托福閱讀…人文類文章很差怎麼辦？

01-25

一篇托福文章，如果是科技類的，基本上可以在15分鐘內搞定，錯誤控制在1個半以內。
然而如果是人文類…真的就很悲劇，不僅會花上近半個小時時間而且滿地是錯…
四級580+六級500+，且問題絕不在辭彙量上，也知道哪種題考的什麼（論xdf的重要性）…10月底就是一戰，請問我該怎麼辦TAT

謝邀。其實我之前忙得已經好久沒寫回答啦。今天手癢，興高采烈地來和大家聊聊『托福人文類文章那點事』。

既然題主四六級和科技類文章都是有底子的，那麼暫且默認題主在高頻辭彙上是OK滴。這樣我們就繼續洒脫地聊文章的上層建築啦。

嚴格來講，托福閱讀的文章其實並沒有科技類。ETS官方把文章分成4大類：

** Arts

** Life Science

** Physical Science

** Social Science

如果光看四個分類還不夠明了，那麼我就厚著臉皮把大分類下得小分類搬上來了哦。

（BTW，我是強迫症，我喜歡配圖）：

【Arts passages may be on topics such as:】

-- Architecture

-- Industrial design/art

-- City planning

-- Crafts: weaving, knitting, fabrics, furniture, carving, mosaics, ceramics, etc; folk and tribal art

-- Cave/rock art

-- Music and music history

-- Photography

-- Literature and authors

-- Books, newspapers, magazines, journals

【 Life Science passages may be on topics such as:】

-- Extinction of or conservation efforts for animals and plants

-- Fish and other aquatic organisms

-- Bacteria and other one-celled organisms

-- Viruses

-- Medical techniques

-- Public health

-- Physiology of sensory organs

-- Biochemistry

-- Animal behavior, e.g., migration, food foraging, defensive behavior

-- Habitats and the adaptation of animals and plants to them

-- Nutrition and its impact on the body

-- Animal communication

【 Physical Science passages may be on topics such as:】

-- Weather and atmosphere

-- Oceanography

-- Glaciers, glacial landforms, ice ages

-- Deserts and other extreme environments

-- Pollution, alternative energy, environmental policy

-- Other planets』 atmospheres

-- Astronomy and cosmology

-- Properties of light, optics

-- Properties of sound

-- Electromagnetic radiation

-- Particle physics

-- Technology of TV, radio, radar

-- Math

-- Chemistry of inorganic things

-- Computer science

-- Seismology (plate structure, earthquakes, tectonics, continental drift, structure of volcanoes)

【Social Science passages may be on topics such as:】

-- Anthropology of non-industrialized civilizations

-- Early writing systems

-- Historical linguistics

-- Business, management, marketing, accounting

-- TV/radio as mass communication

-- Social behavior of groups, community dynamics, communal behavior

-- Child development

-- Education

-- Modern history (including the history of urbanization and industrialization and their economic and social effects)

答主說的『人文類』應該是Social Science範疇的文章為主，可能還兼帶些許Arts類的文章（比如學生們比較難懂的Industrial design/art）。

-------------------------------扯皮結束，下面開始解決問題------------------------------------------

要說人文類和科學類篇章最大的區別，那就是：人文類的更抽象。

但是抽象到了什麼地步呢？

舉個栗子

TPO里的閱讀篇章練習，同學們做起來比較爽的就是那種"可以一邊讀，一邊就在腦中勾勒出圖像的"。就像這篇：

【The Arrival of Plant Life in Hawaii】

（夏威夷植物的到來）

When the Hawaiian Islands
emerged from the sea as volcanoes, starting about five million years ago, they
were far removed from other landmasses. Then, as blazing sunshine alternated
with drenching rains, the harsh, barren surfaces of the black rocks slowly
began to soften. Winds brought a variety of life-forms.

讀完第1段，腦中形成這樣的圖片：

&當然，也有一些同學，一看見Hawaii就想到花襯衣和草裙，比如這樣：

當然，也有一些同學，一看見Hawaii就想到花襯衣和草裙，比如這樣：

&按你胃，總之，大腦已經明確啟動了認知進程。

按你胃，總之，大腦已經明確啟動了認知進程。

Spores light enough to
float on the breezes were carried thousands of miles from more ancient lands
and deposited at random across the bare mountain flanks. A few of these spores
found a toehold on the dark, forbidding rocks and grew and began to work their
transformation upon the land. Lichens were probably the first successful flora.
These are not single individual plants; each one is a symbiotic combination of
an alga and a fungus. The algae capture the suns energy by photosynthesis and
store it in organic molecules. The fungi absorb moisture and mineral salts from
the rocks, passing these on in waste products that nourish algae. It is
significant that the earliest living things that built communities on these
islands are examples of symbiosis, a phenomenon that depends upon the close
cooperation of two or more forms of life and a principle that is very important
in island communities.

讀完第2段，依舊畫面感十足：

Lichens helped to speed
the decomposition of the hard rock surfaces, preparing a soft bed of soil that
was abundantly supplied with minerals that had been carried in the molten rock
from the bowels of Earth. Now, other forms of life could take hold: ferns and
mosses (two of the most ancient types of land plants) that flourish even in
rock crevices. These plants propagate by producing spores–tiny fertilized cells
that contain all the instructions for making a new plant–but the spore are
unprotected by any outer coating and carry no supply of nutrient. Vast numbers
of them fall on the ground beneath the mother plants. Sometimes they are carried
farther afield by water or by wind. But only those few spores that settle down
in very favorable locations can start new life; the vast majority fall on
barren ground. By force of sheer numbers, however, the mosses and ferns reached
Hawaii, survived, and multiplied. Some species developed great size, becoming
tree ferns that even now grow in the Hawaiian forests.

接著第三段：

就這樣，每一段都描述了一個新的植物種類來到夏威夷群島，生根繁衍，直到最後夏威夷成了我們記憶中的夏威夷：

這個閱讀的過程是行雲流水的，是一氣呵成的，是生動有趣的，總之，是爽的。

於是我們就想著如法炮製，在人文類文章上也應該是大同小異的吧？

&（我栗子多，我先講。）

（我栗子多，我先講。）

還是TPO的一篇

【Reflection in Teaching】

（教學中的反思）

上第1段：

Teachers, it is thought,
benefit from the practice of reflection, the conscious act of thinking deeply
about and carefully examining the interactions and events within their own
classrooms. Educators T. Wildman and J. Niles (1987) describe a scheme for
developing reflective practice in experienced teachers. This was justified by
the view that reflective practice could help teachers to feel more
intellectually involved in their role and work in teaching and enable them to
cope with the paucity of scientific fact and the uncertainty of knowledge in
the discipline of teaching.

讀完第一段，什麼感覺？說好的畫面感呢？

對於這段，有些YY能力不錯的同學也是可以勉強有畫面感的，比如這樣：

接下來，第二段：

Wildman and Niles were
particularly interested in investigating the conditions under which reflection
might flourish–a subject on which there is little guidance in the literature.
They designed an experimental strategy for a group of teachers in Virginia and
worked with 40 practicing teachers over several years. They were concerned that
many would be 「drawn to these new, refreshing」 conceptions of teaching only to
find that the void between the abstractions and the realities of teacher
reflection is too great to bridge. Reflection on a complex task such as
teaching is not easy.」 The teachers were taken through a program of talking
about teaching events, moving on to reflecting about specific issues in a
supported, and later an independent, manner.

不少同學已經發現，別說畫面感了，簡直就是眩暈感。

第三段，各就各位：

Wildman and Niles
observed that systematic reflection on teaching required a sound ability to
understand classroom events in an objective manner. They describe the initial
understanding in the teachers with whom they were working as being 「utilitarian
… and not rich or detailed enough to drive systematic reflection.」 Teachers
rarely have the time or opportunities to view their own or the teaching of
others in an objective manner. Further observation revealed the tendency of
teachers to evaluate events rather than review the contributory factors in a considered
manner by, in effect, standing outside the situation.

多數同學表示『這是什麼鬼』

好了，抽象和具象的展示到此謝幕。是不是感覺哪裡不對？

好吧，事實就是，這些社會科學類的篇章沒法用自然科學類的方法來依法炮製。

這個時候，考生們應該放棄通過大腦記錄畫面感的方式，而採用mind map的段落大意方法，用文字來記錄，用邏輯來鏈接文章的脈絡。

同樣是剛才那篇，我們來試試：

【Reflection in Teaching】

（教學中的反思）

這一段的記錄總結起來就是『對教師來說，反思是個好事兒』

當然，如果細節也重要，但是不要讓細節成為束縛你閱讀的障礙。等題目問到具體的細節，再從原文找精準的細節就行了。

於是應該形成的記錄是這樣的，不妨畫個笑臉表示正向的態度：

這段的大意就是『科學家拿老師做實驗研究，關於反思』

Wildman and Niles observed
that systematic reflection on teaching required a sound ability to understand
classroom events in an objective manner. They describe the initial
understanding in the teachers with whom they were working as being 「utilitarian
… and not rich or detailed enough to drive systematic reflection.」 Teachers
rarely have the time or opportunities to view their own or the teaching of
others in an objective manner. Further observation revealed the tendency of
teachers to evaluate events rather than review the contributory factors in a considered
manner by, in effect, standing outside the situation.

這段略難，但是抓住第一句topic sentence:『反思需要客觀的態度，看待課堂教學』

Helping this group of
teachers to revise their thinking about classroom events became central. This
process took time and patience and effective trainers. The researchers estimate
that the initial training of the teachers to view events objectively took
between 20 and 30 hours, with the same number of hours again being required to
practice the skills of reflection.

這段接著上一段的『客觀態度』繼續闡述：『培養老師客觀態度看待課堂很關鍵，但也不容易』

Wildman and Niles identify
three principles that facilitate reflective practice in a teaching situation.
The first is support from administrators in an education system, enabling
teachers to understand the requirements of reflective practice and how it
relates to teaching students. The second is the availability of sufficient time
and space. The teachers in the program described how they found it difficult to
put aside the immediate demands of others in order to give themselves the time
they needed to develop their reflective skills. The third is the development of
a collaborative environment with support from other teachers. Support and
encouragement were also required to help teachers in the program cope with
aspects of their professional life with which they were not comfortable.
Wildman and Niles make a summary comment: 「Perhaps the most important thing we
learned is the idea of the teacher-as-reflective-practitioner will not happen
simply because it is a good or even compelling idea.」

這段比較鮮明地說了3個原則：

1. 教育體系的管理者的支持，

2. 足夠的空間和時間，

3. 其他教師的合作與支持。

&這樣一來，所有的段落筆記其實就編織了一個網狀圖，理清了文章關於reflection的闡述。

這樣一來，所有的段落筆記其實就編織了一個網狀圖，理清了文章關於reflection的闡述。

歡迎關注我的微信公眾號：上海超級學長。這裡是Sindy的英語教研自留地，不定時推送一些英語學習與歐美文化的新感想，一起詩和遠方吧！

單詞量這個東西很搞笑，我跟學生說你真的懂單詞嘛？以及你真的懂句子嘛？經常學生跟我說的意思根本不是句子里的意思（見我之前的帖子），而且讀句子的準確性和速度都遠遠低於我們。

如果你還在挑文章類型，這隻能說明你是靠背景知識解決的問題，你的實際閱讀能力並沒有提升。

我反對以下學習方法：

1.單純刷題

2.根本不刷題

計時閱讀。每一段，讀第一句和最後一句後，針對題目找關鍵詞找答案，我就是這麼練的。所謂計時，不是所有題目按照1小時來做，而是給自己限定到40分鐘，這樣上考場後由於緊張，大約可以在50-60分內做完，如果練習的時候就按照60分做，上考場會覺得時間不夠。本人最後閱讀28分。

首先建議題主不要過於關注文章類型。

就像樓上答主說的，對某一類型文章擅長說明你在這方面有一定背景知識讀起來好理解，而閱讀要想拿高分肯定是不能單靠提升背景知識。平時可以多增加些人文方面的閱讀，主要是能提升自信心，考試時不至於一看到人文類文章就慌對吧。

做托福閱讀最好達到一種【看不懂也照樣上】的境界。如果實在要靠理解，那就先看題，然後再讀相應的那段，一段一段的理解，往往段落里的內容聯繫是很明顯的，一開始不必急著理解通篇內容。

其實答主自己讀的時候也會有「這都講的一坨啥」的感覺，但做多了就會發現然鵝這並不影響答題。