首先，三篇文章都以說明文的形式出現(xiàn)，正如筆者在對2005年6月的PASSAGE題的分析中提出的：“對于聽力短文部分，本次考試三篇文章以長度遞增順序排布，而題量則按照3、4、3的順序安排，3篇文章都以說明文的體裁出現(xiàn)�！保ㄕ�自《由2005年6月大學英語四級聽力考題看聽力考試發(fā)展趨勢與變化》一文），這已經(jīng)成了現(xiàn)在四級考試聽力PASSAGE部分的一個趨勢了。當然，雖然是以說明文的形式出現(xiàn)，文章中記敘、議論的內(nèi)容也時有出現(xiàn)，所以更精確的說，現(xiàn)在的文章形式是越來越綜合的。

其次，文章的復雜度并為影響到出題的思路與解體的思維模式。出題點仍偏愛文章開頭與結尾，文章中比較典型的、比較重要的分支結構，以及轉(zhuǎn)折關系、因果關系的表達。下文將對本次考試的3篇文章分別作這方面的詳細分析：

Passage One

（1）A new study reports the common drug aspirin greatly reduces life-threatening problems after an operation to replace blocked blood vessels to the heart. More than 800,000 people around the world have this heart surgery each year. （2）The doctors who carried out the study say giving aspirin to patients soon after the operation could save thousands of lives. People usually take aspirin to control pain, and reduce high body temperature. Doctors also advise some people to take aspirin to help prevent heart attacks. About 10~15% of these heart operations end in death or damage to the heart or other organs. （3）The new study shows that even a small amount of aspirin reduced such threats. （4）The doctors said the chance of death for patients who took aspirin would fall by 67%. They claimed this was true if the aspirin was given within 48 hours of the operation. The doctors believe aspirin helps heart surgery patients （5）because it can prevent blood from thickening, and blood vessels from being blocked. （6）However, the doctors warned that people who have stomach bleeding or other bad reactions from aspirin should not take it after heart surgery.

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11. What is the finding of the new study of aspirin?

12. In what way can aspirin help heart surgery patients according to the doctors?

13. What warning did the doctors give about the use of aspirin?

文章本身閱讀難度較大，因為牽涉到一些學術詞匯的運用，諸如：blood vessel, organ, heart surgery, blood thickening, stomach bleeding等。但就考點本身而言卻難度適中，甚至可以說非常循規(guī)蹈矩。

第11題提問的就是文章開頭第一句的部分（文中劃線1處），對應詞為New Study（以黑體標出），而且也是本文說明對象之所在，而文章主旨、說明對象等一直就是往年考說明議論型文章的重心，而且也是文章中會反復涉及的內(nèi)容（文中劃線2、3、4處），因此比較容易把握。答案為：It reduces the chance of death for heart surgery patients.

第12題問及的是阿斯匹林如何幫助做過心臟手術的病人，看似是個方法，其實在原文中仍然以原因的形式表達，在原文倒數(shù)第二句中（文中劃線5處），Because（以黑體標出）明顯指示第二題的答案。此即為因果考察點。答案為：It keeps blood vessels from being blocked.

第13題考察位置出現(xiàn)在文章末句（文中劃線6處），也是以往出題的重點位置之一，而考察點則為轉(zhuǎn)折后的內(nèi)容。根據(jù)常識我們知道，幾乎任何醫(yī)療行為都會有副作用，而任何醫(yī)藥說明或醫(yī)生囑咐的最后一句一般都是經(jīng)過轉(zhuǎn)折后產(chǎn)生的對該副作用的提醒以及避免方法的說明。這里的However（以黑體標出）也很明確的指示了答案的鮮明特征。此即為轉(zhuǎn)折考察點。答案為：It is harmful to heart surgery patients with stomach bleeding.

Passage Two

When you are the first or last child in your family, or, when you are middle or only child, some people think it matters where you are born in your family. But there are different ideas about what birth order means. （1）Some people say that the oldest children are smart and strong willed, and they are very likely to be successful. The reason for this is simple: parents have a lot of time for that first child. They give him or her a lot of attention. So this child is very likely to do well. An only child will succeed for the same reason. What happens to the other children in the family? （2）Middle children don’t get so much attention. So they don’t feel that important. If a family has many children, the middle one sometimes gets lost in the crowd. The youngest child then, often gets special treatment. He or she is the baby. Often this child grows up with funny and charming. Do you believe this idea about birth order, too? A recent study saw things quite differently. The study found that first children believed in family rules. They didn’t take many chances in their lives. They usually followed orders. （However） （3）Rules didn’t mean as much to late children in a family. They went out and followed their own ideas. They took chances and they often did better in lives.

Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

14. According to common belief, in what way are the first and the only child alike?

15. What do people usually say about middle children?

16. What do we learn about later children in the family from a recent study of birth order?

       本文解釋了孩子因出生順序不同而形成的不同特征，與日后人生之影響。本文是屬于詞匯角度而言，三篇中相對容易的一篇了。但其寫作手法有一定難度，是以比較的方法來描述了這些孩子特征的不同點，所以自然也就以比較性的問題為突出。但作為這次考試的第二篇，其出題難度還不及第三篇，而其比較行內(nèi)容也只有第14題是兩方面都涉及的，而其他兩題都只涉及比較的一方，因此解體思路類似以往的學校教育類文章和風土人情類文章，找差異就成了其考察核心。

       第14題，考察了家中第一個孩子和唯一孩子的共性，是一題綜合考察比較雙方的題目。雖然從題型上來看有一定難度，但考察點仍然是因果關系， 文中涉及到理由The reason（以黑體標出）的那句（文中劃線1處）加上So（以黑體標出）的支持，使之成為了我們第一題的答案位置。答案為：They are very likely to succeed in life.

       第15題，考察了中間出生的孩子的特征，同樣以一個So（以黑體標出）為中介（文中劃線2處），表現(xiàn)了其中的原委。因此這又是一個因果類型的題目。答案為：They get less attention from their parents.

       第16題，壓軸在文章最后一句，題目難度也相應改變，一眼掃去，除了結尾這一明顯特點外，似乎考點并不明顯。這里考察了研究結果中后期出生的孩子的特點。雖然沒有明顯的關聯(lián)詞，但不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，這一點是和前一句中家中最早出生的孩子形成鮮明對比的部分，其實也就是省略了我們寫在括號里的那個However（以黑體標出），這類題在以往考察短對話中也時有見到省略轉(zhuǎn)折詞或原因詞的。