托福阅读句子简化题例子解析
面对托福阅读部分来说，对于考试的题型，无论是题型特点还是解题技巧，我们都是需要我们掌握的，今天我们就通过实例来进行详细的解析，帮助大家更好地来备考。
托福阅读句子简化题例子解析
句子简化题是托福阅读必考题目，每篇一题，主要考察考生对复杂句子的主干信息的把握。所谓主干信息，要分清主句和从句，尤其是主句的语法主干：即主语谓语和宾语。除此以外，还有注意常考的几种信息类型，如反面或负面信息，表示比较或对比的信息等等。做到这些还不够。此题的正确选项特点是：对原句的主干信息进行同义替换，即用词汇或语法手段替换原句的主干信息。因此，如果你发现有的选项包括和原句长相非常相似的词汇，千万当心!
来看下面的例子：
Since the laws of physics, not some arbitrary decision, have determined the general form of applied-art objects, they follow basic patterns, so much so that functional forms can vary only within certain limits.
Which of the following best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence? Incorrect answer choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
○Functional applied-art objects cannot vary much from the basic patterns determined by the laws of physics.
○The function of applied-art objects is determined by basic patterns in the laws of physics.
○Since functional applied-art objects vary only within certain limits, arbitrary decisions cannot have determined their general form.
○The general form of applied-art objects is limited by some arbitrary decision that is not determined by the laws of physics.
原句的主要信息点包括：因果关系since, 否定信息not, 强调信息only。选项C和这几个信息正好完全对应。答案却是A! 因为C把原文的因果关系完全颠倒过来了!
从这个题目我们可以洞察命题者的思路：设计C选项时故意保留原文的某些词汇不变，造成一种假象，吸引大家的眼球，以迷惑麻痹意志不坚定的童鞋!
托福阅读题文章怎么理解?
托福阅读文章原型大都选自美国大学生使用的教材或者学术期刊，文章的选材范围极其广泛，涉及有自然科学包括：天文学、地质学、生物学、气象学等;人文科学包括：艺术美学、考古学、语言学、文学等;社会科学包括：政治学、经济学、教育学、人类学等学科。从选材范围可知道：托福阅读的文章内容不仅对同学们的知识存储量有一定的要求，同时对于我们的理解能力有一定的要求。
首先托福阅读分四个阶段：
第一阶段：不关心句子的意义，只关心语言符号，比如：猫坐在帽子上飞;黑色的太阳
第二阶段：获取主题和重点信息，即大的框架结构
第三阶段：能找出观点理论并确定观点的支撑细节;能分析整体框架。
第四阶段：针对某个特定主题，在很多相关资料中寻找需要的信息。
为什么需要这四个阅读阶段呢?是由阅读的三个特征来决定的：
1. 多书面语：词汇句式复杂
2. 论证严密：观点阐述严密，逻辑环环相扣
3. 结构复杂：多观点结构
下面通过一个段落具体讲解。3分钟来读以下段落：
Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct about 65million years ago as part of a mass extinction known as the K-T event, because it is associated with a geological signature known as the K-T boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation found in various parts of the world (K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous, derived from the German name Kreidezeit).S1 Many explanations have been proposed for why dinosaurs became extinct. S2 For example, some have blamed dinosaur extinction on the development of flowering plants, which were supposedly more difficult to digest and could have caused constipation or indigestion—except that flowering plants first evolved in the Early Cretaceous, about 60 million years before the dinosaurs died out.S3 In fact, several scientists have suggested that the duck bill dinosaurs and homed dinosaurs, with their complex battery of grinding teeth, evolved to exploit this new resource of rapidly growing flowering plants.S4 Othershave blamed extinction on competition from the mammals, which alleged lyate all the dinosaur eggs—except that mammals and dinosaurs appeared at the same time in the Late Triassic, about 190 million years ago, and there is no reason to believe that mammals suddenly acquired a taste for dinosaur egg safter 120 million years of coexistence. S5Some explanations (such as the one stating that dinosaurs all died of diseases) fail because there is no way to scientifically test them, and they cannot move beyond the realm of speculation and guesswork.S6
全段一共241个字，6句话，平均每句话都40个字左右。
拿第一句话Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct about 65 million years ago as part of a mass extinction known as the K-T event, because it is associated with a geological signature known as the K-T boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation found in various parts of the world (K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous, derived from the German name Kreidezeit)为例子，这句话出现了K-T boundary，sedimentation，Cretaceous等词，不是常见词汇，而且这句话中包含了原因状语从句(becauseit is associated...)，非谓语(known as.../found in...),同位语(usually a thin band of sedimentation...)，插入语(K is the tradition abb...)，所以总结一下，就是生词多，句式复杂。
第二点观点阐述严密，逻辑环环相扣。这一段第一句话的意思是恐龙灭绝了，紧接着第二句话说到Many explanations have been proposed 。第一个explanation是把恐龙的灭绝归咎于开花植物的发展，但是(except)开花植物在恐龙灭绝前6千万年前就已经进化了，进而否定了恐龙因为开花植物而灭绝这一解释。后面in fact这一句话更加证实了恐龙不是因为开花植物而灭绝。第二个explanation是因为哺乳动物吃恐龙蛋导致恐龙灭绝，但是(expect)在其灭绝前，恐龙和哺乳动物共处了1.2亿年，进而否定了恐龙因为哺乳动物而灭绝。最后一句话Some explanations fail既做了总结，又表达出态度：一些原因不能解释恐龙灭绝，呼应开头。
第三点结构复杂，多观点结构。第一句话Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct 呼应主题，交代背景。紧接着Many explanations...，for example后面来列举解释恐龙灭绝的原因。some.....原因解释1，破折号后面except表示转折，否定前面的原因;in fact 表示递进关系，进一步解释说明前面一句话的意思---否定恐龙灭绝是因为开花植物。others...原因解释2，破折号后面except表示转折，否定原因2。最后一句话Some explanations fail总结上文，明确表达出态度。整段是分(rs......)——总(explanations fail)结构。
托福阅读考试的两大陷阱
陷阱一：细节题考查精确定位
托福阅读中的细节题其实不难，但前提是定位的点要对，比如下面这个例题：
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.
这是一个典型的细节题，在该题题干中，有的考生会选择Puget Sound作为关键词回原文定位，因为它是专有名词，在文中会比较显眼。但是如果一旦选择了这个地名，势必会定位在该段的第一句话，托福细节题往往是定位在哪句就在哪句找答案，这样的话考生是选不出正确答案的，因为定位不精确。其实正确的关键词应该是white-tailed deer，这个用连字符连接的词在文章中也是比较醒目的，按该词定位应是该段最后一句话。所以根据它的意思应该选D项。其中A项与原句意思不符，B和C都与定位句信息无关。我们再来看另外一个否定事实细节题的例子：
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.
这个题大家都会选择用climax communities去定位，但在定位过程中会出现很多问题。首先考生要学会跳跃式定位，即根据文章中特殊的标点符号以及最醒目的词来搜索我们真正需要的关键词。文中的particular是加了阴影的，succession是在引号里面的，都非常醒目，通过看这两个词我们会发现它们附近没有我们需要的东西;再比较突出的就是数字及破折号，在500的上方有a climax community，但它是单数，与题干关键词不完全匹配，细节题讲究的是精确定位，所以我们应该选择500斜下方的Climax communities，即该段的最后一句话。否定事实细节题的出题思路有两种：一是无中生有，即根据定位点的内容，四个选项只有一个没有提到，这种思路多适用于选项比较简短的题目;二是张冠李戴，即根据定位点的内容表述，只有一个选项与之矛盾，这种思路多适应于选项比较长的题目。就这个例题而言，根据定位的最后一句话，从表述上来说跟它相关的只有C和D两个选项，D项的意思与原句相符，而C项与原句矛盾，所以正确答案是C。综上所述，做新托福阅读的细节题，最重要的一点就是要尽量地去精确定位。
陷阱二：无方向中隐藏方向。
新托福阅读考试中绝大部分题目都是对应具体段落的，这会为考生节省很多时间。但是也不排除有少量题目的范围比较大或比较模糊，考生在寻找答案时难免一头雾水，费时费力。其实这些看似没有明确定位方向的题目都是暗藏玄机的。下面我们就来看一个例子：
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.
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.
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?
rely largely on coal-fired power plants.
contain remote areas where the winds rarely die down.
1 percent of the electricity in these states is produced by wind farms.
farms in these states are being expanded to meet the power needs of the United States.
这个题目的题干涉及到三个段落，而事实上考生根本不需要去看第一段的内容，因为答案依据的是第三、四段的信息，但是这两个段落如果都看的话内容也不少，从应试的角度来说太费时间。正确的做法应该是从选项中挖掘一下方向。A项里大家一般都会选择有连字符的coal-fired作为关键词去定位，B项没有比较显眼的词就只能选名词短语remote areas，C项选1 percent， D项选the United States。选完关键词我们不难发现除了B项不大好定位以外，其他三个选项的关键词都很醒目。经过定位，A项应该去比对第3段的第一句话，意思明显矛盾;B项不好找，可以暂且跳过;C项和D项的关键词在这两段都找不到，这就属于新托福阅读中推理题的错误答案设计方法之一 ——无中生有。所以虽然我们没有去验证B项的说法是否正确，但经过排除也只能选B了。这样的做题方法就会省时省力，且答案也是正确的。在考试中，这种情况往往会影响考生的心情，进而影响水平的发挥，但是只要我们了解了ETS出题的套路就能把它们轻松搞定。
