出國考試：新託福聽力歷史話題場景解析

新託福聽力lecture部分的難度在不斷增加，錄音中設計到的話題也是越來越多樣，今天應屆畢業生網為考生解析的是其中較難的歷史話題場景，希望考生在錄音中聽到相關詞彙的時候能聯想到今天為大家介紹的這個場景，以便更好的找到問題的答案。

　　一、概述

歷史類場景往往和其他分支學科產生聯繫，具體可以從以下幾個方面來考察：

國家政權或制度體制 如農業的產生，古埃及的女法老等。

文化方面 如茶文化歷史，戲劇的起源，考古方面等。

著名歷史人物 如愛默生，意大利畫家等。

其他話題 歷史容易和其他學科產生交叉，如考古和藝術。

歷史類的話題有一個很大的特點，就是專業詞彙較多。很多考生有這樣一種感覺，就是好像聽明白了一些，但一考到細節題就不知所措。也就是説，歷史類話題可能出現較多的專業詞彙和細節，考生需謹慎。下面我們就幾個例子來仔細體會一下。

　　二、案例分析

下面是一個歷史話題的.經典案例：

1) E.G. TPO 17 Lecture 3 (Egyptian Calendars)

聽力原文：

Well, their astronomers had discovered that at a certain time of year the brightest star, Sirius, would disappear. actually, it’d be hidden in the glare of the Sun. Even more significantly, the reappearance of Sirius would occur around the same time as the Nile’s flooding. And this annual event is called a heliacal rising. The heliacal rising was a fair indicator of when the Nile would flood. The next new moon, after the heliacal rising of Sirius, which happened in the last month of the calendar year, marked the New Year.

Why was the helical rising if Sirius important to the Egyptians?

Click on 2 answers.

A. It helped determine the beginning of the New Year.

B. It was used to calculate the length of the month.

C. It marked the beginning of harvest time.

D. It indicated when the Nile would flood.

分析：

此處考的是埃及的歷法。在這個節選原文中包含了Sirius(天狼星)，heliacal rising(偕日升)等概念，比較難以理解，需要考生有較快的反應速度。另外，不少學員在遇到這類話題時會懷有牴觸心態，大呼這種難度跟閲讀都差不多了。誠然專業度高理解困難，考生應該認識到一點：ETS的考察宗旨還是不變的——檢驗考生的瞬時理解能力和知識儲備的快速激活。在此，要做對這道雙選題，要留心粗體信號詞;還可以將辨音中聽不懂的陌生詞轉化成抽象符號，搞清楚其作用即可。可以看出，Nile和New Year是關鍵詞，故輕鬆選出AD。

下面再看一個例子：

2) E.G. TPO 18 Lecture 3 (Egyptian Calendars)

聽力原文：

Now for the taste... Now, this is a good point to mention one of the biggest myths about spices. It’s commonly said that medieval Europeans wanted spices to cover up the taste of spoiled meat. But this isn’t really true. Anyone who had to worry about spoiled meat couldn’t afford spices in the first place. If you could afford spices, you could definitely afford fresh meat. We also have evidence that various medieval markets employed a kind of police to make sure that people did not sell spoiled food, and if you were caught doing it, you were subject to various fines, humiliating public punishments. So what actually was true was this: In order to have meat for the winter, people would preserve it in salt, not a spice. Spices actually aren’t very effective as preservatives.

25. What two factors explain why medieval Europeans did not use spices to cover the taste of spoiled meat?

Click on 2 answers.

A. Fresh meat was less expensive than spices were.

B. Spices were mainly used in incense and perfume.

C. The sale of spoiled food was prohibited.

D. Salt was cheaper than most spices were.

分析：

這裏考察的是香料在歷史上的角色。背景知識：香料在中世紀的歐洲是非常名貴的東西，只有貴族皇族才能享用得到。原因諸多，運輸昂貴是其中之一。考生若不熟悉spice這個單詞，可以根據上下文猜測，此處很容易猜出。

在這裏想強調一下myth的含義。大多數考生對這個詞的理解都存在誤區。實際上這個詞只要考到，一般取“誤解”這一含義，而非神話等義。在這裏是説，人們用香料醃製壞掉的食物這種理解是錯誤的，因為人們有錢買香料就有錢買鮮肉，前者的理解本身就有矛盾。同時注意also這個重要並列詞，後面引出第二個原因，所以選AC。

　　三、考點追蹤

從上面這個例子可以看出歷史話題具有以下特點：

細節偏多：可能沒有信號詞引領，聽時要聚精會神。

信號詞：信號詞的形式多種多樣，可能是單獨的詞組，也有可能是融匯在句子當中，要及時做好筆記。

陌生概念：可先記下首字母，上下文一般會有定義解釋或同義詞。也可以注意計算機屏幕的提示詞是否為這個詞。

上面的信息為考生詳細介紹了新託福聽力歷史話題場景，相信考生在錄音中聽到相應的詞彙時能很好的辨別出該場景，以便對於該錄音的出題點有更為周全的考慮，針對歷史類的聽力段子，建議廣大考生在備考時要多關注相關詞彙，聽時注意鎖定細節，紮紮實實地掌握場景詞彙，提高靈敏度。