一直以來，中國考生都是對托福的長難句痛恨不已，以至于有人說出得長句者得天下這樣的言論，雖說其中有夸大的成分，但長句理解確實是托福閱讀非常重要的一環(huán)。SeatleUniversity的EliHinkel寫過這樣一篇文章，SimplicityWithoutElegance:FeaturesofSentencesinL1andL2AcademicTexts,這篇文章用數(shù)據(jù)分析了L1(firstlanguage)和L2(secondlanguage)使用者（基于ESL學(xué)生）在學(xué)術(shù)寫作時的特點，以下是其中的一個例子和數(shù)據(jù)：

Children’sopinionsarealwaysacontroversialtopic.Childrenareimportanttotheirparents,andsomebelievethatolderchildrenarematureenoughtoflourishtheiropinionswithoutparents’interference.Somearguethatchildrenareincapableofdistinguishingrightfromwrong,andthereforeitistheresponsibilityforparentstoconstructtheirchildren’sopinions.Thetwobeliefsarecontradictorytoeachother,andmanyparentsareanxiousaboutthisdilemma.(ExcerptedfromanativeChinesespeaker)

從以上中國學(xué)生寫的段落和數(shù)據(jù)分析不難看出亞洲學(xué)生在學(xué)術(shù)寫作時對于簡單句的使用是大于nativeEnglishspeakers的，換言之亞洲學(xué)生對于簡單句的把握是沒有問題的。有趣的是，如果讓一個處于intermidiatelevel的亞洲學(xué)生從一句托福閱讀長句中抽出最一般的簡單句時，結(jié)果卻是令人失望的。所以許多學(xué)生讀不懂長句，寫不好長句的現(xiàn)象是很普遍的。

那么到底怎樣才能基于文章理解長句呢？筆者的態(tài)度是SimplicityWithoutElegance,去尋求長句的simplicity,簡而言之就是把握basicunit,何為basicunit?無非就是組成長句的單詞和基本句型。就像你有了簡單的代數(shù)、幾何的基礎(chǔ)，才能去學(xué)習(xí)線性代數(shù)、立體幾何；明白了基本的投資學(xué)，才能夠涉及衍生金融。可是很多同學(xué)又會說，我的詞匯量不錯，簡單句掌握得也不錯，但是依然理解不了長句，那到底是什么環(huán)節(jié)出了問題？

一、基本策略

在分析如何看懂長句之前，先請讀者看下面一段話：

SocratesbeginsbyaskingGlaucontoimagineacaveinhabitedbyprisonerswhohavebeenimprisonedsincechildhood.Theseprisonersarechainedinsuchawaythattheirlegsandnecksarefixed,forcingthemtogazeatthewallinfrontofthem.Behindtheprisonersisafire,andbetweenthefireandtheprisonersisaraisedwalkway.Alongthiswalkwayisalowwall,behindwhichpeoplewalkcarryingobjects‘...includingfiguresofmenandanimalsmadeofwood,stoneandothermaterials.’Inthisway,thewalkingpeopleareparedtopuppeteersandthelowwalltothescreenoverwhichpuppeteersdisplaytheirpuppets.Thepeoplewalkingarebehindthewallonthewalkway,sotheirbodiesdonotcastshadowsonthewall,buttheobjectstheycarrydo.Theprisonerscannotseeanyofthisbehindthem,andareonlyabletoviewtheshadowscastuponthewallinfrontofthem.Thesoundsofthepeoplewalkingechoofftheshadowedwall,theprisonersfalselyperceivethesesoundstobethatoftheshadows.Socratessuggeststhat,fortheprisoners,theshadowsofartifactswouldconstitutereality,becausetheyhavenotseenthelight.Theywouldnotrealizethatwhattheyseeareshadowsoftheartifacts,whichareinspiredbyrealhumansandanimalsoutsideofthecave.

喜歡哲學(xué)的同學(xué)看到這段話應(yīng)該就知道講的是Plato的囚徒困境，簡而言之就是從小就被囚禁的囚犯只能看見他所面對的墻以及墻上所展現(xiàn)的現(xiàn)實生活中的事物的影子，然后把墻上的影子理解成他意識中的“現(xiàn)實”。這里我們不從哲學(xué)角度分析，而從閱讀理解的角度來看這段話，一眼看上去其實不難，大部分是細節(jié)性的描述。那我們應(yīng)該怎么讀詞、句子以及段落去smooth整段對話，使之變得更加易懂以節(jié)約閱讀的時間成本呢？這段話里的主題詞應(yīng)該歸結(jié)于law,如prisoner,imprison,chain,puppeteer（從puppy聯(lián)想，小狗很容易被操縱，到puppetize操縱，再轉(zhuǎn)到puppeteer操縱木偶的人），其他一些細節(jié)性描述的詞主要是對人的行為的描述，比較簡單，這樣我們其實就確定了單詞的基本話題范疇。下面進行句子的解剖。

1.Socrates（蘇格拉底）askGlauconaboutPrisoners.

2.Prisonerscannotseeanyofthisbehindthem,andareonlyabletoviewtheshadows.

3.Socratessuggeststhatshadowsofartifactswouldconstitutereality.

如果你在掃讀文章時，潛意識地在腦中自動給這三句話加下劃線，那么很快你就能知道這段話要傳遞的內(nèi)容。我們暫且不從哲學(xué)角度去探討whatonearthisreality,在托福學(xué)習(xí)中，同學(xué)們?nèi)绻患皶r轉(zhuǎn)身，自然會落入囚徒困境，你看到的只會是句子、段落和文章的shadow。而如果你跳出困境，去抽象化的理解文章，getthatsimplicity,那你就會知道什么是句子、段落和文章的reality.

下面我們轉(zhuǎn)到具體的三個例子來進一步闡述閱讀長句的基本策略：

1.Aseriesofmechanicalimprovementscontinuingwellintotheneenthcentury,includingtheintroductionofpedalstosustaintoneortosoftenit,theperfectionofametalframeandsteelwireofthefinestquality,finallyproducedaninstrumentcapableofmyriadtonaleffectsfromthemostdelicateharmoniestoanalmostorchestralfullnessofsound,fromaliquid,singingtonetoasharp,percussivebrilliance.

WordsTopic:Engineer(mechanical;soften;metal;finest;instrument)

Reality:這段話我們需要把握的是mechanicalimprovementscontinuingwellintotheneenthcenturyandfinallyproducedanawesomeinstrument.筆者不排斥對于語法錙銖必較的方法，但是筆者認為Soulofreadingishittingthatinstinct!就像BerkleeCollege訓(xùn)練出來的學(xué)生演唱soul未必會比一個不受訓(xùn)練的soulsinger好，原因就在于Theformercannotgetthatsoul!

2.Infact,throughouttheanimalkingdom,fromspongestocertaintypesofworms,shellfish,andallvertebrates(creaturespossessingaspinalcolumn),thereisevidencethattransplantsofcellsorfragmentsoftissuesintoananimalareacceptedonlyiftheyefromgicallypatibleorcloselyrelatedindividuals．

WordsTopic:Biology(shellfish;spinal;cell)

Reality:transplantsofcellsorfragmentsoftissuesintoananimalareacceptedonlyiftheyefromgicallypatibleorcloselyrelatedindividuals.

3.AfewartcollectorsTamesBowdoinIIIofBoston,WilliamByrdofVirginia,andtheAliensandHamiltonsofPhiladelphiaintroducedEuropeanarttraditionstothosecolonistsprivilegedtovisittheirgalleries,especiallyaspiringartists,andestablishedintheirrespectivemunitiestheideaofthevalueofartandtheneedforinstitutionsdevotedtoitsencouragement.

WordsTopic:Art;History(collectors;colonists;privileged;gallery)

Reality:AfewartcollectorsintroducedEuropeanarttraditionstothosecolonistsandestablished...