2016考研：读懂标点符号，英语阅读成功一大半

问号

考研英语中，阅读文章中的问号一般都是设问的功能，只问不答，答案不言自明，请一定认真品味作者想要表达的真实含义。比如 2014年阅读text1中有句话“We’re doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster.” Help? Really? 此处help?really?中问号就暗示我们作者对以上的说法是非常不以为然的。

同时，关于问号，我们还需要注意如果一篇文章开篇就是问句，那么则属于问题答案型文章，对问题的回答就是全文主旨。比如1996年text4 第一段：What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine?那么这篇文章的中心，我们就一目了然了。

冒号

冒号前后是从抽象到具体的过程，后面进一步补充说明前面的内容。所以我们往往可以分句冒号后面的东西来准确理解冒号之前的内容。1997年题目问划线单词的意思，原文如下：We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive: an aspirin to quiet a headache, some wine to be sociable, coffee to get going in the morning, a cigarette for the nerves. 那么我们根据冒号之后的解释，可以很轻易的从[A] widespread [B] overwhelming [C] piercing [D] fashionable 中选出正确答案 [A]

破折号

如果句子出先一个破折号，则表明后面的内容对破折号之前的内容起补充说明或评价判断的作用，类似于冒号；如果句子中间有两个破折号，如In Australia—where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part—other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. 两破折号之间所夹内容通常称为“插入语”起补充说明作用，在考研30年的历史中，两个破折号之间的插入语从来没有出过正确答案，所以可先跳过不看，以减少阅读量。

分号

分号前后是并列关系，如果句中有一个分号，则表明分号前后语义相同，如1997年阅读中有道题目问69.The sentence “This is no flash in the pan” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) means that ________.回到原文中：This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America. 那么根据分号前后语义相同我们很容易选出正确答案为[A] the low inflation rate will last for some time。

如果句中出现两个或以上的分号，则表明分号前后的东西在结构上是并列的。如96年第四篇中Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country ‘ s excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal, “spatial” thinking about things technological 。

引号

引号有三种作用①引用，②强调，③讽刺 尤其需要注意的是第三种表示讽刺的作用，因为它往往暗示著作者并不认同的态度。比如“Scientific” creationism, which is being pushed by some for “equal time” in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are given, is based on religion, not science.这句话中creationism前面的Scientific加了引号，就表明作者认为创始论其实是不科学的。那么题目"Creationism" in the passage refers to ________. [A] evolution in its true sense as to the origin of the universe[B] a notion of the creation of religion [C] the scientific explanation of the earth formation [D] the deceptive theory about the origin of the universe 中正确答案就显然为[D]了。

那么，我们怎么能知道具体到某句话中，引号到底是表示引用，强调，还是表示讽刺呢？通常，如果加引号的词是含有褒义或者说正向意义的词，那么加了引号就表明的是讽刺了。

逗号

逗号主要是用于分割并列成分。在考研阅读中，如果逗号之前人名、地名、机构名称等专有名词，逗号之后或者两个逗号之间内容为对这些内容的身份、地位等等的解释说明成分时，通常与解题无关，可以跳过不看。比如In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency,” George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme.中，Chancellor of the Exchequer就可以跳过不读。