昨天，我们谈到了四六级阅读常考的第二大特征：特殊标记。

我们阅读考点常考出处第三大特征，也是最后一个特征就是：总有部分题目出自引人注目的—— 标点符号处。

在四六级阅读过程中，引人注目的标点符号，不得不关注的标点符号主要有两类：

1. 引号

1）尤其是当引号表示着重强调时，如They are using fewer of the very deferential “women’s” forms, and even using the few strong forms that are know as “men’s” .

2）某人说的话，能够集中表达一个事实或观点时，如"If it's a loss [where] you're not getting to work, and family relationships are breaking down as a result, then it's too much." said Maressa Orzack, a Harvard University professor.

2. 小括号

小括号（）中间加一个汉语注释，非常容易引起大家的注意。此处就不赘述。我们还是通过真题举例来看具体考察情况吧。

真题再现

例1：

Toebe also regularly visits a site where posters discuss Internet overuse. In August, when she first realized she had a problem, she posted a message on a Yahoo Internet addiction group with the subject line: "I have an Internet Addiction."(2010, 6, cet4)

8. In one of the messages she posted on a website, Toebe admitted that she ______.

【答案】had an Internet Addiction

【解析】首先分析结构可知，本空所填内容是充当that宾语从句的谓语，主句的admitted表明谓语应用过去时。原文提到Toebe在雅虎的一个上网成瘾群里发了一条消息，引号中的内容为这条小的的主题：“我有网瘾”。由此可知，Toebe承认自己“上网成瘾”。故答案根据时态要求进行修改为：had an Internet Addiction.

例2：

Of course, all these predictions come with a scientific health warning. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says: “This is an invitation to look foolish, as with the predictions of domed cities and nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners that were made 50 year ago.”(2008.6, cet6)

2. According to Harvard professor Steven Pinker, predictions about the future_____. 
A. may invite trouble

B. may not come true

C. will fool the public

D. do more harm than good

【答案】B

【解析】

本题的关键是对引号中的an invitation to look foolish的正确理解，这是Steven Pinker教授对预测的一种比喻，实际上是指题干中出现的predictions about the future。教授认为，对未来的这些预测就像一封愚蠢的邀请函一样，说明他不相信这些预测能够实现。后面提到的两个例子——拱形城市和核动力真空吸尘器——都是没有实现的预测。这更证明了教授对这些预测的可信度表示怀疑。

例3：

The use of deferential (敬重的) language is symbolic of the Confucian ideal of the woman, which dominates conservative gender norms in Japan. This ideal presents a woman who withdraws quietly to the background, subordinating her life and needs to those of her family and its male head. She is a dutiful daughter, wife, and mother, master of the domestic arts. The typical refined Japanese woman excels in modesty and delicacy; she “treads softly (谨言慎行)in the world,” elevating feminine beauty and grace to an art form.

57.   The first paragraph describes in detail ________.

A. the standards set for contemporary Japanese women

B. the Confucian influence on gender norms in Japan

C. the stereotyped role of women in Japanese families

D. the norms for traditional Japanese women to follow

【答案】D

【解析】

考点出处是第一段的总述话语，它介绍了日本女性在说话时使用敬语是女性完美标准的象征，其后面几句是对这种保守性别规范下女性美德的详细描述，所以正确答案为D。

做题时间！

For hundreds of millions of years, turtles (海龟) have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings (幼龟) down to the water’s edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead. A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines. With all that attention paid to them, you’d think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.

But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species ofNorth Atlanticturtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds. TheSouth Floridanesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana. The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for theNorth Atlanticloggerheads from “threatened” to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.

Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway? It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from commercial fishing,” saysGriffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and long line fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles.

Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems. The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm. Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.

1. What constitutes a major threat to the survival of turtles according to Elizabeth Griffin?

A. Their inadequate food supply.

B. Unregulated commercial fishing.

C. Their lower reproductive ability.

D. Contamination of sea water.

2. The last sentence of the passage is meant to ________.

A. persuade human beings to show more affection for turtles

B. stress that even the most ugly species should be protected

C. call for effective measures to ensure sea turtles’ survival

D. warn our descendants about the extinction of species

【答案】1.B 2.C

【解析】
1. 原文出处：“The threat is from commercial fishing,” saysGriffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and long line fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles.

文中引用Griffin的话指出，真正的威胁来自商业捕捞；接下来的一句话进一步补充说明，拖捞船和多钩长线渔船对海龟的生存来说是严重的威胁。

2. 原文出处：Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived thedinosaurs (恐龙) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.

文中指出，人类必须同时解决好这些问题，否则海龟将会毁灭在人类的手中；还提到，也许我们的子孙后代会感到疑惑：为什么如此丑陋的生物会获得如此多的宠爱？这里的“宠爱”指人类采取措施保护海龟免遭灭绝的做法，即末句实际上是在呼吁人类采取有效措施来保护海龟，确保它们能够生存下去。

提醒：沪江考后放出2012年12月英语四级答案及真题信息