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考研閱讀命題過程全解密
考研閱讀命題過程全解密Fair and square
Some monkeys seem to have a highly developed sense of fairness
EVERYBODY loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.
The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys, which have all the necessary ingredients to capture the public imagination. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food readily. Above all, like their finicky female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males (although why this is so remains a mystery).
Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr Brosnan's and Dr de Waal's study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to swap pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different.
In the world of capuchins, grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (in the absence of an actual monkey able to eat it) was enough to induce sullen behaviour in a female capuchin.
Dr Brosnan and Dr de Waal report that such behaviour is unusual in their trained monkeys. During two years of bartering prior to these experiments, failure to exchange tokens for food occurred in fewer than 5% of trials. And what made the behaviour even more extraordinary was that these monkeys forfeited food that they could see—and which they would have readily accepted in almost any other set of circumstances.
The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35m years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.
總體介紹
這是2003年9月18日刊登在《經濟學家》（The Economist）雜志上的一篇科技類文章。文中主要論述猴子的公平感---像人一樣，對不公平待遇有怨恨。從文章的題材上講，科技類的文章是考研英語閱讀的四大題材之一(另外三類是經濟評論、文化教育和社會生活)，而且這篇文章談論的是較新的科學研究成果（《自然》雜志剛發表的文章），以簡介的形式出現于《經濟學家》雜志，自然很適合做考研英語閱讀的出題文章。從體裁上看，這是一篇典型的說明文，屬于考研英語閱讀的常見體裁之一。這篇文章共有6段，520詞，如果用作考研英語閱讀理解的一篇，則段落和字數都有些偏多。因為該部分的文章一般要求將字數控制在400詞左右；文章段落數一般為4-5段，便于出題。
這篇文章被用于2005年的考研英語閱讀理解部分第一篇，距發表時間僅一年多，試題序號為21-25。文中加下劃線的部分是被刪除的內容。改編后的文章共5段，426詞。
原文改編
命題人主要對原文進行以下幾方面的改編：
一、刪去文章標題。文章標題概括文章的主題，如果出現，文章大意就未睹先知。為了測試對文章主題和其他內容的理解，閱讀理解原文的標題都要刪去，讓考生根據文章的內容去總結和把握。如這篇文章的副標題Some monkeys seem to have a highly developed sense of fairness在考題中就未出現。
二、壓縮文章字數。為了把文章字數控制在要求的范圍內，可有可無的細節、不影響文章總體結構的細節內容都要刪除。這篇文章第二段的劃線部分和第五段全段被刪去的原因就是如此。
三、替換超綱詞匯。為了將超綱詞匯控制在要求的范圍內（全文的3%），也為了便于考生真正發揮閱讀水平，有些超綱詞匯被替換。如這篇文章第四段末句中的sullen behaviour（sullen為超綱詞匯）在考題中被替換為綱內詞匯resentment。
四、改編其他方面。有時，為了使文章語言更加精煉，結構更加嚴謹，在刪去部分內容后，相鄰段落被合并。為了使上下文連貫起來，有時也改寫原文。
改編后的文章不僅沒有破壞原文的結構和內容，反而顯得更加精煉：結構嚴謹，層次清晰。第一段以人為類比---人對于不公平待遇的反應是非常憤怒，接著指出研究者最近通過對僧帽猴的分組實驗證明這不僅僅是人類的特性，也是猴子的特性。這是研究結論。后面是對有關實驗的各個方面的敘述：如第二段的實驗對象的選定，第三段和第四段的實驗的具體內容。末段與第一段相呼應，并指出僧帽猴的公平感在進化上的起源還無法確定。
試題設計
命題人是這樣設計試題的：
21.In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by
[A] posing a contrast.
[B] justifying an assumption.
[C] making a comparison.
[D] explaining a phenomenon.
[剖析] 這是一道主旨題，難度很大。難度系數為0.246(即只有24.6%的考生答對此題)。問題是“作者一段引出主題的方式”是什么，這等于問一段的寫作方法和文章結構。一段先給出一個現象：一個人了解到懶散的（slack）同事比自己得到的加薪更多時，會大發雷霆（outraged），而且一般人認為只有人對于這種不公平待遇有怨恨感（sense of grievance）。作者接著指出一個研究表明猴子也有這種心理（it is all too monkey, as well）。由此可見作者通過人和猴子的類比引出文章的主題。C“比較（人和猴子）二者的相似之處”符合此意，為正確答案。A“提出一個對比”與作者的寫作方法相反。B“證明一個假設合理”和D“解釋一個現象”都與作者在一段運用的寫作方法不符，所以都是干擾選項。
22.The statement “it is all too monkey” (Last line, Paragraph 1) implies that
[A] monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals.
[B] resenting unfairness is also monkeys’ nature.
[C] monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other.
[D] no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions.
[剖析] 這是一道句子理解題。問題對應一段末句：但是一個研究…表明這種情感（指上文所說的sense of grievance---不平感）也是“猴之常情”（it is all too monkey）。作者在文章開始指出人對不公平待遇有委屈感，接著指出猴子也具有這種感覺。B“怨恨不公平也是猴子的本性”符合此意，為正確答案。A“猴子對于懶散的對手也會狂怒”只是說到了表面現象，并未指出與人的類比所揭示的更深的道理---這也是猴子的本性。C“猴子像人一樣，也常常相互嫉妒”與原文不符，因為原文說的是委屈感，而不是嫉妒這種心理。D選項與原文相矛盾，因為人也有這種感覺。本題較難，難度系數為0.368。
23.Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they are
[A] more inclined to weigh what they get.
[B] attentive to researchers’ instructions.
[C] nice in both appearance and temperament.
[D] more generous than their male companions.
[剖析] 這是一道事實細節題。問題是“選用female capuchin monkeys做研究，最有可能是因為它們具有什么特點”。根據問題中的關鍵詞female capuchin monkeys定位原文二段，二段描述了female capuchin monkeys適合于做研究的特點，其中二段末句指出了它們最重要
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