阅读sao操作来一波

关于考试阅读里的“读懂”概念...



一个迷思常常困扰做GRE和GMAT阅读的同学，就是为啥觉得自己读得懂文章但做不对题。

这问题本身是存在的。考场上因为时间比较紧张或者眼神不好，平时因为做题不严肃，缺乏对题目基本的敬畏，会导致文章读得很顺，选项一不小心就坑了。

但是，如果问题的出现频率如此之高以至于都构成了困扰，就不只是紧张、眼神不好、缺乏敬畏可以解释的了。

所以可能很多时候真的就只是“觉得”自己读懂了文章但没做对题。

与之相对的另一个更幸福的困扰是，为啥觉得自己没读懂文章，但做对了题。对答案或者看到分数的时候往往有一种FIFA里蒙进一脚世界波的幸福，对自己的sao操作赞叹不已。

关键可能在于我们和ETS或者GMAC对于读懂文章的定义不太一样。

举个上周末GRE考试的真题来说明一下。

Ralph Ellison was passionately interested in the visual arts. He immersed himself in Harlem’s art scene in the 1930s, even apprenticing with sculptor Richmond Barthe for a time. Yet he was wary of projects aiming to provide a visual rendering of his novel Invisible Man. He reluctantly allowed Franklin Library to publish two illustrated versions of the novel but found the results disappointing and repeatedly rejected proposed film versions of the book. Despite his involvement in visual arts, Ellison insisted that only language could capture the complexity of American identify. This complexity consisted of the tension arising from the collision of the United States’ written ideals, as outlined in the founding documents, and the historical and contemporary experiences molding the national consciousness.

2. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the “tension”?

A. It partly resulted from social injustices that Ellison worked to alleviate.

B. It came to Ellison’s attention partly as a result of his experience with proposed film versions of Invisible Man.

C. Ellison thought that it could not be adequately represented by sculpture.

D. Ellison believed that it arose from contradictions within the United States’ founding ideals.

E. Ellison felt that it was an issue that could not adequately be addressed through the depiction of fictional characters.

这题一眼看过去感觉D不错，因为原文最后就明确说了这些紧张源于美国建国文献中提出的理想的矛盾。不过，一个理性严谨的人类会发现相比原文，D选项多了一点说是Ellison这人这么觉得，这时候得考虑一下原文中虽然没这么说但能不能推的出来，因为确实有时候原句没说出来是谁的观点，但上下文可以推理，而且这题本身就是个infer题。回原文再看，会发现这时候我们对最后两句话的理解要更进一步了，就是还得考虑句间关系，倒数第二句说了Ellison的观点，里面出现了美国身份的复杂性这个概念。最后一句说这种复杂性包含了源于啥啥啥的紧张，这里只能看出是作者自己在陈述这种复杂性的构成及其原因，而不是Ellison的观点了，所以D是不对的。从这个选项可以看出，如果觉得读明白单个句子的字面意思就算读懂了，那真的有点naive了。在此之上，还要能分清楚事实和观点，作者自己、作者引述且赞同、作者引述但反对的观点。这才该是我们的重点。

正确答案是C，因为原文说了Ellison insisted that only language could capture the complexity of American identify，都only language了，那我们读到的时候就可以简化为作者告诉我们主人公觉得语言最高，别的都是渣渣，C说这种紧张没法儿用sculpture来呈现，就挺好一答案，算是对原文意思的反向推论。所以一句话的言外之意，而不只是字面意义，也该是我们的重点，这种套路熟的话，不仅不会读懂文章做不对题，反而可能会读不懂文章但做对了题。

类似的sao操作，我们再来两个～

Electric washing machines, first introduced in the United States in 1925, significantly reduced the amount of time spent washing a given amount of clothes, yet the average amount of time households spent washing clothes increased after 1925. This increase is partially accounted for by the fact that many urban households had previously sent their clothes to professional laundries. But the average amount of time spent washing clothes also increased for rural households with no access to professional laundries.

1. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the time spent washing clothes increased in rural areas?

A. People with access to an electric washing machine typically wore their clothes many fewer times before washing them than did people without access to electric washing machines.

B. Households that had sent their clothes to professional laundries before 1925 were more likely than other households to purchase an electric washing machine when they became available.

C. People living in urban households that had previously sent their clothes to professional laundries typically owned more clothes than did people living in rural households.

D. The earliest electric washing machines required the user to spend much more time beside the machine than do modern electric washing machines.

E. In the 1920s and 1930s the proportion of rural households with electricity was smaller than the proportion of urban households with electricity.

题目要解释的是为什么洗衣服的时间在农村地区增加了，具体一点，原文说的是洗衣机可以减少洗固定量衣服所占的时间，但其实家庭的平均值又增加了。城市的可能是因为以前都是专业洗衣店，所以现在比以前多很正常。但农村以前没有专业洗衣店，基本只能自己洗，为啥也增加了？

也就是关键问题在于：农村有了能够更快洗衣服的洗衣机为啥时间还多了？

这里是农村有洗衣机以前和以后的对比。

所以在大方向上原因也要是农村自己以前以后的对比，毕竟城市怎样不会影响到农村自己前后的对比。

所以答案只能是A，有洗衣机以后穿很短时间就去洗了，没洗衣机就多忍忍。

城市因素在这里属于干扰信息，关键是把握到原文中呈现的关键矛盾（But the average amount...）和题目要求解释的核心问题（the time spent washing clothes increased in rural areas）。

再来一个我们GRE冲160真题讲义的passage43。

Passage 43

Recent studies of the Philippine fruit bat fauna have confirmed some previous hypotheses regarding bats on oceanic islands: for example, species richness [the number of different species in a particular area] and abundance are generally highest in the lowlands and decrease with increasing elevation. With few exceptions, each endemic species [species native to a particular place] is restricted to the modern islands that made up a single island during periods of low sea level, and genetic differentiation has been influenced by the ecology of the species and the current and past geographic and geological conditions. However, far more previous hypotheses have been overturned than supported. Some endemic Philippine species use disturbed habitat as extensively as nonendemic species that are widespread in Southeast Asia. Levels of gentic variation within all species are high, not low, and rather than showing evidence of an intrinsic vulnerability to extinction from natural causes, independent lineages of these bats have persisted in rather small areas for very long periods of time (often millions of years) in spite of frequent typhoons and volcanic eruptions. While colonization from outside areas has clearly contributed to the high species richness, speciation within the archipelago has contributed at least a quarter of the total species richness, including many of the most abundant species.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. Draw on studies of the Philippine fruit bat in propsing a new theory regarding bats on oceanic islands

B. Show how recent research on the Philippine fruit bat reflects debates about bats on oceanic islands.

C. Argue for the relevance of certain new evidence pertaining to the Philippine fruit bat for the study of bats on oceanic islands

D. Discuss recent investigations of the Philippines fruit bat in light of conventional wisdom regarding bats on oceanic islands

E. Explain why the Philippine fruit bat is atypical among bats on oceanic islands in terms of genetic variation

2. The primary function of the highlighted text is to

A. Identify a finding from the Philippine fruit bat studies that will have a significant impact on how oceanic bats generally are viewed

B. Point out a hypothesis that has been the subject of considerable disagreement among researchers studying oceanic bats

C. Present evidence that is difficult to reconcile with other recent findings regarding the Philippine fruit bat

D. Illustrate a widely held view about oceanic bats generally that was confirmed by the Philippine fruit bat studies

E. Identify a feature of the Philippine fruit bat that does not appear to apply to oceanic bats generally

3. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the “recent studies”?

A. They point to the need for a significantly revised perspective on oceanic island bats generally.

B. They were undertaken with the assumption that Philippine fruit bats were somewhat atypical among oceanic bats.

C. They remain somewhat controversial among researchers because of the number of standard hypotheses that they tested.

D. They have largely confirmed what scientists thought about the Philippine fruit bat.

E. They suggest that bats on oceanic islands are more vulnerable to extinction than previously thought.

这文章本身要读清楚理论具体怎样的和讨论的理论意义所在其实有一定难度。但考的三个题其实很简单，如果我们重视文章结构，会发现说了啥呢。

Recent studies of the Philippine fruit bat fauna have confirmed some previous hypotheses regarding bats on oceanic islands: for example, species richness [the number of different species in a particular area] and abundance are generally highest in the lowlands and decrease with increasing elevation.（新研究支持以及如何支持了以前的假说） With few exceptions, each endemic species [species native to a particular place] is restricted to the modern islands that made up a single island during periods of low sea level, and genetic differentiation has been influenced by the ecology of the species and the current and past geographic and geological conditions. However, far more previous hypotheses have been overturned than supported.（但有更多的是被新研究给推翻了） Some endemic Philippine species use disturbed habitat as extensively as nonendemic species that are widespread in Southeast Asia. Levels of gentic variation within all species are high, not low, and rather than showing evidence of an intrinsic vulnerability to extinction from natural causes, independent lineages of these bats have persisted in rather small areas for very long periods of time (often millions of years) in spite of frequent typhoons and volcanic eruptions. While colonization from outside areas has clearly contributed to the high species richness, speciation within the archipelago has contributed at least a quarter of the total species richness, including many of the most abundant species.

所以文章的整体图景就是说新研究支持了以前的一些假说，然后具体解释一下；但是接着又说还推翻了以前的另一些假说，然后后面又说一下一些具体的发现。

把细节放在这个图景之内，这样三个题的答案都相当明显了。

更多真题，更多解析，来我们的GRE班啊～

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