已经有不少同学从新gre考试冲击的大浪上完美俯冲,也有不少同学反应新gre考试阅读变难了,原因何在?这是因为改革后新gre考试阅读重点考察考生的逻辑思维推断能力,相对老gre阅读老说文章中少了不少论据,要想弄懂文章先要明白文章的来源,下面是相关介绍:
文章改写
所有的GRE阅读文章都不是照搬照抄原有的学术论文。其编写过程一般是出题机构先找到基本符合要求的“源文章”,
然后根据出题机构的要求对文章进行相应的改编。具体来说可分为几下几个步骤:
1. 搜集“源文章”
出题机构一般有自己固定的信息源和搜集信息的渠道。如ETS使用一个名为Source Finder的软件在Internet上自动检索数字论文库EBSCO中的文献,并从中提炼出符合各种考试风格要求(比如GRE和TOEFL等)的样本文章。
2. 改写
出于版权限制,ETS用于实际考试的文章长度最多只能引用10%的原文长度。这种“带着镣铐跳舞”的结果是大量文章内容被改写,重写和删节。改写一般会大量使用分词及从句,使句子变得更紧凑、更严密。尽管改写后的文章会变得错综复杂,但出题机构会尽量保持文章中原有的鲜明态度以及较好的层次结构。如:文章一开始给出一个老观点,后来有人提出新观点,驳斥老观点,文章作者对这个新观点或完全同意、或持部分保留意见、或是做出有正有负的混合评价。
3. 设置出题点
出题机构一般会先出关于文章主题、套路、态度、结构以及与文章的主题有关的问题,再针对文中比较明确的内容出题。在出题方式上求新求变,一般会将原文中出现的词汇或句子换一种说法表达出来。最后再找一些极易被考生忽略的细节作为出题对象,以此提高考试难度,拉开考生的分数。
题材广泛
如前言中所说,GRE阅读文章所涉及的题材有所区别,即GRE阅读没有管理类的文章,而这正是GMAT阅读经常出现的题材。但总的来说,
它们所涉及的题材都十分广泛,一般来说,GRE阅读文章可分为以下四类:
人文类文章 (humanities), 自然科学类 (science), 社会科学类 (social science) 和商业管理类 (business)。尽管GRE阅读文章涉及的学科众多,但是考生对于这些题材无需具备相关的知识准备,答题所需要的一切信息均在文章中可以找到;并且考生不能根据自己对相关题材的了解自行裁减文章的内容和观点。这四种题材将在以后的节目中按题材分类作详细讲解。
风格固定
几乎所有的GRE阅读文章的风格非常鲜明并因此很容易识别,其中最重要的特点就是文章中必然会存在大量的冲突(conflicts)。此处笔者使用ETS的内部培训手册来探究一下文章中的冲突。
(矛盾冲突)
冲突类型:
“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.(资料来源:ETS)
从这段内容中,我们可以看出出题机构主要依靠营造冲突来让考生有一种紧张之感(tension)。这也就是说,GRE文章必然有针锋相对的观点,有新发现质疑已有观点和认识,有对问题的诸个解决方案之间的分歧等。此类现象在GRE的阅读文章中几乎随处可见,
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”。以上三句话无一例外都是能够反映出文章中的冲突,这构成了GRE阅读文章最具标志性的特征。
营造冲突的手段:
在营造GRE阅读文章中的冲突这一过程中,出题机构已经形成了一套固定的方法。在ETS的那份内部培训手册中有以下文字:“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. ”
从以上的文字不难看出GRE阅读文章中必然要有充分的细节和逻辑论证推理支持这些分歧和对比。细节越独立,逻辑越复杂,文章带给读者这种紧张的感觉(tension)就越强。正如刚才那段文字中所讲的一样仅仅说“Brown认为X是正确的以及Smith认为Y是正确的”是不够的。GRE阅读文章的逻辑是“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”。而对于这个Smith的观点,文章还可能予以否定 “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阅读文章的逻辑就是这样复杂。
以上即是新GRE考试阅读文章的特点及“改编”步骤介绍,希望考生一定要抓住ETS的考察方向,平时增加新GRE考试阅读训练,不是盲目追求数量,还要多加总结积累准备打“持久战”。
编辑:adazhang