GRE填空里面中符号可能是做题线索

首先是冒号

自然，如果看到冒号，就意味着前后内容是重复的。

Stars are not__immutable/perpetual_____:like people, they areborn, they live, and then they die.

Yoshiko Yamaguchi was a remarkably__protean / versatile_____public figure:she wasnot only an actress but also a journalist, a prominent politician in the Japanese parliament, and the wife of a diplomat.

要强调的是一个破折号，在功能上和冒号是一样的，也是前后重复

Central control of the country's power grid is difficult because of the__balkanization___of the electricity industry—it ismade up of hundreds of local networks with separate owners.

然后是分号

分号可以连接两句话，这是它和逗号不同的地方，但为什么连接两句话用了分号，而不是句号呢？ 因为两个句子之间的关系比较近。所以分号之间要么就是由类似however， indeed 这样的逻辑连接词，如果是有类似的逻辑词连接的话，这些逻辑词就给我们提供了出答案的线索了；

A few decades ago the idea of animal morality would have been met with___derision/ridicule____;however, recent researchsuggests thatanimals not only act altruistically but also have the capacity for empathy, forgiveness, trust, and reciprocity.

另外一种情况是两个分句之间没有逻辑连接词，那么这时候用分号连接的原因是两个句子的描述对象一致，当然，这同一个描述对象就会带来前后分句的重复。

The author's point isnotthat people should be___dismissive/scornful____science;heis careful to point out that what science is discovering about humans, for example, is certainly important and worthy of careful consideration.