第三节 风格固定
一、喜新厌旧
GMAT阅读的一大特点是喜新厌旧，“新”是指新观点，“旧”是指老观点，即传统的观点、过去的观点和大众的观点。在考试时，出题人偏好于考查新观点。
如果GMAT阅读文章有新观点和老观点，通常是先写老观点，后写新观点。所以，考生阅读的重心应该在文章后面的新观点，题目的正确答案很可能是包含新观点内容的选项。注意这些特点后，考生可以迅速抓住文章的重点文字，并排除一些错误选项。
例如下面的文章：
从上面的文章分析和结构图，可以看出第一段第一句话提出了一个老观点，作者用However一词反驳了老观点，后面接着用例子证明自己的观点。根据喜新厌旧的风格，可以知道对老观点内容浏览即可，重点读的内容应该是作者提出的新观点和对新观点继续论述。
下面看一道与这篇文章相关的题目：
The passage is primarily concerned with
（A） providing support for a traditional theory
（B） comparing several explanations for a problem
（C） summarizing a well-known research study
（D） recommending an alternative approach
（E） criticizing the work of a researcher
这是一道主旨题。（A）选项，“支持传统的理论”这与喜新厌旧的风格矛盾，所以排除。
二、标新立异
GMAT阅读文章的作者会提出新的见解，与众不同。在读文章时，特别要注意强转折、强对比关系的句子以及表示作者观点的句子，作者观点与多数人的观点的不同之处也就是作者标新立异的内容，极有可能是考点。
例如下面的文章：
Archaeology as a profession faces two major problems. First, it is the poorest of the poor. Only paltry sums are available for excavating and even less is available for publishing the results and preserving the sites once excavated. Yet archaeologists deal with priceless objects every day. Second, there is the problem of illegal excavation, resulting in museum-quality pieces being sold to the highest bidder.
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke provide funds for archaeology and reduce the amount of illegal digging. I would propose that scientific archeological expeditions and governmental authorities sell excavated artifacts on the open market. Such sales would provide substantial funds for the excavation and preservation of archaeological sites and the publication of results. At the same time, they would break the illegal excavator's grip on the market, thereby decreasing the inducement to engage in illegal activities.
（文章摘自《GMAT官方指南》）
第一段作者提出考古行业有两个问题，一是没有钱，二是有大量的非法挖掘。针对第一段的问题，作者在第二段提出了一个建议，那就是将出土的艺术品在公开市场卖掉。
当读到“卖”这个建议时，估计很多考生是无法接受的，因为他们会觉得文物是国家财产，买卖是非法的，所以“卖”这个建议不好。也正是如此，很多考生会怀疑自己是否读懂了文章。当作者提出这个让人吃惊的建议时，后面的内容一定会详细阐述其建议的合理性的。在此笔者建议广大考生，如果不能接受作者的观点，切记不要和作者的观点对抗。
三、同情弱者
GMAT阅读文章具有同情弱者的特点。弱势群体包括女性、黑人、印第安人和少数民族。了解这些特点，可以有效理解文章作者的态度，排除一些选项。
女性文章在考试中是非常重要的，这里要提醒考生注意两点。第一，女性文章谈论的时间通常是文艺复兴时期和18—19世纪；第二，在谈论女性的文章中通常不会大量谈论男性的情况。
例如下面的文章：
During the nineteenth century, occupational information about women which was provided by the US census—a population count documented each decade—became more detailed and precise in response to social changes. Through 1830, simple enumeration by household reflected a home-based agricultural economy and hierarchical social order: the head of the household was specified by name, while other household members were solely indicated by the total number of persons counted in different categories, including occupational categories. Like farms, most firms were family-run, so that the census considers economic activity as an attribute of the entire household, rather than of individuals.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
（A） explain and critique the methods used by early statisticians
（B） compare and contrast a historical situation with a current-day one
（C） describe and explain a historical change
（D） discuss historical opposition to an established institution
（E） trace the origin of a contemporary controversy
从文章首句可以知道，这篇文章谈论的是女性在19世纪时的状况，所以选项（B），对比历史状况和现今的状况不对，current-day是指21世纪了，时间不对等。
请看下面的例子：
Indeed, at the Women's Congress in 1910, most participants advocated maternity insurance and paid maternity leave, though the intense hostility between some socialists and bourgeois feminists at the Congress made it hard for them to recognize these areas of agreement.
阅读心得