考生在阅读过程中遇到的生词无疑会对我们的理解造成很大的障碍,但如果我们可以推测其中某些词汇的大意,那么我们就更有可能得出正确答案。其中一种推测生词的方法就是利用句中的转折关系。
1. 利用转折关系推测词义
例如:C5T4P3中的34题
Day length is a useful cue for breeding in areas where ________are
unpredictable.
通过读题我们可以题库答案为复数名词,通过day length和cue也可以轻松定位到如下原文:
Day length is an excellent cue, because it provides a perfectly predictable pattern of change within the year. In the temperate zone in spring, temperatures fluctuate greatly from day to day, but day length increases steadily by a predictable amount.
如果考生对于文中fluctuate一词不熟悉,就需要我们根据转折关系词but来进行推测。后半句说白昼的长度是以一个可以题库的量稳步增长的,根据转折关系,也就是说前面的temperatures是不可题库的,而题目正是问的什么是不可题库的,因此答案为temperatures。
例如:C7T2P1中的2题
The Hanshin earthquake of 1995 destroyed the pada at the Toji temple.
本题特殊定位词较多,定位没有难度。原文如下:
The disastrous Hanshin earthquake in1995 killed 6,400 people, toppled elevated highways, flattened office blocks and devastated the port area of Kobe. Yet it left the magnificent five-storey pada at the Toji temple in nearby Kyoto unscathed, though it levelled a number of buildings in the neighbourhood.
大部分考生对于unscathed一词比较陌生,此题如果充分利用转折关系就很容易理解。Yet之前讲的是地震带来的种种灾难,killed 6,400 people, toppled elevated highways, flattened office blocks and devastated the port area of Kobe,之后说yet“然而….”,根据转折逻辑,我们不难推测,后面讲述的和前面相反。如果前面的people、highways、office blocks、port area 都因此受到破坏,那么后面的pada应该没有受到影响。题干说地震摧毁了佛塔,所以是矛盾的,答案为NO。
例如:C7T2P1中的5题
A both Chinese and Japanese padas
B only Chinese padas
C only Japanese padas
5 easy interior access to top
此题的*个难点是定位词发生了替换,题目中的interior access在文中替换成了inner staircases。原文如下:
The Chinese built their padas in brick or stone, with inner staircases, and used them in later centuries mainly as watchtowers. When the pada reached Japan, however, its architecture was freely adapted to local conditions - they were built less high, typically five rather than nine storeys, made mainly of wood and the staircase was dispensed with because the Japanese pada did not have any practical use but became more of an art object.
第二个难点是考生对dispense这个词的意思不太熟悉。我们往前看可以发现有出现表示转折的however,再结合其他的词句可以发现,however前后对比的是中日两个不同国家佛塔的区别,也就是说前后都发生了变化。因此,我们更倾向于推测,既然*的塔有楼梯,那么日本的塔更可能没有。而dispense在这里相当于remove“移除”的意思。
3. 利用转折关系推断作者意图》》点我领取在线免费试听课程
在中文的逻辑中,如果有人跟你说“虽然….,但是….”我们可以得知此人的重点或者说他真正想表达的内容一定在“但是”之后。同理,如果文章中出现了一个包含转折关系的句子,那么重点也在“但是”的半句。只不过因为英文的语法规定“虽然”和“但是”不能同时出现在一个句子中,所以给一些对词汇不熟悉,对逻辑关系不敏感的考生造成了困难。
单选题的题干中经常出现what does the writer say about….、what’s the writer’s main idea…、what’s the writer’s attitude…之类的词,而这类题就是考察考生能否正确理解作者的意图。大多数时候作者不会明确的就某个问你题表明态度,而是通过逻辑关系(尤其是转折)来说明自己的观点。
例如:C5T1P3中的33题
What aspect of scientific research does the writer express concern about in paragraph 4?
A the need to produce results
B the lack of financial support
C the selection of areas to research
D the desire to solve every research problem
原文如下:
Scientific funding es mainly to areas with many problems, that may be wise policy, but it will also create an impression that many more potential problems exist than is the case.
通过转折but可以看出,作者对于前面讲到的事情持否定态度,也就是说我们在理解文章的时候重点应该是but之后的内容。因此作者认为把科研经费投到有很多问题这一做法不是明智的决策,因为这样会造成一些与事实不符的印象。也就是说作者对于研究区域的选择提出了concern。因此答案为C。
此外,带有转折关系的句子还经常出现在段落的主体居中,因此,正确判断句中的重点是我们做heading题的关键。很多考生能够正确找出段落主题句的位置,但是常常在判断句子重点的时候出现失误。基本原则就是,翻译成中文之后,“但是”这个意思所在的就是本段的主旨大意。
例如:C8T2P3中的29题选择C段的小标题
In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason…
vi Why our sense of smell is not appreciated
vii Smell is our superior sense
本段主题句说,虽然嗅觉对我们的情感和感知生活很重要,但它可能在很多文化中仍是*不受到重视的感觉。因为句中in spite of 是“虽然;即使”,因此后半句smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures是本句强调的重点。所以在选择heading的时候应该选vi 嗅觉不被赏识,而一部分考生容易错选成vii嗅觉是高级的感觉。
例如:C6T1P3中的30题选E段的小标题
While the Inuit may not actually starve if hunting and trapping are curtailed by climate change, there has certainly been an impact on people's health.
v A healthier choice of food
vii Negative effects on well-being
while位于句首可以翻译成“虽然;即使”,本句说,虽然因纽特人不会因为气候变化阻碍了的狩猎和诱捕而挨饿受冻,但是气候变化的确对人们的健康有影响。因此,本句的重点自然就是逗号后的半句,作者强调的是there has certainly been an impact on people's health。所以答案是vii带来的负面影响,而部分考生仅仅看到health一词而错选v。
通过对剑桥雅思真题的解析,我们可以更加清晰地感受到转折关系在阅读中的考察。希望考生们在掌握和积累相应的逻辑连接词的同时,可以充分利用以上三个方法,从而*做题速度和正确率。更多精彩资讯尽在朗阁教育官网!