托福阅读细节题“陷阱”分析

细节题（factual information question 又称“事实信息题”）是托福阅读中极为常见的一种题型，要求考生准确定位原文信息，并核对选项找到答案。与其它一些题型相比，细节题的考查形式和解题思路相对单纯，更接近于中国国内英语考试中大多数的阅读单选题。但在教学实践中不难发现，这种貌似简单的题型却往往满布“陷阱”，如下例：

e.g. ：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 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. 

该题常有不少同学选择A项，原因是原文中有出现同义语句（mystery替换mystique，increase替换adds to）。但C项同样符合这点（too many years替换so much time，have gone by替换has passed）。细读题干不难发现，该题的考点在于因果关系（why），因此答案所在语句中必然含有相应的连接词。而原文第一句中便含有so...that...（如此……以至于……），that后的结果部分也符合题干要求（never will be answered替换there will never be answers），因此答案必在此处。核对选项后便可选出C项。

事实上，OG在对该题型讲解中便提示Do not select an answer just because it is mentioned in the passage. Your choice should answer the specific question that was asked.（不要仅仅因为一个选项在原文中被提及就选择它。你的选项应该回答题目提出的特定问题。）因此，考生在做细节题时务必要注意审题，否则极易犯“答非所问”的错误。

但是，仅仅仔细审题并不能保证我们在做细节题时百发百中，因为细节题的选项中也常有玄机。

e.g. 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...

In paragraph 1, what does the author say about the presence of a blowhole in cetaceans? 

(A) It clearly indicates that cetaceans are mammals. 
　　(B) It cannot conceal the fact that cetaceans are mammals. 
　　(C) It is the main difference between cetaceans and land-dwellingmammals.
　　(D) It cannot yield clues about the origins of cetaceans.

根据题干可迅速定位到原文第二句（尾鳍和头顶鼻孔的存在不能掩盖它们与陆生哺乳动物的密切关系），但核对选项后发现，A项（它清晰地指出鲸类是哺乳动物）和B项（它不能掩盖鲸类是哺乳动物的事实）的意思几乎完全相同，难以区分。该题选项有一个明显的特点：全部以人称代词it为主语。

结合题干不难看出，it的指代对象就是the presence of a blowhole。将其代回选项中，A项就变成了“头顶鼻孔的存在清晰地指出鲸类是哺乳动物”，但这显然不符合常理，因为头顶鼻孔绝非哺乳动物的一般特征；而B项“头顶鼻孔的存在不能掩盖鲸类是哺乳动物的事实”符合原文（conceal替换disguise）。

从上面两个例子我们发现，考生在解答细节题时，不能单纯流于对文章意思的理解，而是要注意题干、原文和选项三者之间的逻辑关系、词汇同义替换和指代关系等方面，才能选出正确答案。 

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