托福阅读到底有多难
托福阅读到底有多难?盘点阅读出题形式和难题水平,今天小编给大家带来了托福阅读到底有多难,希望能够帮助到大家,下面小编就和大家分享,来欣赏一下吧。
托福阅读到底有多难?盘点阅读出题形式和难题水平
托福阅读考试基本模式介绍
新托福阅读考试分两种模式:Short Format以及Long Format。前者历时60分钟,要求学生在规定时间里完成三篇阅读约36-42道题目;而后者则将考试时间拉长至100分钟,按需完成60-70道题目。
本来这对学生来说只是“小菜一碟”,但自从新托福将考试形式由笔试改为电脑操作,这对很多人来说无疑是“当头一棒”。也许对大多数人来说看几个小时的网上新闻或是打上半天的游戏都不是什么新鲜事儿,但面对屏幕做上一两个小时的题目倒真不是随便可以信手拈来的。
建议各位正在准备托福阅读备考的同学,平时要养成习惯通过电脑来阅读,至于阅读的内容将会在第四个点里再作详细介绍。关于这一点的备考和写作的备考策略是一致的,大家可以结合起来一起准备。
托福阅读到底难在哪里?
无论是Short Format还是Longre Format,托福阅读考试强度上对考生的要求都是相当大的,新托福阅读部分每篇文章字数增至了700字左右。然而,在新托福阅读当中,对于初学者来说最难的不是单词,而是要求在规定时间里完成规定的题数。
新托福阅读不同于CET4、CET6,与高考也有很大区别,因为CET4、CET6与高考的阅读考试大都是提供约4-5篇文章,然后出20道选择题,要求考生根据所读文章答题。最大的不同在于这些考试都没有要求做完每个科目考试所用的时间。
因此很多同学在一开始做托福阅读的时候,十分不适应托福阅读的时间限制,有的人甚至在考前都没有克服这个问题。有的同学在考试前总是按一篇文章来练,认为自己在20分钟内(按总的时间平均分配到每篇阅读文章的用时)完成12-14题绰绰有余。但问题在于托福考试并非一篇一篇来考,而是将3篇或5篇看作一个整体来考验学生对强度的适应能力。
因此小编建议考生在托福阅读备考期间一定要养成3篇一练或者5篇一练的习惯,培养自己在规定时间里完成尽可能多的题数,并保证一定的正确率。
托福阅读题型趋势分析
托福考试阅读题型的主要特点在于题型中增加了词汇解释题、填表、插入句子和完成段落等。根据新托福阅读测试的目的,考生需要在平时训练中着重培养和加强三种阅读技能(即信息定位能力、速读理解能力和研读整理能力),来帮自己适应新题型。
这一点表现出新托福考试阅读明显雅思化,因此增加题目并不意味着增加难度,其难度体现在考生对题型的熟悉程度。可以说,新托福阅读内容的难度降低,便通过题型变化增加难度,因此阅读理解部分并不需要过于担心,关键是了解题型。
备考托福阅读知识面和信息量要提升
大家都知道,做题基于托福阅读读文章的基础之上,因此增进阅读能力会对完成题目起到至关重要的作用。在备考阶段,大家要多读各类题材的文章。新托福阅读测试的选材大多涉及自然科学 (天文、地质、生物学等)、人文和社会科学(文学、历史、人类学、社会学等)以及艺术和商务等学科领域。多阅读这些文章,一方面可以了解相关的常识和背景知识,同时可借此机会熟悉不同学科的常用词汇。
各类书籍、报刊及网上文章都可以选择作为练习阅读的材料,如果是选取带有一定学术性的文章或大学教材则是再好不过了。这一点大家可以结合适应“机考”这一变化来共同实现更多地去选择在电脑上阅读文章而非实际的报纸或杂志。
关于托福阅读出题形式和题型难度等信息小编就为大家介绍到这里,希望能帮助大家提升对阅读的基本认识和理解,为考试做更充分全面的准备。
如何探寻托福阅读的规律
如果你在新托福阅读考试之前知道了这个统计结果,即使在考试时你没有完全听懂对话的内容,你也能得出正确的答案。虽然我们不能证明这些“规律”,但是对于历年的考题却从不例外。当然,如果你对自己的听力水平评价很高的话,你可以不冒这个险。
但是,至少它是一个替代的方案。以下是根据历年考题统计得出的结论。当然,如果你自己发现了其它的某些规律,也应该把它总结出来。
(A)当两个人谈到吵或者安静时,最后得出的结论总是:宿舍里读书很吵,应该去图书馆。而不会说搬到别的宿舍。
(B)当对话内容涉及演出(音乐会或者电影)或者展览时,最后肯定说它非常好。即使他(她)不会欣赏这些展览或者演出,也会虚伪地说“It makes more sense next time”。
(C)当谈到住在校园里还是住在校外时,答案肯定是住在校园。
(D)当谈到某门课老师讲的如何时,回答肯定与“boring”相似;而当谈到课难不难时,肯定说难。
(E)对话谈到作业时,肯定都说作业很多,而且很难。
看到这些可以发现,只要在托福阅读考试中细心,什么困难都不怕。
托福阅读素材:欧洲的岩洞艺术
Cave Art in Europe
欧洲的岩洞艺术
1.The earliest discovered traces of art are beads and carvings, and then paintings, from sites dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period. We might expect that early artistic efforts would be crude, but the cave paintings of Spain and southern France show a marked degree of skill. So do the naturalistic paintings on slabs of stone excavated in southern Africa. Some of those slabs appear to have been painted as much as 28,000 years ago, which suggests that painting in Africa is as old as painting in Europe. But painting may be even older than that. The early Australians may have painted on the walls of rock shelters and cliff faces at least 30,000 years ago, and maybe as much as 60,000 years ago.
段落梗概:在发现的早期工艺品中,西班牙与法国南部的岩洞画显示出了高超的技艺,在非洲南部发掘出的自然石板画也是如此。而且通过考古发掘发现,非洲绘画与欧洲绘画一样历史久远;欧洲人在岩石和悬崖断面上作画的历史更久。
2.The researchers Peter Ucko and Andree Rosenfeld identified three principal locations of paintings in the caves of western Europe: (1) in obviously inhabited rock shelters and cave entrances;(2) in galleries immediately off the inhabited areas of caves;and (3) in the inner reaches of caves, whose difficulty of access has been interpreted by some as a sign that magical-religious activities were performed there.
段落梗概:研究人员指出西欧洞画的三个主要地点:(1)在明显有遮蔽可供人类居住的岩石和洞穴入口处,(2)在居住的洞穴一出门的走廊上(3)在洞穴所能及的最深处
3.The subjects of the paintings are mostly animals. The paintings rest on bare walls, with no backdrops or environmental trappings. Perhaps, like many contemporary peoples, Upper Paleolithic men and women believed that the drawing of a human image could cause death or injury, and if that were indeed their belief, it might explain why human figures are rarely depicted in cave art. Another explanation for the focus on animals might be that these people sought to improve their luck at hunting. This theory is suggested by evidence of chips in the painted figures, perhaps made by spears thrown at the drawings. But if improving their hunting luck was the chief motivation for the paintings, it is difficult to explain why only a few show signs of having been speared. Perhaps the paintings were inspired by the need to increase the supply of animals. Cave art seems to have reached a peak toward the end of the Upper Paleolithic period, when the herds of game were decreasing.
段落梗概:绘画的主题大部分都是动物。在洞穴绘画中,很少描绘人物。并猜测了原因。后石器时代的人们也相信画人物像会引起伤害或死亡;人们在探索如何提高打猎的命中率;或许是出于增加猎物的需求而画的画。
4.The particular symbolic significance of the cave paintings in southwestern France is more explicitly revealed, perhaps, by the results of a study conducted by researchers Patricia Rice and Ann Paterson. The data they present suggest that the animals portrayed in the cave paintings were mostly the ones that the painters preferred for meat and for materials such as hides. For example, wild cattle (bovines) and horses are portrayed more often than we would expect by chance, probably because they were larger and heavier (meatier) than other animals in the environment. In addition, the paintings mostly portray animals that the painters may have feared the most because of their size, speed, natural weapons such as tusks and horns, and the unpredictability of their behavior. That is, mammoths, bovines, and horses are portrayed more often than deer and reindeer. Thus, the paintings are consistent with the idea that the art is related to the importance of hunting in the economy of Upper Paleolithic people. Consistent with this idea, according to the investigators, is the fact that the art of the cultural period that followed the Upper Paleolithic also seems to reflect how people got their food. But in that period, when getting food no longer depended on hunting large game animals (because they were becoming extinct), the art ceased to focus on portrayals of animals.
段落梗概:研究者们的研究结果更清楚地揭示了法国西南部的岩洞画的特殊象征性意义。研究显示,绘画者经常描绘的动物是喜欢食用的动物或喜欢用作兽皮的动物,另外画作中主要描绘了绘画者害怕的动物。结论:在旧石器时代晚期的人的经济中,岩洞艺术与打猎的重要性有关。
5.Upper Paleolithic art was not confined to cave paintings. Many shafts of spears and similar objects were decorated with figures of animals. The anthropologist Alexander Marshack has an interesting interpretation of some of the engravings made during the Upper Paleolithic. He believes that as far back as 30,000 B.C., hunters may have used a system of notation, engraved on bone and stone, to mark phases of the Moon. If this is true, it would mean that Upper Paleolithic people were capable of complex thought and were consciously aware of their environment. In addition to other artworks, figurines representing the human female in exaggerated form have also been found at Upper Paleolithic sites. It has been suggested that these figurines were an ideal type or an expression of a desire for fertility.
段落梗概:旧石器时代晚期的艺术不仅仅局限于洞穴绘画。许多矛杆和类似的东西上都画了动物作为装饰。人类学家对旧石器时代晚期的一些雕刻品的解释意味着旧石器时代晚期的人们已经有了复杂的思维并对他们的环境有了一个理性的认识。人们还在旧石器时代晚期的遗址上发现了以夸张的形式描绘妇女的小雕塑。
托福阅读素材之石油资源
Petroleum Resources
石油资源
1.Petroleum, consisting of crude oil and natural gas, seems to originate from organic matter in marine sediment. Microscopic organisms settle to the seafloor and accumulate in marine mud. The organic matter may partially decompose, using up the dissolved oxygen in the sediment. As soon as the oxygen is gone, decay stops and the remaining organic matter is preserved.
段落梗概:石油和天然气都是来自海底的有机物沉淀。部分有机物分解,部分沉积。
2.Continued sedimentation—the process of deposits’ settling on the sea bottom—buries the organic matter and subjects it to higher temperatures and pressures, which convert the organic matter to oil and gas. As muddy sediments are pressed together, the gas and small droplets of oil may be squeezed out of the mud and may move into sandy layers nearby. Over long periods of time (millions of years), accumulations of gas and oil can collect in the sandy layers. Both oil and gas are less dense than water, so they generally tend to rise upward through water-saturated rock and sediment.
段落梗概:持续的沉积——堆积物沉积到海底的过程将有机物埋在海底使之受到海底温度、高压的影响,最终转变成石油和天然气。当泥状沉积物被挤压在一起时,天然气和石油液滴会被挤出泥层,然后进入附近的沙层。经过很长的一个周期(数百万年),积聚的天然气和石油会在沙层中聚集。
3.Oil pools are valuable underground accumulations of oil, and oil fields are regions underlain by one or more oil pools. When an oil pool or field has been discovered, wells are drilled into the ground. Permanent towers, called derricks, used to be built to handle the long sections of drilling pipe. Now portable drilling machines are set up and are then dismantled and removed. When the well reaches a pool, oil usually rises up the well because of its density difference with water beneath it or because of the pressure of expanding gas trapped above it. Although this rise of oil is almost always carefully controlled today, spouts of oil, or gushers, were common in the past. Gas pressure gradually dies out, and oil is pumped from the well. Water or steam may be pumped down adjacent wells to help push the oil out. At a refinery, the crude oil from underground is separated into natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, and various oils. Petrochemicals such as dyes, fertilizer, and plastic are also manufactured from the petroleum.
段落梗概:关于石油开采的一些介绍:包括油床、油田、井架概念的介绍;石油开采中的技术控制;以及地下的原油分离;石油用途等等。
4. As oil becomes increasingly difficult to find, the search for it is extended into more-hostile environments. The development of the oil field on the North Slope of Alaska and the construction of the Alaska pipeline are examples of the great expense and difficulty involved in new oil discoveries. Offshore drilling platforms extend the search for oil to the ocean’s continental shelves—those gently sloping submarine regions at the edges of the continents. More than one-quarter of the world’s oil and almost one-fifth of the world’s natural gas come from offshore, even though offshore drilling is six to seven times more expensive than drilling on land. A significant part of this oil and gas comes from under the North Sea between Great Britain and Norway.
段落梗概:石油越来越难以找到,石油勘探已经开始到更恶劣的环境中进行。举了一个例子:阿拉斯加北坡油田的开发和阿拉斯加管道建设就是成本高、难度大的例子。
5. Of course, there is far more oil underground than can be recovered. It may be in a pool too small or too far from a potential market to justify the expense of drilling. Some oil lies under regions where drilling is forbidden, such as national parks or other public lands. Even given the best extraction techniques, only about 30 to 40 percent of the oil in a given pool can be brought to the surface. The rest is far too difficult to extract and has to remain underground.
段落梗概:地下还能发现更多的石油。许多石油资源都是由于开采费用高、地理位置不能开采等原因不得不留在地下。
6.Moreover, getting petroleum out of the ground and from under the sea and to the consumer can create environmental problems anywhere along the line. Pipelines carrying oil can be broken by faults or landslides, causing serious oil spills. Spillage from huge oil-carrying cargo ships, called tankers, involved in collisions or accidental groundings (such as the one off Alaska in 1989) can create oil slicks at sea. Offshore platforms may also lose oil, creating oil slicks that drift ashore and foul the beaches, harming the environment. Sometimes, the ground at an oil field may subside as oil is removed. The Wilmington field near Long Beach, California, has subsided nine meters in 50 years;protective barriers have had to be built to prevent seawater from flooding the area. Finally, the refining and burning of petroleum and its products can cause air pollution. Advancing technology and strict laws, however, are helping control some of these adverse environmental effects.
段落梗概:从地下和海底开采石油并运送到消费者的途中的任何地方都会产生环境问题。石油运输管道损坏造成严重的石油泄漏,会导致海上产生浮油。海上钻井平台也可能会泄露石油,导致海滩污染,危害环境。有时油田石油被抽取后,地面会下沉。举例。石油炼制、燃烧也会造成空气污染。先进的技术和严格的法律正在控制这些对环境的不利影响。
疑难词:
petroleum n. 石油
marine adj. 船舶的;航海的,海运的
sediment n. 沉积;沉淀物
decompose vt. 分解;腐烂vi. 分解;使腐烂
convert vi. 转变,变换
droplet n. 小滴,微滴
squeeze n. 压榨;紧握v. 挤;紧握;勒索
saturate adj. 浸透的,饱和的
drill vt. 钻孔;训练;条播vi. 钻孔
portable adj. 手提的,便携式的
dismantle vt. 拆除;取消vi. 可拆卸
collision n. 碰撞;冲突
ashore adj. 在岸上的;在陆上的adv. 在岸上
adverse adj. 不利的;相反的
托福阅读到底有多难相关文章: