GMAT真题解读

          第一篇阅读   

       Antonia Castaneda has utilized scholarship from women’s studies and Mexican-American history to examine nineteenth-century literary portrayals of Mexican women. As Castaneda notes, scholars of women’s history observe that in the United States, male novelists of the period — during which, according to these scholars, women’s traditional economic role in home-based agriculture was threatened by the transition to a factory-based industrial economy — define women solely in their domestic roles of wife and mother. Castaneda finds that during the same period that saw non-Hispanic women being economically displaced by industrialization, Hispanic law in territorial California protected the economic position of  “Californianas”（the Mexican women of the territory) by ensuring them property rights and inheritance rights equal to those of males.

       For Castaneda, the laws explain a stereotypical plot created primarily by male, non-Hispanic novelists: the story of an ambitious non-Hispanic merchant or trader desirous of marrying an elite Californiana. These novels’ favorable portrayal of such women is noteworthy, since Mexican-American historians have concluded that unflattering literary depictions of Mexicans were vital in rallying the United States public’s support for the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The importance of economic alliances forged through marriages with Californianas explains this apparent contradiction. Because of their real-life economic significance, the Californianas were portrayed more favorably than were others of the same nationality.

1.The “apparent contradiction" refers to the discrepancy between the

(A)legal status of Mexican women in territorial California and their status in the United States

(B)unflattering depiction of Mexicans in novels and the actual public sentiment about the Mexican­American War

(C)existence of many marriages between Californianas and non-Hispanic merchants and the strictures against them expressed in novels

(D)literary depiction of elite Californianas and the literary depiction of other Mexican individuals

(E)novelistic portrayals of elite Californianas' privileged lives and the actual circumstances of those lives

2.Which of the following could best serve as an example of the kind of fictional plot discussed by Antonia Castaneda?

(A)A land speculator of English ancestry weds the daughter of a Mexican vineyard owner after the speculator has migrated to California to seek his fortune.

(B)A Californian woman of Hispanic ancestry finds that her agricultural livelihood is threatened when her husband is forced to seek work in a textile mill.

(C)A Mexican rancher who loses his land as a result of the Mexican-American War migrates to the northern United States and marries an immigrant schoolteacher.

(D)A  wealthy Californiana whose father has bequeathed her all his property contends with avaricious relatives for her inheritance.

(E)A poor married couple emigrate from French Canada and gradually become wealthy as merchants in territorial California.

3.Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for Castaneda’s explanation of the “stereotypical plot”?

(A)Non-Hispanic traders found business more profitable in California while it was a territory than when it became a state.

(B)Very few marriages between Hispanic women and non-Hispanic men in nineteenth-century territorial California have actually been documented.

(C)Records from the nineteenth century indicate that some large and valuable properties were owned by elite Californianas in their own right.

(D)Unmarried non-Hispanic women in the nineteenth­ century United States were sometimes able to control property in their own right.

(E)Most of the property in nineteenth-century territorial California was controlled by Hispanic men.

✅  第1题

1）supporting idea题，定位到第2段的第2句话These novels’ favorable portrayal of such women is noteworthy, since Mexican-American historians have concluded that unflattering literary depictions of Mexicans were vital in rallying the United States public’s support for the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). 即：non-Hispanic novelists对elite Mexican women在婚嫁中的钟爱以及literary depictions对整个Mexicans的贬低，D是正确选项。

2）A错因为文章没有对比legal status与status; B错因为文章没有讲人们对墨美战争的态度，sentiment态度，意见，观点；C错因为文章没有讲小说中对于non-Hispanic与Hispanic elite women联姻的谴责，相反，小说倾向于描绘这样的联姻。stricture苛评，指责。E错因为文章没有对于novelistic portrayals of elite Hispanic women 的描绘以及她们真实生活的对比

✅  第2题

Application题中的类比题，首先找到关键句，即第2段首句For Castaneda, the laws explain a stereotypical plot created primarily by male, non-Hispanic novelists: the story of an ambitious non-Hispanic merchant or trader desirous of marrying an elite Californiana. 这句话主要讲了小说中喜欢写non-Hispanic男性热衷于和elite Californiana联姻。然后看选项，也体现出这一点的即正确选项，即A选项non-Hispanic的地产商后代娶了Mexican vineyard owner的女儿。其他的错误选项都没有体现这个主题。

✅  第3题

1）Evaluation题中的强化题。non-Hispanic merchant seeking to marry an elite Californiana的原因根据文章末两句：economic alliances with them, 因为这些女性had property and inheritance rights equal to men. 加强这个解释就是提供证据证明这些女性有钱，即C选项。

2）A选项与文章内容无关；B与原因无关; D错因为它弱化了原因，根据D选项说明Californianas不是唯一有经济优势的女性了；E错也是因为弱化了原因，体现不出这些女性的经济优势了。

          第二篇阅读   

       Scientists have been puzzled by the seeming disparity between models of global warming based on greenhouse gas emissions and actual climatological data. In short, the world is not warming up as much as these models have predicted. In the early 1990s, Pat Michaels sought to explain this disparity, suggesting that sulfate emissions in industrial areas had a cooling effect, thus temporarily retarding global warming. Michaels later came to doubt this idea, however, pointing out that since most sulfate is emitted in the Northern Hemisphere, its cooling influence should be largely limited to that hemisphere. Yet, since 1987, warming in the Southern Hemisphere, which had been relatively intense, has virtually ceased, while warming in the north has accelerated. Thus, Michaels not only doubted the idea of sulfate cooling, but came to feel that global warming models themselves may be flawed.

       Ben Santer disagrees. Santer contends that, in general, global warming occurs more slowly in the south because this hemisphere is dominated by oceans, which warm more slowly than the landmasses that dominate the Northern Hemisphere. But, according to Santer, the situation remains complicated by sulfate cooling, which peaked in the north in the mid-twentieth century. It drastically slowed warming in the Northern Hemisphere, and warming in the Southern Hemisphere raced ahead. Since 1987, Santer argues, the greenhouse effect has reasserted itself, and the north has taken the lead. Thus, Santer disputes Michaels’s claim that model predictions and observed data differ fundamentally.

1.The passage suggests that, in the early 1990s, Michaels would have been most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the disparity mentioned in the lines 1?

(A)This disparity is relatively less extreme in the Northern Hemisphere because of sulfate cooling.

(B)This disparity is only a short-term phenomenon brought about by sulfate cooling.

(C)This disparity is most significant in those parts of the world dominated by oceans.

(D)The extent of this disparity is being masked by the temporary effect of sulfate cooling.

(E)The disparity confirms that current models of global warming are correct.

2.According to the passage, Santer asserts which of the following about global warming?

(A)It will become a more serious problem in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere in spite of the cooling influence of oceans in the south.

(B)It is unlikely to be a serious problem in the future because of the pervasive effect of sulfate cooling.

(C)It will proceed at the same general rate in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres once the temporary influence of sulfate cooling comes to an end.

(D)Until the late 1980s, it was moderated in the Northern Hemisphere by the effect of sulfate cooling.

(E)Largely because of the cooling influence of oceans, it has had no discernible impact on the Southern Hemisphere.

3.The passage suggests that Santer and Michaels would be most likely to DISAGREE over which of the following issues?

(A)Whether climatological data invalidates global warming models

(B)Whether warming in the Northern Hemisphere has intensified since 1987

(C)Whether disparities between global warming models and climatological data can be detected

(D)Whether landmasses warm more rapidly than oceans

(E)Whether oceans have a significant effect on global climate patterns

这篇文章是典型的现象解释/问题解决型文章（多个解释）

✅  第1题：Inference题

根据题干in the early 1990s, 可以定位到首段第3句：In the early 1990s, Pat Michaels sought to explain this disparity, suggesting that sulfate emissions in industrial areas had a cooling effect, thus temporarily retarding global warming. B选项正确，short-term phenomenon替换了原句中的temporarily. A错因为关键句没有区分Northern Hemisphere以及Southern Hemisphere. Michaels后来doubt了他自己的观点之后才开始区分；C错因为这是第2段Santer的解释，不是Michaels的解释；D错因为mask这个词，mask掩饰，掩盖的意思，根据Michaels的观点, 这个disparity是存在的而不是被sulfate cooling给掩盖了；E错因为为了解释首句的disparity, Michaels在early 1900s的时候假设the models of global warming 是正确的，但是他没有将这个disparity作为他认为model正确的证据。