如果說Verbal Section是中國考生的噩夢，GRE閱讀便是噩夢中噩夢。原因是中國學生由於長期以來在英語閱讀理解的訓練上一直強調詞彙的理解和文字的翻譯。所謂的重翻譯，輕思維。此種訓練理念與與ETS的要求相去甚遠。其實，GRE閱讀是藉助閱讀考察申請者的邏輯思維和解決問題的能力。另外，中國考生對於GRE閱讀考試中的文章特點和選項編制的原則瞭解甚微，也導致備考中存在較大的盲目性以及考試中表現不佳。
通過對GRE閱讀的深入分析不難發現ETS使用了以下原則來編制選項：
1. 正確選項：
(1)同義變換 。即將原文中的某一句話用另一種說法表達，也就是英文中的paraphrase。如將文章中的"many wind-pollinated species fail to release pollen when wind speeds are low or when humid conditions prevail.換成選項中的'Pollen is sometimes not released by plants when there is little wind"。
其中包括三種類型：變換同義詞，變換句型，變化同根詞的詞性。以下分別論述，請注意表格中的斜體字。
2.錯誤選項：
對於GRE閱讀文章中更大量的錯誤選項，ETS也形成了一套固定的規則。以下筆者就用例項來說明錯誤選項編制的規則：
(1)混偏反無。
1)混： 此類選項的錯誤可以形象地概括為：張冠李戴。 如下例：
文章："ke large businesses， they often need to make substantial investments in new plants， staff， equipment， and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If， thereafter， their subcontracts are for some reason reduced， such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses"
題目：The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to
(A) experience frustration but not serious financial harm
(B) face potentially crippling fixed expenses (本題問大公司如果沒有使投標轉化為訂單將引起什麼結果。而這恰恰是小公司的特點。)
(C) have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government
(D) increase its spending with minority subcontractors
(E) revise its procedure for making bids for federal contracts and subcontracts
2)偏： 意即選項中所包含的邏輯範疇與原文不符。包括以偏概全 以及以全概偏。請看下文：
Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl， Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors， Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks， she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community. But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents， and by exploring how male and female roles were defined by their immigrant culture， which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America. By placing characters within a wider cultural context， Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race， class， and gender in the novels of the 1970’s.
題目：The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) comparing the works of three Black American authors
(B) describing common themes in Black American literature
(C) discussing an important work in Black American literature
(D) providing insights about Black American literature in the early twentieth century
(E) providing historical information about the writing of Black American novels in the second half the twentieth century
分析：此文描述並評價了美國黑人文學史上一部優秀的著作。而其中的D，E選項中的Black American literature以及the writing of Black American novels無疑擴大了原文的邏輯涵蓋的範圍，即屬於以全概偏。於是不予選擇。
3)反： 即選項中的內容與文章內容相反。
文章：e Marshall’s Brown Girl， Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors， Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks， she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a black community......
題目：
According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they
(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives
(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century
(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels
(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture
(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women
分析：從文章中得知：馬歇爾已經擺脫了抗議小說所一貫描繪的受壓迫並且帶有悲劇色彩的女主人公形象。但是B選項卻說道：馬歇爾深深地受到二十世紀早期抗議小說的影響，明顯與原文意思相反。
再如：
It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being
(A) completely different from novels written before 1959
(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century
(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it
(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today
(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s
分析：C選項與之前的抗議小說類似 與原文意思相反。而B選項的深受二十世紀早期小說的影響從文章無法推測出。
4)無：即 提到文章中未涉及的內容。由於此種選項編制容易，並且ETS一廂情願地認為此種迷惑手段非常高明。因此，此類錯誤選項在GRE閱讀的錯誤選項中數量眾多。請各位考生緊記：凡基於文章內容無法推測出的選項必然錯誤。
還是上文：
題目：
According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they
(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives
(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century
(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels
(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture
(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women
分析：從文章中得知：馬歇爾與另外兩位的的共同點在於他們都把小說聚焦於一位普通的黑人女性對自己身份的追求，當然故事是以一個黑人社會為背景。其中的A選項未研究百人文化對角色生活所帶來的影響文章從未涉及。
再如：
It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being
(A) completely different from novels written before 1959
(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century
(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it
(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today
(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s
分析：D選項二十世紀50年代末期重要，但是今天過時了文章從未涉及。
(3) 含有強調性語言(最高階、唯一性和比較級)的選項
ETS會隨意地在選項中加入一些極端語言來編制錯誤選項。集中表現為含有最高階，唯一性以及比較級的詞彙。換句話說，含有這三類詞彙的選項錯誤的機率很高。具體說：
1)最高階詞彙：best ， the most important， the least useful， uttermost， foremost， uppermost， always ，never， often， usually，primarily，primary，exact(ly)，complete(ly) . entire(ly) absolute(ly) extremely， unmitigated . unrestrained . unchecked. first等
2)唯一性詞彙：only， alone， exclusively， sole(ly)， unique(ly)
3)比較級詞彙：more useful than， less beneficial than， better ， worse than ，as ， the same with， similar to 等等。
還是以上兩例：
According to the passage， Hurston， Brooks， and Marshall are alike in that they
(A) did not examine the effects of White culture on their characters’ lives
(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century
(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels
(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture
(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women
分析：此處的D選項和E選項中的primarily以及exclusively都屬於比較極端的詞彙。
It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl， Brownstones as being
(A) completely different from novels written before 1959
(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century
(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it
(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today
(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s
分析：此處的A選項中的completely 也屬於比較極端的詞彙。
(4) 違反論據集中原則：
即此類選項試圖使用非定位處的資訊回答問題。此類選項極具迷惑性，因為這些錯誤的選項在文章中確實被提及過，可是由於與問題回答無關因此不予選擇。
請看下例：
No very satisfactory account of the mechanism that caused the formation of the ocean basins has yet been given. The traditional view supposes that the upper mantle of the earth behaves as a liquid when it is subjected to small forces for long periods and that differences in temperature under oceans and continents are sufficient to produce convection in the mantle of the earth with rising convection currents under the(E) mid-ocean ridges and sinking currents under the continents. Theoretically， this convection would carry the continental plates along as though they were on a conveyor belt and would provide the forces needed to produce the split that occurs along the ridge. This view may be correct： it has the advantage that the currents are driven by(B) temperature differences that themselves depend on the position of the continents. Such a (D)back-coupling， in which the position of the moving plate has an impact on the forces that move it， could produce complicated and varying motions.
On the other hand， the theory is implausible because convection does not normally occur along lines， and it certainly does not occur along lines broken by frequent offsets or changes in direction， as the ridge is. Also it is difficult to see how the theory applies to the plate between the (C)Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the ridge in the Indian Ocean.
The author refers to a conveyor belt in order to
(A)illustrate the effects of convection in the mantle
(B)show how temperature differences depend on the positions of the continents
(C)demonstrate the linear nature of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
(D)describe the complicated motions made possible by back coupling
(E)account for the rising currents under certain mid-ocean ridges
分析：此題為一道舉例作用題。其定位為文章中加粗和劃線的句子。但是這四個錯誤的選項都無一例外地通過利用其它的句子編制而成，即出題機構分別使用文章中標號為 A，B，C和D的內容編制出四個錯誤的選項。因此，不予選擇。考生切忌因為文章別的地方曾經出現過類似的內容而猶豫不決。
