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 unprecedented 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 labor 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 inventory, 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 followers 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 metabolic 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 prevailing 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。