实例讲解托福阅读利用因果关系词解题方法

实例讲解托福阅读利用因果关系词解题方法

说到托福考试阅读部分中的因果关系词，绝大部分的考生都不陌生，信手拈来也能说上三五个相关词，如：because、so、since、result from、due to、therefore、as a consequence，而这些逻辑关系如何在托福阅读中帮助我们解题的呢？今天点课台就协助大家一一攻克。

首先，因果关系词，其实有两类，一个是表示原因的：as、since、thanks to、as result of、because of、owing to、result from、due to、on account of、by virtue of、in that、attribute to；另一个是表示结果的：as a consequence、thus、hence、so、as a result、result in、contribute to、lead to、cause、breed、trigger

紧接着，我们来看托福阅读的句子简化题。这道题要求考生快速地把文章段落中打上阴影的一个长难句简化成一个意思不变的同义句。专家们发现一个规律，那就是：原句的核心信息在正确选项中一定被同义改写了，但是句子中的重要的逻辑关系是不会变的。知道这个规律，解开这道题就变得简单了。

下面，我们来看TPO3 Desertification这篇文章的句子简化题：

The extreme seriousness of desertification results fromthe vast areas of land

and the tremendous numbers of people affected, as well as fromthe great

difficulty of reversing or even slowing the process.

ADesertification is a significant problem becauseit is so hard to reverse and

affects large areas of land and great numbers of people.

ASlowing down the process of desertification is difficult because ofpopulation

growth that has spread over large areas of land.

BThe spread of deserts is considered a very serious problem that can be solved

only if large numbers of people in various countries are involved in the effort.

CDesertification is extremely hard to reverse unless the population is reduced in

the vast areas affected.

很多托福考生在做句子简化题时，习惯性地把待简化的句子翻译成中文，那样做其实不仅慢，而且很容易乱。

正确的做法是：

1.找出句子的主谓宾，也就是谁做了什么，然后关注句子的逻辑关系。例题的主语是：seriousness of desertification，逻辑关系词是表示原因的：result from，所以我们可以优先看有表示原因的选项，他们中若有正确答案，那么剩下的选项就无需过问了。这样做不仅快，而且效率高。我们不难发现：A选项中有because；B选项中有because of；所以我们先看这两个选项。

2.我们还发现原因用as well as相连，说明是两个原因，一个是影响land和people，一个是reverse和slow the process很难。A选项正确表达了句意，而B选项把原文中并列的两个原因变成了因果关系，很明显是错的。

下面再带领大家看一道托福阅读最难的题型：推断题，我们好好分析一下因果关系词在托福阅读中是怎么运用的。

Paragraph 4: So, in another set of experiments, Kramer put identical food

boxes around the cage, with food in only one of the boxes. The boxes were

stationary, and the one containing food was always at the same point of the

compass. However, its position with respect to the surroundings could be

changed by revolving either the inner cage containing the birds or the outer

walls, which served as the background. As long as the birds could see the

Sun, no matter how their surroundings were altered, they went directly to

the correct food box. Whether the box appeared in front of the right wall or

the left wall, they showed no signs of confusion. On overcast days, however,

the birds were disoriented and had trouble locating their food box.

Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 4 about Kramer’s reason

for filling one food box and leaving the rest empty?

AHe believed the birds would eat food from only one box.

BHe wanted to see whether the Sun alone controlled the birds’ ability to

navigate toward the box with food.

CHe thought that if all the boxes contained food, this would distract the

birds from following their migratory route.

DHe needed to test whether the birds preferred having the food at any

particular point of the compass.

首先，我们来明确一下推断的定义（infer, imply, indicate），纵使它是推断题，也不是意味着这题是主观臆断，臆想或是联想得出的。这道题也是要通过提取题干中的关键词到文章中的明确位置，然后文中没有平铺直叙地告诉你答案，需要我们根据一些线索找到答案。

接下来我们来看一下这道题，题干中出现Kramer, filling one food box and leaving the rest empty定位在第四段第一句：with food in only one of the boxes，而解开这道题的重点就在于：reason。我们看到第一句话一开始说到，so, in another set of experiments，很明显，答案并不在这一段，而是上一段的最后。所以答案是B。

最后，专家来分析一道句子插入题。句子插入题解题核心就在于要把待插入句子放在方框内，使得它能和上下文衔接得当。

如何做到上下文衔接得当？其一：句意。其二：逻辑。如果待插入句子中出现代词加名词短语，我们一定在原文中找到这个代词的指代；如果文中只有一处合适，答案就是那句话的后面；如果有两处以上符合，那么我们就观察一下这句话中有没有逻辑关系词，我们一定要确定这句话和上文逻辑关系正确。

Paragraph 6: Because they are always swimming, tunas simply have to open their mouths

and water is forced in and over their gills. Accordingly, they have lost most of the muscles that other fishes use to

suck in water and push it past the gills. In fact, tunas must swim to breathe. They must also keep swimming to keep from sinking, since most have largely

or completely lost the swim bladder, the gas-filled sac that helps most other

fish remain buoyant.

Look at the four squares that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

Consequently, tunas do not need to suck in water.

Where would the sentence best fit?

带插入句子中出现名词：tuna，我们不难发现，这段就是围绕tuna来写的，所以考虑逻辑关系词：consequently，表明上文提到了原因，下文应该是吞拿鱼不吸水的后果。我们在第二个方框后看到accordingly，这个词也是表示结果，后面说到“他们丢失了大部分用于吸水的肌肉”，所以这道题很好做了，逻辑简单，肯定是不吸水在先，然后才会丢失肌肉，所以答案是B。