Improving Paragraph
一、语法题
(1) 划线修改 (2) 二合一体 考点：a. 语法结构;
b. 从平行并列的两个句子中，找出两个句子的重心;
c. 从句意上，考两个句子的连接词。
难点：题目出得很长。
单句>从句>分词>平行句
(3) 代词的指代
(4) 不划线修改
有错改错，没错删整句。
例：In context, what is the best way to deal with sentence 4 reproduced below)?(P958.30)
They had actually been in use for half of his lifetime.
(A) Delete it.
(B) Switch it with sentence 5.
(C) Change “They” to “Such elevators”.
(D) Change “his” to “Otis”.
(E) Insert “supposedly” after “lifetime”
例：What is the best way to revise the underlined portion of sentences 5 and 6 (reproduced below)? (P958.31)
What Otis managed to do in 1854 was to demonstrate an elevator with a built-in safety device. So that the elevator would not plunge to the bottom if the rope used to raise and lower it broke.
(A) device, by which the elevator would not plunge
(B) device, and the elevator would not plunge
(C) device because an elevator plunges
(D) device to prevent the elevator from plunging
(E) device, it prevented elevators from plunging
二、文章题
难点：阅读题
(1) 中心思想
(2) 在文章最前端或者最末端添加句子 ——关于文章的中心思想的概括
(3) 文章中间加句子
a. 从语法角度考，如代词指代不明;
b. 做某个概念的解释和说明。
(4) 概括和举例之间的关系
例：Which of the following sentences would be best to add after sentence 10? (P841.34)
(A) I confidently related what my mother had taught me about him.
(B) And in fact, you can bet that really made my day.
(C) Indeed, my mother had always encouraged me to do my best on such occasions.
(D) I outlined everything I knew about Poe
(E) Famous for his tales of terror, Poe has captivated readers for 150 years.
部分原文：Her ability to speak several languages enabled her to gather stories from eyewitnesses of major events like the uprising of December 1825.
例：Which of the following is the be best sentences to insert at the beginning of the second paragraph?(779.34)
(A) The journey from Massachusetts had been long.
(B) In 1824 Saint Petersburg was a turbulent city.
(C) Russian history has fascinated me for years.
(D) Unfortunately, Prince faced harsh winters in Saint Petersburg.
(E) Prince was an ideal observer in several ways.
Questions 30-35 are based on the following passage.(P660)
(1) This summer I felt as if I were listening in on the Middle Ages with a hidden microphone. (2) No, there were no microphones in those days. (3) But there were letters, and sometimes these letters speak to me like voice from very long ago.
(4) A book I found contained selected letters from five generations of a family. (5) The Pastons, who lived in a remote part of England over 500 years ago.
(6) Getting anywhere in the Middle Ages was really hard, with deep rivers and few bridges and sudden snowstorms coming on in the empty lands between settlements. (7) An earl rebelled in London, so that a messenger rode for days to tell the distant head of the Paston family of a feared civil war.
(8) Through the letters a modern reader can sense their anxieties about rebellious sons and daughters, belligerent neighbors, outbreaks of plague, and shortages of certain foods and textiles. (9) Unbelievably, there is a 1470 love letters. (10) The man who wrote it ends “I beg you, let no one see this letter. (11) As soon as you have read it, burn it, for I would not want anyone to see it.” (12) I was sitting on the front porch with bare feet on the hottest afternoon in July and I read that with a shiver. (13) I had been part of a centuries-old secret.
30. The best way to describe the relationship of sentence 2 to sentence 1 is that sentence 2
(A) anticipates a reader’s possible response to sentence 1
(B) provides historical background for sentence 1
(C) repeats the idea presented in sentence 1
(D) introduce a contrasting view of sentence 1
(E) corrects an inaccuracy stated in sentence 1
31. Which of the following sentences would be most logical to insert before sentence 4?
(A) I first came across these letters while browsing in a library.
(B) No, I am not dreaming; I have been reading them.
(C) On the contrary, microphones are a recent invention.
(D) Obviously, a library can open the door to mystery.
(E) However, letters are not the oldest form of communication.
32. In context, which is the best version of the underlined portions of sentences 4 and 5 (reproduced below)?
A book I found contained selected letters from five generations of a family. The Pastons, who lived in a remote part of England over 500 years ago.
(A) (as it is now)
(B) a family. The Pastons, living
(C) a family; it was the Pastons living
(D) the Paston family, who lived
(E) the family named Paston and living
33. In context, which of the following is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 7 (reproduced below)
An earl rebelled in London, so that a messenger rode for days to tell the distant head of the Paston family of a feared civil war.
(A) (as it is now)
(B) An earl had rebelled in London, so
(C) For example, with a rebelling earl in London
(D) While an earl rebels in London
(E) Once, when an earl rebelled in London
34. In context, which is the best version to make to sentence 8 (reproduced below)?
Through the letters a modern reader can sense their anxieties about rebellious sons and daughters, belligerent neighbors, outbreaks of plague, and shortages of certain foods and textiles.
(A) Insert “one’s reading of” after “Through”.
(B) Change “their”to “the Pastons’”.
(C) Change “sense” to “record”.
(D) Delete some of the examples.
(E) Insert “etc.” after “textiles”.
35. All of the following strategies are used by the writer of the passage EXCEPT
(A) background explanation
(B) imaginative description
(C) rhetorical questions
(D) personal narration
(E) direct quotation
Questions 30-35 refer to the following passage.(P411)
(1) A castle is not the same thing as a palace, though some people use the terms “castle” and “palace” interchangeably. (2) Castle are fortified dwellings, built by feudal lords of the Middle Ages. (3) Their stone walls, moats, iron gates, and drawbridges were designed to ward off marauding plunderers and hostile armies. (4)Small windows in castle walls allowed archers to shoot at intruders from positions of comparative safety. (5) But even welcomed guests would have found castles less than inviting. (6) In royal palaces there were to be found many comforts that medieval castles did not offer. (7) These had dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters in instead.
(8) Though castles were made obsolete by the invention of the cannon in the fourteenth century, many survive to the present day as fascinating relics of a bygone era. (9) These structures, which were designed to keep people at a distance, now attract visitors from all over the world. (10) There are scores of medieval castles located throughout Europe. (11) Some, like Eilean Donan Castle and the Chateau de Chambonneau, are well-maintained tourist attractions. (12) In one Welsh village, the decaying remnants of a castle sit beside cozy brick houses on an ordinary street.
30. Of the following, which would most improve the first paragraph (sentences 1-7)?
(A) Providing a brief summary of medieval history
(B) Tracing the origin of the word “castle”
(C) Explaining more fully what a palace is
(D) Placing sentence 7 immediately after sentence 1
(E) Deleting sentence 3
31. which of the following sentences, if inserted immediately after sentence 3, would most effectively link sentences 3 and 4?
(A) These walls were built by laborers known as “serfs.”
(B) Drawbridges had been in use since ancient times.
(C) Those who defied such obstacles did so at their peril.
(D) Under feudalism, all land was considered property of the king.
(E) Still, not all visitors came with hostile intentions.
32. In context, which of the following is the best way to combine sentence 6 and 7 (reproduced below)?
In royal palaces there were to be found many comforts that medieval castles did not offer. These had dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters in instead.
(A) Because medieval castles had dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters, royal palaces offered many more comforts than could be found there.
(B) Lacking many comforts compared to royal palaces, medieval castles instead offered dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters.
(C) While medieval castles offered only dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters, many comforts were to be found in royal palaces.
(D) Unlike medieval castles, royal palaces offered many comforts not found in dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters.
(E) With their dark dungeons and damp, drafty living quarters, medieval castles offered few of the comforts to be found in royal palaces.
33. Which of the following would most appropriately be inserted at the beginning of sentence 9?
(A) Actually,
(B) Basically,
(C) Ironically,
(D) By contrast
(E) In retrospect,
34. which of the following sentences would best be inserted between sentence 11 and 12?
(A) But not all castles can be considered obsolete.
(B) Elsewhere, the environment may be a factor.
(C) However, many travelers prefer to avoid such “tourist traps”.
(D) Others crumble away in relative obscurity.
(E) Besides, appearances are often misleading.
35. which of the following sentences would most effectively be placed after sentence 12 ?
(A) In the final analysis, palaces are actually little more than luxurious castles.
(B) There, medieval austerity stands in bold relief against a background of modern comfort.
(C) The decline of the castle’s importance as an architectural form coincided with the transformation of medieval society.
(D) In the United States, imposing structures like Hearst’s Castle are not really castles in the strictest sense of the world.
(E) Eilean Donan Castle was named for a 7th-century saint who lived as a hermit in the Scottish Highlands.