通常阅读部分中会遇到三种题型：
1. Standard Multiple Choice这就是最常见的四选一，也是托福阅读中最常见的问题类型。针对的考察内容会各有不同，有些会考整个段落的内容，有些针对特定句子或短语，或者特定单词的含义。
解题技巧
每一个选项都要读。
ETS很喜欢出迷惑性选项，如果读到某一项就选了，很容易错过正确答案，做题的时候要仔细分析各个选项之间不同的关键点，保证其他错误选项都能排除。
在文章中找依据。阅读中的问题一定能在文章中找到答案，ETS比较良心的一点是题目正好也是按照文章的段落顺序出的，所以依次去对应的段落寻找依据就好。
2. Insert a sentence每一篇文章都会有一道插入句子的题目。有四个不同的地方可以插入新句子，我们就要找出句子最适合的位置。
解题技巧
很重要的第一点还是，要尝试每一种选项的可能性。
另外要理清相关段落中每一个句子的作用。
比如在范例中几个句子的作用就有总论点、阐释、反驳，另外还会遇到的比如举例子、分论点等等，插入的句子要符合原本段落的行文逻辑，即功能与前后句相同或相关，且正确位置不会改变原文内容或意思。
做题的时候关注连接词和代词，个人经验是代词的用处会更大一些，连接词的难度比较低，通常还是要分析代词和句子作用来理清逻辑。
3. Reading to learn通俗来说就是主旨题。每篇文章的最后都是主旨题，需要从六个选项中选出三个最能概括全文或题目意思的选项。主旨题占2-3分，选对部分可以部分得分。
解题技巧
起初这类题型对我自己来说是错误率最高的。后来发现很容易出错的点是被次要信息迷惑。这类选项很容易在文章中找到支撑信息，但其实文章或段落的主要观点应该要比这类信息更隐蔽，需要更进一步的分析和总括。
预留足够的时间给最后一道题。个人经验是做最后一道题的时候常常需要回到原文纵览文章，如果太急的话容易遗漏信息，所以一定要留下时间回顾全文。
不是文章所有的部分都需要概括。比如首段经常只是引入，这部分的内容就不用纠结是否要包含在内，还有些段落只是作为转折或小段总结，也不是全文信息的重点。
托福阅读指代题虽然考的是代词，却暗含着对指代关系、语篇逻辑的深层考察，并非单纯词汇层面的考察。根据代词的不同类别，我们把托福阅读指代题分成四大类型：人称代词类、指示代词类、关系代词类和不定代词类。具体请看下文!
托福阅读指代题四大类代词关系梳理
托福阅读考试中指代题是不可忽视的一大题型，虽然考的是代词，却暗含着对指代关系、语篇逻辑的深层考察，并非单纯词汇层面的考察。通常的提问形式体现为“The word they/their/it/its/some in the passage refers to______”，然后给出四个选项，这四个词通常都是原文中出现过的生词，并且往往都是在they/their/it/its/some这几个词的附近，需要考生经过严密思考推测，选出一个既符合行文逻辑又符合上下文意思的选项。
那么我们如何明确判断代词所指代的对应内容呢?我们可以根据代词的不同类别，把指代题分成四大类型：人称代词类、指示代词类、关系代词类和不定代词类。然后就可以根据不同类别的代词特征一一解答了。下面我们来具体看一下四大类代词的特征及辅助解答托福阅读指代题的策略。
第一类，人称代词
人称代词主要包括：I，you，he，she，it，we，they，me，him，them，yours，his，her，its，their等。此类题型应在做题时根据代词的单复数及其所能指代的名词来判断，通常是往前找最近的核心名词。
例如：
“An auction is a popular way of buying and selling. It is a useful way of deciding the value of things。”
The word It in the passage refers to __________。
A. theory B. price
C. process D. auction
往前追溯单数形式的核心名词，并且能用在第二句的主语位置的词，就只能是第一句中出现的auction一词了，所以正确答案选D。
第二类，指示代词
指示代词主要包括this, that, these, those等。在这种 句子 中，this和that通常指代某个观点事物或现象，而these和those通常指复数形式下的某些观点事物或意见，并且该类题也遵循往前找的原则。
例如：
“The dragon also has large claws that are used when it is younger. It uses these to climb trees to escape from the jaws of older dragons. But when they get older，these claws are used mainly as weapons。”
The word these in the passage refers to __________。
A. claws B. trees
C. jaws D. weapons
该题中的these一定是指之前已经出现过的名词，所以现在才能用代词进行指示，因此我们首先可通过往前追溯的原则进行排出，B、C、D瞬间就都被排除了。再将A选项带入原句验证，看逻辑和意思是否与句意相符，最终验证表明，答案正是A选项。
第三类，关系代词
主要包括which, that, who, whom等。在这种句子中，通常采用就近原则。尤其是由“，which”格式引导的从句，一般都是非限制性定语从句，通常就是指该词前面紧挨着的名词。但需要注意的是，当关系代词前有插入语时，需要先去掉插入语，再使用就近原则。
例如：
“Scientists have been looking for energy sources to replace oil. They have studied wind，ethanol，and nuclear energy. They have also started to look at coal again. Coal，which is the cheapest energy source，is found in many parts of the world. However，it is dangerous to mine. It also pollutes the environment。”
The word which in the passage refers to __________。
A. nuclear energy B. ethanol
C. wind D. coal
一看词句考察的是由which引导的非限制性定语从句，则毫不犹豫得把答案定位到which前的名词“coal”上，所以一眼就能选出该题的正确答案D选项。
第四类，不定代词
主要包括some，any，every，each，none，some...others...，one...,another等。这类代词通常指的都是该词前后与其关系最紧密的名词主语，并且注意词的单复数形式。
例如：
“Some studies show that one in eight plant species is threatened with extinction. It is estimated that 140000 species of plants are lost each year. Many of these lost plants could have been very useful in creating new drugs to combat disease。”
The word Many in the passage refers to __________。
A. studies B. plant species
C. lost plants D. new drugs
首先确定该题的“Many”所在句主语应该是指“lost plants”，并且“of”是表示所属的关系，所以“Many”应该是属于“these lost plants”中的一部分，所以很显然“Many”指的就应该是“lost plants”，因此答案选C。
需要注意的是这四大类代词只能大致涵盖托福阅读指代题中所涉及的大致类型，要想全面把握托福阅读指代题，我们还是需要把握好真题，结合解题技巧与策略进行有针对性的练习与 总结，循序渐进提高托福阅读水平与分数。
托福阅读指代题解题思路及步骤
一、问题形式
被考的 文章 中有一个词或词组被加亮，这个词通常是一个代词或名词。指代题的形式如下：
The word (or phrase) X in the passage refers to
二、解题步骤
1. 根据解题技巧确定答案
2. 代入原文验证，看语义、逻辑和语法上是否通顺
三、基本原则
1. 就近指代
所谓就近指代，就是被指代对象通常在指代词前不远处，如本句或上一句中。有时也出现在更前面的一句中。例如，
Large wind farms might also interfere with the flight patterns of migratory birds in certain areas, and they have killed large birds of prey (especially hawks, falcons, and eagles) that prefer to hunt along the same ridge lines that are ideal for wind turbines. The killing of birds of prey by wind turbines has pitted environmentalists who champion wildlife protection against environmentalists who promote renewable wind energy. Researchers are evaluating how serious this problem is and hope to find ways to eliminate or sharply reduce this problem.
The phrase this problem in the passage refers to interference with the flight patterns of migrating birds in certain areas building ridge lines that are ideal for wind turbines the killing of birds of prey by wind turbines meeting the demands of environmentalists who promote renewable wind energy
本题涉及的是一个词组this problem。寻找这一词组的指代对象时只需向上搜索就行。根据就近原则，前一句中的主语the killing of birds of prey by wind turbines可以初步确定为答案。将其代入原文，符合语义和逻辑，因此第三个选项为正确答案。第一个选项和第三个选项都和this problem相距较远，而且代入时语义和逻辑上不通，因此为干扰选项。
2. 数格一致
被指代对象通常与指代词在数(如单数或复数)和格(主格或宾格)两方 面相 同。如单数代词one指代单数名词，复数代词they指代复数名词。
四、主要思路
1. 主从复合句中的指代
在主从复合句中，第二句的代词主语经常指代第一句的名词主语。例如，
The fins are stiff, smooth, and narrow, qualities that also help cut drag. When not in use, the fins are tucked into special grooves or depressions so that they lie flush with the body and do not break up its smooth contours.
The word they in the passage refers to
?qualities
?fins
?grooves
?depressions
在这一例子中，从句so that they…中的代词主语they指代主句的名词主语the fins，因此第二个选项为正确答案。
新托福阅读背景知识：植物适应沙漠
Plant adaptation to the desert(背景材料)
Cactus adaptations.
The secret to the superior endurance of cacti lies in their adaptations. Over millions of years, through natural selection, only the strongest and best adapted species survived.
As you know, it is very dry in the desert. Plants that adapt to this are known as xerophytes (from zeros, dry and python, plant). There are plants that avoid the dry season by sprouting from seed just after the spring rain and growing very fast so that by the time the dry season comes, they have already produced a lot of seeds and died. These seeds lie on the soil for the dry season and sprout again in spring and the cycle repeats. Other xerophytes simply drop their leaves and stay dormant for the winter. But there is another special type of xerophytes which stores water in its fleshy tissues. Such plants are called succulents (from success, juicy). The cactus is a typical example of a succulent.
If you cut a cactus open, you see a juicy, slimy tissue. This is where the moisture is stored for the dry season. The part between the middle circle (and pith) and just under the very green part of the plant (or palisade parenchyma) just under the skin is allocated for the storage of water and food for the plant. This is a type of spongy parenchyma and can take up to 85% of the plant's volume. This is a major adaptation in the desert. Because the plant remains completely alive during the dry season and there is no need for it to dry up and lose everything, makes it possible for the plant to grow to large sizes. Another advantage is that the plant retains supplies (in the form of starch) for the winter so that it can flower right away in spring without accumulating more supplies (as most plants need to do in spring). The whole purpose of storing supplies for the winter is mostly to energize flowering in spring but it also lets the cactus start growing much sooner.
Flowering plants breathe and transpire (evaporate water from their surface) through closeable microscopic pores called stoats on the leaves or stems. To do this, their pores have to be open. In most plants these are open all day and on warm nights. But for cacti this is inconvenient as in daytime it is very hot and thus the plant would lose a lot of water through evaporation. So the cactus must close them in the daytime. But then it cannot breathe or photosynthesize (the process where sugars are made from carbon dioxide and water and releasing oxygen using the sun's energy). Succulents have an adaptation to that. Their stoats are closed during the day and are open at night, when it is not that hot and store carbon dioxide in its tissues as crass lean acid and then turn it back to carbon dioxide in the daytime. This process is called crass lean acid metabolism or CAM and it is a very smart way of respiring in the desert.
If we look at the outside of the plant, we notice that there is a tough leathery skin covering the plant, we can also notice the presence of ribs and spines and sometimes fur. These are all very smart adaptations. They serve mainly for surviving heat but are also used as defense.
The tough leathery skin is very impermeable to water, thus reducing evaporation from the surface of the plant. This skin often has a layer of plant wax on it which is often lightly colored (Pilosocereus azures is an example of a plant with such wax), white or blue. This reflects light and also reduces evaporation from the inside.
The ribs are special structures that are also used for enduring extreme heat. The ribs (and spines) trap wind so that the plant is enveloped in a layer of extremely still air, and this is a very important factor in reducing evaporation. On very windy days even the ribs don't help and cacti sometimes wilt because of high water loss.
The spines have different functions. They not only help shade the plant from the sun but are also known to help the cactus absorb water. They do it like this. On cool nights, dew settles on the spines of the plant. The spines are actually known to draw droplets of water towards the areole (the point out of which the spines grow) and here the droplets are absorbed. You can try this at home. Spray the plants with a very fine mist of water and watch what happens to the droplets that settle on the spines. They literally get attracted to the areole along the spine. The spine's structure allows them to do this. Even spines pointing downwards seem to suck the droplets up themselves.
Adaptation features are visible in this Pilosocereus glauchochorous. Notice the spines, ribs, fur and wax (the blue coloration). The top of a typically adapted plant.
Some plants have fur; sometimes all over the plant, sometimes only near the top. This fur shades the plant even further and is also known to attract water towards the areole. Some plants only have fur near the top. This is very beneficial because the top of the plant is very sensitive to sunlight, new tissues get formed there. Young areoles, with their spines not even wooded yet can get dried up completely in the sun. When an areole is born near the top of the plant, it starts developing spines. At this time the fur appears as well. This fur accompanies the areole as it moves down the plant, shading the growing point inside. By the time the areole is about 15cm away from the top, the fur wears out completely and the now inactive areole gets exposed to the sun.
As for the roots of cacti, they are also fully adapted to living in the desert. Some species (especially plants from very dry deserts) have very shallow root systems that spread very far from the plant. This way the plant can take advantage of tiny amounts of moisture from dew or light rain as the roots spread far away and are very shallow (less than 10cm deep while spreading up to 5 meters from the parent plant). On the other hand, some cacti send their roots deep down (like many Echinocacti) to reach the ground water.
Rainforest cacti often have aerial roots that can collect water all the time when it rains (and it rains very often in South American forests).
The shape of cacti itself is an adaptation. You may have noticed that cacti have a barrel like or candle like shape. This allows for maximum internal volume with a minimum surface area, which is also very smart adaption as a cactus can store a lot of water and have a small external surface area to reduce water loss.
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