以2011年考研真題為例, A選項段尾句Not surprisingly, up to half of all doctoral students in English drop out before getting their degrees.和C選項段首句Equally unsurprisingly, only about half end up with professorships for which they entered graduate school.有兩個表述需要注意,這就是not surprisingly和equally unsurprisingly,它們在語義上是順承的關系,段落主要內容都是人文學科專業化所產生的問題。所以它們應該連在一起,而且是AC排序。
[A] No disciplines have seized on professionalism with as much enthusiasm as the humanities. 具有首段特點。
[B] His concern is mainly with the humanities: Literature, languages, philosophy and so on.句中有不明指代詞his,不具備首段特點,排除。
[C] Equally unsurprisingly, only about half end up with professorships for which they entered graduate school. There are simply too few posts.Equally同樣的,肯定還有上文,不具有首段特點。
[D] One reason why it is hard to design and teach such courses is that they can cut across the insistence by top American universities that liberal-arts educations and professional education should be kept separate, taught in different schools.one reason表示原因,開篇不可能直接談原因,排除。
[E] Besides professionalizing the professions by this separation, top American universities have professionalised the professor. Besides, 表示此外,肯定還有上文,排除。
[F] The key to reforming higher education, concludes Mr Menand, is to alter the way in which “the producers of knowledge are produced.”concludes表示總結,一般不會在首段出現,而且在尾段出現的幾率比較大。
[G] The subtle and intelligent little book The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University should be read by every student thinking of applying to take a doctoral degree. 具備首段特點。
然后我們比較A、G選項,結合文章各個段落的內容,G選項更符合首段的特點,提出了本文將要討論的對象,即The Marketplace of Ideas,文章接下來進行分析論證。