三、态度原则
命题专家命题时，为了验证考生到底有没有读懂文章，会就整个文章或某个语
言区域相对较为主观的态度设问。作者态度题有两种题型：
1. 文章作者态度题
这种题目对考生而言难度较大，迷惑性也较强，因为命题专家是针对整篇文章
设问，考生很难找到具体对应的语言点，所以要把握整篇文章。例如作者在谈
一件事时是用反讽的口气，还是赞成的语气，此类题所给的答案选项一般是四
个形容词，考生应在审题时就把握好这四个形容词所表达的意思，然后返回文
章去寻找感觉。特别提醒考生要牢记所遇到的构成作者态度题选项的每一个形
容词。
做文章作者态度题时，千万不要把考生自己的态度揉进文章中，同时要注意区
分作者本人的态度与作者引用的观点态度。文章作者态度是作者说话的口气
(tone)，不是考某一个语言点，而是文章中数个语言点串起来的一根线给读者
的整体感觉。
例
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since
OPEC agreed to supply_cuts in March, the price of crude oil has
jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December.
This near_tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973
oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979―1980, when they also
almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double_digit
inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines
warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq
suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same
time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price
higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now
to be less severe than in the 1970s. 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.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so
less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a
shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy,
energy_intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software,
consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car
production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich
economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD
estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices average
$22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would
increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25%-0.5% of
GDP. That is less than one_quarter of the income loss in 1974 or
1980. On the other hand, oil_importing emerging economies―to which
heavy industry has shifted―have become more energy_intensive, and
so could be more seriously squeezed.
One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is
that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the
backbone of general commodity_price inflation and global excess
demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from
economic decline. The Economist's commodity price index is broadly
unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%,
and in 1979 by almost 30%.
From the text we can see that the writer seems .
［A］ optimistic
［B］ sensitive
［C］ gloomy
［D］ scared［2002年55题］
A［正确答案］
2. 局部作者态度题
此类题目考查考生对局部细节所体现出的作者态度的理解，因此做此类题时，
考生不能再像前一种态度题一样去找“感觉”，而应当回到文章局部上，落到
实处。
例
In the last half of the nineteenth century, “capital” and
“labour” were enlarging and perfecting their rival organisations
on modern lines. Many an old firm was replaced by a limited
liability company with a bureaucracy of salaried managers. The
change met the technical requirements of the new age by engaging a
large professional element and prevented the decline in efficiency
that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second
and third generation after the energetic founders. It was moreover a
step away from individual initiative, towards collectivism and
municipal and state_owned business. The railway companies, though
still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders, were
very unlike old family business!At the same time the great
municipalities went into business to supply lighting, trams and
other services to the taxpayers.
The growth of the limited liability company and municipal business
had important consequences. Such large, impersonal manipulation of
capital and industry greatly increased the numbers and importance of
shareholders as a class, an element in national life representing
irresponsible wealth detached from the land and the duties of the
landowners; and almost equally detached from the responsible
management of business. All through the nineteenth century, America,
Africa, India, Australia and parts of Europe were being developed by
British capital, and British shareholders were thus enriched by the
world's movement towards industrialisation. Towns like Bournemouth
and Eastbourne sprang up to house large “comfortable” classes who
had retired on their incomes, and who had no relation to the rest of
the community except that of drawing dividends and occasionally
attending a shareholders' meeting to dictate their orders to the
management. On the other hand “shareholding” meant leisure and
freedom which was used by many of the later Victorians for the
highest purpose of a great civilisation.
The “shareholders” as such had no knowledge of the lives, thoughts
or needs of the workmen employed by the company in which they held
shares, and their influence on the relations of capital and labour
was not good. The paid manager acting for the company was in more
direct relation with the men and their demands, but even he had
seldom that familiar personal knowledge of the workmen which the
employer had often had under the more patriarchal system of the old
family business now passing away. Indeed the mere size of operations
and the numbers of workmen involved rendered such personal relations
impossible. Fortunately, however, the increasing power and
organisation of the trade unions, at least in all skilled trades,
enabled the workmen to meet on equal terms the managers of the
companies who employed them. The cruel discipline of the strike and
lockout taught the two parties to respect each other's strength and
understand the value of fair negotiation.
The author is most critical of .
［A］ family firm owners
［B］ landowners
［C］ managers
［D］ shareholders［1996年62题］
D［正确答案］
在谈到family firm owners 时，作者只是说：“通过雇用一大批专业人员，这
一变化适应了新时代的技术要求，防止了效率的下降。而效率的下降通常是家
族公司在精力充沛的创立者之后的第二三代破产的原因。”这是很客观的表
述，在谈到landowners时说：“对资本与企业的如此大规模的非个人运作大大
增加了作为一个阶层的持股人的数量及地位的重要性。
国民生活中这一现象的出现代表了不由个人负责的财富与土地及土地所有者的
义务的分离，这也在同样程度上意味着（不由个人负责的财富)与经营管理责
任的分离。”也是很客观的表述，没有表明自己的态度。C选项在原文中有两处
提及，但都是指带薪经理，对经理并没有进行任何批评性评论，因而也不符合
题意。只有D选项对应原文中The “shareholders” as such had no
knowledge of the lives, thoughts or needs of the workmen employed by
the company in which he held shares, and his influence on the
relations of capital and labour was not good.“像这样的‘持股人’对所
持股票公司雇用的工人的生活，思想和需求一无所知，他对资本与劳工关系没
有什么好的影响。”显然，作者对这种“持股人”持批判的态度，所以D是正确
答案。实际上，1996年第62题命题也可以直接以下面的形式出现：
The author's attitude towards shareholders is.
［A］ biased［B］ positive［C］ sympathetic［D］ critical
四、首段原则
首段原则应用于根据首段内容所设置的题目，它包括两种形式：首句原则和末
句原则。
1.首句原则
回顾近几年的考研阅读题，细心的考生会发现历年考研试卷中都有题目针对首
段第一句话设问，为什么会出现这种情况？原因很简单，考研阅读所选的文章
均是议论文和说明文，此类文章的文体要求在首段提出观点、突出中心，因此
第一段就好像全篇文章的一个总纲，确定了文章的主要内容，而第一句话常常
是一个自然段的主题句，首段首句自然就成为常考且必考的一个考点。
例
It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable
and in California optional. Small wonder. Americans' life expectancy
has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be
replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a
30_minute surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging
population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered
medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health_care system can
cure death―and our failure to confront that reality now threatens
this greatness of ours.
What is implied in the first sentence?
［A］ Americans are better prepared for death than other people.
［B］ Americans enjoy a higher life quality than ever before.
［C］ Americans are over_confident of their medical technology.
［D］ Americans take a vain pride in their long life expectancy.
［2003年56题］
C［正确答案］
2.末句原则
有时一个自然段的主题句也会出现在段末，因此考点也相应转向末句。
例
Technically, any substance other than food that alters our bodily or
mental functioning is a drug. Many people mistakenly believe the
term drug refers only to some sort of medicine or an illegal
chemical taken by drug addicts. They don't realize that familiar
substances such as alcohol and tobacco are also drugs. This is why
the more neutral term substance is now used by many physicians and
psychologists. The phrase “substance abuse” is often used instead
of “drug abuse” to make clear that substances such as alcohol and
tobacco can be just as harmfully misused as heroin and cocaine.
“Substance abuse”is preferable to “drug abuse” in that.
［A］ substance can alter our bodily or mental functioning if
illegally used
［B］ “drug abuse” is only related to a limited number or drug
takers
［C］ alcohol and tobacco are as fatal as heroin and cocaine
［D］ many substances other than heroin or cocaine can also be
poisonous［1997年59题］
D［正确答案］
五、段落原则
段落推断原则考查考生对段落内容的理解，分为两类题型：段落首句推断和段
落中句子推断。针对这两种具体题型的原则为：先看首句，如与选项符合即可
选择，不必再浪费时间看完整个段落，如首句不能与选项吻合时再将整个段落
读完以寻找符合的选项。
1. 段落首句推断
例
Straitford president George Friedman says he sees the online world
as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information
collection and distribution, a spymaster's dream. Last week his firm
was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world
and predicting a crisis in Ukraine. “As soon as that report runs,
we'll suddenly get 500 new Internet sign_ups from Ukraine,” says
Friedman, a former political science professor. “And we'll hear
back from some of them.” Open_source spying does have its risks, of
course, since it can be difficult to tell good information from bad.
That's where Straitford earns its keep.
It can be learned from paragraph 4 that.
［A］ Straitford's prediction about Ukraine has proved true
［B］ Straitford's guarantees the truthfulness of its information
［C］ Straitford's business is characterized by unpredictability
［D］ Straitford is able to provide fairly reliable information［2003
年44题］
D［正确答案］
2.段落中句子推断
例
But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the web will need to
resort to push strategies to make money. The examples of Virtual
Vineyards, Amazon.com, and other pioneers show that a Web site
selling the right kind of products with the right mix of
interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online
customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall,
which is a good sign for any enterprise setting up shop in silicon.
People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so
few companies took the online plunge.
Ｗe learn from the last paragraph that .
［A］pushing information on the Web is essential to Internet commerce
［B］interactivity, hospitality and security are important to online
customers
［C］leading companies began to take the online plunge decades ago
［D］setting up shops in silicon is independent of the cost of
computing power［1999年58题］
B［正确答案］
六、转折/对比原则
议论文和说明文都强调逻辑的严谨性，而转折和对比常常可以用来测试考生在
这一方面的阅读理解能力，所以考生对文中的转折和对比关系应高度重视，只
要看到标明转折或对比的关系词如but, however等，就应当立即在原文上进行
圈点。一般说来转折后的内容多与上文所表达的意思相反，而对比往往是强调
其中的一方。
