托福阅读能力的提高不仅在于扫清阅读中的障碍，从理解的角度提高阅读速度，还在于对待托福阅读文章要讲求方法，明确不同信息的重要程度。这需要大家一方面在平时的阅读练习中把不懂的部分抽取出来弄懂，另一方面分析清楚文章的内容那些是重点，哪些属于非重点。所以前程百利小编带来关于人类活动影响地球自转速度的相关材料及分析。希望对大家有所帮助。
We have been talking about some of the effects that the human beings had on the earth. One you may not be aware of is that we actually begin to change the length of the day. (本句是文章的主旨句)In the other way to say,(“换句话说”是一个提示，这句话和上句话表达的是一个意思) one day is the amount of time the earth needs to spin (纺纱;吐(丝)，作(茧)，结网;快速旋转，这里是旋转)completely around an axis(轴，轴线), the imaginary (想像中的，假想的，虚构的)line around the center of the earth, from the north to the south. And of course there are a lot of physical (自然(界)的;身体的;物质的)causes that can affect the speed of the earth’s rotation(旋转，转动;轮流，循环), but there was only one that is direct result of the human activity. Since 1950, human beings have built about ten thousand artificial(人造的;人工的) reservoirs(蓄水池;贮液器) all over the world. These reservoirs have redistributed(重新分配;再分配) tremendous(极大的，巨大的) amount of the earth water. When they are used to be in the area near the equator, the imaginary line surround the middle of the earth, it’s now the reservoirs in the areas of different latitudes. The latitude matters(要紧，重要) because, well, thinking the earth and axis, the equator contains the areas on the earth that are the farthest away from axis. So water has been redistributed from the equator regions, then wherever the water is, to it’s close to the earth axis. It’s like when ice skaters perform spins when those skaters put their arms enclose to their bodies, they spin faster. (为了解释的更加清楚，利用滑冰者来类比：当冰上旋转的人将胳膊收回，距离身体更近时，旋转速度会提高)So the earth is spinning faster because the reservoirs have redistributed the water close to its axis. And because the earth was spinning faster, since 1950 the length of day has decreased by about 8 millionth of second.(以上5句都是在解释人类建造水库对地球自传速度的影响) I know that doesn’t sound like much but significant(重要的;有意义的) in that this is the first time that human beings ever had measurable(可量度的;可测量的) affect on the earth’s motion.(最后一句强调了人类对地球转动产生的可测影响是有重大意义的。)
分析：本段很长，如果没有耐心读文章的考生可能一看到文章会觉得没有头绪，产生反感。但是细细读起来发现文章的脉络很清晰。通过以上的分析，将原文抽取出来将重点标注一下如下：
We have been talking about some of the effects that the human beings had on the earth. One you may not be aware of is that we actually begin to change the length of the day. In the other way to say, one day is the amount of time the earth needs to spin completely around an axis, the imaginary line around the center of the earth, from the north to the south. And of course there are a lot of physical causes that can affect the speed of the earth’s rotation, but there was only one that is direct result of the human activity. Since 1950, human beings have built about ten thousand artificial reservoirs all over the world. These reservoirs have redistributed tremendous amount of the earth water. When they are used to be in the area near the equator, the imaginary line surround the middle of the earth, it’s now the reservoirs in the areas of different latitudes. The latitude matters because, well, thinking the earth and axis, the equator contains the areas on the earth that are the farthest away from axis. So water has been redistributed from the equator regions, then wherever the water is, to it’s close to the earth axis. It’s like when ice skaters perform spins when those skaters put their arms enclose to their bodies, they spin faster. So the earth is spinning faster because the reservoirs have redistributed the water close to its axis. And because the earth was spinning faster, since 1950 the length of day has decreased by about 8 millionth of second. I know that doesn’t sound like much but significant in that this is the first time that human beings ever had measurable affect on the earth’s motion.
通过小编以上的分析,我们可以学习到12个词汇，分析出文章(段落)的结构是总分总结构。更重要的是，大家在面临一篇有长度的文章时，首先不要发怵，从以上文章的分析可以看出，其实一篇文章中除了那些解释，补充说明的内容之外，真正重点的部分占据较少的篇幅。所以大家的任务是轻松的。只要看到重点，再长的文章也不会有困难。
以上就是前程百利小编带来的文章分析。希望大家仔细体会，在平时练习中也有目的地进行文章分析。预祝大家托福考试取得好成绩!
