[GRE语文优势].Verbal.Advantage.pdf

[GRE语文优势].Verbal.Advantage.pdf 有助于大家背gre单词 并且是老外最常用的gre单词书Table of contentsIntroductionPretestLevel 1Review Test for Leve/ 1eve 2尺 eview Test for leve!/2Level 3尺 eview Test for leve/3Level 4尺 eview Test for leve4Level 5Review Test for level 5Level 6尺 eview Test for Leve/6Level 7Review Test for leve/7Level 8Review Test for level 8Level 9Review Test for leve/ 9Level 10Review Test for leve/ 10PosttestIntroductionLet me guess why you picked up this book. You want to become a better writer andspeaker. You want to use the English language correctly and with confidenceYou're looking for something that will help you learn more words and learn them swiftly-something that's not just informative but also interesting and fun to readYou don t want word games. You want resultsStop right hereVerbal Advantage is precisely what you re looking for: the most comprehensive,accessible, and effective vocabulary-building program available todayHere's what you can expect from Verbal AdvantageBy the time you finish reading this book you will have more than tripled your normal rate oflearning vocabulary. And when you have mastered all the words in the program, yourvocabulary level will be in the top 5 percent of all educated adults. You will also know how toto continue building your verbal skills for the rest of your life aravoid common errors of grammar, usage, and pronunciation, and you will possess the toolsThroughout the Verbal Advantage program I will be your personal guide on a tour of theEnglish language, a tour that I guarantee will help you improve your word power dramaticallyand permanently. Along the way will also coach you in how to use the language with greaterclarity.1precision, and styleLet me tell you a bit about myselfI am an author, journalist, and radio commentator who specializes in writing about theEnglish language. Like most serious writers, I care deeply about words--where they camefrom, what they mean, how they are used and pronounced. In fact, I think it's fair to say thatI'm afflicted with a terminal passion for wordsAllow me to explain how l contracted this most pleasant malady .2For as long as I can remember I have been in love with the beauty, rhythm, subtlety, andpower of language, and from an early age I aspired to a career working with words Likemany writers, I acquired my affection for words from my parents. Although both my fatherand mother are retired professional musicians they have always been avid readers with afine ear for language as well as musicWhen I was young they read me stories and poems at bedtime, and as I grew older theyencouraged me to read widely on my own. I often had lengthy discussions with them aboutbooks and language, and whenever we had a question or a dispute about a word, the heftyunabridged dictionary in our living room was the final authorityThe consequence of this verbally intensive upbringing was that two parents who lovedPage 4language but made music for a living wound up with a son who loves music but makes hisliving with wordsBut thats enough about me, because this book is not about me and my writingcredentials. It's about you, and how you can achieve the verbal advantageVerbal Advantage is about definitions, so let's begin by defining the phrase"verbaladvantage. What exactly is a verbal advantage? Does it suggest what smart, successfulpeople know about language? Does it refer to the words they use in conversation andwriting?Yes, in part. But in this book, verbal advantage encompasses something more than justwhat educated people already know about using the language. It also means what educatedpeople ought to know about using the language-and how using it well can help themsucceedIn short, a"verbal advantage is the ability to use words in a precise and powerful manner,to communicate clearly, correctly, and effectively in every situation, both on and off the job. Inthis book i intend to take your ability with words and turn it into masteryNumerous studies have shown that there is a correlation between career and financialsuccess and an above-average vocabulary, and that the level of success people achieve islinked to the number of words they command. You may be on the right track, but are you asproductive and successtul as you know you can be? In the long run all your hard work and allthe knowledge you gain from experience may not produce the results you expect if you lackthe confidence that comes from an accompanying mastery of wordsAs the syndicated columnist William Raspberry once put it, "Good English, well spokenand well written will open more doors than a college degree. bad english will slam doorsyou don 't even know existVerbal Advantage will give you most of the linguistic tools you need to communicatemore effectively and confidently, and I will show you how to use them with precision if youlike, consider Verbal Advantage an apprenticeship to a second career-one that can helpyou immeasurably and enhance your chances of success. When you finish reading thisbook, you'll be on your own. But I think you'll find yourself prepared to meet the challenge ofachieving and maintaining a verbal advantageImproving your verbal skills is not an easy task, but it doesn't have to be a chore. In fact, itcan be one of the most rewarding activities you will ever undertake. Few things can equalthe satisfaction that comes from using the right word at the appropriate moment or realizingthat the way you have chosen to express something has moved or gratified or persuadedyour audienceLet's begin, then, with a brief summary of what you stand to gain from reading this bookou will learn about vocabulary building and why it is indispensable to your personaldevelopment. I will teach you the principles and techniques of building a large and exactvocabulary and introduce you to words that will add clarity to your writing and infuse yourconversation with style. You will also discover how to put your powerful new vocabulary intoaction right away, and how to make the words you've learned serve you well for the rest ofyour liteThroughout this book we will also explore the subject of usage versus abusage"in otherwords, how to use, not abuse, the language. You will learn how usage changes, Why itchanges, and why certain changes have been accepted and others have not. I will alsocover some perplexing problems of usage that trouble even the best writers and speakersFinally, I will address the issue of rules--good rules versus bad rules-and discuss how youcan strike a balance between current standard usage and what seems natural and correct toyouBuilding a powerful vocabulary and learning how to use words properly require that youalso develop your knowledge of a related subject: pronunciationIt is a sad fact that many educated people who have invested a great deal of time andenergy building impressive vocabularies have not bothered to learn how to pronounce thewords they have acquired. that deficiency leads to a twofold tragedy First, to those wholook up to the speaker as a more knowledgeable person, the mispronounce does thedisservice of passing along his or her mispronunciations. Second, to those who knowsomething about words and how they should be pronounced, the mispronounce, no matterhow intelligent, will appear uneducated, even foolishThe point is if you have taken the time to learn the meaning of a word and how to use itproperly, then why not also learn how to pronounce it correctly?Nith Verbal Advantage, not only will you learn the proper pronunciation of words that arenew to you, you will also learn to avoid common mispronunciations of familiar words--onesyou may be mispronouncing right now without realizing it. In addition, I will teach you somesimple techniques that will help you continue to improve your speech on your ownBuilding your vocabulary is the primary goal of this program and research has shown thatthe most effective way to build your word power rapidly and permanently is to learn words intheir order of difficulty. Certain words are harder than others therefore it stands to reasonthat you have to know the easier words before you can learn and retain the harder onesWhen you know what reckless and rash mean, you're ready to learn the more difficultsynonyms impulsive, imprudent, and impetuous. and when you have those words underyour belt, then you can tackle the challenging synonyms precipitate and temerariousIn short, you are far more likely to remember words if you are exposed to them inascending order of difficulty. That is why I have made verbal Advantage a graduatedvocabulary-building program, which means the words get harder as you go alongYou will proceed through ten levels of vocabulary, each level more challenging than thelast. For example, Level 1 contains words familiar to about 60 to 70 percent of adultsthatis, words known to many high school graduates and most college graduates. by the end ofLevel 5 you will have raised your vocabulary to about the 75th percentile--the top quarter ofall educated adults. By the end of Level 8 your vocabulary will have surpassed that of mostexecutives and professionals, including those with advanced degrees. And when youcomplete the tenth and final level you will have progressed beyond 95 percent of the entirepopulation. You will command an armory of words that only a handful of people in everythousand can matchEach level of Verbal Advantage focuses on specially selected "keywords"essential toeducated discourse. But those words constitute only a fraction of what you'll learn from thisbook. Carefully study all the keyword discussions and you will learn scores of useful relatedwords and a plethora(PLETH-uh-ruh, great number or quantity, abundance) of challengingsynonyms and antonyms. You will also discover where the words you are learning comefrom and how their history has influenced their current meaningIn addition to building your vocabulary, Verbal Advantage will guide you in the subtletiesof using the language properly and precisely. Each level contains interludes on commonlymisused words, commonly confused words, and commonly mispronounced words. You willlearn how to avoid various errors of grammar, diction, and pronunciation that vex even themost educated adults I will show you how to eliminate redundancies -flabby repetitivephrases-from your writing and speech, and help you heed the advice of Mark Twain, whosaid, " Use the right word, and not its second cousin Finally, the synonym studies in thekeyword discussions will develop your ability to distinguish wisely between words of similarmeanIngLet' s return now to the link between vocabulary and successThe theory that knowing more words can help you succeed is nothing new. Since the earlytwentieth century, researchers have documented the connection between a strongvocabulary and academic and professional successProfessor Dean Trembly of the Testing and Counseling Center at California PolytechnicState University, San Luis Obispo, supports the thesis that building your vocabularyenhances your chances of success. In his book Learning to Use Your Aptitudes, Tremblyexplains that"a large vocabulary is more than knowing the difficult words; it is knowing theeasier words more thoroughly and using them with greater precision.. A powerfulvocabulary gives you the facility to use the easier words more smoothly. . as with grades inschool, writes Trembly money earnings are related to vocabulary. Within each occupation,those with larger vocabularies are more likely to profit. Put a dollar sign in front of eachadditional word you learnPerhaps the most influential researcher to explore the connection between vocabularyind achievement was Johnson OConnor, founder of the Human Engineering Laboratory,now called the johnson o connor research foundationO'Connor was a Harvard-educated engineer who devoted his life to identifying armeasuring human aptitudes and studying their relationship to a knowledge of Englishvocabulary. After more than twenty years of testing thousands of Americans of all ages,occupations, and levels of education oconnor concluded that an exact and extensiveconscious effort does not change materially thereafter s in Thermore, such a vocabulary canbe acquired. It increases as long as a person remains in school or college, but withoutMargaret E. Broadley is an authority on Johnson OConnor's work and the author ofseveral books on human aptitudes. In Your Natural gitts she explains how, as far back asthe 1930s, OConnor's Human Engineering Laboratory discovered, as Broadley puts it, aclose relationship between a large, precise knowledge of English words and achievement inWorldly success, earnings and management status, " writes Broadley, correlated withvocabulary scores. In follow-up studies of persons tested as much as twenty or thirty yearsfrom achieving the position which their aptitudes showed they should have gained en backago, a limited vocabulary is proving an important factor in holding men and worBroadley continues: "A low vocabulary is a serious handicap. Ambitious and energeticpersons can push ahead in their jobs just so far, but then they reach a plateau caused by lowvocabulary. They never advance. And while youthful zest and high aptitudes can enable us toforge ahead despite low vocabulary, when we become mature the world expects us to knowsomething and we are judged on knowledge rather than our possibilities. The world doesntsee our aptitudes, but it pays for knowledge because that can be seenBroadley then gets down to the nitty-gritty. Studies show that at middle-age thelow-vocabulary persons are stuck in routine jobs. Furthermore, when big companies havetheir shakedowns and mergers, too often the low-vocabulary persons find themselves out onthe street. Too often they place the blame on prejudice, inside politics, and personalantagonism when the truth can be traced to low vocabulary.Only about 3, 500 words separate the high vocabulary person from the low, Broadleyconcludes. Yet these 3,500 words can mean the difference between success and failureIt is worth noting here that company presidents and upper-level business executives haveconsistently achieved the highest scores in the vocabulary tests administered by theJohnson OConnor Research Foundation. As a group, executives score better than editorswriters, college professors, scientists, doctors, lawyers, psychologists, architects, andengineers--all high -vocabulary occupationsThe foundation's researchers are not quite sure what to make of that finding, but they doknow one thing: If you wish to succeed in your career, your vocabulary level must at leastequal the average level of the members of your profession If you wish to excel,yourvocabulary must surpass that of your colleaguesAS Johnson O'Connor said, Words are the instruments of thought by which men andwomen grasp the thoughts of others, and with which they do most of their thinkingTo paraphrase that: Words are the tools of thought, and it follows that if your tools aren 'tthe sharpest ones in the shed, you can't expect to have an edge in the struggle for successThere is one other point about vocabulary and success that I would like to clarify beforewe go any further. Researchers and language experts have known for many years thatvocabulary is the key to success, but what does that really mean? It is true that variousstudies have shown that, particularly among business executives, English vocabulary leveloften correlates with salary level. However, there are many wealthy people who have lowvocabularies and lack ability with language, just as there are many people who earn modestsalaries but who have excellent vocabularies and a wide knowledge of the worldThe point is, if your only ambition in life is to make wads of money, there are ways to dothat without building your vocabulary. Therefore it is important that you do not equatebuilding a large vocabulary only with padding your bank balance and diversifying your stockportfolio. Vocabulary is the key to success, but wealth is not the only yardstick of successWhat I am talking about is a definition of success that encompasses more than salariesand investments. What I am talking about is your career-what you do and how well you do itand also your personal development-how you can make the most of your natural abilitiesand achieve your goals in life. That is where a powerful vocabulary can help you. That iswhere knowing the precise meanings of many words gives you an invaluable advantage-aVerbal AdvantageWhat it boils down to can be expressed in two words: career satisfactionBuilding a powerful vocabulary can help you advance your career, because as youimprove your skill with language you will become a better speaker, a better writer, a betterreader, and a better listener. And if you are all of those things then you probably will be amore successful personI would be remiss in my duty as your instructor and guide if neglected to underscore the factthat building your vocabulary takes time and dedication. True and lasting knowledge is notacquired overnight. That's why most of us spend the first quarter of our lives in school,presumably learning to be intelligent, productive members of societyVerbal Advantage will boost your vocabulary and enhance your verbal skills, butremember that your verbal development did not start with this book and it should not endwith it. Think of this program as the beginning of a lifelong process of self-education; or, ifyou like, think of yourself as an athlete-an intellectual athlete-embarking on a challengingconditioning program for your mindVerbal Advantage will give you the tools and show you how to use them but it 's up to youto decide what to build with those tools and the responsibility for keeping them clean andsharp ultimately lies with youTherefore you will get the most out of this book if you follow the three rs of verbaldevelopment: routine, repetition, and reviewEffective vocabulary building begins with establishing a routine and sticking to it. Youshould read Verbal Advantage for a set amount of time every day, preferably at least thirtyminutes. If you currently watch an hour or more of television each day, why not cut a half-hourout of that time and devote it to something more productive: reading this book. However youdecide to work it into your day, for best results you should make verbal Advantage a regularpart of your scheduleAs the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and when it comes to building yourvocabulary, repetition and review are essential if you wish to retain the words you learn. Youwill make best use of this book if you go over the material a second time -and even a thirdtime as the words get more difficult-before forging aheadI also recommend that when you finish each level in the program you review the entirelevel in one or two sessions, focusing your attention on the words and concepts you hadtrouble remembering when you read the material the first timeAlthough reviewing will be your responsibility, I have incorporated regular review sectionsinto the program to help reinforce your comprehensionAfter every ten keyword discussions there is a brief, informal quiz designed to fix in yourmind the words you've just learned. When you take these quizzes, keep track of how manycorrect and incorrect answers you make, and which words are most challenging for youIf you get some answers wrong the first time around, don t worry about it. Mistakes andmissteps are a natural part of learning However, if you're reviewing the material and youmiss three or more answers in a quiz, you should go back and read all ten keyworddiscussions againTo help you further gauge your progress, I have also included a review test for each leveof verbal Advantage. Here you will find questions pertaining to all the additional informationin the program-including synonyms, antonyms, related words, and word origins, along withadvice on usage, pronunciation, and using a dictionary. After you have read and reviewed alevel and mastered its keyword quizzes, take the review test before moving aheadOne last thing to remember: Dont rush. Take your time. The Johnson O'Connor ResearchFoundation has found that when you engage in a conscientious study of vocabulary, yourrate of improvement is "related less to how fast you cover the material and more to howthoroughly you study the material step-by-step in order of difficultyOne word of caution: If you're the eager-beaver type, you may be tempted to skip aroundor jump ahead That is your prerogative, but i do not recommend taking any shortcuts In thelong run you will only shortchange yourself. To get the full benefit of the Verbal Advantageprogram, I urge you to start at the beginning and read straight through to the endKeep in mind that this is a graduated vocabulary-building program designed to improveyour knowledge of words step by step in the most effective way possible. Although you mayknow some of the keywords in the early levels, right from the start the discussions covermany more difficult synonyms and related wordsAlso, Verbal Advantage contains a great deal of information about language that anyone,at any level, will find useful. As the vocabulary-building experts Maxwell Nurnberg and morrisRosenblum once put it, You learn more words by learning more about words. That's exactlywhat Verbal Advantage is designed to do: build your vocabulary by teaching you a lot moreabout words than just their definitionsTo sum up: I encourage you to read this book for a set amount of time each day, read itstraight through, and always review what you've learned before moving on. By the time youfinish I think you'll agree that Verbal Advantage is a challenging program designed forpeople who are committed to improving their vocabularies and serious about translatingtheir verbal skills into personal successAre you ready to begin your jouney toward a more powerful and precise command of theEnglish language?Let's go I'll be with you all the way1 clarity(KLAR-i-tee)clearness, state of being clear to the eye or to the understanding2 malady(MAL-uh-dee)ailment, sickness, disorder3 aspire(uh-SPY-ur) to strive to achieve, seek ambitiously4 avid(Av-id)enthusiastic, eager, dedicatedPage 10