做GMAT阅读时需要关注什么？

GMAT语文部分有三种题型：阅读，句子改错，逻辑推理。其中阅读部分会考4篇文章，每篇文章长度在200-350个字之间。一般情况下是两篇短文章加两篇长文章，短文章会出3道题，长文章会出4道题，全部题目数量是14道题。按照GMAT语文部分的考试时间限制，花在阅读上的时间最好控制在28分钟以内，也就是平均每道题2分钟。但批判性阅读一般都要求学生预读文章再做题，而2分钟是既包含了预读时间又包含了做题时间，那么预读时间和做题时间如何分配呢？一般情况下，GMAT考试要求的阅读速度为每分钟150个字左右，这样算下来，平均每篇GMAT文章的预读时间在2分钟左右，那么剩下的做题时间大概为每道题1.5分钟。

我们预读的时候要达到什么效果呢？说的简单点，预读之后要能够搞清楚文章里的各种观点、相关论据、不同观点之间的关系、作者的态度。下面我以一篇GMAT阅读文章为例，给大家展示一下阅读时要特别关注的语句。

In 1994, a team of scientists led by David McKay

began studying the meteorite ALH84001, which had

been discovered in Antarctica in 1984. Two years

later, the McKay team announced that ALH84001,

(5)which scientists generally agree originated on Mars,

contained compelling evidence that life once

existed on Mars. This evidence includes the

discovery of organic molecules in ALH84001, the

first ever found in Martian rock. Organic

(10)molecules—complex, carbon-based compounds—

form the basis for terrestrial life. The organic

molecules found in ALH84001 are polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. When microbes

die, their organic material often decays into PAHs.

(15)     Skepticism about the McKay team’s claim

remains, however. For example, ALH84001 has

been on Earth for 13,000 years, suggesting to

some scientists that its PAHs might have resulted

from terrestrial contamination. However, McKay’s

(20)team has demonstrated that the concentration of

PAHs increases as one looks deeper into

ALH84001, contrary to what one would expect from

terrestrial contamination. The skeptics’ strongest

argument, however, is that processes unrelated to

(25)organic life can easily produce all the evidence

found by McKay’s team, including PAHs. For

example, star formation produces PAHs. Moreover,

PAHs frequently appear in other meteorites, and no

one attributes their presence to life processes. Yet

(30)McKay’s team notes that the particular combination

of PAHs in ALH84001 is more similar to the

combinations produced by decaying organisms than

to those originating from nonbiological processes.

大家看完之后就可以发现，粉色标记的是“发表观点”这个动作，蓝色标记的是McKay的观点，绿色标记的是skeptics的观点，红色代表强转折，黄色标记的内容包括态度词、最高级、比较级、相似性、差异性、因果关系、并列关系、变化、否定词、举例。

如果我们先忽略黄色的标记内容，会发现文章当中最明显的就是蓝色和绿色交替出现，每次交替都伴随着强转折。因此我们能够看出，这篇文章是在展示两种观点之间的争斗。

第一段：McKay提出了某种观点X；

第二段：怀疑者提出反对理由a；

        McKay提出理由y进行辩护；

        怀疑者提出反对理由b，c；

        McKay提出理由z进行辩护；

这就是这篇文章的结构，里面包含了各观点之间的关系，也可以看出作者在这里面并没有发表任何态度。读到这里已经可以做主旨题了：

36. The primary purpose of the passage is to

     读完题目我们便可以预判，正确选项一定包含“矛盾”。

A. describe new ways of studying the possibility that life once existed on Mars

   没有矛盾

B. revise a theory regarding the existence of life on Mars in light of new evidence

   没有矛盾

C. reconcile conflicting viewpoints regarding the possibility that life once existed on Mars

   有矛盾，但是并没有被reconcile

D. evaluate a recently proposed argument concerning the origin of ALH84001

   没有矛盾

E. describe a controversy concerning the significance of evidence from ALH84001

   就是它了！

有些同学可能会想，之前就算不了解蓝色和绿色的内容，只看紫色和红色也能把文章结构列出来。没错，但是文章结构只能让你做对主旨题。如果要想搞定主旨题以外的题型，就还是需要了解不同观点的具体内容（即上文提到文章结构中的abc和xyz），并且其中标记黄色的词语会起到很好的辅助作用。例如：

37. The passage suggests that if a meteorite contained PAHs that were the result of terrestrial contamination, then one would expect which of the following to be true?

如果了解了不同观点的具体内容，你就会轻易地定位到这个句子“However, McKay’steam has demonstrated that the concentration of PAHs increases as one looks deeper into ALH84001, contrary to what one would expect from terrestrial contamination.”根据标记黄色的contrary to, 我们知道terrestrial contamination的效果应该跟之前那个句子所描述的情况相反，也就是PAHs decreases as one looks deeper into ALH84001.

A. The meteorite would have been on Earth for more than 13,000 years.

   无关

B. The meteorite would have originated from a source other than Mars.

   无关

C. The PAHs contained in the meteorite would have originated from nonbiological processes.

   无关

D. The meteorite would contain fewer PAHs than most other meteorites contain.

   无关

E. The PAHs contained in the meteorite would be concentrated toward the meteorite’s surface.

 就是它了！