“GRE词汇有用否”实验报告
 
 
　　实验缘起：

　　准备10G时深受imong（编者注：寄托论坛管理员）关于argument论证深入的实验报告的启发。获益匪浅。
　　GRE词汇究竟有没有用？是终身受益还是“一次性产品”？这一直是个“长盛不衰”的争议话题。现在这个实验希望探索的就
是这样一个问题。

　　实验目的：

　　通过对五种英文原版阅读材料的词汇整理、分析。大略得到关于GRE词汇单词出现率及其对于整体阅读理解的情况。并借此归
纳出关于“GRE词汇有用否”的大致结论。

　　实验材料：

　　寄托蓝宝书（升级版）   寄托天下   外研社
　　新东方背单词III   新东方   新东方
　　Jane Eyre   Charlotte Bronte   世界图书出版社
　　Bleak House   Charles Dickens   BANTAM BOOKS PUBLISHER
　　A Global History   L.S.Stavrianos   北京大学出版社
　　Economics 99/00   McGraw-Hill
　　The Politics of Global Governance   (edited by) Paul.F.Diehl   LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHERS

　　实验过程：

　　文学类 Jane Eyre

　　John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four years older than I, for I was but ten; large and stout
for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large
extremities. He gorged himself habitually at table, which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye
 with flabby cheeks. He ought now to have been at school; but his mamma had taken him home for a month or two,
"on account of his delicate health." Mr.Miles, the master, affirmed that he would do very well if he had fewer
cakes and sweetmeats sent him from home; but the mother's heart turned from an opinion so harsh, and inclined
rather to the more refined idea that John's sallowness was owing to over-application, and, perhaps, to pining
after home.

　　GRE词汇：
　　stout  dingy  unwholesome  spacious  visage  limb  gorge  habitually  bilious  dim  blear  flabby  delicate 
affirm  harsh  pine

　　非GRE词汇的生难词：
　　sallowness  菜色，脸色发黄

　　可能影响整体阅读理解的非GRE词汇：
　　sallowness

　　GRE词汇比例：11.3%

　　文学类 Bleak House
　　When the practice was concluded, Caddy's husband made himself ready to go out of town to a school, and Caddy
ran away to get ready to go out with me. I sat in the ball-room in the interval, contemplating the apprentices.
The two out-door boys went upon the staircase to put on their half-boots, and pull the in-door boy's hair; as I
judged from the nature of his objections. Returning with their jackets buttoned, and their pumps stuck in them,
they then produced packets of could bread and meat, and bivouacked under a painted lyre on the wall. The little
gauzy girl, having whisked her sandals into the reticule and put on a trodden-down pair of shoes, shook her head
into the dowdy bonnet at one shake; and answering my inquiry whether she liked dancing, by replying, "Not with
boys," tied it across her chin and went home contemptuous.

　　GRE词汇：
　　interval  contemplate  apprentice  objection  bivouac  lyre  sandal  reticule  dowdy  bonnet  contemptuous

　　非GRE词汇的生难词：
　　staircase  楼梯
　　half-roots  半长统靴
　　gauzy  薄纱似的
　　whisk  扫，拂；飞奔
　　trodden-down
　　chin  下巴

　　可能影响整体阅读理解的非GRE词汇：
　　gauzy
　　whisk

　　GRE词汇比例：7.4%

　　人文学术类 A Global History
　　Despite their abundant first-hand contact with and knowledge of nature, early humans had little explanatory
knowledge; they could give no naturalistic explanation if floods or droughts came or if the hunting or fishing
was poor. Not knowing how to cope with nature by naturalistic means, they had to resort to the supernatural. They
turned to magic and spent much time in efforts to persuade or fool nature into yielding a greater abundance. By
making each useful animal or plant the totem of a particular group, and by using images, symbols, and imitative
dances, primitive people believed that the animal or food could be encouraged to flourish and multiply. As long
 as the rules of the totems were strictily observed, the reproducation of the group and of its food supply could
be assured.

　　GRE词汇：
　　abundant  explanatory  drought  resort  supernatural  yield  totem  symbol  imitative  primitive  flourish 
multiply  reproducation  assure

　　非GRE词汇的生难词：
　　无

　　可能影响整体阅读理解的非GRE词汇：
　　无

　　GRE词汇比例：10.6%

　　社会学术类 Economics
　　First, imagine a world before the angel in which all resources can work together, a world with a single
language and a single currency - say, one consisting of red banknotes. This world's economy would be one big
baby-sitting co-op; therefore, expanding the quantity fo money could boost output up to a point, but beyond that
 point such expansion would be counterproductive and would usually be dissipated in inflation. (True, the actual
world economy is unthinkably immense - gross world product is probably about $25 trillion. The U.S. economy, with
 its $7 trillion GDP, is unthinkably immense even by itself - yet it can usefully be thought of as a baby
-sitting co-op. It is hard to see that going up a notch in scale would make a qualitative difference.)

　　GRE词汇：
　　boost  counterproductive  dissipate  inflation  immense  gross notch  scale  qualitative

　　非GRE词汇的生难词：
　　banknotes  钞票
　　baby-sit  照顾婴儿
　　co-op  [俚] 消费合作社
　　trillion  万亿

　　可能影响整体阅读理解的非GRE词汇：
　　banknotes
　　baby-sit
　　trillion

　　GRE词汇比例：6.9%

　　社会学术类 The Politics of Global Governance
　　Clearly, the fluidity of the balance of power ensures that the fortunes of specific IGOs or other
international institutions rise and fall in tune with the ephemeral interests of the powers of the time
(Garr, 1964; Gilpin, 1981; Grieco, 1990). Neither realist nor neorealist theory allows much room for predictions
 about the rise or fall of specific coalitions of great military powers. While realists explain the demise of the
 League of Nations in terms of its failure to reflect the balance of power, it's hard to predict exactly when the
 League would cease to function from their analyses. Waltz (1979, p. 124), for example, does not indicate when
military coalitions will change in relationship to changes in the distribution of power, other than to assert
that such changes will occur periodically.

　　GRE词汇：
　　fluidity  fortune  specific  tune  ephemeral  prediction  coalition  military  demise  analyse  indicate 
distribution  assert

　　非GRE词汇的生难词：
　　neorealist  [哲] 新实在论者; [文艺] 新现实主义者

　　可能影响整体阅读理解的非GRE词汇：
　　无

　　GRE词汇比例：9.9%

　　实验结论：

　　GRE词汇在五种实验材料中均有出现。且比例均在5%以上（三种材料接近10%或超出10%。另两种在7%左右）。更关键的是。
这些GRE词汇直接影响到整体阅读理解。而其他非GRE词汇的生难词对理解影响相对小的多。
　　由此可见。GRE词汇不仅仅在GRE考试中可以得到运用。更能在今后阅读英文文学或学术类书籍时发挥重要的作用。

　　实验缺陷：

　　五种材料均为人文社会学科类。未包含自然科学及计算机科学等领域。
　　因所有材料均为笔者手动输入计算机。因此或许有材料打印出错的情况。

　　后话：

　　嗯。不适应这种实验报告式文体了。因此补个后话。嘿嘿。
　　废话也不补了。希望大家能通过这个简陋的实验来正视词汇在终身学习中的重要性。“中学为体，西学为用”。在今后的学习
生活中。这些词汇必然会一次次复现。我在阅读全球通史时。就深深感受到了准备过GRE考试的“舒畅”。阅读密密麻麻的英文。
完全不受阻碍。成就感不言而喻。
　　以几个月的学习。达到如此境界。何乐而不为？http://bbs.gter.net/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=376467

　　愿各位一路顺利！