不论是上课还是自己在各大论坛贴吧网站找经验，大家应该都会碰到“一定要重点关注转折词所在的句子及信息”类似于这种的表述。想必大家也对诸如“but, yet, however, on the contrary, though, while, although, nevertheless”等等这些带明显意义的转折词已了然于心，题解起来也是相当的得心应手。
例如C6T2R1中的第5题，这是一个List of Headings的题，原文是“It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP team's research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is valuable to place people working in related fields together, 'The new world will largely depend on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.'”同学们都能很清楚的看到第二句开头就有一个咱们很熟悉的However，所以答案很容易就否定了和句话信息一样的vi The impact of telecommunications on population distribution这个选项，而选择了iii The benefits of working together in cities。
但是同学们在做题过程当中想必也碰到过明明没有这些转折词，但是最后题目的意思就是和自己读到的完全不一样，这种困惑的原因就在于有些同学对于英语中的一些本身带有转折意义的语气词不敏感，导致解题的失误。
再来看看同一篇的第3题，原文为“There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out where cars are the only viable transport. The example of European cities refutes that. They are often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.”这一段和前一个例子相似的是答案选的都是和首句意思相反的选项iv Higher incomes need not mean more cars，然而这一段并没有很明显的转折词，部分词汇量不够的同学就开始怀疑人生了。其实在词汇量有限的情况下，咱们可以运用一定的语法知识和对上下文的理解去准确的解题。
咱们来认真的读一下上面两个例子的首句，“It was once assumed that ...”（曾经认为...），“There is a widespread belief that ...”（很多人都相信...），有没有读出一丝丝可疑的感觉？这就是咱们今天要讲的英语里面带有转折意义的语气信号词。其实咱们可以发现上面两个句子都有假设的成分在里面，“assume”这个词的意思为“假设，认为”，“belief”意为“相信，看法”，在一定的固定句式里面可以表达出一种暗含的转折意义。第3题的转折出现在第二句“refute (反驳)”这个词上，如果不认识这个词的同学如果能读出来首句里面暗含的转折涵义，这个题想必也是不会选错的。其实在英语中，不止是这两个词，比如“believe, assumption, think, suppose, presume, take ... for granted, hypothesis ...”这些词在一定的句式里面都可以表示类似的含义。
接下来咱们再来看看C6T4R2里面的第25和26题，这是一个多选题，题目为“Which TWO important implications drawn from the Nicaraguan study are mentioned by the writer of the passage?”在读到原文中“'We've known for a long time that maternal education is important,' says John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 'But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, we'd have to wait a generation for the pay-off. The Nicaraguan study suggests we may be able to bypass that.'”很多同学在读到“But we thought that even if we started educating girls today, we'd have to wait a generation for the pay-off.”这句话的时候，如果不心细，很容易就会选A选项“It is better to educate mature women than young girls.”这句话里面有咱们刚提到过的“thought”一词，句子意思为“我们以为...”，提示我们后面会出现转折的含义，“bypass”有“绕开，无视”的意思，否定了前一句的意思，所以正确答案应该选C选项“The effects of maternal literacy programmes can be seen very quickly.”
所以同学们在平时记单词、刷题的过程当中，除了熟记诸如“however, but”这些很熟悉的带有明显转折意义的词，还要重点去记平时不太熟悉的诸如“refute, contradict, disprove, retort, refute”这些表反驳意思的词，当然也要细心耐心，多关注英语中常见的诸如“believe, belief, assume, assumption, think, suppose, presume, take ... for granted, hypothesis ...”这些在一定句式中会带转折意思的语气词。
给大家再布置一个小作业，认真读一下C6第42页B段中的首句，去发现更多的转折语气词吧！
