劍橋雅思真題15閱讀解析：Why fairy tales

劍橋雅思真題15閱讀解析：Why fairy tales

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Why fairy tales are really scary tales

Some people think that fairy tales are Just stories to amuse children, but their

universal and enduring appeal may be due to more serious reasons

People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother's clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story - but which version? In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter hears her cries and comes to her rescue.

The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. 'It might be what we find interesting about this story is that ifs got this survival relevant information in it,' says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. 'We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,' he says. That hasn't stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society. Now Tehrani has found a way to test these ideas, borrowing a technique from evolutionary biologists.

To work out the evolutionary history, development and relationships among groups of organisms, biologists compare the characteristics of living species in a process called 'phylogenetic analysis'. Tehrani has used the same approach to compare related versions of fairy tales to discover how they have evolved and which elements have survived longest.

Tehrani's analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. Once his phylogenetic analysis had established that they were indeed related, he used the same methods to explore how they have developed and altered over time.

First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it - that visiting a relative, only to be met by a scary animal in disguise, is more fundamental than whether the visitor is a little girl or three siblings, or the animal is a tiger instead of a wolf.

However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. 'Certain episodes are very stable because they are crucial to the story, but there are lots of other details that can evolve quite freely, ' he says. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of events there compared with the beginning or the end.

But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. 'Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there - stuff that's relevant to survival,' he says. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?

The answer, it would appear, is fear - blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: 'In an oral context, a story won't survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when ifs told by someone who's not necessarily a great storyteller.' Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it's told.

Jack Zipes at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is unconvinced by Tehrani's views on fairy tales. 'Even if they're gruesome, they won't stick unless they matter,' he says. He believes the perennial theme of women as victims in stories like Little Red Riding Hood explains why they continue to feel relevant. But Tehrani points out that although this is often the case in Western versions, it is not always true elsewhere. In Chinese and Japanese versions, often known as The Tiger Grandmother, the villain is a woman, and in both Iran and Nigeria, the victim is a boy.

Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn't surprised by Tehrani's findings. 'Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that's designed to scare us - those are constant,' he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.

Questions 27-31

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27 In fairy tales, details of the plot

28 Tehran! rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales

29 Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales

30 Insights into the development of fairy tales

31 All the fairy tales analysed by Tehran!

A may be provided through methods used in biological research.

B are the reason for their survival.

C show considerable global variation.

D contain animals which transform to become humans.

E were originally spoken rather than written.

F have been developed without factual basis.

Questions 32-36

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below.

Write the correct letter, A-l, in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.

Phylogenetic analysis of Little Red Riding Hood

Tehrani used techniques from evolutionary biology to find out if 32………….. existed among 58 stories from around the world. He also wanted to know which aspects of the stories had fewest 33………….. as he believed these aspects would be the most important ones. Contrary to other beliefs, he found that some 34………….. that were included in a story tended to change over time, and that the middle of a story seemed no more important than the other parts. He was also surprised that parts of a story which seemed to provide some sort of 35………….. were unimportant. The aspect that he found most important in a story's survival was 36………….. .

Questions 37-40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

37 What method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy tales?

A He compared oral and written forms of the same stories.

B He looked at many different forms of the same basic story.

C He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries.

D He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of living creatures.

38 When discussing Tehrani's views, Jack Zipes suggests that

A Tehrani ignores key changes in the role of women.

B stories which are too horrific are not always taken seriously.

C Tehrani overemphasises the importance of violence in stories.

D features of stories only survive if they have a deeper significance.

39 Why does Tehrani refer to Chinese and Japanese fairy tales?

A to indicate that Jack Zipes' theory is incorrect

B to suggest that crime is a global problem

C to imply that all fairy tales have a similar meaning

D to add more evidence for Jack Zipes' ideas

40 What does Mathias Clasen believe about fairy tales?

A They are a safe way of learning to deal with fear.

B They are a type of entertainment that some people avoid.

C They reflect the changing values of our society.

D They reduce our ability to deal with real-world problems.

答案解析

Question 27

答案：C

關(guān)鍵詞：details of the plot

定位原文&解題思路：本題較難，文中并沒有明確的plot或details的直接對(duì)應(yīng)，但是第一段第一句說同樣的故事在不同地方的呈現(xiàn)形式不同。從第一段第四句開始，一直到第一段結(jié)束，說的是不同版本的小紅帽故事的內(nèi)容也不同，可以體現(xiàn)details of the plot在各個(gè)地方是不同的。

Question 28

答案：B

關(guān)鍵詞：Tehrani, idea, useful lessons

定位原文&解題思路：文中第二段第一句提到了idea，說童話中包含了警戒的信息。第二句里Tehrani說：“我們之所以對(duì)這個(gè)故事感興趣，可能是因?yàn)樗伺c生存相關(guān)的信息?！钡堑谌涞腂ut his research...卻表明了他的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)了相反的一面，反駁了之前自己的想法，文中的But對(duì)應(yīng)題干中的rejects。

Question 29

答案：F

關(guān)鍵詞：theories, social significance

定位原文&解題思路：第二段倒數(shù)第二句出現(xiàn)了theories和society。本句說：那并沒有阻止人類學(xué)家、民俗學(xué)家和其他學(xué)者提出一些理論來解釋童話在人類社會(huì)中的重要性。本句的難點(diǎn)在于要搞清楚句首的That指的是什么，所以要向前看一句。前一句說：“盡管我們知道這是一種非常古老的體裁，但我們對(duì)講故事的歷史和史前時(shí)期的認(rèn)識(shí)依然存在巨大差距?！本C合這兩句可以看出That指的是巨大差距。也就是說認(rèn)識(shí)的巨大差距不能阻止學(xué)者們繼續(xù)提出理論來解釋童話故事的重要性，說明這些理論都是缺乏認(rèn)知和事實(shí)基礎(chǔ)的。

Question 30

答案：A

關(guān)鍵詞：Insights, development of fairy tales

定位原文&解題思路：本題定位非常難，如果不認(rèn)識(shí)insights就很難對(duì)應(yīng)。雖然第三段第一句中出現(xiàn)了development，但是仔細(xì)看就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)原文中的development后面跟的是有機(jī)物而不是童話。此處可考慮先做31題，再按照順序性原則，在29題的對(duì)應(yīng)句和31題的對(duì)應(yīng)句之間進(jìn)行仔細(xì)閱讀。 文中第二段最后一句說：為了測(cè)試這些理論，Tehrani借鑒了進(jìn)化生物學(xué)家的技術(shù)。其實(shí)這句話中的test these ideas對(duì)應(yīng)的就是題干中的insights。接下來第三段繼續(xù)講了生物學(xué)家的技術(shù)。第二句說Tehrani用了同樣的方法去研究童話故事的演變，所以和A選項(xiàng)有對(duì)應(yīng)關(guān)系。

Question 31

答案：E

關(guān)鍵詞：analysed by Tehrani

定位原文&解題思路：本題定位依然較難，因?yàn)閒airy tales不具有定位價(jià)值，只能按照順序性原則在Tehrani相關(guān)的地方繼續(xù)看。文中第四段第一句出現(xiàn)了 Tehrani's analysis，對(duì)應(yīng)題干。該段前兩句說：Tehrani的分析集中在《小紅帽》的多種形式上，其中包括另一個(gè)西方童話《狼和孩子們》。為了尋找這兩個(gè)故事的變體以及來自非洲、東亞和其他地區(qū)的類似故事，他從口述傳統(tǒng)中記錄了58個(gè)故事?？梢悦鞔_看出對(duì)應(yīng)E選項(xiàng)。

Question 32

答案：D

關(guān)鍵詞：stories

解題思路：文中第四段第二句出現(xiàn)了58 stories，但這一句沒有說去發(fā)現(xiàn)什么。第三句說：一旦他的系統(tǒng)進(jìn)化分析證實(shí)它們確實(shí)是相關(guān)的，他就用同樣的方法來探索它們是如何隨著時(shí)間的推移而發(fā)展和改變的。文中的explore對(duì)應(yīng)題中的find out，但是文中后面說的是探索故事是如何改變和發(fā)展的，選項(xiàng)并沒有任何對(duì)應(yīng)。再看前半句中出現(xiàn)了related，綜合判定對(duì)應(yīng)選項(xiàng)D.links。

Question 33

答案：F

關(guān)鍵詞：fewest, most important

定位原文：第五段第一句：First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance.

解題思路：通過空格后面的these aspects推導(dǎo)出空格對(duì)應(yīng)的選項(xiàng)是復(fù)數(shù)名詞。第五段第一句中的importance對(duì)應(yīng)題干中的important;空格前的fewest對(duì)應(yīng)文中的least。比對(duì)之后分析出空格對(duì)應(yīng)的是alter（改變）。所以答案為F. variations。

Question 34

答案：B

關(guān)鍵詞：change over time, middle of a story

解題思路：本題較難，通過空格后面的that從句中的were判定空格是復(fù)數(shù)名詞。通過題干中的middle of a story不比別的部分更重要可以對(duì)應(yīng)到第六段最后一句，再按照順序性原則可以判斷答案的文中對(duì)應(yīng)點(diǎn)在第六段前兩句。第一句中說與人物相比incidents（事件）的演變速度并沒有很大差異，并不能體現(xiàn)change over time。第二句說一些episodes（片段）很穩(wěn)定，但是其他的details可以自由演變，說明是details發(fā)生改變。但是選項(xiàng)中并沒有能夠體現(xiàn)details的復(fù)數(shù)名詞對(duì)應(yīng)的選項(xiàng)。再分析兩句的關(guān)系可以看出，第二句中的episodes和details都是指的上一句中的incidents，所以可判定是incidents發(fā)生變化，只不過事件的演變速度與角色變化的速度沒有顯著差異而已。另外本段最后一句也出現(xiàn)了選項(xiàng)對(duì)應(yīng)詞。所以答案為B. events。

Question 35

答案：C

關(guān)鍵詞：surprised, unimportant

解題思路：本題又是需要徹底理解而非簡(jiǎn)單定位的題目。通過surprised定位到第七段第一句：真正讓他感到驚訝的是當(dāng)他看到這個(gè)故事的警示元素（cautionary elements）時(shí)。但這句話沒有體現(xiàn)這些不重要。第二句繼續(xù)說發(fā)現(xiàn)這些故事包含有關(guān)危險(xiǎn)的重要信息。第三句的Yet表明了對(duì)第二句的反駁，也就是說第一句中提到的cautionary elements是不重要的。所以答案為C. warning。

Question 36

答案：G

關(guān)鍵詞：aspect, most important

解題思路：上一道題目對(duì)應(yīng)的文本表明前面描述的都不重要。第七段最后一句提出疑問：那么什么才足夠重要呢?第八段第一句給岀明確回答：fear。所以答案為G. horror。

Question 37

答案：B

關(guān)鍵詞：method, test ideas

解題思路：A. 他比較了同樣故事的口頭和書面形式。 B. 他研究了同樣故事的很多不同形式。 C. 他研究了不同的國(guó)家不相關(guān)的故事。 D. 他對(duì)比了童話的發(fā)展和生物的發(fā)展。 文中第四段表明Tehrani從不同地區(qū)找到了《小紅帽》故事的58個(gè)版本。最后一句說一旦確定了它們是相關(guān)的，就會(huì)使用同樣的方法去探索這些故事是如何發(fā)展的。所以答案為B 選項(xiàng)。

Question 38

答案：D

關(guān)鍵詞：Jack Zipes

解題思路：A. Tehrani忽略了女性角色的關(guān)鍵改變。 B. 太恐怖的故事并不總會(huì)被認(rèn)真對(duì)待。 C. Tehrani過分強(qiáng)調(diào)了故事中暴力的重要性。 D. 故事的特征只有在具有更深層次的意義時(shí)才能存留。 第九段第二句話說即使童話很可怕，它們也不會(huì)留下來，除非很重要。所以答案為D選項(xiàng)。其他選項(xiàng)文中都沒有提到。

Question 39

答案：A

關(guān)鍵詞：Chinese and Japanese

解題思路：A. 為了表明Jack Zipes的理論是不正確的 B. 為了表明犯罪是一個(gè)全球問題 C. 為了暗示所有的童話故事都有類似意義 D. 為Jack Zipes的理論提供更多證據(jù) 文中第九段最后一句出現(xiàn)定位信息。根據(jù)句子之間的關(guān)系可以看出中國(guó)和日本的童話版本是例子，因此需要向前看一句。前一句是Tehrani的觀點(diǎn)，通過But表明是反駁前面Jack Zipes的觀點(diǎn)。綜合句間關(guān)系，可判斷答案為A選項(xiàng)。

Question 40

答案：A

關(guān)鍵詞：Mathias Clasen

解題思路：A.它們是學(xué)習(xí)如何應(yīng)對(duì)恐懼的一種安全方式。 B.它們是一種有些人會(huì)避開的娛樂形式。 C.它們反映了我們社會(huì)中不斷改變的價(jià)值觀。 D.它們降低了我們應(yīng)對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中的問題的能力。 第十段最后一句：Clasen認(rèn)為，恐怖故事教會(huì)了我們害怕的感覺，而不用去經(jīng)歷真正的危險(xiǎn)，從而增強(qiáng)了我們對(duì)負(fù)面情緒的抵抗力。所以答案為A選項(xiàng)。

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