(三)長難句常考

　　考點一般集中在長難句上。這些句子的共同點就是同位語、定語和分句很多;主語和謂語之間的距離很遠，還時常伴有插入成分。主要考查句子之間的指代或邏輯關系，以引申推理題、事實細節題等多種形式出現。理解長難句的要領就是先找出主干，化繁為簡，然后再看各個分句或修飾成分與它的關系。

　　Example

　　In addition to this, there is the growing mobility of people since World War Ⅱ. As families move away from their stable community, their friends of many years, their extended family relationships, the informal flow of information is cut off, and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable. The almost unconscious flow of information about the simplest aspects of living can be cut off. Thus, things once learned subconsciously through the casual communications of the extended family must be consciously learned.(1995年Text 3)

　　The word “it” (Line 3, Paragraph 2) most probably refers to .

　　[A] the lack of stable communities

　　[B] the breakdown of informal information channels

　　[C] the increased mobility of families

　　[D] the growing number of people moving from place to place

　　首先把握整個句子的主干是：the informal flow of information is cut off。前面是as引導的狀語從句，their stable community, their friends of many years, their extended family relationships三個名詞短語都是from的賓語。with it介詞結構修飾confidence，表伴隨;按照代詞指代關系中的臨近一致原則和上下文的含義，it應該指代它前面的信息，即“非正式的信息流通被切斷”這句話。正確答案為[B]選項。

　　(四)轉折處或對比處常考

　　在歷年考題中，轉折和對比一直受到命題者的青睞。文章通過however，but，in fact，yet等邏輯詞進行轉折，轉折后的內容常常是作者真正表達的內容。對比常用unlike，different from，until，not so much as等詞語引導，考的是對比雙方的屬性。對轉折題，考生要著重把握作者轉折后的觀點。對于文章中出現的將兩種人或兩種觀點進行對比時，考生要準確把握每一種的特點，避免被張冠李戴的選項迷惑。

　　Example 1

　　Few creations of big technology capture the imagination like giant dams. Perhaps it is humankind’s long suffering at the mercy of flood and drought that makes the idea of forcing the waters to do our bidding so fascinating. But to be fascinated is also, sometimes, to be blind. Several giant dam projects threaten to do more harm than good. (1998年 Passage 1)

　　The third sentence of paragraph 1 implies that .

　　[A] people would be happy if they shut their eyes to reality

　　[B] the blind could be happier than the sighted

　　[C] over-excited people tend to neglect vital things

　　[D] fascination makes people lose their eyesight

　　該段前兩句指出人們熱衷建壩的事實和熱衷的自然原因;第三句but話鋒一轉，引出作者探討的主題。正確答案為[C]選項。

　　Example 2

　　An invisible border divides those arguing for computers in the classroom on the behalf of students’ career prospects and those arguing for computers in the classroom for broader reasons of radical educational reform. Very few writers on the subject have explored this distinction—indeed, contradiction—which goes to the heart of what is wrong with the campaign to put computers in the classroom.(1999年 Passage 3)

　　The author thinks the present rush to put computers in the classroom is .

　　[A] far-reaching

　　[B] dubiously oriented

　　[C] self-contradictory

　　[D] radically reformatory

　　作者將兩種態度做了對比，指出對于計算機課堂教學，人們在觀點上存在著一條無形的界限：一是以學生的就業前景為理由，另一種是以激進的教育改革為理由。因此[B]為答案。