新托福聽(tīng)力新增題型解析

　　新托福聽(tīng)力新增題型之“Listen Again”是本次變革中最為顯眼的聽(tīng)力測(cè)試形式。此測(cè)試形式之新穎獨(dú)特處，乃覽望國(guó)內(nèi)外眾多托福聽(tīng)力考察形式之未見(jiàn)所聞。

　　顧名思義，所謂“Listen Again”即在新托福聽(tīng)力考試的某篇文章結(jié)束后，其中某一題采取再次復(fù)聽(tīng)，然后根據(jù)所聽(tīng)來(lái)做推斷既而回答題目的形式來(lái)考察考生。對(duì)新托?？荚囮P(guān)注者會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，早在新托?？荚噭偢〕鏊鏁r(shí)，世面上眾多分析文章評(píng)論說(shuō)：“新托福聽(tīng)力考試可以聽(tīng)兩遍了”。我們下這樣的定義不能說(shuō)不對(duì)，但似為偏頗，至少會(huì)誤導(dǎo)對(duì)新托福聽(tīng)力不甚了解的朋友會(huì)真的以為整個(gè)新托福聽(tīng)力考試可以重復(fù)放音聽(tīng)兩遍了。這也怪不得關(guān)注新托福考試的先驅(qū)者。在未見(jiàn)其真面目時(shí)，僅依其官方網(wǎng)上透露的內(nèi)容去揣摩難免會(huì)被ETS誤導(dǎo)，即便是現(xiàn)在ETS在網(wǎng)上公布的新托福在線測(cè)試樣題與9月份真正在北美正式投入使用的新托福**也是有差別的。在這里筆者稍做澄清：(1)新托?？荚嚪乓暨^(guò)程是一遍完成;(2)只有“Listen Again”這種新增題型可以再次復(fù)聽(tīng)文章中的某一部分，并根據(jù)再次回放的這部分回答特殊的問(wèn)題。

　　看題：

　　下面我們看一篇新托福聽(tīng)力樣題(此樣題的考察問(wèn)題全部為此種新增Listen Again 題型)

　　(narrator) Listen to two student discussing a zoology course

　　(man) Now we can move on to discuss the next part of the chapter the part of the chapter the part on land tortoises

　　(woman) Yes. Land tortoises are tortoises that don’t live in the water although they may live near the water. They only come to the water to drink or bathe.

　　(woman) Oh look here in the book. Here’s a picture of one of the 40 kinds of land tortoises.

　　(man) Land tortoises are the ones that live to such long ages aren’t they?

　　(woman) Yes my favorite part of the chapter was the part that was about how long land tortoises can really live.

　　(man) How old can they live to be?

　　(woman) It’s not really known for sure. There are lots of traditional stories about tortoises that lived for hundreds of years. I do remember hearing when I was young about tortoises that were supposed to be one-to two hundred years old.

　　(man) That couldn’t be…No way.

　　(woman) Well there’re a lot of stories but there’s no accurate records so it’s impossible to verify whether or not they’re true.

　　(man) Well how old is the oldest tortoise on record do you know?

　　(woman) In the chapter I just read it said that the oldest tortoise whose age can be verified to some extent is the one known as Marion’s tortoise.

　　(man) I read that Marion’s tortoise was 152 years old.

　　(woman) Actually I think the book said it was at least 152 years old. It was probably older.

　　(man) So they’re not really certain how old Marion’s tortoise really was when it died. What is truly known about Marion’s tortoise?

　　(woman) It’s certain that a French explorer named de Fresne Marion de Fresne captured an adult tortoise in 1766 and he transported the tortoise to the island of Mauritius in that same year.

　　(man) Well when did Marion’s tortoise die? Are there authentic records?

　　(woman) Historians are satisfied with the authenticity of the records that show that Marion’s tortoise died in 1918.

　　(man) How do they know it was the same tortoise? Could it have been a different tortoise that died there in 1918?

　　(woman) Tortoises don’t occur naturally on Mauritius so Marion’s tortoise was the only tortoise on the island of Mauritius.

　　(man) And so this tortoise had been on the island of Mauritius for 152 years when it died.

　　(woman) That’s right. Marion’s tortoise arrived in Mauritius in 1766 and died in 1918 so that would make it at least 152 years old.

　　(man) But didn’t you say that the tortoise that was captured and brought to Mauritius by Marion de Fresne was an adult when it was captured?

　　(woman) Yes. So Marion’s tortoise was known to have lived for 152 years on Mauritius. But because it was an adult when it was captured in 1766 and it’s unclear how old it was at that time it could have been considerably older than 152 years when it died maybe 180 years or more. Two hundred years old for this type of tortoise isn’t inconceivable.

　　(man) So a tortoise living to the age of 200 may be possible but there’re no verified records of such a tortoise.

　　(woman) Exactly!

　　(1)Why does the man say this: Now we can move on to discuss the next part of the chapter the part on land tortoises

　　(a) To indicate the next topic for discussion

　　(b) To suggest a new location for the discussion

　　(c) To state what has previously been said

　　(d) To clarify why they are having the discussion

　　(2)Listen again——Woman: There are lots of traditional stories about tortoises that lived for hundreds of years. I do remember hearing when I was young about tortoises that were supposed to be one-to two-hundred years old.

　　Man: That couldn’t be…No way.

　　How does the seem to feel when he says this: “That’s couldn’t be… No way”

　　(a) Unhappy

　　(b) Incredulous

　　(c) Incapable

　　(d) Disturbed

　　(3) Listen again——(woman) In the chapter I just read it said that the oldest tortoise whose age can be verified to some extent is the one known as Marion’s tortoise.

　　(man) I read that Marion’s tortoise was 152 years old.

　　(woman) Actually I think the book said it was at least 152 years old.

　　Why does the woman say this:“ Actually，I think the book said it was at least 152 years old.”

　　(a) To contradict what was in the book

　　(b) To indicate that she is not sure what is correct

　　(c) To restate what the man said

　　(d) To correct an error by the man

　　(4)Listen again——(woman) Historians are satisfied with the authenticity of the records that show that Marion’s tortoise died in 1918.

　　(man) How do they know it was the same tortoise? Could it have been a different tortoise that died there in 1918?

　　What does the man mean when he says this: “How do they know it

　　was the same tortoise? Could it have been a different tortoise that

　　died there in 1918?”

　　(a) What was said sounds plausible

　　(b) Marion’s tortoise was not on the island of Mauritius

　　(c) There may be an alternate explanation

　　(d) There was only one tortoise on the island

　　(5)Listen again——(woman) Yes. So Marion’s tortoise was known to have lived for 152 years on Mauritius. But because it was an adult when it was captured in 1766 and it’s unclear how old it was at that time it could have been considerably older than 152 years when it died maybe 180 years or more. Two hundred years old for this type of tortoise isn’t inconceivable.

　　Which sentence best describes how the woman feels when she says

　　this:“Two hundred years old for this type of tortoise isn’t

　　inconceivable”

　　(a) It is possible for a tortoise to live for 200 years

　　(b) A tortoise could not possibly live to the age of 200

　　(c) No 200-year-old tortoise has ever been found

　　(d) Many types of tortoises live to be very old

　　(注)以上五道題目中帶陰影部分皆是再次回放的內(nèi)容。

　　(答案)(1)A (2)B (3)D (4)C (5)A

　　解析：

　　新增Listen Again題型屬于測(cè)試考生Pragmatic understanding(recognize a Speaker’s attitude or degree of certainty; recognize a speaker’s function or purpose)即實(shí)際理解的能力。此類能力測(cè)試在整個(gè)新托福聽(tīng)力測(cè)試的比重占25%之多。也就是說(shuō)，Listen Again題型處理好，新托福聽(tīng)力的總34道題目你將會(huì)解決至少6道題目。

　　那么到底Listen Again題型讓我們考生實(shí)際理解什么?很簡(jiǎn)單，即要求考生去理解你再次聽(tīng)到的那段話中的：

　　(1)Function(purpose):

　　ask you to understand not just what the speaker said but why the speaker said it. For example to determine that a speaker said sth in order to apologize explain clarify a point change a topic indicate a change of opinion or suggest a new action .(上面樣題第一題即是)

　　(2)Stance (attitude)

　　Ask you how the speaker seems to feel about a particular topic. For example to determine if the speaker feels Positive or negative happy or sad impressed or unimpressed or enthusiastic or bored about a particular Topic. Also ask about whether a speaker is doubtful or Certain about what he or she is saying.(上面樣題后四道題目即是)

　　簡(jiǎn)單的說(shuō)即對(duì)再次回放內(nèi)容中講話者講此句話的目的或者態(tài)度進(jìn)行推斷。因此，考生解答此種問(wèn)題時(shí)即便在全文放音過(guò)程中不知所云， 也要在Listen Again時(shí)，務(wù)必把握Listen Again內(nèi)容——Listen carefully to what the speaker says in the part of the passage that is repeated and then draw a conclusion。

　　技巧：

　　其實(shí)根據(jù)上面樣題所示，你也會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)：(1)勿須理解全文，只要理解Listen Again的內(nèi)容你就可以對(duì)題目進(jìn)行做答。(2)聽(tīng)再次回放內(nèi)容時(shí)對(duì)講話者的語(yǔ)氣、語(yǔ)調(diào)應(yīng)尤為關(guān)注。如第2題的那句That’s couldn’t Be…No way講出來(lái)時(shí)語(yǔ)氣格外激昂，可見(jiàn)講話者的意圖是針對(duì)第一人話語(yǔ)的一種不信，一種否定。(3)以往舊托福的解題技巧仍可應(yīng)用，如第3題。以往在小對(duì)話中有這樣一種叫做Actually的題型，即在答句開(kāi)頭聽(tīng)到Actually時(shí)，必為否定第一人觀點(diǎn)的。第3題女方選手開(kāi)頭Actually，那么看哪個(gè)選項(xiàng)是否定男方的，D這個(gè)答案To correct the Error by the man即入選。

　　結(jié)論：

　　根據(jù)以上新增題型的解析，值得我們考生興奮的是：此類題型應(yīng)屬送分題型，即便全文整體概念、信息模糊不清，但仍可只依靠再次回放的部分解決此種題型。再深入探求其本質(zhì)，難道我們還能下新托福聽(tīng)力取消了原來(lái)小對(duì)話部分這樣的定義嗎?此種新增題型，不正是以往小對(duì)話所測(cè)試我們的基本所在嗎(讓我們?nèi)プ鐾普??只不過(guò)，現(xiàn)在的新增部分綜合了95年8月前的單句題和95年8后的小對(duì)話題而已?，F(xiàn)在的“Listen Again”題型——說(shuō)它是單句題，它比單句題稍微顯長(zhǎng)顯復(fù)雜;說(shuō)它是小對(duì)話題，它比小對(duì)話題測(cè)試內(nèi)容上要稍顯更實(shí)際、更結(jié)合與學(xué)術(shù)。這不正是ETS此次托?？荚嚫母镪P(guān)于聽(tīng)力部分的宗旨(Academic Listening Skills：The Listening section measures test takers’ ability to understand spoken English from North America and other English-speaking countries. In academic environments students need to listen to lectures and conversations. )嗎?

　　尾聲：

　　據(jù)本文所引、所論，透析ETS 之詭計(jì)多端于新增題型處，故此，我們?cè)撟龅絼內(nèi)バ峦懈Ｂ?tīng)力新增題型的偽裝，立在ETS出題的科學(xué)規(guī)律上“去違存真;棄相修真”，并再次高呼：“新托福聽(tīng)力——道是有變卻無(wú)變!”。這更是一種在出國(guó)路上、在人生奮斗途中屢遇險(xiǎn)阻、逢遇叵測(cè)，即便疲憊、憔悴、厭倦甚至想要退縮時(shí)我們堅(jiān)定的目光與困難摩擦并迸射——堅(jiān)持的聲音!那讓我們一路鎮(zhèn)定，泰然，從容，堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的走下去吧!

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