GRE阅读题型的举例分析

　　在GRE的阅读题中，大体上分成主旨题和细节题两大类。上一篇文章，主要针对主旨题进行了分析，这里，就主要介绍一下在GRE阅读中，另一种比较重要的题型细节题。

　　细节题是一个比较泛泛的概念，如果细分，可以分成很多类，如给定行数题、写作用意题、强对比互取非题、改进性取非题、Except/Not题、逻辑题、题、类比题等等。为什么这里把这些不同类型的题归在一起?虽然，这些题的类型不同，但是它们都有一个共同的特性，就是在解答这类题时，都需要在原文进行有效的定位。所以，如何有效地在原文中进行定位并在读文章时对重要信息做标记，成为众多考生所不能忽视的地方。定位对解答GRE阅读中的细节题起着非常重要的作用。因为GRE阅读的做题方法通常是读原文读题干回原文定位这样一个顺序，所以，定位是在读完题干后，根据题干的特点，结合第一遍读原文的重点和所做的标记来确定所考内容的位置。正确有效的定位是快速做题和准确程度的关键因素。

　　下面就针对不同的细节题进行分析：

　　1. 给定行数题

　　给定行数，顾名思义，就是在题目中已经明确的给出了所考查内容的行数，题目中所涉及的内容也是有关给定行数所述内容的作用或者相关内容。这就需要考生在做这类题时，根据题目中所提示的行数，回到原文中去定位。但是有一点需要注意，像这类明确地给出行数地题，通常情况，答案都不在所给定地行数处，也不是给定行数内容地直接改写，因为出题者不会直接告诉你答案在哪，所以，在做这类题时，除了要根据它所提示的信息，还要结合所给行数的上下文的情况再做选择。

　　2. 写作用意题

　　这类题是针对文章某些内容的作用进行的提问，也就是题干中问到的这个具体事物在文章中出现时作者的用意是什么?所有的GRE文章都是议论文，作者提到具体的事物大体上有几种关系：支持、证明、解释或反对某观点，也就是说具体的事物总是和观点发生联系的。通常情况，给定行数题和写作用意题是混合出现的。

　　下面我们看一个例子：

　　In the early 1950s, historians who studied pre-industrial Europe began, for the first time in large numbers, to investigate more of the pre-industrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.

　　One way out of this dilemma was to run to the records of legal courts, for here the voices of the non-elite can most often be heard, as witnesses, plaintiffs, and defendants. These documents have acted as a point of entry into the mental world of the poor. Historians such as Le Roy Ladurie have used the documents to extract case histories, which have illuminated the attitudes of different social group and have revealed how the authorities administered justice.

　　The author mentions Le Roy Ladurie in order to _____

　　 give an example of a historian who has made one kind of use of court records

　　 cite a historian who has based case histories on the birth, marriage, and death records of the non-elite

　　 identify the author of the quotation cited in the previous sentence

　　 gain authoritative support for the view that the case history approach is the most fruitful approach to court records

　　 point out the first historian to realize the value of court records in illuminating the beliefs and values of the non-elite

　　分析：

　　这道题就属于典型的写作用意型, 同时又给出了指定的行数。Le Roy Ladurie 出现在文章的第二段，题目中已经明确给出行数, 这样，通过这个信息，我们可以迅速的回到原文找到相关信息。Le Roy Ladurie很明显是作者举的一个例子，但是举这个例子的作用是什么?这个问题就要结合这段的内容去分析，这段的开头说One way out of this dilemma was to run to the records of legal courts，根据这句话我们可以知道，Le Roy Ladurie的出现应该是研究法庭记录的一个例子。所以，这道题正确选项是A. 当然，选项如果写成 illustrate that these documents have acted as a point of entry into the mental world of the poor 也是可以的。

　　需要注意的是，像这类写作用意题，它的答案选项第一个主动词并不具有判别意义，不管是illustrate, 还是give an example, 还是verify，还是别的类似的词汇，都是平等同义词，不需要过多的关注。

　　小结：

　　上面是对细节题中两种比较重要的题型进行的分析，通过分析，我们知道，给定行数题和写作用意题通常是混在一起出现的。答案一定不要盲目地停留在所给定地行数处，考生一定要联系上下文的内容去分析答案。

　　强对比取非题

　　这类题的主要特点是，原文中有强对比的双方，题干只问及其中的一方，但是原文没有给出关于这方的叙述，而说了这方的强对比另一方的特征，所以答案却是对另一方叙述的取非。强对比关系层次比较多，例如，处于不同时间、历史时期、年代的事物通常其特点呈强对比;处于相对的地域、空间的事物通常其特点呈强对比;新事物、新观点和旧事物、传统观点呈强对比;用最高级、唯一性限定的事物和其余所有同类事物的特征呈强对比等。针对这类题目，在第一篇读文章的时候及时敏锐地发现它们并在文中做好标记，为解题时回到文中定位做好充分地准备。这些强对比出现地地方，通常会伴随着一些表示这类强对比关系的标志性词语，如unlike, in contrast to, be distinguished from, used to, new, current, once, until recently, only, unique, never

　　根据强对比层次的不同，大体上将其分为：简单明示强对比、时间壮语强对比和优缺点强对比。下面就此进行具体分析：

　　1. 简单明示强对比

　　这类强对比属于普通的强对比，如文中说A, unlike B; C, in contrast to D, is等，这些都是明示强对比。下面我们用一个例子来具体说明：

　　Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them

　　The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to_____

　　 experience frustration but not serious financial harm

　　 face potentially crippling fixed expenses

　　 have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government

　　 increase its spending with minority subcontractors

　　 revise its procedure for making bids for federal contracts and subcontracts

　　分析：

　　在原文中，并没有提到大企业投标失败会如何，但是文中提到了小企业的情况，标志性的词语是unlike large businesses, 这就表明文中进行了强对比，通过这句话，since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them，我们知道，小企业将会有财政和士气上的风险。根据这样的对比关系，大企业的情况应该与小企业的情况相反，所以，正确答案应该是A. 即大企业会有一些波折，但是没有致命的财政影响。

　　2. 时间壮语强对比

　　题干中问A时间有什么特征，原文中没有明说，但给了A的强对比时间B的特征，将B的特点取非，即是A的特征。通常情况下，在一篇文章开始，或者一个理论刚刚提出的时候，如果出现了时间壮语，则是出题率很高的一处语言点。如，now, new, nowadays, current ideas和过去形成强对比;once, until recently, past和现在形成强对比。如果给出一个不早不晚的明确时间，如in 1960s，那么和它之前、之后比较都有可能。

　　下面以举一个具体事例：

　　In the early 1950s, historians who studied pre-industrial Europe began, for the first time in large numbers, to investigate more of the pre-industrial European population than the 2 or 3 percent who comprised the political and social elite: the kings, generals, judges, nobles, bishops, and local magnates who had hitherto usually filled history books.

　　One way out of this dilemma was to run to the records of legal courts, for here the voices of the non-elite can most often be heard, as witnesses, plaintiffs, and defendants. These documents have acted as a point of entry into the mental world of the poor. Historians such as Le Roy Ladurie have used the documents to extract case histories, which have illuminated the attitudes of different social group and have revealed how the authorities administered justice.

　　The extraction of case histories is not, however, the only use to which court records may be put. Historians who study pre-industrial Europe have used the records to establish a series or categories of crime and to quantify indictments that were issued over a given number of years.

　　The author suggests that, before the early 1950s, most historians who studied pre-industrial Europe did which of the following?

　　 failed to make distinctions among members of the pre-industrial European political and social elite

　　 used investigatory methods that were almost exclusively statistical in nature

　　 inaccurately estimated the influence of the pre-industrial European political and social elite

　　 confined their work to a narrow range of the pre-industrial European population

　　 tended to rely heavily on birth, marriage and death records

　　分析：

　　这篇文章在开头段就提到50年代早期，研究欧洲前工业时期历史的学者第一次开始大规模地研究人口总数97%的普通人民群众。题目中所问的是在50年代之前的情况，这正与50年代的情况形成了强对比。所以，正确答案应该是与50年代的情况相反的信息，在50年代，就有了将近97%的普通人民群众，说明这是一个很大的比率，将近100%。那么，在50年代之前，可以肯定的是没有50年代进步，所以，人数一定比50年代要少，可能是很少的以部分。这样，通过这样的强对比，我们可以确定答案A是正确的，即50年代之前的学者将其研究局限于前工业时期欧洲人口的一小部分。

　　3. 优缺点强对比

　　这类题的特点是，题干中如果问某事物、著作、人怎样会变得更好，但是在原文中没有给出明确的回答，而一般会有相反的内容，即：该事物、著作、人因为什么原因现在还不够好。这样，将其取非，就可以得到原题的答案。这里需要注意一点，有时文章细节复杂，被问到的事物缺点不止一个，那么一定要找到题干所问内容的缺点，而不要被其他的缺点乱了思路。

　　下面再用一个例子取说明：

　　It can be inferred from the passage that a historian who wished to compare crime rates per thousand in a European city in one decade of the fifteenth century with crime rates in another decade of that century would probably be most aided by better information about which of the following?

　　 the cause of unrest in the city during the two decades

　　 the aggregate number of indictments in the city nearest to the city under investigation during the two decades

　　 the number of people who lived in the city during each of the decades under investigation

　　 the mental attitudes of criminals in the city, including their feedings about authority, during each of the decades under investigation

　　 the possibilities for a member of the citys non-elite to become a member of the political and social elite during the two decades

　　分析：

　　题干比较长，意思是比较两个10年的犯罪率，得到了以下哪个信息，将会最有帮助?，在原文中有提到，两个10年的犯罪率经常无法进行比较，原因是总人口数的估计不准确。所以，根据这一信息，将其取非，便得出了选项C是正确的。即要研究的两个10年内城市人口的统计数。

　　小结：

　　综上所述，强对比取非题在GRE阅读中出现频率也是很高的，如果掌握了这类题的解答思路，在作答时就会迎刃而解了。