新托福阅读之文本插入题解析

新托福阅读之文本插入题解析

朗阁海外考试研究中心

南昌朗阁英语培训中心

文本插入题（Insert Text Questions）是新托福每次必考题型，每次题量不是很多，通常每篇文章0-1个左右。

问题形式：

在这类问题中，题目中给出一个新的句子，然后要求考生们利用文章的逻辑和句子之间的语法联系（比如代词的指代）来确定此句子在文章中最合适的位置。

注意：在文章中会出现四个黑色的方块，这些方块分布在句首或句末。四个方块有时都出现在一个段落中，有时分布在一段的末尾和下一段的开头。

这种题目的提问方式通常为： Look at the four squares (■) that indicate where the following sentences could be added to the passage.

（考生会看到一个黑体的句子）

Where would the sentence best fit?

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考生要做的是点击其中的一个方块，将这个句子插入文章。

解题步骤：

1. 读被插入的句子，找出句首或句尾的关键词或关键意思

2. 阅读可以插入方块前后的信息，寻找与插入句相关的意思

3. 选择与插入句最相关的方块

注意：如果出现以下情况，答案都可能是错误的：

★ 打乱了相邻句子之间的逻辑性

★ 影响了转折语的正确使用

★ 打乱了代词与其指代对象之间的逻辑关系

★ 隔开了本是相邻的两句话

解题技巧：

1. 利用一些过渡词（如某些逻辑关系词或短语等）帮助确定插入句子的位置，或者帮助确定排除不适合的位置。

Much of the water in a sample of water-saturated sediment or rock will drain from it

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if the sample is put in a suitable dry place.█ But some will remain, clinging to all solid surfaces.█ It is held there by the force of surface tension without which water would drain instantly from any wet surface, leaving it totally dry.█ The total volume of water in the saturated sample must therefore be thought of as consisting of water that can, and water that cannot, drain away.█

Look at the four squares [█] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

What, then, determines what proportion of the water stays and what proportion drains away?

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage.

技巧分析：首先读被插入的句子，它能给出的线索就是，该句子后面的信息应该是讲述“决定流干的水和不能流干的水的含量的因素”。读文中四个方块前后的信息，第一个方块前面的句子和后面的句子用关系逻辑词“but”连接，形成转折关系，不可插入其他内容；第二个方块后面的句子中出现“it”, 指代方块前面句子中的“some”, 插入其他内容会导致指代混乱，因此不可插入句子；第三个方块前后的信息用逻辑关系词“therefore”衔接，形成因果关系，也不可以插入其他内容，因此我们可以把被插入句子放在第四个方块那儿。如果考生们不确定，可以进一步读下一段中第一句的内容，其信息恰恰是讲述“这两种水的相对含量因岩石或沉积物种类不同而改变”。也就是说被插入句子在段落中起到了承上启下的作用。

2. 代词和其他的指代词也是重要的线索

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One of the most puzzling aspects of the paintings is their location. Other rock paintings—for example, those of Bushmen in South Africa—are either located near cave entrances or completely in the open. █Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses and caverns far removed from original cave entrances. █This means that artists were forced to work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. █It also implies that whoever made them did not want them to be easily found. █Since cave dwellers normally lived close to entrances, there must have been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cave dwellers hid their art.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

This made it easy for the artists to paint and display them for the rest of the cave dwellers.

Where would the sentence best fit?

技巧分析：首先读被插入的句子，其中的一个信息点就是指示代词“this”, 指代前面所提及的内容，而此内容使得艺术家们易于绘画并且把作品展示给其他洞穴居住者。然后读文中四个方块前后的信息，考生们会发现第一个方块前面的信息“located near cave entrances or completely in the open”恰恰符合“this”所指代的内容，因此被插入句子应该被放在第一个方块处。而如果考生们不确定，可以继续读其他方块前后的信息，第二个方块后的句子中的指示代词“this”一词恰恰指代第二个方块前面的内容，因此可以排除掉；而第三个方块后面的“it”和“this”指代的内容一样，用“also”一词提示，因此第三个方块也被排除；而第四个方块前后的信息在逻辑上也是紧密衔接的，且方块前的内容并不是被插入句子中“this”所指代的内

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容，因此也被排除。

3. 某些形容词或者特殊限定词

Pacific islanders ere variously thought to have come from North America, South America, Egypt, Israel, and India, as well as Southeast Asia. ■ Many older theories implicitly deprecated the navigational abilities and overall cultural creativity of the Pacific islanders. ■ For example, British anthropologists G. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry assumed that only Egyptians would have been skilled enough to navigate and colonize the Pacific. ■ They inferred that the Egyptians even crossed the Pacific to found the great civilizations of the New World (North and South America). ■ In 1947 Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl drifted on a balsa-log raft westward with the winds and currents across the Pacific from South America to prove his theory that Pacific islanders were Native Americans (also called American Indians).

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.

Later theories concentrate on journeys in the other direction.

Where could the sentence best fit?

技巧分析：首先读被插入的句子，信号词为“Later”和“the other”。读文中第一个方块前后的信息，考生们会发现该方块后的句子中有“older theories”, 因此第一个方块不符合条件；读第二个方块后面的内容，该内容恰恰是举例说明方块前面句子内容的，因此也被排除；

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读第三个方块后面的信息，考生们会发现该信息中的“they”即指方块前面信息中的“British anthropologists G. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry”, 中间不可加入其他信息，因此第三个方块也被排除；而第四个方块后面的信息恰恰体现了被插入句子中的“the other direction”,因此答案为第四个方块。

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