b) 社会科学类文章（Social science passages） 此类文章可能涉及历史，政治或宏观经济等社会科学领域的话题，包括美国历史、弱势群体（少数民族、 黑人、女性）以及法律（法律史）等等，在GMAT考试中所占比例较大。如：“Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented¹ opportunities……….”， “In the two decades between 1910 and 1930, over ten percent to the Black population of the United States left the South……”，“Historians of women"s labor² in the United States at first largely disregarded the story of female service workers-women earning wages in occupations…..”。相对于上述自然科学类文章，这类文章对中国学生的理解能力并未造成太大挑战，但其阅读题目的难度却不容小觑。

    c)商业类 （Business passages） 此类的GMAT 文章数量众多，而且涉及范围也十分广泛，比如市场营销，存货处理，以及日常管理等等。例如：“Excess inventory³, a massive problem for many businesses, has several causes, some of which are unavoidable…..”， “Traditionally, the first firm to commercialize a new technology has benefited from the unique opportunity to shape product definitions, forcing followers⁴ to adapt to a standard or invest in an unproven alternative….”由于此类文章行文较简单，所以题目一般会比较难，会有高难的“信息题”出现，考生在对原文进行一般理解的基础上，应尽力“听”出其“弦外之音”。

    3.套路统一

    虽然GMAT文章的题材广泛，学术高深，却表现出极为固定的行文模式，即典型的论证文章。这里要强调一点：文章的主题与结构本身的重要性远甚于文章内容的重要性。这就是我们在GMAT阅读备考中的“套路远远高于题材”之说。具体地说，在GMAT阅读中，不管文章内容如何千奇百怪，都可归纳成四种演进方式：

    a，旧观点--> 新观点；

    如：“It was once believed that the brain was independent of metabolic⁵ processes occurring elsewhere in the body”--> “In recent studies, however, we have discovered that the production and release in brain neurons of the neuro- transmitter serotonin neurotransmitters are compounds that neurons use to transmit signals to other cells) depend directly on the food that the body processes.”文章一开始会提出一个从前的旧观点（once believed），接着提出一个最近的新观点（recent years）， 而文章的第三部分一般会对新观点继续进行阐述。

    b现象-->解释

    “Historians of women"s labor in the United States at first largely disregarded the story of female service workers” --> “To explain this unfinished revolution in the status of women, historians have recently begun to emphasize the way a prevailing⁶ definition of femininity…….”。文章一开始会提出一个现象，然后对该现象进行解释（explain），最后对每个解释一一评述，并表明作者态度。