自古道，考場如戰場。特別是像托福考試這種花幾千大洋好不容易搶到一張入場券，我們更需要好好珍惜來之不易的門票，爭取贏得這場戰爭的最后勝利，帶著驕傲和光榮離開!

  俗話說，知己知彼，百戰不殆。因此，作為考生，除了了解自己的水平外，更需要了解我們的對手——“狡猾”的考官，琢磨琢磨他們是如何給我們“下套的”，也就是所謂的出題思路。當我們能夠初步把握他們的思路，托福就占盡了先機!

  那么，閱讀考試考官究竟要考我們什么呢?大部分同學都會說，一定是考詞匯量啊!確實，認識一定數量的詞匯對于文章和題目選項的理解很重要，閱讀考試中也的確包含了不少的詞匯題考察。

  經過很多權威老師的統計，托福閱讀考試常考的詞匯量大致在6500左右。也就是說，背再多的詞匯，就算是把文章能夠翻譯成中文，也不能保證考到高分。

  因為托福閱讀其實考的是兩個點：

  1 基本詞匯和長難句的認知

  2 建立初步的句間邏輯和句內邏輯關系概念

  換句話說，閱讀考官的思路，往往是邏輯上給考生“下套”，而不是在詞匯上要和我們較勁。

  下面，我就用一篇機經上的閱讀文章和所對應的題目，來給大家做一下出題思路的分析：

  Soil Fertilization

  Despite its effectiveness, the use of animal manure in the United States has decreased. There are three reasons for this: the replacement of most mixed animal-raising and crop-farming operations with separate operations for growing crops and raising animals, the high costs of transporting animal manure from feedlots near urban areas to distant rural crop-growing areas, and the replacement of horses and other draft animals that added manure to the soil with tractors and other motorized farm machinery.

  According to paragraph 2, all of the following contributed to the decrease in the use of animal manure in the United States EXCEPT

  ? changes in crop-farming and animal-raising operations

  ? high transportation costs

  ? the movement or large numbers of feedlots to distant rural areas

  ? the introduction of motorized farm machinery

  分析此段落結構，主要講的是解釋為何在美國動物肥料的使用率下降了，之后就列舉了3個因素。而這段話的寫作手法使用了并列結構，分別羅列出這三種因素。

  并列結構是排除題的重點出題點，在這樣的段落中，大量相同屬性細節信息都在一起闡述。

  Green manure is fresh or growing green vegetation plowed into the soil to increase the organic matter and humus (degraded organic matter) available to the next crop. Compost is a sweet-smelling, dark-brown, humuslike material that is rich in organic matter and soil nutrients. It is produced when microorganisms in soil (mostly fungi and aerobic bacteria) break down organic matter such as leaves, food wastes, paper, and wood in the presence of oxygen. Compost is a rich natural fertilizer and soil conditioner that aerates soil, improves its ability to retain water and nutrients, helps prevent erosion, and prevents nutrients from being wasted by being dumped in landfills. Compost is produced by piling up alternating layers of nitrogen-rich wastes (such as grass clippings, weeds, animal manure, and vegetable kitchen scraps), carbon-rich plant wastes (dead leaves, hay, straw, sawdust), and topsoil. Compost provides a home for microorganisms that help decompose plant and manure layers and reduces the amount of plant wastes taken to landfills and incinerators.

  According to paragraph 3, what is one advantage of using compost in raising crops?

  ? It makes the soil easier to plow in preparation for planting.

  ? Water and nutrients stay in the soil and enable plant growth.

  ? The damage to soil from microorganisms is reduced.

  ? Excess oxygen is removed from the soil.

  正確答案(B)

  這道題題目問的是使用compost化肥的優點，需要注意的是advantage這個詞是不可能直接在文中找到的，文章也不會非常很明顯的告訴考生compost的優點。

  但我們可以換一個思路，所謂優勢就是compost有什么具體的功能或者是能導致一些好的結果。因此我們只需要尋找含有compost句中有表示正向因果關系詞即可。

  因此我們找到這句話：

  Compost is a rich natural fertilizer and soil conditioner that aerates soil, improves its ability to retain water and nutrients, helps prevent erosion, and prevents nutrients from being wasted by being dumped in landfills.

  此句中有幾個表示正向因果動詞，比如： improve, help, prevent 。這幾個詞也可以看作是一種正向結果關系。因此我們只要從選項中選出符合這些動詞后面的優點即可。

  According to paragraph 3, one important physical effect of compost is that it

  ? adds an oxygen-rich layer to the layers rich in nitrogen and carbon

  ? decreases the quantity of plant material that needs to be discarded

  ? helps keep the same amount of moisture in each layer of soil

  ? reduces the amount of fungi and aerobic bacteria in the pile

  在此題干中我們需要注意一個表示結果的單詞effect，也是考察因果關系，詢問的是compost所導致的一個重要結果。

  我們來看這句話：

  Compost provides a home for microorganisms that help decompose plant and manure layers and reduces the amount of plant wastes taken to landfills and incinerators.

  這句話中我們可以注意到有兩個關鍵性的詞：help 和reduce 。主要告訴我們compost有兩個結果，一是幫助分解植物和化肥層;二是減少植物肥料進入垃圾填埋區和焚化爐的數量。 由此此題應該選擇c。

  Corn, tobacco, and cotton can deplete the topsoil of nutrients, especially nitrogen, if planted on the same land several years in a row. One way to reduce such losses is crop rotation. Farmers plant areas or strips with nutrient-depleting crops one year. In the next year they plant the same areas with legumes, whose root nodules add nitrogen to the soil. In addition to helping restore soil nutrients, this method reduces erosion by keeping the soil covered with vegetation and helps reduce crop losses to insects by presenting them with a changing target.

  According to paragraph 5, one of the main reasons for using legumes in crop rotation is that legumes

  ? have no serious insect pests

  ? cover the soil more completely than any other crop does

  ? build up the nitrogen content of the soil

  ? are very easy to plant in strips

  我們仔細觀察一下這道題，注意一個詞組one of the main reasons 也就是說題目要求我們尋找其中的一個主要原因。那么我們來做一下預判，既然要在這個段落中尋找其中一個主要原因，那么必然原因不止一個，至少有2個原因。

  我們看一下這個句子：

  In addition to helping restore soil nutrients, this method reduces erosion by keeping the soil covered with vegetation and helps reduce crop losses to insects by presenting them with a changing target.

  在這句話中，我們注意到有一個表示并列關系詞組：in addition to 表示這句話中有兩個原因，一個是幫助儲存土壤營養，一個是減少侵蝕和幫助減少因為蟲害導致的農作物損失。而這個儲存土壤營養其實就是前一句的氮，此題選c

  paragraph 6

  Today, many farmers rely on commercial inorganic fertilizers containing nitrogen (as ammonium ions, nitrate ions, or urea), phosphorus (as phosphate ions), and potassium (as potassium ions). Inorganic commercial fertilizers are easily transported, stored, and applied. Worldwide, their use increased about tenfold between 1950 and 1989 but declined by 12% between 1990 and 1999. Today, the additional food they help produce feeds one of every three people in the world, without them, world food output, would drop an estimated 40%.

  Paragraph 7

  Commercial inorganic fertilizers have some disadvantages, however. These include (1) not adding humus to the soil, (2) reducing the soil’s content of organic matter and thus its ability to hold water (unless animal manure and green manure are also added to the soil), (3) lowering the oxygen content of soil and keeping fertilizer from being taken up as efficiently, (4) typically supplying only two or three of the twenty or so nutrients needed by plants, and (5) releasing nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that can enhance global warming. The widespread use of commercial inorganic fertilizers, especially on sloped land near streams and lakes, also causes water pollution as nitrate and phosphate fertilizer nutrients are washed into nearby bodies of water. The resulting plant nutrient enrichment causes algae blooms that use up oxygen dissolved in the water, thereby killing fish.

  How is paragraph 7 related to paragraph 6?

  ? Paragraph 7 presents the drawbacks of a practice that paragraph 6 presents as an advantage.

  ? Paragraph 7 argues that the viewpoint presented in paragraph 6 is based on several factual errors.

  ? Paragraph 7 provides supporting evidence for some of the claims made in paragraph 6.

  ? Paragraph 7 contrasts recently developed practices with the more traditional, established ones discussed in paragraph 6.

  此題考查兩個段落的關系，很多同學看到這種段落的題就害怕，一是覺得自己詞匯量不夠，二是覺得沒有那么多時間看完兩段。但其實考官要考察的并不是句子和詞匯的理解，而是段落大意和兩段之間的邏輯關系。

  為了節約時間，我們可以先看第七段第一句話：

  Commercial inorganic fertilizers have some disadvantages, however.

  此句話中一個表示轉折關系的詞however. 說明第七段和第六段是轉折關系。第七段主要內容為商用無機肥料有一些缺點，那么第六段反過來說的就是商用無機肥料的優點。因此這題選A。

  Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

  The widespread use of commercial inorganic fertilizers, especially on sloped land near streams and lakes, also causes water pollution as nitrate and phosphate fertilizer nutrients are washed into nearby bodies of water.

  ? The main cause of water pollution is the widespread use of commercial inorganic fertilizers on sloped land near streams and lakes.

  ? In addition, the widespread use of commercial inorganic fertilizers causes water pollution when nitrates and phosphates are washed into streams and lakes.

  ? Also, the widespread commercial production of inorganic fertilizers has caused water pollution in bodies of water such as streams and lakes.

  ? The most commonly used commercial inorganic fertilizers are nitrate and phosphate fertilizers, which cause water pollution if they enter streams or lakes.

  這道句子簡化題，考官就是考察句內邏輯關系。通過分析原句不難看出，這句話中有三個主要的邏輯：并列(also)和因果(cause)。

  接下來我們先可以通過邏輯對應優先找到B和C選項可能是答案。C選項錯誤在把streams and lakes 作為一個例子成分，然而原句中小溪和河流應該是一個時間狀語成分，因此此題選B.

  總結

  通過分析此文章的某些題，我們不難看出，考官除了考察我們詞匯量和句子理解外，非常重視考生是否能夠識別句子中明顯和隱藏的邏輯關系，主要的考點也就是在這里。

  托福文章是類似于科普性質的文章，這種文章最大的目的就是要讓讀者清楚的了解文章要表達的重要觀點和闡述事實。為了做到這一點，必須要邏輯非常的清晰明了，因此也就不難理解考官為何會把出題點都放在這里了。