例题：

　　What is the conversation mainly about?

　　(A) How to care for precious metals.

　　(B) A standard unit for measuring weight.

　　(C) The value of precious metals.

　　(D) Using the metric¹ system.

　　答案是B。显然这是一道中心思想题。在托福的听力中，中心思想题又叫场景题。因为一旦你能确定对话或者演讲的中心内容，你也就确定了该对话或演讲的场景；反之亦然。首先，Daily news的职员(记者)电话采访Dr Thomas。即使你的听力不是很好，你也能听到首音节重读的单词standard。接着，又出现了许多与尺度有关的词，如weight，measure，scale。所以，我们可以肯定他们在谈关于选项B中的“衡量重量的标准单位”。

　　复述题?

　　例题：How was the weight used?

　　(A) To check the accuracy² of scales.

　　(B) To calculate³ the density⁴ of other metals.

　　(C) To observe changes in the atmosphere.

　　(D) To measure amounts of rainfall.?

　　答案是A。复述题只是对对话中原句用同义词的改写甚至就用原句照搬到选项中。在这一题中，即使你不知道the weight到底是什么东西，你也可以猜测它应该指代the standard weight(标准称)。对话中曾经出现了check the scale，而文章的倒数第二句“Industries depend on our government agency⁵ to monitor the accuracy of scales so that when they buy and sell their products there is one standard.”也说明了the weight的用途。?

　　例题：Why was it necessary to replace the old standard weight?

　　(A) Someone spilled water on it.

　　(B) Someone lost it.

　　(C) It was made of low quality metal.

　　(D) The standard for measuring had changed.?答案是C。

　　对话中出现了poor quality metal这样的词句，而在谈到new standard weight时又用higher quality。显然，old standard weight不是poor quality metal就是not higher quality，两者都可以，因为得出的关于old standard weight的结论都是一样的，即“低质量”。

　　暗示推理题?

　　例题：What does Dr. Thomas probably think about the cost of the new weight?

　　(A) It is a small amount to pay for so much precious metal.

　　(B) It is difficult to judge the value of such an object.

　　(C) It is reasonable for an object with such an important function.

　　(D) It is too high for such a light weight.

　　答案是C。这里，问题问Dr. Thomas可能怎样看待new weight的成本。对话中，Dr. Thomas并没有直接说the cost is good or bad。但我们却可以通过前后两句推出它认为“it is worthwhile”，即一问一答“Is it really worth that much?”“I'm sure it is.”。