如何搞定托福阅读长难句

　　为了帮助大家高效备考托福，熟悉托福阅读长难句，新东方在线托福网为大家带来如何搞定托福阅读长难句一文，希望对大家托福备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线托福网!

　　托福对读句子的考察，体现在ETS有一项专门的题型，也就是句子简化题。句子简化题考察的句子都是一些比较绕，读一遍不太好理解的句子。如果能对这样的句子有好的把握，那后续读句子会简单得多。

　　首先，我们来看下句子简化题的题干：

　　Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

　　所有的句子简化题问法都一样：下面的四个句子，哪个最好的表达了标注句子的核心信息?不正确的选项在重要的方面改变了句意，或者漏掉了核心信息。

　　根据这个题干咱们可以看出，句子简化题的错误选项是非常有意义的，帮助我们去区分重要信息和非重要信息。

　　咱们接下来会把长难句分成六个大类，并举例说明每一类如何去读懂。

　　1. 省略非重点(总结，列举，举例论证)：

　　托福阅读一篇文章有700个词左右，而考场上看文章的时间必须限制在5分钟以内;如果每个词每句话都看到，那时间必然是不够的;这就需要我们积极地去预测然后跳读。而这部分句子给我们最大的启示是，一个三行的句子，真正重要的信息可能一行就说完了。

　　例1. The West had plenty of attractions: the alluvial river bottoms, the fecund soils of the rolling forest lands, the black loams of the prairies were tempting to New England farmers working their rocky, sterile land and to southeastern farmers plagued with soil depletion and erosion.

　　O Because the West had more rivers and forests than the East, its soil was more productive.

　　O The fertile soils of the West drew farmers from regions with barren soils.

　　O Farmers living in western areas of the United States were more affected by soil erosion than farmers living in eastern areas.

　　O The soil in western areas of the United States was richer than soil in eastern areas.

　　原句中，The west had plenty of attractions(西部有许多吸引力) 为句子主干，最重要的信息体现在attractions这个词，后面冒号在具体说明有哪些吸引力。用了一组反义词fecund VS. sterile, 还用了 be tempting to (对什么有吸引力)，以及 and to的并列。

　　所以这句话最后就是：西部的土地对东部有吸引力，因为别的地方(包括New England和southeastern farmers)土地差。

　　看四个选项，只有第二个选项用draw这个词表达了吸引的意思。A选项只说土地好，漏掉了essential information;C选项的比较级more affected… than 不存在;D的richer than说的是土地更好，跟A选项一样，没说土地好带来的影响。

　　例2. The explanation is that the Maya excavated depressions, or modified natural depressions, and then plugged up leaks in the karst by plastering the bottoms of the depressions in order to create reservoirs, which collected rain from large plastered catchment basins and stored it for use in the dry season.

　　○Southern Maya populations obtained the water they needed for the dry season by collecting and storing rainwater in sealed depressions.

　　○The Maya are credited with creating methods for modifying natural rainwater and storing it.

　　○Leaks in the karst caused difficulties in the creation of reservoirs, which were needed to store water for the dry season.

　　○Southern Mayans were more successful at collecting rain than storing it during dry seasons.

　　原句中，最外层是一个表语从句，表语从句内才是重点;从句中有三个并列结构，excavated, modified, plugged(by plastering the bottoms of the depressions 这个方式状语要略过不读)讲的都是造reservoir蓄水池的方式，只需要看一个就好，最关键的是抓住in order to;最后一个定语从句，说明reservoir的用处——collected rain for use in the dry season.

　　所以这句话最后就是：玛雅开凿水库，这样就可以收集雨水在旱季用。

　　看四个选项，第一个说南边玛雅人获得(旱季需要的)水，通过收集雨水到水库;正好符合原句的意思。sealed这个词概括了原句的plugged... ; 再看第二个，be credited with…, ...被归功，(credit to表示归功于)，玛雅闻名于创造了一些方法——改变自然水，原句没有提过改变自然水。 3rd选项，裂缝造成了创造reservoir的困难; 4th选项，比较关系不对。

　　例3. In the wake of the Roman Empire's conquest of Britain in the first century A.D., a large number of troops stayed in the new province, and these troops had a considerable impact on Britain with their camps, fortifications, and participation in the local economy.

　　O Many Roman soldiers remained in Britain after conquering it, and their presence had a strong influence.

　　O The new Roman province of Britain seemed to awaken in the first century A.D. as the local economy improved.

　　O Camps, fortifications, and economic change contributed to the Roman conquest of Britain.

　　O With the conquest of Britain by Roman troops, the Roman Empire gained considerable economic strength.

　　原句中，第一行是一个时间点，可以略过;最重要的信息是 troops stayed and had impact; 最后一行细化到底有怎样的影响。

　　看四个选项，第一个presence替代stayed;influence替代impact;与原文相符;2nd选项，中心放在前面我们略过的时间点上; 3rd选项，contribute to贡献，导致;因果关系搞反了; 4th选项，Roman帝国得到了更多的经济力量，跟原句不符。

　　例4. numerous insects occupy the marsh, feeding on living or dead cordgrass tissue, and redwing blackbirds, sparrows, rodents, rabbits, and deer feed directly on the cordgrass.

　　O Insects feed only on dead cordgrass, while most other marsh inhabitants feed on live cordgrass.

　　O The marsh is a good habitat for insects, but a relatively poor one for birds and animals.

　　O Although cordgrass provides food for birds and animals, it gives insects both food and a place to live.

　　O Cordgrass provides food for numerous insects, birds, and other animals.

　　原句中，前面说insects occupy the mash,靠cordgrass tissue为生;后面并列部分，许多其他动物(redwing blackbirds…)直接吃cordgrass;并列关系。总结一下就是各种生物靠cordgrass提供食物。

　　看四个选项，4th选项，虽然句子主语变了，但句意未变，grass provide food，直接概括了原句意思;1st选项，while表示对比，原句是并列关系而非对比，而且only这个词原句也没这个意思; 2nd的but和3rd的although都不对，没有转折关系。

　　例5. If the water table intersects the land surface, groundwater will flow out onto the surface at springs, either to be collected there or to subsequently flow father along a drainage.

　　A. Groundwater only flows out of the ground if the water table intersects the land surface.

　　B. If the land surface and the water table intersect, groundwater can flow underground.

　　C. Groundwater may be drained if springs occur where the water table intersects the land surface.

　　D. Where the water table meets the land surface, groundwater flows out through surface springs.

　　原句中，If表示条件句，如果water table和land surface相交，groundwater就会flow out，后面都是讲冒出之后的事——要么收集在那里，要么进一步流走。所以最关键是水流出来。

　　看四个选项，D选项用where代替了if表示条件，用meet代替intersect，省略了后面的either...; A选项only多余了;B选项flow underground，文章是flow out onto the surface; C选项maybe be drained只是原句flow out之后的一种situation，不能概括全部。

　　例6. A glance at a map of the Pacific Ocean reveals that there are many islands far out at sea that are actually volcanoes—many no longer active, some overgrown with coral—that originated from activity at points in the interior of the Pacific Plate that forms the Pacific seafloor.

　　A. Volcanic activity is responsible for the formation of the Pacific seafloor in the interior of the Pacific Plate.

　　B. Many volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean are no longer active and have become islands that support coral.

　　C. The map of the Pacific Ocean reveals fewer volcanic islands than there truly are because many are no longer active and some are completely overgrown with coral.

　　D. There are many islands in the Pacific Ocean that originated as volcanoes in the interior of the Pacific Plate.

　　原句中，先忽略破折中间的插入语及句末的定语从句，外层说a glance at a map看一眼地图表明，reveal后面是宾语从句，是这句话最重要的信息：many islands are volcanoes that originated from activity…(太平洋板块内部的一些点) 最后一个定语从句修饰points，因为in the interior of the Pacific Plate是一个地点状语，本来应该放在最后(中文习惯放最前面);最后看破折号内部的插入语，许多不再(no longer)活跃，有些长满珊瑚，用来修饰volcanoes。

　　所以最后这句话就是：许多岛屿是在板块内部的火山。

　　看四个选项，D选项islands originated as volcanoes跟原句相符;

　　A选项说火山活动导致(be responsible for)海底形成，未说到重点的many islands;B选项说许多火山不再活跃成为珊瑚，讲的是破折号里的minor idea; C选项fewer... than…比较关系不存在。

　　例7. A major development was the discovery, again about 3000 B.C.E., that if copper, which had been known in Mesopotamia since about 3500 B.C.E., was mixed with tin, a much harder metal, bronze, would result.

　　○ Although copper had been known since 3500 B.C.E in Mesopotamia, the discovery of bronze did not occur until around 3000 B.C.E.

　　○ Another major development around 3000 B.C.E. was the discovery that copper could be mixed with a much harder metal known as tin.

　　○ The development of bronze by mixing copper and tin probably occurred around 3000 B.C.E. but may have happened as early as 3500 B.C.E.

　　○ Also around 3000 B.C.E., it was discovered that mixing copper, known from about 3500 B.C.E., with tin would create a much harder metal known as bronze.

　　原句中，有一些插入语——分别表示时间点again...，定语从句 which had...，以及bronze;最重要的信息是前面的discovery ——如果copper mix with tin，就会变成bronze。(两个时间点：3000BCE是discovery的时间，3500BCE是copper发现的时间;同位语：much harder metal=bronze. )

　　看四个选项，最后一个 mixing copper with tin would create bronze,符合原句。1st的although及3rd的but原句都没有;2nd说的是copper mixed with tin;与原句不符。

　　以上就是新东方在线托福网为你带来的如何搞定托福阅读长难句，更多精彩敬请关注新东方在线托福网。