沪江新东方评析二：谈本次四级听力考试Passage

Passage Three

（1）When my interest shifted from space to the sea, I never expected it would cause such confusion among my friends. Yet, I can understand their feelings. As I have been writing and talking about space flight for the best part of twenty years, a sudden switch of interest to the depth of the sea does seem to be peculiar. （2）To explain, I’d like to share my reasons behind this unusual change of mind. （3）The first excuse I give is an economic one. Underwater exploration is so much cheaper than space flight. The first round-trip ticket to the moon is going to cause at least ten billion dollars if you include research and development. By the end of this century, the cost will be down to a few millions. On the other hand, the diving suit and a set of basic tools needed for skin diving can be bought for twenty dollars. （4）My second argument is more philosophical. The ocean, surprisingly enough, has many things in common with space. （5）In their different ways, both sea and space are equally hostile. If we wish to survive in either for any length of time, we need to have mechanical aids. The diving suit helped the design of a space suit. The feelings and emotions of a man beneath the sea will be much like those of the man beyond the atmosphere.

17. How did the speaker’s friends respond to his change of interest?

18. What is one of the reasons for the speaker to switch his interest to underwater exploration?

19. In what way does the speaker think diving is similar to space travel?

20. What is the speaker’s purpose in giving this talk?

       本文是三篇段子中最难的一篇，贯穿了几乎所有议论说明类文章能考的考点，并以高度隐蔽性和全面性见长。

       第17题不出任何意外的从文章首句入手（文中划线1处），考察对文章首句的把握，但希奇的是这却不是文章的主题之所在。而主题部分却被移到了第20题来考察，却万万没有想到的是本文经层层铺垫后，主题却异常地隐蔽。所以20题的考察点其实有相当难度，但这类文章的基本结构还是给解题留下了线索，作为一个总-分-（总）结构的文章体系，分述往往回应总起，因此通过本文的first（文中划线3处）和second（文中划线4处），可以直接回应到主题（文中划线2处），从而解决第20题。

       因此17题答案为They were puzzled by his decision.，以puzzle对应第一句中的confusion.

第20题答案为To explain why he took up underwater exploration.，以why对应文中的reasons.

       第18题则是考察了分论点中比较重要的一方面，文中以first（以黑体标出）的形式给出，这也是一贯的考法，曾经常考的有：最高级提示词、first、chief、major、main等。本题答案为It is much cheaper than space travel.。

       第19题也非常的蹊跷，考察了比较的双方面特点，有一定难度。但把握住文章末尾的核心句（文中划线5处），即可简单解题。虽然不是最后一句，但其后都是对它支持的具体例子，已经无关紧要，而此处的hostile（以黑体标出）也对应了答案中的challenging. 本题答案为：They are both challenging.