新托福阅读简介与基本技能讲课稿.doc

新托福阅读简介与基本技能

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新托福阅读简介与基本技能
托福考试（TOEFL）作为国际上最有影响的几大英语水平考试之一，在国内拥有极高的知名度和庞大的考生群体，曾经一度为出国及留学人士言所必称。近年来由于面对雅思（IELTS）等考试的有力挑战，托福考试主办方ETS为阻颓势，在经典形式的PBT（Paper-based test）、CBT（Computer-based test）之后，又推出了新形式的iBT（Internet-based test），即所谓新托福。本文，专家将就新托福考试（TOEFL iBT）阅读部分的总体内容向还不大熟悉这一新考试形式的考生群体进行介绍。
一、基本形式
既然被称为iBT，新托福阅读便不同于PBT，不再是完成纸质试卷上的一系列问题；也不同于CBT，而是经由互联网直接从ETS位于美国的服务器传输题目至电脑终端。TOEFL iBT的阅读部分在新托福四个module（读、听、说、写）中最先进行，也是唯一不需要借助听力完成的一个部分。
一旦开始答题，每一篇阅读文章必须先通读或滚动至屏幕末尾，才可以看到问题。一般来说，在每一道题目的回答界面，屏幕右手边是该题所对应的文章部分内容，题目则出现在屏幕的左侧。通过点击屏幕右上方区域的不同功能键，可以实现不同题目间的前进、后退、检查答题情况、查看文本、帮助等功能。同时，屏幕右上方还可以点击选择显示/隐藏的考试所剩余的时间。在每个计时部分剩余时间为0时，考试自动进入下一部分，而不再允许回看。
二. 考试时长
新托福阅读由3或5篇长度为每篇700单词左右的文章构成，包括阅读文章及解答题目的时间在内，每次考试阅读部分一共有60（如果考3篇文章）分钟或100分钟（如果考5篇文章）。考试过程中，第1篇文章单独倒计时，长度为20分钟；第2、4篇文章以及可能有的第4、5篇文章每2篇合并倒计时，长度各为40分钟。因此整个新托福的阅读考试可以被看成由两（考3篇文章时）到三（考5篇文章时）个分别计时的部分构成，每个部分之间相互独立，先后进行。所以朗阁海外考试研究中心提醒考生必须注意，这60或100分钟考试时间不是可以自由分配到不同文章和题目中的。
三、文章类型
新托福阅读的3或5篇700单词左右的文章全都节选自高校本科水平的教材，通常为针对某一学术领域的介绍。一般不做任何修改，从而能够更好地被用于评估考生在学术英语氛围下的阅读能力，因而所涉及的词汇量相对较大，但对于一些专业性较强的词汇仍会给出注释。主题广泛，但并不要求考生对其非常熟悉，这是由于所有被考察的信息都包括在文章之中。
　　文体一般可分为说明（exposition）、议论（argumentation）和史实（historical）三类，而架构则常常会表现为分类（classification）、比较comparison/contrast）、因果（cause/effect）、解疑（problem/solution）四种之一。由于每篇新托福考试阅读文章所对应的题型都至少会包含一道涉及对文章总体架构把握的多分值问题，上述文体方面的信息需要引起考生备考期间的充分注意。
四.新托福阅读的基本技能
1.Academic Reading Skills
The Reading section measures test takers’ ability to understand university-level academic texts and passages. In English-speaking academic environments students are expected to read and understand information from textbooks and other types of academic material. Below are three possible purposes for academic reading.
Reading purposes include
　　1. Reading to find information, which involves
　　 effectively scanning text for key facts and important information
　　 increasing reading fluency and rate
　　2. Basic comprehension, which requires the reader to
　　 understand the general topic or main idea, major points, important facts and details, vocabulary in context, and pronoun references.
　　 make inferences about what is implied in a passage
　　3. Reading to learn, which depends on the ability to
　　 recognize the organization and purpose of a passage
　　 understand relationships between ideas (for example, compare-and-contrast, cause-and-effect, agree-disagree, or steps in a process)
　　 organize information into a category chart or a summary in order to recall major points and important details
　　 infer how ideas throughout the passage connect
　　The TOEFL iBT test includes three basic categories of academic texts. The categories are based on the author’s objectives:
　　 Exposition

　　 Argumentation
　　 Historical biographical/event narrative
　　Test takers do not need any special background knowledge to correctly answer the questions in the Reading section; all the information needed to answer the questions is contained in the passages.
　　Test takers must read through or scroll to the end of each passage before receiving questions on that passage. Once the questions appear, the passage is located on the right side of the computer screen, and the questions are on the left.
五.轻松掌握托福阅读三类推理题
1、 推理题的标志
推理题的题干中一般含有infer, imply, most likely, least likely, probably等词，分为有共性的推理题和无共性的推理题两大类。
2、 推理题的做法
对于无共性的推理题，也就是题干中无线索的，一般使用排除法，即根据各个选项的关键词回原文定位，通过排除法得出正确答案。
对于有共性的推理题，也就是题干中有线索的，可以先圈定题干中的关键词，根据关键词回原文定位，然后进行推理。总结发现，推理题主要有下列思路：
1)． 一般对比推理
ETS设计推理题的手段不多，根据两个事物的对比特征出题是其中之一。问其中一个事物的特征时，只要将与之形成对比的另一个事物的特征否定掉就可以了。例如：
　　It should be obvious that cetaceans, whales porpoises, and dolphins are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke and blowhole cannot disguise their affinities with land-dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like.
　　Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?
　　A. It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like.
　　B. There were great numbers of them.
　　C. They lived in the sea only.
　　D. They did not leave many fossil remains.
　　2)． 时间对比推理
　　这种思路常被考到。在这种推理中，一般有两个形成对比的时间段，它们所具有的特征一般相反。当题干问一个时间段的特征时，只要将与之相反的时间段的特征否定掉就可以了。
　　例一：
　　Basic to any understanding of Canada in the 20 years after the Second World War is the country’s impressive population growth….
　　…It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution.
　　It can be inferred from the passage that before the Industrial Revolution
　　(A) families were larger.
　　(B) population statistics were unreliable.
　　(C) the population grew steadily.
　　(D) economic conditions were bad.
　　例二：
　　Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as “silent”, the film has never been, in the full sense of the word, silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.
　　What can be inferred from the passage about the majority of films made after 1927?
　　(A) They were truly “silent.”
　　(B) They were accompanied by symphonic orchestras.
　　(C) They incorporated the sound of the actors’ voices.
　　(D) They corresponded to specific musical compositions.
　　例三：
　　“…The nineteenth century brought with it a burst of new discoveries and inventions that revolutionized the candle industry and made lighting available to all. In the early-to-mid-nineteenth century, a process was developed to refine tallow (fat from animals) with alkali and sulfuric acid. The result was a product called stearin. Stearin is harder and burns longer than unrefined tallow. This breakthrough meant that it was possible to make tallow candles that would not produce the usual smoke and rancid odor. Stearins were also derived from palm oils, so vegetable waxes as well as animal fats could be used to make candles …”
　　Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about candles before the nineteenth century?
　　A. They did not smoke when they were burned.
　　B. They produced a pleasant odor as they burned.
　　C. They were not available to all.
　　D. They contained sulfuric acid.
　　3)．集合概念推理
　　集合概念推理也可以称之为百分比推断，它指的是在一个集合中，包含两个相对的方面，共同构成一个大的集合。一方所占的比例减少意味着另一方所占比例的增加；反之，一方所占的比例增加意味着另一方所占比例的减少。根据这一思路，可以由集合中一方的数量变化推断另一方的消减。
　　例一：
　　A folk culture is small, isolated, cohesive, conservative, nearly self-sufficient group that is homogeneous in custom and race, with a strong family or clan structure and highly developed rituals. …Unaltered folk cultures no longer exist in industrialized countries such as the United States and Canada….
　　By contrast, a popular culture is a large heterogeneous group, often highly individualistic and constantly changing.
　　What does the author imply about the United States and Canada?
　　(A) They value folk cultures.
　　(B) They have no social classes.
　　(C) They have popular cultures.
　　(D) They do not value individualism.
　　例二：
　　Both the number and the percentage of people in the United States involved in nonagricultural pursuits expanded rapidly during the half century following the civil war, with some of the most dramatic increases occurring in the domains of transportation, manufacturing, and trade and distribution.
　　What can be inferred from the passage about the agricultural sector of the economy after the Civil War?
　　(A) New technological developments had little effect on farmers.
　　(B) The percentage of the total population working in agriculture declined.
　　(C) Many farms destroyed in the war were rebuilt after the war.
　　(D) Farmers achieved new prosperity because of better rural transportation.
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