08考研英语知识点答疑之阅读新题型例题分析

http://www.sina.com.cn 2007年12月03日 10:11   万学海文

  英语知识点答疑之阅读理解新题型例题分析

  阅读理解新题型要求考生从整体上把握文章的逻辑结构和内容上的联系,理解句子之间、段落之间的关系,对诸如连贯性、一致性等语段特征有较强的意识和熟练的把握,并具备运用语法知识分析理解长难句的能力。我们以2006年大纲所附样题为例,概括地分析一下此类题型的命题特点及解题思路。

  Part B

  Directions:

  In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41~ 45, choose the most suitable one from the list [A]~[G] to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

  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 were 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 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, 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 star-fishes, 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 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.

  解题思路:

  本文文章部分共332字,备选答案部分字数为317字,总数达649字。阅读如此长的文章并做对题,要求考生具有较强的阅读理解能力,掌握正确的阅读方法。

  首先,通篇略读原文,把握要点词句(文中黑斜体部分为要点词句,以下同),以便对文章主旨、各段基本主题以及逻辑结构获得一个概括性了解。

  第一段指出:在人类出现很早以前,地球上就出现了鱼类、爬行动物、鸟类和一些哺乳动物(这是对全文的一个概述,点出本文的话题)。虽然这些动物有一些是现今生活着的各种动物的祖先,但是另一些动物现在已经灭绝了,即它们现在已经没有活着的后代了。第二句是个表示让步关系的句子,重点是主句部分:others are now extinct, that is, they have no descendants alive now,而that is表明they have no descendants alive now是同位语结构,因此本段要点词语为others are now extinct。这为回答第41题从意思和逻辑上都提供了主要依据。

  第二段首句指出:偶尔根据石头里所显示出来的印记,我们可以合理地推断出几百万年前灭绝了的某种动物的准确形状,尽管不能确定其颜色。此句前后是因果关系,提到了rocks,结果是so that…we can build up…picture。后面又接着讲rocks in which the remains are found。由此可知,这些是本段的要点词语。

  第三段中已知信息是:我们所知道的所有化石几乎都是由于水的作用而被保存在了石头中,而且大多都是生活在水里或水边的动物。因此,肯定存在过许多我们一无所知的哺乳动物、鸟类和昆虫类。空白后第一句是个并列句,主语分别是Nearly all of the fossils和 most of these (the fossils),而且都与water action有关。这为回答第42题提供了主要线索。

  第四段中提供的信息是:还有像螃蟹一样的动物,其身体表面是一层角状物。接下来此段详细介绍了这类动物的外貌特征。此处要点词语是also和crab-like creatures,说明上一句也在描述某种海生物。这为回答第43题提供了主要线索。

  第五段空白后第一句中有指代词of these,these必定指代前文提到的复数名词。紧接着提到的ammonites是“这些贝壳类动物”的一种。后面有对它的描述:ammonites非常有趣而又很重要。它们身体上有个由许多腔室构成的硬壳(shell),每个腔室都代表着这个动物的临时住所。这样,上一句提到的自然应该与贝壳类动物有关,为回答第44题提供了线索。

  第45题为一段。下一段提到,大约7 500万年前,爬行动物时代结束了,其中大部分物种都灭绝了。而哺乳动物迅速发展起来,我们可以追寻出许多踪迹,借此了解许多大家熟悉的动物如大象和马的进化过程。后来的许多哺乳动物,虽然现在已经灭绝了,还是被原始人类所了解,并被画在了壁画中或被雕刻在了骨头上。注意本段第一句提到reptiles。由此我们推断上一段结尾处谈的内容必定与reptiles有关。这为回答第45题提供了主要线索。另外,最后一段第一句提到了年代,而选择项C中提到了几个年代,说明这里在按历史时序叙述动物的进化过程。

  通过这样阅读全文要点信息,我们知道了本文结构的脉络:首先介绍什么是史前动物和人们研究史前动物的依据——化石,以及化石的形成过程。随后,作者按照动物进化的顺序(最早的动物,水生壳类动物,脊椎类动物等)逐一加以介绍。

  当然,根据段落意思、句意和逻辑关系考查正确答案仅仅是可利用的手段之一,虽然它们提供了主要线索。考生还应该学会对词语线索的考查,以确保选出的答案在意思和用词上都与上下文衔接紧凑。有关重点词(包括相关代词、连词、名词或名词短语、动词等)已在原文中用斜体涂黑标出,这里暂且不作具体分析。总之,做题时要十分注意空白前后的句子,仔细分析句与句之间的关系,段与段之间的过渡衔接,根据上下文内容线索、逻辑关系、词语线索等,来判断每个题的正确答案。

  答案详解:请考生再通过阅读以下各题的题解体会一下具体解题思路。

  41.[B]

  该题前边提到许多动物灭绝了,而第二段的信息指出,我们可以根据石头来了解灭绝了的动物的形状。这里,前后部分表达的内容显然是相对立的,空白处所填内容应该同其前后提供的这两方面信息相匹配。阅读所给选项,很快发现[B]开头的nevertheless表示转折,意思是:然而,我们对其中的许多动物非常了解,因为它们的骨骼和硬壳被保留在了被称作化石的石头中,从化石上我们可以了解这些动物的大小、形状、行走方式、所食何物。由此可知,该选择项表达的内容起到了衔接第一段和第二段的作用。所以此处选[B]。

  42.[F]

  第42题表达的内容,应该是既能与第二段的内容有一定的连贯性,又能与第三段中的重点信息相关联。尤其明显的是,选项[F]的最后一句与空白后的第一句紧密衔接。空白后第一句讲:我们所知道的几乎所有化石都是被保存在了由于水的作用而形成的岩石中,而且大多都是生活在水里或水边的动物。选项[F]中涉及到相关的词:be carried away by streams into lakes or the sea, get covered by mud等,都是在讲水的作用形成化石;而最后一句“直到其骨头或外壳嵌进石头并被保存下来”,preserved一词在空白后第一句中重复出现,使前后两句之间紧密衔接。因此[F]为此处正确答案。[F]意为:当一个动物死去后,其身体、骨头或外壳通常可能会被溪流冲进湖泊或大海,在那里被淤泥覆盖起来。要是这种动物生活在海里,它的身体可能会沉到海底被淤泥盖住。淤泥一层层地堆积,直至其骨头或外壳嵌进石头并被保存下来。

  43.[E]

  空白后第一句为选择第43题提供了主要线索,这句的意思是:还有像螃蟹一样的动物,其身体表面是一层角状物。本段其他部分介绍了这类动物的外貌特征。根据空白后also一词可知,此处正确选项中“也”应该讲到了一种海洋生物。选项[E]中后面的一句提到starlilies这种海洋生物,与空白后正好衔接起来。另外再看与上段的衔接。根据上一题我们已经知道,上一段主要讲到:我们所知道的所有化石几乎都是保存在了石头中,而且大多都是生活在水里或水边的动物。因此肯定存在过许多我们一无所知的哺乳动物、鸟类和昆虫类。由此可知,本段开头应该开始讲我们所知的早期的海洋动物。这与[E]开头的the earliest animals正好呼应起来。[E]意为:人们发现的最早的动物遗骸都是些非常简单的物种,而且都生活在海洋里。后来的物种比较复杂,其中包括海百合,它们是海星的近属,海星有长长的触角,可以通过其长长的触角吸附在海底或石头上。

  44.[A]

  空白后部分为回答第44题提供了主要线索。下一句中有一个很关键的指示代词these,下一句的意思是:在这些动物中(of these),ammonites非常有趣而又很重要。它们身体上有个由许多腔室构成的硬壳(shell),每个腔室都代表着这个动物的临时住所。由此可以判断,ammonites是前面所提某种动物中的一个例子,它们的特点是“有壳”。shell一词是重要的线索,所填的正确选项应是本段的主题句,是一个概述。选项[A]符合这个要求。[A]意为:有壳的水生动物在化石中的历史很久了,而且已知的有很多不同的种类。

  45.[C]

  第45题的内容也应该能将前后两段内容有机地衔接起来。我们知道,上段主要讲的是有壳水生动物。再仔细阅读下段,第一句讲:大约7 500万年前,爬行动物时代结束了。由此可知,要填入的文字应该既承接上段提到的有壳水生动物,又能够引出下文的爬行动物这样的内容。只有选项[C]中有相关的词gave rise to the reptiles。[C]意为:最早的有脊椎的动物是鱼类,已知的最早的鱼类是在3.75亿年前的化石中。大约3亿年前,既能生活在水里又能生活在陆地上的两栖动物出现了。它们形态巨大,有时可达8英尺之长,大多生活在沼泽地里,而煤层也是在这里形成的。由两栖动物又产生了爬行动物,在将近1.5亿年间,它们是生活在陆地上、海洋里及天空中的主要生命形式。

  最后,将所选答案代入原文,结合全文要点信息,确认答案,进一步排除干扰项。在将答案代入原文的过程中,只需再读一下有关的重要信息,检查文章从内容上是否连贯,语篇结构是否符合一致性原则、合乎逻辑等。

  干扰项分析:[D]和[G]是干扰项。

  [D]意为:最好的标准化石往往是海生动物。这些动物进化速度很快,遍布了地球上大片大片的地区。[G]意为:许多因素能够影响化石保存在岩石中的方法。一种生物体的遗骸很可能被矿物质取代,或者被某种酸性溶液溶解,只留下它们的印痕,或者化为一种更为固定的形式。

  虽然这两个选项与文章总体内容有某些关联,但将这两个选项代入原文中都与文章的上下文内容不衔接,因此是干扰项。

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