考研阅读关键句与核心词汇

新东方   许泽传   2014.10

 

 

 

说明：相信各位考研同学都会把考研阅读文章做精读，做完以后会总结一些词汇、同义替换和出题点，以下是我做的一些总结。我整理了2001-2010年40篇仔细阅读每一篇文章中的有出题目的句子和对应的题目及答案，这些句子可以说是文章里最重要的句子，通过对他们的分析便可以总结出考研阅读通常会在什么地方提问；通过对题目和正确答案的分析便可以总结出常见的题型和正确选项的特点；对比原文关键信息和正确答案的表述，就可以看出同义改写或信息推断的方式。知道考点在哪里，知道正确选项什么特点，就是考研阅读的关键。

 

考研阅读文章若按题材分类大致可以分为文化教育、社会生活、科普信息和商业经济四类，同类型的文章可以收集到一起做，方便对比文章结构、积累背景词汇和训练做题思路。我也是先把文章进行分类，然后从每篇文章里精选3-4句话，用红色加粗字体标注了句中的关键词（这些词也正是我们在看文章时需要做笔记的词，如转折、对比、否定和总结词），每个句子都配有中文翻译，列出了必备词汇，并对熟词僻意做了特别标注，最后总结了一些正确选项和原文信息同义改写的方式，希望这份材料对大家有一定的帮助。

 

 

 

（一） 文化教育类

 

2002 Text 1 关于如何有效得使用幽默

2004.Text 2 关于按字母排序的歧视

2004.Text 4 关于美国学校的反智现象

2005.Text 1 关于卷尾猴的不公平情绪

2005.Text 4 关于英语正式语言的退化及原因

2006.Text 1 关于美国文化的同化问题

2006.Text 2 关于莎士比亚故乡的两大行业

2006.Text 4 关于悲情艺术

2007.Text 1 关于人的能力是先天决定的还是后天培养的

2008.Text 4 关于美国开国领袖与奴隶制的关系

2009.Text 4 关于新英格兰地区早期的文化

 

 

PDF 打印版下载地址： http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/yZ6I_6beFQCMy

 

 

 

2002 Text 1 关于如何有效得使用幽默

 

1. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different.

 

你的幽默一定要和听众相关，要有助于表明你是他们中的一员或者提问及答案他们的处境，并且赞成他们的观点。根据谈话对象的不同，所谈的问题就会不一样。

 

※ be relevant to 与……有关

※ in sympathy with 赞成【熟词僻意】

※ address  v.与……说话【熟词僻意】

 

提问及答案：To make your humor work, you should address different problems to different people.

 

 

2. With other audiences you mustn’t attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.

换了其他听众，你就不要表现你的幽默了，因为他们反感一个外人对他们的食堂或者主席说三道四。如果你调侃一下邮局或电信系统这类“替罪羊”，你就会更加稳妥。

 

※ resent  v.怨恨,反感

※ consensus  n.共识

 

提问及答案：It can be inferred from the text that public services have often been the laughing stock.

 

同义改写方式：Post Office or the telephone system → public service

 

 

3. If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner.

 

如果你觉得幽默搞笑很别扭，你就必须好好练习，这样就会变得更加自然。你可以轻松自然得在谈话中加进一些随口说出来而且明显未经准备的话。

 

※ awkward  a.笨拙的

※ casual  a.随意的

※ deliver  v.传递(消息),发表(演说)

 

提问及答案：To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered as casually as possible.

 

 

 

2004. Text 2 关于按字母排序的歧视

 

1. Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism.

 

在上个世纪，各种不公和歧视要么受到谴责，要么被认为非法，可是一种隐伏的形式却长盛不衰：字母顺序主义。

 

※ discrimination  n.歧视

※ condemn  v.谴责

※ thrive  v.繁荣,兴旺

 

提问及答案：-- What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

-- Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize.

 

※ subtle  a.微妙的

 

同义改写方式：insidious  a.在不知不觉中进行的 → subtle  a.微妙的

（注：该题还有别的解题线索，这只是其中一处线索）

 

 

2. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

所以近视眼小Zysman同学就只能永远坐到最后面，那些麻木不仁的老师的提高水平的问题很少会落到他的头上。那些姓氏首字母处于劣势的孩子，当时也许会想自己没被提问真实幸运，可是最后的结果却可能是：他们不仅公开说话时不如别人自信，而且学习成绩也会更差，因为他们得到的个人关注更少。

 

※ get stuck 被卡住，被堵住

※ rarely  ad.很少地

※ pose  v.提出（问题）【熟词僻意】

※ insensitive  a.不敏感的

※ qualification  n.品质

 

提问及答案：The 4th paragraph suggests that teachers should pay attention to all of their students.

 

 

3. The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ.

 

这种屈辱会一直持续。大学毕业典礼上，姓氏以ABC开头的学生会得意得先拿到奖，等到那些Z开头的人领奖的时候，大多数人已经在打瞌睡了。

 

※ humiliation  n.耻辱，屈辱

※ award  v.授予  n.奖,奖品

 

提问及答案：-- What does the author mean by “most people are literally having a ZZZ”？ -- Most people are noisily dozing off.

 

 

 

2004. Text 4 关于美国学校的反智现象

 

1. Americans today don’t place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education -- not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

 

如今美国人不太重视知识。我们崇拜的是运动员、娱乐明星和企业家，不是学者。就连学校也成了送孩子去接受实用主义教育的地方--不是为了知识而追求知识。

 

※ intellect  n.知识，才智

※ practical  a.实践的,使用的

※ pursue  v.追求 

※ for the sake of 为……的原因

 

提问及答案：-- What do American parents expect their children to acquire in school?

-- Practical abilities for future career.

 

 

2. ① Schools have always been in a society where practical is more important than intellectual. 学校一直处在一个实用比学问更重要的社会中。

 

② From the beginning of our history, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book. 从我们的历史一开始，我们的民主化和大众化冲动就迫使我拒绝一切带有精英主义色彩的东西，实用、常识及天生的智力被看成是比从任何书本上能学到的东西更据崇高的品质。

提问及答案：We can learn from the text that Americans have a history of undervaluing intellect.

 

同义改写方式：intelligence, more noble → undervalue intellect

 

 

3. “Schools could be a counterbalance.” Ravitch’s latest book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits.

“学校可以是一种平衡砝码。”Ravitch 的最新专著《遗留问题：失败的学校之世纪回顾》追溯了学校里反知识现象的根源，得出的结论是：学校根本不是纠正美国人厌恶追求知识的平衡砝码。

 

※ counter-  表示“相反，相对”的前缀

※ trace the roots of 追溯……的根源

※ anything but  决不

※ distaste  n.厌恶

 

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children: “We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.”

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson 以及其他一些先验论哲学家则认为：上学和努力学习书本知识会使孩子受到违反自然的约束：“我们在学校和大学背书室一呆就是10或15年，好不容易出来时虽然满腹经纶，却啥也不懂”

 

※ rigorous  a.严格的

※ restraint  n.限制

 

提问及答案：Emerson, according to the text, is probably an opponent of intellectualism.

※ opponent  n.反对者

 

 

5. ①Americans today don’t place a very high value on intellect. 如今美国人不太重视知识。

② School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted.学校仍然是知识不被信任的地方。

 

提问及答案：-- What does the author think of intellect?

-- It is to be pursued.

 

 

 

2005. Text 1 关于卷尾猴的不公平情绪

 

1. Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behavior is regarded as “all too human,” with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by xxx suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.

 

人人都喜欢工资暴涨，但假如你得知，你同事的工资涨得比你还多，你的那份高兴劲儿就会烟消云散。的确，如果他在大家眼里是个懒散的人，你甚至会勃然大怒。这种行为被称之为人之常情，言下之意是说其他动物不会有愤愤不平这种复杂的情感。但是，xxx的研究表明这也是猴之常情。

 

※ vanish  v.消失  finish

※ outraged  a.大怒的

※ underlying  a.潜在的

※ assumption  n.假设

※ grievance  n.不满，不平

 

提问及答案：The statement “it is all too monkey” implies that resenting unfairness is also monkeys’ nature.

※ resent  v.怨恨

 

 

2. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food readily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.

 

他们样子很可爱，性情温和，喜欢合作，乐于分享他们的食物。最重要的是，像人类中的女性一样，它们比倾向于公猴更关心“货物和服务”的价值。

 

※ counterpart  n.对应的人或物

 

提问及答案：Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they are more inclined to weigh what they get.

 

※ incline  v.倾向 = tend

※ weigh  v.称重，权衡【熟词僻意】

 

同义改写方式：pay attention to the value of “goods and services” → weigh what they get，其中答案中的 what they get 指的就是goods and services

 

 

3. The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated.

研究人员认为，卷尾猴和人类一样受社会情感的影响。在野生环境下，它们是合作性、群居性动物，但这种合作只有在每只猴子都觉得没有被欺骗的情况下才能保持稳定。

 

提问及答案：Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeys will not be co-operative if feeling cheated

同义改写方式：stable，not being cheated → not be co-operative if cheated

 

4. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.

 

看起来，义愤不是人类的独有情感。拒绝次一点的奖励完全把这种感情清清楚楚地传递给了群体中的其他成员。然而，这种公平感究竟是人类和猴子独立进化出来的，还是从它们3500万年前共同的老祖先那里遗传下来的，这个问题迄今为止还没有找到答案。

 

※ indignation  n.愤怒

※ preserve  n.专属，独揽之事【熟词僻意】

※ evolve  v.进化

 

提问及答案：-- What can we infer from the last paragraph?

-- Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.

 

同义改写方式：… is an unanswered question → … evolved from an uncertain source

 

 

 

2005. Text 4 关于英语正式语言的退化及原因

 

 

1. Mr. McWhorter’s academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of “whom,” for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.

 

McWhorter 先生的学术专长是语言历史与变化，他认为诸如“whom”这个词的逐渐消失是很自然的，并不比古英语示格词尾的消失更让人惋惜。

 

※ speciality  n.专业，专长

※ regrettable  a.令人遗憾的

 

提问及答案：According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English is but all too natural in language development.

 

2. ① But the cult of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing,” has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. 然而，崇尚真实和个性、“做我们自己的事”已招致了正式演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐的死亡。

 

② In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft. 无论在口语还是在书面英语里，随便聊正在打败认真说，自然发挥正在打败精雕细琢。

 

※ authentic  a.真实的

※ spell  v.招致【熟词僻意】

※ triumph  v.获得胜利【熟词僻意】

※ spontaneity  n.自然发生 ← spontaneous  a.自发的，自然的

 

提问及答案：The word “talking” denotes informality

※ denote  v.表示，代表 = indicate

 

 

3. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive -- there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.

 

作为一位语言学家，他承认人类的各种语言，包括那些不太标准的语言，如黑人英语，都具有极强的表现力 --- 世界上没有不能表达复杂思想的语言或方言。他不像很多人那样认为我们的思路会因为说话不严格就不再有条理。

 

※ acknowledge  v.承认

※ expressive  a.有表现力的

※ convey  v.传达，表达

 

提问及答案：-- To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree ？    -- Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.

※ logical thinking  逻辑思维

 

推理过程： not argue ：no longer think straight because not talk proper → Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk

不争辩：说话不严格就会导致思维错乱，即认为说话严不严格跟思维没有关系 → 逻辑思维与说话方式没关系

 

 

4. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms -- he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china.”

 

McWhorter 先生承认，正式英语并非非有不可，他并不建议实行彻底的教育改革 --- 他伤感的原因与其说是因为失去了有用的东西，不如说是因为失去了美丽的东西。我们现在是把英语放在纸盘上而非瓷盘上。

 

※ propose  vt.提出，提议

※ radical  a.根本的，彻底的

※ grieve  vi.感到悲痛

 

提问及答案： According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as “functional” is to “artistic”

 

 

2006. Text 1 关于美国文化的同化问题

 

1. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption” launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered “vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite,” these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act.”

 

人们被19世纪百货商店倡导的“消费文化”所吸引，那些商店“环境优雅、玲琅满目”，不是迎合知识精英的小商店，而是“不分阶级背景、任何人都能进入的商店，从而使购物成了一种公开并且民主的行为”

 

※ be absorbed into  被……吸引

※ launch  v.发动,发起,推出

※ cater to  迎合(某人的需求)

※ elite  n.精英

※ democratic  a.民主的

 

提问及答案：the department stores of the 19th century played a role in the spread of popular culture.

 

 

2. Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous.

 

移民们在很快适应这种大众文化，虽然总体上可能没有起到提高作用，却也几乎没有什么危害。

 

※ immigrant  n.移民

※ elevate  v.提升

 

提问及答案：The text suggests that immigrants now in the U.S. are hardly a threat to the common culture

 

同义改写方式：poisonous → threat

 

 

3. Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation’s assimilative power.”

Rodriguez 指出，世界各地偏远山村的孩子都是超级明星如Arnold Schwarzenegger和Garth Brooks的粉丝，可是“一些美国人担心，生活在美国的移民还是不受这个国家同化能力的影响。”

 

※ immune  a.免疫的

※ assimilate  v.吸收,适应,同化

 

提问及答案：-- Why are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks mentioned?

-- To show the powerful influence of American culture.

 

 

4. But particularly when viewed against America’s turbulent past, today’s social indices hardly suggest a dark and deteriorating social environment.

但尤其是与美国动荡的过去相比，如今的社会指数几乎没有显示出社会环境的黑暗和每况愈下。

 

※ turbulent  a.动荡的

※ deteriorate  v.恶化

提问及答案： In the author’s opinion, the absorption of immigrants into American society is successful.

 

 

 

2006. Text 2 关于莎士比亚故乡的两大行业

 

1. The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue.

 

Stratford 受人尊敬的居民们怀疑剧院并不会为他们增加一分钱的收入。

 

※ resident  n.居民

※ revenue  n.收入,税收

 

提问及答案： From the first two paragraphs, we learn that the townsfolk deny the RSC’s contribution to the town’s revenue.

 

※ deny  v.否认

 

同义改写方式：doubt → deny

adds a penny → contribution

 

 

2. However, the playgoers do manage a little sight-seeing along with their playgoing. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much of the town’s revenue because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights) pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants.

 

可是那些看演出的人除了看戏还会安排一些观光内容。RSC认为，是那些看演出的人带来了小镇大部分的收入，因为他们会在那里过夜（有人会住四五个晚上），把大把大把的钱扔在各个旅馆和饭店。

 

※ contend  v.斗争,主张：maintain

 

提问及答案：It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that the playgoers spend more money than the sightseers.

 

 

3. Anyway, the townsfolk can’t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row.)

 

不管怎样，镇上居民们就是不能提问及答案为什么RSC需要补贴（剧院已经连续三年打破上座记录）

 

※ subsidy  n.补助金

※ three years in a row  连续三年

 

提问及答案：According to the townsfolk, the RSC deserves no subsidy because the theatre attendance is on the rise.

 

同义改写方式：theatre has broken attendance records → theatre attendance is on the rise

 

 

4. It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford’s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights.

 

大幅涨价会让人恶心，因为那样会赶跑年轻人，而他们是Stratford最具吸引力的顾客，他们来的目的完全是看戏，不是观光。

 

※ client  n.顾客

 

提问及答案：From the text we can conclude that the author is sympathetic to the RSC

 

※ sympathetic  a.同情的

 

 

 

2006. Text 4 关于悲情艺术

1. But somewhere from the 19th century onward, more artists began seeing happiness as meaningless, phony or, worst of all, boring, as we went from Wordsworth’s daffodils to Baudelaire’s flowers of evil.

可是从19世纪某个时候起，从Wordsworth的 daffodils 到Baudelaire的 flowers of evil，更多的艺术家开始把幸福看成是无意义的、虚伪的，或者最糟糕的是，无聊的东西。

 

※ from … onward  从……时候起

 

提问及答案：By citing the examples of poets Wordsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to show that artists have changed their focus of interest.

 

 

2. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in danger and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too.

 

在西方，在大众交流和识字之前，最有影响力的大众传媒是教堂，教堂提醒拜神者说他们的灵魂处境危险，有朝一日会被虫子吃掉。考虑到这种种原因，他们并不需要他们的艺术也成为一种失望。

 

※ mass medium  大众传媒

※ worship  v.崇拜

※ given this  鉴于此【熟词僻意】

 

提问及答案： The word “bummer” most probably means something unpleasant.

 

3. Today the messages the average Westerner is surrounded with are not religious but commercial, and forever happy.……. And since these messages have an agenda -- to lure us to open our wallets -- they make the very idea of happiness seem unreliable.

 

现在，普通西方人耳闻目睹的不是宗教信息，而是商业信息，而且永远是快乐信息。……。由于这些信息有一个目标 --- 引诱我们打开钱包 --- 这使幸福这个概念本身就显得不太可靠。

 

※ lure  vt.诱惑

 

提问及答案：In the author’s opinion, advertising creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.

※ illusion  n.幻觉，错觉

 

同义改写方式：unreliable → illusion

 

 

4. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need art to tell us, as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it.

 

今天，我们被幸福唾手可得的诺言所包围，我们需要艺术像宗教曾经做过的那样告诉我们死是难免的：记住你会死、世界上的一切都有终点，否认这一点不会有幸福，面对它才会有幸福。

 

※ deny  v.否认

 

提问及答案：-- Which of the following is true of the text?

-- Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.

 

※ misery  n.痛苦

 

同义改写方式： you will die, everything ends → misery

 

 

 

2007. Text 1 关于人的能力是先天决定的还是后天培养的

 

1. If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006’s World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months.

 

只要仔细看看2006年世界杯中每个足球运动员的出生证，你就很可能发现一个值得注意的怪事：顶级足球运动员在年头几个月出生比在后面月份出生的可能性更大。

 

※ elite  n.精英

 

提问及答案：The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to introduce the topic of what makes expert performance.

 

2. Soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania.

 

对足球有狂热爱好的父母更有可能在春天怀孕，而这正是每年足球狂潮的巅峰时刻。

 

※ annual  a.每年的   anniversary

※ peak  n.山顶,巅峰

 

提问及答案：-- The word “mania” (Line 4, Paragraph 2) most probably means

-- craze.

 

 

3. This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person “encodes” the information.

 

这次成功加上后来证明记忆力本身并非由遗传决定的研究使Ericsson得出了这样的结论：记忆行为与其说是直觉训练，不如说是认知训练。换句话说，两个人表现出来的记忆能力无论天生有多大区别，这些区别都会被每个人的“编码”信息的能力所消除。

 

※ cognitive  a.认知的

※ intuitive  a.直觉的 

※ exhibit  v.展现【熟词僻意】

※ memorize  v.记忆

※ swamp  v.淹没【熟词僻意】

 

提问及答案：According to Ericsson, good memory depends on meaningful processing of information.

 

※ process  v.加工，处理【熟词僻意】

 

同义改写方式：encodes the information → processing of information.

 

 

4. Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers – whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming – are nearly always made, not born.

他们的工作做出了十分让人吃惊的断言：我们常常称之为才能的特点受到了过高的估计。或者换句话来说，突出表现—无论是记忆力方面还是在外科方面、在芭蕾方面还是在电脑设计方面—几乎总是造就的，而不是天生的。

 

※ startling  a.令人吃惊的

※ assertion  n.断言

※ trait  n.特征

※ overrate  v.过高估计【熟词僻意】= overestimate
 

提问及答案： Ericsson and his colleagues believe that high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture.

 

※ nurture  v.培养，训练：train

 

同义改写方式：talent is overrated，expert performers are made → high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture

 

 

 

2008.Text 4 关于美国开国领袖与奴隶制的关系

 

 

1. In 1784,……, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw – having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.
That’s a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember from their history books.

 

1784 年，52岁的乔治华盛顿几乎已经满口无牙，因此他请了一名牙医给他补9颗牙 --- 它们都是从他的家奴嘴里拔下的。

这与大多数人从历史书上了解到的乔治砍樱桃树的形象大相径庭。

 

※ transplant  v.移植

※ extract  vt.拔出，提取

 

提问及答案：George Washington’s dental surgery is mentioned to reveal some unknown aspect of his life.

 

同义改写方式：different image → some unknown aspect

 

 

2. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the fragile nature of the country’s infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong – and yet most did little to fight it.

几位历史学家的研究成果揭示了美国早期领导者与这个国家初创阶段的脆弱本质所做的道德妥协。更有意义的是，他们认为许多建国者都知道奴隶制是错误的 --- 但他们多半都没有与之斗争。

 

※ moral  n.道德  a.道德上的

※ compromise  v.妥协

※ fragile  a.易碎的,脆弱的

※ infancy  n.幼年,初期

 

提问及答案：We may infer from the second paragraph that in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.

 

※ delicate  a.微妙的【熟词僻意】= subtle

 

同义改写方式：knew … was wrong ,yet did little to fight it → delicate situations

 

 

3. While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.

 

虽然华盛顿和杰斐逊私下里对奴隶制度表示反感，他们同时也明白它是他们帮助建立的国家政治基础和经济基础的一部分。

 

※ distaste  n.厌恶

※ bedrock  n.基础

 

提问及答案：Thomas Jefferson’s attitude towards slavery was complex.

同义改写方式：while expressed distaste, also understood … → complex attitude

 

 

4. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will.

 

华盛顿则开始相信人人生来平等，因为在独立战争期间他看到了黑人士兵的勇敢，尽管有亲戚们强烈反对，他还是力排众议，在遗嘱中给了他的奴隶们自由。

 

※ overcome  v.克服

※ opposition  n.反对

※ grant  vt.授予

 

提问及答案：Washington’s decision to free slaves originated from his military experience.

 

同义改写方式：soldier, War → military

 

 

 

2009.Text 4 关于新英格兰地区早期的文化

 

1. The most thoroughly studied in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual pursuits”.

 

新大陆历史上被研究得最透彻的是17世纪新英格兰的牧师和政治领袖们。根据美国哲学体系的标准历史，在殖民地美国，没有别的地方“如此重视对知识的追求”。

 

※ thoroughly  ad.彻底地

※ colony  n.殖民地

※ pursuit  n.追求

 

提问及答案：The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England intellectual interests were encouraged.

 

 

2. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New world circumstances.

 

但是在我们继续考察南方知识分子的生活时，我们可能会把最早的清教徒看成是适应新大陆环境的欧洲文化的传播者。

 

※ adjust to  适应

※ circumstance  环境

 

提问及答案：It is suggested in paragraph 2 that New Englanders brought with them the culture of the Old World.

 

同义改写方式：European culture → the culture of the Old World

 

 

3. The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. …… . These men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.

 

Massachusetts Bay 早期定居者中有一些受过良好教育并颇具影响力的英国人。……。这些人大量地著书立说，他们的作品不仅新大陆的读者能读到，旧大陆的人也能读到，他们给新英格兰营造了一种重知好学的氛围。

 

※ extensively  ad.广泛地，广阔地

※ earnest  a.认真的 → earnestness  n.

 

提问及答案：The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England.

 

 

同义改写方式：giving an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness → created a intellectual atmosphere

 

 

4. We should not forget, however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few crafts men or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, it is obvious that their views were less fully intellectualized. Their thinking often had a traditional superstitions quality. A tailor named John Dane, who ...

 

然而我们不应该忘记，大多数新英格兰人都没有受过那么好的教育。尽管没几个工匠或农民 --- 更别说家属和佣人 --- 留下了可供分析的文学作品，但是显而易见的是，他们的观点知识化程度要低得多。他们的思想常常带有传统的迷信色彩。有个裁缝叫John Dane，他……

 

※     superstitions  a.迷信的

 

提问及答案：The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often influenced by superstitions.

 

 

 

 

 

（二）社会生活类 地址：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_64056dbf0102v4kb.html