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在之前的托福分类题型中，我们已经介绍了句子简化题(Sentence Simplification Questions)的做法，即写出句子结构，再根据写出的结构对选项进行分析。正确答案的标准有两个，一是逻辑关系与原句一致，二是基本信息与原文一致。这种做题方法对学生们的语法知识、语法结构，也就是长难句的分析能力有很高的要求。学生们需要多练习，才能够在短时间内做对这道题。那么，本篇文章是关于在托福阅读每篇12-14题中出题频率会达到3-6题的题型—事实信息题Factual Information Questions。这种题型虽然学生们做起来不陌生，但是一不小心就会掉入ETS的小“陷阱”。由于事实信息题和词汇题都在考试中占有很大比重，而且要求在短时间内迅速做对，拿到分数，所以对学生们各种答题能力都有要求。下面来重点讲解一下事实信息题。
事实信息题Factual Information Questions的题型一般是According to the passage, what…?/According to the passage, where…?/According to the passage, how…?/According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?/In paragraph 2, what does the author say about ….? 所以事实信息题其实是考察文章中的细节问题。这种题型我们的做法是第一步，定位原文(keys words)，第二步，同义替换(paraphrase)。我们做一个例题解析一下。下面一题是出自Timberline Vegetations on Mountains。
Paragraph 1: The transition from forest to treeless tundra on a mountain slope is often a dramatic one. Within a vertical distance of just a few tens of meters, trees disappear as a life-form and are replaced by low shrubs, herbs, and grasses. This rapid zone of transition is called the upper timberline or tree line. In many semiarid areas there is also a lower timberline where the forest passes into steppe or desert at its lower edge, usually because of a lack of moisture.
Where is the lower timberline mentioned in paragraph 1 likely to be found?
○In an area that has little water
○In an area that has little sunlight
○Above a transition area
○On a mountain that has on upper timberline.
托福阅读界面右边是文章原文，左边是题目。在题目出现的时候，我们第一步要先看题目，找出用来定位的关键词Key Words，这道题目中的关键词是the lower timberline。所以我们定位一下原文，在段落倒数第一句中出现了the lower timberline。而且这一句和前面文章没有非常明显的联系。所以这道题的正确选项必然出现在这一句。译为：在许多的半干旱地区，有一个下行树带界线，在那里较低的地势森林变成干草原或者沙漠，通常是由于缺少水分的原因。第二步是看选项。1选项是对a lack of moisture的paraphrase。2选项属于无中生有，文中并没有提到sunlight;3、4选项没有在我们阅读过的文章提到。所以选择1选项。其实3、4选项在我们定位句子的前面都有提到，所以其实都是混淆项。因为前面几句都是讲upper timberline，而upper timberline和lower timberline没有必然的联系。如果同学们因为没有通读全文而心有疑虑，偏要读全段才能做题，那么会有两个问题，一是为自己增加混淆项，二是浪费时间。因为实践验证，你定位的句子必然是正确选项所在的地方。例如
Paragraph 4: By 1800 more than a thousand steam engines were in use in the British Isles, and Britain retained a virtual monopoly on steam engine production until the 1830s. Steam power did not merely spin cotton and roll iron; early in the new century, it also multiplied ten times over the amount of paper that a single worker could produce in a day. At the same time, operators of the first printing presses run by steam rather than by hand found it possible to produce a thousand pages in an hour rather than thirty. Steam also promised to eliminate a transportation problem not fully solved by either canal boats or turnpikes. Boats could carry heavy weights, but canals could not cross hilly terrain; turnpikes could cross the hills, but the roadbeds could not stand up under great weights. These problems needed still another solution, and the ingredients for it lay close at hand. In some industrial regions, heavily laden wagons, with flanged wheels, were being hauled by horses along metal rails; and the stationary steam engine was puffing in the factory and mine. Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. Thus the railroad age sprang from what had already happened in the eighteenth century.
According to paragraph 4, providing a machine to take the place of the horse involved combining
which two previously separate ingredients?
○Turnpikes and canals
○Stationary steam engines and wagons with flanged wheels
○Metal rails in roadbeds and wagons capable of carrying heavy loads
○Canal boats and heavily laden wagons
这道题有的同学一看就发愁了，因为段落很长，生难单词很多，但是如果利用我们的方法，先看题目，Key Words其实是整个题目，所以定位原文，发现前面一大部分我们都不用看，找到倒数第二句Another generation passed before inventors succeeded in combining these ingredients, by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails, so as to provide a machine to take the place of the horse. 这里面可以得出的答案是黑体字by putting the engine on wheels and the wheels on the rails。里面的重点词就是engine和wheels。看一下选项，那么2选项中包含了这两个重点词。所以选项就是2选项。其实2选项在段落的前面提到过，但是由于本段信息量超大，没有必要通读全段才能做出来这道题。同学们可以多做题验证一下。
但是有一种题型我们不能用这种比较省事省时的技巧，那就是在题目中出现的Key Words出现在段落的首句。根据我们之前讲过的文章结构和段落结构，每段的主旨句一般是第一、二句。所以预示着你找到的关键词是整段讨论的话题，那么同学们一般要分析整段才能得出正确答案。这种题型的问法一般是According to the passage, which of the following statement about X is true?
例如Paragraph 1: 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.
According to paragraph 1, which of the following statements about the High Plains is true?
○Until farmers and ranchers settled there in the 1880s, the High Plains had never been inhabited.
○The climate of the High Plains is characterized by higher-than-average temperatures.
○The large aquifer that lies underneath the High Plains was discovered by the Ogallala Sioux Indians.
○Before the early 1900s there was only a small amount of farming and ranch ing in the High Plains.
这道题我们必须读完全段才能判断只有4选项是符合题意的。这种类型的题目也不少见。所以做事实信息题的时候，同学们一定严格按照先读问题，寻找Key Words，定位原文，分析选项的四步做法。同学们可以自己分析一下，词汇题和事实信息题的比例很高，而像句子简化题、插入文本题、文章总结题都属于耗时的题目，为什么ETS会让我们大约在20分钟内做完12-14道题呢?其中词汇题和事实信息题必然是节省时间的题目。那么必然技巧性会很强。所以采用我们的做法，第一步就是定位原文，需找Key Words，第二步就是paraphrase来核对选项。练习的时候不要遇到不会的单词就查字典，也不要总想着不会的生难单词而浪费时间，一定要锻炼自己的速度和做题质量。不能只求快，也不能不求快。总之，在最短的时间，用最直接、最正确的方法做对这种题型，才是最重要的。
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