托福阅读文章原型大都选自美国大学生使用的教材或者学术期刊，文章的选材范围极其广泛，涉及有自然科学包括：天文学、地质学、生物学、气象学等;人文科学包括：艺术美学、考古学、语言学、文学等;社会科学包括：政治学、经济学、教育学、人类学等学科。从选材范围可知道：托福阅读的文章内容不仅对同学们的知识存储量有一定的要求，同时对于我们的理解能力有一定的要求。
首先托福阅读分四个阶段：
第一阶段：不关心句子的意义，只关心语言符号，比如：猫坐在帽子上飞;黑色的太阳
第二阶段：获取主题和重点信息，即大的框架结构
第三阶段：能找出观点理论并确定观点的支撑细节;能分析整体框架。
第四阶段：针对某个特定主题，在很多相关资料中寻找需要的信息。
为什么需要这四个阅读阶段呢?是由阅读的三个特征来决定的：
1. 多书面语：词汇句式复杂
2. 论证严密：观点阐述严密，逻辑环环相扣
3. 结构复杂：多观点结构
下面通过一个段落具体讲解。3分钟来读以下段落：
Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct about 65million years ago as part of a mass extinction known as the K-T event, because it is associated with a geological signature known as the K-T boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation found in various parts of the world (K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous, derived from the German name Kreidezeit).S1 Many explanations have been proposed for why dinosaurs became extinct. S2 For example, some have blamed dinosaur extinction on the development of flowering plants, which were supposedly more difficult to digest and could have caused constipation or indigestion—except that flowering plants first evolved in the Early Cretaceous, about 60 million years before the dinosaurs died out.S3 In fact, several scientists have suggested that the duck bill dinosaurs and homed dinosaurs, with their complex battery of grinding teeth, evolved to exploit this new resource of rapidly growing flowering plants.S4 Othershave blamed extinction on competition from the mammals, which alleged lyate all the dinosaur eggs—except that mammals and dinosaurs appeared at the same time in the Late Triassic, about 190 million years ago, and there is no reason to believe that mammals suddenly acquired a taste for dinosaur egg safter 120 million years of coexistence. S5Some explanations (such as the one stating that dinosaurs all died of diseases) fail because there is no way to scientifically test them, and they cannot move beyond the realm of speculation and guesswork.S6
全段一共241个字，6句话，平均每句话都40个字左右。
拿第一句话Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct about 65 million years ago as part of a mass extinction known as the K-T event, because it is associated with a geological signature known as the K-T boundary, usually a thin band of sedimentation found in various parts of the world (K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous, derived from the German name Kreidezeit)为例子，这句话出现了K-T boundary，sedimentation，Cretaceous等词，不是常见词汇，而且这句话中包含了原因状语从句(becauseit is associated...)，非谓语(known as.../found in...),同位语(usually a thin band of sedimentation...)，插入语(K is the tradition abb...)，所以总结一下，就是生词多，句式复杂。
第二点观点阐述严密，逻辑环环相扣。这一段第一句话的意思是恐龙灭绝了，紧接着第二句话说到Many explanations have been proposed 。第一个explanation是把恐龙的灭绝归咎于开花植物的发展，但是(except)开花植物在恐龙灭绝前6千万年前就已经进化了，进而否定了恐龙因为开花植物而灭绝这一解释。后面in fact这一句话更加证实了恐龙不是因为开花植物而灭绝。第二个explanation是因为哺乳动物吃恐龙蛋导致恐龙灭绝，但是(expect)在其灭绝前，恐龙和哺乳动物共处了1.2亿年，进而否定了恐龙因为哺乳动物而灭绝。最后一句话Some explanations fail既做了总结，又表达出态度：一些原因不能解释恐龙灭绝，呼应开头。
第三点结构复杂，多观点结构。第一句话Dinosaurs rapidly became extinct 呼应主题，交代背景。紧接着Many explanations...，for example后面来列举解释恐龙灭绝的原因。some.....原因解释1，破折号后面except表示转折，否定前面的原因;in fact 表示递进关系，进一步解释说明前面一句话的意思---否定恐龙灭绝是因为开花植物。others...原因解释2，破折号后面except表示转折，否定原因2。最后一句话Some explanations fail总结上文，明确表达出态度。整段是分(some......others......)——总(explanations fail)结构。
