上海新东方专家揭秘新托福听力—上
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ETS主办的托福考试平均每十年酝酿一次大型变革。继1995年8月的托福变脸之后，2005年9月新托福考试又将在全球范围内实施，它模拟北美校园的真实语言环境，将听、说、读、写四部分有机结合在一起，全面考查考生的语言水平和沟通技能。可见，新托福考试已经不仅仅是一项简单的入学测试了。新托福在考试形式上有明显变革，主要体现在以下四个方面： 1、答题方式大不同新托福告别纸笔形式，采用计算机化考试。保证每个考生拥有个人化应试环境，每人一个小隔间，一台电脑和一副耳机，不受外在因素干扰，而且考生可以在听力中做笔记，帮助记忆细节。 2、答题界面大不同新托福改变旧托福一味强迫考生纯粹用耳朵接受信息，用眼睛扫描选项的抽象界面，代之以大量相关图片配合声音资料，活化题目场景，加强考生的理解程度。例如下面这幅图片明显表明是一位教授与一个女生在办公室里的一段对话：  3、答题程序大不同新托福由于采取机考形式，听完整篇文章之前是无法预读和扫描任何问题或选项的，只能按部就班通过先听、后读、再选的程序答题。 4、考察题型大不同新托福除单选题以外加入多选题，还有图表题、是非题、排序题等其它诸多新题型，以加大对主观题的考察。 5、听力内容“五大变化” 从内容上看，旧托福的听力由三部分构成。Section A包括30个短对话， Section B和Section C分别由两个长对话和三个课堂教学段落构成，每段长度不会超过3分钟。三部分加起来共50个题目，每题1—2分，共68分。题目之间间隔12秒，整个听力部分用时30到35分钟。新托福则大不同。主要体现在以下五个方面： 1）、考察内容有侧重。新托福的考察内容相比旧托福更侧重学术语言环境。语言素材主要集中在国际学生通常在北美留学时选择的商务、教育、人文、工程、自然科学和社会研究等六大学科上，但不要求考生有特殊的个人专业背景。其题型设计就是要使一般学生能够听、说，能够理解各种学术话题。话题的难度和大学生在校园生活中所遇到的各种语言环境相当。 2）、组织结构大不同。新托福的听力部分取消了对短对话的考察，代之以两篇长对话和四篇课堂长段落，因此在很大程度上淡化了做题技巧，更加注重对听力实力的考察。比如下面这段长对话就不能用简单的场景和题型技巧加以应对。 Eg：Listen to part of a conversation between a student and a professor. Student ：Hi, Professor Johnson. Professor：Hi, Anna. What can I do for you? Student ：Remember, I e-mailed you about getting the handouts from the class I missed the other day, and you said I could stop by and pick them up today. Professor：Oh, that’s right. You know, that’s the fourth class you’ve missed this semester, and that’s not doing your grade any good. I assume you had a good reason for being out... Student ：I know, I really hated to miss another class, but I had the flu, and I could hardly get out of bed. That’ll be the last class I miss, though. I promise. Professor：[accepting her promise] Okay... [sincerely] So how are you feeling now—are you all recovered? Student：Well, I’m still not quite a hundred per cent, but I’m feeling much better than I did a few days ago. Professor：Well, that’s good. Okay, uh… [regaining train of thought] oh yes, the handouts. There were three of them, and I’ll get those for you in just a minute. They’re pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, just send me an e-mail. But... Student ：[interrupting] Okay, thank you. Professor：Sure. Uh, but we also watched a video, and we’ll be having an essay question about it on the next exam, so, [searching for a solution] uh… [thinking] Hmmm…Do you have a VCR at home? Student：Actually, I don’t, but I do have access to one. Professor ：Okay…Well I can lend it you, but the only thing is, you’d have to watch it tonight and get it back to me early tomorrow, because I’m going to be showing it in the other section of that class tomorrow afternoon. Student：That’d be great. Professor：But you realLy have to get it back to me tomorrow before my class. Student：No problem. I can drop it off first thing in the morning if you’d like. Professor：Okay... [changing his mind] You know what? How about if we do it this way. I’ll keep it for now and show it in my class tomorrow, and uh then you can drop by here and pick it up on Friday morning and keep it for the whole weekend, and just bring it with you when you come to class next week. How does that sound? Uh then you’ll have a couple of days to watch it, and you won’t have to worry about getting it back here tomorrow. Student：[checking her schedule in her mind] Let’s see, Friday morning... [turning happy when she realizes she can do it] Yeah, that’ll work. Professor：Excellent. I’ll be here from about ten to eleven thirty. Student：[leaving]Great. I’ll see you then. Professor：Uh, just a second. Let me get you those handouts. Student：Oh, yeah. Thank you. 3）、篇幅长度大不同。新托福的长对话和课堂演讲的时间都不同程度的增长，平均在4-6分钟左右，细节较多，容易遗忘，而且语速为normal speed，达到本土话，每分钟140-220个字节。很明显，这意味着新托福对考生在耐力、理解力和反应速度方面提出了更为严苛的要求。 4）、题目数量大不同。新托福的长对话和课堂演讲平均每篇设计5到6个题目，加起来共34道题，每道试题1－2分，共34－36分。新托福的题目数量是旧托福的一半，考试时间却达到50分钟左右，为旧托福的两倍，明显说明题目的含金量进一步加大。 5）、角色数量大不同。新托福的段落中有一位教授与多个学生对话的情形，这要比旧托福一对一的对话形式更易引起角色混淆和误听。 由此可见，新托福的听力给考生带来了巨大的挑战。不仅仅是听力，综合新托福的听力、阅读、写作和口语四大部分来看，除阅读之外，写作和口语部分对考生听力水平的要求也是史无前例的，在这两部分的考察中，考生不仅需要听懂指定的整段对话或课堂演讲，而且需要在此基础上理解、归纳整段对话或课堂演讲的中心思想和论证思路，并与所阅读的文章的中心思想和论证思路融会贯通后再回答问题。可想而知，如果我们开始就听不懂，那么无论是写作题还是口试题都将无从下手。所以我们的当务之急就是在整体上把握和熟悉新托福的基础之上，切实提高自身的听力水平，而不是一味追求所谓的“考试技巧”。 |
