SSAT阅读考试常见概念和题目解析(上)

　　SSAT 考试主要包括三个部分：阅读、词汇、数学。在这三项考试当中，对于中国的13-14岁的学生来说，阅读部分是最难的，也是最需要准备申请的学生提早准备的。其中，阅读文章的修辞手法(Rhetorical Devices)对中国的，甚至是美国的学生来说，都是比较难的部分。所以，今天我们通过对一部分修辞手法和重要概念的讲解，来给大家解析SSAT。当然，除了了解这些重要概念，对于想提高成绩的学生来说，反复练习，进而掌握这些概念也是至关重要的。

　　修辞方法

　　Rhetorical Devices

　　Personification(拟人)：the representation of a thing or a quality as a person, inliterature or art.

　　拟人是把非人的事物当作人来描绘。拟人是把本来只适用于人的动词、形容词、名词或者代词用来描述大自然其他有生命的或者无生命的东西，使其具有人的思想、活动或其他特征。

　　举例：

　　The wave is kissing the shore near the cliff.

　　浪花正吻着悬崖边的海岸。

　　Metaphor(暗喻): a way of describing something by referring to it as something different and suggesting that it has similar qualities to the thing.

　　在暗喻的修辞当中，我们不说“某物像某物”，而直接说“某物是某物”：

　　举例：

　　Greece was the cradle of western culture. 希腊曾经是西方文明的摇篮。

　　A house divided against itself can not stand. 一座房子被分割后便无法立得稳。(这句话是美国总统林肯为陈述南北分裂的害处而做的比喻。)

　　Simile(明喻): an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else, using the words “as ” or “like”, for example “as white as snow”

　　明喻常用的比喻词有：like, as…as, as if, similar to 等等。

　　举例：

　　He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.

　　他就像是一只骄傲自负的攻击， 以为太阳升起来是为了听他啼鸣。

　　Habit may be likened to a cable; every day we weave a thread, and soon we cannot break it.

　　可把习惯比作为一根缆绳，每天我们编入细细的一股，然后很快我们就扯不断这根绳子了。

　　Diction (措辞): the choice and use of words and phrases to express meaning,especially in literature.

　　重要概念

　　Important definitions

　　Imagery (比喻): the use of words or pictures to describe ideas or actions in poems, books, films etc. (诗歌、书籍、电影等中的意向，形象化描述)

　　Comparison(比较)：the process of comparing two or more people or things

　　Contrast(对比): a difference between people, ideas, situations, things etc thatare being compared.

　　(there are words which can show contrast in the passage: but, however etc. )

　　stanza (诗的节，段)：agroup of lines in a repeated pattern forming part of a poem;

　　a stanza is a subdivision or section of a poem, and a poem’s stanzas generally share the same line length, rhyme scheme and poetic metre.Pauses between stanzas are marked by a space line on the printed page.

　　In SSAT reading part, passages require more than technical proficiency in English to understand. They require the student to be attuned tothe rhetorical and emotional nuances in writing. Authors use well-known and well-defined techniques called rhetorical devices to engage the reader’s emotions and thus his interest. With this in mind let’s look at the first passage, a poetry, and analyze it.

　　在SSAT阅读部分， 阅读材料需要(学生)不仅仅拥有理解英语理解的熟练技巧，也要求学生对于写作方面修辞和情绪方面的细微差别有熟练的掌握。作者使用众所周知，且明确的技巧，也就是修辞方法来吸引读者。

　　Please, look for rhetorical devices and definitions mentioned above and try to figure them out.

　　请寻找下面文章中的修辞方法和概念，并做题。

　　passage 1

　　He That Loves a Rosy Cheek

　　by Thomas Carew

　　He that loves a rosy cheek

　　Or a coral lip admires,

　　Or from starlike eyes doth seek

　　Fuel to maintain his fires;

　　As old Time makes these decay,

　　So his flames must waste away.

　　But a smooth and steadfast mind,

　　Gentle thoughts, and calm desires,

　　Hearts with equal love combined,

　　Kindle never-dying fires;

　　Where these arenot, I despise

　　Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

　　QUESTIONS：

　　1. Which of the following best summarizes themain idea of this poem?

　　A. If you get to know them, you will often find that beautiful people have unpleasant personalities.

　　B. People who have a calm and gentle disposition are usually physically beautiful.

　　C. Physical beauty is temporary, but inner qualities can be more permanently attractive.

　　D. It’s better to dislike beautiful people until they prove that they also have pleasant personalities.

　　E. If you are beautiful on the inside then your physical beauty will also last longer.

　　2. When the speaker refers to “old Time” in lines 5-6 he is

　　A. talking about the past

　　B. having a conversation with time

　　C. referring to the specific time in a person’s life when they are old

　　D. talking about old-fashioned things

　　E. suggesting that time is an old, powerful entity

　　3. When the speaker discusses “never-dying fires” (line 10) he is most likely referring to

　　A. long-lasting love

　　B. love that diminishes quickly

　　C. physical beauty

　　D. anger andhatred

　　E. lips and cheeks

　　4. When thespeaker states that “flames must waste away” (line 6) he most nearly means that

　　A. in time, even the subject of the poem will die

　　B. love always fades when people get older

　　C. it is impossible to maintain a fire without logs for kindling

　　D. if love is based on physical beauty it will diminish when beauty fades

　　E. some people will never be satisfied for very long