该类题目考查对SAT阅读文本基调，作者态度等的理解。通常理解assumption/tone非常重要的一点就是看形容词的使用，因为形容词可以表达人的心情，心态和观点。比如：It is beautiful.也许表达的并不一定是个事实，而是一种态度和观点。

　　出题形式大致如下：

　　The author’s attitude towards… is best described as?

　　The author’s tone is best described as that of?

　　The stance the author takes in the passage is best described as that of?

　　请看下面的例子：

　　The following is adapted from a speech given by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. Eisenhower was addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations.

　　I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a

　　sense is new-one which I, who have spent so much of my

　　life in the military profession, would have preferred never to

　　use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.

　　The atomic age has moved forward at such a pace that

　　every citizen of the world should have some comprehension,

　　at least in comparative terms, of the extent of this

　　development of the utmost significance to every one of us.

　　Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an

　　intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the

　　significant facts of today's existence. Atomic bombs today

　　are more than 25 times as powerful as the weapons with

　　which the atomic age dawned, while hydrogen weapons are

　　in the ranges of millions of tons of TNT equivalent. Today,

　　the United States' stockpile of atomic weapons, which, of

　　course, increases daily, exceeds by many limes the explosive

　　equivalent of the total of all bombs and all shells that came

　　from every plane and every gun in every theatre of war in all

　　of the years of World War II.

　　……

　　Surely no sane member of the human race could discover

　　victory in such desolation. Could anyone wish his name to be

　　coupled by history with such human degradation and

　　destruction? Occasional pages of history do record the faces

　　of the “Great Destroyers” but the whole book of history

　　reveals mankind's never-ending quest for peace. It is with the

　　book of history, and not with isolated pages, that the United

　　States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be

　　constructive, not destructive. It wants agreements, not wars,

　　among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom, and in the

　　confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy

　　equally the right of choosing their own way of life.

　　So my country's purpose is to help us move out of the

　　dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by

　　which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men

　　everywhere, can move forward toward peace and happiness

　　and well being.

　　题目：

　　Eisenhower's tone is best described as

　　(A) apologetic.

　　(B) exhilarated.

　　(C) concerned.

　　(D) cynical.

　　解析：整篇演讲围绕着atomic warfare展开，表达了Eisenhower的担心和关注。A项道歉的，B项兴奋的，D项愤世嫉俗的皆未体现。文章从一开始指出impelled to，被驱使，到第二段提到每个人都需了解atomic warfare的发展程度，到最后段表达了美国的作用等等，都表明了对这个问题的重视。C正确。

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