本次考試聽力部分就起內容難度而言較之前幾次考試略有上升,但究其本質與之前的考點保持平行,主要體現在其短對話和聽寫難度有所降低,而長對話長度卻提出了空前的挑戰,PASSAGE文章本身難度也較過去幾年略有提升。本次考試短對話的重心在於考察男生女生關係特點;而PASSAGE的考點則着重集中於首、末句的考察;長對話主要考試特徵第一篇偏向短對話而第二篇則偏向PASSAGE;聽寫部分句子長度基本都控制得較好,在15~20詞之間,且單詞難度都偏低。由此可見,考官還是試圖結合大量考察考點,平均安排難度係數,來照顧到考試本身對考生考察的效果。
女性地位高於男性的特徵可以說在這裏考試中考得酣暢淋漓,可以說幾乎是三句話不離本行。
12.W: I won the first prize in the National Writing Contest and I got this camera as an award. M: It’s a good camera! You can take it when you travel. I had no idea you were a marvelous writer.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?
有那麼多句子供考官考察,偏偏考官都沒看上眼,就把答案鎖定在了D) The man admires the woman’s talent in writing.上,這絕非是沒有道理的。
13.M: I wish I hadn’t thrown away that reading list! W: I thought you might regret it. That’s why I picked it up from the waste paper basket and left it on the desk.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?
女人在本句中又MS有了先知先覺,居然還能將男人誤以爲是垃圾扔掉的“廢紙”撿回、保存,在男人後悔莫及之時還能完璧歸趙實在有點讓人懷疑四、六級考題中男人的愚昧和女人的睿智。果然,考官的答案依然以這一思路爲背景選擇了B) The woman saved the man some trouble.
16.M: Jane missed the class again, didn’t she? I wonder why?W: Well, I knew she had been absent all week. So I called her this morning to see if she was sick. It turned out that her husband was badly injured in a car accident.Q: What does the woman say about Jane?
難得出現個翹課的女人,結果還是因爲家中的丈夫受傷在家(果然男人總是很衰),所以全心照顧,因此才落了課程。而答案孕育而生於此,故選擇了D) She has been away from school to attend to her husband.本次考試另一大特徵就是選項混淆性頗高,具有相當的迷惑性。
11.W: Did you watch the 7 o’clock program on channel 2 yesterday evening? I was about to watch it when someone came to see me. M: Yeah! It reported some major breakthrough in cancer research. People over 40 would find the program worth watching.Q: What do we learn from the conversation about the TV program?
乍看之下,也有同學會選擇“本片專爲癌症病人播放”這一答案,而對話中其實只談及是癌症研究方面的紀錄片,除了病人也許也同樣適合預防使用,因此混淆選項過分o viewers over 40.適合本句原意,顧選。
14.W: Are you still teaching at the junior high school?M: Not since June. My brother and I opened a restaurant as soon as he got out of the army.Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?
本題也是個很好的例子,混淆選項中說男人開了一個RESTAURANT,實際爲與其兄合開,較之正確選項A) He quit teaching in June.,此混淆選項略顯瑕疵,因此捨棄該混淆選項。
長對話中雖然第一篇篇幅長達12個回合,史無前例,但考官卻刻意在其中安排了諸多停頓和遲疑來給考生留出足夠的時間思考,也不可不謂用心良苦。對話內容本身相對比較簡單,屬於租房場景的典型例子。其中甚至引用到了以往真題中出現的一些內容,如:W: Em…, I don’t think we have any rooms for tonight. There’s a conference going on in town and…er, let’s see…yeah, no rooms.
參考1991年6月四級考題中第10題:M: I sent a letter to make a reservation for a single room a few days ago.: I’m sorry, your request arrived too late. There are some conferences in town this week and we are full up.Q: Are there any spare rooms at the hotel?
甚至連沒有房間的理由也是一模一樣,這不得不讓人再次深思往年考題的重要性。無獨有偶,本次考試中甚至有些短對話考題就將過去的真題進行小幅的修改後就直接使用,如短對話第15題:
M: Hi, Susan! Have you finished reading the book Professor Johnson recommended?W: Oh, I haven’t read it through the way I read a novel. I just read a few chapters which interested me.Q: What does the woman mean?
與03年6月考試中短對話第8題如出一轍:M: Have you finished reading the book you bought last month?W: Oh, I didn’t read it straight through the way you read a novel, I just covered a few chapters which interested me most.Q: How did the woman read the book?
甚至從用詞角度而言,今年的15題還不如03年6月的第8題來得難,去掉了straight,把cover直接用read代替,均降低了句子本身的難度。所以可以說今天考試短對話部分總體而言難度是略有所下降的。但本題的出現再次強調了往年真題的重要性,告戒考生須戒驕戒躁,將往年真體摸熟吃透,方能兵來將擋,水來土淹。長對話就出題而言,位置倒頗是符合規律,以第二篇爲例:
M: Sarah, you work in the admissions office, don’t you?W: Yes, I’m…I’ve been here ten years as assistant director.M: Really? What does that involve?W: Well, I’m in charge of all the admissions of postgraduate students in the university.M: Only postgraduates?W: Yes, postgraduates only. I have nothing at all to do with undergraduates.M: Do you find that you get particular…sort of…different national groups? I mean, do you get large numbers from Latin America or…W: Yes. Well, of all the students enrolled last year, nearly half were from overseas. They were from African countries, the Far East, the Middle East, and Latin America.M: Em. But have you been doing just that for the last 10 years, or, have you done other things? W: Well, I’ve been doing the same job. Er, before that, I was secretary of the medical school at Birmingham, and further back, I worked in the local government.M: Oh, I see.W: So I’ve done different types of things. M: Yes, indeed. How do you imagine your job might develop in the future? Can you imagine shifting into a different kind of responsibility or doing something…W: Oh, yeah, from October 1, I’ll be doing an entirely different job. There’s going to be more committee work. I mean, more policy work, and less dealing with students, unfortunately…I’ll miss my contact with students.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard:
23. What is the woman’s present position?24. What do we learn about the postgraduates enrolled last year in the woman’s university?25. What will the woman’s new job be like?
第一題和第三題分別出在文章首、末,符合一直以來的考察特點。而第二句可以根據答案推測和外國學生有關,因此專注聽到提問部分:M: Do you find that you get particular…sort of…different national groups? I mean, do you get large numbers from Latin America or…即可知後文的答案的出現。
PASSAGE部分這次取材難度較大,但出題位置依然非常規律,除第三篇第一題外,其他每篇的首、末題都出在文章首、末句部分,因此佔到了整個考題的一半,可以說比例非常之高。
文章首篇描述的是作者的家庭,分別描述了作者的母親和父親,最後說了整個家庭以及母親作出的犧牲。本文爲比較典型的發展描述文,考點安排也就非常明朗:母親一題、父親一題、母親作出的犧牲使得家庭能維持作爲最後一題。
第二篇描述了一個救火隊員的痛苦經歷。起因部分出了一題,第二題問到使醫生驚訝的原因,爲原因考點,第三題爲時間地點人物考點,第四題則爲結果部分。本文因起因複雜,因此連續考查了2題,沒有太多涉足其經過部分,中間部分只涉及了一道人物考題,可以認爲是篇經過細節變化的完整故事類文章。
第三篇則是風土人情類文章的典型代表,也印證了近幾年來對風土人情的考察的偏愛:05年6月的餡餅大賽和奧地利訂婚習俗到06年6月美國南部的土著植物到第一次新題型的埃及人如何埋葬死人一直以來,風土人情成了考試中受到偏愛的部分。本文出題倒也工整,首句一題、末句一題,外加中間細節一題,平均分佈於全文之中,也不難尋找答案。
可見這次四級PASSAGE部分以複雜的文章內容來掩飾其簡單的出題位置,從而達到使考生緊張從而無法專注解題技巧本身的目的,也從而能測試出考生能力上的差異。所謂藝高人膽大,對於能力本身有欠缺,又在技巧上沒有掌握純熟的考生來說,無疑本次考試的PASSAGE是種莫大的挑戰。
聽寫部分單詞主要側重了單詞拼寫的考察,如adjusting中的d\competition中的元音字母混淆、accustomed中的雙寫、semester中的元音字母等,也注重了詞尾變化的特點,如-ing分詞、-ed分詞、單複數等。
聽寫句子本身難度較低,難詞也少,而且這次考試的聽寫句子部分,意羣都較短,所以方便考生記憶和聽寫:
44. At their worst, /they may threaten to take their children out of college, /or cut off funds.
45. think it only right and natural /that they determine /what their children do with their lives.
46. who are now young adults, /must be the ones responsible for /what they do /and what they are.
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