留學路漫漫，為更好的幫助考生了解雅思、托福考試詳情、了解海外的一些留學經歷，新航道特邀名師暢談他們的教學經驗，將雅思、托福考試的重點，難點逐一擊破，并且將與 大家分享他們的留學經歷。

  在正式介紹解題方法前需要強調一個大前提，準備應戰托福考試的同學必須具備基本的句法成分知識和詞匯量，否則，談不上用任何的解題技巧。

  好了，切入正題，我們來看看句子簡化題的題干說明：

  Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

  我們從題干中提取出1個重點信息來作為我們秒殺該題型的依據，那就是 “essential information”：題目唯一的要求就是讓我們在四個選項中選出表達了原文最核心信息的那一個;當然，核心信息不能遺漏，核心意思不能更改。

  所以我們在解題過程中有以下三個標準：

  1. 哪個選項有原文的核心信息;

  2. 原文的核心信息在選項中也應該是其核心信息;

  3. 原文的次要信息和細節信息可有可無。

  借助這三個標準，我們有了秒殺句子簡化題的一個訣竅：

  原句優先只讀核心信息，選項優先只讀核心信息，兩者匹配無誤為正確選項的備選項，如果只有一個匹配，那便是正確選項，如果有兩個匹配項，那么需要核對其他信息。

  那么核心信息如何判斷呢?我們把簡化題的題目粗略的分成兩大類：

  1. 有清楚邏輯關系的句子;

  2. 沒有清楚邏輯關系的句子;

  一、有清楚邏輯關系的句子：

  要點：1. 因果邏輯中，結果更重要;2. 轉折邏輯中，轉折后的內容更重要;3. 讓步邏輯中，非讓步的更重要;4. 并列，對比，比較等平行結構中，使得邏輯成立的兩個對象同等重要。先來看個例題。

  例題1：

  The amount of air exchanged is even lower in REM than NREM because, although breathing is more rapid in REM, it is also more irregular, with brief episodes of shallow breathing or absence of breathing.

  分析：在這個句子中有很明顯的因果邏輯關系詞because，because前是結果，because后是原因，根據我們的原則，結果的內容更重要，優先只讀結果“the amount of air exchanged is lower in REM”; 帶著這個核心信息去核對選項的核心信息。

  A. Because breathing is more shallow and irregular in REM than in NREM, less air is exchanged in REM

  A選項也是因果邏輯，結果是核心，“less air is exchanged in REM”，與我們的結果一致;A成為我們的備選項;(不能確定為正確選項是因為其他的內容有待檢查)

  B. Breathing in NREM is less effective than breathing in REM because of irregular episodes of rapid breathing during NREM.

  B選項的因果邏輯中，結果“breathing in NREM is less effective”這個表述與原文的結果不一致;錯誤;

  C. Because breathing is more rapid in NREM sleep than in REM sleep, breathing often becomes shallow.

  C選項的因果邏輯中，結果是“breathing often becomes shallow”與原文的結果完全無關;錯誤;

  D. Although REM has brief episodes of shallow breathing or lack of breathing, breathing is more rapid than in NRFM

  D選項看到although直接排除，讓步轉折邏輯和原文的因果邏輯相反。錯誤;

  于是A選項在沒有閱讀其他信息之前就能確定是我們的正確答案了。

  我們來回顧下整個解體過程，這個方法有以下幾個好處：

  1. 最少化閱讀內容，不僅減弱長句帶來的心理干擾，也節省了寶貴的時間;

  2. 最少化閱讀內容，能夠讓考生更準確把握句子核心，減少掉入選項陷阱的幾率。

  再來看一個例題。

  例題2：

  Inequalities of gender have also existed in pastoralist societies, but they seem to have been softened by the absence of steep hierarchies of wealth in most communities, and also by the requirement that women acquire most of the skills of men, including, often, their military skills.

  分析：句子中有個but表示轉折，轉折后的內容更重要，所以我們的注意力要放在“they(inequalities)have been soften”性別不平等被弱化”這個點上，帶著這個核心去核對我們的選項。

  A. Despite the fact that wealth is relatively evenly distributed in pastoral societies, gender inequality still exists because only men can acquire military skills and social status.

  A選項是個despite引導的讓步，所以核心信息在“gender inequality still exists”上，“強調性別不平等存在”，與我們原文的核心不一致，錯誤;

  B. Inequalities of gender existed in pastoralist societies until most communities began to require women to possess the same skills as men and take part in the military.

  B選項的核心也是“Inequalities of gender existed”，錯誤;

  C. Inequalities of gender in pastoralist societies were caused by steep hierarchies of wealth and differences in military training between men and women.

  C選項的核心是“Inequalities of gender in pastoralist societies were caused by”，強調性別不平等是由什么導致的，和原文強調“被弱化”不一致，錯誤;

  D. In pastoral societies, gender inequality is comparatively mild because wealth is relatively evenly distributed and women have to learn most of the same skills that men do.

  D選項的核心是“gender inequality is comparatively mild”，“mild”是對“soften”的同義替換，核心與原文一致，正確。

  二. 沒有清楚邏輯關系的句子：

  要點：1.去掉所有的狀語成分(分詞或不定式)或狀語從句;2.去掉所有的定語或非限定語從句(限定性定語從句很重要，不可忽略);3. 提取主謂賓或主系表。 看例題。

  例題3：

  Unlike in the Americas, where metallurgy was a very late and limited development, Africans had iron from a relatively early date, developing ingenious furnaces to produce the high heat needed for production and to control the amount of air that reached the carbon and iron ore necessary for making iron.

  分析：unlike引導的內容和where引導的定語從句都忽略不讀，developing后面的內容做補充說明，也先忽略不讀，所以核心內容是“Africans had iron from a relatively early date”，原句想表達的核心信息是非洲人相對較早的擁有了鐵。

  A. While American iron makers developed the latest furnaces, African iron makers continued using earlier techniques.

  A選項的核心是“African iron makers continued using earlier techniques”非洲人一直使用早期的技術，和原文核心無關，錯誤;

  B. Africans produced iron much earlier than Americans, inventing technologically sophisticated heating systems.

  B選項的核心是“Africans produced iron much earlier than Americans”非洲人很早就生產出鐵了，表達了原文的核心信息，成為備選項;

  C. Iron making developed earlier in Africa than in the Americas because of the ready availability of carbon and iron ore.

  C選項because引導的因果邏輯在原文中并沒有體現，或者說the ready availability of carbon and iron ore在原文任何地方都沒有出現，錯誤;

  D. Both Africa and the Americas developed the capacity for making iron early, but African metallurgy developed at a slower rate.

  D選項的核心是“African metallurgy developed at a slower rate”與原文核心不符，錯誤;

  于是B就是我們的正確選項。

  最后來一個例題。

  例題4：

  With "climax," "biome," "super-organism," and various other technical terms for the association of animals and plants at a given locality being criticized, the term "ecosystem" was more and more widely adopted for the whole system of associated organisms together with the physical factors of their environment.

  分析：with引導狀語部分，所以暫時不讀，核心信息在“the term "ecosystem" was more and more widely adopted”來表達“這個term被采納”。來核對選項的核心信息。

  A. Unlike the terms “climax”, “biome”, and “super-organism”, which refer to the particular association of plants and animals at a given location, the term “ecosystem” refers specifically to the physical factors within an environment.

  A選項的核心在“the term “ecosystem” refers specifically to”，表示這個term是指什么內容，與原文核心無關，錯誤;

  B. The terms “climax”, “biome”, “super-organism”, and “ecosystem” all refer to the system of plants and animals in an associated environment, but some are more controversial than others.

  B選項的核心在“some are more controversial than others”與原文核心無關，錯誤;

  C. When the older terms of ecology became too technical, they were replaced by the more popular and more widely used term “ecosystem”

  C選項的核心在“old terms were replaced by ecosystem”，表達了原文的意思，成為備選項;

  D. The term “ecosystem” gradually replaced discredited terms for the combination of a physical environment and the plants and animals living together in it.

  D選項的核心在“the term replaced discredited terms”，也表達了原文的意思，也成為備選項;

  出現兩個備選項時，就需要核對次要信息，原文說的是原來的那些terms被criticized批判了，而不是C選項中的became too technical，而D選項的discredited就是criticized的同義替換詞，所以D選項才是正確的選項。

  以上這個例題出現了兩個備選項，于是就有同學說，那還不是要把原句的內容都看完了么?但是我們用最快的速度排除了兩個干擾項，即使需要回到原句再核對次要信息，也是有針對性的去核對特定的信息，比如上題中，指需要核對criticized這部分的信息是否和選項中的同義轉述一致。

  我們來回顧下剛才的解題過程，只匹配原文和選項的核心信息有以下優勢：考生只需要判斷選項的核心和原文核心是不是一致，是不是有關，而不需要去閱讀所有內容去判斷原文核心內容是否被正確和完整的表達。因為判斷“正確”和“完整”需要考生仔細閱讀并完全理解，相對比較耗時，也考驗詞匯量;但是判斷“有無關”“一致否”則需看個大概即可。

  當然，所有的技巧都需要自己通過不斷的練習來拿捏使用的情況，還需要不斷的自我總結來將特定的技巧進行個性化的調整。祝愿所有的考生們都能秒殺句子簡化題。