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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Reading Comprehension ...............................................................................3
Section 1: One Principle .............................................................................................. 4
Section 2: Two Styles .................................................................................................. 7
1. Presentation....................................................................................................... 7
2. Argumentation .................................................................................................. 8
3. Organizational Structure ................................................................................. 10
Section 3: Three Subjects........................................................................................... 13
1. Natural Science ............................................................................................... 13
2. Social Science ................................................................................................. 15
3. Business Subject ............................................................................................. 17
Section 4: Four-step Process of Reading ................................................................... 19
1. Analyze the first paragraph............................................................................. 19
2. Skim the passage and get the author's main point........................................... 20
3. Diagram the organization of the passage ........................................................ 22
4. Tackle the questions and correspondently refer to the passage. ..................... 25
Section 5: Five Types of Questions ........................................................................... 28
1. Main Idea Question......................................................................................... 29
2. Recall Question............................................................................................... 34
3. Inference Questions ........................................................................................ 36
4. Critical Reasoning Question ........................................................................... 38
5. Difficult-to-locate Question ............................................................................ 40
Section 6: Six test points............................................................................................ 42
1. Comparison ..................................................................................................... 42
2. Example & Listing.......................................................................................... 44
3. People, Date & Place ...................................................................................... 45
4. Words of Attitude and Transition ................................................................... 47
5. Counter-evidence Indicators ........................................................................... 48
6. Special Punctuation......................................................................................... 50
Review ....................................................................................................................... 51
Chapter 2 Sentence Completion...................................................................................52
Section 1: The four types of relationship ................................................................... 53
1
A. Contrast .......................................................................................................... 53
B. Cause and Effect............................................................................................. 55
C. Explanation..................................................................................................... 57
D. Similarity........................................................................................................ 59
Section 2: Five-Step Procedure to Complete a Sentence........................................... 60
Chapter 3 Analogy .......................................................................................................61
Introduction................................................................................................................ 61
How to define the relationship ................................................................................... 62
Eighteen common types of relationship..................................................................... 63
Chapter 4 Antonyms ....................................................................................................76
Vocabulary Roots....................................................................................................... 77
most Chinese firms seem to position their business in China, a promising yet
under-developed market. However, rampant piracy in China took almost 90 percents of
potential market, making it impossible for most Chinese firms to obtain sufficient
compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in
competitive environment.
Now, let's look at a sample question:
Which of the following statements concerning the productivity levels of engineers can be
inferred from the passage?
(A) Prior to the 1980s, the productivity levels of the top Indian software firms were exceeded
by those of Chinese software firms.
(B) The official language of a country has a large effect on the productivity levels of its software
developers.
(C) During the late 1980s and early 1990s, productivity levels were comparable in China and
India.
(D) The greater the number of engineers that a software firm has, the higher a firms
productivity level.
(E) The amount of human resource investment made by software developers in their firms
determines the level of productivity.
If you do not refer to the original passage, you may pick up B. For test-takers who have some
backgrounds in computer, it is obvious that being familiar with English will gain some advantage
in writing program code. However, the correct answer is C.
In conclusion, the directions can run out of your eyes on the test day, but should be rooted deeply
in your heart at the beginning of your test preparation.
Trap: Some choices just repeat the same words or phrases that you read in the passage. Keep
alarm to these choices since in most cases, they are incorrect.
Here is an example:
The fact that reducing price can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not
mean that every reduction in price will create such an advantage. Price reduction, like
improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the basis of direct,
tangible benefits such as increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par
with its competitors because it provides product at an acceptable price and keeps customers
from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then reduction in price may not be effective, since price
is not necessarily the deciding factor for any customer in any situation.
This truth was not apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor, which
failed to improve its competitive position despite its attempt to reduce price. The software
managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia that arises from the inconvenience
of switching operating system. Nor did they analyze their reduction in price to determine
whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of price that would
excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy.
Sample question
According to the passage, reduction in price are comparable to improvement in service in
terms of the
(A) tangibility of the benefits that they tend to confer
(B) increased revenues that they ultimately produce
(C) basis on which they need to be weighed
(D) insufficient analysis that managers devote to them
(E) degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide
To answer this question, first locate the question to the second sentence of the passage. "Price
reduction, like improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the
basis of direct, tangible benefits such as increased revenues." Now, go back to answer choices.
Choice D and E are irrelevant to the original sentence, so eliminate them. Then, look at the choice
A and B, both of them repeat the original sentences.
(A)
(B)
(C)
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be far below that of their
counterpart in private company.
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
The author developed the above passage by first pointing out a problem, suggesting a solution,
anticipating counter-position, illustrating an example, refuting a second solution, and further
anticipating possible objections. Obviously, this writing technique is presentation.
2. Argumentation
The second writing style is argumentation. This technique has a number of variations, but the
most common and direct is to develop two to three ideas and then point out why one is better than
the other or just simply refute all of them and developed the author's own idea.
Some common tip-off sentences to this method of analysis are:
z
The passage that discusses Indian and Chinese software firms represents a typical
argumentation. At the beginning, the author presented a phenomenon and gave an explanation,
but refuted that explanation immediately.
Indian firms have achieved the highest levels of efficiency in the world software outsourcing
industry. Some researchers have assumed that Indian firms use the same programming
languages and techniques as Chinese firms but have benefited from their familiarity with
English, the language used to write software code. However, if this were true, then one
would expect software vendors in Hong Kong, where most people speak English, to perform
not worse than do Indian vendors. However, this is obviously not the case.
Then, the second explanation was introduced, but was denied again in the same paragraph.
Other researchers link high Indian productivity to higher levels of human resource investment
per engineer. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top
Indian vendors matched and then doubled Chinese productivity levels in the mid-eighties,
human resource investment per employee was comparable to that of Chinese vendors.
8
Furthermore, by the late eighties, the amount of fixed assets required to develop one
software package was roughly equivalent in India and in the China. Since human resource
investment was not higher in India, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity.
Finally, a more fruitful one is presented. The author used the remaining passage try to argue that
this explanation is the correct one.
A more fruitful explanation may lie with Indian strategic approach in outsourcing. Indian
software vendors did not simply seek outsourced contract more effectively: they made
aggressive strategic in outsourcing. For instance, most software firms of India were initially
set up to outsource the contract in western countries, such as United States. By contrary,
most Chinese firms seem to position their business in China, a promising yet
under-developed market. However, rampant piracy in China took almost 90 percents of
potential market, making it impossible for most Chinese firms to obtain sufficient
compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in
competitive environment.
Why bother to identify the writing style?
Be familiar with the author's writing techniques can help you diagram the mental road map of a
passage, identify the author's intention to cite an evidence, main idea of a passage, and most
importantly, pick up the right choice quickly and decisively. Lets go back the passage that talks
about whether price reduction can generate a competitive advantage.
The fact that reducing price can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not
mean that every reduction in price will create such an advantage. Price reduction, like
improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the basis of direct,
tangible benefits such as increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par
with its competitors because it provides product at an acceptable price and keeps customers
from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then reduction in price may not be effective, since price
is not necessarily the deciding factor for any customer in any situation.
This truth was not apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor, which
failed to improve its competitive position despite its attempt to reduce price. The software
managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia that arises from the inconvenience
of switching operating system. Nor did they analyze their reduction in price to determine
whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of price that would
excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy.
In the above passage, the author did not try to present his own position (presentation). If any, the
position is that he does not agree with the fact that reduction in price can generate competitive
advantage for a company. In fact, the speaker here argued against a popular point of view by
reasoning and examples (argumentation).
Let's look at a sample question to see how to pick up a right choice on the basis of writing styles.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) contrast possible outcomes of a type of business strategy
(B) suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business strategy
(C) illustrate various ways in which a type of business strategy could fail to enhance revenues
(D) trace the general problems of a company to a certain type of business strategy
(E) criticize the way in which managers tend to analyze the costs and benefits of business
strategies
This question asks you to summarize the passage's central idea. Which of the five choices is
correct? Based on the verbs initiating the five choices, you can eliminate three of them:
(A) incorrect. To contrast is to compare several things, but not to agree or disagree.
(C) incorrect. To illustrate is to give example, not to agree or disagree.
(D) incorrect. To trace is to track, not to agree or disagree.
Choice E began with argumental word criticize, but isn't the correct choice because it addresses
the detail. Therefore, B is the right answer: to argue that superior service does not generate
competitive advantage is to suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business strategy (price
reduction).
3. Organizational Structure
There are two major patterns that the test-maker uses to reach a conclusion: general-to-specific
and specific-to-general. Become familiar with these writing patterns can help you identify the main
idea of a passage.
A. General-to-Specific Structure
This structure is widely used in GRE reading passage. The test-writer first makes a general
argument, and then supports it using a series of specific examples or reasoning, and finally
summaries by reclaiming his general argument.
Here is the structure:
z
Conclusion
The passage that discusses Indian software vendors was written in argumentation, and
represents a typical passage in specific-to-general structure.
Indian firms have achieved the highest levels of efficiency in the world software outsourcing
industry. Some researchers have assumed that Indian firms use the same programming
languages and techniques as Chinese firms but have benefited from their familiarity with
11
English, the language used to write software code. However, if this were true, then one
would expect software vendors in Hong Kong, where most people speak English, to perform
not worse than do Indian vendors. However, this is obviously not the case.
Other researchers link high Indian productivity to higher levels of human resource investment
per engineer. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top
Indian vendors matched and then doubled Chinese productivity levels in the mid-eighties,
human resource investment per employee was comparable to that of Chinese vendors.
Furthermore, by the late eighties, the amount of fixed assets required to develop one
software package was roughly equivalent in India and in the China. Since human resource
investment was not higher in India, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity.
A more fruitful explanation may lie with Indian strategic approach in outsourcing. Indian
software vendors did not simply seek outsourced contract more effectively: they made
aggressive strategic in outsourcing. For instance, most software firms of India were initially
set up to outsource the contract in western countries, such as United States. By contrary,
most Chinese firms seem to position their business in China, a promising yet
under-developed market. However, rampant piracy in China took almost 90 percents of
potential market, making it impossible for most Chinese firms to obtain sufficient
compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in
competitive environment.
In the above passage, the author gave an explanation to a particular event, but refuted it soon,
until it came with a convincing one the conclusion.
12
13
are bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the
mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. The pig doesn't get sick as such. The Nipah
virus causes pneumonia symptoms in pigs. In humans, it causes encephalitis, and humans
catch it only with direct contact with infected pigs. Symptoms range from mild headache to
permanent brain damage, and can be fatal.
It's merely a phenomenon of nature that the pig is the "mixing vessel" for the new germ. But
make no mistake, the pig is not the villain, neither is the chicken. It's actually us, and our
horrible farm practices, outdated agricultural policy and, most of all, reckless disregard of our
ecology and environment. "Hygiene and management can control what eventually happens,"
says Lam. "Good farming practice will prevent serious outbreaks and infection to humans."
Despite knowing that, animal diseases and the possibility of transmission to humans are
becoming quite alarming. Of the 35 new emerging diseases in the last 20 years, more than
70 per cent involved animals.
In fact, what we may have done is unwittingly create the perfect launch pad for an influenza
pandemic that will likely kill large numbers of people across the globe. Although scientists
say it's impossible to predict the odds that the virus will alter its genetic form radically enough
to start leaping from human to human, the longer H5N1 is out there killing chickens, the
higher the chances are.
Sample Question
Which of the following statement can be inferred from the passage?
(A) New emerging diseases causes more deaths of human than animal.
(B) Animals are the villain for most flues.
(C) Hygiene and management can not control the spread of viruses.
(D) The current bird flu epidemic may be a launch pad for the next influenza pandemic.
(E) The influenza pandemic is always a regional phenomenon.
Which answer is correct? For choice A, the passage did not make any comparison between
deaths of human and deaths of animal. In B, animal is actually not the villain for most flues. Rather,
it is human. Look at the second sentence in the fourth paragraph, But make no mistake, the pig
is not the villain, neither is the chicken. For C, Hygiene and management can control what
eventually happens(in the middle of fourth paragraph), therefore, C is incorrect. E is also
incorrect. Though most flues discussed in this passage were originated from some areas, the
passage never stated it was a regional phenomenon. In fact, it will likely kill large numbers of
people across the globe, as stated at the beginning of last paragraph. The correct answer is D
the current bird flu epidemic may be a launch pad for the next influenza pandemic, because no
animal has preexisting immunity and it causes a pandemic by spreading from human to human.
14
2. Social Science
Characteristics
Why women's rights experienced a significant improvement during 1860's? How the Pullman
stroke to improve their living condition? Passages in these subjects are easy to read because it
goes as you expect and talks about something around your world. You will find it easy to grasp
the main idea and passage map. In order to get the right answer, however, you need to read
beyond the words, phrases or concepts in the passage. The right answer is always created in a
synthesized way.
Strategy
Be careful in tackling this "social" passage. To answer the later questions is always not as easy
as to understand the passage. The answer choice that contains the exact words or phrases from
the passage is generally not the correct answer. Rather, you need to synthesize several
sentences or make some reasoning before you pick up the right choice. The process is
time-consuming because the social passage is typically long.
Sample Passage
China as a nation faces two major financial problems. First, eighty-four percent of
state-owned enterprises do not generate profit. Government failed to make money from such
business. Rather, it has to appropriate substantial funds to these enterprises in order to
prevent them from going bankrupt and thus resulting in high unemployment rate. Second,
203 million of civilians in countryside will not be able to gain pension after they retire due to
the limited budget of government.
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke generate finance
earnings and provide funds for civilians retirement. I would propose that government sells its
holdings in state-owned enterprises on the open market. Such sales would provide
substantial funds for village civilians pension. At the same time, they could cut down
financial burden on these state-owned enterprises.
You might object that government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its
enterprises profit if someday they make money. I agree. Sell holdings of enterprises that
would never generate profit. But, you might reply, every enterprise that competes on the
market has potential. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming
that every enterprise has the potential to make money. Practically, you are wrong.
I refer to the thousands of state-owned enterprises that are not likely to make money. These
companies are 100 percent held by the nation as a whole. Government officials are
appointed as the chairman, CEO and president. The management was not responsible for
15
the public interest, but for the nation as a whole. If there is no significant loss in business,
they will soon be promoted back to the higher level position in government. If their
companies perform great, these executives receive direct money compensation. However,
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount
they would earn if were in private company.
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
Sample Question
According to the passage, executives in a state-owned enterprise are motivated by
(A) direct money compensation
(B) increasing salary
(C) political outlook
(D) share option
(E) social responsibility
The passage mentioned the executives of state-owned enterprises in fourth paragraph; therefore,
we need not to consider other paragraphs when referring to the original passage. Since their
salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount they
would earn if were in private company as stated in the last sentence, these executives are not
motivated by financial earnings. If yes, they will transfer to a private company. Therefore, they are
not motivated by direct money compensation, increasing salary, or share option. Rather, they are
concerned on their political outlook. If there is no significant loss in business, they will soon
be promoted back to the higher level position in government. Choice C is the correct answer.
For choice E, the passage never discussed the executives social responsibility.
16
3. Business Subject
Characteristics
This subject is highly welcomed since most students possess some knowledge or background in
business. But passage of this subject contains the most difficult questions in GRE Reading
Comprehension. Recall questions are few and you always have to reason before you pick up the
correct choice.
Strategy
Don't rely on your memory even if you become or have been quite familiar with its topics. There
are too many traps here. Make sure you refer to the passage when answering the questions.
Sample Passage
The fact that reducing price can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not
mean that every reduction in price will create such an advantage. Price reduction, like
improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the basis of direct,
tangible benefits such as increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par
with its competitors because it provides product at an acceptable price and keeps customers
from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then reduction in price may not be effective, since price
is not necessarily the deciding factor for any customer in any situation.
This truth was not apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor, which
failed to improve its competitive position despite its attempt to reduce price. The software
managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia that arises from the inconvenience
of switching operating system. Nor did they analyze their reduction in price to determine
whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of price that would
excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy.
Sample Question
The passage suggests which of the following about price charged by an operating system software
vendor prior to its strategy in reducing its price?
(A) It was slightly low to that of the vendors competitors.
(B) It threatened to weaken the vendors competitive position with respect to other operating
system software vendor
(C) It had already been reduced after having caused damage to the vendors reputation in the
past.
(D) It enabled the vendor to retain customers at an acceptable rate
17
(E) It needed to be reduced to attain parity with the software provided by competing vendors.
Here, the question was created in complicated clauses and itself already hard to understand. In
fact, it asks for the situation of the vendor before price reduction. Only D can be inferred from the
passage. The original passage stated that If a company is already effectively on .. keeps
customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate and This truth was not apparent to
managers of one operating system software vendor That means the vendor was able to
retain customers at an acceptable rate.
18
2.
Skim the passage and get some idea of the main idea
3.
4.
19
input large amount of money to its enterprises. Secondly, government has limited funds for
pension.
Now, let's summarize this paragraph and put it in our own words-- China has two problems:
financial burden and limited funds. Keep these key words (concepts) in mind, and you will find it
easy to understand the remaining passage that we'll present in next step.
2. Skim the passage and get the author's main point
Here are some strategies that will speed your reading and help you identify the author's main
points:
z
The first sentence of a paragraph is always the main point of this paragraph. Why? It confirms to
the formal writing style. If you are a management consultant, you will find it a great advantage to
use a summary at the very beginning of each section. Image when you are presenting a strategy
report which contains hundreds of pages, how could your clients catch your all of them? The only
solution is to use a highly structured presentation, and summarize your idea at the beginning of
each section. In fact, you are also doing like this in the AWA section.
By simply reading the first sentence of each paragraph, you can construct a mental road map of
the passage while not spending significant time.
z
"Mood" words are those that the author uses to demonstrate his/her position to a particular event,
phenomenon, or point of view. A mood word can be positive or negative. Positive words such as
successfully, correctly and right often illustrate an idea that the author agree. And vis-a-vis, a
negative word indicates an idea that will be weakened in later passage.
The following sentences express the author's position by using positive mood words:
a) Haney's through research provides convincing field evidence that..
b) For many yeas, Benjamin Quarles' seminal account of the participation of African Americans
in the American Revolution has remained the standard work in the field.
c) Roger Rosenblatt's book successfully alters the approach taken by most previous studies.
By contrast, the following mood words are negative.
fail
ignore
overestimate
underestimate
misunderstand
misrepresent
overlook
exaggerate
sound
convincingly
successfully
correctly
20
The author uses counter-evidence words not to argue against himself, but concede certain minor
points that may weaken his argument. The counter evidence is finally refuted by further evidence.
You should keep alarm to these words since some students often mistake them as introducing
arguing against a statement.
Following are some of the most common used counter-evidence indicators:
actually
despite
admittedly
except
even though
nonetheless
nevertheless
although
however
In spite of
do
may
OK. Let's go back to the passage talking about national finance. Here are the other five
paragraphs. In order for you to skim the passage using the above three techniques, we
underlined the first sentences of each paragraph, boldfaced the mood words and italicize the
counter-evidence indicators.
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke generate finance
earnings and provide funds for civilians retirement. I would propose that government sells its
holdings in state-owned enterprises on the open market. Such sales would provide
substantial funds for village civilians pension. At the same time, they could cut down
financial burden on these state-owned enterprises.
You might object that government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its
enterprises profit if someday they make money. I agree. Sell holdings of enterprises that
would never generate profit. But, you might reply, every enterprise that competes on the
market has potential. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming
that every enterprise has the potential to make money. Practically, you are wrong.
I refer to the thousands of state-owned enterprises that are not likely to make money. These
companies are 100 percent held by the nation as a whole. Government officials are
appointed as the chairman, CEO and president. The management was not responsible for
the public interest, but for the nation as a whole. If there is no significant loss in business,
they will soon be promoted back to the higher level position in government. If their
companies perform great, these executives receive direct money compensation. However,
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount
they would earn if were in private company.
21
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
What is the main idea of the passage? In a word, the author is to present a solution to funding the
civilian pension while benefiting the state-owned enterprises.
3. Diagram the organization of the passage
You got main idea of each paragraph. Now, its time to ask yourself why the author includes them,
what the purpose of each paragraph is, and how each paragraph relates to other. This will help
you diagram the organization of a passage, and locate the details when you answer the
questions.
Pivotal words can help you in diagramming the organization. Pivotal words are signal words or
phrases that would in advance indicate the idea of paragraphs. Below represents the most
frequently used pivotal words or sentences you will see in a reading passage.
Note: A and B represent something, while sb represents somebody.
Introduction
z
Presenting Opinion
z
Anticipating Objections
z
22
Admittedly, ..
It is reasonable to expect...
Exampling
z
For example(instance),...
Presenting Reasons
z
Comparing
z
Transitioning
z
Conclusion
z
From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw the conclusion that ...
In short...
In step 2, you are assigned to skim the passage and get the main idea. Here, let's identify the
purpose of each paragraph for the archeology passage to better understand the passage.
(First of all, the author presented the problems)
China as a nation faces two major financial problems. First, eighty-four percent of
state-owned enterprises do not generate profit. Government failed to make money from such
business. Rather, it has to appropriate substantial funds to these enterprises in order to
prevent them from going bankrupt and thus resulting in high unemployment rate. Second,
203 million of civilians in countryside will not be able to gain pension after they retire due to
the limited budget of government.
(Then, the author suggested a solution to the problems)
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke generate finance
earnings and provide funds for civilians retirement. I would propose that government sells its
holdings in state-owned enterprises on the open market. Such sales would provide
substantial funds for village civilians pension. At the same time, they could cut down
financial burden on these state-owned enterprises.
(Here, the author anticipated a possible objection)
You might object that government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its
enterprises profit if someday they make money. I agree. Sell holdings of enterprises that
would never generate profit. But, you might reply, every enterprise that competes on the
market has potential. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming
that every enterprise has the potential to make money. Practically, you are wrong.
(Then, the author gave an example to deny this objection)
I refer to the thousands of state-owned enterprises that are not likely to make money. These
companies are 100 percent held by the nation as a whole. Government officials are
appointed as the chairman, CEO and president. The management was not responsible for
the public interest, but for the nation as a whole. If there is no significant loss in business,
they will soon be promoted back to the higher level position in government. If their
companies perform great, these executives receive direct money compensation. However,
24
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount
they would earn if were in private company.
(Finally, the author further anticipated a possible objection)
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
Now, you are able to create a mental road map for the whole passage:
Paragraph # 1: introduced two major problems that China faces.
Paragraph # 2: suggested a solution and explained why it is effective.
Paragraph # 3: anticipated a possible objection and denied it soon.
Paragraph # 4: exemplified to argue against a position initiated in the third paragraph.
Paragraph # 5: concluded that his solution is not perfect, but really effective
By making such a road map, I bet you understand this passage quite well.
4. Tackle the questions and correspondently refer to the passage.
Now that you have grasped main idea and the organizational structure of the passage, you are
about to answer the following questions. Again, dont base on your memory. Always refer to the
original passage before you pick up a choice.
China as a nation faces two major financial problems. First, eighty-four percent of
state-owned enterprises do not generate profit. Government failed to make money from such
business. Rather, it has to appropriate substantial funds to these enterprises in order to
prevent them from going bankrupt and thus resulting in high unemployment rate. Second,
203 million of civilians in countryside will not be able to gain pension after they retire due to
the limited budget of government.
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke generate finance
earnings and provide funds for civilians retirement. I would propose that government sells its
holdings in state-owned enterprises on the open market. Such sales would provide
substantial funds for village civilians pension. At the same time, they could cut down
financial burden on these state-owned enterprises.
You might object that government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its
enterprises profit if someday they make money. I agree. Sell holdings of enterprises that
would never generate profit. But, you might reply, every enterprise that competes on the
25
market has potential. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming
that every enterprise has the potential to make money. Practically, you are wrong.
I refer to the thousands of state-owned enterprises that are not likely to make money. These
companies are 100 percent held by the nation as a whole. Government officials are
appointed as the chairman, CEO and president. The management was not responsible for
the public interest, but for the nation as a whole. If there is no significant loss in business,
they will soon be promoted back to the higher level position in government. If their
companies perform great, these executives receive direct money compensation. However,
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount
they would earn if were in private company.
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to propose
(A) an alternative to manage government property
(B) a way to relieve government burden while providing funds to village civilians
(C) a way to distinguish state-owned enterprises that make money from those that do no
make money
(D) the governmental approach to evaluate state-owned enterprise executives
(E) a new system for national pension system
This question requires you to identify the primary concern of the passage as a whole. The first
paragraph introduces two major problems that China faces. The second paragraph suggests a
solution and explains why it is effective. The third anticipates a possible objection and refutes it
soon. The fourth paragraph illustrates an example to support the authors argument. In the last
paragraph, the author concludes that his solution is not perfect, but really effective. Therefore, the
correct answer is B.
2. The author implies that all of the following statements about enterprises with which government
holds 100 percent share are true EXCEPT:
(A) A market for governments share already exists.
(B) Such enterprises seldom generate profit.
(C) There is likely to be a continuing loss of such enterprises.
(D) Government officers are appointed as the executives with such enterprises.
26
(E) If the executives perform poorly, they will be demoted to lower position.
The question requires you to identify the answer choice that CANNOT be inferred from the
passage. Nothing in the passage implies that the executives will be demoted to lower position if
they perform poorly. Therefore, the best answer is E. In answering the question that contains
EXCEPT, keep alarm not to be fooled by the test maker.
3. The author implies that which of the following would occur if governments shares were sold on
the open market?
I. The shortage of retirement fund in village would eventually cease completely.
II. Current executives in state-owned enterprises are not motivated to perform better
III. Civilians in countryside would be able to seek sufficient funds from government.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
This question asks you to identify information that is suggested rather than directly stated in the
passage. To answer it, first look for the location in the passage of the information specified in
answer choice. The last paragraph states that It would be unrealistic to suggest that village
civilians would have sufficient funds if governments shares were sold on the open market,
therefore, I is incorrect. III, which is a repeated of I, is also incorrect. Only II can be inferred from
the original passage, therefore B is the best answer.
27
2.
Main Topic
b)
Tone
c)
Structure
d)
Exemplifying
Recall Question
a)
Description
b)
Listing
3.
Inference Question
4.
5.
a)
Analogy
b)
Assumption/Weaken/Strengthen
Unable-to-locate Question
28
Which of the following titles would best describe the content of the passage?
The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?
Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?
In most cases, main idea questions are easy to solve. In most GRE passage the author's primary
purpose is to persuade the reader to accept her opinion. Occasionally, it is to describe something.
By determining the relationship of each paragraph, you come up with the main ideal at the same
time. However, the GRE writers may obscure the correct answer by surrounding it with close
answer choices that stress specifics. Eliminate these choices without hesitation on the test day.
Trap 1: The main topic will not focus on certain details in the passage. If you encounter the main
ideal question, eliminate the answer choices that describe the details.
Trap 2: Pay special attention to the "repeat" answer. Certain choices may exactly repeat some or
most words of the correct answer, but do not present the central idea, therefore, is not the correct
answer.
B. Tone Question
Tone questions ask you to identify the writer's attitude. Is the writer's feeling toward the subject
positive, negative, or neutral? The following represents some ways of the questions asked.
z
Which of the following best summarizes the author's evaluation of Bailyn's fourth
proposition?
29
The author's attitude toward the culture in most factories is best described as
(A) cautious (B) critical
However, if you did not get a feel for the writer's attitude on the first reading, check the mood
words that he chooses. Beware of answer choices that contain extreme emotions. Remember the
passages are taken from academic journals. In the rarefied air of academic circles, strong
emotions are considered inappropriate and sophomoric. The writers want to display opinions that
are considered and reasonable, not spontaneous and off-the-wall. So if an author's tone is
negative, it may be disapproving, not snide or ridiculous. If her tone is positive, it may be
approving, not ecstatic. Or if her tone is neutral, it would be not be disinterested.
C. Organizational Structure
When you can determine the right answer for main topic, generally you have been familiar with
the organizational structure. Every passage is consisted of some paragraphs, and each single
paragraph performs some certain function to the passage as a whole, by presenting, supporting
or refuting the central idea. So, think about the purpose of each paragraph as you read through
the passage.
You may encounter one type of question concerning the main idea or purpose of some certain
paragraph. Some common questions include:
z
The last paragraph of the passage performs which of the following functions?
Which of the following best describes the organization of the second paragraph?
Which of the following best describes the relation of the first paragraph to the passage as
a whole?
It is relatively easy to solve this kind of question for two reasons. First, however the question may
ask, it is concerning the main idea of the paragraph. If you come up with a question including
"paragraph", it definitely require you to generate that paragraph. Second, paragraph is only some
element of the completed passage. If you can generate the main topic for the whole passage of
three to four paragraphs, why aren't you able to summarize just one paragraph?
D. Exemplifying
The other type of structure question, exemplifying, tests your ability to identify the intention of
author's illustrating of something, some people, or phenomenon. In answering this question, you
need to first locate the example, and then refer to opinion preceding or accompanying the
example. The right answer is the repeat of this opinion.
z
30
In addition to the above four types, the Main Idea Question may require you to respond in other
ways, such as:
z
This question, however, is similar to the above four, since they are based on your understanding
of the completed passage.
Sample Question #1
The cutting-edge science is ringing alarm bells. Avian flu virus picked up by pigs can swap
genetic materials with another flu virus already in the pig and become a new, hitherto
unknown flu virus for which no person, no animal has preexisting immunity. The kind of virus
causes a pandemic because it spreads from human to human.
If you took a peek into history, it turns out that previous influenza pandemics have similar
scenarios. The greatest influenza pandemic in 1918 caused more than 20 million deaths of
soldiers stationed in France. The last influenza pandemic was in 1968, known as the Hong
Kong flu (H3N2). Thousands of deaths and millions were infected worldwide.
The other examples are the Nipah virus and Japanese Encephalitis virus, which find pigs to
be good hosts. With JE, the virus circulates in the blood of infected pigs. When infected pigs
are bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the
mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. The pig doesn't get sick as such. The Nipah
virus causes pneumonia symptoms in pigs. In humans, it causes encephalitis, and humans
catch it only with direct contact with infected pigs. Symptoms range from mild headache to
permanent brain damage, and can be fatal.
It's merely a phenomenon of nature that the pig is the "mixing vessel" for the new germ. But
make no mistake, the pig is not the villain, neither is the chicken. It's actually us, and our
horrible farm practices, outdated agricultural policy and, most of all, reckless disregard of our
ecology and environment. "Hygiene and management can control what eventually happens,"
says Lam. "Good farming practice will prevent serious outbreaks and infection to humans."
Despite knowing that, animal diseases and the possibility of transmission to humans are
becoming quite alarming. Of the 35 new emerging diseases in the last 20 years, more than
70 per cent involved animals.
In fact, what we may have done is unwittingly create the perfect launch pad for an influenza
pandemic that will likely kill large numbers of people across the globe. Although scientists
say it's impossible to predict the odds that the virus will alter its genetic form radically enough
to start leaping from human to human, the longer H5N1 is out there killing chickens, the
higher the chances are.
31
32
compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in
competitive environment.
Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph?
(A) A thesis is presented and supporting examples are provided.
(B) Opposing views are presented, classified, and then reconciled.
(C) A fact is stated, and an explanation is advanced and then refuted.
(D) A theory is proposed, considered, and then amended.
(E) An opinion is presented, qualified, and then reaffirmed.
This question requires you to identify the organizational structure of the first paragraph. In this
paragraph, the author first states a fact that Indian firms achieved the highest efficiency in software
outsourcing. Then, an assumption is presented to explain such phenomenon. However, the author
refuted this explanation soon. Thus, C is the best answer.
33
2. Recall Question
There are two subtypes of recall questions: detail-locating and listing. In the following passage,
we'll discuss one by one.
A. Detail-locating
Locating question is the most common question you will encounter in Reading Comprehension. It
roughly constitutes to 50-60% of total numbers of questions. That means, in every reading
passage, there will be about one or two detail-locating questions. It is quite simple, however, to
solve this seemingly difficult question if you are able locate the detail tested. The right answer
choice is rewritten from certain sentence in the passage by changing some words or phrases. For
example, test writer will change some words from adjective to adverbial, from noun to gerund, or
just change to its synonym.
Strategy: How to locate
Below we will introduce the three-step method to locate detail.
(1) Before you locate the question to passage, you need to determine what to locate. Key words
are something that is mentioned both in the question and in passage. Then, what are key words?
Look at the following question:
Which of the following is mentioned in the passage as a disadvantage of storing artifacts
in museum basements?
Here, key words will not be any word or phrase of "which of the following is mentioned in the
passage as", but will be "disadvantage" from "disadvantage of storing artifacts in museum
basements".
We call this step as Defining Key Words.
(2) After you define key words, you are turning to the original passage. Sometimes, the key words
will appear several times in different parts of the passage. Where should you refer to? Generally,
you should locate the key words to the sentence in which key words first appear. After all, you
have only several minutes to complete a passage.
(3) When you determined which sentence (sometimes, two or more sentences) to locate, get
some idea, then quickly refer to the answer choices. Do not spend too much time analyzing this
sentence since it may be too long or complicated to understand. If the choice mentions something
that only appears in other part of the passage, eliminate it. Also eliminate the choice that just
repeats the words or phrases from original passage.
B. Listing
The other type of Recall Question is listing. As the name indicates, Listing Question requires you
to identify some people, actions, or situations that are enumerated in the passage.
34
According to the passage, senior managers use intuition in all of the following ways
EXCEPT to:
According to the passage, critics of the Ewha women's studies program cited the program
as a threat to which of the following?
I.
National identity
II.
National unification
35
3. Inference Questions
Inference question is the second most common. Unlike recall question, inference questions
require you to go beyond the passage. That means, the correct answer must say more than what
is said in the passage. Beware of same language traps with these questions: the correct answer
will often both paraphrase and extend a statement in the passage, but it will not directly quote it. If
you are puzzled how to determine whether a detail question is recall question or inference
question, pay attentions to the way the question asks. Generally, inference question will include
some word, such as infer, suggest and imply that indicates what kind of question it is.
z
Since we must not directly refer to the original passage in answering inference question, we need
to decipher the inference. Next, we will show you how to reason from couples of sentence.
Technique 1 Reasoning by Word of Comparison
The question is asking about B, but you may be unable to directly identify the characters of B
even you have located B. Rather, the original sentence is discussing about A. Here, you should
turn to the word that indicates comparison between A and B. Some words that indicate strong
comparison are unlike, in contrast to, by contrast and compared with. When you can determine
the character of B, you can simultaneously determine A is B or non-B. Also, the passage may
compare two particular events by dates or places. The phrases could be "prior to 1975" or "since
mid-1970's".
Technique 2 Reasoning by Syllogism
In logics, Syllogism looks like this: every virtue is laudable; kindness is a virtue; therefore,
kindness is laudable. As we put it in more simple way, it may be "AB and, then AC". It may be
relatively easy to recognize AB by locating the key word in the question, but it will always take
some time to identify BC, since they may be located in other part of the place. So pay attention
to the pronouns (it or they) and the nouns with definite article "the" since they often serve as B.
The fact that reducing price can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not
mean that every reduction in price will create such an advantage. Price reduction, like
improvement in service, must be balanced against other types of efforts on the basis of direct,
tangible benefits such as increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par
with its competitors because it provides product at an acceptable price and keeps customers
from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then reduction in price may not be effective, since price
is not necessarily the deciding factor for any customer in any situation.
36
This truth was not apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor, which
failed to improve its competitive position despite its attempt to reduce price. The software
managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia that arises from the inconvenience
of switching operating system. Nor did they analyze their reduction in price to determine
whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of price that would
excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy.
The passage suggests which of the following about price charged by an operating system software
vendor prior to its strategy in reducing its price?
(A) It enabled the vendor to retain customers at an acceptable rate
(B) It threatened to weaken the vendors competitive position with respect to other operating
system software vendor
(C) It had already been reduced after having caused damage to the vendors reputation in the
past.
(D) It was slightly low to that of the vendors competitors.
(E) It needed to be reduced to attain parity with the software provided by competing vendors.
Here, the question asks for the situation of the vendor before price reduction. Only A can be
inferred from the passage. The original passage stated that If a company is already effectively
on .. keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate and This truth was not
apparent to managers of one operating system software vendor That means the vendor was
able to retain customers at an acceptable rate.
37
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the theory proposed by Snyder et al?
Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar's findings as they are
described by the author?
Sample Question
The cutting-edge science is ringing alarm bells. Avian flu virus picked up by pigs can swap
genetic materials with another flu virus already in the pig and become a new, hitherto
unknown flu virus for which no person, no animal has preexisting immunity. The kind of virus
causes a pandemic because it spreads from human to human.
If you took a peek into history, it turns out that previous influenza pandemics have similar
scenarios. The greatest influenza pandemic in 1918 caused more than 20 million deaths of
soldiers stationed in France. The last influenza pandemic was in 1968, known as the Hong
Kong flu (H3N2). Thousands of deaths and millions were infected worldwide.
38
The other examples are the Nipah virus and Japanese Encephalitis virus, which find pigs to
be good hosts. With JE, the virus circulates in the blood of infected pigs. When infected pigs
are bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the
mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. The pig doesn't get sick as such. The Nipah
virus causes pneumonia symptoms in pigs. In humans, it causes encephalitis, and humans
catch it only with direct contact with infected pigs. Symptoms range from mild headache to
permanent brain damage, and can be fatal.
It's merely a phenomenon of nature that the pig is the "mixing vessel" for the new germ. But
make no mistake, the pig is not the villain, neither is the chicken. It's actually us, and our
horrible farm practices, outdated agricultural policy and, most of all, reckless disregard of our
ecology and environment. "Hygiene and management can control what eventually happens,"
says Lam. "Good farming practice will prevent serious outbreaks and infection to humans."
Despite knowing that, animal diseases and the possibility of transmission to humans are
becoming quite alarming. Of the 35 new emerging diseases in the last 20 years, more than
70 per cent involved animals.
In fact, what we may have done is unwittingly create the perfect launch pad for an influenza
pandemic that will likely kill large numbers of people across the globe. Although scientists
say it's impossible to predict the odds that the virus will alter its genetic form radically enough
to start leaping from human to human, the longer H5N1 is out there killing chickens, the
higher the chances are.
All of the following situations are similar to the spread of avian flu virus described in the first
paragraph EXCEPT:
(A) The BT2 spread from a pig to another pig, and thus causes significant disease in pig.
(B) The AIDS viruses transferred from monkeys to man and spread across the world.
(C) The SARS virus originates from some wildlife and is picked up by civet cats from which
humans got it.
(D) Nipah virus circulates in the blood of infected pig, which is bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the
virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the mosquito bites a human, the virus
is passed on.
(E) H5N1 starts in chickens and leaps from human to human.
The question requires you to recognize a situation that is not similar to the spear of avian flu.
Before considering following answer choices, we fist define its rationale. It is something like this:
Avian flu virus picked up by pigs and is transferred to human. All of the situations described in the
answer choices are similar to it ex that in choice A (from animal to animal). Therefore, A is the
best answer.
39
5. Difficult-to-locate Question
Some question does not ask for the central idea of a passage. Rather, it requires you to draw a
conclusion based on the passage:
z
According to the passage, which of the following is the author most likely to agree with?
The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?
Unlike Recall Question or Inference Question, Difficult-to-locate Question does not contain key
words that you can use to locate the details tested. In order to solve this type of question, you
have to skim through the passage again and again until you get the right answer. Eliminating
wrong choices often take considerable time since the answer choices are often too long and
complicated to understand. That is why most test takers regard difficult-to-locate question as the
most difficult one in reading comprehension. The good news is that if you encounter several
questions like these, then you probably get a high score since questions are presented based on
your performance on the previous questions.
Sample Question
Indian firms have achieved the highest levels of efficiency in the world software outsourcing
industry. Some researchers have assumed that Indian firms use the same programming
languages and techniques as Chinese firms but have benefited from their familiarity with
English, the language used to write software code. However, if this were true, then one
would expect software vendors in Hong Kong, where most people speak English, to perform
not worse than do Indian vendors. However, this is obviously not the case.
Other researchers link high Indian productivity to higher levels of human resource investment
per engineer. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top
Indian vendors matched and then doubled Chinese productivity levels in the mid-eighties,
human resource investment per employee was comparable to that of Chinese vendors.
Furthermore, by the late eighties, the amount of fixed assets required to develop one
software package was roughly equivalent in India and in the China. Since human resource
investment was not higher in India, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity.
A more fruitful explanation may lie with Indian strategic approach in outsourcing. Indian
software vendors did not simply seek outsourced contract more effectively: they made
aggressive strategic in outsourcing. For instance, most software firms of India were initially
set up to outsource the contract in western countries, such as United States. By contrary,
most Chinese firms seem to position their business in China, a promising yet
under-developed market. However, rampant piracy in China took almost 90 percents of
potential market, making it impossible for most Chinese firms to obtain sufficient
40
compensation for the investment on development and research, let alone thrive in
competitive environment.
According to the passage, which of the following statements is true of Indian software developers?
(A) Their productivity levels did not equal those of Chinese software engineers until the late
eighties.
(B) Their high efficiency levels are a direct result of English language familiarity.
(C) They develop component-specific software.
(D) They are built to outsource the western orders.
(E) They develop more packages of software than do those in Chinese developers.
In the middle of the last paragraph, the author states that For instance, most software firms of
India were initially set up to outsource the contract in western countries, such as United
States. Thus, the best answer is D.
41
42
43
44
(E) The production levels of India-run firms located in the China would be equal to those of
firms run by China firms.
If the researchers are correct, then the familiarity with English determines the productivity of
engineers. That is, if the engineers in India-run firms have a poor command of English they would
have lower productivity levels, as stated in choice D.
46
47
5. Counter-evidence Indicators
Counter-evidence words warn that the author is about to either make a U-turn or introduce a
counter-premise (concession to a minor point that weakens the argument).
But
Although
However
Yet
Despite
Nevertheless
Nonetheless
Except
In contrast
Even though
Counter-evidence words mark natural places for questions to be drawn. At a pivotal word, the
author changes direction. The GRE writers form questions at these junctures to test whether you
turned with the author or you continued to go straight. Rarely do the GRE writers let a pivotal word
pass without drawing a question from its sentence. As you read a passage, note the pivotal
words and refer to them when answering the questions.
Example
China as a nation faces two major financial problems. First, eighty-four percent of
state-owned enterprises do not generate profit. Government failed to make money from such
business. Rather, it has to appropriate substantial funds to these enterprises in order to
prevent them from going bankrupt and thus resulting in high unemployment rate. Second,
203 million of civilians in countryside will not be able to gain pension after they retire due to
the limited budget of government.
I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would at one stroke generate finance
earnings and provide funds for civilians retirement. I would propose that government sells its
holdings in state-owned enterprises on the open market. Such sales would provide
substantial funds for village civilians pension. At the same time, they could cut down
financial burden on these state-owned enterprises.
You might object that government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its
enterprises profit if someday they make money. I agree. Sell holdings of enterprises that
would never generate profit. But, you might reply, every enterprise that competes on the
market has potential. Here we part company. Theoretically, you may be correct in claiming
that every enterprise has the potential to make money. Practically, you are wrong.
I refer to the thousands of state-owned enterprises that are not likely to make money. These
companies are 100 percent held by the nation as a whole. Government officials are
appointed as the chairman, CEO and president. The management was not responsible for
the public interest, but for the nation as a whole. If there is no significant loss in business,
48
they will soon be promoted back to the higher level position in government. If their
companies perform great, these executives receive direct money compensation. However,
their salary, when combined with such compensation, will be much less than the amount
they would earn if were in private company.
It would be unrealistic to suggest that village civilians would have sufficient funds if
governments shares were sold on the open market. But the demand for compensating the
state-own enterprises would be substantially reduced.
The author anticipates which of the following initial objections to the adoption of his proposal?
(A) Government will not be able to sell its holdings with state-owned enterprise.
(B) The ability of governments to control the national economy will be weakened if
state-owned enterprises are sold to private owners.
(C) It is impossible to find enterprises that will never generate profit.
(D) The poor performance of state-owned enterprises will continue.
(E) The countryside civilians are sill unable to seek financial support from government.
In the third paragraph, the author illustrates a possible objection to his proposal. The opposite
views are government would be deprived of the opportunity to share its enterprises profit
if someday they make money and every enterprise that competes on the market has
potential. Choice C presents one of them, and is the correct answer.
49
6. Special Punctuation
Punctuation: Quotation, Parentheses, Dash
Question type: Recall question, Inference Question
The cutting-edge science is ringing alarm bells. Avian flu virus picked up by pigs can swap
genetic materials with another flu virus already in the pig and become a new, hitherto
unknown flu virus for which no person, no animal has preexisting immunity. The kind of virus
causes a pandemic because it spreads from human to human.
If you took a peek into history, it turns out that previous influenza pandemics have similar
scenarios. The greatest influenza pandemic in 1918 caused more than 20 million deaths of
soldiers stationed in France. The last influenza pandemic was in 1968, known as the Hong
Kong flu (H3N2). Thousands of deaths and millions were infected worldwide.
The other examples are the Nipah virus and Japanese Encephalitis virus, which find pigs to
be good hosts. With JE, the virus circulates in the blood of infected pigs. When infected pigs
are bitten by Culex mosquitoes, the virus replicates in the mosquito's gut. The next time the
mosquito bites a human, the virus is passed on. The pig doesn't get sick as such. The Nipah
virus causes pneumonia symptoms in pigs. In humans, it causes encephalitis, and humans
catch it only with direct contact with infected pigs. Symptoms range from mild headache to
permanent brain damage, and can be fatal.
It's merely a phenomenon of nature that the pig is the "mixing vessel" for the new germ. But
make no mistake, the pig is not the villain, neither is the chicken. It's actually us, and our
horrible farm practices, outdated agricultural policy and, most of all, reckless disregard of our
ecology and environment. "Hygiene and management can control what eventually happens,"
says Lam. "Good farming practice will prevent serious outbreaks and infection to humans."
Despite knowing that, animal diseases and the possibility of transmission to humans are
becoming quite alarming. Of the 35 new emerging diseases in the last 20 years, more than
70 per cent involved animals.
In fact, what we may have done is unwittingly create the perfect launch pad for an influenza
pandemic that will likely kill large numbers of people across the globe. Although scientists
say it's impossible to predict the odds that the virus will alter its genetic form radically enough
to start leaping from human to human, the longer H5N1 is out there killing chickens, the
higher the chances are.
What does the author mean by describing the pig as mixing vessel?
(A) Pig is the place where various viruses reside.
50
(B) Pig is the pot in which viruses swap genes and become new, deadly germs.
(C) Viruses are mixed inside the body of pig.
(D) New germs come to the body of pig and reside there.
(E) Pig attracts viruses.
The question requires you to determine the meanings of mixing vessel. At the beginning of the
passage, the author states that Avian flu virus picked up by pigs can swap genetic materials with
another flu virus already in the pig and become a new, hitherto unknown flu virus for which
no person, no animal has preexisting immunity. The kind of virus causes a pandemic because it
spreads from human to human. In other words, pig is the pot in which viruses swap genes and
become new, deadly germs. Therefore, the correct answer is B.
Review
One principal
Don't rely on memory or on daily life experiences. Answer all the questions on the basis of what is
stated or implied in the passage.
Two Styles
Presentation is to deliver an idea that the author will agree or partially agree. Argumentation is to
develop two ideas or systems and then point out why one is better than the other (contrasting) or
just simply refute both of them and developed the author's own idea.
Three Subjects
There are three major subjects that a typical GRE reading passage may discuss about: natural
science, social science and business subject.
Four-step Procedure
Use the four-step process to read a passage. First dissect the first paragraph, then skim the
passage, get the main idea and diagram the organization of the passage.
Five Types of Question
There are five types of question you may encounter in real GRE test: main idea question, recall
question, inference question, critical reasoning question and the difficult-to-locate question.
Six Test Points
The most common six test points are comparison, exemplifying, people, special punctuation,
counter-evidence and mood words.
51
52
(even) though
although
but
however
nevertheless
whereas
yet
while
unlike
do(es)
otherwise
rather
notwithstanding
despite
did
whatever
in contrast
on the contrary
in spite of
curiously
ironically
paradoxically
surprisingly
Clue behind the relationship is that the statement before the contrast key words should be contrast
to the statement after the contrast key words.
Example #1 (One Blank)
It is not surprising that superior service can generate competitive advantage for a company, but the
effort taken to improve service can often be -----------.
(A) difficult
(B) expected
(C) diversified
(D) unpredictable
(E) promising
The missing word describes how the effort would be to improve service and the word but
suggests that the word fills the blank must contrast with the idea of not surprising. Therefore, D is
the best answer.
Example #2 (Two Blanks)
Ancient cities were----destroyed, but archeologists have found sufficient information to
demonstrate an occasionally----but generally complete picture in Tan Era.
(A) mostly.. fragmentary
(B) obviously.. necessary
(C) unwittingly.. whole
(D) partially.. famous
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54
since
for
if
thus
hence
therefore
in that
consequently
result in
so that
so...that...
as a result
result from
lead to
so...as to...
accordingly
cause
give rise to
derive from
be due to
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The first part of the sentence is a statement: the more frequent an advertisement is, the more
favorable it is considered. The word therefore suggests that the missing words must, together,
make a statement in keeping with this assumption. A is the correct answer. An advertisement that
is dominant is very frequent. Because, according to the statement, the most frequent
advertisement is likely to be most favorably considered, one would expect a dominant
advertisement to be very impressive.
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C. Explanation
The third one is explanation. Sentences of this relationship usually have two statements, one is
general, and the other is specific. The specific sentence serves to clarify or explain the general
sentence. The most commonly used key words include:
for instance
as an example
for example
in other words
that is
namely
such as
specifically
Clue in this relationship is that synonyms are used before and after the explanation key words.
Example #1 (One Blank)
According to Maslows theory of need hierarchy, material is the ---- demand of human beings, in
that it provides the founding floor from which the other demands are generated.
(A) essential
(B) basic
(C) final
(D) cheap
(E) emotional
The phrase in that suggests that the cause before in that should be similar in meaning to that
after in that. Thus, the word that fills in the blank must be a synonym to founding. B is the best
answer. The word basic means the same as founding.
Example #2 (Two Blanks)
To be a true leader, a manager must not be too----: any effective leader depends on the ability of
other people to----with each other.
(A) popular.. agree
(B) adventurous ..communicate
(C) independent.. cooperate
(D) self-confident.. argue
(E) pragmatic.. disagree
The first missing word describes a characteristic that a manager with leadership ability (a leader)
can have, but cannot have in excess. The second missing word indicates what followers must be
able to do with each other if the leader is to be effective. The colon (:) indicates that the second
part of the sentence explains or amplifies what is said in the first part. Therefore, whatever
characteristic the leader has must enable others to do with each other. C is the best answer. If a
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manager were too independent, it would be difficult for the leaders followers to cooperate with
each other.
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D. Similarity
In these sentences, the author compares two similar things. Typical key words include:
just as
like
resembles
same
as
similarly
likewise
Clue behind the relationship is that the choice you pick up should make the two things of the
sentence to be similar in meaning.
Example #1 (One Blank)
Just as human beings who depend on each other, there are no ------- foliages.
(A) neglectable
(B) existing
(C) conventional
(D) dependable
(E) solitary
The phrase just as means a similar way. Since human beings depend on each other, the foliages
should also depend on each other, or are not solitary. Therefore, the best answer is E.
Example #2 (Two Blanks)
Unlike birds that simply spread viruses from an animal to another animal, pigs are the "----vessel"
where viruses swap genes and become----, deadly germs.
(A) comprehensive.. small
(B) complicated.. general
(C) frustrated.. important
(D) mixing.. new
(E) lethal.. big
The word unlike suggests that pigs do not simply spread viruses from an animal to another
animal. Rather, inside pigs, viruses swap genes. Choice D really makes sense. A place where
viruses swap genes is a mixing vessel, and thus generate new germs.
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Chapter 3 Analogy
Introduction
In an analogy question, you are given a pair of capitalized words and other five pairs of lower-case
words. You are then required to choose a pair of words among the five that has the same logical
relationship as the original capitalized pair. The analogy question not only tests your vocabulary
base, but also tests your ability to recognize the logical relationship between two words. Here is an
example.
Example
HORSE : MARE ::
(A) cat : kitten
(B) human : woman
(C) bull : cow
(D) child : adult
(E) animal : pig
The first colon (:) means "to" and the two colons (::) means "is as". We read the question as "horse
to mare is as" Next, we need to define the relationship between this pair of words. What is the
relationship between horse and mare? A mare is a female horse. So, a rationale for this analogy
could be Y (a mare) is a female X. Because analogy problems require us to look for a pair of
words that have the same relationship has the initial two words, we are looking for a pair in which
the second word is a female of second word. Once you have determined the relationship between
the given pair of words and state it in your mind in sentence form, read through the answer choices
substituting the possible pairs into the same sentence you have created to describe the initial pair.
Let's work through the answer choices. Is a kitten a female cat? No, this does not make sense. Is a
woman a female adult? Yes, this really makes sense. Choices B, C, and D do not have such
relationship.
Trap: It is extremely important to pick up the pair of words that has the same order in relationship.
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SUPPLANT : REPLACE ::
(A) frame : plan
(B) incinerate : corrode
(C) snatch : take
(D) evaporate : petrify
(E) sing : dance
The best answer is C.
Similar pairs: importune : request :: pry : inquire :: coercion : persuade :: exile : emigrate ::
command : request :: conscript : enlist.
4. Person to character
Person to personality (Positive)
ZEALOT : FERVOR ::
(A) pundit : stickiness
(B) actor : popularity
(C) singer : beauty
(D) altruist : selflessness
(E) editor : comment
The best answer is D.
Similar pairs: partisan : allegiance :: diplomat : tact :: inventor : ingenuity :: coward : craven :: dupe :
credulous :: acrobat : agility :: boor : insensitive :: loner : solitary :: surgeon : dexterity :: blowhard :
boastful :: toady : obsequious :: supplicant : humility :: adversary : resistance :: recluse :
withdrawn :: bigot : biased :: wag : humorous :: dolt : stupid.
Person to personality (Negative)
MAVERICK : CONFORMITY ::
(A) expert : authoritativeness
(B) acrobat : agility
(C) evaluator : critiques
(D) statistician : accuracy
(E) stickler : approximation
The best answer is E.
Similar pairs: purist : adulteration :: heretic : orthodoxy :: poseur : sincerity :: recluse :
gregariousness :: coward : brave :: philanthropist : selfish :: neophyte : experience :: boor :
sensitivity :: yokel : sophistication.
Person to behavior
PROCTOR : SUPERVISE ::
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As its name suggests, one word causes the other. The relationship between these two words is
cause and effect.
TORQUE : ROTATION ::
(A) rain : wetness
(B) snow : precipitation
(C) tension : elongation
(D) school : education
(E) eulogy : praise
The best answer is C.
Similar pairs: redoubtable : awe :: venerable : respect :: despicable : contempt :: droll : laugh ::
pernicious : injure :: disingenuous : mislead :: dreadful : cringe :: nervousness : fidget :: macabre :
shudder :: hilarious : laugh :: motive : deed :: doubt : question.
For example: evaporate : vapor :: freeze : ice :: incinerate : ash :: petrify : stone :: sequester :
seclusion :: endanger : jeopardy :: ripen : maturity :: harden : solidity.
Also: homogenization : uniform :: putrefaction : rotten :: corrosion : rust :: condensation : dew ::
combustion : soot :: woodcutting : sawdust.
More example: numb : insensible :: burnish : lustrous.
For example: illuminate : darkness :: educate : ignorance :: embellish : austere :: adulterate : pure ::
renounce : pledge :: retract : statement :: repeal : law :: rescind : order :: withdraw : candidacy ::
perturb : serenity :: reassure : doubt :: neutralization : acid :: disabuse : error :: rehabilitate :
addiction :: detoxify : poison :: dehydrate : water :: purify : imperfection :: verify : doubtfulness ::
expiate : guilt :: correct : error :: slake : thirsty :: satiate : hunger.
14. Modification
In this type of relationship, an adjective modifies a noun. A similar pair of words should have the
relationship in the same order, and in same tone (positive or negative).
LACONIC : SPEECH ::
(A) mysterious : demonstration
(B) detailed : generation
(C) popular : foundation
(D) austere : design
(E) many: atom
The best answer is D.
Similar pairs: articulate : speech is as graceful : movement :: volatile : temper is as ready : wit ::
frenetic : movement is as fanatical : belief :: fetid : smell is as ugly : appearance :: stridency : sound
is as garishness : appearance ::
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WHIM : CAPRICIOUS ::
(A) story : runic
(B) fact : objective
(C) policeman : active
(D) runner : strong
(E) crystal : beautiful
The best answer is B.
Similar pairs: synopsis : condensed :: plant : herbaceous :: trees : arboreal :: orchestra :
instrumental :: labyrinth : tortuous :: ornament : decorative :: gadfly : annoying :: stealth : furtive ::
caprice : whimsical :: bombast : pompous :: tirade : critical.
Negative: chance : inevitable :: invention : insipid :: imagination : prosaic :: gaucherie : urbane ::
melodrama : subtlety :: chimera : authenticity.
18. Material to product
FILIGREE : WIRE ::
(A) antibiotic : drug
(B) coagulant : clearness
(C) lace : thread
(D) concert : song
(E) atom : crystal
The best answer is C.
Similar pairs: candle : wax :: wood : paper :: porcelain : clay :: or tornado : air :: whirlpool : water.
19. Other relationship
1). Thing to skin. For example: apple to skin, melon to rind, conifer to back, pecan to shell, wheat
to chaff, mammal to epidermis, seed to hull, cell to membrane.
2). Thing to scrap. For example: crumb to bread, shard to pottery, shaving/splinter to wood, filing
to metal, fragment to bone.
3). Block. For example: tourniquet to blood, dam to water.
4). Place. For example: envelope to letter, crate to produce, larder to food, armory to munitions,
hamper to laundry, bookcase to books, wardrobe to clothes.
5). Elimination. For example: antidote to poison, tonic to lethargy.
6). Support. For example: strut to wing, buttress to wall, bone to body, guy to pylon, framing to
building, girder to skyscraper, skeleton to animal.
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Chapter 4 Antonyms
There are about 9 antonyms on verbal section of the GRE. The questions are mixed in with the
analogies, sentence completions, and reading comprehension. In antonym question, you are
given a capitalized word, and then required a pick up a word among five that is opposite or nearly
opposite to the original word in meaning. A sample antonym questions looks like this:
PROFOUND
(A) superficial
(B) precipitous
(C) deep
(D) tarnished
(E) innocuous
Which of the words is opposite in meaning to the word profound? The word profound can be
adjective or noun. Should we consider it in two functions? The answer is that the five words
should be considered in same function. Here it is an adjective. Profound means difficult to
understand or far below the surface. In choice A, superficial means lying on surface, directly
opposite to the meaning of profound. Precipitous means steep in rise or fall, deep means
same as profound, tarnished means losing luster, and innocuous means harmless. Among
the five words, only superficial has the meanings that are opposite to the given capitalized.
Trap: Be alert to secondary meaning of a word. The GRE writers often use common words but
with its uncommon meaning.
A single word is difficult to understand, when combined into phrases or sentences, however, we
have little trouble. If you dont recognize the meaning of a word, think of a phrase in which you
have hear it before.
You may not know a given word, but you can spot the root word to deduce the meaning of the
original word. Most words are derived from other words.
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Vocabulary Roots
By doing some brainstorming, you can substantially boost your vocabulary base. If you have
limited time to prep for GRE or have few weeks before the test, you can try to memorize a list of
roosts. On the test day, you can guess by those roots.
ROOT
MEANING
EXAMPLE
act, ag, ig
act, drive
anim
breath, mind
fall
cap, cep
receive, take
cede, cess
go, yield
cid, cis
cut, kill
cit
excite, call
claim, clam
cry out
clud, clus
close
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hart, courage
11
corp, corpor
body
12
run
13
cred
believe
14
dic, dict
say
15
duc, duct
lead
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16
17
equ
equal
do, make
18
fer
carry, bear
19
flu
flow
20
grad, gress
go, step
21
join, connect
22
speak
23
light, brightness
24
great
25
main, man
hand
26
mini, minu
small
27
move
28
pass, path
feel, suffer
29
ped
foot
30
pel, puls
drive, push
31
vers, vert
turn
32
life
33
voc, vok
voice, call
34
volu, volv
roll
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PREFIX
MEANING
EXAMPLE
ab, abs
away, from
ad
to, toward
bene
good
cata
down, complete
circum
around
with, together
contra, contro,
counter
against
circumference, circumlocution,
circumstantial
coalesce, coherent, coincide,
compassion, consensus
contradict, counterattack, countermand,
controversy, counterpart, counterfeit
de
down, complete
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dia
through, between,
across
diagram
11
out
12
in, upon
13
fore
before
14
inter
between, among
15
mal
bad
16
mon, mono
one
17
para
beside, beyond
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through,
18
per
19
post
after, behind
20
pre
before
21
re
back, again
22
se
away, separate
23
sub, sus
under
24
super, sur
over, above
25
sym, syn
with, together
26
trans
27
uni
one
SUFFIX
MEANING
EXAMPLE
ain
people
villain, chaplain
aire
people
millionaire, billionaire
people
-ary
people
secretary, adversary
ee
people
eer
people
ess
people
-ician
people
ist
people
thoroughly
across, through,
over
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10
cle
small
11
cule
small
12
el
small
model, pebble
13
en
small
kitten, maiden
14
et
small
cabinet, islet
15
let
small
16
proof
anti
17
ward
direction
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