Irma

 The Expression Emotions  TOEFL 托福閱讀考古題 解答 (一)  

就以下解答來說，可以很明顯的發現，這次的題目走向幾乎各種問題類型都各來一題(苦笑)，其中像比較特殊的 Rhetorical Purpose question 這種修辭目的題也跑出來，以及像Sentence Simplification question 句子簡化題的，每一種題目其實都有不同的解題技巧，其實不管是哪種題型最重要的前提就是要能抓住每個段落和文章的主旨和目的，之後才會有能根據問題內容找出正確答案的基本能力。

1. ○ 2

This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is despondent. It is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2, “unhappy.” The sentence in which the highlighted word appears uses despondent as a contrast to happy. Since unhappy is the opposite of happy, it provides the fullest possible contrast and is equivalent to the contrast between Joy and sadness at the beginning of the sentence.

2. ○ 3

This is a Rhetorical Purpose question. It is asking you why the author mentions “baring the teeth in a hostile way” in the passage. This phrase is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 3; baring the teeth is an example of a facial expression whose meaning is widely understood. The central theme of paragraph 1 of the passage is facial expressions that are universal. The author provides various examples of such expressions, and baring the teeth is mentioned as a universal sign of anger. The other choices are all mentioned in the passage, but not in conjunction with baring the teeth, so they are all incorrect.

3. ○ 2

This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is concur. It is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2, “agree.” Concur means to agree, so if investigators concur about the meaning of certain facial expressions, they agree on the their meaning.

4. ○ 3

This is a Reference question. The word being tested is them, and it is highlighted in the passage. This is a simple pronoun-referent item. The word them refers to the photographs that Paul Eckman showed to people from diverse cultures, so the correct cultures, so the correct answer is choice 3, “photographs.”

5. ○ 3

This is s Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 2. The correct answer is choice 3, which states that the Fore people of New Zealand Knew very little about Western culture. The paragraph explicitly says that the Fore had almost no contact with Western culture. None of the other three choices is mentioned in connection with the Fore, so none of them is correct.

6. ○ 3

This is a Sentence Simplification question. As with all of these items, a single sentence in the passage is highlighted:

The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses.

The correct answer is choice 3. It contains all of the essential ideas in the highlighted sentence without changing the meaning. This choice says that the Fore “exhibited the same relationship of facial and basic emotions that is seen in Western culture when they acted out stories.” The sentence that precedes the highlighted sentence states that in a survey, the Fore agreed with Westerners on how various emotions are portrayed. Then the highlighted sentence says that in a different situation (story-telling) the Fores’ expressions were also familiar; that is, these expressions were the same as those exhibited by Westerners in this situation. Choice 1 and 2 are incorrect because each one changes the highlighted sentence into a statement that is not true. Choice 4 is incorrect because it says that the Fore were familiar with the facial expressions of characters in stories. The highlighted sentence says that it was the investigators who were familiar with the Fores’ expressions. This is a change in meaning, so it is correct.