此次CollegeBoard发布的新SAT阅读样题包括3种题材5篇文章，其中Literature1有1篇，Science有2篇，Social & historical study有2篇。本文将就其中Literature和Science这两类文章进行解析。首先来看Literature这篇文章，考察重点是人物描写和人物关系（可参考2009年5月真题“An escaped governess”）。

 

对照老SAT相关题型和考点发现，这5道题目中只有第4题是新题型，考查的是文本依据（citing textual evidence），这种题目要求在文中找出支持上一题答案的依据，目的是引导学生有理有据地解读原文，非常符合新SAT阅读改革的大方向：Evidence-based reading.

 

其余四个题目在考点设计上与旧SAT类似，只是选项由旧SAT的五个减少为四个，且答错不再倒扣分。

 

【文章大意】

Mattie Silver是Ethan家的年轻女佣，这篇文章讲述了男主人Ethan对这位女佣的感情。

第一段，Ethan初见Mattie时就喜欢上了她，觉得她给自己原本冷清的生活带来了活力。

第二段，Ethan觉得自己对自然美景有一种常人无法理解的感伤情绪。而当他和Mattie在一起时，他觉得终于有人能够跟他心灵相通，做他的知己。

第三段，Ethan看到社交场合的Mattie，才意识到他原本以为Mattie只有跟他在一起时才会流露的感情和动作，其实并非他独有，而自己居然以为她真的对自己无聊的谈话感兴趣。

 

【题目解析】

Question 1.Over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the

A. reservations a character has about a person he has just met to a growing appreciation that character has of the person’s worth.

B. ambivalence a character feels about his sensitive nature to the character’s recognition of the advantages of having profound emotions.

C. intensity of feeling a character has for another person to the character’s concern that that intensity is not reciprocated.

D. value a character attaches to the wonders of the natural world to a rejection of that sort of beauty in favor of human artistry.

答案：C

解析：前两段是Ethan对Mattie的强烈感情，第三段Ethan意识到这种感情其实只是自己一厢情愿，并不是相互的。

考点:文章结构（text structure）

 

Question2. In the context of the passage, the author’s use of the phrase “her light step flying to keep time with his long stride”(line 6) is primarily meant to convey the idea that

A. Ethan and Mattie share a powerful enthusiasm.

B. Mattie strives to match the speed at which Ethan works.

C. Mattie and Ethan playfully compete with each other.

D. Ethan walks at a pace that frustrates Mattie.

答案：A

解析：由第二段可以看出，黄昏时Mattie和Ethan手挽手一起回农场的这段路上，两人分享着自然美景给他们带来的感受，步伐轻快强调他们心情愉悦兴奋。

考点: 措辞与态度（use of specific words and phrases to shape meaning and tone）

 

Question 3. The description in the first paragraph indicates that what Ethan values most about Mattie is her

A. fitness for farm labor

B. vivacious youth

C. receptive nature.

D. freedom from worry

答案：C

解析：在第一段，Ethan第一次见到Mattie就喜欢上她了，因为她活泼，可爱，阳光，有活力。但是最重要的，在第一段结尾，Ethan强调“The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her.She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will.”这说明，Ethan更看重的是，这个女孩能感知这个世界，能够跟他交流，以此引出下一段他们能心灵相通的内容。

考点:人物观点（point of view or perspective）

 

Question 4. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?

A. Lines2-5(“Mattie…farm”)

B. lines 5-9 (“He had …. anyhow”)

C. lines 9-10 (“But it ….. hearth”)

D. lines 11-13 (“She had …will”)

答案：D

解析：支持第三题答案“C. receptive nature.”的证据在第17-21行，即“She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will.”

考点: 文本依据（citing textual evidence）

 

Question 5.The author includes the descriptions of the sunset, the clouds, and the hemlock shadows (lines 46–49)primarily to

A. suggest the peacefulness of the natural world

B. emphasize the acuteness of two characters’sensations.

C. foreshadow the declining fortunes of two characters.

D. offer a sense of how fleeting time can be.

答案：B

解析：由“And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.”可知，眼前的日落、云朵和树木给他们两人一种较难定义却更加精致的感觉，让他们两人陷入一种无声的愉悦。结合后文，“When she said to him once: ‘It looks just as if it was painted!’it seemed to Ethan that the art of definition could go no farther, and that words had at last been found to utter his secret soul….”当Mattie说眼前的景象好像一幅油画时，Ethan觉得这句话终于说出了他的心声。因此，这些景色描写的作用是突出Ethan和Mattie都对自然美景感觉敏锐，所以两人在非常细微的感官差别上似乎都能心灵相通。

考点: 隐含语义（implicit meanings）

 

接下来我们来看双篇对比(paired passages)，重点考察学生分析多篇文本的能力（Analyzing multiple texts）。这两篇文章题材属于Science这一类，主旨是“动物是否拥有类似人类的思维能力”这一老生常谈的话题（可参考2008年1月短双“是否应该以人类动机解读黑猩猩的行为”）。

 

【文章大意】

这两篇文章通过观察和实验研究鸟类是否拥有与人类类似的认知能力。

Passage 1第一段心理学家Morgan提出一条原则“如果有更加简单的解释，就不应该认为动物行为体现了类似人类的思维过程。”第二段则指出，人类似乎很“想”证明动物跟人一样“聪明”。从第三段至文章结尾，Gray做了一个观察实验(observation)，发现New Caledonian crows有制作工具的能力。

Passage 2记述了作者对ravens感知环境能力的实验。作者发现ravens拥有区分new objects和background的能力，而且偏爱可食用的(edible)的东西。作者认为是ravens的好奇心(curiosity)导致它们能够感知周围环境的全部内容。

这两篇文章的共同焦点在于tool-making ability和curiosity能够证明鸟类拥有与人类类似的思维和感知能力。

 

【题目解析】

Question 20.Within Passage 1, the main purpose of the first two paragraphs (lines 1–8) is to

A. offer historical background in order to question the uniqueness of two researchers’findings.

B. offer interpretive context in order to frame the discussion of an experiment and its results.

C. introduce a scientific principle in order to show how an experiment’s outcomes validated that principle.

D. present seemingly contradictory stances in order to show how they can be reconciled empirically.

答案：B

解析：Passage 1第一段从科学的角度指出，人类不能轻易下判断说动物行为体现了类似人类的思维能力。然而，从感性的角度来看，人类似乎又一直有一种期待，希望能找到证据证明其它动物跟人类一样“聪明”（第二段）。这两段内容为下文Gary的观察实验提供了一个解析的语境，即鸟类拥有tool-making的能力能不能证明鸟类有跟人类一样的思维能力。

考点: 文章结构（text structure）

 

Question 21.According to the experiment described in Passage 2, whether the author’s ravens continued to show interest in a formerly new object was dictated primarily by whether that object was

A. edible.

B. plentiful.

C. conspicuous.

D. natural.

答案：A

解析：由Passage 2第二段最后一段（In subsequent trials, when the previously novel items were edible, they became preferred and the inedible objects became “background”items, just like the leaves, grass, and pebbles, even if they were highly conspicuous.）可以看出，如果同样是之前见过的东西，ravens偏爱edible objects，不能食用的就当做background忽略。

考点: 隐含语义（implicit meanings：draw reasonable inferences and logical conclusions from text）

 

Question 22.The crows in Passage 1 and the ravens in Passage 2 shared which trait?

A. They modified their behavior in response to changes in their environment.

B. They formed a strong bond with the humans who were observing them.

C. They manufactured useful tools for finding and accessing food.

D. They mimicked the actions they saw performed around them.

答案：A

解析：由Passage 1第四段开头(Their tools are hooked sticks or strips made from spike-edged leaves, and they use them in the wild to winkle grubs out of crevices.)可以看出，自然状态下的crows用带钩的小枝把虫子从洞穴里剔出来。而Gary和同事做实验的时候，他们用一天时间让crows习惯在一个树洞里找meat（Over the course of days, he and crow researcher Gavin Hunt had gotten wild crows used to finding meat tidbits in holes in a log.），然后在旁边放上针叶植物。实验证明，crows在这个新环境里依然有tool-making的能力。

Passage 2很明显，作者一直有意地在ravens周围放置不同的物品，以此观察ravens的反应。因此，两篇文章的共同之处在于，crows和ravens都能根据环境的变化调整自己的行为。

考点: 双篇对比求同（Analyzing multiple texts: synthesize information and ideas from paired texts）

 

Question 23.One difference between the experiments described in the two passages is that unlike the researchers discussed in Passage 1, the author of Passage 2

A. presented the birds with a problem to solve.

B. intentionally made the birds aware of his presence.

C. consciously manipulated the birds’surroundings.

D. tested the birds’tool-using abilities.

答案：B

解析：由Passage 1第四段段尾“hid behind a blind”得知，Gary和同事在做观察研究时会隐蔽起来，不让crows发现。而Passage 2第一段开头就可以看出，作者没有隐蔽，而是有意让ravens意识到他的存在。比如第一句（For one month after they left the nest, I led my four young ravens at least once and sometimes several times a day on thirty-minute walks.）和第3-4句（In the first sessions, I tried to be teacher. I touched specific objects—sticks, moss, rocks—and nothing that I touched remained untouched by them.）

考点: 双篇对比求异（Analyzing multiple texts: synthesize information and ideas from paired texts）

 

Question 24. Is the main conclusion presented by the author of Passage 2 consistent with Morgan’s canon, as described in Passage 1?

A. Yes, because the conclusion proposes that the ravens’behavior is a product of environmental factors.

B. Yes, because the conclusion offers a satisfyingly simple explanation of the ravens’behavior.

C. No, because the conclusion suggests that the ravens exhibit complex behavior patterns.

D. No, because the conclusion implies that a humanlike quality motivates the ravens’behavior.

答案：D

解析：Passage 2的结论在最后一句。作者认为ravens拥有跟人类一样的特点——好奇心(curiosity)。而Passage 1第一段Morgan’s canon则警告不能随便给出这种解读。因此，这两种观点是不一致的，因为Passage 2的结论正是Morgan警告人们不要饭的错误。

考点: 双篇逻辑关系（Analyzing multiple texts: analyzing claims and counterclaims）

 

通过以上的解析可以看出CollegeBoard在文章题材和文章内容方面求深求变的趋势，以及在问题方面更为注重文章结构和问题联系的特点。

在文章方面我们可以看到以下三个趋势：

 

　　1.自然科学文章题材的具体化

　　在以往的SAT阅读考试中，自然科学类的文章所占的比例一直比较稳定，环境话题、物理话题、科学思想话题占据了自然科学类文章的主流。话题偏概括化和理论化，重点经常是公众对于某自然科学话题的评价（譬如对于核能，对于物种复苏，对于生态旅行），对于某理论的概括性介绍（譬如对于弦理论，对于科学家思维方式），08年真题的海底发光生物题材和07年的猎豹基因题材是为数不多的介绍物种的文章。

　但是从最新SAT的官方样题来看，阅读的自然科学类文章有着具体化的趋势，比如Sample Reading Set2的自然科学类文章，明确表明是节选自Ed Young的“Turtles Use the Earth's Magnetic Field as Global GPS”，讨论的是海龟的定位导航功能，涉及到了非常具体的话题。

 

　　2.自然科学文章内容的专业化

文章内容则涉及到了更多地专业知识与术语，提到了科学研究的问题以及结果，科学家的研究论据和结论。

 

    3.引入图表增加科学性

　　在最新官方样题中，自然科学类文章的结尾出现了文章中提到过的地磁场模拟图，而且在问题中也涉及到了对于图表的解读，图表与文章内容的结合应用。在这里SAT的阅读出现了类似ACT阅读的倾向。

 

　　而在题目方面，可以看到以下三个新的特点：

　　1.出现在文章中有多处定位点而且需要自己定位的题目

　现在的SAT阅读题目中，在题干中直接给出定位行号的题目占绝大部分。对于没有给出行号的问题，一部分是涉及到主旨，行文结构，整体态度类的全文题，另一部分通常都可以通过上下题的行号定位，而且题目出现顺序和文章顺序是一致的。

　　在最新官方样题中，就出现了没有行号定位的题目，需要我们联系全文来解答。

 

    2.问题之间出现联系

　　在以往的SAT阅读考试中，题目都是独立出现的，第一题的解答通常不会影响后续的题目。但是在最新官方样题中，在第二道问题中问到了第二题与第一题之间的联系。

 

    3.出现针对图表的问题

　　由于在文章中出现了图表，在自然科学类文章的最后一题，也针对图表和文章的结合出了问题（Sample Reading Set2中自然科学类文章）。

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