新托福阅读考试中有一种比较特殊的题目，即文本插入题（Insert Text Questions），虽然每篇文章只会出现0-1题，但却是很多同学在把握文章主要信息时的重要题型之一。因此在考试前考生要将该类型话题充分理解和熟练掌握。

在这类问题中，题目中给出一个新的句子，然后要求考生们利用文章的逻辑和句子之间的语法联系（比如代词的指代）来确定此句子在文章中最合适的位置。

该种类型题目的解题步骤：

1. 读被插入的句子，找出句首或句尾的关键词或关键意思

2. 阅读可以插入方块前后的信息，寻找与插入句相关的意思

3. 选择与插入句最相关的方块

如果出现了以下四种情况，那么选项很有可能是错误的：

★打乱了相邻句子之间的逻辑性

★影响了转折语的正确使用

★打乱了代词与其指代对象之间的逻辑关系

★隔开了本是相邻的两句话

其实从这里不难看出，其实这种题目并不在于找出哪一选项为答案，更多的是选出不符合文章逻辑结构的选项，将其剔除。

解题技巧：

1. 利用一些过渡词（如某些逻辑关系词或短语等）帮助确定插入句子的位置，或者帮助确定排除不适合的位置。

以下文为例：

Much of the water in a sample ofwater-saturated sediment or rock will drain from it if the sample is put in asuitable dry place.█ But some will remain, clinging to all solid surfaces.█ It is held there by the force ofsurface tension without which water would drain instantly from any wet surface,leaving it totally dry.█ The total volume of water in the saturated sample must therefore bethought of as consisting of water that can, and water that cannot, drain away.█

Look at the four squares [█] that indicate where the followingsentence could be added to the passage.

What, then, determines what proportionof the water stays and what proportion drains away?

首先读被插入的句子，不难发现其中有一个很明显的逻辑词‘then’，即该句应该起到了承上启下的作用，所以不会位于文章最开头。再仔细看该句的句意，从意思上来看，该句后面的信息应该是讲述“决定流干的水和不能流干的水的含量的因素”。这时候就要去阅读文中四个方块前后的信息，第一个方块前面的句子和后面的句子用关系逻辑词“but”连接，形成转折关系，不可插入其他内容；第二个方块后面的句子中出现“it”, 指代方块前面句子中的“some”, 插入其他内容会导致指代混乱，因此不可插入句子；第三个方块前后的信息用逻辑关系词“therefore”衔接，形成因果关系，也不可以插入其他内容，因此将句子放入第四个方块位置比较符合。但是现在千万不要忘记要进一步读下一段中第一句的内容，再仔细检查一遍，符合文意即可。

2. 代词和其他的指代词也是重要的线索

One of the most puzzling aspects of thepaintings is their location. Other rock paintings—for example, those of Bushmen in South Africa—are either located near caveentrances or completely in the open. █Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses andcaverns far removed from original cave entrances. █This means that artists were forcedto work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. █It also implies that whoever madethem did not want them tobe easily found. █Since cave dwellers normally lived close to entrances,there musthave been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cave dwellers hidtheir art.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the followingsentence could be added to the passage.

This made it easy for the artists topaint and display them for the rest of the cave dwellers.

首先读被插入的句子，就会发现黑体句子中出现指示代词“this”, 指代前面所提及的内容，因此该句子插入的位置不会是第一句，不过由于选项中没有第一句，所以转去看逻辑词。读文中四个方块前后的信息，第二个方块后的句子中的指示代词“this”一词恰恰指代第二个方块前面的内容，因此可以排除掉；而第三个方块后面的“it”和“this”指代的内容一样，用“also”一词提示，因此第三个方块也被排除；而第四个方块中的句子出现“since”,在逻辑上也是紧密衔接的，且方块前的内容并不是被插入句子中“this”所指代的内容，因此也被排除。所以只有第一个选项符合条件，可做答案。

3. 某些形容词或者特殊限定词

Pacific islanders were variously thought tohave come from North America,South America, Egypt, Israel, and India, as wellas Southeast Asia. ■ Many older theories implicitly deprecated the navigationalabilities and overall cultural creativity of the Pacific islanders. ■ For example, British anthropologistsG. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry assumed that only Egyptians would have beenskilled enough to navigate and colonize the Pacific. ■ They inferred that the Egyptianseven crossed the Pacific to found the great civilizations of the New World(North and South America). ■ In 1947 Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl drifted on abalsa-lograft westward with the winds and currents across the Pacific from South Americato prove his theory that Pacific islanders were Native Americans(also calledAmerican Indians).

Look at the four squares [■]that indicate where the followingsentence could be added to the passage.

Later theories concentrate on journeysin the other direction.

首先读被插入的句子，信号词为“Later”和“the other”，也就是说所插入句子前方应该有具体指代信息。那么细读文中第一个方块前后的信息，考生们会发现该方块后的句子中有“older theories”, 因此第一个方块不符合条件；读第二个方块后面的内容，该内容恰恰是举例说明方块前面句子内容的，因此也被排除；读第三个方块后面的信息，考生们会发现该信息中的“they”即指方块前面信息中的“Britishanthropologists G. Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry”, 中间不可加入其他信息，因此第三个方块也被排除；而第四个方块后面的信息恰恰体现了被插入句子中的“the other direction”,因此答案为第四个方块。