在备考的过程中同学们一定见过这类题目，它总是问我们Why does the author mention/discuss/point out X? 或者The author mentions/discusses X in order to... 又或者The author uses X as an example of... 这三种问法都属于是修辞目的题的典型问法，它们考察的能力都是看我们能否识别出信息X在段落中的作用，那么想要知道信息X在段落中有什么作用，我们就需要了解段落展开的常见结构，了解段落结构对我们做这类题型来说非常有帮助，接下来大家就跟随我的步伐一起来看看常见的段落结构吧：

常见的段落结构是：作者在开头会给出一个观点句，然后后面跟着一些细节或例子来解释这个观点句，即：观点句+细节+（例子）的段落结构

托福阅读题型例题

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In the archaeological record of the Natufian period, from about 12,500 to 10,200 years ago, in the part of the Middle East known as the Levant - roughly east of the Mediterranean and north of the Arabian Peninsula - we see clear evidence of agricultural origins.[核心观点]//The stone tools of the Natufians included many sickle-shaped cutting blades that show a pattern of wear characteristic of cereal harvesting.[细节1:谷物收割工具]//Also, querns (hand mills) and other stone tools used for processing grain occur in abundance at Natufian sites, and many such tools show signs of long, intensive use.Along with the sickle blades are many grinding stones, primarily mortars and pestles of limestone or basalt. There is also evidence that these heavy grinding stones were transported over long distances, more than 30 kilometers in some cases, and this is not something known to have been done by people of preceding periods.[细节2:谷物加工工具]//Fishhooks and weights for sinking fishing nets attest to the growing importance of fish in the diet in some areas.[细节3:食物来源的多样化]//Stone vessels indicate an increased need for containers, but there is no evidence of Natufian clay working or pottery.[细节4:储存工具的增加]// Studies of the teeth of Natufians also strongly suggest that these people specialized in collecting cereals and may have been cultivating them and in the process of domesticating them, but they were also still hunter-foragers who intensively hunted gazelle and deer in more lush areas and wild goats and equids in more arid zones.[细节5:牙齿的研究表明了当时人们的饮食结构]

整个段落围绕着“在N时期的考古记录中，我们看到了农业起源的明确证据”这一核心观点来展开，后面例举了 5 类具体的考古发现，从不同维度来支撑核心观点。

👉细节1：镰刀状石刀的磨损痕迹符合谷物收割特征，直接指向了人类收割谷物的这一农业起源的证据；

👉细节2: querns, mortars和pestles这些研磨工具也直接表明了人类使用谷物研磨工具的这一农业起源的证据；

👉细节3: 鱼钩和用于下沉渔网的重物体现了人类饮食的多样化。在农业发展的初期，农业的收成很不稳定，人们为了填饱肚子需要各种各样的饮食来源来度过农业起源时期的食物来源不稳定时期，这一细节间接体现了农业起源的证据；

👉细节4：stone vessels这一储存工具的增加表明了农业起源时期对谷物储存需求的增加，直接体现了农业起源的证据；

👉细节5: 对Natufians的牙齿的研究表明了当时的人们专门收集谷物，并且种植和培育谷物，但同时由于农业发展的初期谷物收成的不稳定性也需要人们继续通过狩猎采集的生存方式来补充食物来源，展现了农业起源初期“农业 + 狩猎采集” 的混合生存模式的特点。

以上段落结构分析清楚之后，我们就知道了段落中的细节在段落中的功能或作用了，这些并列的细节都是为了解释或者说明段落开头的核心观点的，所以当题目问到我们作者为什么要写到"many such tools show signs of long, intensive use" in connection with Natufian agriculture这一细节时，我们就不难发现作者写这个细节是为了说明“In the archaeological record of the Natufian period, we see clear evidence of agricultural origins”这一核心观点的。于是下面这个题目选什么就迎刃而解啦，我们只需要找到段落的核心观点句的同义改写即可：

2.Why does the author say that "many such tools show signs of long, intensive use" in connection with Natufian agriculture?

A. To argue that the Natufian people consumed grains long before they included fish in their diet

B. To suggest that Natufian people could not replace their tools frequently because they had to travel very long distances to find grinding stones

C. To illustrate the sophistication of the Natufians in the design of stone tools

D. To support the claim that the archaeological record of the Natufian period shows clear evidence of agricultural origins

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D，同学们你们选对了吗？

相信大家都选出了正确答案，了解了这一题型的考察重点以及相应的做题方法能帮助我们更快更准确的做出这一类题型，在我们基本功相对比较薄弱的初期，学习不同题型的做题方法能帮助我们在不能完全看懂文章的前提下也能做对一些题目，当然段落展开的结构还有很多种，对应着修辞目的题的相应的解题思路，这些思路和方法以及相应的练习我们都会在课堂上和同学们一一呈现和练习。

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