之前我们提到过托福听力里一些重要的考点，比如例子、态度、对比等等。今天我们聊一个比较特殊的考点：Conversation中出现的“别人”。

备考托福的童鞋们都知道，每篇Conversation都是一男一女在对话，聊的话题多集中在学术论文、图书馆、课程注册或是校园生活类的场景。虽然场景不同会带来词汇、句子内容上的一些变化，但是基本上来说Conversation是有很明确的“套路”的。大家有没有发现，每当两人对话的时候，聊到另外的一个“别人”或者一些“别人”，经常会在这个地方出一道题。最常见的“别人”无外乎某个老师(Professor/Teacher)、某个导师(Advisor/Chair/Instructor)、同学朋友(classmate/roommate/friend/student)、甚至某个家人(Parents/Brother/Cousin)等等。

我平常上课的时候会一再强调听力文章里“例子”的重要性，但这里说的例子绝不仅限于for example/instance、such as/like之类的，决定一个东西是不是例子不能只依赖所谓的“提示词”，因为没几个例子是真会说到for example这样的话的。大家一定要从内容上出发，扩大对于“例子”概念的理解，你会发现其实某个人、某个地方、某个东西、某种动物、一个故事、一个段子、某个经历都可以当成例子，而对于这样的例子考试经常会出一道题：Why does the professor mention/discuss/introduce XXX?

上过我课的同学一定有印象，我们在课上会专门练习“抓例子”的能力，每次听到例子的时候让大家养成下意识的习惯，在笔记里用 ~ 这个符号标出来，听完文章甚至在做题之前我就会问大家刚才听到了几个例子?有人在笔记里找到两个~符号，有人找到三个，接下来做题的时候你会发现大部分例子都能对应一道题，而没有考出来的我则会给大伙儿加一道例子题。

我们今天聊的Conversation里的“别人”，就是一个非常有特点的考点， 我们也把它归类到咱们的“例子”里，因为是个“人”嘛。下次听Conversation听到了老王老张老刘，可不能再忽略了，一定要用心听清楚当时聊的是什么，最好能用很少的词把这个例子涉及到的话题简单记下来(一定不能写得太多，写字太多的话会影响听本身，最好的笔记永远是字少但是信息抓得准，笔记起到的是辅助记忆的作用，不能因为记笔记而妨碍了听力本身，这样就得不偿失了)。

给大家找几个托福里比较有代表性的“别人”，咱们看看这些题都长什么样：

托福Conversation 2:

Student: The section on dialects, ‘cause…like, that’s the kind of thing that’s always sort of intrigued me, you know? … Well, especially now, ‘cause I’ve got like one roommate who is from the south and another one from New York. And we all talk like totally different, you know?

Why is the student interested in learning more about dialects?

A. she often has trouble understanding what other students are saying

B. she is trying to change the way she speaks

C. she is aware that her own dialect differs from those of her roommates

D. she spent her childhood various places where different dialects are spoken

正确答案：C

托福Conversation 2:

Student: …My chair person told me that if I did independent field research in addition to the assigned work in each course; they would count as intermediate level courses. My classmates, um, some of my classmates, did this for an easy way to meet their intermediate course requirement, but I did it to get the kind of depth in those topics I was going for….

Why does the man mention his classmates?

A. To explain how he obtained information about field research

B. To point out that many students like to do field research

C. To show that it is difficult to get intermediate-level credits

D. To emphasize his motivation to do filed research in two of his courses

正确答案：D (这道题从考点来看的话又是“别人”，又是别的同学跟自己的“对比”)

托福Conversation 2:

L: Actually, you need to return it today. That is if you want to check out those books today. That's our policy.

S: Oh, I didn't know that.

L: Yeah, not a lot of people realize that. In fact, every semester we get a few students who have their borrowing privileges suspended completely because they haven't returned books. They're allowed to use books only in the library. They're not allowed to check anything out because of unreturned books.

What is the woman trying to explain when she mentions students who have lost their borrowing privileges?

A. Why the man should not photocopy part of the book

B. The reasons for one of the library’s policies

C. What will happen if the man does not return the book

D. The reason the man has to fill out a form

正确答案：C

托福Conversation 2:

Student: Okay. Here’s what happened. Um…I think my professor really miscalculated. Anyway the syllabus was way too ambitious in my opinion. There’re only 2 weeks of classes left in the semester and there are like 6 books on the syllabus that we haven’t even touched.

Why is the professor not going to discuss the book by Jane Bowles in the class?

A. There is not enough time left in the semester

B. Not all of the students were able to get a copy of the book

C. The professor miscalculated the difficulty level of the book

D. The book was not on the course syllabus

正确答案：A

托福Conversation 2:

Secretary: I don’t know how they work over there, ‘cause they couldn’t even figure out whose information was missing. And this isn’t the first time. Seems like something like this happens every semester.

What does the woman imply about the people who work in the payroll office?

A. They did not realize that they had a problem.

B. They are rather disorganized.小托福论坛

C. They had tried to contact the man several times.

D. They prefer to process checks manually.

正确答案：B

有点感觉了吧?每次聊到所谓“别人”的信息的时候都是一道题。如果你能在记笔记的时候非常简单的记下这个信息的话(如果内容非常简单的话哪怕不动笔写下来，用耳朵抓住，用脑子记也可以)，肯定能帮助你做题。

当然了， 回到我前几篇文章的老套路，就是教大家去“猜题”。咱们既然已经确定“别人”是一道题了，做题的时候如果发现这个地方没有出题，那咱在精听的时候就给自己加一道。

举些例子，TPO8 Conversation 1里提到了学生的导师(chair), TPO 9 Conversation 2里提到了学生的一个教授(professor), TPO15 Conversation 2里提到的女孩的弟弟和父母，TPO 5 Conversation 1里提到了学生的室友(roommate)...还有无数这样的“别人”都没有考出来题，大家返回去重听的时候一定要重视起来。不过也别担心，只要能把提到这个别人时聊的话题都差不多听懂，这个题哪怕真考出来也难不倒大家的。

托福要靠语言能力，听懂的多自然做对题就多。咱们聊的考试套路都是辅助的工具而已。

作者简介

李凌昊，本科毕业于北京交通大学英语系，硕士毕业于美国佛罗里达大学大众传播专业。在中美两国都有丰富的工作经历，具有超强的语言天赋和优秀的人际交往能力。