托福阅读怎样对文章段落进行精读？实用技巧实例讲解
托福阅读备考为何要做段落精读?
精读段落可以帮助考生了解托福阅读文章段落的结构规律，捕捉含特殊逻辑关系的结构的可能出题点。
托福阅读备考段落精读要点实例讲解
1. 快速找出并理解段落中心句
段落精读的第一个要点就是要快速找出并理解各段落的中心句。如果是首段，一般关注它的首句或尾句;如果是中间段，一般也是阅读首尾句，但也可能会出现“非常规”的情况，即中心句在段落的中间出现。以下面这个段落为例。
Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states. In fact, various emotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions and facial expressions can also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles (“feedback”) are sent back to emotion centers of the brain, and so a person’s facial expression can influence that person’s emotional state. Consider Darwin’s words: “The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it. On the other hand, the repression, as far as possible, of all outward signs softens our emotions.” Can smiling give rise to feelings of good will, for example, and frowning to anger? (官方指南OG “The Expression of Emotions”)
乍一看，你会觉得本段落的中心句就是第一句，其实第一句只是交代了一个普遍的(generally)看法，第二句是基于这个看法作进一步的解释(in fact)。而真正的中心句应该是第三句(由however引出)，它提出了另一个新的看法，叫“面部反馈的假设”，这个新的看法才是本段接着要展开的重点对象。大家在精读段落时，应该特别留意类似“非常规”的情况，充分理解这种段落的写作逻辑。
2. 关注段落中逻辑关系词结构
段落精读的第二个要点就是关注段落中含逻辑关系词的结构，比如转折结构、因果结构、平行结构、连续列举结构等，这些结构往往都是托福阅读考试的出题点。笔者建议考生在精读时用记号标出这些结构的信号词，对其前后的文字加以研读，并与后面的题目进行对照，摸索阅读出题的规律。这里以“转折结构”为例作为示范。
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. (官方模考真题18 “The Mystery of Yawning”)
考生在精读本段落时，要特别注意本段中的Unfortunately，它是转折的信号词之一，引起了前后信息的转折，后面的句子对本段开头的传统理论(conventional theory)作出了反驳，意思是“但遗憾的是，关于打哈欠的仅有的几项科学研究并没有找到打哈欠的频率与个人睡眠时长或者疲劳程度之间的任何关联。”考生可以划出这个转折结构的句子，然后再跟后面的题目进行对照，看看是否针对这句话出题。对照之后，考生会发现有一道事实信息题与这句话有密切的关系。之后，考生还可以在脑海里再回忆下转折结构的信号词除了unfortunately还有哪些，比如还有but、however、yet、nevertheless、while、whereas等，以后读段落或做题时可以多注意这些地方。
学会了托福阅读的文章段落精读技巧，大家就能从阅读中收获到更多宝贵的知识，这样一来考生的备考效率也就会有进一步提升了。
