GRE閱讀｜It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people－熱血背包客莊ㄟ

It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry took them out of the household, their traditional sphere, and fundamentally altered their position in society. In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician, warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the social, legal, and economic subordination of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole female sex into public industry." Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization's effects, but they agreed that it would transform women's lives.

Historians, particularly those investigating the history of women, now seriously question this assumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution was largely an extension of an older pattern of employment of young, single women as domestics. It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880's created a new class of "dead-end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work." The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.

Women's work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labor remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.

1.Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

(A) The effects of the mechanization of women’s work have not borne out the frequently held assumption that new technology is inherently revolutionary.

(B) Recent studies have shown that mechanization revolutionizes a society’s traditional values and the customary roles of its members.

(D) The mechanization of work creates whole new classes of jobs that did not previously exist.

(E) The mechanization of women’s work, while extremely revolutionary it its effects, has not, on the whole, had the deleterious effects that some critics had feared.

2.The author mentions all of the following inventions as examples of dramatic technological innovations EXCEPT the

(A) sewing machine

(B) vacuum cleaner

(D) telephone

(E) spinning jenny

3.It can be inferred from the passage that, before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of women`s work was done in which of the following settings?

(A) Textile mills

(B) Private households

(D) Factories

(E) Small shops

4.It can be inferred from the passage that the author would consider which of the following to be an indication of a fundamental alteration in the conditions of women`s work?

(A) Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy white-collar positions

(B) Interviews with married men indicating that they are now doing some household tasks

(C) Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers outnumber men four to one

(D) Census results showing that working women’s wages and salaries are, on the average, as high as those of working men

(E) Enrollment figures from universities demonstrating that increasing numbers of young women are choosing to continue their education beyond the undergraduate level

5.The passage states that, before the twentieth century, which of the following was true of many employers?

(A) They did not employ women in factories.

(B) They tended to employ single rather than married women.

(D) They resisted technological innovations that would radically change women’s roles in the family.

(E) They hired women only when qualified men were not available to fill the open positions.

6.It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably believes which of the following to be true concerning those historians who study the history of women?

(A) Their work provides insights important to those examining social phenomena affecting the lives of both sexes.

(B) Their work can only be used cautiously by scholars in other disciplines.

(C) Because they concentrate only on the role of women in the workplace, they draw more reliable conclusions than do other historians.

(D) While highly interesting, their work has not had an impact on most historians’ current assumptions concerning the revolutionary effect of technology in the workplace.

(E) They oppose the further mechanization of work, which, according to their findings, tends to perpetuate existing inequalities in society.

7.Which of the following best describes the function of the concluding sentence of the passage?

(A) It sums up the general points concerning the mechanization of work made in the passage as a whole.

(B) It draws a conclusion concerning the effects of the mechanization of work which goes beyond the evidence presented in the passage as a whole.

(D) It qualifies the author's agreement with scholars who argue for a major revision in the assess-ment of the impact of mechanization on soci-ety.

(E) It suggests a compromise between two seem-ingly contradictory views concerning the effects of mechanization on society.

結構分析：

It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry took them out of the household, their traditional sphere, and fundamentally altered their position in society. （開頭立馬看到舉例訊號字，這句話自動刪除）In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician, warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity.（這句話中間無轉折詞，表示延續上一句邏輯，然而上一句邏輯在講舉例，這句話又再加上時間標定，那更是舉例中的舉例，一個細節到不行的句子，所以跳過，還管他有沒有婦德femininity，不拿單字來消耗大腦記憶體內存） Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the social, legal, and economic subordination of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole female sex into public industry.關係代名詞沒必要去注意，" Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization's effects, but they agreed that it would transform women's lives.

本來最後一句也想刪除，可是在看到句內轉折詞but之後便放下屠刀，給他機會，他所在位置的主詞是一種人，一個人講某件事代表一個觀點，所以這邊蒐集到第三個觀點，請看到藍色部分就可以知道了，因此來整理一下：第一觀點是大眾的認知，算是已經被廣泛認同了，因此他代表大家的意見，內容是機械化有影響，這影響是很革命性的，然後影響層面是人跟社會，這就是大概內容，再簡化一點就是機械化『大大』影響人跟社會，這裡就別耍憨還故意翻譯成：『俗話說的好，工作崗位的機械化具有一種革命性的影響，這衝擊反映在這群操作新機器的人他們的生活上也影響到這個生活被機器入侵的社會。』請盡量把GRE內容改成數學符號，這種考試是給理工生考的，所以多少還是要帶入一點代數概念，接著觀點二就是他了 Friedrich Engels，然後However後面出現的東西理當跟前面句子邏輯相反，所以應該是朝著：衝擊不大的方向走，可是發現跟原文好像對不起來，看到開頭 women would be liberated這裡出發點是女人，女人是人的一部分，然後liberated解放了by technological developments，藉由科技發展解放了，看完這裡之後再回去對應主題句這裡很有對應的味道，原本文章架構只有講影響到『人』這人有分很多種啊，倒底是ＬＧＢＴ的哪一個（一種三明治的配料簡稱Lettuce, Garlic, Bacon, Tomato），選擇很多，在此我這裡就給你一個『女人』，『機械化』我就對應到科技發展，革命性的影響就對應到被解放，兩倆互相對應的結果就是補充說明，順向邏輯怎麼來個However，因此我的假設要重新修正，他應該是針對他的上一句話在做轉折，反駁上一句，剛好上面有個人名Jules Simon（隱藏的第四觀點），原來是觀點對立，可是上一句話是舉例的細節，如此一來我就可以跳過不看了，就算他有However也一樣，最後再結合最後一句話。

Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization's effects

有表示結論的訊號字還是要關心一下，當中的social desirability這是在對應上面舉例的『femininity VS. liberity』（照理說我不會知道他們的對比性因為他是細節會被我刻意忽略掉，我只是剛好喵到femininity他太特別了稍微有印象，再加上liberity出現於那個後來被我踢掉的轉折句子裡，剛好兜起來形成對立面也符合differed），因此我可以進一步推敲，observes當中就是Jules Simon VS. Friedrich Engels，可是瑞凡『Everything before the word "But" is bullshit』都變大便了何必關心，你沒必要說這大便是昨天吃龍蝦出來的大便，雖算是大便中的霸主，終究還是大便，還是要沖走，下面才是重點，於是就邊唱let it go~let it go，往下看。

『but』 they agreed that it would transform women's lives.

這樣得到了結果就是確實有衝擊而且是衝擊在女子的身上，好的，文章的風向球已經默默地講這個衝擊事件的影響是針對於女性來討論。讀完之後，注意到mechanization，revolutionary effect，women's lives

Historians, particularly those investigating the history of women,（同位語修飾哪類的歷史學家，這沒意義啊，騙稿費用的，反正是另一個觀點的代號罷了，記H即可） now seriously question this assumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution was largely an extension of an older pattern of employment of young, single women as domestics. It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880's created a new class of "dead-end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work." The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.

看完兩句話之後，很明顯句子準備要轉折了，給了質疑question以及反駁not resulted in equally dramatic social changes，這句就是反駁整個第一段的觀點，而且隨著這個反駁假設文章後面沒有在反駁回來，這就是最終作者意見，好的沒事了，看完第一句之後就直接跳看下一段了，哇靠怎麼會這麼爽，以下都不用看，是的沒錯，就是這麼神奇，傑克！！因為紫色部分已經說明一切了，我的主幹是被限定在討論女性同胞在機械化時代下的衝擊，可是接下來的內容是young women，single women，married women，阿這不都是女人，只是階段性的身份不同而已啊～蘿莉，熟女，人妻，差別就在這裡，可是他們還是一樣都是女性阿，由此可知把女性的各層面來細分，那也是屬於舉例細節了，看了只會被長難句給困住，所以就飛吧～～～fly away不管流下多少眼淚。為您整理本段精華：Historians believe that innovations did not resulted in social changes

阿對了這裡有小知識，such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner 不用想太多，such...as...直接把as當作等號，以下分四組：

dramatic technological innovations＝the spinning jenny

dramatic technological innovations＝the sewing machine

dramatic technological innovations＝the typewriter

dramatic technological innovations＝the vacuum cleaner

你可以把他當作舉例，因為前面概念，後面具體，所以是一種概念帶說明舉例的結構，所以寫作用到like / such as的舉例的話，把這組猜開帶入『Such 概念名詞 as 具體名詞』，瞬間讓你英文水平升級，不需背模板，不需補習，只需改變排列組合，不廢話了都飛起來，速度不能降，進入第三段，而且我猜這裡舉出四個例子啊就這麼剛好GRE有五個選項，可以見得其玄外之音。

看到開頭我又想跳了，開頭說到女性的工作變化如何，不過我幹媽關心啊，他的變化是從家庭主婦，轉職變成ＯＬ，或是廠區女工，這已經在討論工作內容了，這跟我的主軸（women's lives包括了吃喝拉撒睡，這裡只有點出工作的部分，所以也是細節劃分）無關啊，這我只是覺得是延續上一段的女子三狀態的各自工作情形而已，然後再看到However，每次看到轉折詞就好像看到正妹一樣，會興奮不已，對比立見changed considerably in the past 200 years VS. changed little since before the Industrial Revolution，這代表本段邏輯是『不改變』，

小補充：

這兩句有用到BUT封裝技巧，第二段尾是不改變的邏輯，可是這裡開頭是改變邏輯，接一個轉折之後，再補個『不改變』，第二段跟第三段的承接有點霸王硬上鉤，邏輯不相容中間無轉折性副詞，相反的however, 是到第二句才有，原因就是接下來第三段的最後兩句也是『非改變』的邏輯，所以大三段唯獨第一句邏輯是『改變』，因此弄出一個封裝，其用意跟句內轉折如出一徹，即為Although.....changed considerably , ...changed little，不用再多搞個邏輯轉折。

接下來最後來到文章的最後兩句，為何要抓起來一起看呢？因為最後一句話有個even，這是加強語氣啊，所以是延續上一句話的邏輯繼續發展的，故！這段話看到even之後直接忽略不計，看到上一句即可

Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society.

Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.

給出一個全新的答案，revision又是一個新觀點，就是technology＝effects這是『自發性的改變』，不加熱不加壓不加催化劑，然而這個revolutionary technology就是概念，Mechanization這是具體例證，然後別管他slowed any change機械化會造成傳統婦女地位改變的阻礙，這意就是『反駁第一段』的邏輯。

看完之後發現，文章的對立非常明顯，開頭的第一段第一句，直接對比第二段整個內容，接著第一段第二句去對比第三段內容，先比概念，比完再拿工作狀況比較雖然第三段開頭是說工作性質改變很大，這是沒錯，但是後方掛轉折，使得前方的東西一秒變格格的屁話，作者重視的還是在工作情況下低薪，低就等等問題還是沒變，最後得出一組修正，新科技本身自帶革命流量，他們倆沒有前後因果關係（result in），他們是同時共存的(and)，接著最後一句話還幫腔，說到可能還阻礙改變，藉此文章立場由改變轉為沒任何連接關係（不改變）。

1.Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

(A) The effects of the mechanization of women’s work have not borne out the frequently held assumption that new technology is inherently revolutionary.

(B) Recent studies have shown that mechanization revolutionizes a society’s traditional values and the customary roles of its members.

(D) The mechanization of work creates whole new classes of jobs that did not previously exist.

(E) The mechanization of women’s work, while extremely revolutionary it its effects, has not, on the whole, had the deleterious effects that some critics had feared.

解題：

重點不是那個總結summarizes而是那個main idea，怎麼判斷，首先來決定要看第幾段，首先剛剛提過第三段是在細節裡打轉，結尾轉出新的東西，先忽略新東西的話，細節當然不main了，刪除，接下來第二段的命運如何，100%爆火猛烈攻擊第一段，不過話說第二段都在講反例子既然是舉例我就沒有看了，沒有看表示對解題來說是多餘的垃圾，二段在座的每個句子都被視為垃圾了怎麼可能還能進入main idea的菁英中心，所以再怎麼找都是在第一段裡面盤旋，插撥一下，所以才會有很多人說托福聽力的第一題考點都在前面幾句，而唯一能配得上中心思想的，那就是主題句了啊，因此It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced.然後這個主旨後來被打槍，最後第三段的尾巴提出新概念revolutionary effect have not borne out inherence ，因此兩者是處於對立邏輯，（Ａ）選項not borne out就是不等於的意思，那（Ａ）選項仔細看不就是『第一段＝（-）第三段尾新觀點』的合體，白話一點就是問你打槍後的最後觀點是啥，那才是main ideal，選（Ａ）

2.The author mentions all of the following inventions as examples of dramatic technological innovations EXCEPT the

(A) sewing machine

(B) vacuum cleaner

(D) telephone

(E) spinning jenny

懶得寫了，選（Ｄ）

3.It can be inferred from the passage that, before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of women`s work was done in which of the following settings?

(A) Textile mills

(B) Private households

(D) Factories

(E) Small shops

解題：

推理題就是注意時間跟對象，這裡提到before the Industrial Revolution，這表示在做時間對比題型，所以題目在引導我們去文章找到一個實在講述Industrial Revolution後的內容，然後再『取反』就是答案拉，這時間對象不同一定是考對比題啊，譬如說早上七點鐘我起床了，另外一意思就說，我今天早上七點還沒到我在睡覺，沒有起床，是的，時間對比就是考這麼白痴的問題，你不可能考不同時間發生相同的事，因為這樣沒必要在時間段上做出區隔，一定是不一樣才會特別標注時間，這也是論文的特色。所以找到以下那句話之後把內容取反就可以開始刪選項了。

Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labor remains demanding.

哈哈找這句就中招了啊，推理題啊，不會直接給你答案的，是這句才對。

4.It can be inferred from the passage that the author would consider which of the following to be an indication of a fundamental alteration in the conditions of women`s work?

(A) Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy white-collar positions

(B) Interviews with married men indicating that they are now doing some household tasks

(C) Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers outnumber men four to one

(D) Census results showing that working women’s wages and salaries are, on the average, as high as those of working men

(E) Enrollment figures from universities demonstrating that increasing numbers of young women are choosing to continue their education beyond the undergraduate level

解題：

喔喔剛剛不小心找錯的那句話是考這一題，因為fundamental alteration in the conditions

Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labor remains demanding.

後面冒號的東西是在ＩＲ前changed little的內容，因此他們的內容取反，答案就出來了，可是為何要取反呢？changed little表示沒有改，題目的alteration表示改。對象對立，故，內容取反，一招用遍GRE，找個非低薪的就好拉～很明顯答案一定不是台灣，幹～我們真的很可憐耶，辛辛苦苦工作一個月還買不起一個火星人布魯諾的24K magic，選（Ｄ）

5.The passage states that, before the twentieth century, which of the following was true of many employers?

(A) They did not employ women in factories.

(B) They tended to employ single rather than married women.

(D) They resisted technological innovations that would radically change women’s roles in the family.

(E) They hired women only when qualified men were not available to fill the open positions.

解題：

單純的細節題，

The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.

less to do with 直接等價成『ㄧ』負號，然後比較法more A than B可以給他取極限值Ｘ→無限大，那個ＡＢ可以趨近於相反，在整理一次，

numbers of married women employed outside the home 不等於 mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women

numbers of married women employed outside the home 等於 economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.

這些都是所謂in the twentieth century 內容，而重點位於than後面，因此答案區會在economic necessity and with high marriage rates，題目要問的是before，這裡唯一可以對應到的就是single women workers previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire. （這是single woman的關係代名詞），所以二十世紀以前單身女子限定，選（Ｂ）

6.It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably believes which of the following to be true concerning those historians who study the history of women?

(A) Their work provides insights important to those examining social phenomena affecting the lives of both sexes.

(B) Their work can only be used cautiously by scholars in other disciplines.

(C) Because they concentrate only on the role of women in the workplace, they draw more reliable conclusions than do other historians.

(D) While highly interesting, their work has not had an impact on most historians’ current assumptions concerning the revolutionary effect of technology in the workplace.

(E) They oppose the further mechanization of work, which, according to their findings, tends to perpetuate existing inequalities in society.

解題：

作者想法就是邏輯的最終點，歷史學家就是第二段大篇幅報導的，兩者都是『不改變』，選（Ａ）

7.Which of the following best describes the function of the concluding sentence of the passage?

(A) It sums up the general points concerning the mechanization of work made in the passage as a whole.

(B) It draws a conclusion concerning the effects of the mechanization of work which goes beyond the evidence presented in the passage as a whole.

(D) It qualifies the author's agreement with scholars who argue for a major revision in the assessment of the impact of mechanization on soci-ety.

(E) It suggests a compromise between two seemingly contradictory views concerning the effects of mechanization on society.

解題：

問功能就是修辭目的題，要探討句子間關係，不是單一句子的重點，關鍵字the concluding sentence讓我找到

They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women's work.

They是第二段第一句“歷史學家”，他們在文章是扮演可愛又迷人的反派角色啊，只有（Ｂ） goes beyond能表示負面的情緒，字面上翻譯叫做『扯遠了』，但是其實看到 goes beyond直接當作『取非』，『負號』即可，選項the effects of the mechanization of work就是開頭第一句話，evidence就是第二段嗆聲內容，兩者邏輯關係取反，選（Ｂ）

補充：（Ａ）sums up the general points正面，（Ｃ）restates正面，（Ｄ）author's agreement 正面，（Ｅ）compromise正面

以上筆記供大夥參考若有錯誤再煩請指教