Postgraduate Entrance Exam English Cloze Test and Blank Filling Reading

Author: Zhang Xiaomin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Cloze test is absolutely not about guessing based on "intuition," but requires a rational set of problem-solving methods based on a deep understanding of the principles behind cloze test question-setting. Many candidates are very familiar with cloze tests, but they have never grasped the fundamental principles and essential characteristics of cloze test question-setting at a deeper level. As a result, when solving cloze test questions, they can only rely on "intuition" to guess answers, and this approach of relying on "intuition" is precisely contrary to the question-setting logic of cloze tests. The question-setters' "meticulous design" in placing 20 blanks within a self-contained, complete article is not to expect candidates to ignore the structure and layout of the cloze passage or the inherent relationships within the context, and instead rely on "intuition" to directly guess answers. This book introduces to a broad range of candidates a brand-new approach and method for solving cloze tests—the "Clue-based Analysis Method" (also known as "Clue-based Cloze Solving"): that is, the question-setters place 20 blanks within an article, and the cloze passage contains both unknown information (the 20 blanks) and known information. For each blank, the question-setter has designed the necessary clues to solve it, and these clues are distributed within the known information of the passage. Therefore, to solve an unknown blank, one must first locate all the known information points (clues) in the passage that are related to this unknown blank. By analyzing and summarizing these known information points, one can follow the clues to deduce the answer to the unknown blank. This problem-solving method requires candidates to conduct a layered analysis, from the overall structure and layout of the passage to the contextual relationships and even the internal structure of sentences, to train them in identifying relevant known clues at various levels related to the unknown blanks. Thus, this method is entirely consistent with the question-setting logic and principles of cloze tests.