信号词是联接上下语篇的单词或者短语，起到了连贯作用。信号词在手，还怕找不到重点?高分不是手到擒来吗~

　　主旨

　　一般出现在讲座的开头，例如：

　　Last time, we talked about ...

　　Today, we will be discussing ...

　　We’ve been talking about ...

　　Today, let’s discuss ...

　　Continuing ...

　　Today, we will ...

　　但是要注意有些时候在点明主题之前会提到别的信息，只要记住“today”后的才是重点就行了，千万不要被误导了!

　　举例

　　在托福听力中，教授也会举例进行说明。在说明事物或事理时，举出一些准确恰当，有代表性的例子，就能化抽象为具体，化繁为简，把事理浅显化，通俗易懂。

　　例子一定要好好听，需要记下来，但是例子只是用来论证观点，使观点更充分的，因此观点才是考点，态度转变常考!

　　for instance

　　such as

　　Namely

　　as an example

　　take example for

　　Say

　　Consider

　　Take

　　Let us look at

　　Think of ...

　　It is just like ...

　　例：Roman pottery for example, it was typically glazed so it’s very shiny, easy to see against the soil. But, pottery of the early middle ages was brown or grey and it wasn’t glazed, so you’d have trouble spotting it at an excavation. It’s kind of camouflaged against the soil. So it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusions about population size based on the available evidence.

　　例子中提到了pottery的例子，对比了罗马时期和中世纪早期的pottery的区别，例证的提示词用到的是“for example”。

　　解释

　　下定义也是讲座中常见的内容，被定义的概念是讲座的关键内容，需要做笔记!

　　what I mean is

　　All that means is

　　which is / that is

　　in other words

　　...is referred to as

　　...is named/known/called

　　对比

　　对于对比信号词，考生除了注意比较级和Z高 级之外，还要多注意对比和类比。

　　记好口诀：对比听不同的地方，类比听相同的地方。

　　We should not confuse A and B

　　A is different from B

　　compare to

　　Contrast

　　Unlike

　　similar to

　　in contrast to

　　differently

　　例：Graphene is the strongest material ever made. Its strength is due to its perfect crystal and atomic structure, which looks like chicken wire under a microscope actually.You could compare graphene to diamond because they’re both made of carbon atoms that are arranged in a simple and regular pattern.But unlike diamond, graphene is incredibly flexible akin to plastic wrap.And because of its atomic structure, graphene is also an outstanding heat conductor.Electrons speed through this material much faster than they can through other materials.

　　石墨烯是有史以来Z坚固的材料。它的坚固是由于它完美的晶体和原子结构，在显微镜下看起来像铁丝网。在介绍石墨烯的时候通过类比钻石来进一步说明了它的柔韧性和导电性。

　　转折

　　转折是对前文的否定，转折后面出现的信息往往更需要关注，即教授最终想要强调的点，也是考点出现的地方。

　　通过先陈述一部分事实或者抛出一个问题，再来一个转折信号词，从而提出真正的观点。

　　But

　　However

　　Nevertheless

　　While

　　Yet

　　Unless

　　except for

　　Actually

　　in fact

　　to tell you the truth

　　例：But there’s another challenge, the industrial production of graphene sheets.The adhesive tape method is good for producing small samples for research purposes but we need a reliable way to mass produce graphene in large sheets so it can be sold to companies that manufacture transistors for example.