写作方法。全文共五段，开篇以Ive been writing for most of my life一句点明作者是位经验丰富的作家，开门见山，在读者心目中树立了权威，为后文介绍的写作方法被读者接受铺平了道路。作者随后马不停蹄提出了第一点写作方法，The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind，即批判思维与创造思维不能同时共存。按照常理来讲，这句话是应该与前文断开、自成一段的，原因是它与前文实际上是总分关系。不过由于文章的平易性和闲散性，作者也就对此未做过高要求。

　　第二段具体说明解决批判思维与创造思维的关系问题的方法：使用创造思维在前，使用批判思维在后：You must learn to create first and then criticize.

　　第三段介绍了运用创造思维的具体方法：free writing，自由写作;第四、五段具体讲解批判思维的使用方法。

　　【题目解析】

　　57. When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind cannot work in parallel in the writing process, he means ________.

　　A) no one can be both creative and critical

　　B) they cannot be regarded as equally important

　　C) they are in constant conflict with each other

　　D) one cannot use them at the same time

　　题目问作者所讲的写作过程中的创造思维与批判思维cannot work in parallel是什么意思。

　　文章的第二段论述了创造性思维与批判性思维的关系问题。从最后一句结语You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is可清晰地看出，在应用这二种思维时，必须首先使用创造性思维，而后再使用批判性思维。意思就是二者不可同时使用。

　　A，一个人不可能既会用创造性思维又会用批判性思维。no one can be both creative and critical的意思是一个人身上不同时具备这二种思维能力，而不是不能同时使用这二者。作者在文中讨论先运用创造思维、后运用批判思维的问题，那么一个人肯定是具有这两种思维能力的。A的解释不对。

　　B，二者的重要性不可等量齐观。从上下文来看，作者从未对二者孰重孰轻做出评判，而只是讨论了先后问题。

　　C，二者始终处于与对方斗争冲突的状态。从文中论述可知，只有当人们想同时使用二者时，这二者才会发生冲突，如果一前一后使用则不会。所以并不能说始终处于冲突状态。因此这个选项的论断不正确。

　　D，一个人不能同时运用这二种思维，这一点与文中的You must learn to create first and then criticize相符。

　　58. What prevents people from writing on is ________.

　　A) putting their ideas in raw form

　　B) attempting to edit as they write

　　C) ignoring grammatical soundness

　　D) trying to capture fleeting thoughts

　　题目问妨碍人们实现流畅写作的是什么?

　　文章第二段讲到了这个问题。开头 The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls free writing.一句具体指出了写作时的坏习惯――尝试修改，而解决办法则是free writing.后文做了两个假设，即在想法初现的时候考虑语法问题和想法初现就不做修改与人分享，这二种情形的结果都不理想。段末指出了解决方案：先不受影响地创造出想法，然后运用批判思维进行修改。

　　A，把原始的粗糙想法拿来与人分享。文中提到putting their ideas in raw form时是要强调想法如果不进行修改则不会被人理解，想法能够写下来实际上已经是流畅写作的结果了，也就不存在妨碍问题。

　　B，在写作时试图进行修改。The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write，这句话指出边写边修改是写作的坏习惯，与B的说法一致。

　　C，忽略语法错误。从第二段举出的第一个假设可知，忽略语法错误恰好是实现流畅写作的方法，而非妨碍因素。

　　D，设法抓住稍纵即逝的想法。，文中提到correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting thought, the thought will die，意思是写作时如果想要纠正语法，那么想法很可能会消失。抓住稍纵即逝的想法实际上是写作的第一步，而修改语法是其妨碍因素。

　　59. What is the chief objective of the first stage of writing?

　　A) To organize ones thoughts logically.

　　B) To choose an appropriate topic.

　　C) To get ones ideas down.

　　D) To collect raw materials.

　　题目问写作第一个步骤的主要目标是什么。

　　从某种角度来看，文章论述的其实就写作的顺序问题。文章前半部分分析了创造性思维与批评性思维的关系，推出了必须先运用创造性思维记下想法而后再运用批判性思维进行修改的观点。后半部分对如何运用创造性思维和批判性思维进行了具体描述。那么根据文意，写作的第一步就是运用创造性思维把观点记下来，记下来的方法就是free writing，即想到哪里就记到哪里。

　　A， 把想法有逻辑性地组织起来。Free writing的方法就是要把想法自由记下，而不作修改，而要做到 有逻辑性地组织，显然应是进行了修改，是批判性思维的结果。因此A不对。

　　B， 选择一个适当的题目。全文没有提到选择题目问题。

　　C，记下想法，与前面的分析一致，是正确的。

　　D，收集原始材料。文章也没有提到材料收集问题。

　　60. One common concern of writers about free writing is that ________.

　　A) it overstresses the role of the creative mind

　　B) it takes too much time to edit afterwards

　　C) it may bring about too much criticism

　　D) it does not help them to think clearly

　　题目问作家们进行自由写作时遇到的共同问题是什么。文章第三段对free writing的方法进行了具体说明，之后两段则指出自由写作的结果是花费很多时间来进行修改。从第四段的this will take more time than you actually have，到第四段的Move back and forth until you run out of time，写作者必须和时间赛跑，才能在时间用完时将文章修改完毕。因此，作家们的共同问题应该是修改时间过紧。

　　A，它过于强调创造思维。强调创造思维是自由写作本身的特点，这个不是问题，因过于强调而造成的修改时间过多才是问题。

　　B，用来修改的时间过多。这一说法符合我们前面所做的分析。

　　C，它会引来太多的批评。根据文意，正确的说法应该是会引来太多需要运用批判思维进行修改的地方。

　　D，自由写作不能帮助作家清楚地思考。自由写作的特点是帮助作家把最初最原始的想法记录下来，这一步并不要求清楚地思考，也就不对作家们构成问题。清楚地思考要留待第二步――批判思维来实现。

　　61. In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process?

　　A) It refines his writing into better shape.

　　B) It helps him to come up with new ideas.

　　C) It saves the writing time available to him.

　　D) It allows him to sit on the side and observe.

　　题目问批判性思维在作家的写作过程中起到了什么作用。相关内容在最后二段。倒数第二段第一句Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that youve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly，指出在获得前期资料后，即是运用批判性思维的时候。下一段整段对如何运用批判性思维进行了描述，从中可以发现批判性思维的主要作用是对文章草稿进行修改、精炼。

　　A，它使文章更加成形。也就是对文章草稿进行修改、精炼的意思，符合最后一段对批判思维的描述。

　　B，它能使作家产生新的想法。根据文意，批判思维是对现有想法的修改，不会产生新的想法。

　　C，它可以节省作者的写作时间。倒数第二段提到this will take more time than you actually have，意思是在运用批判思维前很可能会发现时间不够用，那么批判思维有没有节省时间呢?从Move back and forth until you run out of time这最后一句话可以看出，即便运用批判性思维，还是把所有的时间都用光了。因此并没有节省时间。

　　D，它可使作者坐下来审视文章。坐下来审视文章的意思就是运用批判性思维本身，不能说本身会对本身起到什么作用。