——把握命题命脉,直击选项本质
“世尊说我见,人见,众生见,寿者见,即非我见,人见,众生见,寿者见,是名我见,人见,众生见,寿者见。”鸠摩罗什法师所译《金刚般若波罗蜜经》中精髓即在于此,表面所见的像只是缘起在世间的呈现而已,重要的是去找到这个表象后的缘,即表象后的真正原因。
考研场上我们经常会遇到这样的情况,通过回文章定位,根据对原文的理解我们能很快的排除两个选项,而剩下的两个选项会把我们折磨的死去活来。也就正是这种选项间微小区分度构成了考研英语的特色。每每在甄别选项的时候,我们总会觉得这两个选项都对,并且会觉得自己的答案比给出的正确答案更为合理。而考研英语作为全国人才选拔性的考试,并且会向社会公布标准答案的考试,在答案的设置上一定是合理且正确的,并且这种答案的设置是有一定逻辑线索的。否则,这种人才的遴选是没有意义的。而这种线索就是我们在标题中提到的命题命脉,这种命脉就会体现在选项之上。本文正是要带领考研战士们去探求这种命题命脉在选项上的体现。首先来看几道例题:
2009年考研阅读第四篇文章第一题
The mostthoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New Worldare the ministers and political leaders ofseventeenth-centuryNew England. According to thestandard history of American philosophy, nowhere else incolonialAmerica was “so much importance attachedto intellectual pursuits.” According to many books andarticles,New England’s leaders established thebasic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritantradition in American intellectual life.
1. Theauthor holds that in the seventeenth-centuryNewEngland____.
[A]Puritan tradition dominatedpolitical life.
[B]intellectual interests wereencouraged.
[C]Politics benefited much fromintellectual endeavors.
[D]intellectual pursuits enjoyed aliberal environment.
根据题干中的seventeenthcentury和NewEngland我们不难定位到文章的第一段,选项A中的Puritantradition(清教传统)在倒数第一句中出现,但是倒数第一句是这样说道:“大量的文章和书籍都记载道,新英格兰的领袖们确立了美国知识生活中的基本话题,其最关注的就是一直在知识生活中占据主导地位,并不断演进的清教传统。”文中明确说到了inAmerican intellectual life.而不是选项A中的in politicallife,可以直接排除A。同样,C选项说:政治从学术活动中受益匪浅,而整个段落没有提及学术活动对于政治的影响。同样可以轻松排除。而B和D却相当难排除了。一个说“学术的兴趣被鼓励”,一个说“享用宽松自由的求知环境”。两个选项和段落中所涉及的知识生活话题都有关系。文中只有这样的相关叙述:“somuch importance attached to intellectualpursuits.”“知识的追求是如此的受重视”。而就这点来讲我们分别认为B和D都对也是合理的,但是当B和D放在一起的时候,我们就必须重新理清我们的逻辑思维链条了。我们首先承认的是:知识的追求是受到重视的。如果要选D的话,那么我们必须先承认B,也就是说,要是没有B就不可能有D。在这种情况下我们就很容易得出一个结论:当一个选项是以另一个选项为前提的时候,只能选后一个选项。也就是你必须首先承认的那个选项。用公式来讲就是:因为A所以B,选A不选B。
因为受到了鼓励,所以环境很宽松。所以选择受到鼓励。
但是这个公式有一个重要的前提就是:两个选项都必须有原文的依据。
这就是我们考试出题人的命题思路,他希望找出的最直接的,对原文的解释最根本的选项。而我们在排除选项的时候就可以用上面的公式来做出选择。
再看一个例子:
2009年考研阅读第三篇第四题
What isthe real relationship between education and economic development?We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes thedevelopment of education even when governments don’t force it.After all, that’s how education got started. When our ancestorswere hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn’t have timeto wonder much about anything besides finding food. Only whenhumanity began to get its food in a more productive way was theretime for other things.
34. Theauthor quotes the example of our ancestors to show that educationemerged________.
[A]when people had enoughtime
[B]prior to better ways of findingfood
[C]when people on longer wenthungry
[D]as a result of pressure ongovernment
这个题是一个例证题目,题干中的关键词ourancestors可以把我们带到段落的第三行:当我们的祖先一千多年前正打猎和采集食物,根本没有时间去思考除开觅食之外的其他事情。
而答案中就有一个选项:A)当人们有足够的时间的时候。A选项和题干连在一起就是:当人们有足够的时间的时候,教育就出现了。而这个时候我们往下看一句:只有人们找到一种更多产的获得食物的方法时,我们才有时间来做其他的事情。选项中对应了:C)当人们不再挨饿的时候。A和C就很难区分了,在原文中A和C都有依据。这个时候我们可以套用公式了:
因为A所以B,选A不选B。
因为不挨饿,有 了足够的时间。
答案当然就选不挨饿了
2003年passage4第一题:
It is said thatinEngland death is pressing,inCanada inevitable andinCalifornia optional.Smallwonder. Americans’ lifeexpectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hipscan be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removedin a 30-minutes surgical procedure. Such advances offer the agingpopulation a quality of life that was unimaginable when I enteredmedicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system cancure death -- and our failure to confront that reality nowthreatens this greatness ofours.(2003年passage 4)。
56.Whatis implied in the first sentence?
[A]Americans are better prepared for death than otherpeople.
[B]Americans enjoy a higher life quality than ever before.
[C]Americans are over-confident of their medicaltechnology.
[D]Americans take a vain pride in their long lifeexpectancy.
同学经常会徘徊在C和D之间。
因为C对应文章:Failing hips can be replaced,clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minutessurgical procedure.
而D对应文章:Americans’ life expectancy hasnearly doubled over the past century.
两个选项都有依据,只能套用公式:
因为A所以B,选A不选B。
因为美国人对自己的医疗技术过分的自信,所以对他们的长寿盲目的骄傲。
答案为C
我们再来看一个例子:
2006年passage3最后一题:
Dr.Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline,which future management efforts must take into account. Theybelieve the data support an idea current among marine biologists,that of the “shifting baseline.” The notion is that people havefailed to detect the massive changes which have happened in theocean because they have been looking back only a relatively shorttime into the past. That matters because theory suggests that themaximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comeswhen the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its originallevels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way todo business.(2006年passage3)
35.Theauthor seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’________.
[A]management efficiency
[B]biomass level
[C]catch-size limits
[D]technological application
35题为文章的最后一题,我们在做题的过程中习惯的把目光投向了最后一段,如果有阅读过我上一篇文章《做正确的事和正确的做事》的同学应该知道最后一段实际是没有这个题的答案的,因为问题问的是作者主要关心的是什么?最后一段却没有出现过作者的观点。都在谈论Dr.Myers and Dr. Worm关于捕捞限制的问题。这样答案就指向了C,但是B选项也是在最后一段谈到的。乱象丛生啊!
这个时候就可以用我们的公式了:因为A所以B,选A不选B。
因为关心生物总量,所以关心捕捞的限制。
答案选择:生物的总量。
《倾城之恋》的结尾传诵一时:“香港的沦陷成全了她,但是在这不可理喻的世界里,谁知道什么是因,什么是果?谁知道呢?也许因为要成全她,一个大都市倾覆了。”
HongKong’s fall had brought Liusu Victory. But in this unreasonableworld ,who can distinguish cause from effect? Who knows which iswhich?Did a greatcity fall so that she could be vindicated .
考研不是倾城之恋,考研只是理性思考下对未来的期许,少了几分朦胧却多了几分淡定和豪迈!是曰:一切有为法,应作如是观