小编介绍过托福阅读可以“悦”读，文中详细讲解了备考托福阅读时该怎么分析文章。本文则将继续“悦“读过程，实例讲解在拿到一篇一眼看过去内容比较“杂”的托福阅读文章怎样进行耐心分析，最后豁然开朗。
Trade and the Ancient Middle East
Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges. This has been so since ancient times, partly due to the geology of the area, which is mostly limestone and sandstone, with few deposits of metallic ore and other useful materials. Ancient demands for obsidian (a black volcanic rock useful for making mirrors and tools) led to trade with Armenia to the north, while jade for cutting tools was brought from Turkistan, and the precious stone lapis lazuli was imported from Afghanistan. One can trace such expeditions back to ancient Sumeria, the earliest known Middle Eastern civilization. Records show merchant caravans and trading posts set up by the Sumerians in the surrounding mountains and deserts of Persia and Arabia, where they traded grain for raw materials, such as timber and stones, as well as for metals and gems.
Reliance on trade had several important consequences. Production was generally in the hands of skilled individual artisans doing piecework under the tutelage of a master who was also the shop owner. In these shops differences of rank were blurred as artisans and masters labored side by side in the same modest establishment, were usually members of the same guild and religious sect, lived in the same neighborhoods, and often had assumed (or real) kinship relationships. The worker was bound to the master by a mutual contract that either one could repudiate, and the relationship was conceptualized as one of partnership.
This mode of craft production favored the growth of self-governing and ideologically egalitarian craft guilds everywhere in the Middle Eastern city. These were essentially professional associations that provided for the mutual aid and protection of their members, and allowed for the maintenance of professional standards. The growth of independent guilds was furthered by the fact that surplus was not a result of domestic craft production but resulted primarily from international trading； the government left working people to govern themselves, much as shepherds of tribal confederacies were left alone by their leaders. In the multiplicity of small-scale local egalitarian or quasi-egalitarian organizations for fellowship, worship, and production that flourished in this laissez-faire environment, individuals could interact with one another within a community of harmony and ideological equality, following their own popularly elected leaders and governing themselves by shared consensus while minimizing distinctions of wealth and power.
The mercantile economy was also characterized by a peculiar moral stance that is typical of people who live by trade—an attitude that is individualistic, calculating, risk taking, and adaptive to circumstances. As among tribespeople, personal relationships and a careful weighing of character have always been crucial in a mercantile economy with little regulation, where one's word is one's bond and where informal ties of trust cement together an international trade network. Nor have merchants and artisans ever had much tolerance for aristocratic professions of moral superiority, favoring instead an egalitarian ethic of the open market, where steady hard work, the loyalty of one's fellows, and entrepreneurial skill make all the difference. And, like the pastoralists, Middle Eastern merchants and artisans unhappy with their environment could simply pack up and leave for greener pastures—an act of self-assertion wholly impossible in most other civilizations throughout history.
Dependence on long-distance trade also meant that the great empires of the Middle East were built both literally and figuratively on shifting sand. The central state, though often very rich and very populous, was intrinsically fragile, since the development of new international trade routes could undermine the monetary base and erode state power, as occurred when European seafarers circumvented Middle Eastern merchants after Vasco da Gama's voyage around Africa in the late fifteenth century opened up a southern route. The ecology of the region also permitted armed predators to prowl the surrounding barrens, which were almost impossible for a state to control. Peripheral peoples therefore had a great advantage in their dealings with the center, making government authority insecure and anxious.
看文章标题Trade and the Ancient Middle East首先做到心中有数：中东、贸易、历史
一、专攻开头段
来看第一段：
Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges. This has been so since ancient times, partly due to the geology of the area, which is mostly limestone and sandstone, with few deposits of metallic ore and other useful materials. Ancient demands for obsidian (a black volcanic rock useful for making mirrors and tools) led to trade with Armenia to the north, while jade for cutting tools was brought from Turkistan, and the precious stone lapis lazuli was imported from Afghanistan. One can trace such expeditions back to ancient Sumeria, the earliest known Middle Eastern civilization. Records show merchant caravans and trading posts set up by the Sumerians in the surrounding mountains and deserts of Persia and Arabia, where they traded grain for raw materials, such as timber and stones, as well as for metals and gems.
1. 确定学术类型：
由Trade，urban economy，merchant等词确定本文属于经济学范畴，was,Ancient,Records又能够确定文章整体上说明的是古代中东的贸易，所以又可以归类为历史大类。
2. 作者观点
看第一段，作者是在说明一些历史事实。
Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East.
贸易成为了中东地区城市经济的主要支柱。
due to, led to等词显示作者是分析了一些贸易繁盛的原因的。
段落主旨相关句：
Trade was the mainstay of the urban economy in the Middle East, as caravans negotiated the surrounding desert, restricted only by access to water and by mountain ranges.
二.明确文章结构
1.段落分析
第二段：
关键句很明确：Reliance on trade had several important consequences.
过于依赖贸易造成了一些重大影响。
本段应该是在讲有什么影响，主要句子In these shops differences of rank were blurred as artisans and masters labored side by side in the same modest establishment, were usually members of the same guild and religious sect, lived in the same neighborhoods, and often had assumed (or real) kinship relationships说阶级差异不明显了什么的。
确定段落大意：引入贸易带来的一个影响→阶级差异淡化
第三段：
关键句：This mode of craft production favored the growth of self-governing and ideologically egalitarian craft guilds everywhere in the Middle Eastern city.
这种生产模式有助于自主管理制度的发展。
之后，对自主管理解释了一番，又在最后一句描述了当地这种自主管理的景况。
确定段落大意：引入贸易带来又一影响→自主管理制度发展
带四段：
关键句：The mercantile economy was also characterized by a peculiar moral stance that is typical of people who live by trade.
商品经济也通过靠贸易为生的商人所秉持的特定道德立场表现出来.
之后就是在讲这些商人的各种优秀品质。
确定段落大意：引入贸易带来影响三→人们有普遍的道德立场
第五段：
关键句：Dependence on long-distance trade also meant that the great empires of the Middle East were built both literally and figuratively on shifting sand. 对远距离贸易的依赖也意味着伟大的中东帝国建立在这片飘忽不定却又无比真实的沙土之中。之后将怎么怎么不定、脆弱、政府anxious等等。
还出现和第一段首句相似的开头说明Reliance on trade had several important consequences.
确定段落大意：引入贸易带来影响四→中东帝国政权不稳定。
3. 文章框架
分析完每一段的段意之后，就能得出文章框架了。
第一段说明贸易是中东支柱，原因；之后分别说明这样的经济状况在中东造成的四个影响。
三、确定文章大意
中东贸易是中东地区的经济支柱，对中东的影响是阶级差异淡化、自主管理制度发展、人们形成普遍的道德立场以及中东帝国政权不稳定。
好了，按照这样的步骤去分析一篇文章，可能文章就不是像刚看到时那样感觉很枯燥，无从下手了。希望本文的内容能够帮助大家备考，前程百利祝大家都能取得理想的考试成绩。
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