CET4阅读理解实例剖析

　　在大学英语四级考试中，阅读理解部分难度较大，其所占的分数比例是最高的，但这一部分的得分率却往往是最低的。究其原因，有很多。但其中一条重要的原因是多种阅读理解误区的干扰，尤其是各种推理误区的干扰，这些误区在很大程度上制约了学生阅读效率和能力的提高。因此，笔者在分析了学生常见推理错误的基础上，在此阐述一下学生在CET阅读训练过程中所存在的五大推理误区。

　　1. 以偏概全误区

　　陷入这一误区的考生一方面常常根据原文语言材料推出关于事物一般情况的结论，影响对文章的正确理解;另一方面，常常陷入出题者利用以偏概全误区设置的陷阱，错误选择阅读理解答案，直接影响阅读理解的准确率。例如1999年1月第25题：

　　例1：

　　The view over a valley of a tiny village with thatched(草盖的)roof cottages around a church;a drive through a narrow village street lined with thatched cottages painted pink or white;the sight over the rolling hills of a pretty collection of thatched farm buildingsthese are still common sights in parts of England. Most people will agree that the thatched roof is an essential part of the attraction of the English countryside.

　　Thatching is in fact the oldest of all the building crafts practised in the British Isles(英伦诸岛).Although thatch has always been used for cottage and farm buildings，it was once used for castles and churches，too.

　　Thatching is a solitary(独自的) craft，which often runs in families.The craft of thatching as it is practiced today has changed very little since the Middle Ages.Over 800

　　full-time thatchers are employed in England and Wales today，maintaining and renewing the old roofs as well as thatching newer houses.Many property owners choose thatch not only for its beauty but because they know it will keep them cool in summer and warm in winter.

　　In fact，if we look at developing countries， over half the world lives under thatch，but they all do it in different ways.People in developing countries are often reluctant to go back to tra- ditional materials and would prefer modern buildings.However，they may lack the money to allow them to import the necessary materials.Their temporary mud huts with thatched roofs of wild grasses often only last six months，thatch which has been done the British way lasts from twenty to sixty years，and is an effective defence against the heat.

　　We can learn from the passage that _____ .

　　A.the English people have a special liking for thatched houses

　　B.most thatched cottages in England are located on hillsides

　　C.thatching is a building craft first created by the English people

　　D.thatched cottages in England have been passed down from ancient times

　　这篇文章介绍了英国村舍以茅草为顶的现象，提出这种茅草房是英国乡村魅力所在的一个极重要的因素。文章还对比了发展中国家的相同现象，突出英国村舍以茅草当顶的与众不同：美观、舒适。在练习中，有相当一部分学生根据文章第一段的描述选择了B，也有一些学生选择了A。但只要仔细看一下第一段便可得知，虽然三个排比分句中有两句提及这种茅草房位于山边的乡村，但不能由此推出英国的大多数茅草房都在山边。同样，这种茅草房在乡村颇具魅力并不意味着所有的英国人都特别喜欢它。在这里，学生显然陷入了出题者故意设置的以偏概全误区，根据第三段第二句，不难得出，正确答案为D。

　　2. 经验常识干扰误区

　　这种误区指在不能透彻理解原文大意，把握不准原文主题和写作意图，或者在阅读理解的选择项干扰系数大不易找到相关的文字依据情况下，考生常常根据自己的日常生活经验常识做出错误的判断和选择。值得注意的是，阅读理解要求考生根据语言文字材料做出判断和选择，文章材料是考生做题的出发点和依据，根据经验常识做题显然不合阅读理解做题要求。而且，出题者常常利用经验常识干扰误区设计干扰项，为此考生应以文字材料为依据。切忌凭经验常识做出选择，以免陷入经验常识干扰误区。例如第34题：

　　例2：

　　The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and positive effects.Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement.For example，some advertisers have appealed to peoples desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage.Some of the products work.Others are worthless and a waste of consumersmoney.

　　Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading.A few years ago a brand of bread was offered to dieters with the message that there were fewer calories in every slice.It turned out that the bread was not dietetic，but just regular bread.There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin，but there were the same numbers of calories in every loaf.

　　On the positive side，emotional appeals may respond to a consumers real concerns. Consider fire insurance，fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss.But fear ofloss is the real reason for fire insurance.The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people. If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as well as the message in the ads， they will benefit from the advertising.

　　Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation.Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it?Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers，but it does not force them to buy the product.Consumers still control the final buying decision.

　　It can be inferred from the passage that a smart consumer should ____ .

　　A.be familiar with various advertising strategies

　　B.think carefully about the benefits described in the advertisements

　　C.guard against the deceiving nature of advertisements

　　D.avoid buying products that have strong emotional appeal

　　本题C项干扰系数较大。根据日常生活常识，很多广告都带有一定的欺骗性，所以考生会误以为作者写作的目的是为了警告消费者要注意提防广告的欺骗性，从而陷入经验常识干扰误区。根据文章最后一段不难得出，正确答案为B。

　　3. 复杂推理干扰误区

　　这种误区主要出现在考生做推断题的过程中。一般而言，阅读理解推理题考查学生根据文字材料进行判断推理的能力，但应注意阅读理解所考查的推理能力仅仅是简单推理能力而不是复杂推理能力。在阅读教学实践中，笔者发现很多学生做推断题时，倾向于根据某些文字材料和经验常识进行复杂推理。具体地说，考生常常在根据文章语句推断出另一判断后，再根据推出的新判断推出第三个判断，从而陷入复杂推理干扰误区。例如第23题：

　　例3：

　　Dogs are social animals and without proper training，they will behave like wild animals.

　　They will soil your house，destroy your belongings，bark excessively，fight other dogs and even bite you.Nearly all behavior problems are perfectly normal dog activities that occur at the wrong time or place or are directed at the wrong thing.The key to preventing or treating behavior problems is learning to teach the dog to redirect its normal behavior to outlets that are acceptable in the domestic setting.

　　One of the best things you can do for your dog and yourself is to obedience train(驯服) it.Obedience training doesnt solve all behavior problems，but it is the foundation for solving just about any problem.Training opens up a line of communication between you and your dog.Effective communication is necessary to instruct our dog about what you want it to do.

　　Training is also an easy way to establish the social rank order.When your dog obeysa simple request ofcome here，sit.，it is showing obedience and respect for you.It is not necessary to establish yourself as top dog or leader of the dog pack(群)by using extreme measures.You can teach your dog its subor- dinate(从属的)role by teaching it to show submission to you.Most dogs love performing tricks for you to pleasantly accept that you are in charge.

　　Training should be fun and rewarding for you and your dog.It can enrich your relationship and make living together more enjoyable. A well-trained dog is more confident and can more safely be allowed a greater amount of freedom than an untrained animal.

　　Effective communication between a dog and its owner is ____ .

　　A.an extreme measure in obedience training

　　B.a good way to teach the dog new tricks

　　C.the foundation for dogs to perform tasks

　　D.essential to solving the dogs behavior problems

　　本题D项干扰系数较大。根据第二段最后一句，结合一定的经验常识，学生可能会得出这样一个结论：Effective communication isessential to obedience training.再将这一结论结合第一段的最后一句和第二段的第一、二句得出选项D的结论，从而陷入复杂推理干扰误区。事实上，从第二段的最后一句，我们可以直接推出C项的结论。

　　4. 相近干扰误区

　　这类误区是指由于阅读理解题目中的某一选择项与原文某个语句形式上很相似，或者题干中某两个选择项的意思似乎很相似，使考生难以正确把握和辨别，因而草率作出选择。例如第27题：

　　例4：

　　Even plants can run a fever，especially when theyre under attack by insects or diseases.But unlike humans，plants can have their temperature taken from 3，000 feet away straight up.A decade ago，adapting the infrared(红外线)scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites， physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress.The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide(杀虫剂)spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field，which invariably includes plants that dont have pest(害虫)problems.

　　Even better，Paleys Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye.Mounted on a plane flown at 3，000feet at night，an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops.The data were transformed into a col- or-coded map showing where plants were runningfevers.Farmers could then spot-spray， using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.

　　The bad news is that Paleys company closed down in 1984，after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long-time backers were hard to find.But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce，and refinements in infrared scanning，Paley hopes to get back into operation.Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works.This technique can be used on 75 percent of agriculture land in the United States，says George Oerther of Texas A M.Ray Jackson，who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture，thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade.But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago...

　　In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely，we can use infrared scanning to _____ .

　　A.estimate the damage to the crops

　　B.draw color-coded map

　　C.measure the size of the affected area

　　D.locate the problem area

　　此题C项干扰系数较大，汉译时，C、D两项意义相近，即确定受虫害影响的范围。根据文章第一段最后一句中的target(此处作动词，意为find the target，or locate，即确定目标方位)一词可知，正确答案为D。而C项的准确意思是测出受到虫害影响的面积的大些 ，而这并不是target一词的意义所在。

　　5. 偏离主题推理误区

　　这种误区主要是指考生在做具体的某一细节推理时，脱离上下文语境和主题或全文主题。对于语篇分析能力较差的学生来说，往往很难把握上下文的结构特点和逻辑关系，也很难领会文章主题和作者观点、态度等，从而陷入偏离主题推理误区。例如第25题：

　　例5：

　　Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chester town Maryland，decided to find out whether，as many smokers say，smoking helps them tothink and concentrate.Spilich put young non-smokers， active smokers and smokers deprived(被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests.

　　In the first test，each subject(试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96.In this simple test， smokers，deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well.

　　The next test was more complex，requiring all the scan sequences of 20identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters trans-formed into a different one.Non-smokers were faster，but under the stimulation of nicotine(尼古丁)，active smokers were faster than deprived smokers.

　　In the third test of short-term memory， non-smokers made the fewest errors，but deprive smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers.

　　The fourth test required people to read a passage，then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers，and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details.

　　As our tests became more complex， summed up Spilich，non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins.He predicts，smokers might perform adequately at many jobsuntil they got complicated.A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose，but if something went wrong，smoking might damage his mental capacity.

　　We can infer from the last paragraph that _____ .

　　A.smokers should not expect to become airline pilot

　　B.smoking in emergency cases causes mental illness

　　C.no airline pilots smoke during flights

　　D.smokers may prove unequal to handling emergency cases.

　　误入偏离文章主题误区的学生会选择A作为本题的答案。其实这篇文章主要是说明吸烟到底是否有助于人们集中思想进行思考这一主题，并通过一系列由简单到复杂的实验来说明这一点。文章最后一段指出，当事情趋于复杂化时，非吸烟者在很多方面比吸烟者完成得好，并以吸烟的飞行员和不吸烟的飞行员为例来说明尽管两者在正常情况下都能执行飞行任务，但在紧急情况下，吸烟可能会影响飞行员的大脑活动能力。由此推断答案为D而非A。