逻辑关系探讨之巧解托福阅读

英语是一门逻辑性很强的语言.仔细观察你会发现，英语在遣词造句上是遵循严密的的逻辑形式的：用词上要求人称、数、格的一致；句子有严谨的主谓结构，多用关联词语，重视形式的对应和衔接。这个特点在托福阅读中有非常详尽的体现,因为ETS明白表示托福阅读是从大学教材中挑选的, 是严谨学术文章, 而且说明文占比较重. 我们今天就从形式的衔接中常用的逻辑关系中的因果逻辑来研究如何阅读文章和处理相关题目. 因为托福文章通常是议论说明文, 议论或者解释说明某现象, 在行文中必定要大量使用因果逻辑. 

因果可以分为显性因果和隐性因果. 所谓的显性因果指关系词本身就是因果含义, 常见的如because, cause, due to, lead to, result in 等, 隐性因果指的是单词或词组本意不是因果,但是承担因果之意, 常见的如bring about, precipitate, pose, create, allow, enable等. 参看下句:

Geological isolation brings about diversity.

字面翻译是:地理隔绝带来了多样性.但是本质上是地理隔绝导致了多样性.这就是一个隐性因果的案例. 那么下面我们回到托福阅读.

以TPO 48 passage 1: Chinese Population Growth为例子. 这篇文章总计23句, 其中有12个句子涉及到因果关系, 总共13个题目其中有8个题目涉及到原文中有因果逻辑的句子.

让柳杉老师带你一一剖解.

段:

①　Increases in population have usually been accompanied (indeed facilitated) by an increase in trade.

②　In the Western experience, commerce provided the conditions that allowed industrialization to get started, which in turn led to growth in science, technology, industry, transport, communications, social change, and the like that we group under the broad term of“development.”

③　However, the massive increase in population that in Europe was at first attributed to industrialization starting in the eighteenth century occurred also and at the same period in China, even though there was no comparable industrialization.

①　贸易的增加通常会导致人口的增加.这里accompanied伴随的/facilitated促进就是隐性因果.

②　根据西方的经验，商业为工业化的开始提供了条件，这反过来又导致科学、技术、工业、交通、通信、社会变化以及我们广泛定义为发展的那些群体的增长。也就是商业化促进工业化,这也导致了社会很多方面的发展. allowed隐性因果, led to 显性因果.

③　然而，起初欧洲人口的大规模增长是由十八世纪开始的工业化引起的，在同一时期，工业化也在中国发生，虽然（中国的）工业化并不能（和欧洲）相比。attributed to 隐性因果.

上句出考了一道句子简化题. 下面是4个选项. 我们要找到和第二句核心意思一致的选项.

A. Commerce, industrialization, and development are common features of the Western experience.

B. Trade, industrialization, and development accelerated social change in Western societies.

C. Trade and industrialization brought about development in Western societies.

D. In Western societies, social change provided the conditions for development in a number of areas.

因为第二句是因果关系, 通过观察4个选项发现C选项里有brought about这个隐性因果词组, 先来判断C的意思, 商业和工业化导致西方社会的发展. 这就和原句核心意思一致, 那么C就是正确答案.

第二题, The word "attributed" in the passage is closest in meaning to

见红色标注.

A. accustomed

B. credited

C. exposed

D. Transformed

假设我们不明白第三句里attribute 归功于的意思, 我们能够通过本句意思理解来推测其意思.欧洲人口的增加_____18世纪的工业化. 根据第二句话, 工业化导致西方人口增长, 所以 attributed就应该是因为的意思.

那么这个词汇题答案就是B,credit除了常见的信用和学分的意思外, 还有to believe or say that sb is responsible for doing sth, especially sth good 认为是…的功劳；把…归于.

The invention of the industrial robot is credited to the company. 工业机器人的发明应归功于那家公司. 一次性kill表示因果的attribute & credit, 收获满满.

段总共3句话, 共出考题3题, 其中2道都是涉及因果关系的考点, 这就已经体现了因果逻辑的重要性. 初步认识到因果重要性后, 我们用随后的文章和题目来进行验证和重复学习该知识点.

文章第三段有如下5句话, 出考题2道:

①　To explain this sudden increase we cannot point to factors constant in Chinese society but must find conditions or a combination of factors that were newly effective in this period.

②　Among these is the almost complete internal peace maintained under Manchu rule during the eighteenth century.

③　There was also an increase in foreign trade through Guangzhou (southern China) and some improvement of transportation within the empire.

④　Control of disease, like the checking of smallpox by variolation may have been important. 

⑤　But of most critical importance was the food supply.

①　隐性因果句子, 为了解释人口的增长, 必须发现这时期新近有效的因素. 也即是找出导致人口增长的原因因素们:

②　原因一,简言之, 内部和平.

③　原因二,外国贸易和交通的改善.

④　原因三, 疾病,特别是天花被控制了.

⑤　原因四,最重要的是食物供应.

Paragraph 3 supports all of the following statements about eighteenth-century Chinese society EXCEPT: 本篇第6题,提问哪个不是关于18世纪中国社会的陈述:

A. It was troubled by frequent conflicts with foreign nations. 

B. It improved its transportation system.

C. It experienced growth in international commerce.

D. It managed to prevent the spread of certain diseases.

A  选项提及和外国的frequent conflicts频繁冲突很明显不属于上文4个原因, 所以答案是A.

到此为止,我们研究了2个段落, 总共5个题目, 其中有3个题目考核我们文章的主旨--因果逻辑. 这已经凸显因果逻辑的在阅读和解题中的重要性. 大家要在随后的学习中有敏感判断因果的意识并且不断扩大表达因果的词汇量哦. 现在大家是不是有一种意犹未尽的感觉呢,是不是迫切想知道后文内容呢, 预知后事如何,请听下回分解.