看小说和原著这样的文章会不会对托福阅读应试类阅读有帮助?”无数学生和家长问到过这个问题。对这个问题绝大多数人认为答案是肯定的，理由从培养语感，到积累单词量等等。但是这些理由忽略了一个问题：托福阅读是结果导向，做对题目是我们唯一的目标;而相反地，小说类阅读则是过程导向，更加注重大体意思和读者自身的阅读感受，如果我们完全用读略读小说的方式来做托福阅读题目，很有可能会忽略解题中重要的细节，虽然自己觉得看懂了文章，但是题目却没有几道可以做对。那么难道读小说对于托福阅读就真的没有任何帮助了吗，当然不是。这取决于我们在读小说时的阅读方式，以及到底读什么小说更加适合。

　　本文就以很多读者非常喜爱的一本小说——柯南·道尔的“Sherlock Holmes”，也就是《夏洛克·福尔摩斯探案集》来说明这个问题。

　　之所以选择夏洛克·福尔摩斯这篇小说，主要就是因为这篇小说就是能给我们应试类阅读带来帮助的题材。在阅读侦探类小说的时候，我们要读懂侦探的推理过程，就要求我们必须每个环节都要认真读懂，一个环节没有弄明白就完全无法搞定逻辑推理的过程。很多时候当我们看完一个完整的推理之后，都需要再进行细致的推敲，甚至重复阅读才能真正明白侦探的意图，而托福阅读就是要求我们根据题目去寻找特定的信息，有些信息可能我们无法一遍看懂，需要非常细致的重复阅读，这与读福尔摩斯这样的侦探类小说是非常接近的。

       我们以福尔摩斯与华生医生第一次见面的场景为例。读过小说的应该都知道，福尔摩斯见到华生医生的第一次就准确的说出了华生医生曾经去过阿富汗。而在之后两人到了贝克街221B之后，福尔摩斯详细地给华生医生介绍了他的推理演绎法，让我们来看看当时的具体场景：

　　“Nothing of the sort. I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, ‘Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.’ The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished.”

　　这段文字就非常适合我们培养精细阅读的习惯。福尔摩斯说这番话之前询问华生医生是不是对当时他瞬间指出他去过阿富汗这件事情非常惊讶，而华生则天真地认为是有人告诉福尔摩斯这件事情，于是福尔摩斯展开了这番精彩的长篇大论：

　　他先强调绝不是有人告诉他这件事情。然后习惯性地先“自吹自擂”一番，所有这些想法都是非常自然而然并且快速地出现在他的脑海中。然后就是具体的推理步骤。

　　1. Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man,

　　→Clearly an army doctor.