托福的文章长度大多在300-400字之间。以平均每篇读10分钟计算，按照每分钟阅读150字的速度，一篇文章从头到尾通读，至少需2-3分钟。这可了解文章的大意，但不一定保证读得透彻。在第一遍通读的过程中，考生不要期望每个字都一定要理解，遇到不懂的字不必多逗留或苦思冥想可能的意思，这样会浪费时间的。只需一直往下看，用前面介绍到的skimming原则，掌握文章的主旨即可。这个过程中，文章的第一段，尤其是每段的第一句话往往起着提纲挈领或起承转合的作用，是阅读时要多留心的地方。以下面的考题为例:

　　Questions 1-9

　　Line

　　In 1903 the members of the governing board of the University of Washington. in Seattle. engaged a firm of landscape architectsspecialists in the design of outdoor environments——OImsted Brothers of Brookline Massachusetts——to advise them on an Line appropriate layout for the university grounds. The plan impressed the university officials 5 and in time many of its recommendations were implemented. City officials in Seattle the largest city in the northwestern United States were also impressed for they employed the same organization to study Seattle's public park needs. John Olmsted did the investigation and subsequent report on Seattle's parks. He and his brothers believed that parks should be adapted to the local topography utilize the area's trees and shrubs and be available to 10 the entire community. They especially emphasized the need for natural serene settings where hurried urban dwellers could periodically escape from the city. The essence of the Olmsted park plan was to develop a continuous driveway twenty miles long that would tie together a whole series of parks playgrounds and parkways. There would be local parks and squares too but all of this was meant to supplement the major driveway15 which was to remain the unifying factor for the entire system. In November of 1903 the city council of Seattle adopted the Olmsted Report and it automatically became the master plan for the city's park system. Prior to this report Seattle's park development was very limited and funding meager. All this changed after the report. Between 1907 and 1913 city voters approved special funding measures 20 amounting to $4,000,000. With such unparalleled sums at their disposal with the Olmsted guidelines to follow and with the added incentive of wanting to have the city at its best for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909 the Parks Board bought aggressively. By 1913 Seattle had 25 parks amounting to 1400 acres as well as 400 acres in playgrounds pathways boulevards and triangles. More lands would be added in the 25 future but for all practical purposes it was the great land surge of 1907-1913 that established Seattle's park system.

　　通读过一遍之后，即使没能记住很多细节问题，也应对出现多次的city's park system，plan等字有较深的印象。有经验的阅读者会对文章中频频出现的年代概念比较敏感。一般年代的顺序出现，通常文章的主题都是在描述某件事物的发展过程。可以基本了解的是，这篇文章是讲述有关城市公园发展历程的。