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很多同学最近一直和我抱怨，托福阅读中的推理题好难啊，很多题目的正确选项在文中都找不到，说好的忠于原文，说好的不用多想，不用为作者分忧解难呢?这时候我会偷笑，因为你们在托福阅读考试流程里碰到的是细节题的升级版本—─推理题!我们平时在阅读教学中一直和同学强调，阅读要忠于原文，不要大开脑洞，所有答案均出现在原文中。唯独有一种题目即推理题，需要学生不仅在文中找到相关依据，还要根据这个依据走一步推理的过程，才能得出答案。

今天就想和大家分享一下阅读推理题中涉及到的一种逻辑推理关系 — 类比关系，此类逻辑关系一般出现在对比类的文段中。即文章中出现A,B两个比较对象， A与B有相同特征，于是我们可以根据A的特证来推断B也有相同的特征。举个例子：像小明一样，小红爱吃西瓜，于是乎我们可以从这句话里推断出不仅小红爱吃西瓜，小明也爱吃。接下去，我们就来看看这种逻辑关系在推理题中的应用。

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?托福考场

A . They are considered by some to be reptiles.

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

C .They are distantly related to leatherback turtles.

D .They can swim farther than leatherback turtles.

这道题目，题干问我们根据第二段的内容我们可以对鲸鱼作出何种推断，于是乎我们根据解题技巧快速回到文中搜索定位词whales, 找到以下这句话 ”the leatherback turtle is, in some ways, more like a reptilian whale than a turtle.” 这句话告诉我们leatherback turtle更像爬行的whales, 虽然此句没有直接提到whales的特征，但我们可以根据刚刚提到的类比关系做一步逻辑推断啊。既然leatherback turtle很像whales, 那么leatherback turtle的特征也应该就是whales的特征，因此我们只要找到leatherback turtle的描述信息即可发现whales的特征。原文最后一句话提到， leatherback turtle会游到寒冷的南北海洋并且有特殊的处理冰水的能力。于是乎我们可以得出whales也有相同特征。答案对应B选项。

再来看一道稍难的题目吧

Buck rubs also have a scent. These odors make buck rubs an important means of olfactory communication. Forehead rubbing by male deer on buck rubs presumably sends a great deal of information to other members of the same species. The presence of many well-marked rubs is indicative of older, higher-status males being in the general vicinity rather than simply being a crude measure of relative deer abundance in a given area. The information conveyed by the olfactory signals on a buck rub make it the social equivalent of some auditory signals in other deer species, such as trumpeting by bull elk.

What can be inferred from paragraph 4 about the trumpeting of bull elk?

A.Trumpeting by higher-status bull elk signals their presence to other members of their species.

B.Bull elk need to combine trumpeting with olfactory signals to covey information about their identity.

C.Trumpeting alerts white-tailed deer to the presence of bull elk in their vicinity.

D.Trumpeting provides a better measure of deer presence in a given area than buck rubs do.

此题问我们，根据第四段我们可以对trumpeting of bull elk做出怎样的推断。根据关键词trumpeting of bull elk我们快速找到原文最后一个单词。既然是出现在文章的最后位置，那我们只好去往前推了。而前句又提到了一个我们非常熟悉的逻辑关系—─类比关系。来看这句话 The information conveyed by the olfactory signals on a buck rub make it the social equivalent of some auditory signals in other deer species, such as trumpeting by bull elk.这句话告诉我们buck rub发出的olfactory signal和trumpeting of bull elk发出的auditory signal有相同的社会作用。根据前文我们知道buck rub可以反映年长雄鹿在鹿群里的社会地位。于是乎我们便可以做进一步推理，即trumpeting of bull elk也应该有相似地功能。

我想，只要我们的同学能够熟练掌握这种逻辑推理方法，将来一定可以避免在做这类推理题时常常出现的无从下手的困境。

作者简介：

高深, 英语专业学士学位，高分通过专业八级，曾担任南加州理工大学诺奖获得者访华期间全程陪同口译;四年以上教学经验。培养出多名托福阅读满分学员。