Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behavior is regarded as all too human, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.

　　文中的黑体（系本文作者所加）代表的是同一个词组：all too（非常，太）。如果不认识这个词组，对原文的理解就会打折扣，而对于文章后面的问题（正确答案为[B]）也难以驾驭：

　　The statement it is all too monkey（Last line, Paragraph 1） implies that

　　[A] monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals.

　　[B] resenting unfairness is also monkeys nature.

　　[C] monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other.

　　[D] no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions.

　　无独有偶，这一年阅读部分第四篇文章的第一题的正确答案也包含all too这个词组。

　　According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English

　　[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms.

　　[B] is but all too natural in language development.

　　[C] has caused the controversy over the counter-culture.

　　[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s.

　　由上可知，熟悉词组的意义重大。小至考试，大至学习，成毁有时系于小小的词组。为何如此？理由是词组为语言中已结晶的一部分，很难由其中的单词判断其准确意思。鉴于此，必须下大功夫熟悉这两天列出的核心词组。注意：这些词组是按年总结的，不按字母顺序。

　　今天的结束语是美国英语中的一个表达法：six of one and half a dozen of the other（半斤八两——字面意思是“一个六个，另一个半打”）。

　　核心词组（1994-2000）

　　interfere with 干扰

　　break down 中断，出故障

　　at all 完全，根本

　　cast light on 使明白，阐明

　　by contrast 与之相反，与…形成对比的是

　　be marked by 特点是，以…为特点

　　coupled with 加上；与…相结合

　　respond to 对…作出反应

　　in response to 作为对…的反应

　　on the horizon 即将来临的

　　keep track of 记录，跟上…的进展

　　be aware of 意识到，知道

　　pass on to 传递给

　　adapt…to 使…适应

　　profit from 从…获益

　　there and then 在当时当地，当场，立即

　　account for 说明（原因等），占（比例等）