【每日訓練】英語四級六級閱讀(07)
小編寄語：英語四級六級考試，閱讀是不可或缺的一大部分，生詞多，理解難，時間少，是不少考生抱怨的問題。要想在考場上做好閱讀理解，必須在平常多閱讀，掌握新詞匯，提高閱讀速度。而滬江小編就為大家準備了閱讀材料系列，供大家練習。
我們的這個閱讀系列旨在為大家提供一些閱讀材料，不一定跟四六級考試的難度、篇幅、內容完全一樣。對于很多童鞋糾結這是四級還是六級范圍的閱讀，其實沒有必要。如果大家覺得比較簡單，就當作泛讀材料了解了解，認識幾個新單詞或新表達方式也不錯。如果大家覺得這些材料理解上有難度，不妨當做挑戰(zhàn)自己的拔高訓練，希望大家都有進步^^
【今日推薦閱讀】
Contrary to popular belief, men talk more than women, research has found.
But when women do speak, it’s worth listening – because they use more varied and thoughtful language than men.
Psychologist Geoffrey Beattie, from Manchester University, reviewed 56 studies into male and female communication and discovered that 24 concluded men used more words per day – while only two pointed to women being the more talkative sex.
Professor Beattie then carried out his own study, recording 50 conversations on a variety of topics before giving volunteers scripts of the exchanges with every fifth word missing and asking them to fill in the gaps.
The words spoken by women were harder to guess because they used language more carefully, said the professor.
For example, when paying compliments, the men tended to rely on bland and therefore more predictable words, such as 'nice' and 'good'.
A typical male compliment might be: 'You look really nice today.' A woman, however, would be more likely to say: 'I really love your jacket. Where did you buy it?'
Overall, the men’s words could be guessed 81 per cent of the time, compared with 71 per cent for the women.
The only time the sexes were verbal equals was when talking about current affairs, the research for insurance company Sheilas’ Wheels found.
Professor Beattie said: ‘It is men who are more likely to talk for the sake of talking when engaged in social chitchat by recycling their words with ritualistic and redundant language that doesn’t contain new information.
'Female “nattering” is little more than a cultural myth.'
【內容簡介】
本文開篇提出了一個跟大家普遍看法不一的研究結果——男人比女人話多。
接著，文章介紹了這項研究的主持者及其具體過程，并得出女性用詞更嚴謹?shù)慕Y論。
文中介紹女性談話更具有文化信息，她們的用詞更難猜測。
【詞匯短語講解】
①contrary to?? 與……相反的
②But when women do speak, it’s worth listening. 這句話里do起強調作用。
在一般句型中，do/does/did 常用來強調謂語動詞的語氣，在句中要重讀。且句子須符合兩個條件：1. 句子是肯定句； 2. 句子的謂語動詞是一般現(xiàn)在時或一般過去時。在這些句子里，do/does/did可譯為“真的”“果真”“的確”“確實”等。
例如：You do work hard these days.
你這些天真的很努力。
③carry out? 實施，實現(xiàn)；貫徹，執(zhí)行
例句：It's hard for us to carry out this plan.
這項計劃實施起來有難度。
相關短語：carry on? 繼續(xù)進行???? carry into effect?? 使生效，使起作用???? carry off? 帶走，奪去
④fill in a gap? 填補空白；填空；彌補缺陷
⑤for the sake of?? 為了……的利益
【快速閱讀支招】
同前一篇一樣，這類研究性文章我們關鍵是要先找到主題句（或主題段），一般都會出現(xiàn)在開篇或結尾處。這一篇里，我們可直接在開篇第一句里讀到。
另外這類文章通常的行文規(guī)律是研究發(fā)現(xiàn)——研究過程和對象介紹——研究補充內容。這篇文章也不例外，先是介紹研究結果，再來解說分析過程和對比研究，文章結尾再做一些補充。研究中的一些意外發(fā)現(xiàn)或排除情況可以多留些神。比如這一篇里男性和女性在哪一種情況下用詞趨于一致，答案是談論時事時。這一點也可能成為出題的對象。