◎ 經典考題示範：

一 、 文意字彙

1. Nearly 1,000 tornadoes ripped across the U.S. heartland in 2011, killing more than

500 people and $9 billion in damage.

(a) evolving (b) inflicting (c) conjuring (d) meditating

正解：(B)

由空格前之對著連接詞 and 及其前的分詞結構 killing more than 500 people 可知空格中應填入相對應的分詞，而由空格後的 $ 9 billion in damage(9 億美元的損失 ) 來判斷，應填入可表達 「造成」損害的 (b) inflicting (a)evolving 指「進化」(c) conjuring 為「唸咒召喚」之意一 (d) meditaing 指「冥想」，皆不符題意。2.Student numbers are growing as the economy places knowledge at a , and traditional blue-collar jobs migrate in search of lower wages and production costs.

正解：(B)

本題考的是慣用語的用法， at a premium 為「價值很高」之意，而 place knowledge at a premium 則指「非常重視知識」 (a) pendulum( 鐘擺 ) ， (c)uranium( 鈾 ) ， (d)vacuum( 真空 ) 皆與題意毫不相干，不過須注意本題四個選項皆以 -um 結尾，明顯有混淆應試者視聽之目的應小心。

二、同義表達

1.Whether or not the artistic quality of the bullfight outweighs the moral question of the animals' suffering is something that each person must decide for themselves.

(a) Everyone has his/her interpretation on whether the beauty of the bullfight is more important than the suffering of the bull.

(b) People in our society are forced to decide whether the artistic quality of the bullfight is more valuable than the suffering of the animal.

(c) Whether the bullfight is an art or a moral issue is a question to which each person has an answer.

(d) In our society, some consider the bullfight an artistic performance rather than an act of murder and of inflicting pain.

正解： (A)

本題的重點在於了解動詞 outweigh 的意思， outweigh 在此應解釋成 be more important than ，選項 (a) 為最佳答案，注意：原句中的 each person must decide for themselves 就相當於 (a) 中的 Everyone has his/her interpretation 另，原句中的 the animals' suffering 則被代換成 the suffering of the bull 。

2.The American Dream is so associated with immigrants' hopes that incomers' experiences are a good place to start sampling a widespread literary dissatisfaction with America .

(a) The American Dream is all about immigrants' hopes for a better life, but many Americans start writing about the dark side of America in order to stop the influx of immigrants.

(b) The American Dream is built upon immigrants' dreams for a better future and also their fear of not being able to fulfill their dreams.

(c) The American Dream is built upon immigrants' wishful thinking for a better life, and yet many accounts of the immigrants speak of their disillusion with such a dream place.

(d) The American Dream is all about immigrants' dreams for a better life, but many new immigrants start experiencing the bitterness of such sweet dreams.

正解：( C )

本題的重點在於理解 that 子句的意涵，這個句子要表達的是：從移民者關於自身經驗的文字敘述中 literary 就可以感受到他們大多數人對美國是失望、不滿的dissatisfaction ，換句話說，他們原先所懷抱的「美國夢」 ”The American Dream” 都已破滅。而與這個意思相符的只有選項 (c) 。注意， (c) 中提到的 wishful thinking 指「一廂情願的想法」、 accounts 指「描述、記事」、 disillusion 指「理想破滅」。

三、克漏字

Not long after this, William Harvey, an English physician, discovered the method by which blood circulates in humans and other animals and in 1628 published his findings in the historic treatise “On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals.”

由空格後的關係代名詞 which 可知，其前應為其先行代名詞，但由空格前已有的名詞 the method 來判斷，本題應屬於「介系詞＋關係代名詞」引導關係子句作為形容詞修飾其先行詞的結構。而由 which 之後的 blood circulates in humans and other nimals 來判斷，這部份結構要表達的是：血液在人類和其他動物內「藉以」循環的方式，而能表示「藉以」之意的介系詞只有選項「 By 」。

試卷評析

此一份試題再次顯示單字能力在公職考試中的重要性。事實上，除了文意字彙部份外，在克漏字的五個考題中也有三題考的是字彙，而出現的單字則多屬中、高程度，有些字，如 「 dichotomy 」 （二分法）， plethora （過剩），都還是 TOEFL 及 GRE 的常客。另外，此次考試也考了慣用語的用法，如 at a premium 和 bursting at the seams ( 過度擁擠，原意為 「撐破接縫線」。整體而言，要在本次考試中取得高分並不容易，若想獲得絕對高分的人更必須掌握難度較高的四題同義表達。

建議正在準備考公職的人不要「為考試而英文」，應該「為英文而英文」，也就是，平常就應多多接觸英文、多看、多記，認識的單字越多，取得高分的機率就越大。