技巧6 找准依据,解答观点态度题 专八阅读每年都有一道以上的观点态度题,要么问作者的态度,要么问文中某个人物的态度。解答这类题目最忌主观武断、凭空想象,不要把自己的态度夹杂其中,一定要在文中找到较为充分的信息支撑。
解答时,可从主题作大方向上的判断,如首段、尾段的主要态度;其次可以观察句子、段落间转折词的使用;还可从细节的用词中揣测。应特别注意带有感情色彩的形容词。此外,需牢记以下各类表观点态度的词:
积极类:worshipping(敬爱的),sympathetic(同情的),favorable(赞成的),positive(正面的),supportive(支持的),confident(自信的),optimistic(乐观的);
中立类:objective(客观的),neutral(中立的),cautious(谨慎的),uncertain(不确定的),indifferent(冷漠的),nonchalant(毫不在乎的),humorous(幽默的),ambiguous(模棱两可的),ambivalent(好坏参半的,矛盾的);
消极类:infuriated(愤怒的),ironic(讽刺的),sarcastic/satirical(讽刺的,挖苦的),frustrated(失望的),hostile(有敌意的),sentimental(感性的,非理性的),concerned(担忧的),controversial(有争议的),disgusting(令人厌恶的),critical(批评的),negative(负面的),disappointed(失望的),doubtful(怀疑的),pessimistic(悲观的)。
例6 [TEM-8真题] (1) The gorilla is something of a paradox in the African scene. One thinks one knows him well. For a hundred years or more he has been killed, captured and imprisoned in zoos. His bones have been mounted in natural history museums everywhere, and he has always exerted a strong fascination upon scientists and romantics alike. He is the stereotyped monster of the horror films and the adventure books, and an obvious (though not perhaps strictly scientific) link with our ancestral past.
(2) Yet the fact is we know very little about gorillas. No really satisfactory photograph has ever been taken of one in a wild state; no zoologist, however intrepid, has been able to keep the animal under close and constant observation in the dark jungles in which it lives. ….
(3) The little that is known about gorillas certainly makes you want to know more. …
(4) When he walks the gorilla takes the main weight on his short legs and rests lightly on the knuckles of his hands at the end of his very long arms. …
(5) Gorillas appear to talk to one another in high-pitched voices, not unlike those of women, or by smacking their lips or striking their cheeks, and the female, if alarmed, will scream. The male is capable of making a frightening demonstration in the face of danger. …
(6) But all this is no more than shadow boxing as a general rule, for the gorilla is a gentle, kindly creature, a most forgiving ape who lives at peace with all the other animals, and his reputation for savagery and belligerence is nothing but a myth. When the animal charges, the thing to do is to stand your ground and look him in the eye. Then he will turn aside and slip away through the undergrowth.
14. We can learn from the passage that the author’s attitude towards gorillas is .
A. ambiguous B. hostile C. sympathetic D. nonchalant
【解析】本题问作者对的gorillas(大猩猩)的态度。我们可以先从大处着手,速读首尾段找主题基调。首段作者指出大猩猩受到“捕杀和圈禁(killed, captured and imprisoned in zoos)”,之后又提到一些对这种动物的固化印象(stereotyped monster),而最后一段又则指出大猩猩的的正面形象:温驯、宽厚、总是能和其他动物和平相处(gentle、kindly、lives at peace with all the other animals)。而从中间几段的转折逻辑词来看(Yet the fact is、But all this),作者应该是在为大猩猩“正名”,洗脱其污名,所以态度应该是正面积极的,C项“同情的”正确。B项“怀有敌意”与原文相反。A项“模棱两可”与作者在最后一段表达对大猩猩的喜爱不符。D项“漠不关心”是观点态度题典型干扰项,一般来说,如果作者对主题漠不关心的话,就不会费神写文章来陈述,所以,考场上看到nonchalant、indifferent之类的选项,可基本排除。