作者：沈昂

2013年考研英语已经落下帷幕，相信只要对历年真题做了仔细钻研的考生一定喜上眉梢，今年的阅读理解文章的选材风格，行文结构以及解题方法依然延续历年真题的特色，接下来笔者分别进行阐述。

 

（一）   选材风格

 

首先考研选材多出于西方的报刊杂志，特别是Economist，几乎年年都能见到他的身影活跃在考研的舞台上（如今年的完型填空和阅读理解的第二篇文章）。

 

其次考研文章特别强调时效性，今年流行什么就考什么；而今年依然沿袭了这样的风格。经过网上的搜索，有3篇文章是选自于2012年6月份的国外的报纸和刊物。它们分别是，第一篇文章选自于2012年6月21号的Business Weekly。然后第二篇文章是选自于2012年6月9号Economist，第四篇文章是选自与2012年6月25号的The Wall Street Journal，第三篇文章选自一本杂志 New Scientist。

 

再次最近两年所选材料多以经济学类，法律学类相关。例如今年的第二篇就是经济学类的，第四篇就是法律学层面的。考生如果把近几年考研中高频出现的相关词汇做一个总结就能立于不败之地。例如最近几年高频出现的Supreme Court 最高法院；decision 裁决；appeal上诉；hear 审理； overturn撤销裁决；dismiss驳回，其中不乏一些熟词僻义，今年就考察了“Supreme Court 最高法院和overturn撤销裁决”。Supreme Court 最高法院这个词在2002年的第四篇；2010年第二篇；2012年第二篇；2012年英语二的第三篇，以及今年的第四篇不断重复出现了，而且如果考生熟读历年真题就应该了解最高法院的裁决的意义，任何州的法律都不能和宪法违背，这样就更能理解第四篇的文章意思了。

 

（二）   文章结构

 

今年文章的行文结构和历年真题也几乎雷同。

 

首先考研真题文章中的引子分两大类：对比（contrast）和类比（comparison），对比时强调两个或多个事物之间的不同点，类比是强调两个或多个事物的相同点。以今年的大纲样题为例（2006年第三篇文章），文章首先讲述的是大型动物的濒临灭绝，紧跟着首段末句出现同样的情况也在海洋中出现了，后文开始展开核心主题海洋中的大型鱼类也面临着灭绝的威胁，这就属于类比型的引子。今年同样的结构也出现了。第一篇第一段举例子说明“fashion”引出第二段的核心概念“fast fashion”，典型的类比类引子；再如2010年第二篇文章第一段首先讲述各种商业技术都被授予了专利。第二段首句出现了“now”，说明今天这些授权将得到限制，这就是明显的对比论证。今年的第三篇同样如此，第一段首先论述过去对未来的观点都是好的，第二段出现now，说明今天和过去是不一样的，对未来带来了更多的威胁，典型的时间对比。

 

其次在具体的行文中主要的论证方法无非就是例证，对比和因果，尤以对比考察的最多最难。再以今年的大纲样题为例（2006年第二篇），文章讲述了莎士比亚故乡两个代表方，RSC和townsfolk各自不同的对立立场；今年第四篇文章同样如此，讲述了两个层面的不同观点，即联邦和州不同观点的对比论证，考生只要把握住分别的观点是什么，理解起来难度并不大。

 

（三）   解题方法

 

今年考研依然以细节事实题为主，辅以推理判断题，主旨题，词义题和态度题。但解题方法和诱惑方法和历年真题依然一样，以下举几个例子：

1细节事实题：

历年真题中比重最大的就是细节题，而且考研的细节题最大特点是什么都会考（包括例子，引子，but之前的），即考生要精确理解没一个细节。举例说明：

 

2013年Passage3

Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely - though by no means uniformly – glowingly positive. Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity,leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.

　　Now utopia has grown unfashionable, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and to climate change. You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.

 

 31. Our vision of the future used to be inspired by

[A] our desire for lives of fulfillment

[B] our faith in science and technology

[C] our awareness of potential risks

[D] our belief in equal opportunity

我们首先根据题干中的used to 判定问的是过去，因此定位在原文的第一段，（其实第一段只是引子，第二段现在才是作者讲述的主题）。而看到原文中的“leading to”，考生应该马上联想到因果颠倒，这是考研屡试不爽的诱惑方法，题目问的是原因，可以排除选项A和D，这两个都是结果。选项C中的“risk”是文中未提及的信息；而原文中的“Science and technology”对应于选项B的“technology”，所以B为正确答案。

 

2 主旨题：

今年考察了两道主题题型，解题方法和2012年第三篇考察的方法完全一样。首先文章的中心词或者同义词必须出现，其次考生只要了解中心词最简单的方法就是重复出现的词。

2012年 Passage 3

……

Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.

Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. ……he interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.

Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. ......

In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim - a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. ……

 

35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?

[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.

[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.

[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.

[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.

文中重复不断出现的就是credibility process，首先在选项中就能排除选项A和选项B，而文中讲述的是过程对应的就是evolution，所以选择答案C。

 

2013 Passage1

……

　　This top-down conception of the fashion business couldn’t be more out of date or a odds with feverish world described in Overdressed, Elizabeth Cline’s three-year indictment of “fast fashion”. ……

　　……

　　Over dressed is the fashion world’s answer to consumer activist bestsellers like Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. ……

　　……

Though several fast-fashion companies have made efforts to curb their impact on labor and the environment——including H&M, with its green Conscious Collection Line——Cline believes lasting-change can only be effected by the customer. She exhibits the idealism common to many advocates of sustainability, be it in food or in energy. Vanity is a constant; people will only start shopping more sustainably when they can’t afford to it.

 

25. What is the subject of the text?

[A] Satire on an extravagant lifestyle。

[B] Challenge to a high-fashion myth。

[C] Criticism of the fast-fashion industry。

[D] Exposure of a mass-market secret。

文中不断出现的就是fast-fashion，作者的态度明显是批判的，而选项只有C符合。

 

2013年 Passage3

Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely ……

　　……. You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.

　　……

　　So what does our deep future hold? …...

　　Perhaps willfully , it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of today's technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, ……

　　……. As so often, the past holds the key to the future: we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of the planet, and our species, to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find themselves.

　　This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad. To be sure, the future is not all rosy. But we are now knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come. 

 

35. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

[A] Uncertainty about Our Future

[B] Evolution of the Human Species

[C] The Ever-bright Prospects of Mankind

[D] Science, Technology and Humanity

文中重复出现的就是future，首先排除选项B和D。再看作者明显对未来充满信心，选择选项C。

 

各位2014年考研的学子们，真题才是真正打开考研英语大门的金钥匙。好好复习利用真题才是王道。