托福阅读高频出错题分析之细节为王

托福阅读高频出错题分析之细节为王

朗阁海外考试研究中心宋媛婧

同时接触过托福阅读和雅思阅读的同学都应该知道，托福阅读相较于雅思而言，乍看上去是更容易定位的，毕竟每道题旁边就对应着出题段落。从这个点出发，于是很多人就会认为托福阅读会比雅思阅读更为简单。其实不然，仔细研究过两类考试就不难发现：托福阅读虽然给出了出题段落，但要精准定位其实不易，更不用说在定位之后还要去有效地辨别选项中的干扰，以免一不小心踏入陷阱。

其实不论是托福、雅思或者GMAT、GRE阅读，从实质上讲基本考察的都是information analysis, 即信息处理能力。这种能力要求我们要么从宏观的框架出发，要么就从微观的细节出发去寻求答案。而托福阅读在我看来，同学们在细节的处理上是更容易出错的。本文就从同学们平时的高频出错题的分析出发，让大家了解到细节处理在托福阅读中的重要性。

细节处理之审题

【例题1】Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists, and by its existence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, and sensitivity.

Online Test: Lascaux Cave Paintings

According to paragraph 6, why might the puzzling questions about the paintings never be answered?

○Keeping the paintings a mystery will increase their importance. ○The artists hid their tools with great intelligence and skill. ○Too many years have gone by since the images were painted. ○Answering the question is not very important to scholars.

【正确答案】C

【经典错误】A

【错误原因】选A其实不难题解，大多数同学是因为看到文中这句?but their mystique only adds to their importance?而对应到这个答案的。这也是做细节信息题时老师经常会讲到的解题思路，即“同义转换”。于是几乎一模一样的原文和选项的转换就让同学们轻易掉入了这个陷阱之中。

【正确解析】这道题会选错的根本原因是同学们忽略了一件答题时非常重要的事情，那就是审题。并不是原题中告诉我们第几段，我们就闷着头把这段话全部读完，找到和某个选项最类似的表达就可以了。因为狡猾的ETS往往会在选项中放置这样一类答案“请问你几岁啊？”“我今年读高二。”虽然回答的也都是事实，但其实答非所问。这道题我们回过头去看题目，问的是“为什么关于这些画的问题从来没有被回答过？”问的是原因，那么我们就去精准定位找原因，问题对应到原文的?there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images?, 在这句话的前半部分，有这样一个词组so...that..., 于是我们就应该知道原因就在这里了。

【例题2】【Paragraph 1】Since 1980, the use of wind to produce electricity has been growing rapidly. In 1994 there were nearly 20,000 wind turbines worldwide, most grouped in clusters called wind farms that collectively produced 3,000 megawatts of electricity. Most were in Denmark (which got 3 percent of its electricity from wind turbines) and California (where 17,000 machines produced 1 percent of the state?s electricity, enough to meet the residential needs of a city as large as San Francisco). In principle, all the power needs of the United States could be provided by exploiting the wind potential of just three states—North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas.

【Paragraph 3】Wind power has a significant cost advantage over nuclear power and has become competitive with coal-fired power plants in many places. With new technological advances and mass production, projected cost declines should make wind power one of the world?s cheapest ways to produce electricity. In the long run, electricity from large wind farms in remote areas might be used to make hydrogen gas from water during periods when there is less than peak demand for electricity. The hydrogen gas could then be fed into a storage

system and used to generate electricity when additional or backup power is needed.

【Paragraph 4】Wind power is most economical in areas with steady winds. In areas where the wind dies down, backup electricity from a utility company or from an energy storage system becomes necessary. Backup power could also be provided by linking wind farms with a solar cell, with conventional or pumped-storage hydropower, or with efficient natural-gas-burning turbines. Some drawbacks to wind farms include visual pollution and noise, although these can be overcome by improving their design and locating them in isolated areas.

Online Test: Electricity from Wind

Based on the information in paragraph 3 and paragraph 4, what can be inferred about the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas mentioned at the end of paragraph 1?

○They rely largely on coal-fired power plants.

○They contain remote areas where the winds rarely die down.

○Over 1 percent of the electricity in these states is produced by wind farms. ○Wind farms in these states are being expanded to meet the power needs of the United States.

【正确答案】B 【经典错误】D

【错误原因】这道题选择D对于很多同学来讲，也是无奈之举。因为出题段落实在太长了，短时间内根本无法找到正确的出路去解答这道题。于是D这个看起来最符合文章大意，最像答案的选项就自然成为同学们的第一选择了。

【正确解析】其实，如果同学们仔细审题就会发现，题干里对大家的提示还是挺明显的。首先从infer看出这是一道推理题，而推理的对象来自文章的第一段，但是答案应该得出自文章的第三和第四段。于是我们就自然地找到这样一条解题路径：第一段定位推理对象—明确推理对象性质或特点—第三、四段综合寻找有关细节—将所有细节结合推论。按照这个思路，我们从第一段得知这些州都是适合风力发电的地方，然后到三、四段找到适合风力发电的地

点具备in remote areas和with steady winds两个特点（文中都有表示地点的词作提示），最后将两个信息点结合起来就可以推断出B选项了。

细节处理之指代

【例题1】The United States in the 1800?s was full of practical, hardworking people who did not consider the arts—from theater to painting—useful occupations. In addition, the public?s attitude that European art was better than American art both discouraged and infuriated American artists. In the early 1900?s there was a strong feeling among artists that the United States was long overdue in developing art that did not reproduce European traditions. Everybody agreed that the heart and soul of the new country should be reflected in its art. But opinions differed about what this art would be like and how it would develop.

OG

According to this paragraph, all of the following were true of American art in the late 1800?s and early 1900?s EXCEPT

○Most Americans thought art was unimportant.

○American art generally copied European styles and traditions. ○Most Americans considered American art inferior to European art. ○American art was very popular with European audiences.

【正确答案】D 【经典错误】A

【错误原因】在解答否定事实信息题时，同学们通常采用的是排除核对的方法。于是在核对A选项时，就特别容易被文中这句?Everybody agreed that the heart and soul of the new country should be reflected in its art?所误导，认为每个人都同意美国的核心应该反映在艺术上。

【正确解析】这里就产生了一个比较难的指代陷阱。文中的everybody到底是不是指的所有美国人呢？如果我们倒退到前一句就会发现，这里仅仅指代了前一句中的artists, 而没

有涵盖全部的美国人。相反，在这段的开头就有提到在1800?s的美国充满了务实肯干的美国人，他们认为艺术是完全没有用的职业。所以A选项的表达完全符合文意。再仔细核对，会发现只有D选项是文中完全没有提及的。

【例题2】One of the most puzzling aspects of the paintings is their location. Other rock paintings—for example, those of Bushmen in South Africa—are either located near cave entrances or completely in the open. Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses and caverns far removed from original cave entrances. This means that artists were forced to work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. It also implies that whoever made them did not want them to be easily found. Since cave dwellers normally lived close to entrances, there must have been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cave dwellers hid their art.

Online Test: Lascaux Cave Paintings

What can be inferred from paragraph 2 about cave painters in France and Spain?

○They also painted rocks outside caves. ○They did not live close to the cave entrances.

○They developed their own sources of light to use while painting. ○Their painting practices did not last for many years.

【正确答案】C 【经典错误】B

【错误原因】解答这道题时，出于时间考虑，同学们很容易忽略掉答案中出现的一致的主语?they?, 于是对应文中的?Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses and caverns far removed from original cave entrances.?这句，就自然而然地选择了B。这样粗暴的解答且不说忽略了指代这个细节，连最基本的推理题的解题思路都摒弃了，完完全全当作了事实信息题来解，肯定是不对的。

【正确解析】作为一道推理题，首先我们要考虑到这些选项不可能只是文中句子的单纯同义转换，必定会存在文中信息的整合或推导。其次，即使选项中出现一致的词，我们也要弄清

楚每个词所代表的含义，特别是出现指代的时候。这里的they很明显指的是题干中的painters, 而不是同学们选择B时的对应句中的cave paintings。我们真正的答案句应该是文中的?This means that artists were forced to work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light.?由于无法使用自然光而反向推导出painters只能利用人造光源，所以正确答案应该选C。

细节处理之隐藏逻辑

【例题1】The empty shell of a snail or clam may be left behind, and if it is sufficiently durable and resistant to dissolution, it may remain basically unchanged for a long period of time. TPO 20: Fossil Preservation

○When snail or clam shells are left behind, they must be empty in order to remain durable and resist dissolution.

○Although snail and clam shells are durable and resist dissolving, over time they slowly begin to change.

○Although the soft parts of snails or clams dissolve quickly, their hard shells resist dissolution for a long time.

○Empty snail or clam shells that are strong enough not to dissolve may stay in their original state for a long time.

【正确答案】D 【经典错误】A

【错误原因】隐藏逻辑的情况比较容易出现在句子简化题当中。虽然我们一直强调做这一题型时逻辑关系的发掘非常重要，但偶尔我们也会陷入到惯性思维，掉进出题者的陷阱。比如这题同学们很容易排除掉B,C两个选项，因为原句中不包含转折的逻辑。然后依据原句中的条件逻辑(if), 于是想当然地选择到A(when)。

【正确解析】如果我们仔细研究下A选项，就不难发现A选项中的条件与原句中的条件根本不是一回事：原句中的条件在A选项中变成了目的(in order to)。采取这样的排除法，我们就能选择到正确选项D了。当然，从D选项本身出发，我们也能发掘出这个句子中隐

藏的条件逻辑，即限制性定语从句that are strong enough not to dissolve。

【例题2】In addition to the internal variability of the global climate system itself, there is the added factor of external influences, such as volcanoes and solar activity. ■There is a growing body of opinion that both these physical variations have a measurable impact on the climate. ■Thus we need to be able to include these in our deliberations. ■Some current analyses conclude that volcanoes and solar activity explain quite a considerable amount of the observed variability in the period from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries, but that they cannot be invoked to explain the rapid warming in recent decades. ■

TPO10: Variations in the Climate

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

Indeed, the contribution of volcanoes and solar activity would more likely have been to actually reduce the rate of warming slightly. Where would the sentence best fit?

【正确答案】D 【经典错误】A

【错误原因】这道题同学们误选A的原因其实很简单，就是看到要插入的句子中有volcanoes and solar activity就联想到必须放在这组词的后面。而A处似乎承接起来也问题不大，于是就直接动笔选择了。

【正确解析】这里我们又忽略了一个隐藏逻辑?indeed?。这类表示?事实上?的词(in fact, actually, virtually...)虽然不是我们通常意义上的逻辑关联词，但却能在一定程度上表达出转折或递进的含义，这种隐藏的逻辑起到的作用在插入文本题当中尤其突出。所以如果我们能够看出indeed在这里的承接关系，那么不论是转折还是递进，我们都应该知道，前文中必须提到和rate of warming相关的话题才能进行插空，这样的话D选项就不难选出了。

当然，以上提到的这些关于细节处理要注意的地方肯定还是涵盖地不够全面，我们在做题时还有可能碰到其他形形色色的细节处理失当导致错误的情况。所以同学们一定要在平时做题

时加以总结，将错误原因进行归类，这样才能避免在考场上掉进同样的陷阱之中。

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