GRE阅读考察点 —— “词汇”

对于在复习GRE的考生来说，最难的事情莫过于背单词。虽然GRE单词的考察点大量集中在填空题上，但是阅读部分的很多题目也会考查学生对词汇的理解，这里的词汇不仅仅是我们理解上的难词，而且还会涉及“熟词僻义”和语义度。

例如:

1、雅思托福的考生在记忆“qualify”这个词时，基本上只记得“证明…合格”这个意思，但是在GRE阅读中，“qualify”常指“限定”这一含义。再

2、“detachment”原意是“分离、拆分”，但是在GRE阅读中，很多时候“detachment”意为“客观、超然、冷静”。

那么下面，我们结合两篇文章，来具体剖析一下阅读中“熟词僻义”和“语义度”这两种词汇考点。

“熟词僻义”——“qualify”

An influential early view held that ecosystems contain niches for a limited number of species and that competition for resources among species—whether native or nonnative invading ones—determines ecosystems’ species composition<这句话看似很长，但是通过“结构性阅读法”，我们可以将这句话浓缩成competition determines ecosystems’ species composition，即物种间的竞争决定了生态系统中的物种构成——早期的一种观点>. However, factors other than competition often help explain invading species’ success. <紧接着开始转折，提出除了竞争，还有其他的因素也能解释入侵物种的成功繁殖——反驳上文的观点>For example, the American grey squirrel, often cited as a classic example of competitively superior invading species, was introduced in England in 1876 and now thrives, while the native red squirrel population has declined. <举例，其目的是为了进一步证明前面的counterview>Although scientists have found gray squirrels to be more efficient foragers than red ones, they also note that even before the gray squirrel’s arrival, Britain’s red squirrel populations had a periodic tendency to die out, only to be subsequently reintroduced. <这里是一个很有意思的让步具句考点：虽然和红松鼠比较起来，灰松鼠觅食效率更高（这里的信息其实是符合句话观点的，因为觅食效率高也是竞争力强的一种表现），但是红松鼠容易周期性灭绝（在这里，作者进一步证明会有其他因素解释入侵物种的繁殖>Furthermore, many gray squirrels are silent carriers of a disease fatal to red squirrels. <与上文是递进关系，强调灰松鼠身上带有的疾病对当地的红松鼠来说是致命的——说明竞争不是的影响因素>

It can be inferred that the author of the passage mentions the efficiency with which gray squirrels forage primarily in order to


A. identify a factor that explains a certain phenomenon


B. call attention to an inconsistency in a particular theory

C. suggest that competition cannot be the factor responsible for a particular outcome


D. acknowledge a fact that appears to support a view that the author intends to qualify


E. cite evidence that is not consistent with an early influential view about species competition

这里的细节目的题是我们上文读到的让步句考点，跟我们上文的剖析，让步句的目的其实是支持了句话的说法，即竞争会影响物种的繁殖。

D选项中的“qualify”指的是“限定”，而非“证明…合格”这一意思。该句意思是承认一个事实，这个事实支持了作者想要削弱的观点。

因此，这道题应该选D。

语义度——

“porous frontiers” & “isolated”

Ecologists study how millions of species share the world, rather than take on the whole planet at once; they generally focus on a single ecosystem, be it a prairie, a tidal flat, or a sand dune. <和上文的案例一样，我们可以先通过“结构性阅读法”拆分该长句，即species focus on a single ecosystem—很多物种会集中在某一单独的生态系统中>Even within those limits, they are frustrated by porous frontiers. <即使在这些范围内，物种也会受到porous frontiers的干扰；在这里很多同学会将“porous frontiers”生硬地翻译成“多孔的边界”，但是其实很明显这样的翻译是不对的。“porous”除了“多孔的”这个意思之外，还有一个引申义“渗透的”，而“frontier”的引申义是“开拓者”，那么同时我们结合语境可知这句话是想表达：这些物种在限定的范围内也会收到外来物种入侵的危害。> As a result, ecologists have done some of their most important work on islands, nature’s own isolated laboratories, which may be colonized only a few times over the course of millions of years. <引出生态学家在islands上的研究>On them, ecologists have figured out how the size of a given habitat determine how many species it can support. <研究出生态环境的大小是如何影响其容纳物种数量的> They have then applied that knowledge to the mainland, showing how fragmented ecosystems become like archipelagoes, where extinctions can strike. <将上述的研究成果应用到mainland的研究>

其实整体来说，这篇文章难度不大，主旨内容大家都很容易理解，但是对于部分词汇的意思，需要同学们结合文章上下文以及该词的引申义得出。

像这类涉及“语义度”的题目是很多GRE考生不太擅长的，因为考试的时候学生没有过多思考的时间。

It can be inferred that the term “porous frontiers” is used to refer to

A. a tendency for the area of an ecosystem to shrink


B. human-caused processes that alter the character of an ecosystem

C. movement of species into an ecosystem from outside

D. variation in what the term “ecosystem” signifies

E. lack of protection for endangered habitats

根据上文的剖析我们可以知道，在这里“porous frontiers”指的是外来物种的入侵，因此答案选C。

In the context in which it appears, “isolated” most nearly means

A. completely uncontaminated


B. somewhat unusual


C. extremely rare

D. relatively inaccessible

E. strictly confined

很多同学看到这一题的时候都觉得是送分项，但是一旦看到选项会发现D和E这两个选项看似都对。

 “isolated”意为“孤立的，偏远的”，其强调的意思是和外界的联系较少（即“without much contact with other people or other countries”），因此E中的“严格限制的”并不符合词义，该题应该选D，意为“相对闭塞的”。

这两篇真题所涉及的考点词其实都是平时大家背过的单词，但是GRE不是语言类考试，而是一种能力型考试，就像中国公务员考试中也会考到词汇选择题一样，GRE中的词汇考点是不能脱离文章的，也就是需要大家结合语境。

但与此同时，GRE考生们在背诵生词的同时，也需要注意一些常见词汇的“引申含义”和“熟词僻义”，增加自己的单词储备量，这样在考试的时候才可以快速读出考点词的准确含义。