托福阅读题大致分为十个题型，其中大部分同学错误率较高的是推断题，即根据题目要求，结合指定段落，推测出符合原文信息的正确选项。

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    托福阅读题大致分为十个题型，其中大部分同学错误率较高的是推断题，即根据题目要求，结合指定段落，推测出符合原文信息的正确选项。首先推断题的信号词大致包括infer，imply以及suggest，当然少数情况也可能存在信号词缺失的题目，这就要求大家审题更加仔细。

 

    推断题根据原文的信息分布模式，大致可以分为两类：1.两者（或三者）对比；2.信息本身的言外之意。

 

    一、两者（或三者）对比

    我们先分析种类型。推断题中种常见的类型是文中提及A/B两者的关系（相似或相反），然后列明B的相关信息，题目一般会问“what can be inferred about A?”，此时若A/B关系是相反的（unlike,  in contrast to. etc），则可以对文中B的信息加以否定，即可得出A的相关选项；如果A/B是相似的关系（be more like, similar to, etc），则可以直接根据B的相关信息判断A的选项。

    例1：Paragraph 1: When it comes to physiology, the leatherback turtle is, in some ways, more like a reptilian whale than a turtle. It swims farther into the cold of the northern and southern oceans than any other sea turtle, and it deals with the chilly waters in a way unique among reptiles.

  What can be inferred about whales from paragraph 1? （2）

○They are considered by some to be reptiles.

○Their bodies are built in a way that helps them manage extremely cold temperatures.

○They are distantly related to leatherback turtles.

○They can swim farther than leatherback turtles.

例１中的leatherback turtle与whale是相似的， leatherback 的信息内容是“It swims farther into the cold of the northern and southern oceans than any other sea turtle, and it deals with the chilly waters in a way unique among reptiles”，那么whale的特点也可以用本句回答--分别是比sea turtle游的更远以及用独特的方式处理冷水。有的更远在选项D重有提及，但是比较对象错误，所以只能选B。

    例2：Paragraph 5: Two other developments presaged the end of the era of turnpikes and started a transportation revolution that resulted in increased regional specialization and the growth of a national market economy. First came the steamboat; although flatboats and keelboats continued to be important until the 1850’s steamboats eventually superseded all other craft in the carrying of passengers and freight. Steamboats were not only faster but also transported upriver freight for about one tenth of what it had previously cost on hand-propelled keelboats. Next came the Erie Canal, an enormous project in its day, spanning about 350 miles. After the canal went into operation, the cost per mile of transporting a ton of freight from Buffalo to New York City declined from nearly 20 cents to less than 1 cent. Eventually, the western states diverted much of their produce from the rivers to the Erie Canal, a shorter route to eastern markets.

  Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about flatboats and keelboats?

O They ceased to be used as soon as the first turnpikes were built.

O They were slower and more expensive to operate than steamboats.

O They were used for long-distance but not for regional transportation.

O They were used primarily on the Erie Canal.

例2中，根据题干关键词“flatboats and keelboats”定位，原文划线句子就是相关的信息。原文中将“flatboats and keelboats”与“steamboat”进行比较，steamboat更快更便宜，两者相反关系，所以可以推出“flatboats and keelboats”更慢更贵。所以选B。

例题1和2分别是相似关系和相反关系的例题，通过例题的分析，希望大家对推断题中“两者对比类”的题型有更加深入的理解。

 

一、两者（或三者）对比

接下来分析第二类推断题型--“信息本身的言外之意”。此类题型一般不包括两种信息的对比，而是在定位后根据信息本身的内容，进行推测。这种类型题的重点在于全面把握信息之间的逻辑关系，不能在信息不全面的情况下即展开推断。

    例3：Paragraph 6: The contribution of geothermal energy to the world's energy future is difficult to estimate. Geothermal energy is in a sense not renewable, because in most cases the heat would be drawn out of a reservoir much more rapidly than it would be replaced by the very slow geological processes by which heat flows through solid rock into a heat reservoir. However, in many places (for example, California, Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, the rift valleys of Africa)the resource is potentially so large that its future will depend on the economics of production. At present, we can make efficient use of only naturally occurring hot water or steam deposits. Although the potential is enormous, it is likely that in the near future geothermal energy can make important local contributions only where the resource is close to the user and the economics are favorable, as they are in California, New Zealand, and Iceland. Geothermal energy probably will not make large-scale contributions to the world energy budget until well into the   twenty-first century, if ever. 

  In paragraph 6, the author implies that in California, Hawaii, the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, and the rift valleys of Africa the potential size of the geothermal resource is so large that

O it might be economically worth developing these sites even though geothermal energy is not renewable

O these sites will be the first geothermal energy sites to be developed with new technology

O these sites are likely to make a large-scale contribution to the world energy budget in the twenty-first century

O it does not matter whether they have naturally occurring deposits of hot water or steam

根据题3问题的关键词，定位到原文划线的句子。划线句以however开头，说明上一句和本句共同组成了“虽然/但是”的转折逻辑，那么做题时也需要仔细阅读“虽然”部分的内容，结合“但是”部分共同进行推断。本题“虽然”部分点明该地热能某种程度上而言不能再生（in a sense not renewable），“however”地热能资源很庞大以至于它的未来取决去生产的经济性，言下之意可以开采。所以选A。

 

希望通过对推断题中两种常见类型题的分析，大家对推断题的解题思路能够有清晰地认识。想知道更多题型解题方式，可以在课堂上听老师进一步讲解。祝大家考试成功。