第一段：What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph ， the steamboat and the weaving machine?
原文如下：We live in a society in which the medicinal and social use of substances (drugs) is pervasive：an aspirin to quiet a headache， some wine to be sociable， coffee to get going in the morning， a cigarette for the nerves.
如果句子中间有两个破折号，如In Australia-where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part-other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia。
分号前后是并列关系，如果句中有一个分号，则表明分号前后语义相同，如1997年阅读中有道题目问69.The sentence"This is no flash in the pan" (Line 5， Paragraph 3) means that ________。回到原文中：This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years， inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America。
那么根据分号前后语义相同我们很容易选出正确答案为[A] the low inflation rate will last for some time。
如果句中出现两个或以上的分号，则表明分号前后的东西在结构上是并列的。如96年第四篇中
Among the many shaping factors， I would single out the country's excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors ; and above all the American genius for nonverbal ， "spatial" thinking about things technological。
5、引号
引号有三种作用①引用，②强调，③讽刺
尤其需要注意的是第三种表示讽刺的作用，因为它往往暗示着作者并不认同的态度。比如"Scientific" creationism， which is being pushed by some for"equal time" in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are given， is based on religion， not science。这句话中creationism前面的Scientific加了引号，就表明作者认为创始论其实是不科学的。
那么题目"Creationism" in the passage refers to ________.
[A] evolution in its true sense as to the origin of the universe
[B] a notion of the creation of religion
[C] the scientific explanation of the earth formation
[D] the deceptive theory about the origin of the universe中正确答案就显然为[D]了。
比如In order to "change lives for the better" and reduce "dependency，"George Osborne， Chancellor of the Exchequer， introduced the "upfront work search" scheme。中，Chancellor of the Exchequer就可以跳过不读。
例如：Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions.像这样括号在句号的里面，解释的就是离其最近的名词。
像Anyway， the townsfolk can't understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1，431 seats were 94 percent occupied all year long and this year they'll do better.)这个例句中，括号在句号的外面，解释的就是前面的一句话。
