實例解析託福閱讀推理題技巧
託福閱讀考試中有很多的題型，其中有一類題型讓考生有心理陰影和恐懼，尤其是其中的“推斷”兩個字，通過這兩個字大家有沒有想到柯南、福爾摩斯之類的帶有懸疑色彩的東西。但是託福閱讀推斷題真的有這麼可怕嗎?我們應該如何去應對呢?一起來了解一下!
實例解析託福閱讀推理題技巧
應對託福閱讀推斷題，考生要如何去應對呢?毋庸置疑，推斷題一定有一定的難度所在，這點我們從托福考試官方指南(og)的改變上就可發現一些端倪。第三版og上，推斷題的考查數量爲0-2題，第四版og已經增加到1-3題，ets的用(yin)意(mou)所在可見一斑。
那麼，我們改如何應對推斷題呢?推斷題真的像我們想象的這麼難麼?
今天我們一起來從考查形式上來解刨一下推斷題。
題幹特徵：推斷題的題幹經常會出現infer,suggest,imply, indicate這類單詞
考查形式主要分爲兩大類：對比推斷和細節推斷，而後者出現的機率更大。
考查形式一：對比推斷
A時間對比：一般有兩個形成對比的時間點，它們所具有的特徵一般相反。如：原文會出現before1990的信息，而題目會問after 1990的信息?
解決方案：收集問題對應的時間點的信息，然後取反。
注意原文中出現的表示時間節點的詞 before, after, not…until…
例題
The story of the westward movement of population in the United States is, in the main,the story of the expansion of American agriculture-of the development of new areas for theraising of livestock and the cultivation of wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton. After 1815improved transportation enabled more and more western farmers to escape a self-sufficientway of life and enter a national market economy during periods when commodity prices werehigh, the rate of westward migration increased spectacularly. “Old America seemed to bebreaking up and moving westward,” observed an English visitor in 1817, during the first greatwave of migration. Emigration to the west reached a peak in the 1830’s, whereas in 1810 onlya seventy of the American people lived west of the Appalachian mountains, by 1840 more thana third lived there.
What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about western farmers prior to 1815?
○They had limited their crop production to wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton.
○They were able to sell their produce at high prices.
○They had not been successful in raising cattle.
○They did not operate in a national market economy.
答案D
對應關鍵句：After 1815 improved transportation enabled more and more western farmersto escape a self-sufficient way of life and enter a national market economy during periodswhen commodity prices were high, the rate of westward migration increased spectacularly.
B直接對比：兩個或多個事物的特徵——如原文會出現A的特點，然後會有B和A相比較的信息，然後題目問B的特點?
解決方案：收集題幹所問的推斷對象(about後面的信息一般爲推斷對象)的全部信息(一般爲上述的B)，然後在原文所描述的與之相關的信息(一般爲上述的A)的基礎之上取反。
注意原文中出現的表示對比的關係詞：by contrast, unlike, while, whereas,on the contrary, incomparison to, distinct from, different from等詞。
例題
Paragraph 1: It should be obvious that cetaceans-whales, porpoises, and dolphins-aremammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Theirstreamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke and blowholecannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of seaotters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on landand at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but, already fullymarine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walkingmammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearlyintermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?
○It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like
○There were great numbers of them.
○They lived in the sea only.
○They did not leave many fossil remains.
答案A
對應關鍵句：However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, andwalruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision whatthe first whales looked like.
考查形式二：細節推斷
考查細節判斷，事物的特點，屬性等。
解決方案：收集題幹所提問的推斷對象(about後面的信息一般爲推斷對象)的所有信息。如果推斷對象所涉及的信息比較多，難以抓到重點，則逐個選項進行定位篩選。
例題
Paragraph 1: Groundwater is the word used to describe water that saturates the ground,filling all the available spaces. By far the most abundant type of groundwater is meteoricwater; this is the groundwater that circulates as part of the water cycle. Ordinary meteoricwater is water that has soaked into the ground from the surface, from precipitation (rain andsnow) and from lakes and streams. There it remains, sometimes for long periods, beforeemerging at the surface again. At first thought it seems incredible that there can be enoughspace in the “solid” ground underfoot to hold all this water.
Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the ground that we walkon?
○It cannot hold rainwater for long periods of time.
○It prevents most groundwater from circulating.
○It has the capacity to store large amounts of water.
○It absorbs most of the water it contains from rivers.
答案C
AThere it remains, sometimes for long periods, before emerging at the surface again.
BBy far the most abundant type of groundwater is meteoric water; this is thegroundwater that circulates as part of the water cycle.
C At first thought it seems incredible that there can be enough space in the “solid” groundunderfoot to hold all this water.
DOrdinary meteoric water is water that has soaked into the ground from the surface, fromprecipitation (rain and snow) and from lakes and streams.
綜上所述，推斷題並沒有我們想象的那麼晦澀。它仍然是關注細節層面的題目，主要考查考生收集和題目相關的信息和梳理這些信息的能力。我們需要做到：
1把題幹提問的推斷對象的信息收集完全，並理解到位。
2記住所看即所得，不要過分推斷，不要腦補。
3任何文章中出現的信息都有可能考查推斷，所以不要忽略任何一個細節。
託福閱讀的重點是透析上下文
考生做舊托福考試(TOEFL)閱讀或者平時的閱讀練習時，時常表現出一些不良的做題習慣。有些考生讀文章時喜歡在試題上劃線，似乎不做記號，閱讀就無法進行，思維就停止活動。不過在新託福網絡考試中，考生面對電腦就做不了任何標誌記號。
有些考生文章根本不讀完，直接做題。這種方法相當於瞎子摸象，對文章只有局部的感覺，整個文章的概念無法獲得。要提醒考生的是，近年考試中針對整個文章提問的題量有所增加。所以，這種不看文章直接做題的方法是極其危險的。
有些考生則喜歡把文章一字不漏地細讀之後再做題。這種方法僅適合於兩種情況，其一，考生已具備相當的閱讀水平，長期以來運用這種方法效果甚佳;其二，某一篇具體的文章是考生所熟悉的內容，細讀文章並不會花太多的時間。一般來說，大部分考生採用細讀文章方法，做題時間嚴重不足。考生不應該忘記，閱讀理解測試速度和理解兩個方面。
在做詞彙題時，許多考生認爲做不對題與自己的詞彙量有關，認識單詞能做對，不認識單詞就會做錯。事實上，那些認識的單詞經常做錯，不認識的單詞反而能做對。原因是，做不認識單詞時，考生會仔細研讀詞彙題的上下文，力求在上下文中突破。而做認識單詞時，忽略上下文的重要性，往往是裝模作樣的看一下上下文，便匆匆做出抉擇。所以，做好詞彙題關鍵在於透徹分析上下文——詞彙題的句子以及上下一句話，有時候，個別詞彙題也許需要在文章其他段落尋找線索。
託福閱讀具體的提速技巧
關於閱讀方法只是對在有限時間內有效閱讀託福文章的方法進行一個簡單的介紹。閱讀技巧，特別是速度技巧中，有兩個重要的方法:Skimming&Scanning.
Skimming是隻看主要大意的速讀。一篇文章的大意是有重點的。比如，當出現first second的這種歸類總結的地方，或because，as a result這樣的因果關係，或是 but，however的語意轉折處，都需要格外留心。託福文章講述主要觀點之後通常會有for example來佐證，如果看懂了主要觀點，那麼對示例所用的時間和精力就不需要太多了。Skimming的技巧在第一遍閱讀文章意圖抓住文章大意時是非常重要的。
Scanning是“掃描”，但具體到閱讀中，大家最熟悉的莫過於查詞典時。在有意識地去查某個生詞的時候，我們不會去把它所在的頁上每一個字都看一遍才找到想要的。幾乎眼睛對詞典中的一頁掃一下，腦中只有要找的字，看到它，其他的地方都像沒有看到一樣。在託福的閱讀中，scanning的技巧在回答問題時，根據題幹中問到的內容，在文章中scan，可以幫助考生準確地定位，找到答案。
託福閱讀的陷阱介紹
中的細節題其實不難，但前提是定位的點要對，比如下面這個例題：
Two species of deer have been prevalent in the Puget Sound area of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The black-tailed deer, a lowland, west-side cousin of the mule deer of eastern Washington, is now the most common. The other species, the Columbian white-tailed deer, in earlier times was common in the open prairie country, it is now restricted to the low, marshy islands and flood plains along the lower Columbia River.
According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true of the white-tailed deer of Puget Sound?
A. It is native to lowlands and marshes.
B. It is more closely related to the mule deer of eastern Washington than to other types of deer.
C. It has replaced the black-tailed deer in the open prairie.
D. It no longer lives in a particular type of habitat that it once occupied.
這是一個典型的細節題，在該題題幹中，有的考生會選擇Puget Sound作爲關鍵詞回原文定位，因爲它是專有名詞，在文中會比較顯眼。但是如果一旦選擇了這個地名，勢必會定位在該段的第一句話，託福細節題往往是定位在哪句就在哪句找答案，這樣的話考生是選不出正確答案的，因爲定位不精確。其實正確的關鍵詞應該是white-tailed deer，這個用連字符連接的詞在文章中也是比較醒目的，按該詞定位應是該段最後一句話。所以根據它的意思應該選D項。其中A項與原句意思不符，B和C都與定位句信息無關。我們再來看另外一個否定事實細節題的例子：
Plant communities assemble themselves flexibly, and their structure depends on the particular history of the area. Ecologists use the term “succession” to refer to the changes that happen in plant communities and ecosystems over time. The first community in a succession is called a pioneer community, while the long-lived community at the end of succession is called a climax community. Pioneer and successional plant communities are said to change over periods from 1 to 500 years. These changes—in plant numbers and the mix of species—are cumulative. Climax communities themselves change but over periods of time greater than about 500 years.
According to paragraph 1, which of the following is NOT true of climax communities?
A. They occur at the end of a succession.
B. They last longer than any other type of community.
C. The numbers of plants in them and the mix of species do not change
D. They remain stable for at least 500 years at a time.
這個題大家都會選擇用climax communities去定位，但在定位過程中會出現很多問題。首先考生要學會跳躍式定位，即根據文章中特殊的標點符號以及最醒目的詞來搜索我們真正需要的關鍵詞。文中的particular是加了陰影的，succession是在引號裏面的，都非常醒目，通過看這兩個詞我們會發現它們附近沒有我們需要的東西;再比較突出的就是數字及破折號，在500的上方有a climax community，但它是單數，與題幹關鍵詞不完全匹配，細節題講究的是精確定位，所以我們應該選擇500斜下方的Climax communities，即該段的最後一句話。
否定事實細節題的出題思路有兩種：一是無中生有，即根據定位點的內容，四個選項只有一個沒有提到，這種思路多適用於選項比較簡短的題目;二是張冠李戴，即根據定位點的內容表述，只有一個選項與之矛盾，這種思路多適應於選項比較長的題目。就這個例題而言，根據定位的最後一句話，從表述上來說跟它相關的只有C和D兩個選項，D項的意思與原句相符，而C項與原句矛盾，所以正確答案是C。綜上所述，做新託福閱讀的細節題，最重要的一點就是要儘量地去精確定位。
