Maybe this has been around forever; news to me.
You can put one finger on the start, and the other finger on the end to highlight a big section.
I found this out by accident when I was two-finger scrolling, trying to get the absolutely perfect view for a copy. What I didn't notice, was I was leaving a trail of unintended highlights all over the place.
Apparently the key is the speed; if you move the 2-finger scroll too slow, you start highlighting. A lot. Have to 2-finger scroll with command. No sniffling scrolls.
(I'm on the 12/15 update from today; mult-tasking gestures off).
