第三节 简化问题

“无关重点的我不知道。”

众所周知，GMAT考试是一个时间压力空前巨大的考试。对信息处理，思维效率的要求自不必说，在选项判断的过程中，五选一所带来的复杂程度远超四选一，更不用说这是在一道题读、找、比加在一起1分钟49秒的压力下完成。

因此我们必须养成一种习惯，就是将注意力集中在最重点的部分，对于其他无关部分，做到我们前面说到的“不知道”。

举一个例子，我们在本书前面例[0.2]的解题过程中就使用了对原文的大幅度简化，基本上我们没有关注原文里面涉及的任何细节信息，不论是古埃及人，面包制作工艺，还是小麦不同类型的可食程度，都不在我们的关心范围里，不用细读，也无需知道。但是问题要求“Which of the following, if true, provides thestrongest evidence that the two developments were causally related?”（哪个选项证明以上两个事件之间有因果关系？），决定了我要将原文的内容进行简单的分段，一段事件1，一段事件2，剩下的工作，就是从选项里找出既提到事件1的，又提到事件2的那个。整道题的解题的过程考察的不是智力，而是视力：看选项的外在特征，也就是哪个选项里面同时出现了两个事件里提过的单词，就可以轻松的将题目解决。

当然，这个题属于极端案例，基本上在实战中属于小概率事件，我们不可能作任何一道题，都只看长相，不读内涵。但是这个题我们使用的简化思维是可以推广的，因为它反映了GMAT考试不同于其它出国考试的重要特征。就是问题决定论。再看下面这个例子：

例[1.6]

Rail Executive: Five years ago we discontinued train service between Lamberton andits suburbs because low ridership caused total fares collected to besubstantially lower than the cost of operating the service. It is true that recentpopulation growth in the suburban communities suggests increased potentialridership, nevertheless since most of the newer residents own automobiles,restoring the train service this year would still result in serious deficits.
Which of the following, if true casts the most serious doubt on the railexecutive's argument?

 

A) Once train service along a given route has been discontinued,there are substantialstart-up costs associated with restoring service along that route

B) Most of the new residents of Lamberton's suburbs do not need totravel into Lamberton regularly for shopping or recreation

C) If train service were restored this with increased hours of service therewould not be an increase in total ridership

D) A survey conducted last year showed that few people living in Lambertonor its suburbs support increased public funding for mass transportation

E) Recently there have been sharp increases in parking fees in Lambertonand in highway tolls on major commuter routes

对原文内容进行简化以后，发现文章想表达的一个核心思想就是：

恢复某路段的铁路服务会带来亏损。那么如果按照非黑即白的方式对这个结论进行进一步简化，就变成：别恢复路段。而作为削弱题目，我们的正确选项应该表达：该恢复路段。换句话说，只要选项里说恢复路段不好的，直接干掉就可以了。

然后看选项。

A说有substantialcostsassociated with restoring service along that route。抓关键词：cost和restoring，就知道了，这个选项在说恢复路段的不好，杀。

B说newresidents do not need to travel，就是说没人坐铁路，如果没人坐，肯定恢复路段以后收不回成本，又在说恢复的不好，杀。

C说therewould not be an increase in total ridership。跟B表达的意思差不多，没人坐地铁，恢复以后没钱赚，又说恢复不好，杀。

D 说fewpeople support increased funding，没人支持投钱在交通上，就是说没人支持恢复路段，意味着恢复又一次遇到阻力，还是说不好，杀。

E说parkingfees increase，开车变贵了，不得不坐地铁，终于找到一个为恢复地铁带来利好消息的选项了，答案就是它，E。

如上面这个例子所显示，如何简化原文，要看题目的规定，如果题目要求我只要找到两件事儿的因果关系（如上面那个埃及人作面包的例[0.2]），就可以按照“字面联系”作为方法，但如果题目要求我深入到原文里面的逻辑关系(如上面的例[1.6])，就必须把关注点放在论证之间的推理严谨度上面。前者后者要求的简化程度有天壤之别。

也正因为如此，我们不能只是简单的按照以往学习过的简化方法面对GMAT，这样的失败案例是显而易见的。比如：

例[1.7]

The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale-the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

A Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.  

B No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.  

C The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.  

D Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.

E The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale.  

这道题算是GMAT中难度比较高的一道，正确答案E如果按照“句子简化到主干”的常用技巧，就应该变成：

The cave-bear leg bone would have been long。

熊骨足够长。

听上去跟原文结论关注的“音阶何时开始使用”可以说是风马牛不相及，但恰恰因为这个句子里最关键的信息不在主干上，而在后面的make a flute capable of playing a completediatonic scale（制造一个可以演    奏完整音阶的笛子）上，进一步补齐了原文推理的漏洞点：挖掘出的是笛子的碎片残骸，只剩四个洞眼，我们只能大胆猜测它是取自七个音符组成的完整音阶，那么剩下三个到底在不在原始笛子上，其实是需要进一步证实的。因此正确答案把这个推理漏洞给我们进行了弥补，强化了原文推理。

在简化问题里面，涉及了非常多的阅读技巧，因此我们在这一节里只提及基本原则。而具体的方法，包括词句的训练方法，在附录1，2中可以找到。