作者：北美中心 托福阅读 魏杨
托福对于阅读能力的考察主要集中在“单词”“句子”“段落”“篇章”四个方面：“单词”和“句子”都是较为基础的部分，所涵盖的词汇题/指代题/句子简化题/事实信息题/否定事实信息题/推断题占了整个阅读考试的一大部分；相比而言，考察段内逻辑的修辞目的题和插入句子题对大家阅读能力则有进一步的要求；而主旨题则是需要大家对整篇文章有一定的结构上的认识才能够更有效的拿分而不是拼“运气”。
主旨题本身对考生的阅读能力要求是很高的，但是也不是毫无办法，从direction中不难看到，主旨题要求大家选取most important ideas，排除ideas that are not presented和minor ideas，所以结合正选和排除，大家其实可以得到一个基本的判断原则。
虽然自2019年8月托福改革以来，阅读方面一直没有太大的变化，在话题和考察方式上基本和改革前一致，但是题量的减少意味着段落中的出题点变少，某些段落可能并没有出题，但是可能会在主旨题中出现相关信息，导致考生无法很快做出判断，在时间有限的情况下可能只能对该选项“作罢”，上述方法可以让大家更好的拿到1分，但对于阅读想冲击高分的同学，仅仅知道基本操作显然不够。
《新托福官方指南》中对托福阅读的文章的体裁进行了详解
exposition为说明文
argumentation为议论文
historical为历史相关，可以理解为记叙文
这样的三种行文体裁其实可以帮助大家更好的理解文章结构并且提高主旨题的做题速度和准确率。
一、说明文：
托福阅读本身就像一本百科全书，上知天文地理，下知大象蚂蚁，补充背景知识其实靠阅读本身的内容就可以。
说明文体裁通常为总分的结构，在描述完话题之后一般会围绕话题进行正向逻辑的展开：
比如：
TPO1-3 Timberline Vegetation on Mountains
TPO31-1 Savanna Formation
熟悉文章的展开方式后其实很容易想到的就是主旨题该怎么做了，快速的把握段落的大意通常靠“首二末”，也就是每个段落的前两句和最后一句，一般会出现段落的主旨句，让我们来看一篇实例：TPO29-1 Characteristics of Roman Pottery
第 一段：
The pottery of ancient Romans is remarkable in several ways. The high quality of Roman pottery is very easy to appreciate when handling actual pieces of tableware or indeed kitchenware and amphorae (the large jars used throughout the Mediterranean for the transport and storage of liquids, such as wine and oil)…… But what strikes the eye and the touch most immediately and most powerfully with Roman pottery is its consistent high quality.
能够看到第 一句便是文章的主旨句，而第二句和最后一句均强调了罗马陶器的一个特点就是high quality；
第二段：
This is not just an aesthetic consideration but also a practical one……
第 一句便出现了practical这样的特点，后文其实可以略看
第三段：
As impressive as the quality of Roman pottery is its sheer massive quantity……
第 一句又出现了sheer massive quantity这样的特点，后文对其展开
第四段：
Roman pottery was transported not only in large quantities but also over substantial distances……
第 一句又能找到transport over substantial distances这样的特点，所以不用再去后面找主旨了。
那么这一篇文章，通过对关键句的了解，我们可以知道是一篇总分结构的说明文。
那么在主旨题的选择上
介绍句：The pottery of the ancient Roman Empire is remarkable.
Answer Choices
A Roman pottery is considered to be practical and of consistently high quality.
B Roman pottery was transported over long distances, and different levels of society had access to quality pottery.
C Archaeologists looking for the remains of Roman pottery concentrate on urban sites because that is where the oldest pieces of kitchenware and amphorae have been found.
D The quantity of pottery produced by the Romans is large.
E People are not familiar with the whole range of pottery of Romans created because most of the available pieces represent only a limited number of styles and shapes.
F It is still unclear to archaeologists what the role of the Roman state in the commercial success of Roman pottery was.
可以明显看到涉及到罗马陶器特点的答案为ABD选项；其余三个选项就算正确也只能算是minor idea，因为没有涉及到罗马陶器的几个特点。
二、议论文：
有一些话题人类也依然在探索之中，或者也有一些其他的观点，如同综合写作一样，会出现对一些理论的“打脸”，这便是阅读中的议论文，这样的文章通常出现对于某个话题/问题的3种观点，并且对前两个进行驳斥。
比如：
TPO8-2 Extinction of the Dinosaurs
TPO53-3 Paleolithic Cave Paintings
在熟悉这类话题后我们能做到的就是找到这些理论以及反驳的部分，最后在主旨题上找到相关内容。但因为议论文特殊的结构，“首二末”的方式在这里不一定适用，所以还需要考生提高对一些转折信号词和态度信号词的敏感度。让我们来看一篇实例：
TPO18-2 The Mystery of Yawning
P1: According to conventional theory, yawning takes place when people are bored or sleepy and serves the function of increasing alertness by reversing, through deeper breathing, the drop in blood oxygen levels that are caused by the shallow breathing that accompanies lack of sleep or boredom. Unfortunately, …..
P2: Another flaw of the tiredness theory is that …… Yawning did nothing special to their state of physiological activity. Experiments have also cast serious doubt ……
P3: A completely different theory holds that …… them. According to this theory, yawning in adults is just a developmental fossil with no biological function. But, ……
P4: The empirical evidence, such as it is, suggests an altogether different function for yawning—namely, that yawning prepares us for a change in activity level. Support for this theory came from a study …..
通过这些强调部分的信号词，我们可以总结出这篇文章的结构：
再让我们来看一下主旨题：
介绍句：The tiredness theory of yawning does not seem to explain why yawning occurs.
Answer Choices
A Although earlier scientific studies strongly supported the tiredness theory, new evidence has cast doubt on these findings.
B Evidence has shown that yawning is almost completely unrelated to amount of oxygen in the blood and is unrelated to sleep behavior.
C Some have proposed that yawning plays a role in the development of the lungs before birth but that it serves no purpose in adults.
D Fluids in the lungs of the fetus prevent yawning from occurring, which disproves the developmental theory of yawning.
E New studies, along with anecdotal evidence, have shown that the frequency of yawning increases during extended periods of inactivity.
F There is some evidence that suggests that yawning prepares the body and mind for a change in activity level.
可以看到A涉及到困倦理论，但strongly support不符合文章结构，CD都涉及到了发展理论，但C选项将反驳理由展开的更清楚，而EF选项都涉及到“准备”理论，而F中的prepare比E中的extended periods of inactivity更准确。
三、历史相关
历史相关的文章通常为记叙文体裁，会有一定的时间节点出现，来描述该时间点出现的重大事件，但行文结构并不像说明文和议论文那样清晰，对一些似细节似主旨最好花一定的时间回看文章来进行确定。
其实在实际考试中，进入到阅读界面后需要拖到底才可以点击界面右上方的next按钮开始进入第 一题，而这往下拖的过程其实正是ETS对大家的一个期望：能够粗略的了解一下文章的结构。
总体来说主旨题并不是一个性价比特别高的题型，考生们在没有达到24分或者做题时间十分紧张的情况下，更多的用到排除法就好。但想要冲击阅读高分或者满分的同学可以从现在慢慢开始培养一种阅读/写作的结构意识，对大家后期GRE/GMAT阅读或者出国的学习文献的阅读其实都会有帮助。
