告别“漫无目的”-浅析托福阅读的目的题

作为必考题型之一，托福阅读中的目的题往往是学生们的一个比较头疼的题型，因为需要大家强大的逻辑思考能力和总结归纳的能力。目的题的问法一般分为以下三种:

(1) The author discusses the "..." in order to...

(2) Why does the author mention/include ...?

(3) The author's purpose in paragraph... is to ...

第一种和第二种通常是考一个细节的目的，而第三种问法是考某一段的目的。

1. 如果是考某一个细节的目的，答案通常是在这个细节的前面的一两句，有时候答案也会在这个句子的后面。

如TPO8的Passage 1的第12题：

Paragraph 6: The picture of Teotihuacán that emerges is a classic picture of positive feedback among obsidian mining and working, trade, population growth, irrigation, and religious tourism. The thriving obsidian operation, for example, would necessitate more miners, additional manufacturers of obsidian tools, and additional traders to carry the goods to new markets. All this led to increased wealth, which in turn would attract more immigrants to Teotihuacán. The growing powerof the elite, who controlled the economy, would give them the means to physically coerce people to move to Teotihuacán and serve as additions to the labor force. More irrigation works would have to be built to feed the growing population, and this resulted in more power and wealth for the elite.

12. In paragraph 6, the author discusses “The thriving obsidian operation”

in order to

A. explain why manufacturing was the main industry of Teotihuacán

B. give an example of an industry that took very little time to develop in

Teotihuacán

C. Illustrate how several factors influenced each other to make Teotihuacán a powerful and wealthy city

D. explain how a successful industry can be a source of wealth and a source of conflict at the same time

答案是C，因为原文中的第一句话就是说“那展现出来的Teotihuacán的生活图景是一种经典的在黑曜岩矿产和交易，贸易和人口的增长，农业灌溉，还有宗教旅游业之间的良性反馈。”

再如TPO8的Passage 3的第5题：

Paragraph 2: Outflow channels are probably relics of catastrophic flooding on Mars long ago. They appear only in equatorial regions and generally do not form extensive interconnected networks. Instead, they are probably the paths taken by huge volumes of water draining from the southern highlands into the northern plains. The onrushing water arising from these flash floods likely also formed the odd teardrop-shaped “islands” (resembling the miniature versions seen in the wet sand of our beaches at low tide) that havebeen found on the plains close to the ends of the outflow channels. Judging from the width and depth of the channels, the flow rates must have been truly enormous——perhaps as much as a hundred times greater than the 105 tons per second carried by the great Amazon river. Flooding shaped the outflow channels approximately 3 billion years ago, about the same times as the northernvolcanic plains formed.

5. In paragraph 2, why does the author include the information that 105 tons of water flow through the Amazonriver per second?

A. To emphasize the great size of the volume of water that seems to have flowed

through Mars’ outflow channels

B. To indicate data used by scientists to estimate how long ago Mars’ outflow

channels were formed

C. To argue that flash floods on Mars may have been powerful enough to cause

tear-shaped “islands” to form

D. To argue that the force of flood waters on Mars was powerful enough to shape

the northern volcanic plains

答案是A，因为有关题目内容的前一句话说“从这些通道的宽度和深度可判断，当时流速一定很大”。

2. 如果是考某一段的目的, 也就是这一段的段落大意。答案通常要去这一段的第一句，第二句或最后一句找。

如：如TPO9的Passage 1的第7题：

Paragraph 4: More recent geologic studies documented deglaciation and the existence of ice-free areas throughout major coastal areas of British Columbia, Canada, by 13,000 years ago. Research now indicates that sizable areas of southeastern Alaska along the inner continental shelf were not covered by ice toward the end of the last Ice Age. One study suggests that except for a 250-mile coastal area between southwestern British Columbia and Washington State, the Northwest Coast of North America was largely free of ice by approximately 16,000 years ago. Vast areas along the coast may have been deglaciated beginning around 16,000 years ago, possibly providing a coastal corridor for the movement of plants, animals, and humans sometime between 13,000 and 14,000 years ago.

7. The author's purpose in paragraph 4 is to

A. indicate that a number of recent geologic studies seem to provide support for the coastal hypothesis

B. indicate that coastal and inland migrations may have happened simultaneously

C. explain why humans may have reached America's northwest coast before animals and plants did

D. show that the coastal hypothesis may explain how people first reached Alaska but it cannot explain how people reached areas like

答案是A，因为本段的第一句说“更多最近的地质研究证明了13000年前在英属哥伦比亚、加拿大主要海岸地区无冰区域存在和结冰。”

了解目的题的考察内容以及缩小查找范围是有效解答目的题的关键，希望同学们在实战练习中灵活应用学到的方法。

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