Day 2

实战演练

AtAcertain period in Earth's history, its atmosphere contained almost no oxygen, although plants were producing vast quantities of oxygen.As Away of reconciling these two facts, scientists have hypothesized that nearly all of the oxygen being produced was taken up by iron on Earth's surface.Clearly, however, this explanation is inadequate.New studies show that the amount of iron on EArth's surface was not sufficient to absorb anywhere near as much oxygen as was being produced.Therefore, something in addition to the iron on Earth's surface must have absorbed much of the oxygen produced by plant life.

——GRE OG 2nd Edition, Practice Test 1, Verbal Reasoning, Section 3

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A.The first isAclaim made by the argument in support ofAcertain position; the second is that position.

B.The first isAjudgment made by the argument aboutAcertain explanation; the second is that explanation.

C.The first expresses the argument's dismissal of an objection to the position it seeks to establish; the second is that position.

D.The first sums up the argument's position with regard toAcertain hypothesis; the second provides grounds for that position.

E.The first isAconcession by the argument that its initial formulation of the position it seeks to establi s h requires modification; the second presents that position inAmodified form.

答案：D

答案解析

题目问的是粗体的两个部分所起的作用，那我们就分别看看这两个部分的内容，并分别与选项的两个部分对应。本段的第二句提出了一种假设“几乎所有产生的氧气都被地球表面的铁吸收了”，紧接着出现了第一个粗体部分“这一解释明显是不充足/不适当的”（“this explanation”即指代第二句提出的假设），由此可以看出，第一个粗体部分是在反驳前一观点，因此可以排除选项A“第一部分支持某一观点，第二部分是一个观点”，选项C“第一部分是取消对想要建立的观点的反对，第二部分即为这个观点”，选项E“第一部分承认最初想要建立的观点需要更改，第二部分提出了修改后的观点”，所以只能在B和D中选择。第二个粗体部分内容是解释并支持观点“这一解释明显是不充足的”，如果对选项B“第一部分是对某一解释的评价，第二部分是解释的内容”仔细分析的话，“解释的内容”应该是指段落开头的两句话，而不是第二个粗体部分的内容，因此是错误的，所以选项D“第一部分总结关于某一假设的观点，第二部分为第一部分的观点提供依据”是正确的。

英文重现

Clearly, however, this explanation is inadequate.New studies show that the amount of iron on Earth's surface was not sufficient to absorb anywhere near as much oxygen as was being produced.

解析

1.词组“not anywhere near”相当于“nowhere near/far from”意思是“离得远，差得远，肯定不”。

2.“as much (many)as”表示数量相当的比较级，意思是“和……一样多（一样的程度）”，在此表示铁吸收的氧气量和植物释放出的氧气量在数量上相当，类似的例子如：

I don't have as much responsibility as he does.

我承担的责任没有他多。

关于这个搭配的第二个“as”后面的结构该怎么写，大家可以采用一个小窍门：因为“as much (sth.)”部分需要在第二个“as”后面句子中充当一定结构（如例句中的“as much responsibility”充当“has”的宾语，可写为“he has as much responsibility”），所以第二个“as”后面的结构就是将“as much (sth.)”这部分去掉以后剩下的部分（当后半句中的动词和前半句中的动词一致时，后半句中的动词我们可以简单地用动词“do”相应的形式代替）。而我们给出的句子中，后半部分可改写成“as much oxygen was being produced”；大家试想一下，我们假设句子后半部分可改写成主动语态“plants were producing as much oxygen”，那么还原后的句子是怎样的呢？应该是：

“the amount of iron on Earth's s u rface was not sufficient to absorb anywhere near as much oxygen as plants were producing”。

词义辨析

参考翻译

但是，这种解释明显是不充足的。新的研究表明，地球表层铁的含量远不足以吸收掉所有释放出的氧气。