作为托福阅读必考题型之一的修辞目的题是童鞋们在掌握事实信息题和否定事实信息题后进一步提分必须突破的一种重要题型。不少童鞋做这种题的时候总会不自觉在心里吐槽：我哪知道作者是怎么想的呀？我又不是作者肚里的蛔虫！其实只要方法对，不是“作者肚里的蛔虫”也能做对题。
首先我们来看看修辞目的题的典型问法：
Why does the author mention/discuss …?
The author mentions/discusses … in order to ______.
The author uses … as an example of_____.
What is the purpose of paragraph X?
Which of the following best describes the relationship between paragraph 2and paragraph 3?
这种题的问法主要有三类，分别是：问作者在某段中提到某个detail的目的是什么；作者写某段话有什么目的；某几个段落间有什么联系。不管是哪种问法，归根结底都是问作者的写作意图。那么童鞋们究竟要如何做这类题目呢?
首先我们要知道托福文章结构有一个规律：claim(观点)+detail(s)，也就是说作者会给出一个观点，然后用一个或者若干个细节或者例子来支撑（或反驳）前面提出的观点。这个规律不单对整篇文章的文章结构适用，同时也符合大多数段落的段落结构。而修辞目的题就是问作者为什么要提到某个detail，正确答案一定是围绕claim来做文章的。我们一起来看一道例题，看看是不是这样。
题目
In paragraph 1, the experiment on the fungus Neurospora is mentionedto illustrate
A.the existence of weekly periods of activity as well as daily ones
B.the finding of evidence that organisms have internal clocks
C.the effect of space on the internal clocks of organisms
D.the isolation of one part of an organism's cycle for study
原文
Survival and successful reproduction usually require the activitiesof animals to be coordinated with predictable events around them.Consequently, the timing and rhythms of biological functions mustclosely match periodic events like the solar day, the tides, thelunar cycle, and the seasons. ........... Almost universally,biologists accept the idea that all eukaryotes (a category thatincludes most organisms except bacteria and certain algae) haveinternal clocks. By isolating organisms completely from externalperiodic cues, biologists learned that organisms have internalclocks. For instance, apparently normal daily periods of biologicalactivity were maintained for about a week bythefungus Neurospora when itwas intentionally isolated from all geophysical timing cues whileorbiting in a space shuttle. The continuation of biological rhythmsin an organism without external cues attests to its having aninternal clock.
解析
题干问的“thefungusNeurospora”出现在本段倒数第二句，这类题通常会把题干中问的detail在文章中highlight出来，定位比较容易。我们定位到的“Forinstance, apparently normal daily periods of biological activity weremaintained for about a week by thefungus Neurospora when itwas intentionally isolated from all geophysical timing cues whileorbiting in a space shuttle.”这句话中不知道大家有没有注意到开头的“forinstance”，意思是“例如”，也就是说定位句整句话其实就是一个例子（detail）的具体内容，那么根据我们前面说的段落结构规律我们往前找找claim，也就是这个例子的服务对象，前一句是“Byisolating organisms completely from external periodic cues,biologists learned that organisms have internalclocks.”这句话的重点在于learnedthat后面的部分，即：organismshave internal clocks. 眼尖的童鞋马上就发现了B选项（thefinding of evidence that organisms have internalclocks）说的不也就是生物有生物钟的事嘛。现在大家知道了吧，我们只要能找到题目问的detail论证或反驳的claim，这种题也就迎刃而解了！正确答案是B选项。
然而有时候，作者会用不止一个detail来支撑最前面的claim，比如：Claim+detail 1 + detail 2 + detail 3，这时，如果考官把detail3挑出来问你作者写它的目的是什么，显然答案就不是为了支持紧挨着它的前面那句话了，而应该是最前面的那个claim。对此，我们总结出了一个高效的做题步骤，帮助大家高效地找到这个claim：
做题步骤
找出题目中的关键词
按照detail所在的句子—该句前面1~2句—该句所在段落第一句的顺序找到claim。
根据找到的claim找到对应的正确选项
我们试着用这个步骤来解决下面这题：
题目
Why does the author discuss the Great Lakes in paragraph 5?
A、Todemonstrate the extent to which residence times vary from lake tolake
B、Toillustrate how residence times are calculated for specific lakes
C、Toargue that the residence time of a lake increases with area
D、Toemphasize that Lake Tahoe' s residence time is unusually long
原文
Residence times vary enormously. They range from a few days for smalllakes up to several hundred years for large ones; Lake Tahoe, inCalifornia, has a residence time of 700 years. The residence timesfor the Great Lakes of North America,namely, Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, are,respectively, 190,100,22,2.5, and 6 years. Lake Erie’s is thelowest: although its area is larger than Lake Ontario’s, its volumeis less than one-third as great because it is so shallow-less than 20meters on average.
解析
首先找出题目中的关键词theGreat Lakes，定位到该段第三句；
接着看第三句，发现第三句是具体说五大湖的residencetime,没有概括性的claim，于是往前看一句，发现第二句说的是residencetime的时间长度有好几种，也是detail，最后看到段落第一句说residencetime 有很大的不同，联系后面几个details，是不是有种焕然大悟的感觉呀？没错第二句和第三句都是具体的details用来论证该段第一句，这时我们再看看选项，马上我们就找到了第一句的同义替换A选项！你做对了吗？
以上就是曼哈顿英语老师为大家带来的托福阅读修辞目的题的解题技巧，掌握了这一题型的解题技巧，相信你在考试当中遇到这类题型就可以轻松应对了。