事实信息题属于托福阅读中较为常见的题目类型。需要考生根据文中明确出现的事实、细节等信息通过排除干扰答案选择与原文表述相符的正确选项。事实信息题是托福官方指南中介绍的第一种题目类型，因此也是最具有代表性、最能反应托福阅读考查本质的题目。这种题型考察的是考生提取、筛选信息的实际应用能力。那么，什么是事实信息题呢? 首先要了解它的问法。
一、提问方式
1. According to paragraph 3 ,Xhas which of the following consequences for Y?
2. According to paragraph 1,which of the following is true of X of Y?
3. According to paragraph 2,which of the following led to the appearance of X?
4. According to the passage,what is true of ____?
5. Paragraph 2 supports whichof the following ideas about X?
6. According to thepassage,X________?
根据题目问法，我们将事实信息题分为两类。对于前三种问法，属于第一种题目，即题干中包含能有效定位的细节信息，解法如下。
二、解题步骤(题干种包含有效定位的细节信息)
阅读题干，在题干中找key words .
利用key words 回原文中定位key sentence.
回选项中找key sentence 的同意转述句即为答案。
※要注意的是正确答案的大多是文章中的某一句或两句话的同意转述，即定位是关键。
三、例题解析
TPO2-2 Paragraph 3: Even in the areas that retain a soil cover, thereduction of vegetation typically results in the loss of the soil's ability toabsorb substantial quantities of water. The impact of raindrops on the loosesoil tends to transfer fine clay particles into the tiniest soil spaces,sealing them and producing a surface that allows very little water penetration.Water absorption is greatly reduced; consequently runoff is increased,resulting in accelerated erosion rates. The gradual drying of the soil causedby its diminished ability to absorb water results in the further loss ofvegetation, so that a cycle of progressive surface deterioration isestablished.
2. According to paragraph 3, the loss of natural vegetation has which ofthe following consequences for soil?
A.Increased stony content
B.Reduced water absorption
C.Increased numbers of spaces in the soil
D.Reduced water runoff
解析：首先，判断题干种包含有效定位细节信息，因此选取关键词the loss of naturalvegetation 回原文定位。得到关键句为Even in the areas that retain asoil cover, the reduction of vegetation typically results in the loss of thesoils ability to absorb substantial quantities of water. 句中的the reduction of vegetation即为关键词的同意转述。然后，翻译关键句：即使在有土壤覆盖的区域，植被的减少仍导致了土壤吸水能力的降低。再结合题干：植被的减少对土壤由什么样的后果?所以，B选项正确。其中Reducedwater absorption 是 loss of the soils ability to absorbsubstantial quantities of water的同义改写。
这种事实信息题考查我们在文章中定位需要的某个信息的能力。主要考察定位能力，考生能否在长篇段落中快速的找到自己需要的关键信息。以及对句子的基本分析，在选项中找到原文的同意转述。然后我们再来看针对后面三种问法，(当然还有很多其他方式，不止这三种)也就是第二种题目的解法，当题干中缺少能有效定位的细节信息时如何解题。
四、解题步骤(题干中缺少能有效定位的细节信息)
阅读题干，明确题干，属于难定位题目。
阅读原文段落，把握段落结构和内容。
根据原文，对于选项信息进行比对，排除错误选项，筛选出正确答案。
※重点注意段落中心句以及段落内转折、因果、比较等逻辑部分，即作者强调部分是易出题点。
五、例题解析
TPO4-1 Paragraph 4: Reduction in numbers of game should have boded illfor their survival in later times. A worsening of the plight of deer was to beexpected as settlers encroached on the land, logging, burning, and clearing,eventually replacing a wilderness landscape with roads, cities, towns, andfactories. No doubt the numbers of deer declined still further. Recall the fateof the Columbian white-tailed deer, now in a protected status. But for theblack-tailed deer, human pressure has had just the opposite effect. Wildlifezoologist Helmut Buechner(1953), in reviewing the nature of biotic changes inWashington through recorded time, says that since the early 1940s, thestate has had more deer than at any other time in its history, the winterpopulation fluctuating around approximately 320,000 deer (mule and black-taileddeer), which will yield about 65,000 of either sex and any age annually for anindefinite period.
9. Which of the following statements about deer populations is supportedby the information in paragraph 4?
A.Deer populations reached their highest point during the 1940s and thenbegan to decline.
B.The activities of settlers contributed in unexpected ways to thegrowth of some deer populations in later times.
C.The cleaning of wilderness land for construction caused biotic changesfrom which the black-tailed deer population has never recovered.
D.Since the 1940s the winter populations of deer have fluctuated morethan the summer populations have.
解析：首先，阅读题干， 关键词deer population属于文章topic，无法在原文中有效的定位。因此需要阅读原文段落，把握段落结构和内容。重点注意段落中心句以及段落内转折、因果、比较等逻辑部分。本段句子解析如下(符号标注见文尾)：
根据原文，对于选项信息进行比对，排除错误选项，筛选出正确答案为B,The activities ofsettlers contributed in unexpected ways to the growth of some deer populationsin later times. 人类活动对陆群数量的影响是难以预料的，原文先陈述人类活动使陆群数量降低并举例进行支持;后续内容中转折but出现，表示下文与前文内容是形成转折关系的，即对于black-tailed deer人类活动起了反作用。因此B选项为原文概括总结型同意转述。
对于难定位的事实信息题，考生重点注意段落中心句以及段落内转折、因果、比较等逻辑部分。事实上，段落的分析对于否定事实信息题，句子插入题，推断题，修辞目的题，以及文章内容小结题等都是有重要作用的，也是考生平时做题训练中需要着重联系的部分。注：TS= topic sentence; SS= supportsentence; e.g.= example.