2016年托福閱讀TPO40中的一道句子簡(jiǎn)化題

字號(hào):

TPO40 Q17
    一般情況下,考生看不懂托福閱讀文章中的長(zhǎng)難句大致有兩個(gè)原因。
    一是生詞過多或有生詞處于句子關(guān)鍵位置;二是雖然整句沒有生詞,但復(fù)雜的句子結(jié)構(gòu)和過多的修飾成分、從句造成了理解障礙。托福句子簡(jiǎn)化題的題干句,往往是有一定復(fù)雜度的長(zhǎng)難句。
    對(duì)應(yīng)的,考生對(duì)句子簡(jiǎn)化題的處理,一般分為兩個(gè)層面。第一層面,詞匯語法基礎(chǔ)一般的同學(xué),更多側(cè)重技巧,如選項(xiàng)句是否囊括題干句內(nèi)各個(gè)分支信息,選項(xiàng)句是否傳承了題干句主要邏輯關(guān)系等。對(duì)處在這個(gè)階段的考生,句子簡(jiǎn)化題往往是難度較大的題目;第二層面,詞匯量大、具備相當(dāng)語法功底的同學(xué)可以摒棄技巧,直接讀懂原句,再挑出句意和原句最一致的選項(xiàng)即可。對(duì)于處于第二層面的考生,句子簡(jiǎn)化題因不涉及大段文章閱讀,反而是難度一般、甚至較低的題型。
    然而,TPO40 P2里一道罕見的句子簡(jiǎn)化題對(duì)考生提出了更高的要求:
    下面句子句尾的diversity指biodiversity. 上文提到The tropics contain manymore species overall than an equivalent area at higher latitudes.
    The tropics contain a larger surface area of land thanhigher latitudes--- a fact that is not always evident when we examine commonlyused projections of Earth’s curved surface, since this tends to exaggerate the areasof land in the higher latitudes --- and some biogeographers regard the differencesin diversity as a reflection of this effect.
    A. Some biogeographersbelieve that the tropics have a larger surface area than they actually dobecause of the distortions produced by projections of Earth’s curved surface.
    B. High levels of diversityin the tropics are sometimes attributed to the fact that the tropics have moresurface area of land than the higher latitudes do, though distortions in commonlyused projections may seem to suggest otherwise.
    C. Because biogeopraphersdisagree on whether or not the tropics are correctly represented in projectionsof Earth’s surface, it is difficult to determine the relationship their surfacearea has to their diversity.
    D. Most biogeographers agreethat the tropics contain a larger surface area of land than higher latitudesto, but they disagree on whether or not the tropics’ level of diversity is areflection of that larger surface area.
    本題題干句為and連接的兩個(gè)并列句,其中第一個(gè)并列句后跟了個(gè)同位語(我們遇到的同位語的往往有先行詞,本句里的相當(dāng)于先行句)。同位語a fact后跟了較長(zhǎng)的后置定語從句,這個(gè)定語從句里有自己的時(shí)間狀語從句和原因狀語從句。當(dāng)然,本文重點(diǎn)不在語法分析,故此處省略XXXX字。
    題干句語法結(jié)構(gòu)不難,但處于第一層面的同學(xué)基本無法解題。如從邏輯關(guān)系入手,題干句里沒明顯邏輯關(guān)系(since出現(xiàn)在同位語部分,按因果關(guān)系選必錯(cuò)),選項(xiàng)句則有因果、轉(zhuǎn)折等特征;又如按分支信息數(shù)量判斷同樣必錯(cuò),比如原句里有信息1,信息2….信息N,而正確選項(xiàng)恰恰少了部分信息。
    很多處于第二層面的詞匯量大、語法基礎(chǔ)強(qiáng)的同學(xué)同樣反映原句看不懂。實(shí)際上,對(duì)這些學(xué)霸同學(xué)造成理解障礙的是原并列句中第一句要表達(dá)的、不熟悉的知識(shí)。
    我們一直習(xí)慣的世界地圖如下圖:
    細(xì)心的同學(xué)會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)(也許中學(xué)時(shí)期就已注意到)這個(gè)圖在兩個(gè)Poles處有明顯畸變。如北極附近Greenland目測(cè)面積接近Australia,實(shí)際上前者面積不到后者1/3;又如Antarctic目測(cè)面積大于South America甚至Africa,事實(shí)上Antarctic要比后兩者小得多。
    把地球的曲面(curved surface)表面展現(xiàn)(projection)在平面上不可能沒有畸變,幾乎所有世界地圖在都放大了非赤道區(qū)域。緯度越高,這種放大效應(yīng)越劇烈。比如上圖里,最上端和最下端分別對(duì)應(yīng)北極點(diǎn)和南極點(diǎn),即北緯/南緯90度的那兩個(gè)點(diǎn),但上面地圖里被呈現(xiàn)成了“邊”。
    ETS認(rèn)為這是考生應(yīng)有的常識(shí)。一旦有了這個(gè)知識(shí)輔助,我們就可以輕易看懂原句,接著挑出正確選項(xiàng)B。
    實(shí)際上SAT考試也曾出現(xiàn)類似的題目:
    Representing a round world on a flatsurface is impossible without some ____: the Mercator projection map showsGreenland as over ten times larger than Mexico, a country in fact only slightlysmaller than Greenland.
    A. oversightB. simplification C. distortion D.sophistication E. superficiality
    這道題提到的Mercator Projection Map(有興趣的同學(xué)可自行WIKI)如下:
    所幸的是,在整個(gè)TPO里這種需要強(qiáng)背景知識(shí)輔助的句子簡(jiǎn)化題基本一道(TPO19有一道罕見的Inference題),但考生在備考期間仍應(yīng)主動(dòng)積累各個(gè)學(xué)科的背景知識(shí)及對(duì)應(yīng)詞匯。