2016年SAT改革已经离大家越来越近了，我们出来要理解形式上的改变，还要细致研究一下题型上的变动，下面通过举例前程百利独家解读SAT阅读改革帮助大家了解SAT阅读题目的内容上的变动，希望大家多多关注。
《Edith Wharton/Ethan From》背景介绍：
Ethan和Zeena是一对恩爱的夫妻。由于Zenna操劳过度，身体总是病恹恹的。眼看着Zeena的身体一天不如一天，还要操持家务，Ethan觉得非常心疼，他们决定找一个帮佣来帮助Zeena，顺便也可以照顾一下Zeena的病体。最终他们雇了一位年轻漂亮的女孩Mattie Silver来他们家里帮忙。这个女孩总是精力充沛，活泼外向。渐渐的，这样有活力的女孩引起了Ethan的主意，他们两人无法自拔的坠入了爱河。
第一段：Ethan第一次看见Mattie时就喜欢上了她，觉得她像是一束光给自己冷清的生活带来活力 (But it was not only that the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth. The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her)
第二段：Ethan觉得自己对自然美景有一种常人无法理解的感伤情绪(He did not even know whether anyone else in the world felt as he did, or whether he was the sole victim of this mournful privilege.)而当他和Mattie在一起时，他觉得终于有人能够跟他心灵相通，做他的知己(When she said to him once: “It looks just as if it was painted!” it seemed to Ethan that the art of definition could go no farther, and that words had at last been found to utter his secret soul....)
第三段，Ethan看到社交场合的Mattie，才意识到他原本以为Mattie只有跟他在一起时才会流露的感情和动作，其实并非他独有(The face she lifted to her dancers was the same which, when she saw him, always looked like a window that has caught the sunset.)，而自己居然以为她真的对自己无聊的谈话感兴趣。
This passage is adapted from Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, originally published in 1911. Mattie Silver is Ethan’s household employee.
这篇文章节选自《Edith Wharton/Ethan From》发表于1911年，Mattie Silver 是这个家里的帮佣。
Mattie Silver had lived under Ethan’s roof for a year, and from early morning till they met at supper he had frequent chances of seeing her; but no moments in her company were comparable to those when, her arm in his, and her light step flying to keep time with his long stride, they walked back through the night to the farm. He had taken to the girl from the first day, when he had driven over to the Flats to meet her, and she had smiled and waved to him from the train, crying out, “You must be Ethan!” as she jumped down with her bundles, housework while he reflected, looking over her slight person: “She don’t look much on housework, but she ain’t a fretter, anyhow.” But it was not only that the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth. The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her. She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will.
It was during their night walks back to the farm that he felt most intensely the sweetness of this communion. He had always been more sensitive than the people about him to the appeal of natural beauty. His unfinished studies had given form to this sensibility and even in his unhappiest moments field and sky spoke to him with a deep and powerful persuasion. But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it. He did not even know whether any one else in the world felt as he did, or whether he was the sole victim of this mournful privilege. Then he learned that one other spirit had trembled with the same touch of wonder: that at his side, living under his roof and eating his bread, was a creature to whom he could say: “That’s Orion down yonder; the big fellow to the right is Aldebaran, and the bunch of little ones—like bees swarming—they’re the Pleiades...” or whom he could hold entranced before a ledge of granite thrusting up through the fern while he unrolled the huge panorama of the ice age, and the long dim stretches of succeeding time. The fact that admiration for his learning mingled with Mattie’s wonder at what he taught was not the least part of hispleasure. And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow. When she said to him once: “It looks just as if it was painted!” it seemed to Ethan that the art of definition could go no farther, and that words had at last been found to utter his secret soul....
As he stood in the darkness outside the church these memories came back with the poignancy of vanished things. Watching Mattie whirl down the floor from hand to hand he wondered how he could ever have thought that his dull talk interested her. To him, who was never gay but in her presence, her gaiety seemed plain proof of indifference. The face she lifted to her dancers was the same which, when she saw him, always looked like a window that has caught the sunset. He even noticed two or three gestures which, in his fatuity, he had thought she kept for him: a way of throwing her head back when she was amused, as if to taste her laugh before she let it out, and a trick of sinking her lids slowly when anything charmed or moved her.
1. Over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the
(A )reservations a character has about a person he has just met to a growing appreciation that character has of the person’s worth.
(B)ambivalence a character feels about his sensitive nature to the character’s recognition of the advantages of having profound emotions.
(C) intensity of feeling a character has for another person to the character’s concern that that intensity is not reciprocated.
(D) value a character attaches to the wonders of the natural world to a rejection of that sort of beauty in favor of human artistry.
答案：C
解析：考查文章结构
前两段是Ethan对Mattie的强烈感情，第三段Ethan意识到这种感情其实只是自己一厢情愿，并不是相互的
2. In the context of the passage, the author’s use of the phrase “her light step flying to keep time with his long stride” (line 4) is primarily meant to convey the idea that
(A) Ethan and Mattie share a powerful enthusiasm.
(B) Mattie strives to match the speed at which Ethan works.
(C) Mattie and Ethan playfully compete with each other.
(D) Ethan walks at a pace that frustrates Mattie.
答案：A
解析：黄昏时Mattie和Ethan手挽手一起回农场的这段路上，两人分享着自然美景给他们带来的感受，步伐轻快强调他们心情愉悦。
3.The description in the first paragraph indicates that what Ethan values most about Mattie is her
(A)fitness for farm labor.
(B) vivacious youth.
(C) receptive nature.
(D) freedom from worry.
答案：C
解析：Ethan第一次见到Mattie就喜欢上她了，因为她活泼，可爱，阳光，有活力。但是最重要的，在第一段结尾，Ethan强调“The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her. She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will.”这说明，Ethan更看重的是，这个女孩能感知这个世界，能够跟他交流，以此引出下一段他们能心灵相通的内容。
4. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
(A)Lines 1–5 (“Mattie...farm”)
(B) Lines 5–10 (“He had...anyhow”)
(C) Lines 10–11 (“But it...hearth”)
(D) Lines 12–15 (“She had...will”)
答案：D
解析：C. receptive nature.”的证据在第17-21行，即“She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will.”
5.The author includes the descriptions of the sunset, the clouds, and the hemlock shadows (lines34–36) primarily to
(A) suggest the peacefulness of the natural world.
(B) emphasize the acuteness of two characters’ sensations.
(C) foreshadow the declining fortunes of two characters.
(D) offer a sense of how fleeting time can be.
答案：B
解析：由“And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.”可知，眼前的日落、云朵和树木给他们两人一种较难定义却更加精致的感觉，让他们两人陷入一种无声的愉悦。结合后文，“When she said to him once: ‘It looks just as if it was painted!’ it seemed to Ethan that the art of definition could go no farther, and that words had at last been found to utter his secret soul….”当Mattie说眼前的景象好像一幅油画时，Ethan觉得这句话终于说出了他的心声。因此，这些景色描写的作用是突出Ethan和Mattie都对自然美景感觉敏锐，所以两人在非常细微的感官差别上似乎都能心灵相通。
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