如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键

如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键
如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键?考托福的同学们都知道，托福听力的每篇lecture和conversation之后的第一道题必考听力文章的主旨，而很多同学听到主旨这个词都以为是main idea，然而，根据托福官方指南(Official Guide)的说明，主旨题并不仅仅如此。

下面就和文都国际教育小编一起来详细了解下如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键：托福考试官方指南(The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test)第五版对于主旨题(Gist Questions)的表述如下(Pg122-125)：
如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键
听力主旨题分为两种类型：
内容主旨(Gist-Content)
内容主旨题的典型问法：
What problem does the man have?
What are the speakers mainly discussing?
What is the main topic of the lecture?
What is the lecture mainly about?
What aspect of X does the professor mainly discuss?
目的主旨(Gist-Purpose)
目的主旨题的典型问法：
Why does the student visit the professor?
Why does the student visit the registrar’s office?
Why did the professor ask to see the student?
What does the professor explain X?
通过上面的描述，同学们现在应该清楚了并不是所有的主旨题都是在问main idea，目的主旨不等于内容主旨，下面就让我们分别来说说这两种主旨题可能出现的题目陷阱。

内容主旨题(Gist-Content Questions)
托福考试涉及的语言能力考查都是在校园学术的环境下，因此听力考试中的lecture就是模拟大学课堂里教授介绍某个学科的知识概念的情景。

通常来讲，教授主要有这么几种方式来引出主旨，这也是在真实的校园课堂情境中，教授会用到的方式。

开门见山
讲座开头教授就直接点明了主要内容，而正确的选项就是对讲座中教授所说内容的同义转述(paraphrase)。

例如TPO41Lecture1 Desert plants。

听力原文：
Many organisms have developed the ability to survive in harsh environmental conditions: extreme heat or cold, or very dry conditions.
Like plants in the desert. Your textbook doesn't have much about the specifics on desert plants, but I think that desert plants are great examples of specialized adaptations to extreme environmental conditions.So, with desert plants, there are basically three different adaptive strategies. And I should point out that these strategies are not specific to any particular species. Many different species have developed each of the adaptations.
题目：
What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The growth rates of plants in different geographical regions
B. Different ways that plants have adapted to desert environments
C. The different mechanisms that plant roots use to absorb water
D. Different kinds of succulent plants
答案：B
这篇讲座的开头教授通过一个强转折“but”来强调后面的内容更重要，然后直接就说了沙漠植物有三种适应的方式，接着整篇讲座分别介绍了这三种方式，正好对应主旨题中的B选项。

而其他三个选项内容，都是讲座中提到的局部信息，也就是细节，因此不能概括全文的主要内容，应排除。

导入式介绍
当然，在大多数的情况下，教授对于主要内容的引入并不会这么直接(ETS也不会用这么简单的方式来考)，更多的情况是先对上节课的内容进行回顾，或者先介绍一下所讲主题的背景再展开主题。

这就要求同学们需要注意听信号词提示，再根据听到的内容来对应正确选项。

如TPO14Lecture1 Cognition。

听力原文：
We’ve said that the term “cognition”refers to mental states like knowing and believing, and to mental processes we use to arrive at those states. So, for example, reasoning is a cognitive process, so is perception. We use information that we perceive through our senses to help us make decisions, to arrive at beliefs and so on. And then there are memory and imagination which relate to the knowledge of things that happen in the past or may happen in the future. So, perceiving, remembering, imagining are all internal mental processes that lead to knowing or believing. Yet, each of these processes has limitations and can lead us to hold mistaken beliefs or make false predictions.
题目：
What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The differences between imagination and perception.
B. Cognitive functions that improve decision making.
C. Cognitive functions that assist in problem solving.
D. Common limitations with regard to several cognitive functions.
答案：D
教授在讲座开头先解释了什么是“cognition”，还举了“reasoning，perception”的例子来说明这个概念，接着教授用了“Yet”来表示转折强调，说这些过程都有局限性(limitations)，然后分别举例讲了三种认知过程的局限性。

因此，只有D选项提到了limitations，B，C两个选项用improve，assist，与原文的信息不符;原文分别讲了imagination 和perception，却没有提到A选项所说的两者的differences。

结合全篇概括
还有一种情况就更不友好了，教授并没有明确说要讲的主题，而是直接开讲，同学们则需要通过听完全篇来概括，或者认真分析题目选项来排除错误选项，例如TPO45Lecture2 T-cells。

听力原文：
Professor: So that's the overview of the human immune system. But we have a few minutes left. Any questions? George?
Student: Yes,you talked about T-cells, naive T-cells. Can you go over that part again? And also why do we call them that anyway?
Professor: All right, they're...they're known as T-cells because they develop in the thymus.
Student: The what?
Professor: Thymus. That's T-H-Y-M-U-S. It's a small organ in the
body. Anyway, that's why we call them that. They come from the thymus. And T-cells are a part of the body's immune system. They can recognize and eliminate cells from outside the body that might cause disease......
Professor: There is a lot of biochemistry involved that we'll get into in the next lecture. But your question reminds me about a study that some of my colleagues are doing. It relates to caloric restriction.
Student: Caloric? Like calories in the food we eat.
Professor: Exactly! We are talking about the sugars, carbohydrates, fats that our bodies burn to get energy which we measure in calories.Okay, let's back up a little.......
Student: Interesting. But what's the connection?
Professor: Oh, with the immune system? Well, it is been shown that the immune system becomes much less effective as animals age. That's true in humans too. We think those naive T-cells just get used up. I mean it is not like the body's always making lots of new ones. And over the course of a lifetime, as T-cells encounter more and more strange bacteria or whatever, the naive T-cells get turned into memory T-cells. So later on in life, there are fewer and fewer of these naive T-cells left to deal with any new disease- causing organisms that might attack, which means less immunity, and the animal or person is more likely to get sick.......
这篇讲座的开头就像是真实课堂中最后五分钟的Q&A环节，教授根据学生的提问解释了T-cells以及naive T- cells，接着教授说这个问题让我想起了关于calorie restricted的实验，一个是mice，一个是Rhesus monkeys，因为学生的提问，教授又解释了实验和T-cells的关系。

通篇来看，讲座中并没有明确表示主要内容的句子，可是全篇占比重较大的是两个关于calorie的实验，那么我们来看题目的话就需要认真分析选项了：
题目：
What is the lecture mainly about?
A. The process by which immune cells are produced
B. The effects of consuming far fewer calories than usual
C. The function of an organ found in rhesus monkeys and in humans
D. The discovery of a nutrient necessary for good health
答案：B
A选项是说免疫细胞产生的过程，讲座中未提及是如何产生的，只说了T细胞的作用，因此不能选;B选项是在讲比正常消耗更少的卡路里会产生的效果，因此对应到了两个实验，即消耗更少卡路里的老鼠和猴子的平均寿命要长一些，为正确选项;C选项只是讲座中提到的一个细节，猴子的实验，是局部信息，不能选;D选项的discovery是无关内容，因此排除。

综上所述，不管哪种主旨展开方式，回答内容主旨题的原则是要
排除过细的选项，需要选择立足于整篇的概括性的选项。

如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键
目的主旨题(Gist-Purpose Questions)
目的主旨题多在对话中出现，有时也会在讲座中。

所谓的目的，就是学生的来意，或者教授找学生的谈话的原因等。

关于目的主旨题，需要注意以下两个问题。

明确最初目的
目的与主要内容有时并不会完全一致，因为会出现转话题的情况，因此明确最初目的才能选择出来正确的选项。

例如TPO42C1 Discussion about Bauhaus
听力原文：
Student: Hi. I'm Melisa. I was just a few doors down getting some help in the computer lab. My electronic files won't open. The technician says it's probably a computer virus. She's working on it now.
Professor: Yes, from what I've heard lots of campus computers have been affected. What a first week! Huh?
Student: I know, anyhow, I noticed your name on the door as I was walking down the hallway, thought I'd stop in and find out if you happen to have any additional copies of the class syllabus. The one I received in class the other day is missing a page.
Professor: Oh, sorry about that. I probably have a few extra printouts on hand.
Student: Great! Oh, and I noticed on the syllabus we'll be learning about and eventually writing a paper on "The Bauhaus style of art"? Sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to it.
Professor: Right, but technically it doesn't say Bauhaus style of art. It only says the Bauhaus.
Student: Oh, what's the difference?
......这段对话开始的时候学生先提到了因为电脑病毒而不能打印材料，看到了教授在门上的名字就进来问问这里有没有多一份的class syllabus，接着学生就与教授谈论了课堂上将会学到的Bauhaus art。

题目：
Why does the student want to talk to the professor?
A. To let him know that she has no background in art
B. To discuss the topic of her art history paper
C. To inform him that she is unable to print out the class syllabus at the computer lab
D. To get another copy of the material from class
答案：D
在回答目的主旨的时候，通过蓝色标注的信号词知道，学生想找教授的原因是拿一份材料，因此对应的是选项D。

然而很多同学都会错选C，C并不是学生要找教授的目的，而只是开始对话的一些寒暄语。

目的出现后移
这样的情况通常来讲就是在切入主题之前先谈论了一些其他话
题作为开场，如果寒暄内容过长，就有可能在后面出题，关于谈话的目的，通常会有明确的信号词，例如TPO9C1 Advice on a term paper’s topic
听力原文：
Professor: Before we get started, I...I just wanted to say I’m glad you chose food science for your major course of study.
Student: Yeah, it seems like a great industry to get involved with. I mean with a four-year degree in food science, I'll always be able to find a job.
Professor: You're absolutely right. Before entering academia, I worked as a scientist for several food manufacturers and for the US Food and Drug Administration. I even worked on a commercial fishing boat in Alaska a couple of summers while I was an undergraduate. We’d bring in the day's catch to a floating processor boat where the fish got cleaned, packaged and frozen right at sea.
Student: That's amazing! As a matter of fact, I'm sort of interested
in food packaging.
Professor: Well, for that, you'll need a strong background in physics, math and chemistry.
Student: Those are my best subjects. For a long time, I was leaning towards getting my degree in engineering.
Professor: Well, then you shouldn’t have a problem. Uh, and fortunately, at this university, the department of food science offers a program in food packaging. Elsewhere, you might have to hammer courses together on your own.
Student: I guess I luck out then. I am…so since my appointment today is to discuss my term paper topic, I wanted to ask, could I write about food packaging? I realize we're supposed to research foodborne bacteria, but food packaging must play a role in all of that, right?
Professor: Absolutely! Maybe you should do some preliminary research on that.
题目：
Why does the woman go to see the professor?
A. To get advice on the topic of a term paper.
B. To discuss different types of food packaging.
C. To find out if the university will offer courses in food packaging.
D. To ask about jobs in the food industry.
答案：A
对话开头教授先对学生的专业选择表示赞同，还分享了自己的工作经历以及选择food science所需要具备的专业知识，一直到学生说
so since ......才明确了学生找教授的目的是讨论论文的选题，因此目的主旨题的A选项对应到了这个信息，为正确答案。

选项B是后面具体讨论食物包装的内容，不属于对话的目的，而D选项则是教授自己分享的选择这个专业领域的好处，不是学生想要了解的内容。

因此，综上所述，目的主旨题特别要注意的是原始目的以及与核心内容的区别。

以上就是如何抓住托福听力主旨题的关键的全部内容，希望对考生备考托福考试有一定的帮助，如有更多关于托福考试疑问，欢迎咨询文都国际教育在线专业人士，我们为您详情解答!。