沪江新东方评析二：谈本次四级听力考试Passage

对于PASSAGE部分，虽然难度也比以往有所加大，尤其体现在难词的使用上，以及题材的选择上，然而它一如既往地继承了以往考试的种种特点和思路。

首先，三篇文章都以说明文的形式出现，正如笔者在对2005年6月的PASSAGE题的分析中提出的：“对于听力短文部分，本次考试三篇文章以长度递增顺序排布，而题量则按照3、4、3的顺序安排，3篇文章都以说明文的体裁出现。”（摘自《由2005年6月大学英语四级听力考题看听力考试发展趋势与变化》一文），这已经成了现在四级考试听力PASSAGE部分的一个趋势了。当然，虽然是以说明文的形式出现，文章中记叙、议论的内容也时有出现，所以更精确的说，现在的文章形式是越来越综合的。

其次，文章的复杂度并为影响到出题的思路与解体的思维模式。出题点仍偏爱文章开头与结尾，文章中比较典型的、比较重要的分支结构，以及转折关系、因果关系的表达。下文将对本次考试的3篇文章分别作这方面的详细分析：

Passage One

（1）A new study reports the common drug aspirin greatly reduces life-threatening problems after an operation to replace blocked blood vessels to the heart. More than 800,000 people around the world have this heart surgery each year. （2）The doctors who carried out the study say giving aspirin to patients soon after the operation could save thousands of lives. People usually take aspirin to control pain, and reduce high body temperature. Doctors also advise some people to take aspirin to help prevent heart attacks. About 10~15% of these heart operations end in death or damage to the heart or other organs. （3）The new study shows that even a small amount of aspirin reduced such threats. （4）The doctors said the chance of death for patients who took aspirin would fall by 67%. They claimed this was true if the aspirin was given within 48 hours of the operation. The doctors believe aspirin helps heart surgery patients （5）because it can prevent blood from thickening, and blood vessels from being blocked. （6）However, the doctors warned that people who have stomach bleeding or other bad reactions from aspirin should not take it after heart surgery.

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11. What is the finding of the new study of aspirin?

12. In what way can aspirin help heart surgery patients according to the doctors?

13. What warning did the doctors give about the use of aspirin?

文章本身阅读难度较大，因为牵涉到一些学术词汇的运用，诸如：blood vessel, organ, heart surgery, blood thickening, stomach bleeding等。但就考点本身而言却难度适中，甚至可以说非常循规蹈矩。

第11题提问的就是文章开头第一句的部分（文中划线1处），对应词为New Study（以黑体标出），而且也是本文说明对象之所在，而文章主旨、说明对象等一直就是往年考说明议论型文章的重心，而且也是文章中会反复涉及的内容（文中划线2、3、4处），因此比较容易把握。答案为：It reduces the chance of death for heart surgery patients.

第12题问及的是阿斯匹林如何帮助做过心脏手术的病人，看似是个方法，其实在原文中仍然以原因的形式表达，在原文倒数第二句中（文中划线5处），Because（以黑体标出）明显指示第二题的答案。此即为因果考察点。答案为：It keeps blood vessels from being blocked.

第13题考察位置出现在文章末句（文中划线6处），也是以往出题的重点位置之一，而考察点则为转折后的内容。根据常识我们知道，几乎任何医疗行为都会有副作用，而任何医药说明或医生嘱咐的最后一句一般都是经过转折后产生的对该副作用的提醒以及避免方法的说明。这里的However（以黑体标出）也很明确的指示了答案的鲜明特征。此即为转折考察点。答案为：It is harmful to heart surgery patients with stomach bleeding.

Passage Two

When you are the first or last child in your family, or, when you are middle or only child, some people think it matters where you are born in your family. But there are different ideas about what birth order means. （1）Some people say that the oldest children are smart and strong willed, and they are very likely to be successful. The reason for this is simple: parents have a lot of time for that first child. They give him or her a lot of attention. So this child is very likely to do well. An only child will succeed for the same reason. What happens to the other children in the family? （2）Middle children don’t get so much attention. So they don’t feel that important. If a family has many children, the middle one sometimes gets lost in the crowd. The youngest child then, often gets special treatment. He or she is the baby. Often this child grows up with funny and charming. Do you believe this idea about birth order, too? A recent study saw things quite differently. The study found that first children believed in family rules. They didn’t take many chances in their lives. They usually followed orders. （However） （3）Rules didn’t mean as much to late children in a family. They went out and followed their own ideas. They took chances and they often did better in lives.

Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

14. According to common belief, in what way are the first and the only child alike?

15. What do people usually say about middle children?

16. What do we learn about later children in the family from a recent study of birth order?

       本文解释了孩子因出生顺序不同而形成的不同特征，与日后人生之影响。本文是属于词汇角度而言，三篇中相对容易的一篇了。但其写作手法有一定难度，是以比较的方法来描述了这些孩子特征的不同点，所以自然也就以比较性的问题为突出。但作为这次考试的第二篇，其出题难度还不及第三篇，而其比较行内容也只有第14题是两方面都涉及的，而其他两题都只涉及比较的一方，因此解体思路类似以往的学校教育类文章和风土人情类文章，找差异就成了其考察核心。

       第14题，考察了家中第一个孩子和唯一孩子的共性，是一题综合考察比较双方的题目。虽然从题型上来看有一定难度，但考察点仍然是因果关系， 文中涉及到理由The reason（以黑体标出）的那句（文中划线1处）加上So（以黑体标出）的支持，使之成为了我们第一题的答案位置。答案为：They are very likely to succeed in life.

       第15题，考察了中间出生的孩子的特征，同样以一个So（以黑体标出）为中介（文中划线2处），表现了其中的原委。因此这又是一个因果类型的题目。答案为：They get less attention from their parents.

       第16题，压轴在文章最后一句，题目难度也相应改变，一眼扫去，除了结尾这一明显特点外，似乎考点并不明显。这里考察了研究结果中后期出生的孩子的特点。虽然没有明显的关联词，但不难发现，这一点是和前一句中家中最早出生的孩子形成鲜明对比的部分，其实也就是省略了我们写在括号里的那个However（以黑体标出），这类题在以往考察短对话中也时有见到省略转折词或原因词的。