09考研英语：传统阅读与新题型的“必杀技”（一）（二）

09考研英语：传统阅读与新题型的“必杀技”（一）

阅读作为考研英语分数比值最大的部分，历来都是考生们备战考研英语的制胜真经。然而，这部分分数却让不少考生“望分兴叹” 。事实上，它并没有考生们认为的那么难，只要掌握了阅读理解的解题“必杀技”，就可以攻破出题人的“拳数套路” 。下面以选自于万学·海文教研中心研发的 《2009考研英语阅读理解技巧标准全书》中的一篇与经济学相关的篇目为例，教你掌握阅读理解解题“必杀技”，让我们先从传统阅读开始。
传统阅读经济篇
对于考研阅读试题，由于客观试题本身对选项的要求 —— 解的唯一性和选项间的不可争议性 。而社会科学本身不同于自然科学，有非常明确的界限。命题人为了避免两者之间的冲突，所选文章通常具有以下两大特点：
1 ．文章中心单一、突出，即整个文章的说明或论述均紧紧围绕一个中心进行。
2 ．作者对所描述或论述的事物持有的态度褒贬分明（当然，客观描述某些事件的态度除外，因为作者态度是客观的，就不会有个人的褒贬之态）。
文章的这两大特点也构成了考生在正确答题时的两条宏观主线（通常考生把握这两点足以保证拿下阅读试题中 70% 以上的分数）。
如：
When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero is not biting her nails just yet. But the 47-year-old manicurist isn't cutting, filing or polishing as many nails as she'd like to, either. Most of her clients spend $12 to $50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. “I'm a good economic indicator,” she says. “I provide a service that people can do without when they're concerned about saving some dollars.” So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle--brow Dillard's department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. “I don't know if other clients are going to abandon me, too ， ” she says.
Even before Alan Greenspan's admission that America's red-hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealer-ships to Gap outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last year's pace. But don't sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem only concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain optimistic about the economy's long-term prospects, even as they do some modest belt-tightening.
Consumers say they are not in despair because, despite the dreadful headlines, their own fortunes still feel pretty good. Home prices are holding steady in most regions. In Manhattan, “there's a new gold rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by Wall Street bonuses,” says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are still rising even as frenzied(a. 狂乱的 ) overbidding quiets. “Instead of 20 to 30 offers, now maybe you only get two or three,” says John Deadly, a Bay Area real-estate broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about their ability to find and keep a job.
Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown. Potential homebuyers would cheer for lower interest rates. Employers would not mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant need to be impossible. Not anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. may still be worth toasting. (2004.P3)
51. By “Ellen Spero isn't biting her nails just yet” (Line 1, Paragraph 1), the author means .
A. Spero can hardly maintain her business
B. Spero is too much engaged in her work
C. Spero has grown out of her bad habit
D. Spero is not in a desperate situation
【解答过程】解题思路一：
从文章中各种带有感情色彩的短语“ don't sound any alarms”，“only concerned, not panicked”，“remain optimistic”，“not in despair”，“still feel pretty good”，“feel pretty comfortable”和“still be worth toasting”，我们可以看到，作者及美国人对整个经济的不景气持乐观态度。A项Spero几乎不能维持他的生意了。如果商业到了这般状况，人们还会对经济乐观得起来吗？A违背了文中的基本态度，排除。B项Spero太忙于自己的工作，文中第二句提到了Spero不能修剪、锉磨、上油指甲到他想要的数量，并且后文中又提到Spero在不断降低自己的经营规模，均说明生意在萎缩，生意不景气显然不可能有太多的活要做，排除B。选项C Spero已经改掉了他的坏脾气，文中根本就没有提及这个内容，排除C。选项D Spero并没有陷于绝望的境地，正好符合作者的乐观态度基调，且与后文吻合，所以答案选D。
解题思路二：
从中心与态度角度判断， A偏离文中态度基调，B、C谈到的均是具体表面的含义，偏离了文章中心，排除。同样，答案为D。
52. How do the public feel about the current economic situation?
A. Optimistic .
B. Confused.
C. Carefree.
D. Panicked.
【解答过程】 上面已有分析，答案为 A 乐观的。B困惑的，C无忧虑的（乐观并不代表没有忧虑，文中谈到“only concerned, not panicked”正是说明这一点），D恐慌的，均不符合文意，排除。
53. When mentioning “the $4 million to $10 million range” (Paragraph 3) the author is talking about .
A. gold market
B. real estate
C. stock exchange
D. venture investment
【解答过程】 对于这种类似于指代关系的判断，通常采用就近原则，即指代的内容通常是之前紧邻的中心词。 因为如果指代的内容间隔太远，容易产生歧义，不符合命题原则。这里，与这句紧邻的前后作者谈论的均是有关 Home prices的话题，所以可以断定“the $4 million to $10 million range”谈论的是real estate（地产），答案B。A黄金市场，文中虽然出现了gold这个词，但这里gold充当的是修饰词，修饰rush，表示“高涨的”；C股票交易，虽然文章谈到了华尔街，但并没有谈到股票交易，只是说华尔街的股息收益提供了“the $4 million to $10 million range”的资金来源，而股票的收益又为股票提供资金来源本身在理论上就说不通（如果股息为股票提供资金，股票又赚取股息，岂不是鸡生蛋蛋生鸡，一张纸左手换到右手就能不断赚取收益，那还有谁去从事实业呢?）；D风险投资，文中并没有提及到。
54. Why can many people see “silver linings” to the economic showdown?
A. They would benefit in certain ways.
B. The stock market shows signs of recovery.
C. Such a slowdown usually precedes a boom.
D. The purchasing power would be enhanced.
【解答过程】解题思路一：
虽然有些考生对于本句话的理解可能不是很清晰，但从该段结构看，段落首句给出该句后，后面均是具体事实的列举，由此可以断定，该句为该段的中心句，这也符合英文表达的习惯。该句直译：对于此次经济的减缓，许多人仍然可以看到银里子。在这里，我们暂且不管“silver linings”到底指“银里子”对不对，但我们可以肯定，既然是由“金银”修饰的名词，肯定不会是什么坏东西。那么，我们可以直接把它用“好处”这一具有广泛含义的词来含糊的替代它理解。这句话就转化成了这样一个很明确的语义：对于此次¾ 济的减缓，许多人仍然可以看到很多好处。语义明确了，从段落结构和内容方面我们已断定该句话就是段落的中心，后面举例正是对本中心的具体说明，从potential home buyers，employers，diners ，getting a table at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant等几个方面来说明这一中心，人们可以在不同的方面获得一些实惠，同时也符合作者乐观的态度基调（benefit），故答案为A。B股票市场显示了复苏的迹象（文中虽然提到股市，但并没提到股市的状况），C繁荣之前通常有这种衰退，D购买力会得以提高，这三者在文中均没有提及。
解题思路二：
从另一方面来看，A他们会从某些方面获得实惠。通常，¾ 济衰退并非所有的人都得不到利益，不同的人可能会从不同的方面获得一些好处。A含义富有弹性，含有特征词certain，且与现实逻¼ 吻合，故确定答案为A。
解题思路三：
把中心与态度结合起来判断，文章中心描述的是¾ 济衰退对人们生活的影响，作者态度是乐观的，两者结合，既涉及到生活方面，又表现出乐观态度（从benefit这一词可以看出），只有A，故确定答案为A。
55. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?
A. A now boom, on the horizon.
B. Tighten the belt, the single remedy.
C. Caution all right, panic not.
D. The more ventures, the more chances.
【解答过程】 本文谈论的中心是经济增长速度放缓对美国人的影响及人们所持的态度， A 即将出现的经济繁荣 ，谈到的是经济的复兴，偏离中心，排除。 D 风险越多，机会越大 ，谈到的是投资，偏离中心，排除。 B 勒紧腰带，别无选择，态度过于低沉，和作者乐观态度相悖，排除。 C 谨慎一点，无须恐慌 ，态度与作者吻合，且我们可以在文中可以找到依据 “only concerned, not panicked” ，答案 C 。
【总结】 本文是2004年考研英语阅读文章中最难的一篇，其难点在于文中出现了几个比较抽象的语句，使考生对语义的理解不清晰，导致答题时无所适从。其实，在做阅读理解这类题型时，我们并不需要把每个句子都弄清楚。当遇到一些模糊概念时，我们可以跳过法，首先从整体上把握文章中心和作者所持的态度，再适当兼顾细节，采用多种不同的技巧答题。如果有些题目还是不能作答的话，我们完全可以选择放弃，毕竟并不是每个人都能获得满分。
提高阅读除了掌握一定的方法和技巧以外，也要通过研做真题来掌握命题规律和特点。然而，考生的时间和能力都是有限的，在有限且紧张的复习时间内，迅速掌握命题规律且提高个人的阅读能力，对于每一个考生来说，难度都不小。但是，你可以选择权威的参考资料或其他辅助个人有效学习的方式，最短时间获得最多的精华。以上文出处——《考研英语阅读理解技巧标准全书》为例，它诠释了真题的命题规律，解读考研阅读的难点和应对技巧，且对阅读各种内容及题型做出详尽的分析，指导性比较直接、全面。所以，建议考生，在选择参考资料时，要选择那些围绕大纲、靠近真题、解析全面、指导直接的资料。以便资料的有效运用。

                                                              09考研英语：传统阅读与新题型的“必杀技”（二）

上一篇我们以经济学相关内容的阅读理解为例，向大家解析了传统阅读的解题技巧，在这篇“必杀技”中，我们依然用实体文章向 09年考生讲解阅读理解的解题方法与技巧。下面以选自于万学·海文教研中心研发的《2009考研英语阅读理解技巧标准全书》中的一篇与医学相关的篇目为例，教你掌握阅读理解中新题型的解题“必杀技”。
阅读新题型—— 段落排序题
医学篇
Directions:
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45. you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to fill in each numbered box. The second, the fifth and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1 .(10 points)
[A]The Thorax paper doesn't specify the illnesses that may result from weakened lung function, though there is evidence that a rapid decline on the order of those recorded in the study's most hostile subjects can lead to lung disease, heart disease, and even early death. The study's strength, Wright says, is that it uses an interdisciplinary approach involving psychology and medicine, and relies on objective measures of both hostility and lung function.
[B]The researchers' next steps are to look at whether the effects of hostility are reversible, and to conduct a similar study of a group of younger people, to get a sense of how early these effects can be seen. “We can intervene later,” says Kubzansky, “but wouldn't it be nice if they never get there in the first place?”
[C]Rosalind Wright, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard, notes that the lungs have been neglected in part, because there’s no clear-cut event like a heart attack to show evidence of their decline. But Wright and her colleagues, drawing on new data, say doctors need to pay more attention to lung function and talk about it with at-risk patients.
[D]Stress headaches, stress fractures, and stress-induced heart attacks are already well known to the general public. Now new research suggests that the lungs are vulnerable to the effects of stress as well.
[E]The results, despite their objectivity, may not entirely please doctors, whose time with patients is already tight. “Clinicians look for: ‘You have it or you don't,’” says Wright's fellow author Laura Kubzansky, an assistant professor in the department of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Psychological factors are not so simple. You can't say, ‘Oh, this is a non-hostile person’ in the way that you can say, ‘This is a nonsmoker.’ It makes the whole endeavor harder.”
[F]Recently, in the journal Thorax, they published one of the first studies to show that hostility is a risk factor for poor lung function among older men. The researchers found that men who were more hostile at the outset of the study suffered a more rapid rate of decline in their lung function than others. Moreover, the study found that damage to lung function from hostility was comparable to the amount of damage done by cigarettes, an effect even the investigators were surprised to see. That means, says Wright, “Just as smoking can hurt your lungs, harboring hostility may be harmful.”
[G]The researchers analyzed data from a long-term study of 670 men aged 45 to 86 whose hostility and lung function were measured several times during an eight-year period. Lung function was assessed using a spirometer, which measures subjects’ lung capacity and rate of airflow when they blow into a tube. Hostility, defined as a personality trait that leads to chronic anger, was measured by a widely used true-false questionnaire that assesses mistrust, resentment, and suspiciousness.
[H]Both Wright and Kubzansky say that this research has made them more focused on how people become hostile in the first place. “It changes the way I parent,” says Wright, who is the mother of two children. “When they get furious, I’ll sit down and have a conversation with each of them—one I wish I could have had myself when I was young—about how anger at his brother affects him, and about how it affects his brother.”
（一）答题步骤及方法
1.精读题目已经给出的首尾段落，推测所要选填内容谈论的中心。
由于排序题对逻辑严密性要求，一般来说，选填内容的5个段落逻 ¼  性较强，所谈论内容的中心单一，一旦通过首尾句判定出选填内容的中心，那么在下一步的通读选项中就会有意识的确定每个选项内容和中心的关系，方便下一步对题目的正确解答。
2.通读选项，了解每个选项内容，确认选填部分内容明确的中心并勾画出每个段落中的特征词（特征词分析见第一节选择填空内容），根据特征词排定大概顺序。
3.再次精读题目已给出的首段内容，根据其内容和结合西方语言习惯确定41号空选填内容 。
一般来说，东方人的思维是螺旋型的，西方人则多为直线型。他们在论述一个观点或因果关系时，先直接拿出论点（虽然有时候会引用其他观点作为引出自己观点的铺垫，但对于自己陈述的主要观点部分还是按照先有论点后有论据的顺序进行篇章布局）或结果，然后再去引用论据或原因阐述，这个在历年真题的阅读文章中有较好的体现（本题中的C项和E项）。
41空的正确选填对于整个排序题至关重要，因为它一方面关系到考生答题状况（如果考生第一个空都难以作答，自然会感觉全身紧张，紧张直接影响考试发挥状态，这不是命题人所希望看到的），另一方面也给出后面选项的答题思路。这一空一般不难，而作为已¾ 给出的首段内容必然含41空的选填暗示，考生需要好好分析给出的第一段内容，从选项中找出与之可以承接的内容。
4.根据41空内容和文中关键词，以及选填内容的中心确定42。
5.结合文章中心，对剩余三个选项内容进行对比，确定45空的选填内容。
一般来说，在剩余的三个选项中，45空作为选填内容的结尾段落，其内容的确定比较容易，这也遵从由易到难逐个击破的答题策略。
6.对最后两项进行对比，通过选项内容或选项中的关键词来判定最后两项的排序。
总的来说，5个选项的一般难度分布为41空难度最小，其次为42空，再次之是45空，最难的就是43空和44空，但一旦前面叫容易的三个空解决掉了，后面的两个空也自然迎刃而解。
7.最后一步，文章补充完整之后，检查整个文章的逻辑关系是否合理。
（二）试题分析（技能应用）
第一步，找到题目给出文章中已给定的最前面的一段和最末的一段，大概了解文章讲述的内容。
从给出的C项我们大概知道本文讲述的主要是有关lung的问题；而给出文章结尾的B项好像谈到的是hostility的影响，两者联系起来我们可以隐约的感觉到本文可能是讲hostility对lung的影响（当然，这里如果不能把这两者内容联系起来也不要紧，我们可以继续从下面找线索）。
第二步：按自然顺序通读余下选项A、D、E、F、G、H，了解各选项的内容，勾» 出各项中的可以反映出上下关系的关键内容，如：一些关键词、中心词等（尤其关注每段段首和段尾句，因为它们起着承上启下的作用，答题的关键信息一般藏在它们之间），并勾画出已在题目中排好顺序的选项。
通读各选项内容，在通读过程中可以很轻松的判断出D项的位置，从D的内容看，它是第一次引入文章谈论的中心话题the lungs，故41空应该选D。然后，我们分别画出余下选填内容A、E、F、H的关键信息。A中的关键词有The Thorax paper，E中关键词有the results、despite their objectivity、Laura Kubzansky（从选项的内容上我们可以判断出该人物是在这一段第一次出现，下文中如果出现同一个人物是我们判断段落顺序的关键，因此我们把第一次出现的人物也作为关键词），F中关键词有the journal Thorax、they，H中关键词有Both Wright and Kubzansky、this research。
第三步，通过中心词或其他有关联的词把含义内容靠近的选项归在一起，确定选项的顺序 。
从中心词和关键词我们可以看出，A、E、F、H都是围绕Wright and Kubzansky的研究成果展开的内容，其中A、E、F是围绕the paper的内容，H中的both 显然是对the paper最后的总结，故H应该放在A、E、F的后面，由此可以得出45空应该选H。对于A、E、F，由于F是第一次引出the paper的内容，因此F应该放在A、E之前，由此确定42空应该选F。再对比余下的A、E项，从A、E中含有共同相关的objective内容我们可以判断出A应该在E之前，故43空应该选A，44空应该选E。
第四步，把文章整体阅读一遍看逻辑关系是否合适。
从选填的内容我们可以看出，文章主要讲述医学工作者发现 Hostility（敌对情绪）对肺部健康的影响。文中首段提出压力会导致肺部疾病，第二段到第七段围绕hostility（有时用形容词hostile）使用医学工作者的新研究结果来证明敌对情绪对肺部健康的影响。最后一段提出未来研究方向。行文严谨，逻辑严密。
总之，当你熟悉了新题型的解题思路，通过平时的训练以及对真题的研读，掌握了它的考查重点、命题规律后，这种题型的难度自然就降低了。正所谓的熟能生巧！