托福閱讀之事實信息題講解

　　回顧托福閱讀的所有題型，其中有2種題型占據(jù)的比例最高----“詞匯題”和“事實信息題”，前者每一場考試大約考察10-12題左右，而后者大約也會考察12題左右。因此，從每一場考試的39-42題總量上來看，這兩種題型就占據(jù)了半壁江山。從難度系數(shù)上來看事實信息題的難度明顯高于詞匯題。那么，今天筆者打算簡單談一談該題型的解決方法。

　　1. 提問方式：

　　Accordingto paragraph… which of the following statements is true of / concerned with /related to X?

　　例：According toparagraph 1, what was true of the Sahara region around 6,000 B.C.? (TPO 28 EarlySaharan Pastoralists)

　　Accordingto paragraph… why / how / what….?

　　例：According to paragraph 1, why is playdifficult to define? (TPO 30 Role of Playin Development)

　　分析：通過以上兩種不同提問方式可以總結(jié)出該題型有以下幾個特點：

　　1). 該題型是就某段話當(dāng)中的某個細(xì)節(jié)信息(即提問方式1中的X)進(jìn)行提問。

　　2). 該題型可以圍繞該細(xì)節(jié)信息的不同方面進(jìn)行提問，通過特殊疑問詞which;what; why; how可以看出。

　　3). 由于題干中未出現(xiàn)infer;suggest; indicate等字樣，所以該題型旨在考察文本信息的字面含義，無需考生進(jìn)行文本的隱含意推理。

　　2. 解題步驟：

　　Step 1: 讀題干，找出定位詞

　　注意：如果是提問方式1, 那么定位詞則是位于介詞of/with/ to后面的信息。

　　如果是提問方式2, 那么定位詞一般是名詞，并且是非主題性的名詞(當(dāng)然定位詞不一定只能找一個，一般可以找2到3個，因為定位詞越多相對定位的位置也會越精確。)

　　例：

　　Accordingto paragraph 2, which of the following presents a particular challenge toresearchers who study play behavior in animals?(TPO30 Role of Play in Development)

　　分析：通過提問方式類似于第1種提問方式，其實題干可以改寫成whichof the following statements is true of the challenge to researchers who… 因此，定位詞應(yīng)該是位于介詞of后面的challenge toresearchers。至于后面的playbehavior就不需要了，因為它屬于通篇的主題詞。

　　Accordingto paragraph 4, how did the Catholic Church react to the introduction ofmechanical clocks? (TPO 30 The Inventionof Mechanical Clock)

　　分析：通過提問方式屬于第2種提問方式，因此考生們應(yīng)該在題干中找出名詞部分，考生們可以看到兩組名詞：CatholicChurch和MechanicalClocks, 并且這兩組詞都是我們所需要的定位詞。

　　Paragraph5 answers which of the following questions about mechanical clocks. (TPO 30 The Invention of Mechanical Clock)

　　分析：通過題干找出題干中唯一疑似的定位詞組Mechanical Clocks, 但是卻發(fā)現(xiàn)整篇文章都在討論MechanicalClocks。這種類型的提問方式是考生們最怕看到的，因為定位詞無效。此刻建議考生們可以反過來先讀選項，然后根據(jù)選項中的定位詞回讀段落尋找答案。

　　Step 2: 通過題干中定位詞回原文進(jìn)行定位。

　　注意：在定位的過程中考生們可能會遇到以下2個問題：

　　問題1：定位詞在原文中可能是非原文原詞(如果是專有名詞一般在原文中就是原文原詞，但如果是普通名詞則有可能是非原文原詞)。

　　例1：定位詞為原文原詞的情況

　　Paragraph 1: Evolutionary biologists believe thatspeciation, the formation of a new species, often begins when some kind ofphysical barrier arises and divides a population of a single species intoseparate subpopulations. Physical separation between subpopulations promotesthe formation of new species because once the members of one subpopulation canno longer mate with members of another subpopulation, they cannot exchangevariant genes that arise in one of the subpopulations. In the absences of geneflow between the subpopulations, genetic differences between the groups beginto accumulate. Eventually the subpopulations become so genetically distinctthat they cannot interbreed even if the physical barriers between them wereremoved. At this point the subpopulations have evolved into distinct species.This route to speciationis known as allopatry(“alio-” means “different”，and “patria” means “homeland”).(TPO31 Speciationin Geographically Isolated Populations)

　　Q: According to paragraph 1, allopatric speciation involveswhich of the following?

　　分析：此題干中的定位詞為allopatric speciation, 為專有名詞，在原文中為原文原詞，即最后一句話為定位句。

　　例2：定位詞為非原文原詞的情況

　　Paragraph 2: Playappears to be a developmental characteristic of animals with fairlysophisticated nervous systems, mainly birds and mammals. Play has been studiedmost extensively in primates and canids (dogs). Exactly why animals play isstill a matter debated in the research literature, and the reasons may not bethe same for every species that plays. Determining the functions of play is difficultbecause the functions may be long-term, with beneficial effects not showing upuntil the animal's adulthood. (TPO30 Role of Play in Development)

　　According toparagraph 2, which of the following presents a particular challenge toresearchers who study play behavior in animals?

　　O The delay between activities and the benefitsthe animal derives from them.

　　O The difficulty in determining which animalspecies play and which do not.

　　O The fact that for most animals, there is noclear transition from youth to full adulthood.

　　O The lack of research on the play behavior ofanimals other than canids and primates.

　　分析：此題干中的定位詞為challenge & researchers, 在原文中考生們無法找到這兩個定位詞，但是可以找到challenge的同義替換形式difficult, 因此該句即是我們所需要的定位句。

　　問題2：定位詞在原文中出現(xiàn)不止一次。

　　Paragraph 7: Occasionally, a sequence offossil-rich layers of rock permits a comprehensive look at one type of organismover a long period of time. For example, Peter Sheldon' s studies of trilobites, a now extinct marineanimal with a segmented body, offer a detailed glimpse into three million yearsof evolution in one marine environment. In that study, each of eight different trilobitespecies 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. Nosignificant discontinuous were observed, leading Sheldon to conclude thatenvironmental conditions were quite stable during the period he examined. (TPO30 The Pace of Evolutionary Change)

　　According toparagraph 7, Peter Sheldon’s studies demonstrated which of the following abouttrilobites?

　　O They underwent gradual change over a longtime period

　　O They experienced a number of discontinuoustransitions during their history

　　O They remained unchanged during a long periodof environmental stability

　　O They evolved in ways that cannot be countedfor by either of the two competing theories.

　　分析：通過題干找出定位詞Peter Sheldon & trilobites, 然后回讀原文進(jìn)行定位，考生們會發(fā)現(xiàn)這兩組定位詞在原文中分別出現(xiàn)2次。因此，考生們需要定位的范圍變大，難度由此也加大了。這種類型的事實信息題是考生們在考場上最不愿意看到的一種，但是很不幸的是由最新的幾套TPO中的例題顯示這種類型的題目正在變多，所以朗閣海外考試研究中心的專家請各位考生平時在練習(xí)時加大這種類型的考題的練習(xí)。

　　Step3: 比較定位句與選項的內(nèi)容，選出語義最接近的選項。

　　注意：1). 考生們所看到的定位句可能是一個非常長的句子，而選項相對比較簡短，所以考生們一定要學(xué)會從長難句中截取你所需要的能回答問題的部分。簡單點說就是比如題干中問你why….;那么，此時考生們在分析原文定位句時應(yīng)該重點看because這種能夠解釋的部分。

　　2). 考生們在比較定位句與選項時切忌不能隨意推理，只需要把握文本的字面意思即可。

　　例1：

　　Paragraph 3: To what extent competition determines the composition of acommunity and the density of particular species has been the source ofconsiderable controversy. The problem is that competition ordinarily cannot beobserved directly but must be inferred from the spread or increase of onespecies and the concurrent reduction or disappearance of another species. TheRussian biologist G. F. Gause performed numerous two-species experimentsin the laboratory, in which one of the species became extinct when only asingle kind of resource was available. On the basis of these experiments and offield observations, the so-called law of competitive exclusion was formulated,according to which no two species can occupy the same niche. Numerousseeming exceptions to this law have since been found, but they can usually beexplained as cases in which the two species, even though competing for a majorjoint resource, did not really occupy exactly the same niche. (TPO 29 Competition)

　　Paragraph 3 supports the idea that Gause’s experiments were importantbecause they

　　O provided a situation in whichcompetition could be removed from the interaction between two species

　　O showed that previous ideasabout the extent to which competition determines the composition of a communitywere completely mistaken

　　O helped establish thatcompetition will remove all but one species from any given ecological niche

　　O offered evidence thatcompetition between species is minimal when there is an overabundance of asingle food source

　　解題步驟：

　　1). 讀題干，找出定位詞Gause’s experiments, 然后把握題目問的內(nèi)容是有關(guān)于G的實驗的importance。

　　2). 通過定位詞回到原文進(jìn)行定位，位于第三句話。但是第三句只提到了定位詞之一，接下來的第四句中提到了由此形成了一個law, 可以對應(yīng)題干中想問的importance。

　　3). 第3句和第4句兩句定位句的大意為“當(dāng)只有一種食物來源被提供時，兩種物種中的一種會消亡。參照這些實驗和觀察就形成了競爭互斥規(guī)律----沒有哪兩種物種可以占據(jù)同樣的生態(tài)圈”，接下來瀏覽四個選項，發(fā)現(xiàn)C選項大意吻合----確定了競爭將會移除其他所有的物種在任何一個生態(tài)圈里面。

　　例2：

　　As railroad linesfanned out from Chicago, farmers began to acquire open prairie land in Illinois andthen Iowa, putting the fertile, deep black soil into production. Commercialagriculture transformed this remarkable treeless environment. To settlersaccustomed to eastern woodlands, the thousands of square miles of tall grasswere an awesome sight. Indian grass, Canada wild rye, and native big bluestemall grew higher than a person. Because eastern plows could not penetrate thedensely tangled roots of prairie grass, the earliest settlers erected farmsalong the boundary separating the forest from the prairie. In 1837, however,John Deere patented a sharp-cutting steel plow that sliced through the sodwithout soil sticking to the blade. Cyrus McCormick refined a mechanical reaperthat harvested fourteen times more wheat with the same amount of labor. By the1850s McCormick was selling 1,000 reapers a year and could not keep up withdemand, while Deere turned out 10,000 plows annually. (TPO 33 Railroads andCommercial Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century United States)

　　Accordingto paragraph 5, the firstsettlersgenerally did not farm open prairie land because

　　A.they could not plow it effectively with the tools that were available.

　　B.prairie land was usually very expensive to buy.

　　C.the soil along boundaries between the forest and the prairie was more fertile thanthe soil of the open prairie.

　　D.the railroad lines had not yet reached the open prairie when the first settlersarrived.

　　解題步驟：

　　1).讀題干，找出定位詞settlers& open prairie land, 并且抓住題干問的重點是because

　　2).根據(jù)定位詞定位到第一句和第三句這樣的語義群，這樣的語義群可以給我們提供一個大范圍定位，然后接下來考生們在第四句里看到了because,所以第四句就是我們需要的精確定位點。

　　3).定位句的語義大約為“因為東部的耕種工具無法穿透這里的根部纏結(jié)在一起的草，因此，早期的定居者們將農(nóng)場建立在了遠(yuǎn)離草原的邊界地區(qū)。”接下來瀏覽四個選項，只有A選項提到了因為耕作工具的原因，所以選擇A選項。

　　3. 總結(jié)：

　　1).此種題型必須要先閱讀題干，摸清題干所問的具體內(nèi)容，然后再讀文章進(jìn)行定位

　　2).此種題型既可以只考察某一個特定的定位句理解;同時也可以考察2-3個定位句范圍的意群理解。但無論怎樣，考生絕對不是漫無目的地搜索，而是根據(jù)題干有目的性地尋找答案。