盤點托福聽力歷史類話題的5大關鍵要素

　　托福聽力中歷史類話題的出現(xiàn)概率很高，可以說是比較熱門的話題之一了。因此掌握其內(nèi)容重點可以有效提升考生的聽力解題正確率。而想要做到這一點考生首先需要了解聽力內(nèi)容中哪些才是關鍵要素。下面小編就為大家盤點介紹。

　　歷史類話題關鍵要素一：主題關鍵詞

　　主題關鍵詞總是會出現(xiàn)和發(fā)展、起源或者歷史相關的詞匯(e.g develpoment, change, origin, historical)，舉例來說：

　　Professor: And what instrument comes to mind when you think of rock ‘n' roll?

　　Student: The electric Guitar?

　　Professor: Exactly. I think it's fair to say that the sound of the electric guitar typifies the rock ‘n’ roll genre,which became popular in the 1950s. But really the instrument we know today was the result of a continuing development that started for our practical purposes in the 1920s. But long before that even,people were experimenting with ways to modify traditional acoustic guitars.

　　注意到文章開頭做了兩件事情：一. 提出話題“ Electrical Guitar”; 二. 提出了歷史類文章要素, 教授說到電吉他是一個“the result of a continuing development” 而且人們很早之前就開始“ modify acoustic guitar”，自然而然我們就能推測文章是要講電吉他是如何發(fā)展起來的。

　　歷史類話題關鍵要素二：影響

　　所謂影響，其中包括話題的發(fā)展;發(fā)展過程中所受到的影響;其所產(chǎn)生的影響;具體的影響是什么，怎么影響的。來看下例：

　　The first guitars were wooden. This is the Spanish guitar and the strings were made from animal products. Then came steel strings. And that led to the lap guitar,which is also called the steel guitar because the player slides a steel rod up and down the neck. And those are all acoustic guitars. OK?

　　But then eventually we have electric guitars. Over the years,many inventors and musicians contributed to the design of these instruments. And each design was intended to alter the sound in some way,at first at least with the electric guitar,to make it louder.

　　很明顯的，教授接下來就開始講到吉他的發(fā)展過程，第一種吉他，wooden aka spanish guitar;接著steel guitar;lap guitar;然后有了electric guitar。而且重點說到“ 很多的發(fā)明者和音樂家對這種樂器的設計做出了貢獻，而且每次的修改的目的就是為了改變電吉他的聲音，也就是要素中提到的對話題的影響。

　　歷史類話題關鍵要素三：時間

　　歷史類話題的第三個關鍵要素是時間。當然，大家可能會注意到，下面例子提到的具體的時間點貌似只有兩個1890s 和1920s。但是總的來講，歷史類的文章，時間順序是一件非常關鍵的事情，因為在講到某個事物的發(fā)展總是會從前往后說，提醒一點的是，時間本身不重要，只要搞明白誰前誰后即可。

　　So let's get back to when the steel guitar was first introduced in the United States. It was right after the Spanish-American war in the late 1890s. US sailors who were stationed in Hawaii—then a US territory—were very enamored with the music they heard there. Uh,Hawaiian music was based on the steel guitar I just described. Some sailors learned how to play the steel guitar and brought it home to the States. Before long,Hawaiian steel guitar music was all the rage in the mainland US. It actually had a strong influence on the development of several musical genres,rock ‘n' roll most notably,but also jazz and blues.

　　Anyway,by the 1920s,with the advent of the public dance movement,people were gathering in large groups to listen to steel guitar music. But they had trouble hearing it,especially in large public settings. As I mentioned,the instrument was played horizontally,on the lap. Since the strings faced upward,the sound was projected toward the ceiling rather than outward toward the audience. Something had to be done,because the music venues and the audience kept getting larger and larger.

　　歷史類話題關鍵要素四：話題特點&要素五：任務

　　在時間要素之后出現(xiàn)的就是要素四：話題的特點以及時有時無的要素五：人物，一般這兩點都是融合在一起的。

　　Electrified guitars already existed by the time Les Paul came into the picture around 1940. What Paul did was experiment with ways of removing the distortions and he succeeded. He designed a guitar with a solid body that relied solely on electronics. Paul's solid body eliminated the vibrations,and thus the distortions.

　　此處教授講到Les Paul此人對于電吉他的修改，使得電吉他有了一個“solid body” ， 減少了聲音失真的狀況。

　　尤其要注意，如果一篇文章出現(xiàn)了好幾個人和一個事物的好幾個特點的時候，一定要警覺起來，區(qū)分清楚哪個特點，屬于哪個人物，這通常都是要出難題的前兆。