剑桥雅思真题15阅读解析：Why fairy tales

剑桥雅思真题15阅读解析：Why fairy tales

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Why fairy tales are really scary tales

Some people think that fairy tales are Just stories to amuse children, but their

universal and enduring appeal may be due to more serious reasons

People of every culture tell each other fairy tales but the same story often takes a variety of forms in different parts of the world. In the story of Little Red Riding Hood that European children are familiar with, a young girl on the way to see her grandmother meets a wolf and tells him where she is going. The wolf runs on ahead and disposes of the grandmother, then gets into bed dressed in the grandmother's clothes to wait for Little Red Riding Hood. You may think you know the story - but which version? In some versions, the wolf swallows up the grandmother, while in others it locks her in a cupboard. In some stories Red Riding Hood gets the better of the wolf on her own, while in others a hunter or a woodcutter hears her cries and comes to her rescue.

The universal appeal of these tales is frequently attributed to the idea that they contain cautionary messages: in the case of Little Red Riding Hood, to listen to your mother, and avoid talking to strangers. 'It might be what we find interesting about this story is that ifs got this survival relevant information in it,' says anthropologist Jamie Tehrani at Durham University in the UK. But his research suggests otherwise. 'We have this huge gap in our knowledge about the history and prehistory of storytelling, despite the fact that we know this genre is an incredibly ancient one,' he says. That hasn't stopped anthropologists, folklorists and other academics devising theories to explain the importance of fairy tales in human society. Now Tehrani has found a way to test these ideas, borrowing a technique from evolutionary biologists.

To work out the evolutionary history, development and relationships among groups of organisms, biologists compare the characteristics of living species in a process called 'phylogenetic analysis'. Tehrani has used the same approach to compare related versions of fairy tales to discover how they have evolved and which elements have survived longest.

Tehrani's analysis focused on Little Red Riding Hood in its many forms, which include another Western fairy tale known as The Wolf and the Kids. Checking for variants of these two tales and similar stories from Africa, East Asia and other regions, he ended up with 58 stories recorded from oral traditions. Once his phylogenetic analysis had established that they were indeed related, he used the same methods to explore how they have developed and altered over time.

First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance. Folklorists believe that what happens in a story is more central to the story than the characters in it - that visiting a relative, only to be met by a scary animal in disguise, is more fundamental than whether the visitor is a little girl or three siblings, or the animal is a tiger instead of a wolf.

However, Tehrani found no significant difference in the rate of evolution of incidents compared with that of characters. 'Certain episodes are very stable because they are crucial to the story, but there are lots of other details that can evolve quite freely, ' he says. Neither did his analysis support the theory that the central section of a story is the most conserved part. He found no significant difference in the flexibility of events there compared with the beginning or the end.

But the really big surprise came when he looked at the cautionary elements of the story. 'Studies on hunter-gatherer folk tales suggest that these narratives include really important information about the environment and the possible dangers that may be faced there - stuff that's relevant to survival,' he says. Yet in his analysis such elements were just as flexible as seemingly trivial details. What, then, is important enough to be reproduced from generation to generation?

The answer, it would appear, is fear - blood-thirsty and gruesome aspects of the story, such as the eating of the grandmother by the wolf turned out to be the best preserved of all. Why are these details retained by generations of storytellers, when other features are not? Tehrani has an idea: 'In an oral context, a story won't survive because of one great teller. It also needs to be interesting when ifs told by someone who's not necessarily a great storyteller.' Maybe being swallowed whole by a wolf, then cut out of its stomach alive is so gripping that it helps the story remain popular, no matter how badly it's told.

Jack Zipes at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is unconvinced by Tehrani's views on fairy tales. 'Even if they're gruesome, they won't stick unless they matter,' he says. He believes the perennial theme of women as victims in stories like Little Red Riding Hood explains why they continue to feel relevant. But Tehrani points out that although this is often the case in Western versions, it is not always true elsewhere. In Chinese and Japanese versions, often known as The Tiger Grandmother, the villain is a woman, and in both Iran and Nigeria, the victim is a boy.

Mathias Clasen at Aarhus University in Denmark isn't surprised by Tehrani's findings. 'Habits and morals change, but the things that scare us, and the fact that we seek out entertainment that's designed to scare us - those are constant,' he says. Clasen believes that scary stories teach us what it feels like to be afraid without having to experience real danger, and so build up resistance to negative emotions.

Questions 27-31

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.

Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.

27 In fairy tales, details of the plot

28 Tehran! rejects the idea that the useful lessons for life in fairy tales

29 Various theories about the social significance of fairy tales

30 Insights into the development of fairy tales

31 All the fairy tales analysed by Tehran!

A may be provided through methods used in biological research.

B are the reason for their survival.

C show considerable global variation.

D contain animals which transform to become humans.

E were originally spoken rather than written.

F have been developed without factual basis.

Questions 32-36

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-l, below.

Write the correct letter, A-l, in boxes 32-36 on your answer sheet.

Phylogenetic analysis of Little Red Riding Hood

Tehrani used techniques from evolutionary biology to find out if 32………….. existed among 58 stories from around the world. He also wanted to know which aspects of the stories had fewest 33………….. as he believed these aspects would be the most important ones. Contrary to other beliefs, he found that some 34………….. that were included in a story tended to change over time, and that the middle of a story seemed no more important than the other parts. He was also surprised that parts of a story which seemed to provide some sort of 35………….. were unimportant. The aspect that he found most important in a story's survival was 36………….. .

Questions 37-40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet.

37 What method did Jamie Tehrani use to test his ideas about fairy tales?

A He compared oral and written forms of the same stories.

B He looked at many different forms of the same basic story.

C He looked at unrelated stories from many different countries.

D He contrasted the development of fairy tales with that of living creatures.

38 When discussing Tehrani's views, Jack Zipes suggests that

A Tehrani ignores key changes in the role of women.

B stories which are too horrific are not always taken seriously.

C Tehrani overemphasises the importance of violence in stories.

D features of stories only survive if they have a deeper significance.

39 Why does Tehrani refer to Chinese and Japanese fairy tales?

A to indicate that Jack Zipes' theory is incorrect

B to suggest that crime is a global problem

C to imply that all fairy tales have a similar meaning

D to add more evidence for Jack Zipes' ideas

40 What does Mathias Clasen believe about fairy tales?

A They are a safe way of learning to deal with fear.

B They are a type of entertainment that some people avoid.

C They reflect the changing values of our society.

D They reduce our ability to deal with real-world problems.

答案解析

Question 27

答案：C

关键词：details of the plot

定位原文&解题思路：本题较难，文中并没有明确的plot或details的直接对应，但是第一段第一句说同样的故事在不同地方的呈现形式不同。从第一段第四句开始，一直到第一段结束，说的是不同版本的小红帽故事的内容也不同，可以体现details of the plot在各个地方是不同的。

Question 28

答案：B

关键词：Tehrani, idea, useful lessons

定位原文&解题思路：文中第二段第一句提到了idea，说童话中包含了警戒的信息。第二句里Tehrani说：“我们之所以对这个故事感兴趣，可能是因为它包含了与生存相关的信息。”但是第三句的But his research...却表明了他的研究发现了相反的一面，反驳了之前自己的想法，文中的But对应题干中的rejects。

Question 29

答案：F

关键词：theories, social significance

定位原文&解题思路：第二段倒数第二句出现了theories和society。本句说：那并没有阻止人类学家、民俗学家和其他学者提出一些理论来解释童话在人类社会中的重要性。本句的难点在于要搞清楚句首的That指的是什么，所以要向前看一句。前一句说：“尽管我们知道这是一种非常古老的体裁，但我们对讲故事的历史和史前时期的认识依然存在巨大差距。”综合这两句可以看出That指的是巨大差距。也就是说认识的巨大差距不能阻止学者们继续提出理论来解释童话故事的重要性，说明这些理论都是缺乏认知和事实基础的。

Question 30

答案：A

关键词：Insights, development of fairy tales

定位原文&解题思路：本题定位非常难，如果不认识insights就很难对应。虽然第三段第一句中出现了development，但是仔细看就会发现原文中的development后面跟的是有机物而不是童话。此处可考虑先做31题，再按照顺序性原则，在29题的对应句和31题的对应句之间进行仔细阅读。 文中第二段最后一句说：为了测试这些理论，Tehrani借鉴了进化生物学家的技术。其实这句话中的test these ideas对应的就是题干中的insights。接下来第三段继续讲了生物学家的技术。第二句说Tehrani用了同样的方法去研究童话故事的演变，所以和A选项有对应关系。

Question 31

答案：E

关键词：analysed by Tehrani

定位原文&解题思路：本题定位依然较难，因为fairy tales不具有定位价值，只能按照顺序性原则在Tehrani相关的地方继续看。文中第四段第一句出现了 Tehrani's analysis，对应题干。该段前两句说：Tehrani的分析集中在《小红帽》的多种形式上，其中包括另一个西方童话《狼和孩子们》。为了寻找这两个故事的变体以及来自非洲、东亚和其他地区的类似故事，他从口述传统中记录了58个故事。可以明确看出对应E选项。

Question 32

答案：D

关键词：stories

解题思路：文中第四段第二句出现了58 stories，但这一句没有说去发现什么。第三句说：一旦他的系统进化分析证实它们确实是相关的，他就用同样的方法来探索它们是如何随着时间的推移而发展和改变的。文中的explore对应题中的find out，但是文中后面说的是探索故事是如何改变和发展的，选项并没有任何对应。再看前半句中出现了related，综合判定对应选项D.links。

Question 33

答案：F

关键词：fewest, most important

定位原文：第五段第一句：First he tested some assumptions about which aspects of the story alter least as it evolves, indicating their importance.

解题思路：通过空格后面的these aspects推导出空格对应的选项是复数名词。第五段第一句中的importance对应题干中的important;空格前的fewest对应文中的least。比对之后分析出空格对应的是alter（改变）。所以答案为F. variations。

Question 34

答案：B

关键词：change over time, middle of a story

解题思路：本题较难，通过空格后面的that从句中的were判定空格是复数名词。通过题干中的middle of a story不比别的部分更重要可以对应到第六段最后一句，再按照顺序性原则可以判断答案的文中对应点在第六段前两句。第一句中说与人物相比incidents（事件）的演变速度并没有很大差异，并不能体现change over time。第二句说一些episodes（片段）很稳定，但是其他的details可以自由演变，说明是details发生改变。但是选项中并没有能够体现details的复数名词对应的选项。再分析两句的关系可以看出，第二句中的episodes和details都是指的上一句中的incidents，所以可判定是incidents发生变化，只不过事件的演变速度与角色变化的速度没有显着差异而已。另外本段最后一句也出现了选项对应词。所以答案为B. events。

Question 35

答案：C

关键词：surprised, unimportant

解题思路：本题又是需要彻底理解而非简单定位的题目。通过surprised定位到第七段第一句：真正让他感到惊讶的是当他看到这个故事的警示元素（cautionary elements）时。但这句话没有体现这些不重要。第二句继续说发现这些故事包含有关危险的重要信息。第三句的Yet表明了对第二句的反驳，也就是说第一句中提到的cautionary elements是不重要的。所以答案为C. warning。

Question 36

答案：G

关键词：aspect, most important

解题思路：上一道题目对应的文本表明前面描述的都不重要。第七段最后一句提出疑问：那么什么才足够重要呢?第八段第一句给岀明确回答：fear。所以答案为G. horror。

Question 37

答案：B

关键词：method, test ideas

解题思路：A. 他比较了同样故事的口头和书面形式。 B. 他研究了同样故事的很多不同形式。 C. 他研究了不同的国家不相关的故事。 D. 他对比了童话的发展和生物的发展。 文中第四段表明Tehrani从不同地区找到了《小红帽》故事的58个版本。最后一句说一旦确定了它们是相关的，就会使用同样的方法去探索这些故事是如何发展的。所以答案为B 选项。

Question 38

答案：D

关键词：Jack Zipes

解题思路：A. Tehrani忽略了女性角色的关键改变。 B. 太恐怖的故事并不总会被认真对待。 C. Tehrani过分强调了故事中暴力的重要性。 D. 故事的特征只有在具有更深层次的意义时才能存留。 第九段第二句话说即使童话很可怕，它们也不会留下来，除非很重要。所以答案为D选项。其他选项文中都没有提到。

Question 39

答案：A

关键词：Chinese and Japanese

解题思路：A. 为了表明Jack Zipes的理论是不正确的 B. 为了表明犯罪是一个全球问题 C. 为了暗示所有的童话故事都有类似意义 D. 为Jack Zipes的理论提供更多证据 文中第九段最后一句出现定位信息。根据句子之间的关系可以看出中国和日本的童话版本是例子，因此需要向前看一句。前一句是Tehrani的观点，通过But表明是反驳前面Jack Zipes的观点。综合句间关系，可判断答案为A选项。

Question 40

答案：A

关键词：Mathias Clasen

解题思路：A.它们是学习如何应对恐惧的一种安全方式。 B.它们是一种有些人会避开的娱乐形式。 C.它们反映了我们社会中不断改变的价值观。 D.它们降低了我们应对现实世界中的问题的能力。 第十段最后一句：Clasen认为，恐怖故事教会了我们害怕的感觉，而不用去经历真正的危险，从而增强了我们对负面情绪的抵抗力。所以答案为A选项。