【PTE阅读】最最容易被忽视的单选题怎么拿到关键的1分？澳大利亚语言学院名师Jeffrey教你搞定单选零压力！

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今天，让我们来聊一聊阅读的单选题。

诚然，PTE的选择题占分不多，所以经常被考生忽略。这种思维稍微走向极端的时候，甚至可能产生一些“哪怕选择题乱选，也可以拿高分”的说法。

这个说法本身也没有错，满分大神们哪怕不做选择题都有可能拿到满分。只是，当拿到自己的成绩单，发现阅读就差那么一两分的时候，我们不由得会想到：“早知道要是认真点好好选，就好了。”

那么单选题考的到底是什么呢？Pearson是这样说的：

其中我们可以看到有这样一句话：

Understand the author’s purpose, technique, attitude and rhetorical intent

今天我们就来给大家分析一下其中的attitude以及rhetorical intent。这两个考点说的是文章的情感走向，换言之，是对于褒贬义的大致判断。在读完一篇文章的时候，我们需要大致理解作者对他所写的内容的态度。

比如说，同样描述一个下雨的天气

“It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces.”

——节选自《哈利波特与魔法石》

这里用的crept down（动词原型：creep）就有一种“偷偷摸摸地爬进去”，结合上下文我们不难看出是一种比较负面的情绪。（故事的情节是为了不让哈利收到霍格沃茨的信件，他的姨夫强行把哈利带到一个小岛上的别墅；哈利对此非常不满。）

好了，言归正传，让我们来看PTE的单选题吧：

The challenge of scaling the highest mountain, exploring the deepest ocean, crossing the hottest desert or swimming in near-freezing water is irresistible to many people. Life at the Extremes is an engrossing exploration of what happens to our bodies in these seemingly uninhabitable environments. Frances Ashcroft weaves stories of extraordinary feats of endurance with historical material and the latest scientific findings as she investigates the limits of human survival and the remarkable adaptations that enable us to withstand extreme conditions.

The writer thinks that the content of Life at the Extremes is:

A. terrifying

B. fascinating

C. underwhelming

D. influential

(Answer: B)

这道题目中，整个文章所阐述的是一种怎样的情绪呢？

通过engrossing，remarkable，extraordinary这些词语，我们可以感受到，作者在写这篇文章的时候，表现了一种非常正面的情绪。对于人类可以克服生存环境的挑战这点，作者表现出了极大的赞美。

其次，我们也可以想一下，这篇文章到底是什么呢？

文章讲述了一本书Life at the Extremes；同时对书里的内容进行了一些评价。按照通俗的说法，这就是一篇书评Book Review。

那么，进一步来想一下，我们为什么会写书评呢？

作为一篇书评，主要的目的是为了推荐这本书的内容。那么，作者的真实目的也就很清楚了：作者希望通过描述这本书的内容，而使得读者对这本书感兴趣，从而去购买或者阅读这本Life at the Extremes。那么使用的情感走向，一定是往正面的。

在几个选项中，AC两个是负面的内容，暂时不予考虑。D是中性的词语，所以也不优先考虑。其中B fascinating是一个褒义词，会更加符合我们的要求。所以答案就是B。

In Reading 1, we saw that some words are associated with a particular feeling or attitude. We call this the connotation of the word. For example, we can say that create has positive connotations and destroy has negative connotations, whereas make is neutral.

Here is a small practice to reinforce the understanding of connotation.

wise        e.g. +        authority                

fail (to do …)         sceptical              

implausible          gain (an) insight     

incredible               inspire                           

integrity                 outdated                       

inaccurate              radical    

refine                       mature    

     a)     He didn’t reach the summit. (negative)

b)     The team gave themselves more time to make their plans better. (positive)

c)      The expedition leader wasn’t sure about the abilities of the new team member. (negative)

d)     The idea of climbing the mountain in winter seems rather unlikely. (negative)

e)     The scientist has some very new and different ideas about life in extreme places. (positive)

f)       By studying this website, users will learn about necessary preparations for desert expeditions. (positive)

g)     Professor Li knows a lotabout dessert life. (positive)

h)    As he becomes older, he develops his own way of doing things. (positive)

i)       She gavepeople a desire to travel the world.

j)       The research method the team adopted isn’t used much nowadays.