托福阅读如何才能快速又高效呢?本文将详细解答托福阅读文章的结构划分，帮助正在备考托福中认为托福阅读索然无趣的同学，快速找到解答托福阅读的方法。
托福阅读文章结构划分 最全解读
在官方指南当中，ETS给出了托福阅读的常见四种结构，下面我们就来分别看一看：
第一种，因果类文章结构，也就是全文都是围绕着某个现象进行解释。典型文章desert formation，在文章开头的第一段就出现这样的内容：The deserts, which already occupy approximately a fourth of the Earth's land surface, have in recent decades been increasing at an alarming pace. The expansion of desert-like conditions into areas where they did not previously exist is called desertification. 首先对沙漠的现状进行了描述，紧接着就赶紧扣题下定义，告诉我们什么是沙漠化。现象交代完了之后，出题段的第三段就迅速展开了原因的描述，我们发现第三段和第五段开头分别是这样的：Even in the areas that retain a soil cover, the reduction of vegetation typically results in the loss of the soil's ability to absorb substantial quantities of water. 以及There is little doubt, however, that desertification in most areas results primarily from human activities rather than natural processes.这样就交代了两个原因，分别是loss of vegetation和soil’s ability to absorb water. 同学们读到这里就要开始有预判断了，预料下面是否开始说一些其他的原因呢?带着这样的疑问去看，发现第六段说的是：Four specific activities have been identified as major contributors to the desertification processes: overcultivation, overgrazing, firewood gathering, and overirrigation. 第九段针对overirrigation展开论述。果然是另外的沙漠化的原因，接着第十段就是对沙漠化的前景进行展望。至此整篇文章的结构就很清楚了。了解了文章的结构对于接下来的文章会有预判断，读起来就会前后连贯，会有效减少文章阅读的心理难度。
第二种文章结构是分类，最典型的例子就是aggression。开头第一段交代了When one animal attacks another, it engages in the most obvious example of aggressive behavior. Psychologists have adopted several approaches to understanding aggressive behavior in people. 于是我们大概知道文章是对aggression的研究方法进行阐述，果然文章非常清楚地用黑体字标注出了三种研究方法，分别是The Biological Approach和The Psychodynamic Approach以及The Cognitive Approach.至此文章结构一目了然，我们很清楚知道文章分成了三个部分，每一部分之间是并列关系。最为典型的是artisan and industrialization. 整篇文章也是分为了两个部分，前两段都在说手工作坊时代的生产方法，从第三段开始介绍机器大工业生产的情况以及带来的工人罢工。虽然整篇文章共有6段，但是我们如果可以判断出文章的结构就可以轻易地将文章分为两个部分，而且两部分之间还是比较对比的关系，就将一篇长文章读短了，降低阅读难度。
最后一种文章结构是问题解决方法型，典型文章是Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer，前四段介绍了Ogallala含水层的发现以及使用过度带来的问题，后两段就开始介绍治理的方法。这种文章的结构不如因果类的明显，但是也可以通过这样的思路将文章前后串起来，降低阅读难度。
当然，随着官方真题Official的不断更新，越来越多的文章结构开始出现，比如时间顺序，或者一篇文章中出现多种文章结构杂糅，无论是何种样貌出现，同学们都要能够将作者的写作思路找出来，将文章展现的散落一地的珍珠串成更易于佩戴的珍珠项链。这样在做题目的时候就更加成竹在胸，也会觉得眼前的文章不再冗长地让人烦躁。
托福阅读真题1
PASSAGE 23
Although only 1 person in 20 in the Colonial period lived in a city, the cities had a disproportionate influence on the development of North America. They were at the cutting edge of social change. It was in the cities that the elements that can be associated with modern capitalism first appeared — the use of money and commercial paper in place of barter, open competition in place of social deference and hierarchy, with an attendant rise in social disorder, and the appearance of factories using coat or water power in place of independent craftspeople working with hand tools. The cities predicted the future, wrote historian Gary. B. Nash, even though they were but overgrown villages compared to the great urban centers of Europe, the Middle East and China.
Except for Boston, whose population stabilized at about 16,000 in 1760, cities grew by exponential leaps through the eighteenth century. In the fifteen years prior to the outbreak of the War for independence in 1775, more than 200,000 immigrants arrived on North American shores. This meant that a population the size of Boston was arriving every year, and most of it flowed into the port cities in the Northeast. Philadelphia's population nearly doubted in those years, reaching about 30,000 in 1774, New York grew at almost the same rate, reaching about 25,000 by 1775.
The quality of the hinterland dictated the pace of growth of the cities. The land surrounding Boston had always been poor farm country, and by the mid-eighteenth century it was virtually stripped of its timber. The available farmland was occupied, there was little in the region beyond the city to attract immigrants. New York and Philadelphia, by contrast, served a rich and fertile hinterland laced with navigable watercourses. Scots, Irish, and Germans landed in these cities and followed the rivers inland. The regions around the cities of New York and Philadelphia became the breadbaskets of North America, sending grain not only to other colonies but also to England and southern Europe, where crippling droughts in the late 1760's created a whole new market.
1. Which of the following aspects of North America in the eighteenth century does the passage
mainly discuss?
(A) The effects of war on the growth of cities
(B) The growth and influence of cities
(C) The decline of farming in areas surrounding cities
(D) The causes of immigration to cities
2. Why does the author say that the cities had a disproportionate influence on the development
of North America (lines 1-2)?
(A) The influence of the cities was mostly negative
(B) The populations of the cities were small, but their influence was great.
(C) The cities were growing at a great rate.
(D) Most people pretended to live in cities
3. The phrase in place of in lines 4-5 is closest in meaning to
(A) connected to
(B) in addition to
(C) because of
(D) instead of
4. The word attendant in line 6 is closest in meaning to
(A) avoidable
(B) accompanying
(C) unwelcome
(D) unexpected
5. Which of the following is mentioned as an element of modern capitalism?
(A) Open competition
(B) Social deference
(C) Social hierarchy
(D) Independent craftspeople
6. It can be inferred that in comparison with North American cities, cities in Europe, the Middle
East, and China had
(A) large populations
(B) little independence
(C) frequent social disorder
(D) few power sources
7. The phrase exponential leaps in line 12 is closest in meaning to
(A) long wars
(B) new laws
(C) rapid increases
(D) exciting changes
8. The word it in line 15 refers to
(A) population
(B) size
(C) Boston
(D) Year
9. How many immigrants arrived in North America between 1760 and 1775?
(A) About 16,000
(B) About 25,000
(C) About 30,000
(D) More than 200,000
10. The word dictated in line 18 is closest in meaning to
(A) spoiled
(B) reduced
(C) determined
(D) divided
11. The word virtually in line 20 is closest in meaning to
(A) usually
(B) hardly
(C) very quickly
(D) almost completely
12. The region surrounding New York and Philadelphia is contrasted with the region surrounding
Boston in terms of
(A) quality of farmland
(B) origin of immigrants
(C) opportunities for fishing
(D) type of grain grown
13. Why does the author describe the regions around the cities of New York and Philadelphia as
breadbaskets?
(A) They produced grain especially for making bread.
(B) They stored large quantities of grain during periods of drought
(C) They supplied grain to other parts of North America and other countries.
(D) They consumed more grain than all the other regions of North America.
答案：BBDBA ACADC DAC
托福阅读真题100篇原文+题目2
PASSAGE 24
The spectacular aurora light displays that appear in Earth's atmosphere around the north and south magnetic poles were once mysterious phenomena. Now, scientists have data from satellites and ground-based observations from which we know that the aurora brilliance is an immense electrical discharge similar to that occurring in a neon sign.
To understand the cause of auroras, first picture the Earth enclosed by its magnetosphere, a huge region created by the Earth's magnetic field. Outside the magnetosphere, blasting toward the earth is the solar wind, a swiftly moving plasma of ionized gases with its own magnetic filed. Charged particles in this solar wind speed earthward along the solar wind's magnetic lines of force with a spiraling motion. The Earth's magnetosphere is a barrier to the solar winds, and forces the charged particles of the solar wind to flow around the magnetosphere itself. But in the polar regions, the magnetic lines of force of the Earth and of the solar wind bunch together. Here many of the solar wind's charged particles break through the magnetosphere and enter Earth's magnetic field. They then spiral back and forth between the Earth's magnetic poles very rapidly. In the polar regions, electrons from the solar wind ionize and excite the atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere, causing them to emit aurora radiations of visible light.
The colors of an aurora depend on the atoms emitting them. The dominant greenish white light comes from low energy excitation of oxygen atoms. During huge magnetic storms oxygen atoms also undergo high energy excitation and emit crimson light. Excited nitrogen atoms contribute bands of color varying from blue to violet. Viewed from outer space, auroras can be seen as dimly glowing belts wrapped around each of the Earth's magnetic poles. Each aurora hangs like a curtain of light stretching over the polar regions and into the higher latitudes. When the solar flares that result in magnetic storms and aurora activity are very intense, aurora displays may extend as far as the southern regions of the United States.
Studies of auroras have given physicists new information about the behavior of plasmas, which has helped to explain the nature of outer space and is being applied in attempts to harness energy from the fusion of atoms.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The methods used to observe auroras from outer space
(B) The formation and appearance of auroras around the Earth's poles
(C) The factors that cause the variety of colors in auroras
(D) The periodic variation in the display of auroras
2. The word phenomena in line 2 is closest in meaning to
(A) ideas
(B) stars
(C) events
(D) colors
3. The word picture in line 5 is closest in meaning to
(A) frame
(B) imagine
(C) describe
(D) explain
4. The passage describes the magnetosphere as a barrier (line 10) because
(A) its position makes it difficult to be observed from Earth
(B) it prevents particles from the solar wind from easily entering Earth's atmosphere
(C) it increases the speed of particles from the solar wind
(D) it is strongest in the polar regions
5. The word them in line 16 refers to
(A) polar regions
(B) electrons
(C) atoms and molecules
(D) aurora radiations
6. According to the passage , which color appears most frequently in an aurora display?
(A) greenish-white
(B) crimson
(C) blue
(D) violet
7. The word emit in line 20 is closest in meaning to
(A) change from
(B) connect with
(C) add to
(D) give off
8. The word glowing in line 22 is closest in meaning to
(A) shining
(B) moving
(C) charging
(D) hanging
9. Auroras may be seen in the southern regions of the United Sates when
(A) magnetic storms do not affect Earth
(B) solar flares are very intense
(C) the speed of the solar wind is reduced
(D) the excitation of atoms is low
10. The passage supports which of the following statements about scientists'n derstanding of
auroras?
(A) Before advances in technology, including satellites, scientists knew little about auroras.
(B) New knowledge about the fusion of atoms allowed scientists to learn more about auroras.
(C) Scientists cannot explain the cause of the different colors in auroras.
(D) Until scientists learn more about plasma physics, little knowledge about auroras will be available.
11. Which of the following terms is defined in the passage ?
(A) magnetosphere (line 6)
(B) electrons (line 15)
(C) ionize (line 15)
(D) fusion (line 29)
BCBBC ADABA A
托福阅读真题100篇原文+题目3
PASSAGE 25
The history of clinical nutrition, or the study of the relationship between health and how the body takes in and utilizes food substances, can be divided into four distinct eras: the first began in the nineteenth century and extended into the early twentieth century when it was recognized for the first time that food contained constituents that were essential for human function and that different foods provided different amounts of these essential agents. Near the end of this era, research studies demonstrated that rapid weight loss was associated with nitrogen imbalance and could only be rectified by providing adequate dietary protein associated with certain foods.
The second era was initiated in the early decades of the twentieth century and might be called the vitamin period. Vitamins came to be recognized in foods, and deficiency syndromes were described. As vitamins became recognized as essential food constituents necessary for health, it became tempting to suggest that every disease and condition for which there had been no previous effective treatment might be responsive to vitamin therapy. At that point in time, medical schools started to become more interested in having their curricula integrate nutritional concepts into the basic sciences. Much of the focus of this education was on the recognition of vitamin deficiency symptoms. Herein lay the beginning of what ultimately turned from ignorance to denial of the value of nutritional therapies in medicine. Reckless claims were made for effects of vitamins that went far beyond what could actually be achieved from the use of them.
In the third era of nutritional history in the early 1950's to mid-1960s, vitamin therapy began to fall into disrepute. Concomitant with this, nutrition education in medical schools also became less popular. It was just a decade before this that many drug companies had found their vitamin sales skyrocketing and were quick to supply practicing physicians with generous samples of vitamins and literature extolling the virtue of supplementation for a variety of health-related conditions. Expectations as to the success of vitamins in disease control were exaggerated. As is known in retrospect, vitamin and mineral therapies are much less effective when applied to health-crisis conditions than when applied to long-term problems of undernutrition that lead to chronic health problems.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The effects of vitamins on the human body
(B) The history of food preferences from the nineteenth century to the present
(C) The stages of development of clinical nutrition as a field of study
(D) Nutritional practices of the nineteenth century
2. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following discoveries was made during the first era in the history of nutrition?
(A) Protein was recognized as an essential component of diet.
(B) Vitamins were synthesized from foods.
(C) Effective techniques of weight loss were determined.
(D) Certain foods were found to be harmful to good health.
3. The word tempting in line 12 is closest in meaning to
(A) necessary
(B) attractive
(C) realistic
(D) correct
4. It can be inferred from the passage that medical schools began to teach concepts of nutrition
in order to
(A) convince medical doctors to participate in research studies on nutrition
(B) encourage medical doctors to apply concepts of nutrition in the treatment of disease
(C) convince doctors to conduct experimental vitamin therapies on their patients
(D) support the creation of artificial vitamins
5. The word Reckless in line 18 is closest in meaning to
(A) recorded
(B) irresponsible
(C) informative
(D) urgent
6. The word 'them in line 19 refers to
(A) therapies
(B) claims
(C) effects
(D) vitamins
7. Why did vitamin therapy begin losing favor in the 1950's
(A) The public lost interest in vitamins.
(B) Medical schools stopped teaching nutritional concepts.
(C) Nutritional research was of poor quality
(D) Claims for the effectiveness of vitamin therapy were seen to be exaggerated.
8. The phrase concomitant with in line 21 is closest in meaning to
(A) in conjunction with
(B) prior to
(C) in dispute with
(D) in regard to
9. The word skyrocketing in line 23 is closest in meaning to
(A) internationally popular
(B) increasing rapidly
(C) acceptable
(D) surprising
10. The word extolling in line 24 is closest in meaning
