顧名思義，托福聽(tīng)力conversation是對(duì)話類題目，一般對(duì)話發(fā)生在student和staff，或者student和professor之間(偶爾也有teacher和staff之間或兩個(gè)student之間)，主要是圍繞一個(gè)中心問(wèn)題，以及其衍生出來(lái)的其他問(wèn)題，并提供解決方案的背景設(shè)定。一篇托福聽(tīng)力conversation中最關(guān)鍵的信息逃不出三個(gè)大方向：?jiǎn)栴}、答案和態(tài)度。

【“問(wèn)題”】

既然是problem-solving類的聽(tīng)力背景，每一篇conversation會(huì)有一個(gè)核心的問(wèn)題。隨著對(duì)話的推進(jìn)，會(huì)圍繞著這個(gè)核心問(wèn)題衍生出的一些其他問(wèn)題。比如在TPO3的conversation1中，學(xué)生提出的核心問(wèn)題在于cannot find the classroom，但中間會(huì)衍生出類似“why didn’t she receive the letter”這樣的問(wèn)題。

根據(jù)聽(tīng)力背景的不同，問(wèn)題可能會(huì)以不同的形式呈現(xiàn)，除了最常見(jiàn)的直接提問(wèn)之外，其他形式包括：提出一種不確定的可能性，一種擔(dān)憂，一種意見(jiàn)，甚至是一種等待點(diǎn)評(píng)的觀點(diǎn)等，總之，凡是提出后期望對(duì)方有所回應(yīng)的都可以歸結(jié)于“問(wèn)題”。

一般來(lái)說(shuō)conversation的核心問(wèn)題會(huì)在對(duì)話比較偏前的部分提出來(lái)，相當(dāng)一部分是在開(kāi)頭就直截了當(dāng)?shù)靥岢鰜?lái)。但也有部分conversation的核心問(wèn)題出來(lái)得比較晚，比如TPO9的conversation1，前面鋪墊了比較多，但是核心問(wèn)題出來(lái)前會(huì)有一些相對(duì)比較明朗的信號(hào)詞，比如這篇conversation用了“since my appointment today is to discuss…”這樣的表達(dá)來(lái)提示真正的核心問(wèn)題。

有的時(shí)候，在提出問(wèn)題的同時(shí)，說(shuō)者還會(huì)涉及到提出該問(wèn)題的原因，比如TPO48的conversation1中，學(xué)生在提出希望找一份餐館侍者的工作時(shí)，提到了原因“I really need to make more money”，這類信息也會(huì)出現(xiàn)在考點(diǎn)中，因此需要學(xué)生有所記錄。

在聽(tīng)力過(guò)程中，問(wèn)題的提出往往意味著新一輪對(duì)話的開(kāi)始，對(duì)學(xué)生確定整個(gè)文章的邏輯層次有著很重要的指示作用。從出題點(diǎn)來(lái)說(shuō)，核心問(wèn)題往往體現(xiàn)在主旨題上(即每篇聽(tīng)力的第一個(gè)問(wèn)題)。常見(jiàn)的題目表達(dá)通常類似于“why does the student come to…/What is the purpose of…”或“what is the conversation mainly about”，前者往往問(wèn)的是求助者最初的核心目的，后者則對(duì)應(yīng)的是整個(gè)對(duì)話中最著重討論的問(wèn)題。

【“答案” 】

和上文的“問(wèn)題”一樣，“答案”也是個(gè)廣義的概念。與其說(shuō)是答案，不如說(shuō)是對(duì)問(wèn)題的回應(yīng)。答案的呈現(xiàn)方式也可以有許多種，可以是直接的解釋，給出的建議，或是對(duì)對(duì)方的贊同或反駁等。

一般來(lái)說(shuō)答案部分是占篇幅最多的，也是信息量比較大的一塊。在聽(tīng)的過(guò)程中有兩個(gè)信息是最關(guān)鍵的，一個(gè)是直接回答問(wèn)題的答案本身，另一個(gè)就是提供答案的原因。比如說(shuō)TPO19的Conversation2中，食堂工作人員建議學(xué)生visit cafeteria’s website，在提出這個(gè)建議的時(shí)候提到了兩個(gè)原因，一是We list all our food suppliers，二是 you can also find some charts listing fat and calorie content。同樣地，這類展示原因的信息也需要體現(xiàn)在筆記中。

答案部分所占篇幅較長(zhǎng)，相當(dāng)一部分原因是因?yàn)樵谥苯哟鸢傅暮竺妫?jīng)常會(huì)跟有“近義解釋”。比如說(shuō)TPO26的conversation2中，教授提到bioluminescence作用的時(shí)候提到的核心信息是“they use bioluminescence to hide”.而這之后的“The light they produce matches the color of the dim sunlight, so they blend in, and, uh, and predators can’t see them”其實(shí)和“hide”是相近的意思，只不過(guò)進(jìn)一步解釋了hide這件事。此時(shí)只要能聽(tīng)明白前面的核心信息，后面的內(nèi)容可以不用在筆記中著重體現(xiàn)。當(dāng)然這種近義解釋還有另一個(gè)作用，就是當(dāng)學(xué)生沒(méi)能聽(tīng)清楚核心信息時(shí)，可以有第二次機(jī)會(huì)去理解前文的意思。這一點(diǎn)在學(xué)術(shù)背景下的conversation中體現(xiàn)得尤其明顯。

值得注意的是，答案與問(wèn)題有時(shí)并不是一一對(duì)應(yīng)的，也就是說(shuō)，一個(gè)問(wèn)題后，可能會(huì)有多個(gè)答案或建議出現(xiàn)。這個(gè)時(shí)候可能會(huì)存在干擾項(xiàng):比如TPO3conversation1中，針對(duì)“why didn’t the student receive the letter”這個(gè)問(wèn)題，

給出了兩個(gè)可能的解釋“threw it by mistake”和“sent it to the wrong address”，根據(jù)對(duì)話的內(nèi)容判斷出真正的答案其實(shí)是后者。除此之外，學(xué)生還需要能敏銳地判斷答案本身是針對(duì)哪個(gè)問(wèn)題提出的，即清楚地區(qū)分文章的邏輯層次。

還有一個(gè)常見(jiàn)的誤區(qū)就是“問(wèn)題一定是學(xué)生提出的，答案或建議一定是工作人員或者教師方給出的”。這個(gè)并不是絕對(duì)的，比如TPO26的conversation2中，教授就詢問(wèn)了學(xué)生有關(guān)她參加的conference的情況，學(xué)生的回答同樣出現(xiàn)在考點(diǎn)中。

【“態(tài)度”】

第三個(gè)關(guān)鍵信息點(diǎn)就是態(tài)度，以及持有該態(tài)度的原因(如果有的話)，通常是針對(duì)答案所給出的反饋。從最宏觀的角度來(lái)說(shuō)，態(tài)度分為兩大類：positive和negative。

通常態(tài)度意味著一輪對(duì)話的結(jié)束，以及新一輪問(wèn)題的開(kāi)始。因此，態(tài)度可以用來(lái)預(yù)判接下來(lái)對(duì)話的走向。一般來(lái)說(shuō)如果態(tài)度本身偏negative(即前面的答案還沒(méi)有解決相應(yīng)問(wèn)題)，很有可能接下來(lái)的一輪對(duì)話還是會(huì)圍繞相同的問(wèn)題;反之如果態(tài)度是positive的，那么為了conversation能夠繼續(xù)推進(jìn)，往往會(huì)有新的問(wèn)題提出。

對(duì)應(yīng)到考點(diǎn)上來(lái)看，最容易考察態(tài)度的題型就是推斷題。比如TPO19conversation2中，“What does the man mean when he says—That’s OK, seems like you are doing what you can. ”就是一個(gè)典型的態(tài)度推斷題，對(duì)應(yīng)的答案為“He is satisfied with the information he has received”。

總結(jié): 一篇conversation中應(yīng)該包含這三大塊內(nèi)容：

問(wèn)題(+原因)，答案(+原因)，態(tài)度(+原因)。

同時(shí)在記錄過(guò)程中還應(yīng)注意區(qū)分內(nèi)容間的邏輯層次，尤其要明確答案針對(duì)的是哪一個(gè)問(wèn)題，態(tài)度針對(duì)的是哪一個(gè)答案。

如果這三塊關(guān)鍵信息能夠有條不紊地記錄下來(lái)，相信在做題時(shí)會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)絕大部分考點(diǎn)都會(huì)落在這三個(gè)框架之內(nèi)。

【真題示例】

下面將以TPO3的conversation1的文本為例，展示一篇典型的conversation中以上三個(gè)關(guān)鍵信息點(diǎn)的分布情況，以及如何在筆記中體現(xiàn)這些關(guān)鍵信息。其中藍(lán)色標(biāo)記表示問(wèn)題，黃色表示答案，綠色表示態(tài)度。其中部分關(guān)鍵點(diǎn)即可以看做態(tài)度，也可以看做問(wèn)題，比如“What? I’ve never got it”，既回應(yīng)了前文staff提供的答案，也開(kāi)啟了新的問(wèn)題，即“Why didn’t she receive the letter”。

--Student:

Excuse me, I’m supposed to be having my physics class in the science building, but no one’s in the classroom. Could you tell me where the class is? Physics 403 — has it been moved?

--Receptionist:

Well,there’s a room assignment sheet on the bulletin board outside this office.

--Student:

Yeah, I know, but my class isn’t listed there. There must be some kind of mistake or something. Could you look it up, please?

--Receptionist:

Hmmm... ok, let me check on the computer. It’s physics, right? Wait, did you say physics 403?

--Student:

Yeah.

--Receptionist:

Er…I’m sorry, but it says here that it was cancelled. You should have gotten a letter from the registrar’s office about this.

--Student:

What? I’ve never got it.

--Receptionist:

Are you sure? ‘Cause it says on the computer that the letter was sent out to students a week ago.

--Student:

Really? I should have gotten it by now.

I wonder if I threw it away with all the junk mail by mistake.

--Receptionist:

Well, it does happen. Er… let me check something. What’s your name?

--Student:

Woodhouse, Laura Woodhouse.

--Receptionist:

Ok, hmmm…Woodhouse, let me see… ah, it says here we sent it to your apartment on er… Center Street.

--Student:

Oh, that’s my old apartment. I moved out of there a little while ago.

--Receptionist:

Well, and I suppose you haven’t changed your mailing address at the administration office. Well, that would explain it.

--Student:

Yeah, I guess that’s it. But how can they cancel the class after offering it.If I’d known this was going to happen, I would have taken it last semester.

--Receptionist:

I know, it’s really inconvenient for you, I understand that, but er… if we don’t have enough students signed up for the course, the college can’t offer it. You know, it’s a practical issue, like we can’t have an instructor when there’re only a few students in the class. You see what I mean?

--Student:

I guess, but now I don’t know what course I should take instead.

--Receptionist:

Ok, let’s see. Do you have any courses you’re going to take next semester? If you do,you might want to take them now and sign up for physics 403 next semester.

--Student:

Yeah, I guess I could do that. I just hope it won't be cancelled again. Do you know how many people have to be enrolled in order to keep a class from being cancelled?

--Receptionist:

Well, it depends on the class, but for that class, you have to have er… let’s see, usually it’d be at least ten people, but since it was cancelled this semester, they might even do it with less. But do you know what you should do? Give the physics department a call a couple of weeks before the semester starts. They’ll be able to tell you if they’re planning to go through with it. It's their decision, actually.

--Student:

Oh, ok, I will do that. Thanks for the info.

--Receptionist:

No problem. Sorry about the class. Oh, why don’t you go change your mailing address now. It’ll only takes a minute.

--Student:

Oh, oh, sure, I will do that right way.

以下表格給出了一種可供參考的筆記記錄方式，其中紅色文字部分代表該信息出現(xiàn)在考點(diǎn)中。

( )中的內(nèi)容可以不用體現(xiàn)出來(lái)，在做筆記過(guò)程中我們可以和自己規(guī)定一些“默認(rèn)信號(hào)”，比如說(shuō)√表示“explanation accepted/advise taken”或者“correct answer”，這樣可以幫助我們更高效率完成筆記。

綜上所述，針對(duì)托福聽(tīng)力的conversation1，我們可以先判斷出對(duì)話其中一方想要解決的問(wèn)題，再明確對(duì)話另一方的回應(yīng)，之后關(guān)注對(duì)話雙方的態(tài)度，并盡可能清晰地記錄下這些要點(diǎn)信息，方便我們?cè)谧鲱}過(guò)程中對(duì)聽(tīng)力材料進(jìn)行還原。