1.首段的转折/对比
只要首段中出现一对处于对比状况的概念，命题专家通常都会就此设置考题，
考生应掌握这一规律，在看到文章首段出现转折对比的内容时，应当立即集中
注意力，同时还要明白，第一段出现转折关系时，转折后所表述的一定是文章
的中心议题，而在首段出现的对照或对比的内容将在下文中进行具体的议论，
并在文章最后得出结论。
例
Few creations of big technology capture the imagination like giant
dams. Perhaps it is human kind's long suffering at the mercy of
flood and drought that makes the ideal of forcing the waters to do
our bidding so fascinating. But to be fascinated is also, sometimes,
to be blind. Several giant dam projects threaten to do more harm
than good.
The third sentence of paragraph 1 implies that .（转折)
［A］ people would be happy if they shut their eyes to reality
［B］ the blind could be happier than the sighted
［C］ over_excited people tend to neglect vital things
［D］ fascination makes people lose their eyesight［1998年51题］
C［正确答案］
2. 文中的转折
例
It is a remarkable record, stretching back over 70 years―yet the
BBC's future is now in doubt.
The world famous BBC now faces .
［A］ the problem of new coverage［B］ an uncertain prospect
［C］ inquiries by the general public［D］ shrinkage of audience
［1996年55题］
B［正确答案］
七、复指原则
在历年的考题中，应用复指原则设问的题目较多，此类题目的考点是复指代词
或与复指副词作用相同的词。1994年、1995年时此类题目大多是直接问考生文
章某句中的“it”或“that”等代词指代什么。近几年此类题目的问法开始转
向隐蔽，但无论题目用何种方式设问，考生都应当记住，此类题目的答案的位
置必定在复指词的上文中。因此，此类题目的解答只需返回原文，在复指词上
方扫描即可找到正确答案。如果按阅读习惯接着读下面的句子或段落，无论看
多少遍也找不到答案。
例
For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a
traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence.
Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who
generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers
were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside
world.
The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of
hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill,
often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement.
It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a
charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the
harshness of daily life: if you didn't take in the stranger and take
care of him, there was no one else who would. And someday, remember,
you might be in the same situation.
Families in frontier settlements used to entertain strangers .
［A］ to improve their hard life
［B］ in view of their long_distance travel
［C］ to add some flavor to their own daily life
［D］ out of a charitable impulse［1997年57题］
C［正确答案］
八、类比原则
议论文和说明文在论证说明事理的时候均很抽象，为了让读者更形象地理解一
些抽象的内容，文章常会采用类比的手法。形象的类比不仅有助于将抽象的道
理阐释清楚，更可以让读者加深印象。类比在文中有两种体现方式，一是明
喻，即A像B一样；二是暗喻，说A是B，由于暗喻更加隐蔽，近年来命题专家也
越来越趋向于在暗喻内容上设问。
例
The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels,
etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering
them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement
transmits a new idea.
A technologist can be compared to an artist because .(明喻)
［A］ they are both winners of awards
［B］ they are both experts in spatial thinking
［C］ they both abandon verbal description
［D］ they both use various instruments［1996年65题］
B［正确答案］
九、例证原则
让事实说话往往是最有效的论证方式之一，命题专家在设置题目时往往也会针
对文中的事例设问，考查考生对局部结构的理解。例证题1994年第一次出现在
考研试卷上，共两道题，占4分。但在1995年至1998年间，没有出现过一道例证
题，1999年再次出现，一样是两道题，占4分。之后，几乎每年的考题都有一至
两道例证题，这就说明考研命题的一大特点，命题规则总是不断重复的。
考生们在应用例证原则解题时还应注意常用的例证方式有两种：一是先提出观
点，后举例说明；二是先列举事例再做出结论。考生应当学会举一反三，不要
被各种原则的变化形式所迷惑。
例
Now the tide appears to be turning. As personal injury claims
continue as before, some courts are beginning to side with
defendants, especially in cases where a warning label probably
wouldn't have changed anything.In May, Julie Nimmons, president of
Schutt Sports in Illinois, successfully fought a lawsuit involving a
football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt
helmet. “We're really sorry he has become paralyzed, but helmets
aren't designed to prevent those kinds of injuries,” says Nimmons.
The jury agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the
reason for the athlete's injury. At the same time, the American Law
Institute―a group of judges, lawyers, and academics whose
recommendations carry substantial weight―issued new guidelines for
tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious
dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones.
“Important information can get buried in a sea of trivialities,”
says a law professor at Cornell Law School who helped draft the new
guidelines. If the moderate end of the legal community has its way,
the information on products might actually be provided for the
benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability.
The case of Schutt helmet demonstrated that .
［A］some injury claims were no longer supported by law
［B］helmets were not designed to prevent injuries
［C］product labels would eventually be discarded
［D］some sports games might lose popularity with athletes［1999年53
题］
A［正确答案］
十、句子理解原则
这种题型旨在考查文中某一句话的内涵。因此在解题时，考生要牢牢抓住这句
话本身，弄清楚它的每个单词、每个表达及整个句子所传递的信息，可以借助
周边的句子来帮助理解，但不要跑得太远。
例
In the US and Canada,where the right_to_die movement is gathering
strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.
When the author says that “observers are waiting for the dominoes
to start falling”, he means .
［A］ observers are taking a wait_and_see attitude towards the
future of euthanasia
［B］ similar bills are likely to be passed in the US, Canada and
other countries
［C］ observers are waiting to see the result of the game of dominoes
［D］ the effect_taking process of the passed bill may finally come
to a stop［1997年52题］
B［正确答案］
十一、词汇原则
阅读中的词汇题通常会有两种情况，一种是考生一看到所考的单词立刻心跳加
速：“完了，这个词不认识，大纲上也没有。”还有就是一看到单词，立刻欣
喜不已：“哈哈，这么容易的单词。”第一种情况下考生往往会随便猜一个选
项，错误率很高。而第二种情况下，考生往往落入命题专家的陷阱，不知不觉
地失了分，原因是考生并没有掌握阅读词汇题的基本命题原则。
在阅读部分的词汇题要考的并不是考生认不认识题中所考的单词，否则便是命
题失效。此处要考的是考生阅读中的推断能力，也就是说题中所考单词的词义
必定能根据上下文推断出来。所以考生在遇到阅读中的词汇题时，一定要冷
静，去上下文中细找，推断出词义后，可将词义代入原文看是否通畅。
例1
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on
the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If
railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue,
shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms
of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to
shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which
many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads
in the position of determining which companies will flourish and
which will fail. “Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of
who wins and who loses in the marketplace?” asks Martin Bercovici,
a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
The word “arbiters” most probably refers to those.
［A］ who work as coordinators［B］ who function as judges
［C］ who supervise transactions［D］ who determine the price［2003年
54题］
B［正确答案］
例2
For any job search, you should start with a narrow concept―what you
think you want to do―then broaden it. “None of these programs do
that,” says another expert. “There's no career counseling implicit
in all of this.” Instead, the best strategy is to use the agent as
a kind of tip service to keep abreast of jobs in a particular
database; when you get E_mail, consider it a reminder to check the
database again. “I would not rely on agents for finding everything
that is added to a database that might interest me,” says the
author of a job_searching guide.
The expression “tip service” most probably means .
［A］ advisory［B］ compensation
［C］ interaction［D］ reminder［2004年43题］
D［正确答案］
十二、判断原则
判断题型考查考生在现实生活中的阅读技能即快速、准确寻找所需信息的能
力，要求考生能够看懂题目提供的四个选项并在文中检索相关信息。这种题目
比较耗费时间，在紧张的考试中，容易给考生带来心理压力，因此面对此类题
型考生首先要调整心理状态，细致冷静地返回到文章中去寻找答案。
面对判断原则的题目，考生必须先读懂题目所给的四个选项，记住它们的意
思，返回原文去扫描，搜寻信息点，与题目不相关的句子、语段很快掠过，相
关信息语言区域则要求考生必须细致地对照原文中的信息。
判断原则有两种题型：
1. 一正三误
要求考生找出四个选项中惟一正确的一个，检验答案时要注意这种题型最常采
用的三种命题方式是：正话反说、反话正说和关键词替换。
例
No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline
of nation. “Is this what you intended to accomplish with your
careers?” Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last
week. “You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation
and threaten our children as well?” At Time Warner, however, such
questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul_searching
that has involved the company ever since the company was born in
1990. It's a self_examination that has, at various times, involved
issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom
line.
At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took
over for the late Steve Ross in 1992. On the financial front, Levin
is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company's
mountainous debt, which will increase to $17.3 billion after two new
cable deals close. He has promised to sell off some of the property
and restructure the company, but investors are waiting impatiently.
The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. Levin has
consistently defended the company's rap music on the grounds of
expression. In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing
Ice_T's violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as a lawful
expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet. “The test
of any democratic society,” he wrote in a Wall Street Journal
column, “lies not in how well it can control expression but in
whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest
possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may
sometimes be. We won't retreat in the face of any threats.”
Levin would not comment on the debate last week, but there were
signs that the chairman was backing off his hard_line stand, at
least to some extent. During the discussion of rock singing verses
at last month's stockholders' meeting, Levin asserted that “music
is not the cause of society's ills” and even cited his son, a
teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with
students. But he talked as well about the “balanced struggle”
between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he announced
that the company would launch a drive to develop standards for
distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music.
The 15_member Time Warner board is generally supportive of Levin and
his corporate strategy. But insiders say several of them have shown
their concerns in this matter. “Some of us have known for many,
many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not
totally unlimited,” says Luce. “I think it is perhaps the case
that some people associated with the company have only recently come
to realize this.”
The last sentence of the first paragraph most probably implies that .
［A］ Luce is a spokesman of Time Warner
［B］ Gerald Levin is liable to compromise
［C］ Time Warner is united as one in the face of the debate
［D］ Steve Ross is no longer alive［1997年64题］
D［正确答案］
2. 三正一误
要求考生判断哪一个选项与文章不符。检验答案时有两种方式，一是正确选项
所给的信息在文中根本没有提到过，二是正确选项所给信息与文中其他内容相
互冲突。
例
With the start of BBC World Service Television, millions of viewers
in Asia and America can now watch the Corporation's news coverage,
as well as listening to it. And of course in Britain listeners and
viewers can tune in to two BBC television channels, five BBC
national radio services and dozens of local radio stations. They are
brought sport, comedy, drama, music, news and current affairs,
education, religion, parliamentary coverage, children's programmes
and films for an annual licence fee of ￡83 per household.
It is a remarkable record, stretching back over 70 years―yet the
BBC's future is now in doubt. The Corporation will survive as a
publicly_funded broadcasting organisation, at least for the time
being, but its role, its size and its programmes are now the subject
of a nation_wide debate in Britain.
The debate was launched by the Government, which invited anyone with
an opinion of the BBC―including ordinary listeners and viewers―to
say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether
they thought it was worth keeping. The reason for its inquiry is
that the BBC’s royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide
whether to keep the organisation as it is, or to make changes.
Defenders of the Corporation―of whom there are many―are fond of
quoting the American slogan “If it ain't broken, don't fix it.”
The BBC “ain't broke”,they say, by which they mean it is not
broken (as distinct from the word ‘broke’, meaning having no
money), so why bother to change it?
Yet the BBC will have to change, because the broadcasting world
around it is changing. The commercial TV channels―TV and Channel 4―
were required by the Thatcher Government's Broadcasting Act to
become more commercial, competing with each other for advertisers,
and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite
channels―funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers'
subscriptions―which will bring about the biggest changes in the
long term.
In the passage, which of the following about the BBC is not
mentioned as the key issue?
［A］ Extension of its TV service to Far East.
［B］ Programmes as the subject of a nation_wide debate.
［C］ Potentials for further international co_operations.
［D］ Its existence as a broadcasting organisation.［1996年56题］
C［正确答案］
在1996年至2004年考研试卷的180道阅读题目中，上文中所总结的原则不断重复
出现，有时甚至两个或三个原则相互重叠。不以规矩，无以成方圆。命题专家
在设计考题时必定会遵循一定的原则，而考生则应当在复习应考时掌握并熟练
应用这12大原则，以求达到事半功倍的效果。
