GMAT阅读部分核心考点浅析.doc

GMAT阅读部分核心考点浅析GMAT(Graduate Management Admis-sion Test)考试是进入美国商学院必须参加的考试，它不仅作为经济管理类专业(如金融、会计等)博士入学的一项衡量标准，同时也是攻读MBA学位的入学“敲门砖”。目前GMAT考试已全面采用机考界面，整个考试由作文(2篇)、数学和语文三个部分构成。在GMAT考试中流传着这样一句话：只要拿下了GMAT阅读，GMAT考试就轻松了一半。可见G M A T阅读在整个考试中的重要性与难度之大。对此，笔者将重点给大家谈谈GMAT考试阅读部分的主体思路与应试方法，希望能给大家指点迷津。题材分类由于GMAT考试定位的特殊性，其阅读部分的题材主要考查三大部分：Business(商业)，Biology(生物学)和So-ciology(社会学)，其中Business类文章考查频率最高。尽管有时阅读部分还会偶尔考到美国历史、考古、地质、天文及生态类文章。但总体说来，只要弄清三大类阅读题材的考查目的与出题方向，在答题时就可超越文章纷繁的叙述，把握出题点，夺取高分。一般说来，在三大类阅读题材中，生物学文章在内容层面上是最具挑战性的。因为文中会出现大量专业词汇，如：his-tone(组蛋白)、auxin(植物激素)、gibber-ellin(赤霉素)等。尽管如此，对于阅读水平较高的考生来说，词汇并不会成为解题障碍，因为只要掌握了一定的GMAT阅读解题思路，就能绕过生词直接答题。相比之下，商业类题材和社会学类题材的文章就简单多了。商业题材一般都为广大考生所熟悉，而社会类题材中经常出现的无外乎是美国社会十分敏感的两个话题：racism(种族主义)和sexism(性别歧视)，即在考试中可以很明显地划分为两个topics：少数族裔(不仅限于黑人)和女权运动。可见，只要对GMAT阅读各题材的内容进行详细分析，就能发现其实阅读部分的文章都是比较固定的。阅读核心：因果与对比在各种英语考试中，我们一般会遇到三类文章。第一类是介绍型文章，其结构很直白，一般为平铺直叙地介绍某个概念的起源、现状及未来展望；第二类是讨论型文章，通常针对一个问题进行详细分析，最后引出一个解决方法；第三类是对比型文章，作者通常先将两种理论或两个学术流派的思想进行比较，然后再提出自己的观点。而GMAT阅读部分的文章70%为第三类，即对比型文章；另外30%属于第二类，即讨论型文章。对于结构简单的第一类介绍型文章，GMAT阅读几乎不会涉及。下面我们重点谈谈这两类GMAT阅读的常考文章，并从中导出GMAT阅读的核心思路。讨论型文章的核心考点是讨论中得出的因果关系，因此其重心在于因果；顾名思义，对比型文章的重心在于对比，其核心考点是概念上的差异。由此我们可以归纳出GMAT阅读部分的核心答题思路为：判断文章类型抓住文章中的因果或对比关系。下面我们参照GMAT考试官方指南(第10版)中的两个实例，来体会一下GMAT阅读文章中以“对比”和“因果”为核心的解题思路。因果关系解题思路例1：(共6道题，在此仅将其中3道作为例证)Although genetic mutations in bac-teria and viruses can lead to epidemics,some epidemics are caused by bacteriaand viruses that have undergone no sig-nificantgeneticchange.Inanalyzingthelatter,scientists have discovered theimportance of social and ecological fac-tors to epidemics.Poliomyelitis,forexample,emerged as an epidemic in theUnitedStatesinthetwentiethcentury;bythen,modern sanitation was able to de-lay exposure to polio until adolescenceor adulthood,at which time polio infec-tionproducedparalysis.Previously,in-fectionhadoccurredduringinfancy,whenit typically provided lifelong immunitywithout paralysis.Thus,the hygienethat helped prevent typhoid epidemicsindirectly fostered a paralytic polioepidemic.Another example is Lymedisease,which is caused by bacteriathat are transmitted by deer ticks.Itoccurred only sporadically during thelate nineteenth century but has recentlybecome prevalent in parts of the UnitedStates,largely due to anincreaseinthedeer population that occurred simulta-neously with the growth of the suburbsNew Oriental Englishand increased outdoor recreational ac-tivitiesinthedeershabitat.Similarly,anoutbreak of dengue hemorrhagic feverbecame an epidemic in Asia in the 1950sbecause of ecological changes thatcaused Aedes aegypti,the mosquitothat transmits the dengue virus,toproliferate.The stage is now set in theUnited States,for a dengue epidemicbecause of theinadvertentintroductionand wide dissemination of anothermosquito,Aedes albopictus.总体思路：本文提出了一种观点：有些流行病是由社会和生态因素造成的。接着下文举了三个例子以及四个因果关系(变色部分)来支持此观点。这时我们首先要明确逻辑考点，即四个因果关系中一定会出题，因此文中四个因果关系词或短语后面的句子一定要细读，而其他部分略读即可。在明确了这个基本思路以后，我们来详细分析几道考题：1.The passage suggests that a lackof modern sanitation would makewhichofthefollowingmostlikelytooccur?(A)An outbreak of Lyme disease.(B)An outbreak of dengue hemorrhagicfever.(C)An epidemic of typhoid.(D)An epidemic of paralytic polio amonginfants.(E)An epidemic of paralytic polio amongadolescence and adults.从题目可知，该题的提问对象是：modern sanitation，因此我们需先回到原文定位。这里需要明确的一点是：原文的第11行和第17行的modern sanita-tion与hygiene是同一个概念。弄清了这一点之后便可发现，在第17行的因果关系词Thus后有这样一句话：the hy-giene that helped prevent.于是可轻松得出此题的答案正是句中提到的“typhoid epidemic”，(C)为正确。2.According to the passage,the out-break of dengue hemorrhagic feverin the 1950s occurred for which ofthe following reasons?(A)The mosquito Aedes aegypti wasnewly introduced into Asia.(B)The mosquito Aedes aegypti becamemore numerous.(C)The mosquito Aedes albopictus be-came infected with the dengue virus.(D)Individuals who would normally ac- quire immunity to the dengue virusasinfantswerenotinfecteduntillaterinlife.(E)Modern people began to visit andinhabitareasinwhichmosquitosliveand breed.本题的提问对象是：dengue fever，其出现在原文的倒数第二句话中。定位之后不难发现，在dengue fever所在的句子中出现了一个因果关系短语b e-cause of，只要对原文中proliferate的意思与选项(B)中的numerous做一个同义替换，就能得出正确答案(B)。3.It can be inferred from the passagethat Lyme disease has becomeprevalent in parts of the UnitedStates because of which of thefollowing?(A)The inadvertent introduction of LymediseasebacteriatotheUnitedStates.(B)The inability of modern sanitationmethods to eradicate Lyme diseasebacteria.(C)A genetic mutation in Lyme diseasebacteria that makes them morevirulent.(D)The spread of Lyme disease bacte-ria from infected human to nonin-fected humans.(E)An increase in the number of hu-mans who encounter deer ticks.本题提问的对象是文中所举的第二个例子：Lyme disease。答案可定位在第26行的due to之后，可见这个因果关系所引导的句子再一次成为了解题关键。根据句意对照选项，不难发现(E)选项最好地体现了Lyme disease在美国部分区域流行的原因。综合官方文本题库中的几道考题，我们可以发现其中一半的提问是针对因果逻辑关系。因此，在拿到一篇GMAT文章时，我们可以先在文中表示因果关系的词上做一个标记，然后再根据题干内容扫描因果关系前后的几个句子，寻找信息。表示因果关系的词或短语除了文中出现的due to、thus、because of，还有since、lead to、therefore、necessi-tate、result in/from、so that等等，大家在复习过程中可以自行归纳，并且一定要对这些表达方式形成阅读敏感，以节省答题时的思考时间，提高正确率。对比关系解题思路现在我们再来谈谈GMAT阅读考试中的另一大出题点对比和对照。通常情况下，就因果关系进行提问的考题会直接考查文中明确出现的信息；而针对概念之间的对比关系进行提问的考题则会侧重于考查文中间接隐晦，需要推测得知的内容。下面我们再结合GMAT官方指南(第10版)中一篇关于HumanResource主题的短文，体会一下GMAT考试的又一考查重点对比关系。例2：In an attempt to improve the overallperformance of clerical workers,manycompanies have introduced computer-ized performance monitoring and control (CPMCS)thatrecord and report aworkers computer-driven activities.However,at least onestudy has shown thatsuch monitoring maynot be having the de-sired effects.In thestudy,researchersaskedmonitoredcleri-cal workers and their supervisors howassessments of productivity affectedsupervisorsratingsofworkersperform-ance.In contrast to unmonitored work-ers doing the same work,who withoutexception identified the most importantelement in their jobs as customerservice,the monitored workers and theirsupervisors all responded that produc-tivitywasthecriticalfactorinassigningratings.Thisfindingsuggestedthatthereshould have been a strong correlationbetween a monitored workers produc-tivity and the overall rating the workerreceived.However,measures of therelationship between overall rating andindividual elements of performanceclearly supported the conclusion thatsupervisors gave considerable weighttocriteriasuchasattendance,accuracy,andindicationsofcustomersatisfaction.It is possible that productivity maybea“Hygienefactor”;thatis,ifitistoolow,itwillhurttheoverallrating.Buttheevidence suggests that beyond the pointat which productivity becomes“goodenough,”higher productivity per se isunlikelytoimprovearating.总体思路：这篇短文谈论一个新技术并予以评论，作者态度明确：此技术不能实现我们想要的结果。根据GMAT阅读的核心考查思路，我们应在扫描全文之后确定两个考点两个明显的对比，一个是第19行的In contrast to，其揭示了被监控与未被监控的人在认识上对工作重点的对立；另一个是文中第1自然段第9行的However，这个转折词引出了人们初步想法与现实之间的差异。只要抓住这两个大对比，大部分考题即可迎刃而解。下面看看具体考题：1.According to the passage,before thefinalresultsofthestudywereknown,whichofthefollowingseemedlikely?(A)The workers with the highest pro-ductivity would also be the mostaccurate.(B)That workers who initially achievedhigh productivity ratings would con-tinuetodosoconsistently.(C)That the highest performance rat-ings would be achieved by workerswiththehighestproductivity.(D)That the most productive workerswould be those whose supervisorsclaimedtovalueproductivity.(E)That supervisors who claimed tovalue productivity would place equalvalue on customer satisfaction.读完题干可知，该题问的是与研究结果相反的人们的想法。首先我们可以先看一下原文中两个表示对比的词，并在其前后句子间进行定位。这时我们不难发现，此题题干叙述的内容在第1自然段第9行的however前后可以找到相关信息。做出定位之后，我们只需抓住句中的核心词productivity和performancerating，就能轻松选出正确答案(C).2.It can be inferred that the author ofthe passage discusses“unmonitoredworkers”(line19)primarilyinorderto(A)Compare