根据OG 官方列出的所有考点类型，这些考点既可以单独考察，也可以多个融合在一起综合考察，那么这样就形成了考试中所谓的难度梯度，很多考生对于这种类型题目的解答存在疑问或者逻辑盲点。所以今天以“Understanding Relationships” 作为切入点，来谈谈那些在考试中出现的融合考点。
先来看看官方指南中给出的Understanding Relationships 考点：
Cause-and-Effect:
Understanding how one thing caused another to happen; often signaled by words such as “because” or “since”.
Comparison-and-Contrast:
Understanding how two things are similar and/or different; often signaled by words such as “more” and “less”.
Sequence:
Understanding the order in which things happened; often signaled by words such as “first”, “last”, “before”, and “after”.
下面将“Contrast”这个考点分两部分进行解析：
(1). 时间对比：时间点前后相反
(2). 直接对比：对比内容相反
1. 时间对比：时间点前后相反
先来看一下 OG Practice Test 1 的历史类文章:
(1). Woolf indicates that the procession she describes in the passage
A). has come to have more practical influence in recent years.
B). has become a celebrated feature of English public life.
C). includes all of the richest and most powerful men in England.
D). has become less exclusionary in its membership in recent years.
根据题干，我们可以把原文定位在如下的句子中：
There they go, our brothers who have been educated at public schools and universities, mounting those steps, passing in and out of those doors, ascending those pulpits, preaching, teaching, administering justice, practicing medicine, transacting business, making money. It is a solemn sight always — a procession, like a caravanserai crossing a desert.… But now, for the past twenty years or so, it is no longer a sight merely, a photograph, or fresco scrawled upon the walls of time, at which we can look with merely an esthetic appreciation. For there, trapesing along at the tail end of the procession, we go ourselves.
文章解析：
上面句子是对procession 的描写，首先作者说our brothers 是在public schools and universities 受过教育，并运用“排比”说明他们所从事的一系列工作，接着作者运用了“比喻”的修辞手法，把procession 比喻成沙漠中行走的商队，这里暗含的信息是这个procession 其组成结构单一，此时此刻除了受过教育的男性根本就没有其他身份的人在这个procession 里面，紧接着作者话锋一转用But now 这个时间点前后对比关键词来表明过去和现在不一样了，这说明procession 的组成结构不是像过去那样单一，而是有人打破加入进去了，（至于是谁打破加入进去我们姑且不谈，因为本篇意识流文章可以做N 个专题来进行讨论，极具价值）最后作者用 "For there, trapesing along at the tail end of the procession, we go ourselves" 来表明是因为前面有人打破加入进去，所以“我们”才得以跟上procession 的尾巴，才可以加入到这个行列中来，暗含了Cause-and-Effect 因果逻辑考点。
通过以上分析说明以前的procession，你想加入，想都别想，就是用了But now，进行前后时间对比说明现在不那么排外，所以“我们”也可以加入。这才是（1）中D 选项的正确打开姿势。
敲黑板的重点总结：
上面题型就是Reading Closely 和Understanding Relationships融合考点， 既考察你对原文的定位能力，精读文章中内容进行合理推断，又考察你要结合Understanding Relationships里面的 Contrast考点关于“时间点前后对比”以及Cause-and-Effect 因果逻辑点，对题目和选项进行分析和筛选。对于这种题型还可以参考 OG Practice Test 2 小说的第6，7 两道题，考察思路和方向一致。
2. 直接对比：对比内容相反
对于直接对比考点又可以分为两种情况考虑，种，假设一观点为A，另一观点为B，AB 为对比关系，C 观点支持其中A 或B；第二种，假设一观点为A，另一观点为B，AB 为对比关系，C既不支持A 也不支持B，而是作为第三种观点而存在。
直接对比（一）
1. OG Practice Test 1 社科类文章
The "social psychologists" mentioned in paragraph 2 (lines 17-34) would likely describe the "deadweight loss" phenomenon as
A) predictable.
B) questionable.
C) disturbing.
D) unprecedented.
根据题干，我们可以把原文定位在如下的句子中：
Anthropologists describe gift-giving as a positive social process, serving various political, religious, and psychological functions. Economists, however, offer a less favorable view. According to Waldfogel (1993), gift-giving represents an objective waste of resources. People buy gifts that recipients would not choose to buy on their own, or at least not spend as much money to purchase (a phenomenon referred to as "the deadweight loss of Christmas"). To wit, givers are likely to spend $100 to purchase a gift that receivers would spend only $80 to buy themselves. This "deadweight loss" suggests that gift-givers are not very good at predicting what gifts others will appreciate. That in itself is not surprising to social psychologists. Research has found that people often struggle to take account of others’ perspectives—their insights are subject to egocentrism, social projection, and multiple attribution.
文章分析：
上文是根据题干定位的原文， 文章开头Anthropologists说送礼是一种积极的社交过程，紧接着Economists 却提出另外一种不太受欢迎的观点，用however 转折，表明前后两种观点相反，接着以Waldfogel 观点为例继续阐述Economists观点，认为送礼代表一种客观的资源浪费其原因是送礼者不太擅长预测对方会喜欢什么礼物而social psychologists 说出现这种情况一点也不奇怪（此处可看出Social psychologists 支持的是Economists 的观点），中间部分“People buy gifts that...$80 to buy themselves.” 只是在解释什么是“deadweight loss”，可以不看。那么not surprising 的原因是什么呢？因为受到egocentrism, social projection, andmultiple attribution errors 的影响（我这里把它叫做价值观），所以我们可以推出：因为受到价值观的影响所以人们很难考虑到他人的观点，所以出现这种“deadweight loss”是可以预测到的。
敲黑板的重点总结：
上面题型就是Reading Closely 和 Understanding Relationships 融合考点，考察Understanding Relationships 里面的 Contrast 考点关于“ 直接对比： 对比内容相反” 以及 Cause-and-Effect 因果逻辑点，并且与前面种假设相符合。
直接对比（二）
2. OG Practice Test 2 社科类文章
In the passage, the author anticipates which of the following objections to criticizing the ethics of free markets?
A) Smith’s association of free markets with ethical behavior still applies today.
B) Free markets are the best way to generate high profits, so ethics are a secondary consideration.
C) Free markets are ethical because they are made possible by devalued currency.
D) Free markets are ethical because they enable individuals to make choices.
根据题干，我们可以把原文定位在如下的句子中：
Some argue that because the free markets allow for personal choice, they are already ethical. Others have accepted the ethical critique and embraced corporate social responsibility. But before we can label any market outcome as "immoral," or sneer at economists who try to put a price on being ethical, we need to be clear on what we are talking about.
文章分析：
Some argue…Others… 可以明显的看出是一个对比关系，此时需要注意的是前面两种观点是不是作者的观点呢？当然不是，前两种观点的作用只是为作者自己的观点做铺垫。所以作者后面用了But 来转折，引出自己的观点，作者根本就不同意前面两种观点，如果作者同意前面的观点的话，就会像前面所提到的，支持Some argue…Others… 其中某种观点了，所以我们可以很容易选出答案D。
敲黑板的重点总结：
上面题型就是Reading Closely和Understanding Relationships 融合考点， 考察Understanding Relationships 里面的Contrast 考点关于“直接对比： 对比内容相反”，并且与前面第二种假设相符合。
对于本次所介绍的Understanding Relationships里面的Contrast 考点，大家在之后的文章中会很容易遇到，在处理文章时遇到此类型的句型要有所警惕，极有可能是出题的重点。在SAT 的考试中，文章永远是一个变量，你不知道下一篇会给出什么样的文章，但是不变的是官方给出考点类型，无论文章怎么变，它一定会往出题思路上靠，这样才能让你在选项信息、题干信息以及原文之间找到对应关系，否则就很容易超出考试范围，那就是在“搞事情”。
备考策略
1. 掌握SAT 阅读官方给出的所有考点。这个非常重要，不能光靠感觉来做题，如果你不理解考试思路，理解每个考点的出题本质，怎么考，往什么方向考，在真题中如何连接的话，在平时练习或真正到考场中拿到题目的时候根本无从下手，不知道考的是什么，那么就更无法在短时间内对文章进行准确定位，找到答案。
2. 要学会读句子、理关系。弄懂句与句之间，段与段之间的逻辑关系，这也是我本次所讲Understanding Relationships 的核心内容，对于你做非文学类文章有非常大的帮助。我没讲到的Sequence 考点，它在小说、社科类题型中经常会考到，同时题目选项会结合Summarizing 来设置，这又是属于多考点融合在一起。
3. 要学会对文章结合句子功能进行分层次的概括总结。千万不要为了省事觉得浪费时间而不去做，不然真正考试的时候你会发现自己看完文章后什么东西都记不住，每做一道题就要回去翻一遍文章，那才是浪费时间。
