新托福阅读考试中的陷阱：无方向中隐藏方向。

    新托福阅读考试中绝大部分题目都是对应具体段落的，这会为考生节省很多时间。但是也不排除有少量题目的范围比较大或比较模糊，考生在寻找答案时难免一头雾水，费时费力。其实这些看似没有明确定位方向的题目都是暗藏玄机的。

    Wind power has a significant cost advantage over nuclear power and has become competitive with coal-fired power plants in many places. With new technological advances and mass production, projected cost declines should make wind power one of the world’s cheapest ways to produce electricity. In the long run, electricity from large wind farms in remote areas might be used to make hydrogen gas from water during periods when there is less than peak demand for electricity. The hydrogen gas could then be fed into a storage system and used to generate electricity when additional or backup power is needed.

    Wind power is most economical in areas with steady winds. In areas where the wind dies down, backup electricity from a utility company or from an energy storage system becomes necessary. Backup power could also be provided by linking wind farms with a solar cell, with conventional or pumped-storage hydropower, or with efficient natural-gas-burning turbines. Some drawbacks to wind farms include visual pollution and noise, although these can be overcome by improving their design and locating them in isolated areas.

    Based on the information in paragraph 3 and paragraph 4, what can be inferred about the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas mentioned at the end of paragraph 1?

A. They rely largely on coal-fired power plants.

B. They contain remote areas where the winds rarely die down.

C. Over 1 percent of the electricity in these states is produced by wind farms.

D. Wind farms in these states are being expanded to meet the power needs of the United States.

    这个题目的题干涉及到三个段落，而事实上考生根本不需要去看第一段的内容，因为答案依据的是第三、四段的信息，但是这两个段落如果都看的话内容也不少，从应试的角度来说太费时间。正确的做法应该是从选项中挖掘一下方向。A项里大家一般都会选择有连字符的coal-fired作为关键词去定位，B项没有比较显眼的词就只能选名词短语remote areas，C项选1 percent， D项选the United States。选完关键词我们不难发现除了B项不大好定位以外，其他三个选项的关键词都很醒目。

    经过定位，A项应该去比对第3段的第一句话，意思明显矛盾;B项不好找，可以暂且跳过;C项和D项的关键词在这两段都找不到，这就属于新托福阅读中推理题的错误答案设计方法之一无中生有。所以虽然我们没有去验证B项的说法是否正确，但经过排除也只能选B了。这样的做题方法就会省时省力，且答案也是正确的。在考试中，这种情况往往会影响考生的心情，进而影响水平的发挥，但是只要我们了解了ETS出题的套路就能把它们轻松搞定。