托福听力历史类文章关键要素

 　　托福听力历史类文章关键要素!本期屌丝听力继续接着上期的内容讲，谈论不同文章类型的把握要点。上期我们讲了TPO中最常考的生物类文章的五点关键要素，本期我们要涉及TPO中最Versatile¹的文章类型——历史类。

　　首先为什么历史类是最versatile?因为他跨界最广。基本上大部分的话题后面都能加上历史这个词。比如：Geocentric 这篇文章和天文相关，但是讲得是天文学发展史上人们的一个观点;比如，Art这个话题，音乐、文学、雕塑、绘画、舞蹈、话剧等等都有各自的历史，类似的例子不胜枚举。但是在考试当中不管这个历史类的话题和什么有关，基本上是跑不掉我一下要讲的几个要素。同样地，今天还有会以一篇文章为例子进行讲述。

　　历史类文章关键要素一：主题关键词，总是会出现和发展、起源或者历史相关的词汇(e.g develpoment, change, origin, historical)

　　1

　　【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 acoustic² guitars.】

　　注意到文章开头做了两件事情：一. 提出话题“ Electrical Guitar”; 二. 提出了历史类文章要素, 教授说到电吉他是一个“the result of a continuing development” 而且人们很早之前就开始“ modify acoustic guitar”，自然而然我们就能推测文章是要讲电吉他是如何发展起来的。

　　历史类文章关键要素二：影响，其中包括话题的发展;发展过程中所受到的影响;其所产生的影响;具体的影响是什么，怎么影响的。

　　2.

　　【The first guitars were wooden. This is the Spanish guitar and the strings³ 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.】

　　很明显的，教授接下来就开始讲到吉他的发展过程，第一种吉他，wooden aka spanish guitar;接着steel guitar;lap guitar;然后有了electric guitar。而且重点说到“ 很多的发明者和音乐家对这种乐器的设计做出了贡献，而且每次的修改的目的就是为了改变电吉他的声音，也就是要素中提到的对话题的影响。

　　随后，教授继续细致的按照一定的顺序谈到了人们对于电吉他的修改有哪些方面，

　　3.

　　【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 blues⁴.

　　Anyway,by the 1920s,with the advent⁵ of the public dance movement,people were gathering⁶ 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 venues⁷ and the audience kept getting larger and larger.】

　　这个顺序就是要素三：时间。当然，可能会注意到，此处提到的具体的时间点貌似只有两个1890s 和1920s。但是总的来讲，历史类的文章，时间顺序是一件非常关键的事情，因为在讲到某个事物的发展总是会从前往后说，提醒一点的是，时间本身不重要，只要搞明白谁前谁后即可。(当然如果细心的话你也会发现，在本段中教授除了讲到电吉他的变化，也谈到了电吉他对于音乐的影响，也能对照到要素二)。

　　在时间要素之后出现的就是要素四：话题的特点;以及时有时无的要素五：人物，一般这两点都是融合在一起的。

　　4.

　　【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 solely⁸ on electronics. Paul's solid body eliminated the vibrations,and thus the distortions.】

　　此处教授讲到Les Paul此人对于电吉他的修改，使得电吉他有了一个”solid body” ， 减少了声音失真的状况。

　　尤其要注意，如果一篇文章出现了好几个人和一个事物的好几个特点的时候，一定要警觉起来，区分清楚哪个特点，属于哪个人物，这通常都是要放大招的前兆。

1 versatile   

adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的

参考例句：

• A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
• He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。

2 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

3 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

4 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

5 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

8 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。