阅读方法论七Question Patterns (1)
针对常见的国外考试GRE, GMAT, SAT和TOEFL阅读部分的考题，笔者把常考的题型进行了归纳总结，并且通过难题的举例，说明其解题的基本思路。
I. Vocabulary Question
词汇题在很多考试当中，其实考的不是词汇量的绝对大小，而是侧重于两个方面的考查：一是读者是否通过上下文把握住了信息间的内在相关性；二是读者是否了解词汇的一些文化背景。例如：
With a shock Trabb’s boy became aware of me, and severely visited as before; butthis time his motion was rotatory, andhe staggered round and round me with knees more afflicted, and with uplifted hands as if beseeching my mercy. （选择SAT官方指南）
7. In context, the word ”visited” most nearly means
(A) called on
(B) resided temporarily with
(C) haunted
(D) afflicted
(E) slump
这道题目有相当的难度，其正确答案选的是D。显然这道题目就从上述的两个方面考查了考生：首先visited或visitation作为非常正式的带有宗教意味的用法可以表示punished or punishment by or from god，所以visited在这里表示受惩罚、折磨的意思；其次通过上面highlighted的文字，我们发现了as和分号表示前后分句具有相似关系，然后再通过but, and, more我们知道前后分句存在三个方面的差异，出现了前面没有的旋转，更加afflicted和出现前面没有的求饶的举手动作，所以结合这两个关系，我们知道visited只能和afflicted存在相似关系，从而它表示afflicted。
那么怎样提高呢？笔者认为主要从以下两个方面：
＊多读英文原版作品，从中了解各种词汇的文化寓意；
Jane Austen: Emma, Mansfield, Pride and Prejudice; Elizabeth Gaskell: Mary Barton; D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers; Jacques Barzun: A Jacques Barzun Reader; Henry James: English Hour; Mark Twine: Old Times On The Mississippi; Mary Rowlandson: A True History of The Captivity and Restoration; Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; Frederick Douglass: Narrative of The Live等等。
＊ 学会从上下文的语言相关性推测词义，方法论可以参看方法论2。
II. General Understanding Questions
与主旨相关的题型考查方式变化非常多，归纳起来主要有以下7种：
＊ Main idea: Ask what is the main idea or main point of the passage;
＊ Title: Ask reader to give the passage a suitable title;
＊ Purpose: Ask about the purpose of the author writing the passage;
＊ Organization: Ask about the organization of the passage or some parts of the passage;
＊ Further Application: Ask what audience the passage was probably intended for or what type of publication it probably appeared in; Ask which the following statement could be reasonably placed before or after the passage;
＊ Prose Summary: Demand reader to complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage;
＊ Fill in a Table: Require reader to complete the table by dragging correct answer choices to their correct locations in the table. This question type measures your ability to conceptualize and organize major ideas and other important information from across the passage and then to place them in appropriate categories.
1. Main Idea
能否做好文章的主旨题目关键在于两点：一是文章本身阅读的问题；二是如何读选项的问题。当然不同的考试其解答题目的规律也不尽一致。
(1) GRE、GMAT考试
对于GRE、GMAT考试中的短文章，我们主要是学会从文章找到观点，然后根据观点的关系确定谁是最重要的观点从而确定main idea。这里我们非常重视因果关系和由demonstrative pronouns or adjectives承上启下的关系。我们来看下面这个例子：
In Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry does not reject integration or the economic and moral promise of the American dream; rather, she remains loyal to this dream while looking, realistically, at its incomplete realization. Once we recognize this dual vision, we can accept the play's ironic nuances as deliberate social commentaries by Hansberry rather than as the "unintentional" irony that Bigsby attributes to the work. Indeed a curiously persistent refusal to credit Hansberry with a capacity for intentional irony has led some critics to interpret the play's thematic conflicts as mere confusion, contradiction, or eclecticism. Isaacs, for example, cannot easily reconcile Hansberry's intense concern for her race with her ideal of human reconciliation. But the play's complex view of Black self-esteem and human solidarity as compatible is no more "contradictory" than Du Bois' famous, well-considered ideal of ethnic self-awareness coexisting with human unity, or Fanon's emphasis on an ideal internationalism that also accommodates national identities and roles.
1. The author's primary purpose in this passage is to
(A) explain some critics' refusal to consider Raisin in the Sun a deliberately ironic play
(B) suggest that ironic nuances ally Raisin in the Sun with Du Bois' and Fanon's writings
(C) analyze the fundamental dramatic conflicts in Raisin in the Sun
(D) justify the inclusion of contradictory elements in Raisin in the Sun
(E) affirm the thematic coherence underlying Raisin in the Sun
这道题目选的是E。注意文章中的划线部分的关键词。Once和this的出现，让我们明白了这里存在上述的承上启下的指示关系，也就是说第一句话虽然是观点句，对Lorraine Hansberry做出了判断，但这样的判断服务于第二句话，所以第二句话的观点（deliberate social commentaries）比第一句的观点（dual vision）重要。而第三句话中led to的出现以及它和第二句话的关系，我们发现：第二句话的观点是导致第三句话的观点性判断（interpret the play’s thematic conflicts as mere confusion, contradiction, or eclecticism）的原因。换句话说，第三句话的观点判断更加重要。再加上后面for example引导的反例的指示，和but、compatible的正态度的给出，我们可以清楚地知道这篇短文的中心讨论的不是dual vision，也不是deliberate ironic，而是thematic conflicts是否和谐的问题。
（未完待续）吴 鹏