朗阁海外考试研究中心 徐露露
回顾托福阅读的所有题型,其中有2种题型占据的比例*----词汇题和事实信息题,从难度系数上来看事实信息题的难度明显高于词汇题。那么,今天朗阁老师打算在本次托福培训中谈一谈该题型的解决方法。
1. 提问方式:
l According to paragraph… which of the following statements is true of / concerned with / related to X?
例:According to paragraph 1, what was true of the Sahara region around 6,000 B.C.? (TPO 28 Early Saharan Pastoralists)
l According to paragraph… why / how / what….?
例:According to paragraph 1, why is play difficult to define? (TPO 30 Role of Play in Development)
分析:通过以上两种不同提问方式可以总结出该题型有以下几个特点:
1). 该题型是就某段话当中的某个细节信息(即提问方式1中的X)进行提问。
2). 该题型可以围绕该细节信息的不同方面进行提问,通过特殊疑问词which; what; why; how可以看出。
3). 由于题干中未出现infer; suggest; indicate等字样,所以该题型旨在考察文本信息的字面含义,无需考生进行文本的隐含意推理。
2. 解题步骤:
Step 1: 读题干,找出定位词
注意:如果是提问方式1, 那么定位词则是位于介词of/ with/ to后面的信息。
如果是提问方式2, 那么定位词一般是名词,并且是非主题性的名词(当然定位词不一定只能找一个,一般可以找2到3个,因为定位词越多相对定位的位置也会越精确。)
例:
l According to paragraph 2, which of the following presents a particular challenge to researchers who study play behavior in animals?(TPO 30 Role of Play in Development)
分析:通过提问方式类似于第1种提问方式,其实题干可以改写成which of the following statements is true of the challenge to researchers who…因此,定位词应该是位于介词of后面的challenge to researchers。至于后面的play behavior就不需要了,因为它属于通篇的主题词。
l According to paragraph 4, how did the Catholic Church react to the introduction of mechanical clocks?(TPO 30 The Invention of Mechanical Clock)
分析:通过提问方式属于第2种提问方式,因此考生们应该在题干中找出名词部分,考生们可以看到两组名词:Catholic Church和Mechanical Clocks, 并且这两组词都是我们所需要的定位词。
l Paragraph 5 answers which of the following questions about mechanical clocks. (TPO 30 The Invention of Mechanical Clock)
分析:通过题干找出题干中*疑似的定位词组Mechanical Clocks, 但是却发现整篇文章都在讨论Mechanical Clocks。这种类型的提问方式是考生们*怕看到的,因为定位词无效。此刻建议考生们可以反过来先读选项,然后根据选项中的定位词回读段落寻找答案。
Step 2: 通过题干中定位词回原文进行定位。
注意:在定位的过程中考生们可能会遇到以下2个问题:
问题1:定位词在原文中可能是非原文原词(如果是专有名词一般在原文中就是原文原词,但如果是普通名词则有可能是非原文原词)。
例1:定位词为原文原词的情况
Paragraph 1: Evolutionary biologists believe that speciation, the formation of a new species, often begins when some kind of physical barrier arises and divides a population of a single species into separate subpopulations. Physical separation between subpopulations promotes the formation of new species because once the members of one subpopulation can no longer mate with members of another subpopulation, they cannot exchange variant genes that arise in one of the subpopulations. In the absences of gene flow between the subpopulations, genetic differences between the groups begin to accumulate. Eventually the subpopulations become so genetically distinct that they cannot interbreed even if the physical barriers between them were removed. At this point the subpopulations have evolved into distinct species. This route to speciation is known as allopatry (alio- means different,and patria means homeland).(TPO 31 Speciation in Geographically Isolated Populations)
Q: According to paragraph 1, allopatric speciation involves which of the following?
分析:此题干中的定位词为allopatric speciation, 为专有名词,在原文中为原文原词,即*后一句话为定位句。
例2:定位词为非原文原词的情况
Paragraph 2: Play appears to be a developmental characteristic of animals with fairly sophisticated nervous systems, mainly birds and mammals. Play has been studied most extensively in primates and canids (dogs). Exactly why animals play is still a matter debated in the research literature, and the reasons may not be the same for every species that plays. Determining the functions of play is difficult because the functions may be long-term, with beneficial effects not showing up until the animal's adulthood. (TPO 30 Role of Play in Development)
According to paragraph 2, which of the following presents a particular challenge to researchers who study play behavior in animals?
O The delay between activities and the benefits the animal derives from them.
O The difficulty in determining which animal species play and which do not.
O The fact that for most animals, there is no clear transition from youth to full adulthood.
O The lack of research on the play behavior of animals other than canids and primates.
分析:此题干中的定位词为challenge & researchers,在原文中考生们无法找到这两个定位词,但是可以找到challenge的同义替换形式difficult, 因此该句即是我们所需要的定位句。
问题2:定位词在原文中出现不止一次。
Paragraph 7: Occasionally, a sequence of fossil-rich layers of rock permits a comprehensive look at one type of organism over a long period of time. For example, Peter Sheldon's studies of trilobites, a now extinct marine animal with a segmented body, offer a detailed glimpse into three million years of evolution in one marine environment. In that study, each of eight different trilobite species was observed to undergo a gradual change in the number of segments --- typically an increase of one or two segments over the whole time interval. No significant discontinuous were observed, leading Sheldon to conclude that environmental conditions were quite stable during the period he examined.(TPO 30 The Pace of Evolutionary Change)
According to paragraph 7, Peter Sheldon’s studies demonstrated which of the following about trilobites?
O They underwent gradual change over a long time period
O They experienced a number of discontinuous transitions during their history
O They remained unchanged during a long period of environmental stability
O They evolved in ways that cannot be counted for by either of the two competing theories.