8. Negative Factual Questions

まずは、実際のNegative Factual Questionsが、どのような問題形式か取り組んでみましょう：

Passage:
But the impact of the Neolithic revolution, often heralded as a giant step forward for humankind, was not all positive. Sedentary agriculture narrowed the diet of Neolithic peoples: they consumed greater amounts of starch and plant protein and fewer types of food overall. An increasing number of researchers are claiming that human nutrition became worse with the Neolithic revolution. In addition, the disease increased, as humans lived in closer contact with each other and with domesticated animals; sanitation didn’t advance quite as quickly as agricultural methods. It also turns out that agriculture required significantly more labor than hunting and gathering. The combined result of these facts was a life expectancy that was most likely shorter than that of the apparently more primitive hunter-gatherers.
Question:
All of the following are mentioned as negative impacts of the Neolithic revolution EXCEPT that
A. People suffered from more illness as a result of poor sanitation.
B. Farming required harder work than previous modes of food production.
C. There was more competition in society for certain types of resources.
D. People lacked diversity in the foods they ate.

Negative Factual Questionsは、いくつか列挙された事例の中から適切でないものを選択する問題です。稀に、適切なものを選択するケースも出題されます。

パラグラフ内で並列的に情報が列挙された場合に出題されることが多いです。該当する段落のみを読解することだけで、回答を導くことができます。

回答のポイントは、選択肢のパラフレーズを本文から見つけることです。

選択肢は全て本文とは異なる表現に置き換えられているため、選択肢の意図をしっかりと精読し、どの情報が本文と関連あるのかを比較することが大切になります。

パラフレーズという観点から、サンプル問題の選択肢を見てみると、

選択肢	本文
A. People suffered from more illness as a result of poor sanitation.	In addition, the disease increased, as humans lived in closer contact with each other and with domesticated animals; sanitation didn’t advance quite as quickly as agricultural methods.
B. Farming required harder work than previous modes of food production.	It also turns out that agriculture required significantly more labor than hunting and gathering.
C. There was more competition in society for certain types of resources.	該当なし
D. People lacked diversity in the foods they ate.	Sedentary agriculture narrowed the diet of Neolithic peoples: they consumed greater amounts of starch and plant protein and fewer types of food overall.

と、全ての選択肢が本文とは異なる表現になっていることが分かります。

パラフレーズはNegative Factual Questionsに限ったテクニックではありません。他の問題でも非常に役立つテクニックなので、毎回問題を解くたびに「どの部分がパラフレーズされているか？」ということを意識してみると良いでしょう。