GRE閱讀出題規(guī)律講解

　　文章改寫

　　所有的GRE閱讀文章都不是照搬照抄原有的學(xué)術(shù)論文。其編寫過程一般是出題機(jī)構(gòu)先找到基本符合要求的“源文章”，

　　然后根據(jù)出題機(jī)構(gòu)的要求對(duì)文章進(jìn)行相應(yīng)的改編。具體來說可分為幾下幾個(gè)步驟：

　　1. 搜集“源文章”

　　出題機(jī)構(gòu)一般有自己固定的信息源和搜集信息的渠道。如ETS使用一個(gè)名為Source Finder的軟件在Internet上自動(dòng)檢索數(shù)字論文庫EBSCO中的文獻(xiàn)，并從中提煉出符合各種考試風(fēng)格要求(比如GRE和TOEFL等)的樣本文章。

　　2. 改寫

　　出于版權(quán)限制，ETS用于實(shí)際考試的文章長(zhǎng)度最多只能引用10%的原文長(zhǎng)度。這種“帶著鐐銬跳舞”的結(jié)果是大量文章內(nèi)容被改寫，重寫和刪節(jié)。改寫一般會(huì)大量使用分詞及從句，使句子變得更緊湊、更嚴(yán)密。盡管改寫后的文章會(huì)變得錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜，但出題機(jī)構(gòu)會(huì)盡量保持文章中原有的鮮明態(tài)度以及較好的層次結(jié)構(gòu)。如：文章一開始給出一個(gè)老觀點(diǎn)，后來有人提出新觀點(diǎn)，駁斥老觀點(diǎn)，文章作者對(duì)這個(gè)新觀點(diǎn)或完全同意、或持部分保留意見、或是做出有正有負(fù)的混合評(píng)價(jià)。

　　3. 設(shè)置出題點(diǎn)

　　出題機(jī)構(gòu)一般會(huì)先出關(guān)于文章主題、套路、態(tài)度、結(jié)構(gòu)以及與文章的主題有關(guān)的問題，再針對(duì)文中比較明確的內(nèi)容出題。在出題方式上求新求變，一般會(huì)將原文中出現(xiàn)的詞匯或句子換一種說法表達(dá)出來。最后再找一些極易被考生忽略的細(xì)節(jié)作為出題對(duì)象，以此提高考試難度，拉開考生的分?jǐn)?shù)。

　　題材廣泛

　　如前言中所說，GRE閱讀文章所涉及的題材有所區(qū)別，即GRE閱讀沒有管理類的文章，而這正是GMAT閱讀經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的題材。但總的來說，

　　它們所涉及的題材都十分廣泛，一般來說，GRE閱讀文章可分為以下四類：

　　人文類文章 (humanities), 自然科學(xué)類 (science), 社會(huì)科學(xué)類 (social science) 和商業(yè)管理類 (business)。盡管GRE閱讀文章涉及的學(xué)科眾多，但是考生對(duì)于這些題材無需具備相關(guān)的知識(shí)準(zhǔn)備，答題所需要的一切信息均在文章中可以找到;并且考生不能根據(jù)自己對(duì)相關(guān)題材的了解自行裁減文章的內(nèi)容和觀點(diǎn)。這四種題材將在以后的節(jié)目中按題材分類作詳細(xì)講解。

　　風(fēng)格固定

　　幾乎所有的GRE閱讀文章的風(fēng)格非常鮮明并因此很容易識(shí)別，其中最重要的特點(diǎn)就是文章中必然會(huì)存在大量的沖突(conflicts)。此處筆者使用ETS的內(nèi)部培訓(xùn)手冊(cè)來探究一下文章中的沖突。

　　(矛盾沖突)

　　沖突類型：

　　“Reading comprehension passages generally rely on some kind of tension to give them difficulty. A discussion or argument that develops in a linear fashion toward a conclusion is usually too simple to support challenging items. The requisite tension can take various forms: a conflict between different or opposing arguments about something, an unexpected finding that challenges previously established ways of understanding something; a disagreement about what evidence is relevant to the solution of a particular problem, etc.

　　(資料來源：ETS)

　　從這段內(nèi)容中，我們可以看出出題機(jī)構(gòu)主要依靠營(yíng)造沖突來讓考生有一種緊張之感(tension)。這也就是說，GRE文章必然有針鋒相對(duì)的觀點(diǎn)，有新發(fā)現(xiàn)質(zhì)疑已有觀點(diǎn)和認(rèn)識(shí)，有對(duì)問題的諸個(gè)解決方案之間的分歧等。此類現(xiàn)象在GRE的閱讀文章中幾乎隨處可見，

　　如“However, an unconditional guarantee can sometimes hinder marketing efforts.” 或“In recent studies, however, we have discovered that the production and release in brain neurons of the neurotransmitter serotonin (neurotransmitters are compounds that neurons use to transmit signals to other cells) depend directly on the food that the body processes. 再如： “There were, however, arguments against this method as a way of acquiring accurate and complete information”。以上三句話無一例外都是能夠反映出文章中的沖突，這構(gòu)成了GRE閱讀文章最具標(biāo)志性的特征。

　　營(yíng)造沖突的手段：

　　在營(yíng)造GRE閱讀文章中的沖突這一過程中，出題機(jī)構(gòu)已經(jīng)形成了一套固定的方法。在ETS的那份內(nèi)部培訓(xùn)手冊(cè)中有以下文字：“But disagreement or contrast or opposition is not in itself enough to provide the tension: a passage that merely states or describes opposing positions, without discussing in much detail the reasoning behind them, will not support very many or very complex items. For example, instead of saying that Brown believed X and Smith believed Y, a passage might tell us that Brown, heavily influenced by such-and-such school of thought, tended to assume A, and therefore believed X. Smith, on the other hand, had access to information that Brown did not have, namely B and C, and this information led Smith to conclude Y. However, Smith interpreted B in such a way that it seemed logical to conclude Y, when in fact this interpretation was ill founded. The more interdependent details, the more logical twists and turns, the better. Naturally, a passage containing this kind of density can only be created from a source that provides the requisite information, and such sources are not easy to find. ”

　　從以上的文字不難看出GRE閱讀文章中必然要有充分的細(xì)節(jié)和邏輯論證推理支持這些分歧和對(duì)比。細(xì)節(jié)越獨(dú)立，邏輯越復(fù)雜，文章帶給讀者這種緊張的感覺(tension)就越強(qiáng)。正如剛才那段文字中所講的一樣僅僅說“Brown認(rèn)為X是正確的以及Smith認(rèn)為Y是正確的”是不夠的。GRE閱讀文章的邏輯是“Brown, heavily influenced by such-and-such school of thought, tended to assume A, and therefore believed X” 以及“Smith, on the other hand, had access to information that Brown did not have, namely B and C, and this information led Smith to conclude Y”。 而對(duì)于這個(gè)Smith的觀點(diǎn)，文章還可能予以否定 “However, Smith interpreted B in such a way that it seemed logical to conclude Y, when in fact this interpretation was ill founded.”所以GRE閱讀文章的邏輯就是這樣復(fù)雜。