懒人阅读第六天——推断类题型的设计原理(Inference)

只做逻辑上的一步推导，做好逻辑收敛；

寻找逻辑上层，找信息服务的对象。

文章里主要有两种信息：Statement和Inference。

前者是白纸黑字写给你的，主要考事实信息题（定位+同义改写），后者是字里行间让你去推的，主要考推断（定位+逻辑推理）。

推断类题型有两个：推断题和修辞目的题。

推断是内容推断；修辞目的是态度推断。

先看推断题：

ETS在推断题上的出题设计思路，主要是两个：

一个是正向推理，一个是反向推理。

主要的推理错误就是因为附加条件。

1. 加入新条件（因为爱，所以在一起×）

2. 关联旧条件（刷墙的例子）

来，上栗子：

既然是定位+逻辑推理，先强调一下定位，TPO24P1 Lake Water：

3. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the movement of water into a lake?

C

○Heavy rain accounts for most of the water that enters into lakes.

○Rainfall replaces approximately the amount of water lost through evaporation.

○Overland flow into lakes is reduced by the presence of forests.

○Seepage has asmaller effect on water level than any other input

这一题要是定位不到原文中的地方，就特别容易选错。

Paragraph 2: The questions become more complicatedwhen actual volumes of water are considered: how much water enters and leavesby each route? Discovering the inputs and outputs of rivers is a matter of measuringthe discharges of every inflowing and outflowing stream and river. Then exchanges with the atmosphere are calculated by finding the difference betweenthe gains from rain, as measured (rather roughly) by rain gauges, and the losses by evaporation, measured with models that correct for the other sources of water loss. For the majority of lakes, certainly those surrounded byforests, input from overland flow is too small to have a noticeable effect. Changes in lake level not explained by river flows plus exchanges with theatmosphere must be due to the net difference between what seeps into the lakefrom the groundwater and what leaks into the groundwater. Note the word"net": measuring the actual amounts of groundwater seepage into thelake and out of the lake is a much more complicated matter than merelyinferring their difference.

找到没？

在这里：

Paragraph 2: The questions become more complicatedwhen actual volumes of water are considered: how much water enters and leavesby each route? Discovering the inputs and outputs of rivers is a matter of measuringthe discharges of every inflowing and outflowing stream and river. Thenexchanges with the atmosphere are calculated by finding the difference betweenthe gains from rain, as measured (rather roughly) by rain gauges, and thelosses by evaporation, measured with models that correct for the other sourcesof water loss. For the majority of lakes, certainly those surrounded by forests, input from overland flow is too small to have a noticeable effect. Changes in lake level not explained by river flows plus exchanges with theatmosphere must be due to the net difference between what seeps into the lakefrom the groundwater and what leaks into the groundwater. Note the word"net": measuring the actual amounts of groundwater seepage into thelake and out of the lake is a much more complicated matter than merelyinferring their difference.

能从这一句推出的，只有C：Overland flow into lakes is reduced by the presence of forests. 因为相关证据只有forests.

不要想太多。这是一个典型的正向因果推理。

来看个易错题，TPO27P1：

11. Paragraph 4 suggests which of the following about the significance of Mesopotamian cylinder seals?

B

○ They were designed more for home than for legal use.

○ They demonstrate that their creators were professionals.

○ They were the first example of seals made from materials other than stone.

○ They were the first example of carved seals.

先定位：

Paragraph 4: Objects themselves suggest that they were the work of skilled professionals. In the late Uruk period (3500-3100 B.C.E.), there first appeared a type of object that remained characteristic for Mesopotamia throughout its entire history: the cylinder seal. This was a small cylinder, usually no more than 3 centimeters high and 2 centimeters in diameter, of shell, bone, faience ( a glassy type of stoneware), or various types of stones, on which a scene was carved into the surface. ...

其实这一题和修辞目的题的考法有一些交集。（虽然ETS不会用不同的题型考相同的题点，但是十大题型之间也是有千丝万缕关系的。）第一句说到这些物体本身是有技术的专业人员的作品，后句就为这些物品举了个例子cylinder seal，然后具体描述这个东西的大小、用途。

所以，这个东西就是专业人士的作品之一。答案就是对第一句的改写。

其实后文也有再次提及：

... When rolled over a soft material---primarily the clay of bullae (round seals), tablets, or clay lumps attached to boxes, jars, or door bolts---the scene would appear in relief, easily legible. The technological knowledge needed to carve it was far superior to that for stamp seals, which had happened in the early Neolithic period (approximately 10,000-5000 B.C.E.). From the first appearance of cylinder seals, the carved scenes could be highly elaborate and refined, indicating the work of specialist stonecutters. Similarly, the late Uruk period shows the first monumental art, relief（浮雕）, and statuary in the round, made with a degree of mastery that only a professional could have produced.

但是考场上真正做这一题，都是至少通读完段落后再完成的。这个也是一个正向推理。

再加一个TPO22P1第7题：

Paragraph 4 suggests that where Spartina occurs naturally, an established stand of it will eventually               

A

A.   create conditions in which it can no longer survive

B.   get washed away by water flowing through the deep channels that form around it

C.   become adapted to brackish water

D.   take over other grass species growing in the area

These characteristics make Spartina a valuable component of the estuaries where it occurs naturally. The plant functions as a stabilizer and a sediment trap and as a nursery area for estuarine fish and shellfish. Once established, a stand of Spartina begins to trap sediment, changing the substrate elevation, and eventually the stand evolves into a high marsh system where Spartina is gradually displaced by higher-elevation, brackish-water species. As elevation increases, narrow, deep channels of water form throughout the marsh. Along the east coast Spartina is considered valuable for its ability to prevent erosion and marshland deterioration; it is also used for coastal restoration projects and the creation of new wetland sites.

常错C，但是定位句里的be displaced说明了A，所以不能只跟着关键词走，要对意思负责。

反向推理的例子，课上说的够多了，回溯一下讲义里的例题吧~

再看修辞目的题。

先来看一下OG里对于修辞目的题型的描述：

修辞目的题主要考作者意图和段落关系，考点在于态度推断。

一般形式是这样：

•The author discusses X in paragraph 2 inorder to…

•Why does the author mention X?

•The author uses X as an example of …

但是也不用太担心，好在它只考目的，不考中文理解里的修辞。比SAT和GRE都要好一些。

（rhetoric: the art of speaking or writing effectively）

首先要看清题干问的是整个句子的功能还是句子内部局部信息的目的。

前者考句间关系，后者考句内关系。

也就是说，前者服务于其他句子，后者首先服务于句子主干。

举个栗子：

TPO46P2 The Commercial revolution in Medieval Europe 第8题

对应原文

These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called “a commercial revolution.” In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A.D. 1000–1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population—never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.

因为题干问的是个局部信息，首要服务于主干内容：商业阶层只占总人口的一小部分。所以后面的信息就是在说明怎么个小部分法儿。对应D

所以就可以去选了。只是要避开A选项的干扰。wealth的信息来自句后，不是定位处信息所服务的对象。

强调你要的意思一定要和你选的意思保持一致。

TPO51P2 Surface Fluids on Venus and Earth 第11题

Why does the author point out that on Earth "gases in the atmosphere or water react with rocks at the surface to form new chemical compounds"?

A.     To explain why scientists believe that few areas on Earth have been untouched by flowing water.

B.     To identify one of several ways in which the movement of fluids can affect the surface of a planet.

C.     To provide evidence that fluid movements are caused by gravity flow systems energized by the Sun.

D.     To identify an effect of wind scouring fine particles away from large areas.

①Like Venus, Earth is large enough to be geologically active and for its gravitational field to hold an atmosphere. ②Unlike Venus, it is just the right distance from the Sun so that temperature ranges allow water to exist as a liquid, a solid, and a gas. ③Water is thus extremely mobile and moves rapidly over the planet in a continuous hydrologic cycle. ④Heated by the Sun, the water moves in great cycles from the oceans to the atmosphere, over the landscape in river systems, and ultimately back to the oceans. ⑤As a result, Earth’s surface has been continually changed and eroded into delicate systems of river valleys—a remarkable contrast to the surfaces of other planetary bodies where impact craters dominate. ⑥Few areas on Earth have been untouched by flowing water. ⑦As a result, river valleys are the dominant feature of its landscape. ⑧Similarly, wind action has scoured fine particles away from large areas, depositing them elsewhere as vast sand seas dominated by dunes or in sheets of loess (fine-grained soil deposits). ⑨These fluid movements are caused by gravity flow systems energized by heat from the Sun. ⑩Other geologic changes occur when the gases in the atmosphere or water react with rocks at the surface to form new chemical compounds with different properties. An important example of this process was the removal of most of Earth’s carbon dioxide from its atmosphere to form carbonate rocks. However, if Earth were a little closer to the Sun, its oceans would evaporate; if it were farther from the Sun, the oceans would freeze solid. Because liquid water was present, self-replicating molecules of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen developed life early in Earth’s history and have radically modified its surface, blanketing huge parts of the continents with greenery. Life thrives on this planet, and it helped create the planet’s oxygen and nitrogen-rich atmosphere and moderate temperatures.

修辞目的题如果考整句，优先考虑句间关系，为逻辑上一层服务；如果问的是句子局部内容，优先考虑句内关系，为句子主干服务。对应B。

看个难题：TPO23P3 Rock Art of the Australia Aborigines 第12题

In paragraph 5, the author indicates that "twentieth century art has shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermined sequence" in order to 

定位到段落最后一句。

①In the 1970s, when the study of Australian archaeology was in an exciting phase of development, with the great antiquity of rock art becoming clear, Lesley Maynard, the archaeologist who coined the phrase “Panaramitee style,” suggested that a sequence could be determined for Australian rock art in which a geometric style gave way to a simple figurative style (outlines of figures and animals), followed by a range of complex figurative styles that, unlike the pan-Australian geometric tradition, tended to much greater regional diversity. ②While accepting that this sequence fits the archaeological profile of those sites, which were occupied continuously over many thousands of years, a number of writers have warned that the underlying assumption of such a sequence—a development from the simple and the geometric to the complex and naturalistic—obscures the cultural continuities in Aboriginal Australia in which geometric symbolism remains fundamentally important. ③In this context the simplicity of a geometric motif may be more apparent than real. ④Motifs of seeming simplicity can encode complex meanings in Aboriginal Australia. ⑤And has not twentieth-century art shown that naturalism does not necessarily follow abstraction in some kind of predetermined sequence?

修辞目的题不能过度关注信息本身，而要看信息与信息之间的关系。

信息的来源或者目的。

段落前文说到Maynard发现一个从简单到复杂的sequence，但是a number of writers have warned that the underlying assumption of such a sequence ... obscures the cultural continuities in Aboriginal Australia, 会有不好。所以提到后面的信息就是为了说明，不要过于简单接受这个观念。

对应各个选项:

A. emphasize that it may not be possible to determine what the figures in ancient rock art represent 没提到sequence

B. suggest a reply to those who have questioned Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art 最干扰，对象错，我要的是和a number of writers站在一边去反驳Maynard的

C. provide a counterexample to Maynard’s interpretation of the sequence of Australian rock art 符合

D. indicate that twentieth century art is more advanced than ancient rock art 没有比较的证据

还有大家一直觉得很坑的TPO52P1 Stream Deposits 的第6题

和问的最多的TPO46P1 The Origins of Writing 的第5题

在文章各自的解析里都有详细解释啦~

还有一些常错的小题，比如

TPO34P2 Islamic Art and the Book 第5题问mosque

TPO43P2 The Origin of Petroleum 第12题问eastern Texas

都是没搞清楚为啥举例子。

可是，修辞目的题，还有另一种考法，

这也是大家一致比较怵的。。

看道考段内关系的例题：

TPO21P2 The Origins of Agriculture 第4题

Which of the following best describes the way paragraph 2 is organized?

①Traditionally, it was believed that the transition to agriculture was the result of a worldwide population crisis. ②It was argued that once hunter-gatherers had occupied the whole world, the population started to grow everywhere and food became scarce; agriculture would have been a solution to this problem. ③We know, however, that contemporary hunter-gatherer societies control their population in a variety of ways. ④The idea of a world population crisis is therefore unlikely, although population pressure might have arisen in some areas.

这个段落就是先说个观点，然后又反驳。出现段内转折，

答案就一目了然：

A

A. A possible explanation for a phenomenon is presented and then criticized.

B. Two similar ways of accounting for a puzzling fact are considered.

C. Early societies’ response to a problem is contrasted with contemporary societies’ response.

D. A prehistoric development is first explained in traditional terms and then in contemporary terms.

但前提是，需要对段落结构有个清晰的认识。

同理还有

TPO42P2 Explaining Dinosaur Extinction 10

TPO23P1 Urban Climates 6

这种题目更多关注段间关系。结合段落大意，站在写作者角度其实也是不难解的。关键在于，我们要去想，这篇文章如果是自己写的，我们的写作目的是什么。就好做了~