例3、六級2001年6月閱讀第二篇
For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. ……
Although their missions blended commercial and political-military imperatives, the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where no scientists had gone before.
Today Mars looms as humanity’s next great terra incognita. And with doubtful prospects for a short-term financial return, with the cold war a rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in large space ventures, it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet’s reddish surface. Could it be science, which has long played a minor role in exploration, is at least destined to take a leading role? ……
With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. …..

36. According to the passage, the chief purpose of explorers in going to unknown places in the past was_____ .
A) to display their country’s military might
B) to accomplish some significant science
C) to find new areas for colonization
D) to pursue commercial and state interests

37. At present, a probable inducement for countries to initiate large-scale space ventures is _____ .
A) international cooperation
B) nationalistic reasons
C) scientific research
D) long-term profits
注意：economic / commercial / financial / profit ; nationalistic / political / military / cold war / nationalism; science / scientist/ scientific 都是近義詞或同一范疇的詞，也就閱讀文章中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的同義換詞現(xiàn)象。如果一個詞的同義詞、相關(guān)詞在一篇文章中多次重復(fù)出現(xiàn)，必定是這篇文章的強(qiáng)調(diào)的地方，必定和考題相關(guān)。另外，請注意這兩道題的考法，先考過去，再考現(xiàn)在，一個是was, 一個是is。答案D,C。

例4、考研2004年 Text 1
Hunting for a job late last year, lawyer Gant Redmon stumbled across CareerBuilder, a job database on the Internet. He searched it with no success but was attracted by the site’s “personal search agent”. It’s an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, and salary, then emails them when a matching position is posted in the database.
….
Some sites design their agents to tempt job hunters to return. When CareerSite’s agent sends out messages to those who have signed up for its service, for example, it includes only three potential jobs – those it considers the best matches. There maybe more matches in the database; job hunters will have to visit the site again to find them – and they do.

44. Why does CareerSite’s agent offer each job hunter only three job options?
A) To focus on better job matches.
B) To attract more returning visits.
C) To reserve space for more messages.
D) To increase the rate of success.
請注意下面句中them是指代什么：then emails them when a matching position is posted in the database. 有的輔導(dǎo)書上是這么翻譯的：然后給網(wǎng)上貼出的對應(yīng)崗位發(fā)個郵件/ 當(dāng)…時，你就通過EMAIL給這些人寄去相關(guān)的資料。其實，這里them指visitors。比如說你訪問某個求職網(wǎng)站，登記了你的要求，那么該網(wǎng)站可能會根據(jù)你的要求給你發(fā)email通知你，這就是所謂的interactive feature.
44題答案B, 實際上考的是一個例證題，但是表面上不很容易看出來，這就是考研難的地方。如果你平時注意分析第一句話和后面句子的關(guān)系，那么你就會知道， 例證題的答案經(jīng)常指向段落第一句話。答案中attract替換原文tempt。如果你在解題的時候只注意后面幾句話，就可能會做錯答案或者速度慢了。

例五、考研2002年 Text 4
The Supreme Court’s decisions on physician-assisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering.
Although it ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, the Court in effect supported the medical principle of “double effect”, a centuries-old moral principle holding that an action having two effects – a good one that is intended and a harmful one that is foreseen – is permissible if the actor intends only the good effect.

56. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that_____ .
A) doctors used to increase drug dosages to control their patients’ pain
B) it is still illegal for doctors to help the dying end their lives
C) the Supreme Court strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide
D) patients have no constitutional right to commit suicide
答案B, 這幾段里有不少和法律相關(guān)單詞可以學(xué)習(xí)，比如constitutional / rule / supreme court, rule 這個詞在這里是裁決的意思，很多死背詞匯書的同學(xué)考試中就不一定能夠反應(yīng)出這個意思。這道題目的干擾項之一C很有意思，大家有沒有注意到strongly這個詞，這個選項就錯在這里。請看一下第二段Although這句話， 體會一下這句話的內(nèi)涵（盡管，但是），這句話的內(nèi)涵是最高法院盡管認(rèn)為醫(yī)生協(xié)助病人自殺是非法的，是持反對態(tài)度的，但并不是強(qiáng)烈反對！ 所以大家在做題的時候一定要注意選項中的形容詞和副詞等限定詞，這些地方經(jīng)常是陷阱，同樣文章中出現(xiàn)這類詞匯也需要高度警惕。