|
本次考试听力部分就起内容难度而言较之前几次考试略有上升，但究其本质与之前的考点保持平行，主要体现在其短对话和听写难度有所降低，而长对话长度却提出了空前的挑战，PASSAGE文章本身难度也较过去几年略有提升。本次考试短对话的重心在于考察男生女生关系特点；而PASSAGE的考点则着重集中于首、末句的考察；长对话主要考试特征第一篇偏向短对话而第二篇则偏向PASSAGE；听写部分句子长度基本都控制得较好，在15~20词之间，且单词难度都偏低。由此可见，考官还是试图结合大量考察考点，平均安排难度系数，来照顾到考试本身对考生考察的效果。
女性地位高于男性的特征可以说在这里考试中考得酣畅淋漓，可以说几乎是三句话不离本行。
12.W: I won the first prize in the National Writing Contest and I got this camera as an award. M: It’s a good camera! You can take it when you travel. I had no idea you were a marvelous writer.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?
有那么多句子供考官考察，偏偏考官都没看上眼，就把答案锁定在了D) The man admires the woman’s talent in writing.上，这绝非是没有道理的。
13.M: I wish I hadn’t thrown away that reading list! W: I thought you might regret it. That’s why I picked it up from the waste paper basket and left it on the desk.Q: What do we learn from the conversation?
女人在本句中又MS有了先知先觉，居然还能将男人误以为是垃圾扔掉的“废纸”捡回、保存，在男人后悔莫及之时还能完璧归赵实在有点让人怀疑四、六级考题中男人的愚昧和女人的睿智。果然，考官的答案依然以这一思路为背景选择了B) The woman saved the man some trouble.
16.M: Jane missed the class again, didn’t she? I wonder why?W: Well, I knew she had been absent all week. So I called her this morning to see if she was sick. It turned out that her husband was badly injured in a car accident.Q: What does the woman say about Jane?
难得出现个翘课的女人，结果还是因为家中的丈夫受伤在家(果然男人总是很衰)，所以全心照顾，因此才落了课程。而答案孕育而生于此，故选择了D) She has been away from school to attend to her husband.本次考试另一大特征就是选项混淆性颇高，具有相当的迷惑性。
11.W: Did you watch the 7 o’clock program on channel 2 yesterday evening? I was about to watch it when someone came to see me. M: Yeah! It reported some major breakthrough in cancer research. People over 40 would find the program worth watching.Q: What do we learn from the conversation about the TV program?
乍看之下，也有同学会选择“本片专为癌症病人播放”这一答案，而对话中其实只谈及是癌症研究方面的纪录片，除了病人也许也同样适合预防使用，因此混淆选项过分o viewers over 40.适合本句原意，顾选。
14.W: Are you still teaching at the junior high school?M: Not since June. My brother and I opened a restaurant as soon as he got out of the army.Q: What do we learn about the man from the conversation?
本题也是个很好的例子，混淆选项中说男人开了一个RESTAURANT，实际为与其兄合开，较之正确选项A) He quit teaching in June.，此混淆选项略显瑕疵，因此舍弃该混淆选项。
长对话中虽然第一篇篇幅长达12个回合，史无前例，但考官却刻意在其中安排了诸多停顿和迟疑来给考生留出足够的时间思考，也不可不谓用心良苦。对话内容本身相对比较简单，属于租房场景的典型例子。其中甚至引用到了以往真题中出现的一些内容，如：W: Em…, I don’t think we have any rooms for tonight. There’s a conference going on in town and…er, let’s see…yeah, no rooms.
参考1991年6月四级考题中第10题：M: I sent a letter to make a reservation for a single room a few days ago.: I’m sorry, your request arrived too late. There are some conferences in town this week and we are full up.Q: Are there any spare rooms at the hotel?
甚至连没有房间的理由也是一模一样，这不得不让人再次深思往年考题的重要性。无独有偶，本次考试中甚至有些短对话考题就将过去的真题进行小幅的修改后就直接使用，如短对话第15题：
M: Hi, Susan! Have you finished reading the book Professor Johnson recommended?W: Oh, I haven’t read it through the way I read a novel. I just read a few chapters which interested me.Q: What does the woman mean?
与03年6月考试中短对话第8题如出一辙：M: Have you finished reading the book you bought last month?W: Oh, I didn’t read it straight through the way you read a novel, I just covered a few chapters which interested me most.Q: How did the woman read the book?
甚至从用词角度而言，今年的15题还不如03年6月的第8题来得难，去掉了straight，把cover直接用read代替，均降低了句子本身的难度。所以可以说今天考试短对话部分总体而言难度是略有所下降的。但本题的出现再次强调了往年真题的重要性，告戒考生须戒骄戒躁，将往年真体摸熟吃透，方能兵来将挡，水来土淹。长对话就出题而言，位置倒颇是符合规律，以第二篇为例：
M: Sarah, you work in the admissions office, don’t you?W: Yes, I’m…I’ve been here ten years as assistant director.M: Really? What does that involve?W: Well, I’m in charge of all the admissions of postgraduate students in the university.M: Only postgraduates?W: Yes, postgraduates only. I have nothing at all to do with undergraduates.M: Do you find that you get particular…sort of…different national groups? I mean, do you get large numbers from Latin America or…W: Yes. Well, of all the students enrolled last year, nearly half were from overseas. They were from African countries, the Far East, the Middle East, and Latin America.M: Em. But have you been doing just that for the last 10 years, or, have you done other things? W: Well, I’ve been doing the same job. Er, before that, I was secretary of the medical school at Birmingham, and further back, I worked in the local government.M: Oh, I see.W: So I’ve done different types of things. M: Yes, indeed. How do you imagine your job might develop in the future? Can you imagine shifting into a different kind of responsibility or doing something…W: Oh, yeah, from October 1, I’ll be doing an entirely different job. There’s going to be more committee work. I mean, more policy work, and less dealing with students, unfortunately…I’ll miss my contact with students.
Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you’ve just heard:
23. What is the woman’s present position?24. What do we learn about the postgraduates enrolled last year in the woman’s university?25. What will the woman’s new job be like?
第一题和第三题分别出在文章首、末，符合一直以来的考察特点。而第二句可以根据答案推测和外国学生有关，因此专注听到提问部分：M: Do you find that you get particular…sort of…different national groups? I mean, do you get large numbers from Latin America or…即可知后文的答案的出现。
PASSAGE部分这次取材难度较大，但出题位置依然非常规律，除第三篇第一题外，其他每篇的首、末题都出在文章首、末句部分，因此占到了整个考题的一半，可以说比例非常之高。
文章首篇描述的是作者的家庭，分别描述了作者的母亲和父亲，最后说了整个家庭以及母亲作出的牺牲。本文为比较典型的发展描述文，考点安排也就非常明朗：母亲一题、父亲一题、母亲作出的牺牲使得家庭能维持作为最后一题。
第二篇描述了一个救火队员的痛苦经历。起因部分出了一题，第二题问到使医生惊讶的原因，为原因考点，第三题为时间地点人物考点，第四题则为结果部分。本文因起因复杂，因此连续考查了2题，没有太多涉足其经过部分，中间部分只涉及了一道人物考题，可以认为是篇经过细节变化的完整故事类文章。
第三篇则是风土人情类文章的典型代表，也印证了近几年来对风土人情的考察的偏爱：05年6月的馅饼大赛和奥地利订婚习俗到06年6月美国南部的土著植物到第一次新题型的埃及人如何埋葬死人一直以来，风土人情成了考试中受到偏爱的部分。本文出题倒也工整，首句一题、末句一题，外加中间细节一题，平均分布于全文之中，也不难寻找答案。
可见这次四级PASSAGE部分以复杂的文章内容来掩饰其简单的出题位置，从而达到使考生紧张从而无法专注解题技巧本身的目的，也从而能测试出考生能力上的差异。所谓艺高人胆大，对于能力本身有欠缺，又在技巧上没有掌握纯熟的考生来说，无疑本次考试的PASSAGE是种莫大的挑战。
听写部分单词主要侧重了单词拼写的考察，如adjusting中的d\competition中的元音字母混淆、accustomed中的双写、semester中的元音字母等，也注重了词尾变化的特点，如-ing分词、-ed分词、单复数等。
听写句子本身难度较低，难词也少，而且这次考试的听写句子部分，意群都较短，所以方便考生记忆和听写：
44. At their worst, /they may threaten to take their children out of college, /or cut off funds.
45. think it only right and natural /that they determine /what their children do with their lives.
46. who are now young adults, /must be the ones responsible for /what they do /and what they are.
|
