事实信息题中的因果逻辑题

　　文/新航道 沈蓉晖

　　事实信息题是托福阅读中考查比重的题型之一。毫不夸张地说，对于任何一个分数段的学生来说，事实信息题的完成情况，就决定了阅读的得分情况。

　　笔者结合自己的教学经验先来说一下学生在做事实信息题过程中出现过一些“状态”：

　　1. 做题时间长。中国的考生遇到了事实信息题，不喜欢定位，而是喜欢习惯性的把相应的段落的从头至尾地读一次。阅读的信息较多，阅读时间长。而一场阅读托福考试的阅读量对于那些原本阅读速度就慢的学生来说，用这种思路做题，很有可能是做不完的。

　　如例1：OG: Applied Arts and Fine Arts

　　…Sculptures must, for example, be stable, which requires an understanding of the properties of mass, weight distribution, and stress. Paintings must have rigid stretchers so that the canvas will be taut, and the paint must not deteriorate, crack, or discolor. These are problems that must be overcome by the artist because they tend to intrude upon his or her conception of the work. For example, in the early Italian Renaissance, bronze statues of horses with a raised foreleg usually had a cannonball under that hoof. This was done because the cannonball was needed to support the weight of the leg. In other words, the demands of the laws of physics, not the sculptor’s aesthetic intentions, placed the ball there. That this device was a necessary structural compromise is clear from the fact that the cannonball quickly disappeared when sculptors learned how to strengthen the internal structure of a statue with iron braces (iron being much stronger than bronze) …

　　According to paragraph 2, sculptors in the Italian Renaissance stopped using cannonballs in bronze statues of horses because

　　A. they began using a material that made the statues weigh less

　　B. they found a way to strengthen the statues internally

　　C. the aesthetic tastes of the public had changed over time

　　D. the cannonballs added too much weight to the statues

　　在做这题时，学生要么从段首读到段尾，要么就从“For example, in the early Italian Renaissance”读到最后，事实上这样都读到了过多的信息，做题时间过长。

　　2. 被无关信息干扰。在笔者的教学经验中发现，中国考生在做题过程中，最容易动地选择一些含有原文中出现过的信息的选项，而这些选项往往跟题目并没有任何的关联性。根本原因就是考生喜欢不习惯定位，喜欢通读全段。这样一来，浪费时间是一方面，另外一方面，选错的可能性又增大了。

　　如例2：OG Online Exam: Lascaux Cave Paintings Q11

　　Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists, and by its existence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, and sensitivity.

　　According to paragraph 6, why might the puzzling questions about the paintings never be answered?

　　A. Keeping the paintings a mystery will increase their importance.

　　B. The artists hid their tools with great intelligence and skill.

　　C. Too many years have gone by since the images were painted.

　　D. Answering the question is not very important to scholars.

　　在做这个题目中，不少同学看到这一段短，于是索性从头读到尾，在各种纠结中选了各种选项。

　　3. 逻辑混乱，或忽视了逻辑关系。当然在托福阅读的教学过程上中，经过的引导，学生还是慢慢地学会去定位。尽可能地做到“提速与减负”，但是在这个过程中，学生们还是会做错。原因则在于，在题目中出现了一些逻辑关系，而学生则往往逻辑混乱，甚至是忽视了这些逻辑关系。如果利用好了这些逻辑关系，则能帮助学生更快的定位，更准确地找到答案。

　　再如例3：OG Practice Set 6: Swimming Machines: Q6

　　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.

　　6. According to the passage, which of the following is one of the reasons that tunas are in constant motion?

　　A. They lack a swim bladder.

　　B. They need to suck in more water than other fishes do.

　　C. They have large muscles for breathing.

　　D. They cannot open their mouths unless they are in motion.

　　这个题目就会因为逻辑混乱的问题，不少学生选择D。

　　其实只要学生观察这个题目的提问方式，我们还是能看出一些“门道”的：

　　1. According to paragraph 2, sculptors in the Italian Renaissance stopped using cannonballs in bronze statues of horses because

　　2. According to paragraph 6, why might the puzzling questions about the paintings never be answered?

　　3. According to the passage, which of the following is one of the reasons that tunas are in constant motion?

　　仔细阅读这3个事实信息题在提问方式方面的同性，不难发现，它们都在问because, why, 以及one of the reasons等“原因”。那么，在教学过程中，我会把这一类专门问因果逻辑的事实题单独分出来，进行讲解。引导学生注意，题目在问“原因”，也就是答案必须是原因。有“原因”就会导致一个“结果”。“结果”就是题目。这样一来，学生就不难发现这样一个公式：“原因(答案)+ 结果(题目) = 原文某一因果逻辑关系的句群” 学生只要能利用“结果(题目)”回到文章中去定位，在定位词的附近找表示“原因”的逻辑关系词，也就能更快，更准地找到答案了。

　　当然课程进行到这里，我会加入一些学生活动，让学生先熟悉，或是回忆一些表“原因”的逻辑词，如：because/because of, result from, owing to/ due to, as a result of, since, for, attribute to, thanks to, so…that…等。再结合学生的基础补充一些隐性的因果逻辑词，如：when, if, unless…

　　回头来看一下之前的3个题目

　　例1：OG: Applied Arts and Fine Arts

　　…Sculptures must, for example, be stable, which requires an understanding of the properties of mass, weight distribution, and stress. Paintings must have rigid stretchers so that the canvas will be taut, and the paint must not deteriorate, crack, or discolor. These are problems that must be overcome by the artist because they tend to intrude upon his or her conception of the work. For example, in the early Italian Renaissance, bronze statues of horses with a raised foreleg usually had a cannonball under that hoof. This was done because the cannonball was needed to support the weight of the leg. In other words, the demands of the laws of physics, not the sculptor’s aesthetic intentions, placed the ball there. That this device was a necessary structural compromise is clear from the fact that the cannonball quickly disappeared when sculptors learned how to strengthen the internal structure of a statue with iron braces (iron being much stronger than bronze) …

　　According to paragraph 2, sculptors in the Italian Renaissance stopped using cannonballs in bronze statues of horses because

　　A. they began using a material that made the statues weigh less

　　B. they found a way to strengthen the statues internally

　　C. the aesthetic tastes of the public had changed over time

　　D. the cannonballs added too much weight to the statues

　　利用“sculptors… stopped using cannonballs…”定位到“the cannonball quickly disappeared”这一句话，在这个关键词的附近找到了 “when” 这个表“原因”的隐性逻辑词，只要仔细阅读when后面的信息“when sculptors learned how to strengthen the internal structure of a statue with iron braces (iron being much stronger than bronze)”便能确定答案为B，而不是在阅读了整段后，浪费了大量的时间后，还在思考，到底是B还是似乎原文中也提到的D?

　　例2：OG Online Exam: Lascaux Cave Paintings Q11

　　Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists, and by its existence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, and sensitivity.

　　According to paragraph 6, why might the puzzling questions about the paintings never be answered?

　　A. Keeping the paintings a mystery will increase their importance.

　　B. The artists hid their tools with great intelligence and skill.

　　C. Too many years have gone by since the images were painted.

　　D. Answering the question is not very important to scholars.

　　例2中，学生利用“questions about the paintings never be answered”定位到“there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images”，在附近找表“原因”的逻辑词：“so…that…”，“so…”后面接原因，从而得出答案应该选择与原文“so much time has passed”意思一致，与时间相关的C选项。而定位词后出现的逻辑“but”引导的信息点，也就是类似于A选项的信息也因为逻辑不对而被排除。

　　例3：OG Practice Set 6: Swimming Machines: Q6

　　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.

　　6. According to the passage, which of the following is one of the reasons that tunas are in constant motion?

　　A. They lack a swim bladder.

　　B. They need to suck in more water than other fishes do.

　　C. They have large muscles for breathing.

　　D. They cannot open their mouths unless they are in motion.

　　最后，例3中，用“constant motion”学生往往会定位到2处位置，处：“Because they are always swimming, tunas simply have to open their mouths and water is forced in and over their gills.”第二处：“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.” 题目问的是：“导致金枪鱼constant motion的原因是什么”,所以重点看表示原因，也就是“since”后面的信息，就能得出A，而原文中句话则是说，always swimming (constant motion)导致了一个结果：“金枪鱼打开他们的嘴巴”，也就是让学生纠结的D选项犯了逻辑上的错误，即使这个选项中包含了原文中的信息，应该果断被排除。

　　以上便是我的托福阅读教学过程中，在讲解事实信息题过程中，用到一些思路与方法。