实例解析托福阅读图表填空题
托福阅读的图表填空题和文章总结题类似，一般出现在最后一题，是对文章中某几类信息的比较或对比，同样考察考生对文章结构、主要观点的把握。下面我们就以一道真题为例，来看看托福阅读的图表填空题该如何应对吧。
实例解析托福阅读图表填空题
例题
Directions: Complete the table below by indicating which features of fishes are associated in the passage with reducing water resistance and which are associated with increasing thrust. This question is worth 3 points.
Features of Fishes
1. The absence of scales from most of the body
2. The ability to take advantage of eddies
3. The ability to feed and reproduce while swimming
4. Eyes that do not protrude
5. Fins that are stiff, narrow, and smooth
6. The habit of swimming with the mouth open
7. A high, narrow tail with swept-back tips
托福阅读图表填空题要求：对比文章中的某两个部分的内容
有的托福阅读文章是全文的对照对比，有的则是重点段落的对照对比。这种题目需要先识别要求对比的内容，并且从原文中搜寻对应的文章段落。本题要求对比REDUCING WATER RESISTANCE和INCREASING THRUST，因此我们先通过读每段的关键句来确定对比内容所在段落。
托福阅读图表填空题解析：
通过检索我们发现以下两个段落对应本题：
第三自然段：Tunas, mackerels, and billfishes have made streamlining into an art form. Their bodies are sleek and compact. The body shapes of tunas, in fact, are nearly ideal from an engineering point of view. Most species lack scales over most of the body, making it smooth and slippery. The eyes lie flush with the body and do not protrude at all. They are also covered with a slick, transparent lid that reduces drag. The fins are stiff, smooth, and narrow, qualities that also help cut drag. When not in use, the fins are tucked into special grooves or depressions so that they lie flush with the body and do not break up its smooth contours. Airplanes retract their landing gear while in flight for the same reason.
本段重点陈述了减少水阻力的几种设计，通过对于本段的精读我们发现阴影处信息可对应选项145.
第八自然段：There are adaptations that increase the amount of forward thrust as well as those that reduce drag. Again, these fishes are the envy of engineers. Their high, narrow tails with swept-back tips are almost perfectly adapted to provide propulsion with the least possible effort. Perhaps most important of all to these and other fast swimmers is their ability to sense and make use of swirls and eddies (circular currents) in the water. They can glide past eddies that would slow them down and then gain extra thrust by "pushing off" the eddies. Scientists and engineers are beginning to study this ability of fishes in the hope of designing more efficient propulsion systems for ships.
本段重点介绍了关于提升推进力的几种设计，通过对本段的精读可对应选项2和7.选项2和7对应原文中如阴影所示的句子，此题要求学生在做题时有快速检索信息的能力。
通过真题分析我们可以看出，图表填空题的解题关键在于明确文章结构类型，理清对比或对照的对象之间大致关系，然后去对应的文章段落中找信息点即可。希望大家在具体备考过程中能够多练习多反思，不断提升自己对文章结构的把握能力和信息分类筛选能力。
托福阅读：玛雅历史背景知识
The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D.250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools. They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
玛雅文明是最富盛名的早期文明之一。玛雅人发展了天文，历法，文字，同时在建筑上包括寺庙、宫殿和瞭望台有很高的造诣，这些建筑均不适用金属。同时他们是经验丰富的种植者，在缺水的地方开辟大型水库储存雨水，同时他们善于编制、制陶，开辟通道与远距离的人们进行贸易往来。
关键词：astronomy, calendrical, hieroglyphic writing, architecture, reservoir, weaver, potter, swamp
Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with rule by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the Classic period, A.D. 200-900. Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centres. It started to decline around A.D. 900 when - for reasons which are still largely a mystery - the southern Maya abandoned their cities. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some peripheral centres continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.
玛雅人采用君主制。各地自治管理。公元900年，玛雅社会开始走向衰退，而衰退的原因一直是一个谜。公元1200年，玛雅北部团结成为托尔铁克。
关键词：hierarchical, peripheral, thrive
Maya history can be characterized as cycles of rise and fall: city-states rose in prominence and fell into decline, only to be replaced by others. It could also be described as one of continuity and change, guided by a religion that remains the foundation of their culture. For those who follow the ancient Maya traditions, the belief in the influence of the cosmos on human lives and the necessity of paying homage to the gods through rituals continues to find expression in a modern hybrid Christian-Maya faith.
玛雅文明对后世有着深刻的影响：宇宙观，对上帝的敬仰。
托福阅读材料：人体脑白金
Melatonin, sometimes called “the hormone of darkness,” plays an important role in regulating our daily sleep patterns. This hormone is produced by our bodies and in most organisms melatonin production is higher during the night than during the day.
褪黑素，又名黑素细胞凝集素的荷尔蒙，在调节我们日常睡眠规律中扮演重要角色。人体自身分泌褪黑激素，而且大多数生物夜晚比白天分泌得更多。
In addition to their body’s own melatonin, many people take melatonin supplements in an attempt to help them sleep, fight jet lag or balance out seasonal affective disorder.
此外，一些人通过体外补充褪黑素改善睡眠，缓解飞机时差感、平衡季节性情绪失调。
Melatonin And Memories
褪黑素对记忆的影响
But a study by a group of scientists at the University of Houston suggests that melatonin might have a negative impact on the ability to form new memories.
但是，休斯顿大学的科学家们研究表明：褪黑素阻碍记忆形成。
The researchers were interested in how the body’s internal clock affects the formation of new memories. They found that small striped minnows called zebra fish learned very well during the day but very poorly at night, when melatonin levels are higher.
研究人员想弄清楚体内生物钟如何影响新生记忆的形成。研究人员发现斑马鱼白天学习能力很好;夜晚却很差，而夜晚褪黑素分泌旺盛。
They wondered if melatonin played a role in learning and memory.
研究人员怀疑褪黑素影响学习和记忆。
Melatonin And Learning
褪黑素对学习的影响
They treated zebra fish with extra melatonin during the day, boosting the hormone levels to night-time amounts.
白天，研究人员喂给斑马鱼褪黑素，促进斑马鱼夜晚褪黑素分泌。
They discovered that high melatonin did not affect learning per se, but dramatically reduced the fishes’ ability to form new memories, or to remember what they’d learned.
研究人员发现大量的褪黑素没有直接影响学习本身，但是却很大程度地使斑马鱼的记忆衰退，斑马鱼不记得学过的东西。
Then the scientists inhibited melatonin activity in the fish. They did this by blocking melatonin receptors with inhibitory drugs. The fishs’ melatonin levels were unchanged, but the ability of melatonin to affect the brain was blocked.
接着，科学家们抑制斑马鱼体内的褪黑素的作用：抑制药物阻碍褪黑素受体。斑马鱼褪黑素分泌量没改变，但是褪黑素不能影响不了大脑。
Blocking Melatonin
阻碍褪黑素
With melatonin activity blocked, the ability of the fish to form new memories was drastically improved, even at night.
褪黑素的作用受阻，斑马鱼新生记忆能力明显改善，夜晚也很好。
This research has potential benefits for humans. For example, the use of melatonin receptor blockers could improve performance of night-time cognitive tasks, helping people such as night-shift workers or students cramming for exams.
该项研究带给人类潜在好处。例如，褪黑素受体的阻碍能影响人夜晚的认知能力，那么对于那些夜班工作者和熬夜备考的学生都有所帮助。
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