托福阅读4大类文章主要结构实例分析提速从了解结构开始
托福阅读文章话题种类很多，其中有许多学术性较强的文章从未接触过此类话题的同学可能会觉得很难看懂理解，其实想要看懂这类文章或是提升阅读速度，考生完全可以从分析文章结构的角度入手。本文将为大家介绍托福阅读的4大类主要文章结构，一起来看。
托福阅读4大类文章主要结构实例分析 提速从了解结构开始
1、Problem/Solution(问题与解决方法)
Problem/Solution解决方法类文章指的是文章一开头就抛出一个问题，而主题内容是在就这个问题进行探讨给出答案。此类文章最明显的特征就是在开头段背景引入部分会引入问题，然后下面给出几种可能的解释。例如TPO17《Europe's Early Sea Trade with Asia》这篇文章，开头段讲东西方人都想要彼此进行贸易，但是苦于陆上交通被阻隔掉了，因此需要海上贸易，可是又存在一系列的问题。接着文章就具体描述存在的问题以及是如何克服掉这些阻碍的。主要问题介绍完了整篇文章也就差不多了，而最后的文章内容小结题总结出来的三个选项也是跟这些主要问题相关的。
2、Classification(分类)
Classification指的是文章对某一个大的话题进行分类讨论，这类文章结构非常清晰，能够让我们一目了然。以TPO17的《Symbiotic Relationships》为例，文章讨论的大的话题是symbiotic relationship(共生关系)，文章在第一段就直接写明有3种symbiotic relationships，然后接下来分段论述这3种共生关系分别有什么样的特点。这样的结构对于我们做文章内容小结题非常有利，因为summary通常就是把所分的几个小类分别用一个选项概括出来。把握住了文章中3种共生关系的主要特点，最后一题也就手到擒来了。
同样属于分类结构的文章还有TPO13的《Types of Social Groups》，TPO16的《Planets of Our Solar Systems》，TPO20的《Fossil Preservation》等等，读文章时要注意记录各个类型的主要特点，这样在面对最后一题时即便时间有限也可以从容不迫。
3、Comparison/Contrast(比较)
Comparison/Contrast指的是文章中含有两种相关的事物，将这两种事物在各个方面进行了一系列的比较，其实整体结构类似于上面所说的分类。比较典型的文章例如TPO12的《Water in the Desert》，文中主要介绍了沙漠中的水，将其中的河流分为两大类：Endogenous Rivers(内流河)和Exogenous Rivers(外流河)，然后分别论述这两大类的主要特征。
在碰到这种类型的文章时，往往最后会出一道表格题，要求考生总结两个比较对象的特征。表格题区别于文章内容小结题的一大特点是，选项中包含的细节比较多。不同于小结题的选项高度概括，表格题本质上其实是基于全文的细节题，需要看的内容比较多，所以在前面看文章时需要记好笔记，将文章主要行文结构弄清楚：这两类事物的本质区别是什么?分别在哪些段落讲述了各自的特征?确定好大的框架，最后做题时进行定位不至于慌乱。
类似的文章还有官方指南的《Applied Arts and Fine Arts》，《Artisan and Industrialization》，《Nineteenth-Century Politics In the United States》，《Early Cinema》以及TPO7的《Ancient Rome and Greece》，TPO30的《The Pace of Evolutionary Change》等等。
4、Cause/Effect(因果)
Cause/Effect又称现象解释型文章，所指的是一篇文章讨论的话题是一个现象，就这个现象的形成原因或是产生的结果花了大量篇幅进行介绍。最为典型的一篇文章就是官方指南中的《Desert Formation》，文章主要就是在介绍沙漠化形成的各种原因，最后文章小结也就是将这些原因当中比较重要的几点总结出来，所以概括时主要关注每个段落的中心句即可。官方指南中的《Green Icebergs》，《The Expression of Emotions》以及TPO16的《Trade and Ancient Middle East》等都属于此类文章。
托福阅读答题如何做到精准
以下的错误，你犯了没有?
1、不读完文章，直接做题。这种方法相当于瞎子摸象，对文章只有局部而主观的认知，整个文章的概念是根本无法获得的。以自己的思想去猜测文章大意，很多时候会偏离主旨。所以，这种不看文章直接做题的方法是极其危险的。
2、一字不漏地细读文章，再做题。如果你的阅读速度超群，或者这篇文章你很熟悉，那这样做未尝不可。但是一般来说，采用细读会导致做题时间严重不足。要知道，阅读理解测试的不止是理解，更是速度。
3、词汇题迷信自己的记忆。在做词汇题时，许多考生认为做不对题与自己的词汇量有关，认识单词能做对，不认识单词就会做错。事实上，那些认识的单词经常做错，不认识的单词反而能做对。原因是，做不认识单词时，考生往往会仔细研读词汇题的上下文，力求在上下文中突破。而做认识单词时，忽略上下文的重要性，往往是装模作样的看一下上下文，便匆匆做出抉择。所以，做好词汇题关键在于透彻分析上下文所要表达的涵义。
从题型来看，TOEFL阅读的特点是题量大，涉及的词汇面广。要想考好阅读，要求考生不光有扎实的英语基础，还需要精准的做题策略。
第一步：花两三分钟时间扫描每篇文章头一两个句子，做一个简短的scanning，定位文章难易程度，以及了解文章大致主题。虽然平均每篇文章做题时间为11分钟，但是有的文章七八分钟便可以轻松对付，有的文章则需要15分钟左右，所以这其中的时间安排就需要考生自主调节。一般来说，5篇文章中有2篇难度大一些，按部就班做题就有可能因时间不够而做错好几道题甚至是来不及做，带来巨大的损失。因此首先定位文章难易程度，同时目测文章的题量分布，这有助于科学分配阅读部分的做题时间，是非常必要的。
教师在线指导，如何备考托福阅读考试
第二步：通过阅读文章结构来进一步进行scanning。所谓结构，即文章的骨架子。 TOEFL文章涉及人文社科和自然科学，大多是结构明确的议论文、说明文，它们最显著的特点是呈板块结构。 TOEFL文章均由数个自然段组成，正确的阅读文章的方法应该是把文章首句先吃透，文章首句经常为文章主题，然后把首段的其他句子尽快略读，文章其他段落采取同样的方法阅读。各段落其他句子一般来说都是用来说明各个段落的主题句，同时也应该看一下第二句，如果有转折词，则此时第二句才是这一段的主旨。没有必要每个句子都理解，很多时候这样做无疑是白白浪费时间。以最快捷的方式了解文章大意，从而正确引导下一步做具体的题，而不至于出现大方向的理解错误。而自始至终考生应该遵循这条原则：看完文章，才能开始做题。
做题时，考生们应该明白以下道理：
1、有据可循。每篇文章题目都根据文章布局一步一步向前推进，即使有个别题打乱文章布局，在题干里总是有提供信息的关键词将考生带入文章的具体部位。
2、回归原文。做题时，根据题干或选项的关键词回归文章寻找重现关键词或其释义的语言区域，同时排除相应的选项。
3、整句分析。遇到难句子时，应该对其进行句子结构分析，排除修饰成分，寻找主干部分，从而迅速把握整个句子的意思，不要盯着单个的词不放，不然就会因小失大。
4、基于事实。每个问题的四个选项或者是对文章中相关部分的正确释度、或者是歪曲原文、或者与原文毫不相干。换句话说，命题专家在设置试题时会玩一些文字游戏，用各种表达形式让考生晕头转向、雾里看花。考生应该明白自己的职责是辨别真伪，找到符合文章意思和题意的选项。
托福阅读真题1
The first birds appeared during late Jurassic times. These birds are known from four very good skeletons, two incomplete skeletons, and an isolated feather, all from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria, Germany. This fine-grained rock, which is extensively quarried for lithographic stone, was evidently deposited in a shallow coral lagoon of a tropical sea, and flying vertebrates occasionally fell into the water and were buried by the fine limy mud, to be preserved with remarkable detail. In this way, the late Jurassic bird skeletons, which have been named Archaeopteryx, were fossilized. And not only were the bones preserved in these skeletons, but also were imprints of the feathers. If the indications of feathers had not been preserved in association with Archaeopteryx, it is likely that these fossils would have been classified among the dinosaurs, for they show numerous theropod characteristics. Archaeopteryx were animals about the size of a crow, with an archeosaurian type of skull, a long neck, a compact body balanced on a pair of strong hind limbs, and a long tail. The forelimbs were enlarged and obviously functioned as wings.
Modern birds, who are the descendants of these early birds, are highly organized animals, with a constant body temperature and a very high rate of metabolism. In addition, they are remarkable for having evolved extraordinarily complex behavior patterns such as those of nesting and song, and the habit among many species of making long migrations from one continent to another and back each year.
Most birds also have very strong legs, which allow them to run or walk on the ground as well as to fly in the air. Indeed, some of the waterbirds, such as ducks and geese, have the distinction of being able to move around proficiently in the water, on land, and in the air, a range in natural locomotor ability that has never been attained by any other vertebrate.
1. According to the author, all of the following evidence relating to the first birds was found EXCEPT
(A) nesting materials
(B) four skeletons in good condition
(C) two fragmented skeletons
(D) a single feather
2. The word preserved in line 8 is closest in meaning to
(A) confused with others
(B) gradually weakened
(C) protected from destruction
(D) lost permanently
3. It can be inferred from the passage that the Archaeopteryx were classified as birds on the basis
of
(A) imprints of bones
(B) imprints of feathers
(C) the neck structure
(D) skeletons
4. The word they in line 10 refers to
(A) indications
(B) fossils
(C) dinosaurs
(D) characteristics
5. Why does the author mention a crow in line 11?
(A) to indicate the size of Archaeopteryx
(B) To specify the age of the Archaeopteryx fossils
(C) To explain the evolutionary history of Archaeopteryx
(D) To demonstrate the superiority of the theropod to Archaeopteryx
6. It can be inferred from the passage that theropods were
(A) dinosaurs
(B) birds
(C) Archaeopteryx
(D) crows
7. The word constant in line 16 is closest in meaning to
(A) comfortable
(B) combined
(C) consistent
(D) complementary
8. The author mentions all of the following as examples of complex behavior patterns evolved by
birds EXCEPT
(A) migrating
(B) nesting
(C) singing
(D) running
9. The word attained in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) required
(B) achieved
(C) observed
(D) merited
PASSAGE 59 ACBBA ACDB
托福阅读真题2
By far the most important United States export product in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was cotton, favored by the European textile industry over flax or wool because it was easy to process and soft to tile touch. Mechanization of spinning and weaving allowed significant centralization and expansion in the textile industry during this period, and at the same time the demand for cotton increased dramatically. American producers were able to meet this demand largely because of tile invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. Cotton could be grown throughout the South, but separating the fiber — or lint — from the seed was a laborious process. Sea island cotton was relatively easy to process by hand, because its fibers were long and seeds were concentrated at the base of the flower, but it demanded a long growing season, available only along the nation's eastern seacoast. Short-staple cotton required a much shorter growing season, but the shortness of the fibers and their mixture with seeds meant that a worker could hand-process only about one pound per day. Whitney's gin was a hand-powered machine with revolving drums and metal teeth to pull cotton fibers away from seeds. Using the gin, a worker could produce up to 50 pounds of lint a day. The later development of larger gins, powered by horses, water, or steam, multiplied productivity further.
The interaction of improved processing and high demand led to the rapid spread of the cultivation of cotton and to a surge in production. It became the main American export, dwarfing all others. In 1802, cotton composed 14 percent of total American exports by value. Cotton had a 36 percent share by 1810 and over a 50 percent share in 1830. In 1860, 61 percent of the value of American exports was represented by cotton.
In contrast, wheat and wheat flour composed only 6 percent of the value of American exports in that year. Clearly, cotton was king in the trade of the young republic. The growing market for cotton and other American agricultural products led to an unprecedented expansion of agricultural settlement, mostly in the eastern half of the United States — west of the Appalachian Mountains and east of the Mississippi River.
1. The main point of the passage is that the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a time
when
(A) the European textile industry increased its demand for American export products
(B) mechanization of spinning and weaving dramatically changed the textile industry
(C) cotton became a profitable crop but was still time-consuming to process
(D) cotton became the most important American export product
2. The word favored in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) preferred
(B) recommended
(C) imported
(D) included
3. All of the following are mentioned in the passage as reasons for the increased demand for
cotton EXCEPT
(A) cotton's softness
(B) cotton's ease of processing
(C) a shortage of flax and wool
(D) the growth that occurred in the textile industry.
4. The word laborious in line 8 is closest in meaning to
(A) unfamiliar
(B) primitive
(C) skilled
(D) difficult
5. According to the passage , one advantage of Sea island cotton was its
(A) abundance of seeds
(B) long fibers
(C) long growing season
(D) adaptability to different climates
6. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about cotton production in the United
States after the introduction of Whitney's cotton gin?
(A) More cotton came from Sea island cotton plants than before.
(B) More cotton came from short-staple cotton plants than before.
(C) Most cotton produced was sold domestically.
(D) Most cotton produced was exported to England.
7. The word surge in line 19 is closest in meaning to
(A) sharp increase
(B) sudden stop
(C) important change
(D) excess amount
8. The author mentions wheat and wheat flour in line 23 in order to
(A) show that Americans exported more agricultural products than they imported.
(B) show the increase in the amount of wheat products exported.
(C) demonstrate the importance of cotton among American export products.
(D) demonstrate that wheat farming was becoming more profitable.
9. The word unprecedented in line 26 is closest in meaning to
(A) slow
(B) profitable
(C) not seen before
(D) never explained
10. According to the passage , the Mississippi River was
(A) one of the boundaries of a region where new agricultural settlement took place
(B) a major source of water for agricultural crops
(C) the primary route by which agricultural crops were transported
(D) a main source of power for most agricultural machinery
PASSAGE 60 DACDB BACCA
托福阅读4大类文章主要结构实例分析 提速从了解结构开始
