经常会有学生在认识了单词也看懂了句意后，会提出这样的问题：老师那这句话放这是什么意思？ 这是我们在克服了托福词汇和长难句问题后的另一个大问题，本质上讲，这个问题的言外之意是：通过这句话作者想要表达什么意图？或者，这句话在文章中起到什么功能？如果这个问题没有解决，那么即便你认识一篇文章中的所有单词，也依然等同于没理解，于是导致了“假阅读”或“无效阅读”。

　　说到“作者意图”，我们都知道托福阅读里一种题型叫做修辞目的题，形式通常是Why does the author mention XXX? 或What is the purpose of paragraph X？其实就是在问某些句子或段落起到什么作用？什么功能？OG上讲得很清楚，托福不考察你学科的背景以及理论知识，考察的是英语语言本身。而英语语言本身有什么可以考察的呢？其实考察的是英语语言中独特的论述方式和逻辑体系。把握住这两方面问题，对阅读理解起到事半功倍的效果。

　　说到论述方式，我们可以先说说一种流传的解题套路，即针对修辞目的题，我们就读该句所在的上一句即可。这种套路背后的原理就是英文文章的习惯是先说观点句（中心句），再对观点句进行展开论述，并且遵循着抽象概括到具体展开的原则。以一道题目为例：

　　原文：Therefore, additional explanations are needed. KAIYUN SPORTS One necessary condition seems to be a somewhat detached view of human problems. For example, one sign of this condition is the appearance of the comic vision, since comedy requires sufficient detachment to view some deviations from social norms as ridiculous rather than a serious threats to the welfare of the entire group.

　　题目：Why dose the author mention “comedy”?

　　1.To give an example of early types of theater

　　2.To explain how theater helps a society respond to threats to its welfare

　　3.To help explain why detachment is needed for the development of theater

　　4.To show how theatrical performers become detached from other members of societies

　　因为文章中有了举例标志词 “for example”，我们就可以知道 “comedy”所在句是在给上一句话举具体的例子。上一句重心在讲detached view对戏剧起到的作用，很明显对应第三个答案选项。本段话不仅体现了抽象概括到具体解释的论述方式，而且采用了最常见的逻辑关系——举例。然而我们更需要训练一种能力，当原文中没有for example这种标志词时，也能看出前后两句是举例逻辑关系。比如：

　　In the fourteenth century, a number of political developments cut Europe's overland trade routes to southern and eastern Asia, with which Europe had had important and highly profitable commercial ties since the twelfth century. This development, coming as it did when the bottom had fallen out of the European economy, provided an impetus to a long-held desire to secure direct relations with the East by establishing a sea trade. Widely reported, if somewhat distrusted, accounts by figures like the famous traveler from Venice, Marco Polo, of the willingness of people in China to trade with Europeans and of the immensity of the wealth to be gained by such contact made the idea irresistible.

　　通过文章的前两句话我们可以提炼出来一个观点，即政治的发展切断了欧洲与亚洲的陆上贸易，而这种发展，给寻找海上贸易提供了刺激动力。接下来阴影部分讲的是，根据一些像马可波罗等著名游客的报道，中国人想要与欧洲人往来通商，且这种往来会带来巨大财富，这些报道使得该想法不可抗拒。我们仔细观察便可发现前两句多使用概括性强、较抽象的词汇，比如political developments, important, profitable commercial ties, impetus, desire等。而阴影部分的词汇多采用具体词汇，比如提到了reported，Marco Polo，People in China，immensity of wealth等等。如果我们思考一下阴影部分所要传达的作者意图，或起到何种功能，其实就是在给前两句观点句在举例说明。这种举例方式不易被识别，但仍符合英语文章的论述方式。

　　意识到这点，就为我们理解文章省去了很多工夫，即使看不懂个别生词和长难句，我们知道这句话的功能的作者意图，就不会有云里雾里之感。除了举例逻辑，在这段里我们还要注意到两处指代逻辑，即this development和the idea两处指代，指代的作用是通过使用代词或定冠词the指代上一句提到的某事物，继续讲上一句没有讲完的内容，加强连贯性。指代题近些年的出题频率大幅度降低，但是并非不再考察，而是通常会把指代逻辑融入到其他开云（中国）官方网站题型里。所以，阅读时遇到指代逻辑要习惯性地问自己，指代的具体内容是什么，进一步加强对文章的理解。我们再看一个段落：

　　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, the few scientific investigations of yawning have failed to find any connection between how often someone yawns and how much sleep they have had or how tired they are. About the closest any research has come to supporting the tiredness theory is to confirm that adults yawn more often on weekdays than at weekends, and that school children yawn more frequently in their first year at primary school than they do in kindergarten.

　　第一句在阐述关于打哈欠的一个传统理论。第二句语气发生转折，说不幸的是，极少数的科学调查并没有发现打哈欠的频率与睡眠和疲惫感之间的关联。接下来一句就是很多同学觉得困惑的地方，意思是有一些可以支撑该传统理论的最近研究调查，并列举出了关于成年人和小孩的研究结论。难点在于，为什么既然否定了该理论，然而又提出一些支持它的证据呢？此处的作者意图其实并不难理解，作者虽然想质疑传统理论，但在论述它的缺点漏洞之前，先列举了一些有利于它的研究证据，目的在于使论述更加完整、更充分。同样的作者意图体现在以下段落：

　　They were reasonably well governed, without notable corruption or grandiose state projects, although in all of them the government gave some aid to railways, and in Sweden the state built the main lines. As small countries dependent on foreign markets, they followed a liberal trade policy in the main, though a protectionist movement developed in Sweden.

　　意思是这些国家都被很好的管理，没有大型的贪污项目，尽管一些国家政府投资到铁路中。小的国家遵循自由贸易政策，尽管在瑞典发生了贸易保护主义者运动。这两句使用了转折逻辑中的让步手法，给观点提出了一些恰当的反例，达到更加有说服力的论证效果。

　　除了举例、指代、转折逻辑，托福阅读还会经常考察比较逻辑、因果逻辑和并列逻辑，有些是通过明显的逻辑词表达，有些则是通过一些动词表达隐含的逻辑关系。考生们在平时阅读训练中，需学会抓住所有明显和隐含的逻辑词, 并熟悉英文文章论述方式，这样我们就能有效抓住作者意图和段落句子功能，达到有效阅读的目的，题目便可迎刃而解。

　　原文地址：https: kaiyun //www.onebest.cn/content-103-2978-1.html