第一部分 長難句的理解
長難句的明顯特點就是句子比較長，一個句子往往有三、四行，甚至一個句子就是一段。許多應試者在閱讀時經常會陷入一個很長的句子中，不知道它到底講了些什么。長難句之所以長，主要有下面幾個原因：
1. 從句較長：一個主句帶多個從句，從句中又有從句。
應對方法：首先找到主句的主體部分（即主語、謂語和賓語），再確定從句的主體部分，如果從句中還有從句，在確定下面一層從句的主、謂、賓。注意閱讀時一層一層進行，先把同一層次的內容看完，再看下一層次的內容。
2. 插入成分較長：插入語的出現有明顯標志：用雙破折號與主句隔開或者用雙逗號與主句隔開。
應對方法：讀句子時，先不要理會插入語，先把主句的意思看完。然后再看插入部分。
例如： Today, stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn, among other things, that you might - surprise! - fall off.
這個句子的閱讀順序應該是：第一層stepladders carry labels several inches long that，第二層是that warn that you might fall off，最后再看兩個插入的部分among other things和surprise!
3. 分詞狀語、獨立主格結構的干擾：分詞狀語就是指用doing或done引導的伴隨狀語、原因狀語等；獨立主格結構有時由with引導，看似主謂結構，但實際上并沒有真正的謂語部分。
應對方法：主句最重要的特征就是有完整的主謂結構，尤其是獨立的謂語部分。如果沒有獨立的謂語部分，那它就不是句子，而是分詞短語或者獨立主格結構。
在實際的閱讀過程中，我們常常會碰到包含上面三種情況的超復雜句子，即：一個句子中既有從句又有插入成分，還有分詞狀語或者獨立主格結構。閱讀這種句子的正確方法是：抓住獨立的謂語部分從而區別出主句和分詞狀語，再根據從句的連接詞（有時無連接詞）區分主句和從句，層層理解，插入語插在哪個層次中就放在哪個層次中理解。
以下附上一些熱點的難句鏈接，供大家練習參考：
- 1 The producers of packaged products argue strongly against changing sizes of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in the trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by endless changes of package sizes, materials, shape, art work, and net weights that are used for improving a product's market position.
- 2 A study of drugstore（雜貨店）and supermarket shelves will convince any observer that all possible size and shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are in use at the same time and, as the package journals show, week by week, there is never any hesitation in introducing a new size and shape of box or bottle when it aids in product differentiation.
- 3 Dying patients especially ---who are easiest to mislead and most often kept in the dark---can then not make decisions about the end of life: about whether or not they should enter a hospital, or have surgery; about where and with whom they should sped their remaining time; about how they should bring their affairs to a close and leave.
- 4 I think that after I spent my time under water, the most important thing that I came back with was the realization that it is now possible for men to live permanently where once they could not even venture for a second, and this is of tremendous importance because if you realize what it means that advancing technology now has peeled off a layer of ocean water 200meters thick and it opens up vast new lands and resources and knowledge which is only 200meters away and which has been there waiting for us for centuries.
- 5 The manufacturer who increases the unit price of his product by changing his package size to lower the quantity delivered can, without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, bags, and tins that will contain even 4-ounce, 8-ounce, one-pound, two-pound quantities of breakfast foods, cake mixes, etc.
