On June 17, 1774, the officials from Maryland and Virginia held a talk with the Indiansof the Six Nations. The Indians were invited to send boys to William and Mary College. In aletter the next day they refused the offer as follows:
本段中，第一、二句描述的是一个具体事件，信息量不大，可略看，而只需对划线部分有一点印象即可;第三句话才表述了本文的话题：a letter… refused the offer。
B. 区分前期铺垫和真实意图
We know that you have a high opinion of the kind of learning taught in your colleges, and that the costs of living of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinced that you mean to do us good by your proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you must know that different nations have different ways of looking at things, and you will therefore not be offended if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same as yours.
本段第一、二句用的句型为We know that…和We are convinced that…，在文中起的是前期铺垫的作用，而第三句But引出的different nations have different ways of looking at things才是作者要表达的观点。这也是我们常说的but、however等转折词之后经常出考点。同学们在阅读时，一定要将注意力放在这些表达“真实意图”的句子上。
In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters. (主题句) We're pushing our kids to get good grade, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I've twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids' college background as a prize demonstrating how well we've raised them. But we can't acknowledge that our obsession is more about us than them. So we've contrived various justifications that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn't matter much whether Aron and Nicole go to Stanford.
Q: Why does the author say that parents are the true fighters in the college-admissions wars?
A) They have the final say in which university their children are to attend.
B) They know best which universities are most suitable for their children.
C) They have to carry out intensive surveys of colleges before children make an application.
D) They care more about which college their children go to than the children themselves.
根据题目要求，同学们应获取的信息是，为什么在高考录取大战中家长们才是真正的战士?根据关键词true fighters定位到本段第一句，也是该段的主题句(In the college-admissions wars, we parents are the true fighters.)。随后作者提供了一些与选择无关的次要细节(第二句)。做题时，应根据要求首先排除这些无关细节，节约时间。然后排除干扰推理的因素，如原文中提到survey thebattlefield(第三句)，貌似与选项C中carry out intensive surveys相匹配，然而读到第五句时(But we can't acknowledge that our obsession is more about us than them)，才恍然发现之前的第二、三、四句都只是铺垫信息，作者的真实目的是想表达“我们对于上大学的痴迷程度远大于孩子们”，因此同学们可以得到这样的结论“之所以说家长才是高考录取大战中的真正战士，是因为家长比孩子们更关心选择哪所大学”，与选项D的陈述一致。