很多新托福听力文章都是关于“听什么”，即材料方面展开的。在托福听力听写的开始，同学们只要拣有兴趣的材料写，能听出多少写多少就是了;但这个阶段结束过后的下一个阶段就要过度到理解层面了，因为大家做多了听写(dictation)之后会感觉到听写是一个很机械行为，也就是为什么很多人作了一段时间听写之后觉得没有更深层次提高的原因;其实并不是听写本身的问题，听写还是要继续下去。只是要过渡到听更长的句子甚至两句一起听，然后再出来，才能有提高。因为这样的听写就涉及到了更深层次的东西：理解能力，即单句的理解。
那么单句的理解要达到一个什么样的效果呢?
首先要知道这句话的main idea：比如Everyone will agree， he argues， that happiness is the ultimate end to be valued for itself and really only for itself. For what other purpose is there in being happy? What does it yield ? The attainment of happiness becomes the ultimate or highest good for Aristotle.此句话如果做听写会很麻烦，因为开头那个插入语引导的两个义群都相对较长：
everyone will agree/ that happiness is the ultimate end to be valued for itself，如果一般的听写会把语流所带出来的逻辑打乱：这样，考生的脑子里就会形成“每个人都知道，他(Aristotle)提出，幸福是人类追求的最终要义……”原本流畅的一句话就这样被切割了。但是当我们注重一句话的main idea的时候，我们就会发现，这两句听完，表达的就是一个意思：幸福是人类追求的最终成就(要义、结果……)
同理，另外一句：What that means...the general definition of sustainable is will there be enough to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future to have the availability...to have the same resources?一句话，简而言之即：不能牺牲子孙利益而寻发展。主要抓住sustainable和compromise两个词就能很好地理解大意;
第二，大家可以判断一句话的感情色彩：
在某些语气强烈的句子当中，比如反问句和对比性较强的句子，说话者往往拿两个事情进行对比而得出一个答案，此时，我们只要听出得出的答案即可：比如，But why? why do workers and soliders have to learn self-control? Well，how can a society flourish if the workers and soliders don't control their desires and emotions?此处一个反问句，其实表达的意思即一种：Anyway，无论如何，W和S should and must learn to control themselves。这样也减轻了大家在听力的时候记忆可能过载的现象。
最后，大家还要根据几句话的内容来推测即将展开的内容：比如，
1. So， for Watson， thinking is identical with the activity of muscles. A related concept of thinking was developed by William James. It's called ideomoter action;接下来展开的是ideomoter action;
2. But why? why do workers and soliders have to learn self-control? Well，how can a society flourish if the workers and soliders don't control their desires and emotions? Plato thinks if the they aren't under control， workers will sleep too much and play too much， so they're not going to get their jobs done. And soliders need to channel their high spiritedness in a certain direction， precisely by being courageous.But you are not going to get that automatically.推断接下来要讲如何使W和S能够学会self-control的，所以接下来文章提出的education问题才不会显得十分突兀。
所以在进行新托福听力听写的过程中，一定要注意句子本身和句子之间的衔接问题，多思考句子的大意、感情色彩和句子间的逻辑关系的推测，这样才能真正的做到听中思考，做到心中有数。