Section A: Banked Cloze

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

A team of researchers led by Priyanka Joshi examined the degree to which men and women relied on “communicative abstraction” to verbally convey their ideas and emotions. Communicative abstraction, according to the researchers, reflects the tendency of people to use “abstract speech that focuses on the broader picture and (26) ______ purpose of action rather than concrete speech focusing on details and the means of (27) ______ action.” Interestingly, they found that men were far more likely to speak in the abstract than were women.

To arrive at this (28) ______, the researchers examined the linguistic patterns of men and women in over 600,000 blog posts written on websites. To do this, the researchers computed abstractness ratings for (29) ______ 40,000 commonly used words in the English language. Words considered to be concrete could be easily visualized such as “table” or “chair”. Words that were more (30) ______ to visualize, for example, “justice” or “morality” were considered to be more abstract. They found that men used (31) ______ more abstract language in their blog posts.

What is the (32) ______ of this effect? The researchers suggest that power differences between the genders — that is, men having more power in society — might be a key determinant. For instance, in a follow-up study conducted with a sample of 300 students, the researchers (33) ______ power dynamics in an interpersonal setting to see if this would influence communicative abstraction. They found that participants in a high-power interviewer role were more likely to give abstract descriptions of behaviors than were participants in a low-power interviewee role. This suggests that communicating more abstractly does not reflect a (34) ______ tendency of men or women but rather (35) ______ within specific contexts.

Word Bank

A) approximately

B) attaining

C) conclusion

D) difficult

E) emerges

F) fixed

G) ignored

H) legally

I) manipulated

J) recommended

K) refraining

L) signals

M) significantly

N) source

O) ultimate

Answers & Explanations

26. O (ultimate)。解析：位于 and 之后，与前面的 broader (更宽广的) 并列修饰 purpose，需要填入形容词。指代行动的“最终 (ultimate)”目的。

27. B (attaining)。解析：位于介词 of 之后，名词 action 之前，需要填入动名词或名词。结合语境，指“实现/获得 (attaining)”行动的手段。

28. C (conclusion)。解析：位于不定式短语 to arrive at this 之后，需要填入单数名词。固定搭配 `arrive at a conclusion` 意为“得出结论 (conclusion)”。

29. A (approximately)。解析：位于介词 for 之后，数字 40,000 之前，需要填入副词修饰数字。意为研究人员计算了“大约/近似 (approximately)”四万个常用词的评分。

30. D (difficult)。解析：位于系动词 were more 之后，动词不定式 to visualize 之前，需要填入形容词。与前文的 easily 形成对比，指更“难 (difficult)”被想象/可视化的词。

31. M (significantly)。解析：位于动词 used 和比较级 more 之间，需要填入副词修饰比较级。意为男性在博客中“显著地/大幅度地 (significantly)”使用了更多抽象语言。

32. N (source)。解析：位于 is the 和 of 之间，需要填入名词。且下文接着给出了“权力差异可能是决定因素”的解释。意为这种效应的“根源/来源 (source)”是什么？

33. I (manipulated)。解析：位于主语 researchers 和宾语 power dynamics 之间，需要填入谓语动词，且时态应为过去式。意为研究人员在人际交往环境中“操纵/控制 (manipulated)”了权力动态。

34. F (fixed)。解析：位于不定冠词 a 和名词 tendency 之间，需要填入形容词或过去分词。且与后文的 rather emerges within specific contexts (而是在特定语境下显现) 形成转折对比。意为这并不反映男女“固有的/固定的 (fixed)”倾向。

35. E (emerges)。解析：位于 but rather 之后，与前面的谓语动词 does not reflect 并列，需要填入单数第三人称动词（主语仍是 communicating more abstractly）。意为而是在特定语境下“显现/出现 (emerges)”。

核心搭配与高分句型

【核心搭配与高频短语】

• rely on：依赖，依靠（relied on "communicative abstraction"）
• rather than：而不是（rather than concrete speech）
• arrive at a conclusion：得出结论（To arrive at this conclusion）
• for instance：例如（For instance, in a follow-up study）
• power dynamics：权力动态，权力关系（manipulated power dynamics）
• not... but rather...：不是...而是...（does not reflect a fixed tendency... but rather emerges）

【亮点句型解析】

• The degree to which 引导的定语从句：
  "A team of researchers... examined the degree to which men and women relied on “communicative abstraction”..."
  （一组研究人员...研究了男性和女性在多大程度上依赖“交际抽象”...）`the degree to which` 是一个非常高级的书面表达，意为“...的程度”，`to which` 引导的定语从句对 `degree` 进行了准确的限定。在四六级写作中替代 `how much` 会显著提升文章格调。
• More likely to do... than were... (比较状语从句的倒装)：
  "...men were far more likely to speak in the abstract than were women."
  （...男性比女性更倾向于使用抽象的表达方式。）在 `than` 引导的比较状语从句中，如果从句的主语较长或为了强调对比，且谓语是系动词或助动词，经常会将系动词/助动词（`were`）提到主语（`women`）之前，形成倒装结构。这也是学术英语中极其常见的标准句法。