例二.平行结构(剑桥5/Test1/Reading Passage2)

　　Prior to carrying out the experiment, Milgram explained his idea to a group of 39 psychiatrists and asked them to predict the average percentage of people in an ordinary population who would be willing to administer the highest shock level of 450 volts. The overwhelming consensus was that virtually all the teacher-subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter. The psychiatrists felt that ‘most subjects would not go beyond 150 volts’ and they further anticipated that only four per cent would go up to 300 volts. Furthermore, they thought that only a lunatic fringe of about one in 1,000 would give the highest shock of 450 volts. What were the actual results? Well, over 60 per cent of the teacher-subjects continued to obey Milgram up to the 450-volt limit!

　　Q22. Before the experiment took place the psychiatrists

　　A. believed that a shock of 150 volts was too dangerous.

　　B. failed to agree on how the teacher-subjects would respond to instructions.

　　C. underestimated the teacher-subjects’ willingness to comply with experimental procedure.

　　D. thought that many of the teacher-subjects would administer a shock of 450 volts.

　　这是一道单选题，从命题的测试目的角度来看，是观点、态度分析类的题目。题干各个选项均含有表示观点、态度的提示词(believed/agree on/underestimated/thought)。与此题相对应的原文段落在语义衔接上是通过近义词和平行的及物性结构来实现，即：predict /felt that/anticipated that/thought that。其形成的连贯语义(即普遍认为试验的主体不会使用高电压)为答案的引出作了重要的铺陈。原文接着以提问的方式给出了一个反面的结果，对应选项C 的表示负向意义的观点态度提示词underestimated所引导的内容。与此相类似的平行结构的语义衔接在剑桥真题文章中多次出现，并且基本上都设有考点，反映了命题者对把握语义衔接和连贯的阅读能力的重视。

　　例三.指称(剑桥5/Test1/Reading Passage2)

　　One’s first inclination might be to argue that there must be some sort of built-in animal aggression instinct that was activated by the experiment, and that Milgram’s teacher-subjects were just following a genetic need to discharge this pent-up primal urge onto the pupil by administering the electrical shock. A modern hard-core sociobiologist might even go so far as to claim that this aggressive instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value to our ancestors in their struggle against the hardships of life on the plains and in the caves.

　　Q24. Some people may believe that the teacher-subjects’ behavior could be explained as a positive survival mechanism.

　　这是一道对错无判断题，以题干中的positive和 survival mechanism作为定位词，分别对应原文的“this aggressive instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value ”这一句中的advantageous 和survival value，因此可以判定题干的核心意思和原文的对应信息是同义转述。但是我们还需要确定题干中的teacher-subjects’ behavior和原文的对比信息this aggressive instinct在语义上是否对等。而要确定这一点，就必须要理解在原文中“this aggressive instinct”正是借助指称的衔接手段指代上文中的关于“teacher-subjects’ behavior”的具体描述，即：“teacher-subjects were just following a genetic need to discharge this pent-up primal urge onto the pupil by administering the electrical shock”。据此才可以判定题干的意思与原文完全一致，答案应为TRUE。