備考乾貨：託福閱讀中的三類標點符號
在託福閱讀中出現較多的標點符號有破折號、冒號和分號，爲了幫助托福考生更好的學習，下面各舉一例說說這三類標點符號的作用和用法，希望可以對大家有幫助。
在託福閱讀考試中，在一般的主從句之間加入標點符號，往往可以插入更多的內容，從而呈現在我們面前一句超長的句子(詞數35+甚至40+)。另外，對英文標點不熟悉的同學可能會被這類句子弄暈。不過其實，這種句子看懂之後其實比長難句的修飾成分要簡單。 託福閱讀 出現較多的標點符號有破折號、冒號和分號，下面小編各舉一例說說。
破折號用在託福文章中，主要是插入同位語的功能，如下例：
The new candid photography—unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken—confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats.
這種情況破折號中的，內容可以視爲破折號前名詞的一個補充說明，理解句子結構時候完全可以把這部分扔掉，於是分析如下：
Topic：Candid photography confirmed scientific results.
Details：Method of candid photography(contents between dash lines)
New compositional formats thanks to the radical cropping of images(meanwhile)
英文中冒號的用法有一點值得注意，冒號前必須是具有完整結構的句子。具體用法在這裏。
冒號之後的內容主要是解釋說明冒號前的內容，如下例：
Scholars believe that this cooperation allowed people to contend with a patchy environment in which precipitation and other resources varied across the landscape: if you produce a lot of food one year, you might trade it for pottery made by a distant ally who is having difficulty with crops—and the next year, the flow of goods might go in the opposite direction.
冒號後提出了一種可能的情況，用以佐證冒號前合作產生競爭的論斷，於是分析如下：
Topic:Scholar believe cooperation allowed people to contend with the environment.
Details：Environment: precipitation and other resources varies across the landscape.
Illustrate how people act in this kind of cooperation by one example, say exchange spare crops with pottery.
分號的作用很簡單，常用於分離沒有連接詞連接的句子。通常用在非常嚴肅正式的文體中， 託福寫作 中不太推薦使用。在實際閱讀中，我們只要把分號後面的內容看成另外一句句子即可，如下例：
Since practically all the solar system's mass resides in the Sun, this similarity in chemistry means that chondrites have average solar system composition, except for the most volatile elements; they are truly lumps of nebular matter, probably similar in composition to the matter from which planets were assembled.
標點符號儘管看上去不起眼，但是在句子中它起到了很多的作用，也會幫助我們理解句子。預祝大家托福考試取得好成績。
本內容爲滬江英語整理，禁止轉載。
