Question

一道SAT阅读题，求高人解释，OG上的，（附有原文和题目）

This passage is adapted from a book on sleep research. To conduct some forms of sleep research, we have to find a way to track sleepiness over the day. Some people might believe that measuring sleepiness is a fairly trivial task. Couldn't you, for instance, simply count the number of times a person yawns during any given hour or so?In most people's minds, yawning—that slow, exaggerated mouth opening with the
long, deep inhalation of air, followed by a briefer exhalation—is the most obvious sign of sleepiness. It is a common behavior shared by many animals,
including our pet dogs and cats but also crocodiles, snakes, birds, and even some fish. It is certainly true that sleepy people tend to yawn more than wide awake people. It is also true that people who say they are bored by what is happening at the moment will tend to yawn more frequently. However, whether yawning is a sign that you are getting ready for sleep or that you are successfully fighting off sleep is not known. Simply stretching your body, as you might do if you have been sitting in the same position for a long period of time, will often trigger a yawn. Unfortunately, yawns don't just indicate sleepiness. In some animals, yawning is a sign of stress. When a dog trainer sees a dog yawning in a dog obedience class, it is usually a sign that the animal is under a good deal of pressure. Perhaps the handler is pushing too hard or moving too fast for the dog to feel in control of the situation. A moment or two of play and then turning to another activity is usually enough to banish yawning for quite a while. Yawning can also be a sign of stress in humans. Once, when observing airborne troops about to take their first parachute jump, I noticed that several of the soldiers were sitting in the plane and yawning. It was 10 A.M., just after a coffee break, and I doubted that they were tired; I knew for a fact that they were far too nervous to be bored. When I asked about this, the officer in charger laughed and said it was really quite a common behavior, especially on the first jump. There is also a social aspect to yawning. Psychologist have placed actors in crowded rooms and auditoriums and had them deliberately yawn. Within moments, there is usually an increase in yawning by everyone else in the room. Similarly, people who watch films or videos of others yawning are more likely to yawn. Even just reading about yawning tends to stimulate people to yawn. The truth of the matter is that we really don’t know what purpose yawning serves. Scientists originally thought that the purpose of yawning was to increase the amount of oxygen in the blood or to release some accumulated carbon dioxide. We now know that this is not true, since increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air seems not to make people more likely to yawn but to make them breathe faster to try to bring in more oxygen. On the other hand, breathing 100 percent pure oxygen does not
（接上）seem to reduce the likelihood of yawning.

问题是：
1. The author mentioned the "coffee break" to emphasize that a
(A) brief respite was solely needed
(B) given attitude was inappropriate
(C) specific response was understandable
(D) particular action was unnecessary
(E) certain behavior was unexpected

答案为什么不是D，为什么是E

Answer 1

在理解了涉及到问题的句子之前的文章内容后我们可以先明确一个问题，那就是，从作者的想法来看，人之所以会打呵欠，无非是处于感到困倦与感到无聊这两个原因
接着，再看文中涉及问题的关键的句子
"It was 10 A.M., just after a coffee break, and I doubted that they were tired; I knew for a fact that they were far too nervous to be bored."
首先通过联系上下文，以及根据常识分析，可以看出
1."It was 10 A.M."----从这里可以知道，上午10点，根据常识来说并不是一个应该感觉到困乏或疲倦的时间。另外作者其后也补充说了"I doubted that they were tired"这样的话。这说明士兵打呵欠的行为，由作者看来，并不是由困倦所致
2."I knew for a fact that they were far too nervous to be bored."----这又说明，作者也同时排除了士兵因为感到无聊而打呵欠的这另一可能性了。
接着，我们再撇开问题的其它选项，只就D、E两个选项对这个句子进行尝试性的理解
首先，将D.particular action was unnecessary代入原句
选项D将那时士兵打呵欠的这个行为解释为是不必要的行为。通过已知的材料信息，这显然并不妥。
然后，我们再将E.certain behavior was unexpected代入原句
根据E选项，我们可以得到那时士兵打呵欠的行为是一种不被期望出现的行为，即通过作者的个人理解，不应该在那时那样的状况下出现的行为。通过之前的句子分析，我们可以知道，作者已经排除了他个人认为可能致使人打呵欠的两种可能性。因此，可以简单的得出致使那时士兵打呵欠的原因，是作者意料外的，即可解释为作者不期望出现的。
由此我们可得出答案为E选项而非D选项的结论