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托福阅读难题实例解析
一、在托福阅读中，经常会遇到指代类问题。
这类问题跟考察词汇意思的问题相似。
通常形式为：The word X in the passage refers to，X为代词，在文中用阴影标出。题目中的四个选项多出自原文，但只有一个词是X所指带的词。
我们先来看一个例子：
The astrological nature of the Mayan use of astronomical data explains in part why so few written records exist of that data. The Mayans believed that the passage of the sun continued throughout the night, only, then, it was traveling through the underworld. This was believed to be a perilous journey, with many demonic figures lurking in the darkness, waiting to ambush the sun to prevent it from returning to the sky at dawn. .
Question: The word it in the passage refers to
A. night
B. sun
C. passage
D. data
正确答案为B。
从上一句可以看出，这句话描述的是太阳的运动轨迹，其它选项都不正确。
Strategies to answer this question：
1. 读问题，确定指代词类型;
2. 将指代词定位到原文中，阅读上下文，确定答案。通常答案会在指代词前面出现;
3. 将答案放到原文中，检查上下文是否通顺合理。
这类问题其实并不是很难，大家只要仔细认真，就可以得分。
二、还有一类题型经常出现，那就是paraphrase。
这类问题需要大家在给出的选项选择与文章中的长难句意义相近的一句话。
这类问题还是有一定难度的，因为选项中存在一些干扰项。
那么这类问题有哪些解题技巧呢?
Strategies to answer this question：
1. 划分句子主谓宾，充分理解句子意思;
2. 将句子大意用自己的话复述一遍，简化句子成分;
3. 看问题选项中有没有跟刚复述的句子意义相似的句子;
4. 选出正确答案后，看一下其他错误选项。这些错误选项有的意思跟原文不同，有的漏掉了原文中的重要内容。找出这些错误，确保万无一失。
Example:
大家先来看一个例子：
Rather than sell the painting, which is most likely worth millions of dollars, the Jesuits decided to make it available to the nation of Ireland for viewing. Thus, the painting is on “indefinite loan” to the National Gallery of Ireland. Nevertheless, the painting continues its travels as it features in exhibitions around the world, from the United States to Amsterdam.
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence?
a. The National Gallery of Ireland now owns the painting.
b. The National Gallery of Ireland bought the painting from the Jesuits.
c. The National Gallery of Ireland can display the painting, but the Jesuits still own it.
d. The National Gallery of Ireland can display the painting as long as they allow it to travel.
想要回答正确，就要准确理解文中indefinite loan的意思。”Loan”可以理解为an object is being lent，那么这句话的意思就很明白了。尽管爱尔兰国家画廊展出了这幅画，但他的所有者仍是Jesuits。
这样就可以排除A项跟B项。D项应改为：while the gallery can display the painting—this is not contingent upon it traveling.
三、在托福阅读中，每篇文中后多会有一道总结文章大意的问题。
题目会给出选项，大家要选出3个可以概括文章大意或主要信息的选项。
这3个正确选项与原文的用词并不一致，要求大家更好地理解文章。
其他的错误选项会在一些细节上出现错误，或是陈述并不重要的细节或概念。
这一题主要考察大家的总结能力，以及辨析重要信息的能力。
这一题的分值为2分，分数会根据选出了几个正确答案而定。如果只选出两个正确答案，只会得1分。
Strategies to answer this question：
1. 通读全文，理解大意。通常每一段的第一句或最后一句为作者的观点，因此要特别注意。
2. 排除有细节错误的选项。在除的过程中，大家要将选项定位到原文中，理解原文所表达的意思，再看选项是否与之相符。
3. 抓住关键词。
4. 排除文中并没有出现的信息。一些选项中出现了文中并没有提到的信息，大家要注意辨认。
5. 不要专注于一些很小的细节。
Example:
下面我们就拿之前做过的一篇文章为例：
The Caravaggio Mystery
Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), usually known simply as “Caravaggio,” had a dramatic life, of which parts remain mysterious to scholars even today. Why, then, would it be a surprise that mysteries also surround his work? For example, The Taking of Christ, one of his paintings that had been considered lost since the eighteenth century, was rediscovered in 1990. It had hung, seemingly unrecognized, in the dining room of the Society of the Jesuits in Dublin, Ireland, for more than fifty years. The discovery that the painting was, indeed, a Caravaggio, led many to wonder how such a treasure could be hidden—seemingly in plain sight.
The first clue historians have about The Taking of Christ is in the 1603 accounts of an Italian nobleman, Ciriaco Mattei, who paid 125 “scudi” for “a painting with its frame of Christ taken in the garden.” At the time, Caravaggio’s style, with its striking use of light and dark, was admired and often imitated by both students and fellow artists.
However, trends in the art world come and go, and two centuries later, Caravaggio’s work had fallen out of favor with collectors. In fact, it wouldn’t be until the 1950s that a Caravaggio “renaissance” occurred, and interest in the artist was renewed.
In the meantime, The Taking of Christ had traveled far and wide. Ironically, it was the Mattei family itself that originally misidentified the work, though several centuries after the original purchase. In 1802, the family sold it as a Honthorst to a Scottish collector. This collector kept it in his home until his death in 1921. By 1921, The Taking of Christ—now firmly attributed to Gerard van Honthorst—was auctioned off in Edinburgh for eight guineas. This would have probably been a fair price if the work had been a van Honthorst; for a true Caravaggio, though, it was the bargain of the century. An Irish doctor bought the painting and donated it to the Dublin Jesuit Society the following decade.
From the 1930s onward, The Taking of Christ hung in the offices of the Dublin Jesuits. However, the Jesuits, who had a number of old paintings in their possession, decided to bring in a conservator to discuss restoring them in the early 1990s. Sergio Benedetti, the Senior Conservator at the National Gallery of Ireland, went to the building to examine the paintings and oversee their restoration. Decades of dirt, including smoke from the fireplace above which it hung, had to be removed from the painting before Benedetti began to suspect that the painting was not a copy of the original, but the original itself.
Two graduate students from the University of Rome, Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa, were primarily responsible for verifying that Caravaggio did, in fact, create this version of the painting. Over years of research, they found the 1603 Mattei accounts. The verification of the painting, though, went far beyond this circumstantial evidence. Certifying that a painting came from a certain artist’s hand is not easy, though forensic science that wouldn’t have been available in the 1920s helped to attribute the work to Caravaggio definitively. The canvas underwent a number of treatments. It was X-rayed and scanned with an infrared light. The cracks on the surface of the painting (known in the industry as “craquelure”) were studied. Furthermore, The Taking of Christ underwent much analysis by art historians, who studied the form and color in the painting to determine its authenticity. For example, Caravaggio never used sketches to set up the composition of his paintings. Instead, he made marks with the end of his brush as he painted—marks that can still be visible today.
Of course, the verification of the painting required entire teams of people, in addition to the three mentioned above, and took years. By 1993, the announcement was finally made that the long-lost Caravaggio had been found. Rather than sell the painting, which is most likely worth millions of dollars, the Jesuits decided to make it available to the nation of Ireland for viewing. Thus, the painting is on “indefinite loan” to the National Gallery of Ireland. Nevertheless, the painting continues its travels as it features in exhibitions around the world, from the United States to Amsterdam. In 2010, it even travelled back to Rome to be displayed for the 400th anniversary of the painter’s death. A fitting tribute, many would say, to a mysterious master.
Question：An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentence do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.
Caravaggio’s painting The Taking of Christ was rediscovered in 1993.
1. This painting shows stylistic similarities to other works by Caravaggio.
2. It took many experts years to verify the painting’s authenticity.
3. Originally bought by the Mattei family, the painting’s trail was lost in the 1800s.
4. Caravaggio’s art has fallen in and out of favor.
5. The painting hung in the dining room of the Jesuit Society for decades before being rediscovered.
做题时，不要看选项，自己先总结，回想自己究竟读到了什么，这是很有帮助的。读完文章，自己先总结一下文章大意，这篇文章讲课什么?
这篇文章的大意是什么呢?这篇文章主要讲了本以为丢失的画作被找到了。文章是怎样体现这一主要意思的呢?是通过3、5讲述画作的丢失，然后2讲述找回作品。因此正确答案为2、3、5.
做题时，大家要注意选项中出现的一些文中的单词，有些歪曲了原文的意思。
对于选项1，根据原文给出的信息，我们对Caravaggio’s style并没有确切的了解。而选项4中所讲的Caravaggio的受欢迎程度只是一个很小的细节，并不是文章的主要意思。
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