给阅读插上翅膀

张彬

正在为福备战的学子们，你们是否还在为阅读中的繁杂定位而伤神？是否还在为选项的各种比较而纠结？其实，有时候问题并不像想象中的那么难。如果我们了解了ETS (Educational Testing Service，美国教育考试服务中心)的出题思路，那么我们可以像先知一样，猜到文章哪个位置会出题，甚至答案会怎样设计！这一切并不是空谈，阅读真的可以像游戏一样轻松。对外汉语考试曾经在考查老外听力的时候用过这样一个对话：

男：你的牙真漂亮！

女：嗨，假的！

男：真的假的？

女：真的！

就以上这个对话，笔者问过很多学生：“如果是你们出题，会怎么设计题干？”得到的答案无一例外都是“这个女人的牙是真的还是假的”。看吧，大家的想法跟命题人不谋而合！

那么ETS的出题思路是如何的呢？很多的TPO*真题都证明ETS喜欢利用对比点(转折、时间对比等)来设计问题，其中时间对比常常成为出题点。既然这样，考生在解题时就应对原文中出现对比的内容保持敏感，因为这些内容很可能就是解题的依据。下面笔者通过三道TPO 真题来具体分析通过抓对比点解阅读题的方法和步骤。

关注转折词出现的句子

在利用题干的关键词回原文定位出现困难时，考生可以换个角度来寻找答案范围，那就是关注原文中出现转折词(如but、however、although、in contrast等)的句子，因为出现对比点的地方经常是命题人的出题点。下面以TPO 4的“Petroleum Resources”这篇文章的一道题目为例来讲解如何寻找对比点。

例1：Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 3 about gushers?

A. They make bringing the oil to the surface easier.

B. They signal the presence of huge oil reserves.

C. They waste more oil than they collect.

D. They are unlikely to occur nowadays.

解析 根据题干，考生应该以关键词gusher回原文第三段定位题目的答案范围。第三段的内容如下：

Oil pools are valuable underground accumulations of oil, and oil fields are regions underlain by one or more oil pools. When an oil pool or field has been discovered, wells are drilled into the ground. Permanent towers, called derricks, used to be built to handle the long sections of drilling pipe. Now portable drilling machines are set up and are then dismantled and removed. When the well reaches a pool, oil usually rises up the well because of its density difference with water beneath it or because of the pressure of expanding gas trapped above it. Although this rise of oil is almost always carefully controlled today, spouts of oil, or gushers, were common in the past. Gas pressure gradually dies out, and oil is pumped from the well. Water or steam may be pumped down adjacent wells to help push the oil out. At a refinery, the crude oil from underground is separated into natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, and various oils. Petrochemicals such as dyes, fertilizer, and plastic are also manufactured from the petroleum.

在这样一个长段落里找貌不惊人的单词gusher颇费劲。由于托福阅读的文章段落行文逻辑比较固定，因此考生可以根据段落的逻辑要点顺序来进行定位。具体而言，托福文章的第一段通常是introduction，考生定位时可先看末句，接着看首句，最后再看段落中间；而在文章的主体段落中定位时，考生应先看首句，接着看末句，最后再看段落中间。该题对应的第三段属于主体段落，考生应先关注该段的首句和末句。然而，该段的首句和末句均没有gushers。在这种情况下，考生应看段落中间。考生可以先快速浏览段落中间，会发现有一个句子含有转折词although，表示此处会出现转折对比，很可能是出题点，因此需要细读这个句子。考生会发现，题干的关键词gushers恰好就在这一句里。考生不要认为这是偶然，所有的偶然背后都存在着一定的必然。原文中的“Although this rise of oil is almost always carefully controlled today, spouts of oil, or gushers, were common in the past”这句话既含有转折关系，也含有现在与过去的对比，从这句话中考生可以推断出井喷这种现象从过去的常见变成了现在的不常见，而正确选项的内容也应该涉及这一点，由此可以得出本题的正确答案是选项D。

如何利用具体时间帮助解题

在托福阅读里出现的时间可以分为具体时间和抽象时间。具体时间包括年份、世纪、事件等。考生在定位到含有这类时间的句子时，要注意比较原文句子和选项包含的介词是否一致，因为ETS往往会在介词上做文章。下面以TPO 3的“Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer”这篇文章的第一题为例来具体阐述。

例2：According to paragraph 1, which of the following statements about the High Plains is true?

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

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

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

D. Before the early 1900s there was only a small amount of farming and ranching in the High Plains.

解析 这是一个典型的细节题，考生可用题干中的专有名词High Plains回到第一段定位：

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.

该段有两处出现了该专有名词，第二次出现的地方由于有转折词however出现，是原文内容出现对比的信号，因此此处是命题人出题的首选，考生应联系however前后的句子来帮助解题。而且这句话的开头有个具体时间的表达in the early twentieth century，所以考生可以用这个时间去比对选项。四个选项中只有选项A和选项D含有时间，且只有选项D的时间与the early twentieth century一致，因此考生可以先考虑选项D是否符合题意。选项D中使用的介词(before)与原文的介词(in)不一致。由于托福的文章都是学术性的文章，明显遵循时间先后顺序的写作逻辑，再结合转折词的对比提示，这道题的答案设计一定是in the early twentieth century前面的一句话：“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.”选项D就是这一句的同义转述，即在20世纪早期之前High Plains这个地方只有少量的牛群放牧和小麦种植。因此，本题的正确答案是选项D。

无独有偶，在TPO 20的“Westward Migration”这篇文章的第一题ETS故技重施。下面笔者来具体分析一下。

例3：What can be inferred from paragraph 1 about western farmers prior to 1815?

A. They had limited their crop production to wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton.

B. They were able to sell their produce at high prices.

C. They had not been successful in raising cattle.

D. They did not operate in a national market economy.

解析 题干中有具体时间prior to 1815 (1815年之前)，考生可以用时间1815回第一段定位：

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 the raising of livestock and the cultivation of wheat, corn, tobacco, and cotton. After 1815 improved transportation enabled more and more western farmers to escape a self-sufficient way of life and enter a national market economy. During periods when commodity prices were high, the rate of westward migration increased spectacularly. “Old America seemed to be breaking up and moving westward,” observed an English visitor in 1817, during the first great wave of migration. Emigration to the West reached a peak in the 1830s. Whereas in 1810 only a seventh of the American people lived west of the Appalachian Mountains, by 1840 more than a third lived there.

通过时间1815定位到的句子为：“After 1815 improved transportation enabled more and more western farmers to escape a self-sufficient way of life and enter a national market economy.”这个句子中的时间1815前面使用的介词是after，意思正好与题干中的prior to相反。与例1不同，这句话中没有出现表示转折的词，完全靠原文和题干中具体时间前面的介词来体现对比。由于存在对比，本题的答案应与定位到的原文句子表达的意思相反。原句的意思是1815年以后，交通的改进使得越来越多的西部农民摆脱了自给自足的生活方式并开始进入国家市场经济阶段。由此可见，在1815年之前的时候西部农民主要靠自给自足而没有国家市场经济。经过比对原文和选项，考生可以得出本题正确答案是选项D。

利用抽象时间帮助解题

抽象时间包括对过去和现在的笼统表达，命题人主要围绕过去与现在的对比来出题。表示过去的常见表达包括in earlier times、XXX years/centuries ago、in the past、at that time等。表示现在的常见表达包括now、 nowadays、today、at present、in modern times等。下面来看看抽象时间是如何帮助我们预测出题点及答案的。以TPO 3的“Architecture”这篇文章的第七题为例。

例4：In paragraph 4, what does the author imply about modern buildings?

A. They occupy much less space than buildings constructed one hundred years ago.

B. They are not very different from the building of a few generations ago.

C. They weigh less in relation to their size than buildings constructed one hundred years ago.

D. They take a long time to build as a result of their complex construction methods.

解析 根据题干内容，考生只能用关键词组modern buildings回到原文第四段定位：

Even development in architecture has been the result of major technological changes. Materials and methods of construction are integral parts of the design of architecture structures. In earlier times it was necessary to design structural systems suitable for the materials that were available, such as wood, stone, brick. Today technology has progressed to the point where it is possible to invent new building materials to suit the type of structure desired. Enormous changes in materials and techniques of construction within the last few generations have made it possible to enclose space with much greater ease and speed and with a minimum of material. Progress in this area can be measured by the difference in weight between buildings built now and those of comparable size built one hundred years ago.

考生如果认真阅读本段落，可以发现本段并没有出现modern buildings这个词组，即使出现了，要在这样一个较长的段落里面快速找到modern buildings也不是一件容易的事情。那么考生该如何在原文定位到题目的答案范围呢？由于关键词的modern buildings里面含有时间词modern，因此考生可以在通读时特别关注含有时间的句子。由于这是第四段，属于学术性文章的主体段落，其结构要点句应该是首句和末句，因此考生可以首先阅读该段的首句和末句。考生可以发现，这段的末句“Progress in this area can be measured by the difference in weight between buildings built now and those of comparable size built one hundred years ago”里面有明显的基于时间的对比点，讲的是科技的进步表现为现在的建筑和一百年前大小相同的建筑在重量上的差异。考生可以发现题干中的modern buildings对应的是这一句话中的buildings built now，考生可以推测，正确选项里应该会涉及重量的差异和“一百年前”的表达，通过比对原文与选项，考生不难发现，选项C就是我们要找的正确答案。

通过以上几个例子我们不难发现ETS基于对比点的出题思路是显而易见的。学会寻找对比点、敏锐感知矛盾处就等于切中了ETS出题的脉搏，为自己的阅读插上自信的翅膀，在考试的天空中自由翱翔！