GRE閱讀備考經常有一些迷思（myths），其中一條就是出現 qualify 的選項大機率就是正確選項。
不知道小夥伴們有沒有篤信過這個原則呢？
誠然，ETS非常喜歡考察qualify這個詞，它也經常出現在正確選項中，但是總有一些不按套路出牌的題目。
那我們今天就來盤點幾道正確答案並沒有包含qualify的題~
首先，我們需要明確 qualify 的詞義以及考法。
American Heritage Dictionary 對 qualify 的定義是：
to modify, limit, or restrict, as by listing exceptions or reservations
qualify直譯就是“限定”，
即讓言辭或觀點顯得客觀嚴謹不偏不倚，
這體現的就是“讓步—轉折”關係中“讓步”部分的作用。
例如下面這兩個句子
①For example, T.H. Breen argued that the consumer boycott was a brilliantly original American invention.
②Breen did acknowledge that a few isolated boycotts may have taken place in other countries.
①Breen的觀點：消費者的聯合抵制行動是美國原創。
②Breen也承認有幾起抵制行動在其他國家發生。
真題中考察了第②句話的功能，很明顯，第②句指出了第①句中的人物觀點的一些例外情況，從而讓觀點顯得沒有那麼絕對極端，所以是對前一句觀點的限定，因此這道題的正確選項就是“qualify a point made in the preceding sentence”。
其實不難發現，選項中有qualify並不能說明什麼問題，還得判斷選項說法是否符合原文。
例如下面這道真題
Prominent among theories of the function of sleep is Meddis’ immobilization hypothesis, which holds that sleep, rather than serving a restorative function, plays a protective role during times that animals cannot be usefully engaged in other activities. Meddis reasoned that animals not immediately threatened by predators would be safer if they passed the time sleeping.
However, that hypothesis cannot easily explain why one often observes a rebound in sleep time or intensity following a period of sleep deprivation. Neither does the hypothesis explain the existence of various states of sleep, which themselves may be associated with different functions.
In the context of the passage as a whole, the highlighted portion serves primarily toA. present the thinking that led scientists to qualify a widely accepted view
B. describe the basis on which a hypothesis was advanced
C. illustrate the kind of reasoning that is applied in a branch of science
D. explain how a hypothesis can be tested empirically
E. relate the analysis that refined a tentative explanation
加粗句描述的是Meddis的推理論證：
在沒有天敵威脅時，動物如果睡覺就會更安全。
這兩句其實是“論點—論據”的結構，加粗句的作用是用來支援前一句Meddis的觀點，即睡眠發揮了保護作用。
B選項“描述了原理的提出所依賴的基礎”和原文的句間關係最吻合，而出現“qualify”的A選項“提供了某種思路讓科學家們對一個廣泛接受的觀點作出了限定”與原文結構顯然不符。
再來看另外一道“反套路”的題
Since the 1970s, there has been a movement in African literary studies toward the recognition of national literatures in newly independent African states, such as Cameroon, Senegal, and Benin. But while in some of these national literatures there has undoubtedly emerged a sense of corporate identity, often marked by clear thematic and formal progressions, it remains an incontrovertible fact that the European languages in which these literatures are expressed have only an official acceptance: they are neither indigenous to the cultures on which they have been imposed, nor are they national in any real sense of the word. This must limit the claims of any of these literatures to national significance, however abundant the corpus or coherent the internal configurations.
The highlighted portion of the passage serves primarily toA. support a conclusion stated later in the passage
B. qualify an assertion presented earlier in the passage
C. suggest an explanation for an anomaly mentioned in the passage
D. offer a tentative answer to a question raised in the passage
E. justify the use of a term introduced earlier in the passage
很明顯，B選項以qualify開頭，那這道題能不能根據套路來秒選B呢？
加粗句在冒號之後，本來按照常理這句話的作用是具體說明冒號之前的內容，即“這些文學作品中使用的歐洲語言只有官方才會接納”，但選項當中並沒有此類選項。
觀察選項發現所有選項全都涉及了句間關係，那說明加粗句的作用需要聯絡上下文判斷。
最合理的就是A選項，即“支援了文章後半部分陳述的一個結論”，因為加粗句描述的內容就是為了說明了最後一句當中的結論，即“這些文學作品中使用的歐洲語言必定是它們成為民族文學的限制因素”，B選項“對前文提到的觀點進行限定”並不符合這句的功能。
qualify常考的詞義是“限定”，考點是“讓步句”功能。
雖然qualify經常作為正確選項，但不能確保每道題都是如此，還得具體問題具體分析，做題時切勿依賴某種機械套路進行選擇。
接下來給大家留一道作業,歡迎同學們積極留言，把答案和思路寫在評論區，我們會在下午6：00前公佈置頂正確答案~
The greater the distance an island is from a continent (assuming islands are of similar size and elevation), the fewer plant and animal species it will support but the greater the distinctiveness of those species. As an example, compare Trinidad and Tobago with Puerto Rico. Trinidad and Tobago are two sister islands lying off South America, to which they were once connected by a land bridge. Their combined land mass is little more than half that Puerto Rico, but their native avifauna totals approximately four hundred species, nearly twice that of Puerto Rico’s. However, all the bird species on Trinidad and Tobago, with the sole exception of an endemic guan, are found either on the South American mainland or elsewhere. Contrarily, Puerto Rico’s native avifauna totals only two hundred and forty species but includes sixteen endemic species, which, except for two occurring in the nearby Virgins Islands, are found nowhere else in the world.
The highlighted sentence serves primarily toA. acknowledge a possible flaw in a generalization presented at the beginning of the passage.
B. cite evidence to support a possible explanation for a phenomenon mentioned in the preceding sentence
C. qualify a claim about the relationship that usually pertains between an island’s size and its relative abundance of animals species
D. establish a contrast between the relative proportion of endemic to nonendemic species on Trinidad and Tobago as compared with Puerto Rico
E. point to a possible way in which species native to the South American mainland might have come to inhabit offshore islands.
關鍵詞
A.
D.
B.
C.
in the