说到做听力题，尤其是选择题，同学们是不是都在暗自窃喜“我会我会，划关键词嘛，所听即所得”。这里只想送给大家几个大字：

我们先来看个简单的电话邀约：

Dave ：Would you like to see it with me? I know how much you like Picasso.

Ben ：I’d really like to, but I can’t. Sorry. I have to study for a test.  (Level 1, Unit 9)

        回答中先是肯定了 I’d really like to，紧接着就转折，用了but引出后面的理由。所以but 之后的回答才是我们需要注意的地方，也是说话者真正的意图。

        大家先别忙着对这个例子的难度嗤之以鼻，刚刚的分析相信大部分同学会瞬间反应出来。但在英语对话及独白中，这种“欲扬先抑”的情况还不少见，即前文刚出现你们心心念念的关键词，下一句就否定掉了，答案在紧随其后的句子中。

        比如，我们看接下来的一组对话：(Sample 1)

Bella: Oh, that sounds interesting. What did the scientists find out?

Lee: Well, they expected to find out that people live by a 24-hour cycle. But instead, they found proof that most people actually have a 25-hour cycle. (Level 2, Unit 2)

        这题问到人的生物钟周期到底是多少，其中选择A、B分别是24、25小时。如果同学们的做题习惯还停留在关键词，那这句一开始，听到了 24-hour cycle，下一句又出现 25-hour cycle，答案究竟怎么确定呢。

        别着急，我们来总结一下：

        当前面刚刚给出一个类似结论或者观点的句子，下一句就出现 but, however, instead 等明显表示转折的词时，相当于直接把前面的句子否定掉了；

此时那不管前面那个句子听到了什么，一句话，都忘记吧，认真等待转折之后的内容；正如前面对话中的 But instead, 答案就在这个转折之后；

        我们再来看一个skillful三级听力中的对话：(Sample 2)

Host : Dr Williams, is there any proof that brain foods can make you smarter?

Dr Williams: There is always some debate about whether or not these foods really do make you smarter, but, if you ask me, no food or drink can really raise your IQ. (Level 3, Unit 1)

        主持人问有没有证据显示大脑食物可以使人变聪明，博士一开始没有直接回答yes或no，而是说 “总是有关于这个事情的争论”，而后，话锋一转 “但是，如果你问我”，显然答案就是后面的内容。

        同样的情况也出现在这一单元的第二篇听力文章中：(Sample 3)

In general, helping others is a good strategy for better health. However, we can’t force someone to help us and you never know if you’re going to see someone who needs help.There are things I recommend you do to control emotional nourishment.
For example, you can participate in an activity that relaxes you or that you find meaningful. (Level 3, Unit 1)

        题目问到得到 emotional nourishment 的方法的一个例子。段落开头句有 helping others，且 a good strategy 是题目原词，但答案不仅仅就是helping others 这么简单，敲黑板！ 后面出现的 however，同样代表前面的方式不合适，在however之后解释了不合适的两个原因，紧接着才出现推荐大家做的事情，所以这一题我们要听 recommend后面 for example 的具体例子。

       看到这里之后，随之而来就有两个问题了：

1. 能不能不要等到 but, however 出现，就能看出前面的句子会被否定掉？

2. 有没有可能不出现  but , however, instead 这样明显的词，前面内容依旧被否定掉 ？

       先夸夸同学们非常善于思考和提问，我们一个个来解答:

1. 在前面给到的sample 1中出现了 expected (本期待)，这个词可以推断，那事实不一定如期待的那样。同样，我们还有一些词或词组可以表达类似功能：most people think (大部分人认为），may（也许）, seem（似乎）, assume （假定），misconception （错误观念），misunderstanding  (误解)

具体的例子请看如下：

Most people think urban sprawl is a relatively new concept. Others think it began in the 1950s. However, that’s not actually the case. Although many of our modern cities have been designed to combat urban sprawl, it’s a concept that has been around for many centuries.  (Level 3, Unit 3)

It may seem like a good solution would be to eliminate the disease by killing the snails. However, they decided that a better long-term approach was to try to restore the environmental conditions of the river so that prawns would be able to survive there again.  (Level 4, Unit 6)

One misconception about hoarding is that it is caused by deprivation in the past. You know, the old lady who grew up dirt poor, so now she saves everything. But the research shows this isn’t really true.  (Level 4, Unit 8)

Most of us assume it is annoying because it has a high pitch. However, researchers have concluded that it isn’t the high pitch that bothers us. So, pitch is the fourth factor. The scraping is actually made up of a range of sounds from high to low frequency. In turns out, we are irritated more by the low sounds because our ears are more sensitive to them.  (Level 4, Unit 9)

2. 除了用明显的表述转折的词， 我们常见的还有 except for, in fact, actually.

一起再来看一下两个例子：

This seemed like a valid explanation, except for two factors: one, before the seeds were made into our, they were washed to remove the toxin.

I know we see pictures of rural Asia or Africa and think, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live there? Life must be so much simpler!’ Well, in fact, there are about a billion people in the world now who are living on less than a dollar a day, and three- quarters of them are small farmers in agricultural villages.

        总结一下，在听力做题，尤其是选择题中，不是听到了对应的关键词就一定是正确答案，我们还需要仔细甄别是否会出现这种“欲扬先抑”的情况。这时我们应当尤其注意刚刚听到的句子之后是否跟了 but, however, instead, 甚至 except for , in fact, actually 等表达。当然，如果刚刚对应关键词等句子中出现了 seem, assume, may 等语气不确定的词，或是 misconception 这种否定词，那么很有可能，此句并不是我们要找的答案。