谈到GMAT阅读，考生第一反应是遍地长难句，雾里看花，无从下手。此话不假，举一例为证：
Faue stresses the importance of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level, contributions that made women's ultimate fate within the city's labor movement all the more poignant: as unions reached the peak of their strength in the 1940s, the community base that had made their success possible and to which women's contributions were so vital became increasingly irrelevant to unions' institutional life.
该例句的分析见本文最后，考生朋友可以先试着自己分析，再参考文末的分析。从这句话我们能够瞥见GMAT阅读语言的特征：修饰多，嵌套多，句子主干分散。
很多考生看到这样的句子便头疼，却忽视了一个更重要的问题：GMAT考试并非语言考试，而是学术能力测试。既然是学术能力测试，考察的侧重必然不落在句义本身（尽管语义的理解确实是基础），而更多落在对考生逻辑思维的考察，这一点在阅读文章中体现为句语句，段与段之间的逻辑关系。
逻辑关系何其多：从大类上分有同向和反向，同向细分下去包括并列、递进等；反向细分下去包括让步、转折等。虽说逻辑关系名目繁多，但不要忘记它们的共同点：从根儿上说，它们都是“关系”；仔细想来，关系可以理解为一条纽带，纽带的端口（更多是两端，可能是多端，便于读者理解，以下均写为两端）主要有如下几种情况：
1.纽带（关系）两端是两个或更多东西（这里是广义的东西，包括具体的人、物，也包括抽象的概念），纽带串联起这些东西在同一时空中的互动；
2.纽带（关系）两端是两个或更多东西，纽带串联起这些东西不同时空中的互动；
3.纽带（关系）两端是同一个东西，纽带串联起同一个东西在不同时空中的互动；
当我们用这样的思路去理解“确定句子/段落的逻辑关系”这个抽象动作，那么判断文章中的逻辑便有了可操作性的对应：只需想想文章中什么样的词能最清晰地体现这条纽带。接下来，我们依次看几个代表上述三种关系实例，读者朋友可以和我一起作分析。
e.g.1
According to a theory advanced by researcher Paul Martin, the wave of species extinctions that occurred in North America about 11,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene era, can be directly attributed to the arrival of humans, i.e., the Paleoindians, who were ancestors of modern Native Americans. However, anthropologist Shepard Krech points out that large animal species vanished even in areas where there is no evidence to demonstrate that Paleoindians hunted them.
接受过训练的考生朋友，应该能较快地发现，判断上面这段话逻辑的关键，在于第二句开头的However，however前的这句是Paul Martin的观点，however猴的这句是Shepard Krech的观点，他们关于人类到来和物种灭绝的关系，存在异议。
显然，这段句话表明了两个学者关于同一个话题的对立看法，学者的观点代表关系纽带的两端，而However这个词充当了关系纽带。
e.g.2
What is striking about these lizards is not that coexisting species differ in morphology and habitat use (such differences are common among closely related sympatric species), but that the same three types of habitat specialists occur on each of four islands: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Jamaica.
判断上面这段话逻辑的关键在于一个并列结构not A but B，A和B构成了对比，结合语义便是：关于这些蜥蜴，令人惊讶的不是A，而是B。A谈到“共存的物种，其形态和栖息地使用不同”，B谈到“相同栖息地类型的这三种蜥蜴存在于每个岛上。”
显然，这段话描述了两个现象A和B，人们对A和B的态度不一致，两个现象A和B代表关系纽带的两端，not……but……的结构充当了关系纽带。
e.g.3
Scientists speculate that early in lunar history, when large impactors struck the Moon's surface, causing millions of cubic kilometers of crustal debris to be ejected, denser material from the Moon's mantle rose up beneath the impactors almost immediately, compensating for the ejected material and thus leaving no low gravity anomaly in the resulting basin. Later, however, as the Moon grew cooler and less elastic, rebound from large impactors would have been only partial and incomplete. Thus today such gravitational compensation probably would not occur: the outer layer of the Moon is too cold and stiff.
判断上面这段话逻辑的关键在于时间指示词，early in lunar history……Later, however……Thus today：在月球历史的早期……但是后来，随着月球逐渐变寒冷，变坚硬……所以今天这样的重力补偿也许不会出现：月球外侧太寒冷，太坚硬。可以看出，这段话在描述月球在不同时期的状态，且状态之间存在差异。
所以，这段话描述了月球在三个时期的状态：A，B，C，三个状态代表了关系纽带的三个分支，early……Later, however……Thus today充当了关系纽带，A和B之间存在差异，根据A和B，推断出今天月球的状态。
从上述实例可以看出，逻辑关系的梳理依赖于指示词的把握。总结起来，考生朋友需要特别留意如下几类表达关系的指示词：
a. 关联词：however, yet, but, although, nonetheless, moreover, thus, not…but… etc.
b. 时间指示词：early, later, recently, currently, etc.
c. 数量指示词：some, many, one, another, etc.
逻辑关系作为句子和句子之间，段落和段落之间的粘合剂，使得文章成为上下连贯的整体，考生朋友在关注长难句语义和语法结构的同时，需要抽出时间训练梳理句子之间的逻辑关系。
P.S. 本文开头长难句的分析
Faue stresses the importance of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level, contributions that made women's ultimate fate within the city's labor movement all the more poignant: as unions reached the peak of their strength in the 1940s, the community base that had made their success possible and to which women's contributions were so vital became increasingly irrelevant to unions' institutional life.
（1）意群划分
Faue stresses the importance/ of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level,/ contributions that made women's ultimate fate within the city's labor movement all the more poignant:/ as unions reached the peak of their strength in the 1940s,/ the community base/ that had made their success possible/ and to which women's contributions were so vital/ became increasingly irrelevant to unions' institutional life.
（2）句子结构
1. 冒号前后为两个完整的句子，冒号前蓝色部分为主干，后跟of引导的介词短语修饰，其中contributions有that引导的定语从句修饰；
2. 冒号后主干为the community base became irrelevant, that……and to which为并列定语从句修饰community base。
（3）大意
Faue强调女性贡献对于工会在社区层面发展的重要性，这些贡献使得女性在城市劳工运动中的最终命运更加酸楚：随着工会在1940年代达到其力量顶峰，使得工会成功成为可能，且饱含女性贡献的社区基础逐渐地越发和工会的制度生活脱离了关系。
