要想做好这个PROSE SUMMAR题型，我们首先要从备考指导中对于这个题型的说明入手，看看题型的定义能不能帮我们找到一点处理的对策。
Prose Summary Questions:
These items measure your ability to understand and rec**nize the major ideas and the relative importance of information in a passage. You will be asked to select the major ideas in the passage by distinguishing them from minor ideas or ideas that are not in the passage. The correct answer choice will synthesize major ideas in the passage. Because the correct answer represents a synthesis of ideas, it will not match any particular sentence from the passage. To select the correct answer, you will need to create a mental framework to organize and remember major ideas and other important information. Understanding the relative importance of information in a passage is critical to this ability.
——P50-51 from 备考指导 3rd edition
“These items measure your ability to understand and rec**nize the major ideas and the relative importance of information in a passage.”从这句话中，我们能看出Prose summary题型要求我们总结整篇文章的主要观点和相对重要的信息。
我们先对“相对重要的信息”做一下分析。一篇托福阅读文章大约700单词左右，一共会出14道题目。其中的13题可以认为是细节题，而第14题一般为 Prose summary(还有一种是Fill in a Table Questions, 比较少见)。
那么，前面的13道题会出在文章中的什么地方呢?通过多篇文章的比对，我们可以发现这些题目多数集中在文章的重要信息处。那么这对我们做最后一题有什么帮助呢?我们这样来想——既然文章中重要的地方都出题了，那么我们也可以认为出题的地方都是文章中的重要内容。
因此，我们做Prose summary的种方法就出现了——回忆之前出过的题。我们可以认为，如果Prose summary的某个选项和前面13道题中的某道题目描述的含义基本相同，那么这个选项极有可能就是正确答案。我们来看两道例题：
例一：练习题15 P1 Q14
The leatherback turtle uses a countercurrent exchange system in order to keep the flippers from drawing heat away from the rest of the body.
这个选项重复了第8题;
The leatherback turtle is able to maintain body heat through sheer size.
这个选项重复了第5题的出题句;
Leatherbacks have an insulating layer that can be considered the reptilian version of blubber.
这个选项重复了第4题的出题点。
例二：练习题14 P1 Q13
Children may not be able to interpret exaggerated claims made by advertisers or understand the disclaimers used to offset claims.
这个选项重复了第3、4题;
Although the use of celebrities is not necessarily effective in advertisements aimed at children, there is evidence that host selling can positively affect their views of a product.
这个选项对应第9、10题;
The use of fantasy is especially common in advertisements for children, but children may not be able to distinguish fantasy from reality.
这个选项实际就是第12题的再现。
通过对以上两篇文章的分析，我们发现Prose summary的正确选项基本是重复前面出过的题目。当然，这也不是特别的，有些Prose summary的题目只有两个选项对应了前面的某几道题。但是，通过这个方法，我们一般能保证在2分里面至少取得1分。
