托福阅读：推断题的解题方法

　　托福阅读中的推断题一直是考生心理的阴影和恐惧，尤其是“推断”两个字，瞬间会让大家联想到柯南, 福尔摩斯之类带有悬疑色彩的东西。据对所带的学生进行的调查，提到哪种阅读题型难做，将近50%的学生把票投给了推断题。

　　毋庸置疑，推断题一定有一定的难度所在，这点我们从托福考试官方指南(og)的改变上就可发现一些端倪。第三版og上，推断题的考查数量为0-2题，第四版og已经增加到1-3题，ets的用(yin)意(mou)所在可见一斑。

　　那么，我们改如何应对推断题呢?推断题真的像我们想象的这么难么?

　　今天我们一起来从考查形式上来解刨一下推断题。

　　题干特征：推断题的题干经常会出现infer,suggest,imply, indicate这类单词

　　考查形式主要分为两大类：对比推断和细节推断，而后者出现的几率更大。

　　考查形式一：对比推断

　　A时间对比：一般有两个形成对比的时间点，它们所具有的特征一般相反。如：原文会出现before1990的信息，而题目会问after 1990的信息?

　　解决方案：收集问题对应的时间点的信息，然后取反。

　　注意原文中出现的表示时间节点的词 before, after, not…until…

　　例题

　　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 1830’s, whereas in 1810 only a seventy of the American people lived west of the Appalachian mountains, by 1840 more than a third lived there.

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

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

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

　　○They had not been successful in raising cattle.

　　○They did not operate in a national market economy.

　　答案D

　　对应关键句：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.

　　B直接对比：两个或多个事物的特征——如原文会出现A的特点，然后会有B和A相比较的信息，然后题目问B的特点?

　　解决方案：收集题干所问的推断对象(about后面的信息一般为推断对象)的全部信息(一般为上述的B)，然后在原文所描述的与之相关的信息(一般为上述的A)的基础之上取反。

　　注意原文中出现的表示对比的关系词：by contrast, unlike, while, whereas,on the contrary, in comparison to, distinct from, different from等词。

　　例题

　　Paragraph 1: 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. Extinct but, already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.

　　Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about early sea otters?

　　○It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like

　　○There were great numbers of them.

　　○They lived in the sea only.

　　○They did not leave many fossil remains.

　　答案A

　　对应关键句：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.

　　考查形式二：细节推断

　　考查细节判断，事物的特点，属性等。

　　解决方案：收集题干所提问的推断对象(about后面的信息一般为推断对象)的所有信息。如果推断对象所涉及的信息比较多，难以抓到重点，则逐个选项进行定位筛选。

　　例题

　　Paragraph 1: Groundwater is the word used to describe water that saturates the ground, filling all the available spaces. By far the most abundant type of groundwater is meteoric water; this is the groundwater that circulates as part of the water cycle. Ordinary meteoric water is water that has soaked into the ground from the surface, from precipitation (rain and snow) and from lakes and streams. There it remains, sometimes for long periods, before emerging at the surface again. At first thought it seems incredible that there can be enough space in the “solid” ground underfoot to hold all this water.

　　Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 1 about the ground that we walk on?

　　○It cannot hold rainwater for long periods of time.

　　○It prevents most groundwater from circulating.

　　○It has the capacity to store large amounts of water.

　　○It absorbs most of the water it contains from rivers.

　　答案C

　　AThere it remains, sometimes for long periods, before emerging at the surface again.

　　BBy far the most abundant type of groundwater is meteoric water; this is the groundwater that circulates as part of the water cycle.

　　C At first thought it seems incredible that there can be enough space in the “solid” ground underfoot to hold all this water.

　　DOrdinary meteoric water is water that has soaked into the ground from the surface, from precipitation (rain and snow) and from lakes and streams.

　　综上所述，推断题并没有我们想象的那么晦涩。它仍然是关注细节层面的题目，主要考查考生收集和题目相关的信息和梳理这些信息的能力。我们需要做到：

　　1把题干提问的推断对象的信息收集完全，并理解到位。

　　2记住所看即所得，不要过分推断，不要脑补。

　　3任何文章中出现的信息都有可能考查推断，所以不要忽略任何一个细节。