托福口语真题：教授与新事物（过程解释相关）

Reading：【课文要点】

本文主要讲解了过程解释（Process explanation），其核心是向他人说明某件事的相关过程，具体分为以下两类：

1) 指导性解释（directive explanation）：通过分步指令，教人们如何一步步完成某项任务，听完后人们能够独立操作。

2) 信息性解释（informational explanation）：仅向人们传达关于某个过程的大致信息和原理，不包含具体操作步骤，听完后人们无法独立完成相关任务。

Listening：【教授举例】

教授通过自身经历，举了两个例子来具体说明上述两种过程解释，贴合生活场景、易懂好记：

1) 最近教授买了一部新手机，但不知道如何在手机里输入电话号码。于是他的朋友便一步步地教他，从如何找到输入界面、如何输入姓名，到如何添加电话号码，每一个步骤都讲解得很详细，帮助他顺利学会了操作。

2) 前一天晚上，教授在电视上看了一部教育纪录片，片子主要讲解了手机信号的传输原理——信号如何从一部手机发出，通过卫星传递，最终到达另一部手机，但全程没有介绍任何关于手机的操作方法。所以看完这部片子后，教授虽然了解了信号传输的相关知识，却依然不会使用这部新手机。

Sample answer（范例回答）

The reading passage explains the concept of process explanation, which refers to telling others about the process of something. There are two types of process explanation: directive explanation and informational explanation.

In the lecture, the professor uses two examples from his own experience to further illustrate these two types. The first example is that he bought a new cell phone recently, but he didn't know how to input phone numbers into it. Then his friend taught him step by step, including how to find the input interface, enter names and add phone numbers. This is a typical directive explanation, which provides detailed steps so that people can finish the task by themselves after listening.

The second example is that he watched an educational program on TV the night before. The program talked about how cell phone signals are transmitted from one phone to another via satellites, but it didn't mention any specific operation methods of the cell phone. This is an informational explanation, which only conveys theoretical knowledge without practical steps. Therefore, even after watching the program, the professor still couldn't use his new cell phone, because he only knew the principle but didn't know how to put it into practice.