教你如何用英语阅读老方法破解新题型
从2005年起，考研英语阅读部分增设了“新题型”，旨在“考查考生对诸如连贯性、一致性等语段特征及文章结构的理解”，题量设置为5道题目，总分值为10分。在最近的几期班开课伊始，陆续收到学生的邮件，问能否把新题型放在阅读课堂的最初几节课去讲，原因是“新题型太难，完全摸不着头绪，而且分值又高！”——这样的问题，在我看来，非常具有代表性，反映了相当一部分考生对新题型由于陌生感而产生的恐惧感，由恐惧感而导致的无力感！实际上，考生对新题型部分的控制能力从2005年、2006年新题型部分的平均得分不足4.5分亦可见一斑。那么，对于那些有志于在考研英语的阅读中“锱铢必较”、力争高分，面对新题型却又无所适从的学生，我感到有必要在这里进一言：善用阅读老方法，破解考研新题型！
根据《大纲》，考研新题型共有三种备选形式。在这里，仅就2005年、2006年连续出现的“七选五”或称之为“完形填段”，也是众多考生公认最难的一种进行解析。实际上，“七选五”题型是把一篇完整的文章中的五个段落“挖”出来，要求考生将其合理“归位”，为了提高难度，额外增加了两个混淆选择加以迷惑。
考生怎样才能把看似七零八落的段落重新合理归位呢？总的来讲，必须从上下文内容的连贯性、逻辑的一致性两方面入手，大胆假设、小心求证，以期一一破解。
就以下面的这篇大纲样题为例：
Long before Man lived on the Earth, there were fishes, reptiles, birds, insects, and some mammals. Although some of these animals were ancestors of kinds living today, others are now extinct, that is, they have no descendants alive now. 41）_ ____.
Very occasionally the rocks show impression of skin, so that, apart from color, we can build up a reasonably accurate picture of an animal that died millions of years ago. The kind of rock in which the remains are found tells us much about the nature of the original land, often of the plants that grew on it, and even of its climate.
42）____ _. Nearly all of the fossils that we know were preserved in rocks formed by water action, and most of these are of animals that lived in or near water. Thus it follows that there must be many kinds of mammals, birds, and insects of which we know nothing.
43）____ _. There are also crab-like creatures, whose bodies were covered with a horny substance. The body segments each had two pairs of legs, one pair for walking on the sandy bottom, the other for swimming. The head was a kind of shield with a pair of compound eyes, often with thousands of lenses. They were usually an inch or two long but some were 2 feet.
44）__ ___. Of these, the ammonites are very interesting and important. They have a shell composed of many chambers, each representing a temporary home of the animal. As the young grew larger it grew a new chamber and sealed off the previous one. Thousands of these can be seen in the rocks on the Dorset Coast.
45）_ ____. About 75 million years ago the Age of Reptiles was over and most of the groups died out. The mammals quickly developed, and we can trace the evolution of many familiar animals such as the elephant and horse. Many of the later mammals, though now extinct, were known to primitive man and were featured by him in cave paintings and on bone carvings.
[A] The shellfish have a long history in the rock and many different kinds are known.
[B] Nevertheless, we know a great deal about many of them because their bones and shells have been preserved in the rocks as fossils. From them we can tell their size and shape, how they walked, the kind of food they ate.
[C] The first animals with true backbones were the fishes, first known in the rocks of 375 million years ago. About 300 million years ago the amphibians, the animals able to live both on land and in water, appeared. They were giant, sometimes 8 feet long, and many of them lived in the swampy pools in which our coal seam, or layer, or formed. The amphibians gave rise to the reptiles and for nearly 150 million years these were the principal forms of life on land, in the sea, and in the air.
[D] The best index fossils tend to be marine creatures. These animals evolved rapidly and spread over large areas of the world.
[E] The earliest animals whose remains have been found were all very simple kinds and lived in the sea. Later forms are more complex, and among these are the sea-lilies, relations of the starfishes, which had long arms and were attached by a long stalk to the sea bed, or to rocks.
[F] When an animal dies, the body, its bones, or shell, may often be carried away by streams into lakes or the sea and there get covered up by mud. If the animal lived in the sea its body would probably sink and be covered with mud. More and more mud would fall upon it until the bones or shell become embedded and preserved.
[G] Many factors can influence how fossils are preserved in rocks. Remains of an organism may be replaced by minerals, dissolved by an acidic solution to leave only their impression, or simply reduced to a more stable form.
我们一起来分析41题的做法，按照PART A部分的阅读方法，通过阅读该空缺前面的段落，我们能够抓住的重要信息是：Although some of these animals were ancestors of kinds living today， others are now extinct.同理，空缺之后的段落告诉我们的重要信息是：Very occasionally the rocks show impression of skin， so that， apart from color， we can build up a reasonably accurate picture of an animal that died millions of years ago.
对比空缺前后的两个重要信息之后不难发现，extinct和a reasonably accurate构成了一对矛盾，要解决这一矛盾，我们可以大胆假设：在空缺的段落处必然发生过一次转折，否则，文章内容的连贯性和逻辑性就无法保证。基于这一假设，我们去逐一浏览选项，会迅速定位到B项一个明确的标志词Nevertheless，恰好传递了“强转折”的逻辑意味。将B项带回原文通读，发现其无论是内容还是逻辑上都符合行文的要求。因此可断定为正确项。
当然，对文章的逻辑性不够敏感的学生，还可以通过内容的词汇线索着手。如前所述，通过对比空缺前后的段落我们发现extinct和a reasonably accurate构成了一对矛盾，进一步研读空缺后面的段落，结合该段主题句，遵循中心词汇重现原则，不难定位到该段的关键词rock.据此我们可以大胆假设：在空缺的段落处也必然出现过rock这一名词，而且段落内容与本段具有前后关联性。基于这一假设，及带回原文通读，也可以最终确定正确项为B.
同理，通过对各空缺前后段落的研读及内容、逻辑关系特征词的寻找，进而与选项相关特征词加以匹配，42到45题可逐一破解。在这里因篇幅所限，不再一一展开。
从上面的分析不难看出，“七选五”题型不仅考查学生宏观上把握文章主要内容的能力，比如对段落主题句的把握，同时也考查重点细节的处理能力，比如对转折词、关键词的敏感。而这与PART A部分的考查目的本质上是一致的。再看1994年的一篇文章：
One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open. For many of us, the “cashless society” is not on the horizon—it's already here.
While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales. They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer-analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself.
Numerous other commercial enterprises, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers.
58. What is this passage mainly about?
[A] Approaches to the commercial use of computers.
[B] Conveniences brought about by computers in business.
[C] Significance of automation in commercial enterprises.
[D] Advantages of credit cards in business.
这是一道主旨题，而做题的关键正如《大纲解析》所说的对“那些出现频率最高的词或短语”或者“隐性路标词”的把握，即本文中的conveniences，advantages，better and more efficient services等一串词。
事实上，再三强调《大纲》及《大纲解析》作为考研英语最高纲领性文件的重要性都不为过。凡认真研究过《大纲解析》的人就会发现，对文章主要内容以及重点细节的把握，其中是有非常到位的阐释的。其针对传统PART A部分“如何抓住重要信息”提出的阅读策略概括起来有三点：第一、注意那些出现频率最高的词或短语（如前所述：rock这个词）；第二、善于判定各段的主题句（如前所述：Although some of these animals were ancestors of kinds living today,others are now extinct以及Very occasionally the rocks show impression of skin,so that,apart from color,we can build up a reasonably accurate picture of an animal that died millions of years ago）；第三、浏览中总结全文的主题。而其针对新题型所提出的阅读策略为：通过文章中“显性”（如前所述的Nevertheless类路标词）以及“隐性”（如前所述：rock这个词）标志词去把握文章内容和理顺逻辑结构。
在考研英语真题中这样的实例比比皆是，也再次证明阅读的所谓“新题型”，其考查的实质与PART A部分的老题型如出一辙。同学们所要做的，就是做个有心人，把课堂上所讲的方法结合真题强化训练，切实掌握，并在此基础上举一反三。毕竟，古语说得好：“有志者，事竟成，破釜沉舟，百二秦关终属楚；苦心人，天不负，卧薪尝胆，三千越甲可吞吴。”
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