名師指導：SAT 閱讀之假設題解題思路--理解與推理

在 SAT 閱讀中有一類題型，叫做假設題。這類題型不僅涉及到對於定位點句子的理解，其理解的原理還在一定程度上涉及到邏輯關係的推理。

這一類題題面的基本特徵就是含有一個詞 assumption。通常題目會問文章的某幾行，是基於什麼樣的一個假設（basedon 或 restson）。既然是問一個假設，那麼顯然就是問原文能夠成立的條件是怎樣的。在 SAT 的閱讀考試當中，通常能在出題點看到的是導致的某個結果，或可達到的某個目的。比如問一個方法基於什麼樣的假設，意思就是說要達到某個目的，這樣的方法為什麼能夠有效。

具體思路為，若把原文看成 B，選項看成 A，那麼 A 是 B 的假設，意思就是說若 A 成立 B 就一定成立（由 A一定能推出 B），而若 B 成立 A 不一定成立（即 B 不一定能推出 A）。比如說，你想長壽，就要少抽煙少喝酒，這句話基於什麼假設就是只要少抽煙少喝酒就一定能長壽。

做題的時候，理解出題點後要對自己提問為什麼出題點的內容能夠成立，在五個選項中找到一個選項，能夠符合這個提問。

例如 OG 中 900 頁：

My physiotherapist expressed himself similarly: "Adaptation follows a different path in each person. The nervous system creates its own paths. You are the neurologist-you must see this all the time.

The physiotherapist's remarks (lines 36-39) reveal the assumption that

A. patients have complete control over the progress of their recovery

B. each neurologist follows a different path to understanding

C. all neurologists are aware of the nervous system's adaptability

D. the author is inadequately informed about the intricacies of the muscular system

E. some neurologists consider both healthy and injured brain processes to be parallel

題目問理療師的話揭示了一個什麼假設。理療師的意思是：適應對於每個人來說都是基於不同的路徑的。神經系統創建了它自己的路徑，你就是那個神經學家，你必須時時刻刻看到這一點。意思也就是說你作為一個神經學家，必須時刻瞭解神經系統創建不同的適應的不同路徑。理解選項後可以發現，只有 C 選項 “所有的神經學家都對神經系統的適應性有意識” 成立時，這句話才是能夠成立的，其他的都為不相關項。

再如某年5月的真題：

1. I had been trained in the tradition of acting called "psychological realism". A basic tenet of psychological realism is that characters live inside of you and that you create a lifelike portrayal of the character through a process of realizing your own similarity to the character. When I later became a teacher of acting, I began to became more and more troubled by the self-oriented method. I began to look for ways to engage my students in putting themselves in other people's shoes. This went against the grain of the psychological realism tradition, which was to get the character to walk into a classroom of people in their real lives.

The author's explanation in the fourth paragraph suggests that the "self-oriented method" (line 45) rests on the assumption that

A. audience members appreciate complex nuance of character

B. the playwright's biography provides the main evidence for interpreting character

C. actors have already felt the full range of human emotions

D. actors are extremely independent and self-serving people.

E. Actors' lives become fulfilled through their dramatic portrayals.

可以看到題面所問的 self-orientedmethod 就是文中說到的 psychologicalrealism。而這個方法的一個基本理念就是角色就住在你體內，你通過一個實現自身與角色相似性的過程，來創造一個活生生的對角色的扮演。為什麼這個方法能夠成立呢，為什麼能夠通過實現自身與角色相似性的過程，來創造活生生的角色扮演呢？顯然，只有選項中的C選項“演員已經體會過了所有人類情感”成立，這一點才能夠成立。

從以上例題也可看出，假設題是不能排除極端選項的。由於是從選項能推出原文，通常的正解甚至都是帶有極端詞的。