【有问必答】TPO阅读疑难杂症解答专帖

反衬

此贴目的是为了与大家交流TPO阅读题中的疑难杂症。如果大家在做题过程中遇到棘手的问题，可以帖在本帖当中，由大家一起研究。

提问格式：
题目出处：

题目原文：

题目选项：

题目答案：

疑问所在：

欢迎大家踊跃提问，集思广益。

反衬

例：
（此题出处：TPO第一套，第一篇阅读，Q3）

The transition from forest to treeless tundra on a mountain slope is often a dramatic one. Within a vertical distance of just a few tens of meters, trees disappear as a lifeform and are replaced by low shrubs, herbs, and grasses. This rapid zone of transition is called the upper timberline or tree line. In many semiarid areas there is also a lower timberline where the forest passes into steppe or desert at its lower edge, usually because of a lack of moisture.
which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about oth the upper and lower timberlines?
A. Both are treeless zones.
B. Both mark forest boundaries.
C. Both are surrounded by desert areas.
D. Both suffer from a lack of moisture.

答案是B，

但我选择的是A，不知道那句话暗示了B是正确选项呢？看了好几遍都没明白。谢谢大家

反衬

例：
（此题出处：TPO第一套，第一篇阅读，Q3）

The transition from forest to treeless tundra on a mountain slope is often a dramatic one. Within a vertical distance of just a few tens of meters, trees disappear as a lifeform and are replaced by low shrubs, herbs, and grasses. This rapid zone of transition is called the upper timberline or tree line. In many semiarid areas there is also a lower timberline where the forest passes into steppe or desert at its lower edge, usually because of a lack of moisture.
which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about oth the upper and lower timberlines?
A. Both are treeless zones.
B. Both mark forest boundaries.
C. Both are surrounded by desert areas.
D. Both suffer from a lack of moisture.

答案是B，

但我选择的是A，不知道那句话暗示了B是正确选项呢？看了好几遍都没明白。谢谢大家

-- by 会员 反衬 (2010/7/31 11:08:38)

回答举例：

这道题目关键是要读懂题干： 题干的关键字是both，表明考的是两者的共性。

那么你自然要回去找两种timberline的共同点。共同点往往是同义表达。

The transition from forest to treeless tundra on a mountain slope is often a dramatic one. Within a vertical distance of just a few tens of meters, trees disappear as a life-form and are replaced by low shrubs, herbs, and grasses. This rapid zone of transition is called the upper timberline or tree line. In many semiarid areas there is also a lower timberline where the forest passes into steppe or desert at its lower edge, usually because of a lack of moisture.


我把关键字都标出来了。这个就是阅读理解的真正过程。如果你看了很久都没有看懂，原因可能是你只关注了具体单词的含义，却没有关注词汇之间的关系。

这道题目应该这样去理解：
读到第一句话Transition的时候，我们应该把transition认为是一个抽象概念。而读第二句话的时候，应该带着transition这个未解之谜来读，看看第二句与第一句的关系。很明显，第二句中出现了trees disappear and are replaced这些动作，很明显，这是对于transition的具体解释。第三句将这种transition定义为timberline了，这样也就可以把A选项排除了。因为A说的是tree-less zone，而很明显，原文的timeberline并不是无树，而是 a zone of transition。第四句用also这个词给出了同类现象lower timberline，而transition 又再次出现，只不过换成了pass into这个词。lack of moisture这个细节只在最后出现，不是两者共性。

因此，共性就是transition。

再抽象一点： 第一句抽象，提出一种自然现象，第二句具体解释，第三句将自然现象定义为一个术语，第四句提出自然现象的同类现象。题目考这两个现象的共性。

但是这道题的最难的一点是读懂原文与答案的对应关系。但其实这个貌似很难的问题的解决方案却非常简单。症结在于，我们对于词汇的理解不够准确。
其实boundary 就是border: the official line that divides one area of land from another。根据boundary这个词的含义，我们就不难看出，其实原文中的timberline其实就是一个zone，divides forest from other plants.

结论：1. 读原文要重句间关系，轻具体含义。
2.背单词不仅要提高数量，还要提高质量。

cestlavie1

题目出处：TPO 13 阅读

题目原文：Sociologists have built on the distinction between expressive and instrumental ties to distinguish between two types of groups: primary and secondary. A primary group involves two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another. Expressive ties predominate in primary groups; we view the people as ends in themselves and valuable in their own right. A secondary group entails two or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific, practical purpose. Instrumental ties predominate in secondary groups; we perceive people as means to ends rather than as ends in their own right. Sometimes primary group relationships evolve out of secondary group relationships. This happens in many work settings. People on the job often develop close relationships with coworkers as they come to share gripes, jokes, gossip, and satisfactions.




疑问所在：
Expressive ties predominate in primary groups; we view the people as ends in themselves and valuable in their own right
Instrumental ties predominate in secondary groups; we perceive people as means to ends rather than as ends in their own right.
这两句什么意思啊？

反衬

题目出处：TPO 13 阅读

题目原文：Sociologists have built on the distinction between expressive and instrumental ties to distinguish between two types of groups: primary and secondary. A primary group involves two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another. Expressive ties predominate in primary groups; we view the people as ends in themselves and valuable in their own right. A secondary group entails two or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific, practical purpose. Instrumental ties predominate in secondary groups; we perceive people as means to ends rather than as ends in their own right. Sometimes primary group relationships evolve out of secondary group relationships. This happens in many work settings. People on the job often develop close relationships with coworkers as they come to share gripes, jokes, gossip, and satisfactions.




疑问所在：
Expressive ties predominate in primary groups; we view the people as ends in themselves and valuable in their own right
Instrumental ties predominate in secondary groups; we perceive people as means to ends rather than as ends in their own right.
这两句什么意思啊？

-- by 会员 cestlavie1 (2010/8/6 10:33:15)

这句话的关键是理解“end”和"means"的意思。 end不是结束，而是目的， means不是方法，而是手段。
所以两种ties的区别是，人到底是目的，还是手段。

bettyhao

题目出处：TPO electricity from wind

题目原文：
         12：some companies in the powder industry are aware of this wider possibility and are planning sizable wind-farm projects in states other    than  California.
      Since 1980, the use of wind to produce electricity has been growing rapidly.■  In 1994 there were nearly 20,000 wind turbines worldwide, that collectively produced 3,000 megawatts of electricity. ■Most were in Denmark (which got 3 percent of its electricity from wind turbines) and California (where 17,000 machines produced 1 percent of the state’s electricity, enough to meet the residential needs of a city as large as San Francisco). ■In principle, all the power needs of the United States could be provided by exploiting the wind potential of just three states—North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas. ■

疑问所在：
问什么不能在第三个square处加呢？前一句不是刚刚提过California么？放在文章最后一处的原因是什么？

题目原文:14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

In the future, wind power is likely to become a major source of the world’s energy supply.


Answer Choices

○Wind farms have already produced sufficient amounts of electricity to suggest that wind power could become an important source of electric power.

○Wind power has several advantages, such as low pollution and projected cost declines, compared to other energy sources.

○Responding to environmentalists concerned about birds killed by wind turbines, analysts point to other human developments that are even more dangerous to birds.

○The wind energy produced by just a small number of states could supply all of the power needs of the United States.

○Although wind power is not economical in areas with steady winds, alternative wind sources can be used to simulate wind power.

○Smaller countries, which use less electricity than large countries, are especially suited to use wind power to meet all their energy needs.

疑问所在：问什么不选2选1呢？  2和1比，错在哪里（答案135）？谢谢各位~

反衬

题目出处：TPO electricity from wind

题目原文：
         12：some companies in the powder industry are aware of this wider possibility and are planning sizable wind-farm projects in states other    than  California.
      Since 1980, the use of wind to produce electricity has been growing rapidly.■  In 1994 there were nearly 20,000 wind turbines worldwide, that collectively produced 3,000 megawatts of electricity. ■Most were in Denmark (which got 3 percent of its electricity from wind turbines) and California (where 17,000 machines produced 1 percent of the state’s electricity, enough to meet the residential needs of a city as large as San Francisco). ■In principle, all the power needs of the United States could be provided by exploiting the wind potential of just three states—North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas. ■

疑问所在：
问什么不能在第三个square处加呢？前一句不是刚刚提过California么？放在文章最后一处的原因是什么？

-- by 会员 bettyhao (2010/8/13 18:38:42)

第一步：读黑体句，找上下文标记
some companies in the powder industry are aware of this wider possibility and are planning sizable wind-farm projects in states other    than  California.
发现指代关系，this wider possibility，所以此句必须提及 wider possibility.

原文第三个方格前都在讲现状。不是possibility。
只有第四个方格前讲的是could be，对应possibility。
选第四个

反衬

题目原文:14. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

In the future, wind power is likely to become a major source of the world’s energy supply.


Answer Choices

○Wind farms have already produced sufficient amounts of electricity to suggest that wind power could become an important source of electric power.

○Wind power has several advantages, such as low pollution and projected cost declines, compared to other energy sources.

○Responding to environmentalists concerned about birds killed by wind turbines, analysts point to other human developments that are even more dangerous to birds.

○The wind energy produced by just a small number of states could supply all of the power needs of the United States.

○Although wind power is not economical in areas with steady winds, alternative wind sources can be used to simulate wind power.

○Smaller countries, which use less electricity than large countries, are especially suited to use wind power to meet all their energy needs.

疑问所在：问什么不选2选1呢？  2和1比，错在哪里（答案135）？谢谢各位~

-- by 会员 bettyhao (2010/8/13 18:38:42)

答案是123，5不对。

第五个篡改原文

ctomoyo

题目出处：tpo 8

题目原文：Paragraph 2 Outflow channels are probably relics of catastrophic flooding on Mars long ago. They appear only in equatorial regions and generally do not form extensive interconnected networks. Instead, they are probably the paths taken by huge volumes of water draining from the southern highlands into the northern plains. The onrushing water arising from these flash floods likely also formed the odd teardrop-shaped “islands” (resembling the miniature versions seen in the wet sand of our beaches at low tide) that have been found on the plains close to the ends of the outflow channels. Judging from the width and depth of the channels, the flow rates must have been truly enormous―perhaps as much as a hundred times greater than the 105 tons per second carried by the great Amazon river. Flooding shaped the outflow channels approximately 3 billion years ago, about the same times as the northern volcanic plains formed.

题目选项：5. In paragraph 2, why does the author include the information that 105 tons of water flow through the Amazon river per second?
○To emphasize the great size of the volume of water that seems to have flowed through Mars’ outflow channels
○To indicate data used by scientists to estimate how long ago Mars’ outflow channels were formed
○To argue that flash floods on Mars may have been powerful enough to cause tear-shaped “islands” to form
○To argue that the force of flood waters on Mars was powerful enough to shape the northern volcanic plains


题目答案：4

疑问所在：我选的1，没看出来是在强调volume啊~ 明明是在说速度哇~

mikiluang

题目出处： TPO 4

题目原文：The particular symbolic significance of the cave paintings in southwestern France is more explicitly revealed, perhaps, by the results of a study conducted by researchers Patricia Rice and Ann Paterson. The data they present suggest that the animals portrayed in the cave paintings were mostly the ones that the painters preferred for meat and for materials such as hides. For example, wild cattle (bovines) and horses are portrayed more often than we would expect by chance, probably because they were larger and heavier (meatier) than other animals in the environment. In addition, the paintings mostly portray animals that the painters may have feared the most because of their size, speed, natural weapons such as tusks and horns, and the unpredictability of their behavior. That is, mammoths, bovines, and horses are portrayed more often than deer and reindeer. Thus, the paintings are consistent with the idea that the art is related to the importance of hunting in the economy of Upper Paleolithic people. Consistent with this idea, according to the investigators, is the fact that the art of the cultural period that followed the Upper Paleolithic also seems to reflect how people got their food. But in that period, when getting food no longer depended on hunting large game animals (because they were becoming extinct), the art ceased to focus on portrayals of animals.

题目选项：
11．According to paragraph 4, what change is evident in the art of the period following the Upper Paleolithic?
○This new art starts to depict small animals rather than large ones.
○This new art ceases to reflect the ways in which people obtained their food.
○This new art no longer consists mostly of representations of animals.
○This new art begins to show the importance of hunting to the economy.

题目答案：C

疑问所在: 我选D。原文中Thus, the paintings are consistent with the idea that the art is related to the importance of hunting in the economy of Upper Paleolithic people. Consistent with this idea, according to the investigators, is the fact that the art of the cultural period that followed the Upper Paleolithic also seems to reflect how people got their food.
D不是这句话的简化么?