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2020年12月四級閱讀部分解析
鄭州新東方學校 蔡晶晶
【試題】
When my son completes a task. I can’t help but praise him. It’s only natural to give praise where praise is due, right? But is there such a thing as too much praise?
According to psychologist Katherine Phillip, children don’t benefit from 26 praise as much as we』d like to think. 「Parents often praise, believing they are building their child’s self-confidence. However, over-praising can have a 27 effect,」 says Phillip. 「When we use the same praise 28 , it may become empty and no longer valued by the child. It can also become an expectation that anything they do must be 29 with praise. This may lead to the child avoiding taking risks due to fear of 30 their parents.」
Does this mean we should do away with all the praise? Phillip says no. 「The key to healthy praise is to focus on the process rather than the 31 . It is the recognition of a child’s attempt, or the process in which they achieved something, that is essential,」 she says. 「Parents should encourage their child to take the risks needed to learn and grow.」
So how do we break the 32 of praise we’re all so accustomed to? Phillip says it’s important to 33 between 「person praise」 and 「process praise」. 「Person praise is 34 saying how great someone is. It’s a form of personal approval. Process praise is acknowledgement of the efforts the person has just 35 . Children who receive person praise are more likely to feel shame after losing,」 says Phillip.
A) choose I) pattern
B) constant J) plural
C) disappointing K) repeatedly
D) distinguish L) rewarded
E) exhausting M) separately
F) experienced N) simply
G) negative O) undertaken
H) outcome
【解析】
總體分析：
本次閱讀考試Section A部分難度一般，文本內容簡單，選詞填空上下文線索明顯，且考察的多為高頻詞彙，重點考察學生對於文本和詞句的理解。
B
根據挖空位置前面介詞from，後面名詞praise可以得知空格處為adj.詞性。再根據本句話的含義可知「並不受益於.....的讚揚」，可以從備選的形容詞性中選出B，constant表示經常的含義。
G
根據挖空的位置前面冠詞a和後面名詞effect，可知空格處為形容詞詞性。再結合句子表示轉折的意思：「然而，過多的讚揚會有.....的效果」，可知為表示負面含義的形容詞。所以從備選的形容詞中可以選出G項，negative是消極的意思。
K
根據挖空的位置，前面是完整的句子結構，動詞+形容詞+名詞，可得知應填副詞詞性。根據後句的含義：會不再被孩子們在意，可知為「反覆地」含義，應選K項repeatedly。
L
根據挖空的位置，must be可知此處應為動詞的過去分詞形式，從備選的三個詞 F) experienced L) rewarded O) undertaken中，意思最合適的為「用讚揚去獎勵」，所以可知答案為L項，rewarded。
C
根據挖空的位置，前面是of介詞，可知後面為名詞或者動名詞形式。再結合意思，孩子們避免去冒險，因為害怕.....父母，可知意思為「讓父母失望，因此C項disappointing為正確選項。
H
根據本句話：......the process rather than the，語法結構上，rather than 前後的詞性是一致的，因此可知此處應為名詞。再結合意思，「過程對比結果」，可知答案為H項outcome。
I
根據空格的位置： the 32 of ，可知為名詞。從備選的3個名詞之中選擇，再結合意思是「打破」，所以可知為「固有的形式之意」，因此答案為I項pattern。
D
根據挖空的位置，前面是to +動詞原形，所以備選中只有choose和distinguish，結合意思是對個人表揚和過程表揚的兩者，所以應填入「區別」的意思。故選擇D項distinguish。
N
根據位置：Person praise is 34 saying.....,從語法結構上可以判斷，應該是adv.+V.的結構，本題僅有兩個副詞，已經使用一個，只能選擇最後的一個simply。
O
根據時態上：has just....，可知使用了現在完成時，所以從動詞的過去分詞中去選擇，29題已經使用過一個詞，只剩下O和F，根據句意「過程表揚是對人所做努力的肯定」，所以選O項undertaken表示「從事，進行」。
Section B
Poverty is a story about us, not them
[A] Too often still, we think we know the poverty looks like. It’s the way we』ve been taught, the images we』ve been forced-fed decades. The chronically homeless. The undocumented immigrant. The urban poor, usually personified as a woman of color, the 「welfare queen」 politicians still too often reference.
[B] But as income inequality rises to record levels in the United States, even in the midst of a record economic expansions, those familiar images are outdated, hurtful and counterproductive to focusing attention on solutions and building ladders of opportunity.
[C] Today’s faces of inequality and lack of opportunity look like all of us. It’s Anna Landre, a disabled Georgetown University student fighting to keep health benefits that allow her the freedom to live her life. It’s Tiffanie Standard, a counselor for young women of color in Philadelphia who want to be tech entrepreneurs — but who must work multiple jobs to stay afloat. It’s Ken Outlaw, a welder in rural North Carolina whose dream of going back to school at a local community college was dashed by Hurricane Florence — just one of the extreme weather events that have tipped the balance for struggling Americans across the nation.
[D] If these are the central characters of our story about poverty, what layers of perceptions, myths, and realities must we unearth to find meaningful solutions and support? In pursuit of revealing this complicated reality, Mothering Justice, led by women of color, went last year to the state capital in Lansing, Michigan, to lobby on issues that affect working mothers. One of the Mothering Justice organizers went to the office of a state representative to talk about the lack of affordable childcare — the vestiges（痕跡）） of a system that expected mothers to stay home with their children while their husbands worked. A legislative staffer dismissed the activist’s concerns, telling her 「my husband took care of that — I stayed home.」
[E] That comment, says Mothering Justice director Danielle Atkinson, 「was meant to shame」 and relied on the familiar trope that a woman of color concerned about income inequality and programs that promote mobility must by definition be a single mom, probably with multiple kids. In this case, Mothering Justice activist happened to be married. And in most cases in the America of 2019, the images that come to mind when we hear the words poverty or income inequality fail miserably in reflecting a complicated reality: poverty touches virtually all of us. The face of income inequality, for all but a very few of us, is the one we each see in the mirror.
[F] How many of us are poor in the U.S.? It depends on who you ask. According to the Census Bureau, 38 million people in the U.S. are living below the official poverty thresholds. Taking into account economic need beyond that absolute measure, the Institute for Policy Studies found that 140 million people are poor or low-income. That’s almost half the U.S. population.
[G] Whatever the measure, within that massive group, poverty is extremely diverse. We know that some people are more affected than others, like children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and people of color.
[H] But the fact that 4 in 10 Americans can’t come up with $400 in an emergency is a commonly cited statistic for good reason: economic instability stretches across race, gender, and geography. It even reaches into the middle classes, as real wages have stagnated (不增長) for all but the very wealthy and temporary spells of financial instability are not uncommon.
[I] Negative images remain of who is living in poverty as well as what is needed to move out of it. The big American myth is that you can pull yourself up by your own effort and change a bad situation into a good one. The reality is that finding opportunity without help from families, friends, schools, and community is virtually impossible. And the playing field is nothing close to level.
[J] The FrameWorks Institute, a research group that focuses on public framing of issues, has studied what sustains stereotypes and narratives of poverty in the United Kingdom. 「People view economic success and wellbeing in life as a product of choice, willpower, drive, grit, and gumption,」 says Nat Kendall-Taylor, CEO of Frame Works. 「When we see people who are struggling,」 he says, those assumptions 「lead us to the perception that people in poverty are lazy, they don’t care, and they haven’t made the right decisions.」
[K] Does this sound familiar? Similar ideas surround poverty in the U.S. And these assumptions wreak havoc on reality. 「When people enter into that pattern of thinking,」 says Kendall-Taylor, 「it’s cognitively comfortable to make sense of issues of poverty in that way. It creates a kind of cognitive blindness — all of the factors external to a person’s drive and choices that they』ve made become invisible and fade from view.」
[L] Those external factors include the difficulties accompanying low-wage work ot structual discrimination based on race, gender, or ability. Assumptions get worse when people who are poor use government benefits to help them survive. There is a great tension between 「the poor」 and those who are receiving what has become a dirty word: 「welfare.」
[M] According to the General Social Survey, 71 percent of respondents believe the country is spending too little on a」welfare」: 37 percent believe we are spending too much.
[N] 「Poverty has been interchangeable with people of color -- specifically black women and black mothers,」 says Atkinson of Mothering Justice. It’s true that black mothers are more affected by poverty than many other groups, yet they are disproportionately the face of poverty. For example, Americans routinely overestimate the share of black recipients of public assistance programs.
[O] In reality, most people will experience some form of financial hardship at some point in their lives. Indeed, people tend to dip in and out of poverty, perhaps due to unexpected obstacles like losing a job, or when hours of a low-wage job fluctuate.
[P] Something each of us can do is to treat each other with the dignity and sympathy that is deserved and to understand deeply that the issue of poverty touches all of us.
36．One legislative staffer assumed that a woman of color who advocated affordable childcare must be a single mother.
37.People from different races, genders, and regions all suffer from a lack of financial security.
38.According to a survey, while the majority believe too little assistance is given to the poor, more than a third believe too much is spent on welfare.
39.A research group has found that Americans who are struggling are thought to be lazy and to have made the wrong decisions.
40.Under the old system in America, a mother was supposed to stay home and take care of her children.
41.XXX found that nearly 50% of Americans are poor or receive low pay.
42. American usually overestimate the number of blacks receiving welfare benefits.
43. It is impossible for Americans to lift themselves out of poverty entirely on their owns.
44. Nowadays, it seems none of us can get away from income inequality.
45. Assumptions about poor people become even more negative when they live on welfare.
【解析】
總體分析：
本次閱讀考試段落匹配題難度與上次考試持平，文章較長，該題考查的是考生的查讀和掃讀能力，牢記找題幹關鍵詞的方法論及常考的同義替換方法。
E.
根據快速閱讀段落的規律，應先讀首尾端。E段首句中that a woman of color concerned about income inequality and programs that promote mobility must by definition be a single mom, 對應題目中that a woman of color who advocated affordable childcare must be a single mother.
H.
H段中economic instability stretches across race, gender, and geography. 為答案選擇的根據，題幹中financial security是對economic instability的同義替換。races, genders, and regions 則是對段中race, gender, and geography的替換。
M.
M段中的71 percent of respondents believe the country is spending too little on a」welfare」: 37 percent believe we are spending too much.是對應題幹中的同義改寫： the majority 對應71 percent of respondents；more than a third對應37 percent。注意有關數字的細節是常考點，而且一定要注意對數字的改寫。
J.
J段中「When we see people who are struggling,」 he says, those assumptions 「lead us to the perception that people in poverty are lazy, they don’t care, and they haven’t made the right decisions.」對應句中who are struggling are thought to be lazy and to have made the wrong decisions. 基本是原詞，很容易定位。
D.
D段中最後一句中的the vestiges（痕跡）） of a system that expected mothers to stay home with their children while their husbands worked. 對應句中a mother was supposed to stay home and take care of her children.
F.
F段中the Institute for Policy Studies found that 140 million people are poor or low-income. That’s almost half the U.S. population. 對應句子中的nearly 50% of Americans are poor or receive low pay.尤其是出現了數字的統一替換：almost half 對應nearly 50%。
N.
N段中的最後一句For example, Americans routinely overestimate the share of black recipients of public assistance programs.對應到了句中的overestimate the number of blacks receiving welfare benefits的動賓短語含義。
I.
I段中倒數第二句,The reality is that finding opportunity without help from families, friends, schools, and community is virtually impossible.原詞對應句中impossible； on their owns同義替換without help from families, friends, schools, and community。
C.
C段中的首句：Today’s faces of inequality and lack of opportunity look like all of us.同義替換it seems none of us can get away from income inequality. all of us 和none of us can get away from 同義替換。
L.
L段中間句：Assumptions get worse when people who are poor use government benefits to help them survive. get worse對應even more negative；use government benefits to help them survive對應when they live on welfare.
Section C
【試題】
Boredom has, paradoxically, become quite interesting to academics lately. In early May, London’s Boring Conference celebrated seven years of delighting in dullness. At this event, people flocked to talks about weather, traffic jams and vending-machine sounds, among other sleep-inducing topics.
What, exactly, is everybody studying? One widely accepted definition of boredom is "the distasteful experience of wanting, but being unable to engage in satisfying activity.」 But how can you quantify a person's boredom level and compare it with someone else’s? In 1986, psychologists introduced the Boredom Proneness Scale, designed to measure an individual’s overall tendency to feel bored. By contrast, the Multidimensional State Boredom scale, developed in 2008, measures a person's felings of boredom in a given situation.
Boredom has been linked to behavior issues including inattentive driving, mindless snacking, excessive drinking, and addictive gambling. In fact, many of us would choose pain over boredom. One team of psychologists discovered that two-thirds of men and a quarter of women would rather self-administer electric shocks than sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. Researching this phenomenon, another team asked volunteers to watch boring, sad, or neutar films, during which they could self-administer elecric shocks. The bored volunteers shocked themselves more and harder than the sad or neutral ones did.
But boredom isn't all bad. By encouraging self-reflection and daydreaming, it can spur activity. An early study gave participants abundant time to complete problem-solving and word-association exercises. Once all the obvious answers were exhausted, participants gave more and more incentive answers to combat boredom. A British study took these findings one step further, asking subjects to complete a creative challenge (coming up with a list of alternative uses for a household item). One group of subjects did a boring activity first, while the others went straight to the creative task. Those whose boredom pumps had been primed were more productive.
In our always-connected world, boredom may be a hard-to-define state, but it is a fertile one. Watch paint dry or water boil, or at least put away your smart phone for a while, and you might unlock your next big idea.
46. When are people likely to experience boredom, according to an accepted psychological definition？
A) When they don’t have the chance to do what they want.
B) When they don’t enjoy the materials they are studying.
C) When they experience something unpleasant.
D) When they engage in some routine activities.
47. What does the author say boredom can lead to?
A) Determination
B) Mental deterioration
C) Concentration
D) Harmful conduct
48. What is the findings of one team of psychologists in their experiment?
A) Volunteers prefer watching a boring movie to sitting alone deliberating.
B) Many volunteers choose to hurt themselves rather than endure boredom.
C) Male volunteers are more immune to the effects of boredom than females.
D) Many volunteers are unable to resist boredom longer than fifteen minutes.
49. Why does the author say boredom isn’t all bad？
A) It stimulates memorization.
B) It may promote creative thinking.
C) It allows time for relaxation.
D) It may facilitate independent learning.
50. What does the author suggests one do when faced with a challenging problem?
A) Stop idling and think big.
B) Unlock one’s smartphone.
C) Look around oneself for stimulation.
D) Allow oneself some time to be bored.
【解析】
總體解析：仔細閱讀部分文章脈絡清晰，考題多為細節題，定位準確的情況下整體難度不高，只要考生掌握自然段定位原則以及設題點的準確辨別，也可以輕鬆解題。
46. A
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹定位到第二段，由 One widely accepted definition of boredom is 「the distasteful experience of wanting, but being unable to engage in satisfying activity.」 可知，一個被廣泛接受的對無聊的定義是「想要卻沒能得到的令人不快的經歷，未能從事令人滿意的活動。」，所以選A選項中When they don’t have the chance to do what they want.是對定位句的同義替換。
幹擾選項分析：BCD文中未提到並且不符合文意，所以排除。
47. D
題型：細節題
解題思路：由第三段 「Boredom has been linked to behavior issues including inattentive driving, mindless snacking, excessive drinking, and addictive gambling.」 可知，無聊與粗心駕駛、盲目吃零食、酗酒和上癮賭博等行為問題有關。所以無聊導致的都是不好的行為，選項D Harmful conduct是對原文的概括改寫，因此正確答案為D項。。
幹擾選項分析：A決心C專注度都是好的方面，反向幹擾排除；B精神惡化，精神只是其中一方面，以偏概全排除。
48. B
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹定位到第三段 「One team of psychologists discovered that two-thirds of men and a quarter of women would rather self-administer electric shocks than sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.」 可知，一個心理學家團隊發現，三分之二的男性和四分之一的女性寧願自己實施電擊也不願獨自坐著思考15分鐘。所以選B項Many volunteers choose to hurt themselves rather than endure boredom，許多志願者寧願選擇傷害自己也不想忍受寂寞。
幹擾選項分析：ACD不符合文意，所以排除。
49. B
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹定位到第四段 「But boredom isn't all bad. By encouraging self-reflection and daydreaming, it can spur activity.」 可知，但無聊也不全是壞事。通過鼓勵自我反省和白日做夢，它可以刺激活動。所以選B項It may promote creative thinking.。
幹擾選項分析：A刺激記憶，這只是下文的一個例子，以偏概全排除；CD文中未提到，所以排除。
D
題型：推理題
解題思路：由第四段最後兩句 「In our always-connected world, boredom may be a hard-to-define state, but it is a fertile one. Watch paint dry or water boil, or at least put away your smart phone for a while, and you might unlock your next big idea.」 可知，在我們這個始終保持聯繫的世界裡，無聊可能是一種難以定義的狀態，但它是一種豐富的狀態。看著油漆變幹或者水沸騰，或者至少把你的智慧型手機放一段時間，你可能會開啟你的下一個偉大的想法。所以選D 項Allow oneself some time to be bored.。
幹擾選項分析：ABC不符合文意，所以排除。
Forests in countries like Brazil and the Congo get a lot of attention from environmentalists, and it is easy to see why. South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous scale: every year almost 5 million hectares are lost. But forests are also changing in rich Western countries. They are growing larger, both in the sense that they occupy more and that the trees in them and bigger. What is going on?
Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with fastest growth in places that historically had rather few tress. In 1990 28% of Spain was forested; now the proportion is 37%. In both Greece and Italy, the growth was from 26% to 32% over the same period. Forests are gradually taking more and in America and Australia. Perhaps most astonishing is the trend in Ireland. Roughly 1% of that country was forested when it became independent in 1922. Forests cover 11% of the land, and the government wants to push the proportion to 18% by the 2040s.
Two things are fertilising this growth. The first is the abandonment of farmland, especially in high, dry places where nothing grows terribly well. When farmers give up trying to earn a living from farming or herding trees simply move in. The second is government policy and subsidy. Throughout history, governments have protected and promoted forests for diverse reasons, ranging from the need for wooden warships to a desire to promote suburban house-building. Nowadays forests are increasingly welcome because they suck in carbon pollution from the air. The justifications change; the desire for more trees remains constant.
The greening of the West does not delight everyone. Farmers complain that land is being taken out of use by generously subsidised tree plantations. Parts of Spain and Portugal suffer from terrible forest fires. Others simply dislike the appearance of forests planted in neat rows. They will have to get used to the trees, however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation elsewhere.
51. What is catching environmentalists』 attention nowadays?
A) Rich countries are stripping poor ones of their resources.
B) Forests are fast shrinking in many developing countries.
C) Forests are eating away the fertile farmland worldwide.
D) Rich countries are doing little to address deforestation.
52. Which countries have the fastest forest growth?
A) Those that have newly achieved independence.
B) Those that at have the greatest demand for timber
C) Those that used to have the lowest forest coverage.
D) Those that provide enormous government subsidies.
53. What has encouraged forest growth historically?
A) The government’s advocacy.
B) The use of wood for fuel.
C) The favorable climate.
D) The green movement.
54. What account for our increasing desire for forests?
A) Their unique scenic beauty.
B) Their use as fruit plantation.
C) Their capability of improving air quality.
D) Their stable supply of building materials.
55. What does the author conclude about the prospects of forestation?
A) Deserts in sub-Saharan Africa will diminish gradually.
B) It will play a more and more important role in people’s lives.
C) Forest destruction in the developing world will quickly slow down.
D) Developed and developing countries are moving in opposite direction.
【解析】
B
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據定位詞定位到第一段第二句South America and sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing deforestation on an enormous scale: every year almost 5 million hectares are lost. 對應B項中的 Forests are fast shrinking in many developing countries. 其中lost和shrink同義替換，South America and sub-Saharan Africa 對應developing countries.
ACD選項不符合文意，故排除。
C
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹定位詞fastest forest growth定位到第二段第一句，Forests are spreading in almost all Western countries, with fastest growth in places that historically had rather few trees. 其中historically 對應used to，had rather few trees對應the lowest forest coverage。因此C項Those that used to have the lowest forest coverage.是正確答案。
A
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹的定位詞可以定位到第三段第一句：Two things are fertilising this growth. 定位句的下句出答案，可知段中提到兩個原因：The first is the abandonment of farmland；The second is government policy and subsidy. 結合選項，A項The government’s advocacy.對應第二個原因，故選擇A項。
C
題型：細節題
解題思路：根據題幹可以定位到第三段倒數第三句 a desire to promote suburban house-building.為定位句，但是結合選項沒有對應選項。本題下句出答案，.....because they suck in carbon pollution from the air.提到環境汙染，對應選項中的C中improving air quality
D
題型：推理題
解題思路：本題的關鍵詞只有 prospects of forestation，並且根據conclude可知是推理題。所以通讀最後一段的文章，根據最後一句however. The growth of Western forests seems almost as unstoppable as deforestation elsewhere.其中Western forests對應developed，再根據一個是西方森林的增加是unstoppable，另一個是其他地方為deforestation，森林砍伐，可知兩者是相反的，故符合D中的opposite direction。因此D項Developed and developing countries are moving in opposite direction是正確答案。
ABC選項無法從文中推理得出。故排除。
【考後關注】
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