Example
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could re-create the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U. S., when the Standard Oil Trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as WorldCom, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing-witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault and Nissan—but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.(2001年 Passage 4)
From Paragraph 4 we can infer that .
[A] the increasing concentration is certain to hurt consumers
[B] WorldCom serves as a good example of both benefits and costs
[C] the costs of the globalization process are enormous
[D] the Standard Oil Trust might have threatened competition
命题者设置的难点是第二句中定语从句的理解。原文谈到“目前难以预料，数家石油公司的合并是否会再次对竞争造成威胁。100年前美国的标准石油联合公司(Standard Oil Trust)被解散，就是因为当时人们担心它会对竞争构成威胁”，由此引申推理可知[D]项“标准石油联合公司可能曾对竞争形成过威胁”。此外，考生还需要注意，might have threatened是虚拟语气，表示对过去的推测。
(2)运用数字进行推理
Example
Emerging from the 1980 census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional competition, as population growth in the Northeast and Midwest reaches a near standstill.
This development—and its strong implication for US politics and economy in years ahead—has enthroned the South as America’s most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation’s head counting.
Altogether, the Us population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people—numerically the third-largest growth ever recorded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years.
Americans have been migrating south and west in larger numbers since World War Ⅱ, and the pattern still prevails. (1998年 Passage 4)
Discerned from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, America in 1970s .
[A] enjoyed the lowest net growth of population in history
[B] witnessed a southwestern shift of population
[C] underwent an unparalleled period of population growth
[D] brought to a standstill its pattern of migration since World War Ⅱ
这是一道涉及数字的题目，从标志词1970s可以定位为文章第三段，本段指出：“20世纪70年代，美国人口总共增长了2 320万——从数字上看，这是有纪录以来10年期人口增长的第三高峰。即使如此，人口总数也只增加了11.4%，除了大萧条时期，这是美国年度记录最低的增长率。”因此，[A]选项和[C]选项与文意不符。接着文章第四段谈到人口普查显示出“第二次世界大战以来，美国人不断移居西部和南部，现在这种趋势依然存在”。因此可以得出[B]选项是正确答案，而[D]选项与该段内容正好相反。
(3)用类比的例子，要求考生进行推理演绎
Example1
There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external result or product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a promotion, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language-all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since by definition it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they encounter new experiences and unexpected obstacles. In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept. (1995年 Passage 2)
A person is generally believed to achieve personal growth when .
[A] he has given up his smoking habit
[B] he has made great efforts in his work
[C] he is keen on learning anything new
[D] he has tried to determine where he is on his journey
(1)先了解全文，把握主题
考生可以通过首尾段、文章结构、或归纳整理各段信息迅速了解主题。然后再通过主题与细节的关系进行合乎理性的归纳。
(4)Example
The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles; its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly professed. Consequences follow from this, of course, some of which are that ambition is driven underground, or made sly. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life. (2000年 Passage 5)
From the last paragraph the conclusion can be drawn that ambition should be maintained .
[A] secretly and vigorously
[B] openly and enthusiastically
[C] easily and momentarily
[D] verbally and spiritually
该段谈到人们对雄心的攻击远多于对它的维护，因此本应是一种健康公开的品质得不到很多支持。第四句和第五句指出了不公开表达雄心带来的不良后果，由此可以推出人们不应该隐瞒自己的雄心。此外，纵观全文，作者提倡的是正确对待雄心，坦言自己的抱负。因此[B]选项“公开而热情地”是作者提倡的对待雄心的正确态度。
(5)把握作者的写作意图
Example
No clear-cut distinction can be drawn between professionals and amateurs in science: exceptions can be found to any rule. Nevertheless, the word “amateur” does carry a connotation that the person concerned is not fully integrated into the scientific community and, in particular, may not fully share its values. The growth of specialisation in the nineteenth century, with its consequent requirement of a longer, more complex training, implied greater problems for amateur participation in science. The trend was naturally most obvious in those areas of science based especially on a mathematical or laboratory training, and can be illustrated in terms of the development of geology in the United Kingdom. (2001年 Passage 1)
The author writes of the development of geology to demonstrate.
[A] the process of specialisation and professionalisation
[B] the hardship of amateurs in scientific study
[C] the change of policies in scientific publications
[D] the discrimination of professionals against amateurs
前一段谈到，业余研究者进入专业领域很难的趋势在某些科学领域尤为突出，英国地质学的发展就说明了这一问题。后一段通过对19世纪英国地质学及其出版物的变化、研究方式的变化、非专业人员研究过程的困难等的陈述，说明专业人员和业余人员之间的分化越来越明显。因此可引申推理出作者的写作目的正是描述[A]选项 “职业化和专业化形成的过程”。
(6)Example
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses’ convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by himself. “Who is that?” the new arrival asked St. Peter. “Oh, that’s God,” came the reply, “but sometimes he thinks he’s a doctor.” (2002年Text 1)
The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are .
[A] impolite to new arrivals
[B] very conscious of their godlike role
[C] entitled to some privileges
[D] very busy even during lunch hours
考生要根据全文的主旨以及作者的语气，从那个关于医生的笑话里推理医生和上帝有相似的特点：医生无礼、傲慢，自以为像上帝一样。接着再推测护士对医生的看法是：非常在乎自己上帝般的角色。这种推理是一个比较复杂的过程。[B]选项为正确答案。
(7)Example
If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it’ll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman’s notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn’t attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.(2002年 Passage 1)
It can be inferred from the text that public services
[A] have benefited many people
[B] are the focus of public attention
[C] are an inappropriate subject for humor
[D] have often been the laughing stock
该段末句“如果拿公共服务行业作为替罪羊(scapegoats)去进行评论，你就会处于安全境地”让人读了不是很明白，禁不住要去推想到底为什么公共服务行业这么特殊呢?联系上文，前面的内容说的是“开玩笑取乐要看听众是不是自己同行业的人，如果不是就有可能招人反感”。一番推理之后，才明白这句话的另外一层未说明的含义，即选项[D]反映的内容：公共服务行业是大家经常谈论的共同笑料。
其次，根据题干的关键词迅速搜索定位以便确定推理依据的范围，利用语法、词汇、语境线索，了解单句的含义，弄清上下文的逻辑关系，然后按题意进行推理。题目可能要求考生对某句话或数句话进行正确理解或释义，也可能从某句话或某段话中推测出一两件事实。
(8)Example
In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.(2002年 Passage 3)
It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if .
[A] price of crude rises
[B] commodity prices rise
[C] consumption rises
[D] oil taxes rise
题干中的关键词是“the retail price of petrol”。根据它定位到文章段落，文章先给出事实：原油价格占汽油零售价格的一小部分，其大部分是税收。在欧洲国家这个比例更是高达五分之四，因此原油价格的变动对汽油价格影响不大。据此可以推出二者的潜在关系：影响汽油价格的主要因素是税收;税收涨，油价也大幅度地涨。
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