对于备考托福的同学来说，“让步“这个概念一定不陌生。大家可能从培训班或是网上公开的学习资料中了解到托福独立写作需要用让步句使文章论点更加客观和丰满。但是大家知道吗？其实让步句也是各大留学标化考试阅读板块的一大考点，句子常见的标识包括：Of course,… To be sure, … Certainly, … It is true that…等，通用的辨识方式是语义本应顺承的地方却取反了。标化考试中常把这种让步句拎出来出目的题，问在文章中这句话具有什么功能。这种时候我们应该选什么选项呢？有没有帮助我们快速定位正确答案的方法呢？

      当然有，诀窍就是选那些带有admit/concede/acknowledge等承认意味动词的选项，因为让步句的本质目的就是承认对立方的合理性，然后再以退为进的加强文章立场。下面我们来看看在TOEFL，GRE和GMAT这三种考试的阅读文章是如何考察让步句这个知识点的。

（TPO07-Ancient Rome and Greece ）

While the Greek world had expanded along the Mediterranean sea lanes, the Roman world was assembled by territorial conquest. Of course, the contrast is not quite so stark: in Alexander the Great the Greeks had found the greatest territorial conqueror of all time; and the Romans, once they moved outside Italy, did not fail to learn the lessons of sea power. Yet the essential difference is undeniable. The key to the Greek world lay in its high-powered ships; the key to Roman power lay in its marching legions.

Why does the author mention “Alexander the Great” in the passage?

A. To acknowledge that Greek civilization also expanded by land conquest

B. To compare Greek leaders to Roman leaders

C. To give an example of a Greek leader whom Romans studied

D. To indicate the superior organization of the Greek military

      从阅读文章中我们可以看出，被问到的内容出现在以Of course引导出的让步句中，前一句说希腊沿着地中海航线扩张，然而罗马帝国则通过领土的占领而壮大，后面紧接着作让步说当然，它们的对比也不是那么的绝对，然后举例在亚历山大大帝时期，希腊找到了他们整个历史中最大的领地征服者；罗马人虽曾一度迁移到意大利之外，但他们却没有忘记海洋的力量。接着再进一步作出反驳加强文章立场：然而，他们之间本质的区别是不容否认的。希腊世界的关键是强大的船队，而罗马帝国的关键则是他们行进的部队。那么这个考察让步句功能的目的题，也就不难选出正确答案是A这个唯一一个动词带有承认意味的选项了（承认希腊文明也曾靠陆地战争扩张）。

同样，在G类考试中，让步句功能题也是阅读中的必考点，请大家看这道题。

An influential early view held that ecosystems contain niches for a limited number of species and that competition for resources among species—whether native or nonnative invading ones—determines ecosystems’ species composition. However, factors other than competition often help explain invading species’ success. For example, the American grey squirrel, often cited as a classic example of competitively superior invading species, was introduced in England in 1876 and now thrives, while the native red squirrel population has declined. Although scientists have found gray squirrels to be more efficient foragers than red ones, they also note that even before the gray squirrel’s arrival, Britain’s red squirrel populations had a periodic tendency to die out, only to be subsequently reintroduced. Furthermore, many gray squirrels are silent carriers of a disease fatal to red squirrels.

It can be inferred that the author of the passage mentions the efficiency with which gray squirrels forage primarily in order to

A. identify a factor that explains a certain phenomenon

B. call attention to an inconsistency in a particular theory

C. suggest that competition cannot be the factor responsible for a particular outcome

D. acknowledge a fact that appears to support a view that the author intends to qualify

E. cite evidence that is not consistent with an early influential view about species competition

这篇文章的主线是在反驳老观点，认为竞争以外的因素也常常能解释外来物种的胜利这一现象，并以外来的灰松鼠如何战胜本地的红松鼠为例支撑观点。在例证论述过程中，先让步提出虽然灰松鼠确实比红松鼠更善于觅食（标黑句），承认了灰松鼠的竞争力，紧接着反驳说其实在灰松鼠来之前，红松鼠就已经有灭绝的趋势了，并且灰松鼠自身还带有对红松鼠致命的疾病，从而支撑了作者论点即竞争以外的因素也能解释外来物种的胜利。显然，题目中问到的提到“美国灰松鼠比英国红松鼠更善于觅食”的主要目的即为D选项的“为了承认一个事实，该事实可以支持的是作者要修正的观点。

最后，与GRE阅读一样，在GMAT的考试中也会出现让步句考点，相信经过上面两题的详解，大家已经可以掌握这种题型的解题思路了，那么就来独立思考一下这道题目吧！

These researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memory consolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness, and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged.

Which of the following best describes the function of the highlighted sentence?

(A) It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation.

(B) It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable.

(C) It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation.

(D) It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation.

(E) It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.

这道题的正确答案是E选项，同样是唯一动词带有承认意味的选项，大家做对了吗？想了解更多的阅读技巧和解题方法，欢迎大家来报名我们的春季课程。

——杨继靓

美国新泽西州立大学 研究生

托福阅读，GRE阅读 GMAT阅读主讲

GRE语文162分

新东方教育科技集团GRE认证教师

剑桥大学英语教学能力证书（TKT）