(单词翻译:单击)
回想过去的一年里,当剑桥真题系列VII在众学者和考生们的翘首期待中终于现身的时候,它饱含了多少大家的期待。虽然打开剑7后,大量旧题的出现令人不免有些失落,但作为真题,它的指导意义仍不容忽略。以下朗阁海外考试研究中心阅读组的专家试以解题过程中可能遭遇的难点做一解析,以期对广大考生有所帮助。
“工欲善其事,必先利其器”,解题之前的浏览非常必要。首先预览一下三篇文章的核心话题和题型,主要目的是对整套试题的难易程度略有把握,以便统筹安排三篇文章的先后顺序,由易到难。但这个过程所占用的时间要掌控好,朗阁海外考试研究中心建议考生在这个过程中所花费的时间不要超过半分钟。三篇文章中,Passage 3的 Educating Psyche 出自Prof. Bernie Neville的文章,应该属于包括详细的逻辑论证的文章,是三篇里面最难的,应考虑放在最后解决。Passage 1, Let's Go Bats 虽不一定让每位考生感觉简单,但比起Passage 2的List of Headings 题型,就显得压力小些了。据此,按照现有的Passage 1, 2, 3的顺序来做是明智之举。
Passage 1中的三种题型恰需倒置来做。最后三道题Qestions10-13是句子填空题,对多数中国考生来讲都属于难度系数不高的题型,可以先做;Questions 6-9 是Summary 填空,由于定位和同意代换所带来的难度,要放在第二位来做;Questions 1-5 是段落细节配对题,它考核了较为综合的阅读能力,包括信息定位和阅读速度,对考生的要求相对较高,要放在最后来做。通常这时能快速借鉴前面的细节题的成果,顺利答题。
Questions 10-13: 第10题中,Long before the invention of radar, ____________ had resulted in a sophisticated radar - like system in bats. 通过识别关键词,如句中划线的部分,可以定位到文中E段:The Sonar and Radar pioneers didn't know it then, but all the world now knows that bats, or rather natural selection working on bats, had perfected the system tens of millions years earlier. 句中划线部分分别对应了题目中 radar - like system 和Long before 的信息,根据句子内容,可知答案为natural selection .; 第11题中,Radar is an inaccurate term when referring to bats because ________ are not used in their navigation system. 只要关键词能准确找出,定位就不会太困难。该题的关键词定位为划线单词 inaccurate 和navigation后,在段落E中,很快对应到Line 4中的句子:It is technically incorrect to talk about bat "radar", since they do not use radio waves.可以轻松获得答案radio waves. Q12 和Q13和前2题相比简单得多,根据关键词都定位在段落E中,从而获得答案。
Questions 6-9: 该题秉承了Summary填空题一贯的核心信息提示的做法,给出标题Facial Vision, 帮助定位. 该题整体难度适中。其中略难的题目是Q7:The ability actually comes from perceiving 7__________ through the ears. 关键词毫无疑问是ears. 通过Scanning定位到D段:The sensation of facial vision, it turns out, really goes in through the ears. 该句有可能会误导考生将sensation 作为答案。考生必须意识到,sensation不仅在题目的上一句中出现过,而且从意义的表达方面并不具体,备考充分,有经验的考生应该意识到正确答案应该是通过耳朵能感知的具体内容,而并非sensation. 继续读下文:Blind people, without even being aware of the fact, are actually using echoes of their own footsteps and of their sounds, to sense the presence of obstacles,可知通过耳朵能感知的是echoes 或obstacles.
最令考生困惑和无奈的是Questions 1-5 (Matching). 将这种题型置于最后来做是明智之举,通常来讲,大体会有1-2题受益于之前做过的细节判断题,使得该处的Matching 显得非常容易。然而Q1是无法令考生轻松的,即便定位到wildlife 和navigate,也可能会徘徊在Paragraph A, 但始终不能寻到吻合题意的内容,直到第二段末尾,才会看到:Plenty of other modern animals make their living in conditions where seeing is difficult or impossible. 句中划线部分的信息均与题目吻合,可知答案是B; Q4是5道题中另一个较难的题目。能帮助定位的关键词是particular,如果文中原词重现,那么该题的难度就几近于零,所以段落中不大可能会找出particular的原词,而是段落中已经提到的‘发现’,包括‘理论’等。在文章的最后一段E段:But the underlying mathematical theories of radar and sonar are very similar, and much of our scientific understanding of the details of what bats are doing has come from applying radar theory to them. 从而得出答案是E.
Passage 2的标题不会给考生太大压力,首先因为不会涉及到太多的专业词汇,但是迎面而来的第一组题目List of Headings却无法让考生放松,需要完成7道高难度题目,且备选项多达11个!浏览其他题型,发现Qs21-26是是非无判断,考虑先做。这组题目难度不大,但Q23和Q26相对来讲不太好判断。Q23:Modern water system imitate those of the ancient Greeks and Romans.考生很容易根据A段内容先入为主地以为答案会是T.但是根据关键词ancient Greeks and Romans的定位,确定的位置应该是C段:...with water services inferior to those available to the ancient Greeks and Romans. 该句并未提及现代供排水系统是否模仿了古希腊和古罗马的设计,而剩余段落的内容虽然也讨论到相关内容,但仍不能认为是有关imitate的,正确答案是NOT GIVEN.
Q26: In the future, governments should maintain ownership of water infrastructures. 通过Scanning定位到H段,因为首句中出现了other kinds of infrastructure will still have to be built, 细读下来,得出答案NOT GIVEN.
然后来到Headings 题,考生会发现该题目不如想象中的难,只要Q21-Q26做得认真,掌握了一定的信息量,有如做好了铺垫,对于一名中等程度的考生,Q14-20是有望达到80%的正确概率的,换言之,将错误的题目数量控制在2道以内。而事实上,笔者认为,也只有Q17显得较难.Q17要求判断E段的主旨大意,首句:At the outset of the new millennium, however, the way resource planners think about water is beginning to change. 该句会误导一些实力不够或阅读习惯和积累都欠佳的同学选到iii, v, vi, 甚至是ii, 而这些并非正确答案。直至读到Line 4: Some water experts are now demanding that existing infrastructure be used in smarter ways rather than building new facilities, ... 才会意识到List 中的i. Scientists' call for a revision of policy. 是信息吻合的正确选项。
Passage 3的题目‘Educating Psyche’表明极可能是有关教育的某项实验,具有较详细的逻辑推理和说明,可以判断这是一篇具有一定难度的文章,不过题型的难度适中。在细节判断题里面的Q35会令一些考生感觉到不好判断。 Q35. Teachers say they prefer suggestopedia to traditional approaches to language teaching. 由于题目中prefer ... to 的信息和文中最后一段的首句:While suggetopedia has gained some notoriety through success in the teaching of modern languages, few teachers are able to emulate the spectacular results of Lozanov and his associates. 尤其是和划线部分的信息背离,所以相当一部分学生会轻易选择了FALSE, 忽略了题目中一个极为简单的前提:Teachers say..., 从而导致错误,只要注意到该信息点,就不会错过正确答案NOT GIVEN.