托福閱讀段落的基本結構

　　The particular symbolic significance of the cave paintings in southwestern France is more explicitly revealed, perhaps, by the results of a study conducted by researchers Patricia Rice and Ann Paterson. The data they present suggest that the animals portrayed in the cave paintings were mostly the ones that the painters preferred for meat and for materials such as hides. For example, wild cattle (bovines) and horses are portrayed more often than we would expect by chance, probably because they were larger and heavier (meatier) than other animals in the environment. In addition, the paintings mostly portray animals that the painters may have feared the most because of their size, speed, natural weapons such as tusks and horns, and the unpredictability of their behavior. That is, mammoths, bovines, and horses are portrayed more often than deer and reindeer. Thus, the paintings are consistent with the idea that the art is related to the importance of hunting in the economy of Upper Paleolithic people. Consistent with this idea, according to the investigators, is the fact that the art of the cultural period that followed the Upper Paleolithic also seems to reflect how people got their food. But in that period, when getting food no longer depended on hunting large game animals.

　　段落第1句說明：也許研究者所做研究的結果更清楚地揭示了法國西南部的巖洞畫的特殊象征性意義。這是本段關鍵句。

　　第2句擺事實，說明研究顯示繪畫者喜歡食用的動物或喜歡用作獸皮的動物是巖洞畫中經(jīng)常被描繪的動物。第3句是例子，對第2句的事實進行論證。

　　第4句中In addition提示這句話和前面的某句話是并列的，根據(jù)內(nèi)容可看出和第2句并列，也是擺事實，第5句是第4句的一個例證。

　　第6句中的Thus提示這是一個結果句或者說是總結句，句子表明巖洞藝術與打獵的重要性有關，是對上面第2-5句的總結句。

　　第7句其實和第6句是并列的，可以從“Consistent with this idea ”看出來，這句話說明舊石器時代晚期的文化期的藝術也反映了人們?nèi)绾蔚玫绞澄?第8句則轉(zhuǎn)折，說出一個事實。

　　通過以上對于段落的總結，考生可以看出段落的簡單架構：

　　第一部分：主旨句

　　第二部分：事實、例子(或者是多個并列的事實和例子)

　　第三部分：總結句

　　其實，根據(jù)經(jīng)驗，托福閱讀段落大都有這一基本結構，只是對于不同段落，可能或多或少地加入一些“多余”的進一步解釋等信息?？忌R別這些并不重要的信息，高效找到段落重點。