GRE阅读真题机经及答案解析系列：Passage 87 || GRE阅读真题免费下载

市面上流传的GRE阅读机经真题有三百多篇，同时又存在多种版本的答案和解析，有些疑难题目让考生不知道听谁的，还有些版本的解析像是用谷歌翻译把同题目和选项翻译了一下。厚朴GRE认为，GRE阅读的解析，可以讲得再清楚一点。

GRE不光有技巧，不光有快速解题法，GRE更加考察大家的逻辑硬实力，文字理解实打实的深度。良好的GRE备考应当在课堂上向老师学习快速解题法，取同取反逻辑的同时，课下扎扎实实的读懂每一句话。读懂，是一切技巧使用的前提。皮之不存，毛将焉附？

有感于此，我们尝试用比较长的时间，原创一个解析，力求做到超详细，大白话，包你懂。之前为大家推送了Passage1-86的解析，今天继续为大家推出Passage 87（中文章）解析，这篇阅读一共有3段，共3道题，厚朴GRE版超详细「包你懂」系列对此篇文章进行了清楚地解析。

Passage 87

What accounts for the low-lying, flat surface of Mars’s north? On Earth’s surface, higher- and lower-lying areas have different types of crust: one, thin and dense, is pulled toward Earth’s center more strongly by gravity, and the planet’s water naturally comes to sit over it, creating oceans. The processes that generate this oceanic crust drive plate tectonics.

Is Mars’s north similarly characterized by a sort of crust different from other areas of the planet? Some researchers do see signs of tectonic activity surrounding the northern basin that suggest that it was created through the formation of new crust, like ocean basins on Earth. However, McGill points to Northern bedrock structures that predate the features said to mark the start of the tectonic process. McGill instead believes that through some novel mechanism the ancient surface sank to its current depth as a single unit. This would explain why features around the basin’s edge, which would have formed as the surface dropped, seem to be younger than structures at its floor.

The third possibility is that the northern lowlands result from impacts. Some researchers suggest they formed as a series of big overlapping impact craters. Others arguing that the odds against such a pattern of impacts are large, postulate a single event-the impact of an object bigger than any asteroid the solar system now contains.

文章解析

第一段：

第一句：
What accounts for the low-lying, flat surface of Mars’s north?

白话版讲解：

文章第一句话提出现象，是什么原因导致火星的北部地区出现地势低洼、表面平坦的情况？

第二句：
On Earth’s surface, higher- and lower-lying areas have different types of crust: one, thin and dense, is pulled toward Earth’s center more strongly by gravity, and the planet’s water naturally comes to sit over it, creating oceans.

白话版讲解：

在地球上，地势较高的区域和地势较低的区域，其地壳是不一样的：比较薄、密度比较大的地壳会因为重力原因而往地球中心靠拢，地球上的水会自然而然地从这些地壳流过，由此形成海洋。

第三句：
The processes that generate this oceanic crust drive plate tectonics.

白话版讲解：

这种形成海洋地壳的过程就促使了地壳板块运动的产生。

第二段：

第一句：
Is Mars’s north similarly characterized by a sort of crust different from other areas of the planet?

白话版讲解：

火星北部的地壳和其它区域的地壳是否像地球一样，其不同区域的地壳也会存在差异呢（即中心的地壳更薄、密度更高）？

第二句：
Some researchers do see signs of tectonic activity surrounding the northern basin that suggest that it was created through the formation of new crust, like ocean basins on Earth.

白话版讲解：

有些研究人员在火星北部的盆地确实发现了地壳板块运动的迹象，而这些迹象表明火星北部盆地是在新地壳的形成过程中产生的（正如地球上的海洋盆地一样）。

第三句：
However, McGill points to Northern bedrock structures that predate the features said to mark the start of the tectonic process.

白话版讲解：

但是，McGill 发现北部的基岩结构形成的时间，要早于那些标志着地壳板块运动开始的特征形成的时间。（这句话表明 McGill 不同意前面研究人员的观点。如果火星北部盆地是在地壳形成过程中产生的，那么盆地所在区域的结构特征应该和地壳板块运动的形成时间差不多，而不是比后者更早。）

第四句：
McGill instead believes that through some novel mechanism the ancient surface sank to its current depth as a single unit.

白话版讲解：

McGill 认为火星北部的表面在很早以前，用某种与众不同的方式下层到了现在的深度。

第五句：
This would explain why features around the basin’s edge, which would have formed as the surface dropped, seem to be younger than structures at its floor.

白话版讲解：

这就可以解释为什么北部盆地边缘的结构特征比盆地底部的结构特征，形成的时间要晚一些。而盆地边缘的结构特征在表面下沉的时候形成的。

第三段：

第一句：
The third possibility is that the northern lowlands result from impacts.

白话版讲解：

第三种可能性是火星北部的洼地是由于撞击形成的。

第二句：
Some researchers suggest they formed as a series of big overlapping impact craters.

白话版讲解：

有些研究人员认为它们其实就是一系列的大型陨石坑。（因为连续的撞击而形成的）

第三句：
Others arguing that the odds against such a pattern of impacts are large, postulate a single event-the impact of an object bigger than any asteroid the solar system now contains.

白话版讲解：

其他人则认为这种连续被撞击的情况很少见，他们认为火星北部的洼地可能是被某个天体撞了一次之后形成的，这个天体的体积比任何现有的小行星都要大。

题目解析

1.The primary purpose of the passage is to

A. explore an analogy between aspects of the geology of Mars and the geology of Earth.

B. describe how a certain feature of Mars’s surface formed.

C. point out the effect that new data has had on a scientific investigation.

D. summarize potential explanations of a large-scale geological feature.

E. present the rationale for a scientist’s theory and expose some of its weakness.

(查看答案)

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题目一：这道题问的是文章的主旨大意是什么？

这道题应该选 D。

A. 把火星上面的地理特质和地球上面的地理特质做了类比。（原文有提到，但是只是细节信息。）

B. 描述了火星表面上的某种特征是如何形成的。（原文对于火星北部的地理特征形成的方式并没有做详细描述，而是给出了不同的形成原因。）

C. 描述了新数据对某个科学研究所带来的影响。（原文没有提到新数据）

D. 总结了某个大规模的地理特征可能的形成原因。（原文描述了若干个针对火星北部地区是怎么形成的不同解释）

E. 对一个科学家的理论的基本原理进行了阐述，并且说明指出了这个基本原理的缺陷。

2 .Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about geological features on Earth

A. the relative elevation of the lowest-lying regions of the crust arises in part from forces generated within the planet.

B. the difference in elevation between the ocean basins and their surroundings is greater than the difference between Mars’s northern basin and its surroundings.

C. the formation of low-lying areas proceeds by a different process than the one that created Mars’s northern basin.

D. the weight of the oceans does not affect the depth of the ocean basins.

E. the proportions of the crust that is oceanic crust is increasing.

(查看答案)

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