全年托福考试共有55场，并且大多场次的阅读部分都是以多套题的考察形式在进行。在今年的8月份托福考试进行了一次改革，改革之后阅读部分有以下几点的变化：1.考试时间缩短（由原来的60-80分钟变成现在的54-72分钟）；2.考试题量减少（由原来的42题变成现在的30题）；3.题型比例也出现调整（比如词汇题的比例大幅度减少）。总体来看，改革之后考频最高的题型分别是：事实信息题；词汇题；修辞目的题。其中在这三个题型中难度系数最高的是事实信息题和修辞目的题。那么，我们今天就简单来谈一谈这两个题型的解题方法。
托福阅读考试题型
事实信息题：
这个题型主要考察学生的两个能力：定位能力&同义转换能力。目前来看导致这个题型比较难的有以下几个因素：
1.定位范围较大。导致这一点的原因主要是定位词为段落主题词，所以学生们甚至有时需要看完整段话才能做题，这样的一个大范围的阅读对于学生的信息的提取能力和记忆能力要求都会比较高。
2.选项干扰性比较大。这一点主要体现在很多选项在文中是提到过得，与原文信息只有一点点的差异，所以考生们稍不留神就会选错。这一点要求学生对于文章具备精确的理解能力，而不是只是大概读懂。
3.上下文的逻辑关系也会被考察到。按道理来看事实信息题一般只是对于文章中某些细节的理解，也就是对于某些个体句子的理解，但是比较难的事实信息题往往还需要把上下文串联起来才能理解前后文的逻辑关系然后才能做对题目。
例子：
1. Paragraph 1: In the wake of the Roman Empires conquest of Britain in the first century A.D., a large number of troops stayed in the new province, and these troops had a considerable impact on Britain with their camps, fortifications, and participation in the local economy.Assessing the impact of the army on the civilian population starts from the realization that the soldiers were always unevenly distributed across the country. Areas rapidly incorporated into the empire were not long affected by the military. Where the army remained stationed, its presence was much more influential. The imposition of a military base involved the requisition of native lands for both the fort and the territory needed to feed and exercise the soldiers animals. The imposition of military rule also robbed local leaders of opportunities to participate in local government, so social development was stunted and the seeds of disaffection sown. This then meant that the military had to remain to suppress rebellion and organize government.
According to paragraph 1, what effect did military occupation have on the local population? （2）
O It encouraged more even distribution of the population and the settlement of previously undeveloped territory.
O It created discontent and made continuing military occupation necessary.
O It required local labor to construct forts and feed and exercise the soldiers’ animals.
O It provided local leaders with opportunities to participate in governance.
我们以这道题为例子：
首先，通过题干中标注颜色的几个词去定位，然后分别找到在原文中同样颜色对应的地方。（注意此处出现了同义替换，比如effect被替换成了impact, military被替换成了army）
然后，根据定位句的关键词感觉比较接近A选项，但是仔细阅读原句的意思和A选项的意思发现不一致，所以此时我们就要怀疑可能是大范围定位，也就是答案根本不在这一句里。
接下来，只有以定位句为起点继续往下读，然后就读到The imposition这一句，发现比较接近于C选项，但是仔细比较意思发现不一致。再接着就读到了robbed local leaders这一句，比较接近于D选项，但是发现两句话意思相反。最后根据文章最后2行可以确定正确答案是B选项。
这道题就属于典型的定位范围大，而且选项干扰性也很大的代表。
修辞目的题：
这个题型不考察定位能力了，因为题目一般会把定位信息在文中阴影出来。那么考察的能力是什么？考察的是定位信息和上下文的关系。目前来看导致这个题型难的因素主要有：
1.不再是简单的只考察“例子和论点”之间的关系了。也就是说题目问你“作者为什么要举某一个例子？”然后考生们想都不用想直接往例子的前一句找答案，因为前一句话一般就是一个论点，举例子就是为了支持这个论点。现在考察的上下文的关系种类比较多，比如“反驳论点”, “类比关系”，“对比关系”，“总结关系”等等。
2. 也不再是只是往上文找答案，有的修辞目的题是往后文找答案。往往文章中会给我们一些暗示，比如在某些定位点的后面出现了一些标点符号，比如冒号，一般就意味着往后面找答案；再比如说定位点的后面出现了一些表示因果关系结果这一类的词，比如therefore，thus等等，也是标志着往后面找答案。
3. 上下文的逻辑链也会变得更复杂。考生们如果只是支离破碎地去解读某些信息对于做这种类型的题目来说是不够的，一定要摸清段落内部的逻辑链。
下面我们就具体的例子来阐述一下具体的做法。
The numbers of deer have fluctuated markedly since the entry of Europeans into Puget Sound country. The early explorers and settlers told of abundant deer in the early 1800s and yet almost in the same breath bemoaned the lack of this succulent game animal. Famous explorers of the north American frontier, Lewis and Clark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River on November 14, 1805, in nearly starved circumstances. They had experienced great difficulty finding game west of the Rockies and not until the second of December did they kill their first elk. To keep 40 people alive that winter, they consumed approximately 150 elk and 20 deer. And when game moved out of the lowlands in early spring, the expedition decided to return east rather than face possible starvation. Later on in the early years of the nineteenth century, when Fort Vancouver became the headquarters of the Hudsons Bay Company, deer populations continued to fluctuate. David Douglas, Scottish botanical explorer of the 1830s, found a disturbing change in the animal life around the fort during the period between his first visit in 1825 and his final contact with the fort in 1832. A recent Douglas biographer states:" The deer which once picturesquely dotted the meadows around the fort were gone [in 1832], hunted to extermination in order to protect the crops."
The author tells the story of the explorers Lewis and Clark in paragraph 3 in order to illustrate which of the following points?
A. The number of deer within the Puget Sound region has varied over time.
B. Most of the explorers who came to the Puget Sound area were primarily interested in hunting game.
C. There was more game for hunting in the East of the United States than in the West.
D. Individual explorers were not as successful at locating games as were the trading companies.
我们根据大写字母L和C定位，在文章的第四行，我们看例子前一句，the early explorers and settlers told of abundant deer in the early 1800s,也是一个例子，不是观点，所以下一步，我们寻找文段中心句，即文段的第一句 the numbers of deer have fluctuates markedly since the entry of Europeans into Puget Sound country.所以举L和C的例子是为了阐述段落中心句，the numbers of deer has changed a lot.与选项A同义，所以我们正确答案是A，再来看其他选项，选项B说大家interested in hunting，原文中没有涉及;选项C东西部hunting的比较在原文中也没有说明;文中也没有出现个体捕猎与团体捕猎哪个更好，所以锁定正确答案为A。
修辞目的题考察学生寻找文中具体信息写作意图的能力，我们始终抓好例子前一句、文段中心句和文章中心这三个重要因素，这类题目就会做起来很简单。
