托福阅读答题小贴士：当心否定事实信息题中的“陷阱”

托福阅读答题小贴士：当心否定事实信息题中的“陷阱”

Negative Factual Information Questions，一般译作否定事实信息题，有时也被称为反向事实信息题、排除列举题或选非题，在阅读十大题型中出错率一直较高。出错的原因，往往被简单归结于“粗心大意”。诚然，在其他题型的解答过程中，同学们往往都是在努力寻找与原文说法最为接近的选项，而遇到否定事实信息题，由于思维惯性，在看到与原文说法基本一致但本该被排除的选项的时候，往往会忘记题目中那个大大的EXCEPT或NOT，导致错选。

但是，只是说不要“粗心大意”并没有什么用，就像在穿越雷区的时候只是说“要当心哦”并没有太多实际的帮助。只有当我们了解到哪里可能埋雷，哪里可能会有陷阱，才更有可能避开危险，安全抵达目的地。而在否定事实信息题的解答过程中，对题型认知不够准确是一些题目错误率居高不下的主要原因。

而且这锅还真得由ETS（即托福考试出题人）来背。在其出版的《托福考试官方指南》中，关于否定事实信息题的介绍如下：

Negative Factual Information Questions

These questions ask you to verify what information is true and what information is NOT true or not included in the passage based on information that is explicitly stated in the passage. To answer this kind of question, first locate the relevant information in the passage. Then verify that three of the four answer choices are true and that the remaining choice is false. Remember, for this type of question, the correct answer is the one that is NOT true.

简单翻译就是，这类题型要求你根据文章中所明确给出的信息判断哪些选项的说法是正确的，哪些是不正确或文章中未提及的。需要先在文章中定位相关信息，然后判断哪三个选项的说法正确而哪个选项是错误的。并且记住，对于这类题型来说，正确答案反而是那个说法不正确的选项。

以上，同学们很容易得出的结论即是，为了答对否定事实信息题，我们需要排除三个与原文说法一致的选项，找到那个说法不一致，或未提及的选项。而在绝大多数时候，这个判断选项的思路是正确的。例如在Spartina这篇文章中，有一道否定事实信息题：

Spartina alterniflora, known as cordgrass, is a deciduous, perennial flowering plant native to the Atlantic coast and the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is the dominant native species of the lower salt marshes along these coasts, where it grows in the intertidal zone (the area covered by water some parts of the dayand exposed others).

According to paragraph 1, each of the following is true of Spartina alrerniflora EXCEPT:

A. It rarely flowers in salt marshes.

B. It grows well in intertidal zones.

C. It iscommonly referred to as cordgrass.

D. It occurs naturally along the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic coast of the United States.

正确答案A中的否定词rarely使得该选项与原文第一句的说法正好相反。

但是，有些题目之所以错误率高，或同学们在答题的时候觉得难，觉得正确答案不好找，往往因为这些题属于所谓的“例外”，即常规思路看似不适用的情况。有许多否定事实信息题，仅从选项的措辞来看，四个选项看似都与原文的某些内容一致。而这是我们在解读官方指南的时候往往会忽略掉的一种可能性，也即是本文标题中所指的“陷阱”。如果没有意识到这种可能性的存在，遇到此类题目的时候，出错的几率自然大大提高。

例如以下这道经典例题，来自Westward Migration这篇文章：

Why were these hundreds of thousands of settlers—most of them farmers, some of them artisans—drawn away from the cleared fields and established cities and villages of the East? Certain characteristics of American society help to explain this remarkable migration. The European ancestors of some Americans had for centuries lived rooted to the same village or piece of land until some religious, political, or economic crisis uprooted them and drove them acrossthe Atlantic. Many of those who experienced this sharp break there after lackedthe ties that had bound them and their ancestors to a single place. Moreover,European society was relatively stratified; occupation and social status were inherited. In American society, however, the class structure was less rigid;some people changed occupations easily and believed it was their duty to improve their social and economic position. As a result, many Americans were an inveterately restless, rootless, and ambitious people. Therefore, these