同学们不仅要知道句子的表层意义，还要理解说话者的真正意图、懂得话语的隐含含义。也就是说，同学们需要揣测出隐含含义，但是要有个“度”，这便是同学们应该掌握到的托福听力技巧，尤其是在处理托福听力细节题时，慎用推断，这是细节题的难点之一，也是很多同学容易出错的地方。我们来看托福听力材料吧，TPO-18中第三篇Lecture: The Role of Spices。
其中一道题是，What two factors explain why medieval Europeans did not use spices to cover the taste of spoiled meat? Click on 2 answers
A. Fresh meat was less expensive than spices were
B. Spices were mainly used in incense and perfume
C. The sale of spoiled food was prohibited
D. Salt was cheaper than most spices were
这是一道细节题。原文如下：It’s commonly said that medieval Europeans wanted spices to cover up the taste of spoiled meat. But this isn’t really true. Anyone who had to worry about spoiled meat couldn’t afford spices in the first place. If you could afford spices, you could definitely afford fresh meat. We also have evidence that various medieval markets employed a kind of police to make sure that people did not sell spoiled food, and if you were caught doing it, you were subject to various fines, humiliating public punishments. So what actually was true was this: In order to have meat for the winter, people would preserve it in salt, not a spice.
托福听力原文中提到Anyone who had to worry about spoiled meat couldn’t afford spices in the first place. If you could afford spices, you could definitely afford fresh meat，根据听到句子的表层含义可知，那些买得起香料的人自然能够买得起鲜肉，更不会用香料来掩盖坏肉的味道了!所以A项正确。同样地，根据原文中various medieval markets employed a kind of police to make sure that people did not sell spoiled food,可知，人们被禁止销售坏肉，所以C项正确。
但是，不少同学错选了D项。为什么呢?因为原文中是听到了In order to have meat for the winter, people would preserve it in salt, not a spice. 其中就谈到了salt保存肉类，于是一些同学推测：既然香料昂贵，而人们用salt来保存肉类，那不就是说salt比spice要便宜呀，并且这也是常识啊!
D项这类错误是比较典型的。注意：题目不是推断题，所以不能妄加揣测，即使D项看起来多么“完美”、多么“无懈可击”，原文没有提到salt比spice便宜，如果咱们硬是要推出来，或者把它作为常识选出来，那就错了!
这种类型的题需要同学们掌握一些托福听力技巧才能更高效地解决，许多托福听力材料中都在这方面出了考点，为了就是考察考生们对文章理解的深浅。要想做好这种题一定要仔细的揣测意思，掌握好托福听力中所谓的“度”。只有这样才能更准确的解答出题目。