托福阅读做题要点之如何“定位”

大家都知道，托福阅读文章之长、词汇量要求之高以及题型种类之多，不过万物都有破解之道。托福阅读不仅有题型技巧，还涉及到阅读技巧、良好的做题习惯和心态，而这些都可以通过训练来达成。

让我们先来“康康”托福阅读十大题型都有什么：

词汇层面——词汇题、指代题；

句子层面——句简题、插句题；

段落层面——修辞题、细节题、选非题、推理题；

篇章层面——归总题、表格题。

除去头（非常基础性）和尾（综合性强）的四个题型，大部分同学要想拿到25分左右的分数，都需要将重点放在句子层面和段落层面的这六个题型上，其中句简题、插句题、修辞题这三个题型，频率基本在1题/篇，且技巧性极强，经过老师课堂教学，辅以一定的训练，基本到了后期正确率会相对稳定下来。那么，真正拉开差距的，其实是【细节题】、【选非题】、【推理题】这三个理解性的题了。这三个题型均考查学生对于信息的快速筛查定位和理解能力。

以细节题为例，常见三种定位方法——

① 题干关键词定位；②题干意思定位；③选项定位或全段通读。

通过三个例子分别对应以上三种定位方法。

【1】

The West had plenty of attractions: the alluvial river bottoms, the fecund soils of the rolling forest lands, the black loams of the prairies were tempting to New England farmers working their rocky, sterile land and to southeastern farmers plagued with soil depletion and erosion. In 1820 under a new land law, a farm could be bought for $100. The continued proliferation of banks made it easier for those without cash to negotiate loans in paper money. Western farmers borrowed with the confident expectation that the expanding economy would keep farm prices high, thus making it easy to reply loans when they fell due.

According to paragraph 3, what was the significance of the land law passed in 1820?

○It granted government-supported loans to farmers.

○It provided farmland at an affordable price.

○It required banks to offer loans to farmers.

○It enabled farmers to sell their land for a profit.

【解析】：基于题干理解，通过题干特殊关键词1820,可以快速在文中定位到，基于定位句理解，选择同义替换正确选项B。若题干中出现大写、数字、合成词、专有名词等特殊词，可采取这种直接定位的方式高效做题。但此题错误率并不低，很多同学会继续往后文阅读下去，或者常见的是以“浏览”的形式看下去，就非常容易选择D。注意选项中的指代对象对应题干中的关键对象。此类细节题实际出现概率较低。

【2】

Wildman and Niles observed that systematic reflection on teaching required a sound ability to understand classroom events in an objective manner. They describe the initial understanding in the teachers with whom they were working as being "utilitarian...and not rich or detailed enough to drive systematic reflection." Teachers rarely have the time or opportunities to view their own or the teaching of others in an objective manner. Further observation revealed the tendency of teachers to evaluate events rather than review the contributory factors in a considered manner by, in effect, standing outside the situation.

According to paragraph 3, what did the teachers working with Wildman and Niles often fail to do when they attempted to practice reflection?

○Correctly calculate the amount of time needed for reflection

○Provide sufficiently detailed descriptions of the methods they used to help them reflect

○Examine thoughtfully the possible causes of events in their classrooms

○Establish realistic goals for themselves in practicing reflection

【解析】：基于题干理解，不难发现题干问得是一个具体细节点，而不是一整个段落面，原则上并不需要通读整段才能解题。但仔细审题会发现题干没有可快速定位的特殊词，不能像例【1】一般直接定位，且题干问的是老师通常“fail to do”的事情，动词和形容词被替换的频率较高，因而，此题建议用上述第二种定位方法——题干意思定位，即边读边找。从每句话主干的角度出发（尤其需要注意谓语动词的理解），快速锁定第二句“…and not rich or detailed enough to…”、第三句“Teachers rarely have the time or opportunities to…”、第四句“Further observation revealed the tendency of teachers to evaluate events rather than…”，其中【not】、【rarely】、【rather than】这三个否定词替换了题干中的【fail to do】，综合理解，确定答案为C。此题极易选B。

【3】

The function and status of ceramics in China varied from dynasty to dynasty, so they may be utilitarian, burial, trade-collectors', or even ritual objects, according to their quality and the era in which they were made. The ceramics fall into three broad types—earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain—for vessels, architectural items such as roof tiles, and modeled objects and figures. In addition, there was an important group of sculptures made for religious use, the majority of which were produced in earthenware.

According to paragraph 2, which of the following is true of Chinese ceramics?

○The function of ceramics remained the same from dynasty to dynasty.

○The use of ceramics as trade objects is better documented than the use of ceramics as ritual objects.

○There was little variation in quality for any type of ceramics over time.

○Some religious sculptures were made using the earthenware type of ceramics.

【解析】：基于题干理解，“which of following…”一般考查整个段落，无从定位。不过此题段落较短，可以采取“选项定位法”，通过理解各个选项，把握选项关键词【A：function】【B：比较结构】【C：quality】【D：religious sculptures】回归原文扫读，马上可以确认答案为D。

同样是“which of the following…”这种问法，我们再来看一下长段落的定位方法有什么不同。

【4】

Although southern Maya areas received more rainfall than northern areas, problems of water were paradoxically more severe in the wet south. While that made things hard for ancient Maya living in the south, it has also made things hard for modern archaeologists who have difficulty understanding why ancient droughts caused bigger problems in the wet south than in the dry north. The likely explanation is that an area of underground freshwater underlies the Yucatan Peninsula, but surface elevation increases from north to south, so that as one moves south the land surface lies increasingly higher above the water table. In the northern peninsula the elevation is sufficiently low that the ancient Maya were able to reach the water table at deep sinkholes called cenotes, or at deep caves. In low-elevation north coastal areas without sinkholes, the Maya would have been able to get down to the water table by digging wells up to 75 feet (22 meters) deep. But much of the south lies too high above the water table for cenotes or wells to reach down to it. Making matters worse, most of the Yucatan Peninsula consists of karst, a porous sponge-like limestone terrain where rain runs straight into the ground and where little or no surface water remains available.  

Which of the following statements about the availability of water in the Mayan homeland is supported by paragraph 3?

○The construction of wells was an uncommon practice in both the north and the south because it was too difficult to dig through the karst.

○In most areas in the north and the south, rainwater was absorbed directly into the porous karst.

○The water table was an important resource for agriculture in both the north and the south of the Yucatan Peninsula.

○The lack of surface water in both the north and the south was probably due to the fact that most of it was quickly used up for agricultural purposes.

【解析】：基于题干理解，“which of following…”一般考查整个段落，无从定位，且该段落较长，也不建议采用“选项定位法”，故我们采用通读整段来理解排除。这种考查整段理解的题在改革后的考试中尤其常见，ETS爸爸越来越不满足于仅仅是考查对词句的理解定位来做题了，这个时候我们需要采用“结构化阅读”来辅助长段落的有效理解。通过把握总起句，可以判定段落结构是“现象-解释”型，针对Maya降水南多北少，但水问题反而南方更严重这个现象，在第3句话给了解释“The likely explanation is that…”，说明了地势问题与水位之间的关系——地势南高北低，南方取水困难。第4-6句，句间无转折，通过主干阅读法可以发现，始终围绕第3句在做一个展开。到第7句即最后一句话，“Making matters worse…”可知，信息递进，提出了第二个可能的解释——喀斯特地貌（karst）影响了地表水的储存。水的可用性，取决于地下水，而不是地表降水。通过阅读选项，最终确定答案为B。此题错误率极高。

综上，我们会发现以上四个例题的难度呈现递增趋势，大家可以针对性来了解下自己目前所处的一个实际情况。采用分层训练的方式，一步步去自己的综合能力。但不管是哪种定位方式，要注意本质还是需要理解。很多同学细节题错误率高，的问题不是看不懂，而是看不下去或者不相信自己可以通过理解来做对。习惯性浏览扫读，看到有相关词汇或表达的对应就选了选项，被题目牵着鼻子走，将段落信息理解得支离破碎，到头来，时间花得不少，效率却并不高。希望，一开始大家都能养成良好的做题习惯。早日和托福君分手呐！