GRE阅读选项遵循哪些规则

 　　2011年8月即将实施的新GRE中取消了类比反义的考查。新GRE的Verbal部分包括：Reading Comprehension，Text Completion以及Sentence Equivalence三个部分。其中与现行GRE考试的共同点就是阅读理解不但保留下来，其重要性得到了进一步的提升。

　　如果说Verbal Section是中国考生的噩梦，GRE阅读便是噩梦中噩梦。原因是中国学生由于长期以来在英语阅读理解的训练上一直强调词汇的理解和文本的翻译。所谓的“重翻译，轻思维”。此种训练理念与与ETS的要求相去甚远。其实，GRE阅读是借助阅读考察申请者的逻辑思维和解决问题的能力。另外，中国考生对于GRE阅读考试中的文章特点和选项编制的原则了解甚微，也导致备考中存在较大的盲目性以及考试中表现不佳。
　　在此文中，笔者无意对GRE阅读的文章特点做过多的论述，倒是想就GRE阅读文章的“最后一击”---选项，尤其是选项编制的原则， 做一些论述。并会结合笔者在近10年的教学经历跟读者朋友们分享所得。
　　作为一个标准化运作的出题机构多年以来在GRE阅读的出题方面已经沉淀下若干固定的规则，即ETS用固定的原则来指导阅读试题的编撰者来编制正确和错误的选项。以下笔者将用一篇GRE阅读文章来剖析ETS 编制选项的规则，希望对广大的GRE考生有所裨益。
　　通过对GRE阅读的深入分析不难发现ETS使用了以下原则来编制选项：
　　1. 正确选项：
　　(1)同义变换 。即将原文中的某一句话用另一种说法表达，也就是英文中的paraphrase 1。如将文章中的"many wind-pollinated species fail to release pollen 2 when wind speeds are low or when humid conditions prevail.”换成选项中的“Pollen is sometimes not released by plants when there is little wind"。
　　其中包括三种类型：变换同义词，变换句型，变化同根词的词性。以下分别论述，请注意表格中的斜体字。
　　2.错误选项：
　　对于GRE阅读文章中更大量的错误选项，ETS也形成了一套固定的规则。以下笔者就用实例来说明错误选项编制的规则：
　　(1)混偏反无。
　　1)混： 此类选项的错误可以形象地概括为：“张冠李戴”。 如下例：
　　文章："...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. If， thereafter， their subcontracts are for some reason reduced， such firms can face potentially crippling fixed 3 expenses"题目：The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to(A) experience frustration 4 but not serious financial harm(B) face potentially crippling fixed expenses (本题问大公司如果没有使投标转化为订单将引起什么结果。而这恰恰是小公司的特点。)(C) have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government(D) increase its spending with minority subcontractors(E) revise its procedure for making bids for federal contracts and subcontracts2)偏： 意即选项中所包含的逻辑范畴与原文不符。包括”以偏概全“ 以及”以全概偏”。请看下文：
　　Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl， Brownstones (1959) was a landmark 5 in the depiction 6 of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic 7 heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate 8 predecessors 9， Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks 10， she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community. But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting 11 her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents， and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture， which in turn was influenced by the materialism 12 of White America. By placing characters within a wider cultural context， Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes 13 and paved the way for explorations of race， class， and gender 14 in the novels of the 1970’s.
　　题目：The passage is primarily concerned with(A) comparing the works of three Black American authors(B) describing common themes in Black American literature(C) discussing an important work in Black American literature(D) providing insights about Black American literature in the early twentieth century(E) providing historical information about the writing of Black American novels in the second half the twentieth century分析：此文描述并评价了美国黑人文学史上一部优秀的著作。而其中的D，E选项中的“Black American literature”以及“the writing of Black American novels”无疑扩大了原文的逻辑涵盖的范围，即属于“以全概偏”。于是不予选择。
　　3)反： 即选项中的内容与文章内容相反。
　　文章：“....Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl， Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors， Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks， she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a black community......”
　　题目：
　　According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women分析：从文章中得知：“马歇尔已经摆脱了抗议小说所一贯描绘的受压迫并且带有悲剧色彩的女主人公形象”。但是B选项却说道：“马歇尔深深地受到二十世纪早期抗议小说的影响”，明显与原文意思相反。
　　再如：
　　It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being(A) completely different from novels written before 1959(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s分析：C选项“与之前的抗议小说类似” 与原文意思相反。而B选项的“深受二十世纪早期小说的影响”从文章无法推测出。
　　4)无：即 提到文章中未涉及的内容。由于此种选项编制容易，并且ETS一厢情愿地认为此种迷惑手段非常高明。因此，此类错误选项在GRE阅读的错误选项中数量众多。请各位考生紧记：凡基于文章内容无法推测出的选项必然错误。
　　还是上文：
　　题目：
　　According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women分析：从文章中得知：“马歇尔与另外两位的的共同点在于他们都把小说聚焦于一位普通的黑人女性对自己身份的追求，当然故事是以一个黑人社会为背景”。其中的A选项“未研究百人文化对角色生活所带来的影响”文章从未涉及。
　　再如：
　　It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being(A) completely different from novels written before 1959(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s分析：D选项“二十世纪50年代末期重要，但是今天过时了”文章从未涉及。
　　(3) 含有强调性语言(最高级、唯一性和比较级)的选项ETS会随意地在选项中加入一些极端语言来编制错误选项。集中表现为含有最高级，唯一性以及比较级的词汇。换句话说，含有这三类词汇的选项错误的几率很高。具体说：
　　1)最高级词汇：best ， the most important， the least useful， uttermost， foremost， uppermost， always ，never， often， usually，primarily，primary，exact(ly)，complete(ly) . entire(ly) absolute(ly) extremely， unmitigated . unrestrained . unchecked. first等2)唯一性词汇：only， alone， exclusively， sole(ly)， unique(ly)3)比较级词汇：more useful than， less beneficial than， better ， worse than ，as ..as， the same with， similar to 等等。
　　还是以上两例：
　　According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women分析：此处的D选项和E选项中的“primarily”以及“exclusively”都属于比较极端的词汇。
　　It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being(A) completely different from novels written before 1959(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s分析：此处的A选项中的“completely” 也属于比较极端的词汇。
　　(4) 违反“论据集中”原则：
　　即此类选项试图使用非定位处的信息回答问题。此类选项极具迷惑性，因为这些错误的选项在文章中确实被提及过，可是由于与问题回答无关因此不予选择。
　　请看下例：
　　“No very satisfactory account of the mechanism 15 that caused the formation of the ocean basins has yet been given. The traditional view supposes that the upper mantle 16 of the earth behaves as a liquid when it is subjected to small forces for long periods and that differences in temperature under oceans and continents are sufficient to produce convection in the mantle of the earth with rising convection currents under the(E) mid-ocean ridges 18 and sinking currents under the continents. Theoretically， this convection would carry the continental 19 plates along as though they were on a conveyor belt and would provide the forces needed to produce the split that occurs along the ridge 17. This view may be correct： it has the advantage that the currents are driven by(B) temperature differences that themselves depend on the position of the continents. Such a (D)back-coupling， in which the position of the moving plate has an impact on the forces that move it， could produce complicated and varying motions.
　　On the other hand， the theory is implausible because convection does not normally occur along lines， and it certainly does not occur along lines broken by frequent offsets 20 or changes in direction， as the ridge is. Also it is difficult to see how the theory applies to the plate between the (C)Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the ridge in the Indian Ocean. ”
　　【题】The author refers to a “conveyor belt” in order to(A)illustrate the effects of convection in the mantle(B)show how temperature differences depend on the positions of the continents(C)demonstrate the linear nature of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge(D)describe the complicated motions made possible by back coupling(E)account for the rising currents under certain mid-ocean ridges分析：此题为一道举例作用题。其定位为文章中加粗和划线的句子。但是这四个错误的选项都无一例外地通过利用其它的句子编制而成，即出题机构分别使用文章中标号为 A，B，C和D的内容编制出四个错误的选项。因此，不予选择。考生切忌因为文章别的地方曾经出现过类似的内容而犹豫不决。
　　综上所述，GRE阅读作为一个成熟的考试产品已经存续了几十年。在其选项编制方面已经沉淀了固定的方法。希望能给广大GRE考生一些帮助!