淺析托福閱讀分類題型：事實(shí)信息題的應(yīng)對(duì)方法

在之前的托福分類題型中，我們已經(jīng)介紹了句子簡(jiǎn)化題（Sentence Simplification Questions）的做法，即寫出句子結(jié)構(gòu)，再根據(jù)寫出的結(jié)構(gòu)對(duì)選項(xiàng)進(jìn)行分析。正確答案的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)有兩個(gè)，一是邏輯關(guān)系與原句一致，二是基本信息與原文一致。這種做題方法對(duì)學(xué)生們的語(yǔ)法知識(shí)、語(yǔ)法結(jié)構(gòu)，也就是長(zhǎng)難句的分析能力有很高的要求。學(xué)生們需要多練習(xí)，才能夠在短時(shí)間內(nèi)做對(duì)這道題。那么，本篇文章是關(guān)于在托福閱讀每篇12-14題中出題頻率會(huì)達(dá)到3-6題的題型—事實(shí)信息題Factual Information Questions。這種題型雖然學(xué)生們做起來(lái)不陌生，但是一不小心就會(huì)掉入ETS的小“陷阱”。由于事實(shí)信息題和詞匯題都在考試中占有很大比重，而且要求在短時(shí)間內(nèi)迅速做對(duì)，拿到分?jǐn)?shù)，所以對(duì)學(xué)生們各種答題能力都有要求。下面來(lái)重點(diǎn)講解一下事實(shí)信息題。 

事實(shí)信息題Factual Information Questions的題型一般是According to the passage, what…?/According to the passage, where…?/According to the passage, how…?/According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?/In paragraph 2, what does the author say about ….? 所以事實(shí)信息題其實(shí)是考察文章中的細(xì)節(jié)問(wèn)題。這種題型我們的做法是第一步，定位原文（keys words），第二步，同義替換（paraphrase）。我們做一個(gè)例題解析一下。下面一題是出自Timberline Vegetations on Mountains。

Paragraph 1: The transition from forest to treeless tundra on a mountain slope is often a dramatic one. Within a vertical distance of just a few tens of meters, trees disappear as a life-form and are replaced by low shrubs, herbs, and grasses. This rapid zone of transition is called the upper timberline or tree line. In many semiarid areas there is also a lower timberline where the forest passes into steppe or desert at its lower edge, usually because of a lack of moisture.

Where is the lower timberline mentioned in paragraph 1 likely to be found?

○In an area that has little water

○In an area that has little sunlight

○Above a transition area

○On a mountain that has on upper timberline.

托福閱讀界面右邊是文章原文，左邊是題目。在題目出現(xiàn)的時(shí)候，我們第一步要先看題目，找出用來(lái)定位的關(guān)鍵詞Key Words，這道題目中的關(guān)鍵詞是the lower timberline。所以我們定位一下原文，在段落倒數(shù)第一句中出現(xiàn)了the lower timberline。而且這一句和前面文章沒有非常明顯的聯(lián)系。所以這道題的正確選項(xiàng)必然出現(xiàn)在這一句。譯為：在許多的半干旱地區(qū)，有一個(gè)下行樹帶界線，在那里較低的地勢(shì)森林變成干草原或者沙漠，通常是由于缺少水分的原因。第二步是看選項(xiàng)。1選項(xiàng)是對(duì)a lack of moisture的paraphrase。2選項(xiàng)屬于無(wú)中生有，文中并沒有提到sunlight；3、4選項(xiàng)沒有在我們閱讀過(guò)的文章提到。所以選擇1選項(xiàng)。其實(shí)3、4選項(xiàng)在我們定位句子的前面都有提到，所以其實(shí)都是混淆項(xiàng)。因?yàn)榍懊鎺拙涠际侵vupper timberline，而upper timberline和lower timberline沒有必然的聯(lián)系。如果同學(xué)們因?yàn)闆]有通讀全文而心有疑慮，偏要讀全段才能做題，那么會(huì)有兩個(gè)問(wèn)題，一是為自己增加混淆項(xiàng)，二是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。因?yàn)閷?shí)踐驗(yàn)證，你定位的句子必然是正確選項(xiàng)所在的地方。例如

Paragraph 4: By 1800 more than a thousand steam engines were in use in the British Isles, and Britain retained a virtual monopoly on steam engine production until the 1830s. Steam power did not merely spin cotton and roll iron; early in the new century, it also multiplied ten times over the amount of paper that a single worker could produce in a day. At the same time, operators of the first printing presses run by steam rather than by hand found it possible to produce a thousand pages in an hour rather than thirty. Steam also promised to eliminate a transportation problem not fully solved by either canal boats or turnpikes. Boats could carry heavy weights, but canals could not cross hilly terrain; turnpikes could cross the hills, but the roadbeds could not stand up under great weights. These problems needed still another solution, and the ingredients for it lay close at hand. In some industrial regions, heavily laden wagons, with flanged wheels, were being hauled by horses along metal rails; and the stationary steam engine was puffing in the factory and mine. Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. Thus the railroad age sprang from what had already happened in the eighteenth century. 

According to paragraph 4, providing a machine to take the place of the horse involved combining which two previously separate ingredients?

○Turnpikes and canals

○Stationary steam engines and wagons with flanged wheels

○Metal rails in roadbeds and wagons capable of carrying heavy loads

○Canal boats and heavily laden wagons

這道題有的同學(xué)一看就發(fā)愁了，因?yàn)槎温浜荛L(zhǎng)，生難單詞很多，但是如果利用我們的方法，先看題目，Key Words其實(shí)是整個(gè)題目，所以定位原文，發(fā)現(xiàn)前面一大部分我們都不用看，找到倒數(shù)第二句Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. 這里面可以得出的答案是黑體字by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails。里面的重點(diǎn)詞就是engine和wheels。看一下選項(xiàng)，那么2選項(xiàng)中包含了這兩個(gè)重點(diǎn)詞。所以選項(xiàng)就是2選項(xiàng)。其實(shí)2選項(xiàng)在段落的前面提到過(guò)，但是由于本段信息量超大，沒有必要通讀全段才能做出來(lái)這道題。同學(xué)們可以多做題驗(yàn)證一下。

但是有一種題型我們不能用這種比較省事省時(shí)的技巧，那就是在題目中出現(xiàn)的Key Words出現(xiàn)在段落的首句。根據(jù)我們之前講過(guò)的文章結(jié)構(gòu)和段落結(jié)構(gòu)，每段的主旨句一般是第一、二句。所以預(yù)示著你找到的關(guān)鍵詞是整段討論的話題，那么同學(xué)們一般要分析整段才能得出正確答案。這種題型的問(wèn)法一般是According to the passage, which of the following statement about X is true?

例如Paragraph 1: The vast grasslands of the High Plains in the central United States were settled by farmers and ranchers in the 1880s. This region has a semiarid climate, and for 50 years after its settlement, it supported a low-intensity agricultural economy of cattle ranching and wheat farming. In the early twentieth century, however, it was discovered that much of the High Plains was underlain by a huge aquifer (a rock layer containing large quantities of groundwater). This aquifer was named the Ogallala aquifer after the Ogallala Sioux Indians, who once inhabited the region.

According to paragraph 1, which of the following statements about the High Plains is true?

○Until farmers and ranchers settled there in the 1880s, the High Plains had never been inhabited.

○The climate of the High Plains is characterized by higher-than-average temperatures.

○The large aquifer that lies underneath the High Plains was discovered by the Ogallala Sioux Indians.

○B(yǎng)efore the early 1900s there was only a small amount of farming and ranch ing in the High Plains.

這道題我們必須讀完全段才能判斷只有4選項(xiàng)是符合題意的。這種類型的題目也不少見。所以做事實(shí)信息題的時(shí)候，同學(xué)們一定嚴(yán)格按照先讀問(wèn)題，尋找Key Words，定位原文，分析選項(xiàng)的四步做法。同學(xué)們可以自己分析一下，詞匯題和事實(shí)信息題的比例很高，而像句子簡(jiǎn)化題、插入文本題、文章總結(jié)題都屬于耗時(shí)的題目，為什么ETS會(huì)讓我們大約在20分鐘內(nèi)做完12-14道題呢？其中詞匯題和事實(shí)信息題必然是節(jié)省時(shí)間的題目。那么必然技巧性會(huì)很強(qiáng)。所以采用我們的做法，第一步就是定位原文，需找Key Words，第二步就是paraphrase來(lái)核對(duì)選項(xiàng)。練習(xí)的時(shí)候不要遇到不會(huì)的單詞就查字典，也不要總想著不會(huì)的生難單詞而浪費(fèi)時(shí)間，一定要鍛煉自己的速度和做題質(zhì)量。不能只求快，也不能不求快。總之，在最短的時(shí)間，用最直接、最正確的方法做對(duì)這種題型，才是最重要的。