比较类的题型是对两个以上的人或物在某些方面的比较，然后进行辨别或选择。这类题的特点是对话中常有比较句型，常出现形容词或副词的比较级和最高级。其常用的提问方式有以下几种：

　　Which one did the man / woman prefer?

　　What is the man's / woman's favorite...?

　　What kind of ... does the man / woman want to buy?

　　例1：

　　A) Susan ran as fast as the woman.

　　B) The woman couldn't run as fast as Susan.

　　C) The woman ran the fastest in her college.

　　D) The woman ran faster than Susan.

　　M: I heard you were the fastest runner in your college.

　　W: Oh, not really. Susan ran faster than I did.

　　Q: What do you know about the woman?

　　【解析】答案为B)。男士说他听说女士在大学里跑得最快，但女士自己认为并非如此，她说"苏姗比我跑得快"。这是一道典型的比较类题目，句中出现了副词的比较级(faster)和最高级(fastest)，以及一个比较句型...more than...。听清这些关键之处，也就知道了答案为B)。

　　常见的比较形式有：as...as..., not so / as... as, more (less) than, not the more...than, the same... as, the more..., the more..., prefer...to...,以及one of形容词最高级+名词(最……之一)等。

　　1.相等的比较

　　这类题目在比较类题型中所占比例较小，由于其基本句型为"as...as..."，故这类题目的变化相对也较少。请看下例：

　　例2：

　　A) Mr. Smith has traveled the same distance as his wife.

　　B) Mr. Smith has traveled a greater distance than his wife.

　　C) Mr. Smith has traveled less than his wife.

　　D) Mr. Smith has traveled more often than his wife.

　　M：Can you tell me how much Mrs. Smith has traveled?

　　W：Mrs. Smith has traveled as much as her husband.

　　Q：How much has Mr. Smith traveled?

　　【解析】答案为A)。本题比较简单，只要听清其中as much as这个表示相等的短语，就可以选出正确答案A)。

　　2.不等的比较

　　这种比较类题在四级听力测试中出现的频率较高，涉及的内容大多是人与人之间的年龄大小、身材高矮，或成绩、能力的优劣方面的比较；或物体之间的大小，距离的长短，以及物体的轻重、颜色、质地比较；也有商品价格高低的比较，等等。既然作比较，对话中就必须出现两个以上可作比较的人或物，常常要求在比较之后做出选择。在不等比较中，特别要注意听清楚比较物之间的差异，这是问题的所在，也是解题的关键。

　　例3：

　　A) John does better in his studies than James.

　　B) James is a little better than his brother.

　　C) James is as good as John.

　　D) John is far inferior to James.

　　W: Who is the better student? I mean between John and his brother James.

　　M: John is the better student. He's one of the top students in class，as his teacher says.

　　Q: What do you learn from the conversation?

　　【解析】答案为A)。对话是对两个学生的学习成绩进行比较。在这段对话中John与James的差异在于"John is one of the top students in class"。所以，John的学习成绩肯定优于James，只要我们在听录音时抓住以上关键信息，就能得出正确答案A)。

　　为了测试考生的辨别能力，有时还出现连续比较的情况。请看下例：

　　例4：

　　A) Bill is the tallest.

　　B) Paul is the tallest.

　　C) Jack and Fred are the same height.

　　D) Fred is shorter than Jack.

　　M：Among the boys，who is the tallest one?

　　W: Bill is shorter than Jack and Fred，who are both shorter than Paul.

　　Q: Who is the tallest?

　　【解析】答案为B)。这是对4个人物连续比较的题目。从4个人中选择身材最高者。女士在陈述中采用先把A与B、C比较，然后再进行B、C与D的连续比较。考生在听录音时，必须仔细辨清录音原文中出现的每两者之间的比较关系，然后在综合分析的基础上进行选择。利用这样的方法，我们可以得出本题的正确答案B)。

　　3.表示比较的其他情况

　　除了以上主要情况外，比较类题目还可能出现在其它的句型中：例如，有些形容词本身就含有比较意义，所以没有比较级，也不用连词than，而用介词to来表示比较：prefer...to...(喜欢……而不喜欢……), superior to(优于), inferior to(劣于), prior to(先于), senior to(年长于), junior to(年幼于)。此外还有prefer(would like)...rather than...，would rather...than...等句型也表示比较的意思。

　　例5：

　　A) She didn't like apples.

　　B) She didn't like oranges.

　　C) She didn't like apricots.

　　D) She didn't like dessert.

　　M：What would you like to have for dessert，apples or oranges?

　　W：As for dessert，I'd like to have oranges rather than apples. But usually I prefer apricots to anything else.

　　Q：What did the woman dislike to have this time for dessert?

　　【解析】答案为A)。这段对话中男士提出了苹果与橘子两种水果让女士选择。女士在回答中又提出了杏子，这样对话中共出现了3种比较物，并且出现了连续比较情况。女方优先选择的顺序应该是：杏子→橘子→苹果。但要注意，问题问的不是女士最喜欢什么，而是问不喜欢(dislike)什么，那么选择的顺序就要颠倒一下，正确答案应为A)。like与dislike发音很相似，而按一般的思维，我们常常问别人喜欢什么，而很少问不喜欢什么，此处容易出错。这说明听清提问对正确选择是很重要的。

　　(文/李树德英语辅导报大学一年级版03~04学年第32期;版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)