考研英语阅读理解的提问方式及解题技巧_新浪教育

考研英语阅读理解的提问方式及解题技巧

http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/07/10 15:35 双博士丛书

　　阅读理解主要测试考生对阅读的书面材料了解的程度。考研阅读理解包括A部分和B部分(英译汉，下一章我们再具体的讨论)两种。本章只讨论A部分，它是对考生英语综合能力的一种测试，在英语考研试题中占据40%的分值，这部分成绩的优劣在整套试题中起着举足轻重的作用。因此准确有效地理解所阅读的材料并做出正确的判断是我们必须做到的。这部分共需要60分钟，其中包括阅读四篇短文的时间、阅读每题四个选择项、做出判断并将答案涂黑的时间。在阅读过程中，考生必须做到：

　　1.掌握所读材料的主旨和大意。

　　2.根据上下文了解用以阐述主旨的事实和有关细节。

　　3.根据上下文判断《考研大纲》附表以外的某些词汇和短语的含义。

　　4.既理解在上下文中的准确含义，也应理解上下文之间的逻辑关系。

　　5.根据所读材料进行一定的判断、推理和引申。

　　6.领会作者的观点和态度：对文中所谈及的事作者是支持还是反对，或者保持不偏不倚的态度。

　　7.正确理解原文中每一句话的意思。

　　8.《考研大纲》附表以外某些生僻的词影响理解时，可根据上下文进行推测，但不可在一处停留时间过长，以免在规定时间内做不完考题。

　　9.为了节省时间，可先读短文后的一个(或两个)问题，针对提问部分的关键字眼，“带着问题”去在短文中找答案。

　　10.对短文后的各种不同提问方式应如何对付，可参见本章第二节中的有关部分。

　　一、提问方式的概述

　　提问方式指每篇短文后的提问方式。对1986～2003年考研英语试题阅读理解部分的提问方式的分析结果表明，提问方式可分为四大类：

　　1.有关短文具体内容的提问方式。

　　2.有关短文主题的提问方式。

　　3.推理题：以infer, imply, suggest和conclude提问的方式。

　　4.其他提问方式。

　　二、识别中心论点、主旨和大意的提问方式

　　阅读理解首先是对文章主旨和大意的理解，它是全文的概括与总结，能否抓住这个中心，体现了读者总结、概括和归纳事物的能力。每篇短文都有主题思想，而作者表现主题思想的手法各不相同。那么命题人是怎样根据大纲对主旨大意的要求来设计命题方式?考生又该怎样掌握短文的主旨大意?我们可以根据以下几点进行判断：

　　(一)掌握命题方式

　　根据大纲对掌握文章主旨大意的要求，命题人员的出题方式主要有主题型、标题型和目的型。

　　具体提问方式通常为：

　　①What is the passage mainly about?(2001年全真考研题)

　　②Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?(2000年全真考研题)

　　③From the passage we learn that . (1997年全真考研题)

　　④The best title for this passage could be .(1997年全真考研题)

　　⑤The key point of the passage is that .(1994年、1991年全真考研题)

　　⑥The passage is mainly about . (1993年、1991年全真考研题)

　　⑦The article is written to explain . (1992年全真考研题)

　　⑧The purpose of this passage is . (1988年全真考研题)

　　这类问题的目的都是为了考查考生识别中心论点、主题思想的能力。一般地说，说明文或议论文都有一个中心论点。在做这类题目时往往采用两个步骤。

　　第一步：快速有重点地浏览(Skimming)全文。对整篇文章的内容先要有一个整体的概念，把握全文的大意和重点，了解文章的结构，逻辑关系，问题的指向等。在快速的浏览中不纠缠文章中无关主旨的细节(如某些数字或专有名词等)，以保持阅读的连贯性，把注意力集中于主题句的关键词语上，以寻找并确定中心论点。任何一篇文章都会有主题思想，而大多数文章的主题思想是通过一个句子来表达，这就是主题句。中心论点一般由主题段或主题句来表达。往往一篇文章的开头是主题段，而每一段的第一句为主题句，有时主题句也会出现在段尾或中间，有时根本就没有主题句，而是由一些关键词来暗示文章的主题。另外在其他段落中则有一些重要的事实、观点来加强或说明中心论点。快速的阅读、跳跃式的阅读方法可把这些论点串连起来。要特别注意，如果文章只有一段，看懂文章的开头两句是极为重要的。如果文章有几段，则每一段的第一句都要仔细地读，尤其是最长的一段更要注意它的主要内容。

　　第二步：边阅读边把主题段或主题句或重要的词句下面画线，读完全文后再回过头来重读画线部分，然后就会得出作者的主要意图。请看下面短文。

　　Example (1)

　　No single adjective is adequate to describe the size of the blue whale,and few people realize how it compares with other mammals. By any standard,it is the largest creature known to man. To be specific,one of its fins,called a fluke,would fill the cargo space of the average dump truck.Although its skull is the size and weight of a car,its brain is only the size of a carburetor. Its heart is so large that five strong men would be needed to lift it,while its skin could be used as a tarpaulin to cover half a football field. Every person in Boston could be supplied with a whaleburger,and a pretty good one,too,from the meat of one blue whale. Combine the weights of 100 horses,100 dairy cows,and 100 Indian elephants and you would arrive at the weight of one female blue whale. Fortunately for the whale,its watery environment has protected it from the extinction suffered by the dinosaur millions of years ago.

　　Which sentence best expresses the main idea?

　　A.Although the blue whale is enormous,its brain is very small.

　　B.The meat of the blue whale is one of the tastiest meats known to man.

　　C.Female blue whales are larger than males.

　　D.The blue whale is one of natures largest and most fascinating wonders.

　　本文提问的就是main idea。前面已指出，解这一类有关文章主要内容或文章的标题的题目，往往可以从开头第一句——主题句中找到重要线索和答案。本题即是如此。本文第一句话“没有一个形容词可用来描述蓝鲸的硕大无朋……”，明确点出了主题，因此可以基本肯定本篇文章主要是介绍蓝鲸的庞大。D为正确答案；A只是列举了一个细节，而B和C的内容都在文章中没有正式涉及。

　　Example (2)

　　By the time the first European travelers on the American continent began to record some of their observations about Indians,the Cherokee people had developed an advanced culture that probably was exceeded only by the civilized tribes of the Southwest:Mayan and Aztec groups. The social structures of the Cherokee people consisted of a form of clan kinship in which there were seven recognized clans. All members of a clan were considered blood brothers and sisters and were bound by honor to defend any member of that clan from wrong. Each clan,the Bird,Paint,Deer,Wolf,Blue,Long Hair,and Wild Potato was represented in the civil council by a counselor or counselors. The chief of the tribe was selected from one of these clans and did not inherit his office from his kinsmen. Actually,there were two chiefs,a Peace chief and a War chief. The Peace chief served when the tribe was at peace,but the minute war was declared,the War chief was in command.

　　Select the statement which best expresses the main idea of the paragraph.

　　A.The Cherokee chief was different in war time than in peace time.

　　B.Before the arrival of the Europeans the Cherokees had developed

　　a wellorganized society.

　　C.The Mayans and the Aztecs were part of the Cherokee tribe.

　　D.Several Indian cultures had developed advanced civilizations before Europeans arrived.

　　从文中看出，A不是该段的中心思想。它只是作者用来支持其论点的若干个例子中的一个。B表达了该段的中心思想。段中其他各句是作者举的例子以说明Cherokees在欧洲人到达美洲大陆之前已有高度发达的文化。C是不真实的，因此不可能是该段的中心思想。D太空洞，无所指。该段中只描写了Cherokee人的社会结构。虽然作者也提到了其他发达的印第安文化，但他这样做的目的是强化其主题，即Cherokee人已经有了高度发达的文化。

　　需要特别指出的是，标题型虽然与主题句密切相关，但它们又有区别，找到了主题句不一定能找对标题。因为标题常常隐含于主题句之中，主题句只能使考生在定标题的时候有所启发，考生只能根据主题句进行再抽象，然后找到标题。主题句在词法和句法上是一整句，而标题在结构上往往是单词或短语。主题句对整篇起到统帅作用，而标题是整篇表现的对象。主题句语义明确，而标题则内涵较深。

　　Example (3)

　　What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine?Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the countrys excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal,“spatial”thinking about things technological.

　　Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics, especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.

　　Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in1953 reported,“With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidlysintosthe skilled workman.”

　　A further stimulus to invention came from the“premium”system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered investors medals, cash prizes and other incentives.In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded atcountry fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.

　　Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out,“A technologist thinks about objects

　　that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process…The designer and the inventor…are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist.”

　　This nonverbal“spatial”thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert Fulton once wrote,“The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea.”

　　When all these shaping forces-schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking-interacted with one another on the rich U.S.mainland, they produced that American characteristic emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.

　　The best title for this passage might be .

　　A.Inventive Mind

　　B.Effective Schooling

　　C.Ways of Thinking

　　D.Outpouring of Inventions

　　本篇的主题句是开篇的第一句“What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America…?”文章第二段就回答了这个问题，指出有四个方面：“excellentelementary schools;a labour force that welcomed the new technology;the practiceof giving premiums to inventors;and above all the American genius for nonverbal,“spatial”thinking about things technological”，后边几段都是围绕这一主题展开。找到了主题句不一定能找到标题，本句的主语是“What accounts for…”，整篇文章对主语“What…”进行了详细的阐述，在所列举的四种解释中，尤其强调了最后一种，因此答案选A项，即：“Inventive mind accounts for the great outburst of major inventions…”。

　　(二)掌握短文主题句

　　文章的首段首句点明主题，然后再层层深入地展开内容的写作方式，通常是作者写作文章的手法之一，也称为主题句的写作手法，即用一两句话直接表达主题。但它根据文体的不同，这种主题句在文中的位置也不同，它可分为以下几种：

　　1.主题句放在段首

　　文章的第一段第一句就点明主题，接着在首段有所概括，然后文章的每个段落都紧紧围绕这个主题展开讨论。

　　例：1994年第1篇全真考研题

　　The American economic system is organized around a basically privateenterprise,marketoriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.Private businessmen,striving to make profits,produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen;and the profit motive,operating under competitive pressures,largely determines how these goods and services are produced.Thus,in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers,coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes,that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

　　An important factor in a marketoriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers.In the American economy,this mechanism is provided by a price system,a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by sellerproducers.If the product is in short supply relative to the demand,the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market.If,on the other hand,producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost,this will tend to increase the supply offered by sellerproducers,which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus,price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

　　The important factor in a privateenterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property ),and they are permitted to hire labor,gain control over natural resources,and produce goods and services for sale at a profit.In the American economy,the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights,including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

　　54. The passage is mainly about.

　　A.how American goods are produced

　　B.how American consumers buy their goods

　　C.how American economic system works

　　D.how American businessmen make their profits

　　54C文章的第一句就表明了这篇文章的主题，即：The American economic system is organized around a basically…。文章的第二段、第三段分别讲述了它的两个运行特点，即marketoriented economy中的price system和privateenterprise economy。A、B和D都只是文章中所讲的某一方面的内容，只有C概括了整个文章的内容，因此，本道题目的正确答案是C。

　　2.主题句放在中段

　　文章在段首并不点明主题，用间接的方法慢慢道来要说明的主题思想，然后把主题句放在中段，或者尾段也放有概括性和集结性很强的句子，也能充当主题句，这样文章就有两个或多个主题句，它们的内容或意思相近，但不是简单的重复。它们要么是前一主题的引申，要么是前面主题句的升华，有画龙点睛之效。

　　例：1994年第2篇全真考研题

　　One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bankissued creditcard. They give their owners automatic credit on stores,restaurants,and hotels,at home,across the country,and even abroad,and they make many banking services available as well.More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically,making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations,whether ornot the local branch bank is open.For many of us the“cashless society”is not on the horizon-its already here.

　　While computers offer these conveniences to consumers,they have many advantages for sellers too.Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales.They can keep a wide range of records,including who sold what,when,and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving.Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made.At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient,allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly.And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns.Computers are relied on bymanufacturers for similar reasons.Computeranalyzed marketing reports can helpto decide which products to emphasize now,which to develop for the future,and which to drop.Computers keep track of goods in stock,of raw materials on hand,andeven of the production process itself.

　　Numerous other commercial enterprises,from theaters to magazine publishers,from gas and electric utilities to milk processors,bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computer.

　　58.What is this passage mainly about?

　　A.Approaches to the commercial use of computers.

　　B.Conveniences brought about by computers in business.

　　C.Significance of automation in commercial enterprises.

　　D.Advantages of credit cards in business.

　　58B

　　这是一道典型的主旨题。全篇文章谈论的是计算机给人们带来的种种益处，在文章的第一段作者讲述了计算机给消费者带来的便利之处——信用卡；第二段则讲述了计算机给销售者们带来的便利——自动记款机；在最后一段作者则描述了计算机给其他商业企业带来的便利。综合起来，文章的主题应是计算机给商业领域带来的便利。A的内容在文章中没有提到，C、D的内容与文章中所述有关内容不符，因此本道题目的正确答案是B。

　　(三)掌握段落主题句

　　每篇文章由于在描写主题思想或论点时的出发点不同，需要我们从各个方面，各个层次进行说明，阐述和论证，所以主题部分就不定分成若干个段落进行展开，一个段落或许就侧重于一个方面。故我们在做阅读理解题时，抓住第一段的主题句，对我们理解文章的主题思想，甚至整篇文章，都是很有帮助的。

　　由于文体的不同，段落主题句在文中的位置也不尽相同，它可分为：

　　1.主题句放在段首

　　文章的主题句放在段落的开端，开门见山，接着展开讨论、阐述或论证。这种写作手法也称作演绎法，即由抽象到具体，由概述到详解，由一般到个别，这种主题句能给人极强的感染力，其他段落中的主题句均受主题句的约束。这样，就要求我们如何判断第一主题句，其方法是：具体分析段落的首句与第二、三句的关系，如果从第二句开始就对第一句进行说明、论述或描述，那第一句就是主题句。

　　例：1991年第3篇全真考研题

　　Most growing plants contain much more water than all other materials combined. C. R. Darnes has suggested that it is as proper to term the plant a water structure as to call a house composed mainly of brick a brick building. Certain it is all essential processes of plant growth and development occur in water. The mineral elements from the soil that are usable by the plant must be dissolved in the soil solution before they can be takensintosthe root. They are carried to all parts of the growing plant and are builtsintosessential plant material from which the plant body is mainly built. Actively growing plant parts are generally 75 to90 percent water. Structural parts of plants, such as woody stems no longer actively growing, may have much less water than growing tissues.

　　The actual amount of water in the plant at one time, however, is only a very small part of what passes through it during its development. The processes of photosynthesis, by which carbon dioxide and water are combined-in the presence of chlorophyll(叶绿素)and with energy derived from light-to form sugars, require that carbon dioxide from the air enter the plant. This occurs mainly in the leaves.The leaf surface is not solid but contains great numbers of minute openings, through which the carbon dioxide enters. The same structure that permits the one gas to enter the leaf, however, permits another gas-water vapor-to be lost fromit. Since carbon dioxide is present in the air only in trace quantities(3to 4 parts in 10 000 parts of air) and water vapor is near saturation in the air spaces within the leaf(at 80°F, saturated air would contain about 186 parts of watervapor in 10 000 parts of air), the total amount of water vapor lost is many times the carbon dioxide intake. Actually, because of wind and other factors, the loss of water in proportion to carbon dioxide intake may be even greater than therelative concentrations of the two gases. Also, not all of the carbon dioxide that enters the leafs synthesizedsintoscarbonhydrate(碳水化合物).

　　43.The second paragraph uses facts to develop the essential idea that.

　　A.a plant efficiently utilizes most of the water it absorbs

　　B.carbon dioxide is the essential substance needed for plant development

　　C.a plant needs more water than is found in its composition

　　D.the stronger the wind, the more the water vapor loss

　　43.C文中第二段第一句说：“植物在任何特定时期的含水量都只是其生长过程中总量的一小部分”与C答案相符合。

　　2.主题句放在段尾

　　文章的主题句放在段尾，前面的描述都是为了得出这一结论，而这一结论就是主题句。主题句达到了概括、增强段落说服力的作用，在整篇文章中是一种归纳和总结，起画龙点睛之效。

　　例：1995年第3篇全真考研题

　　In such a changing,complex society formerly simple solutions to informational needs become complicated. Many oflifesproblems which were solved by asking

　　family members,friends or colleagues are beyond the capability of the extended family to resolve.swheresto turn for expert information and how to determine which expert advice to accept are questions facing many people today.

　　In addition to this,there is the growing mobility of people since World WarⅡ. As families move away from their stable community,their friends of many years,their extended family relationships,the informal flow of information is cut off,and with it the confidence that information will be available when needed and will be trustworthy and reliable. The almost unconscious flow of information about the simplest aspects of living can be cut off. Thus,things once learned subconsciously through the casual communications of the extended family must be consciously learned.

　　Adding to societal changes today is an enormous stockpile of information. The individual now has more information available than any generation,and the task of finding that one piece of information relevant to his or her specific problem iscomplicated,timeconsuming and sometimes even overwhelming.

　　Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more locations than has ever been possible before. Computer technology makes it possible to store vast amounts of data in machinereadable files,and to program computers to locate specific information. Telecommunications developments enable the sending of messages via television,radio,and very shortly electronic mail to bombard people with multitudes of messages. Satellites have extended thepower of communications to report events at the instant of occurrence. Expertise can be shared worldwide through teleconferencing, and problems in dispute can be settled without the participants leaving their homes and/or jobs to travel toa distant conference site. Technology has facilitated the sharing of information and the storage and delivery of information,thus making more information available to more people.

　　In this world of change and complexity,the need for information is of greatest importance. Those people who have accurate,reliable uptodate information tosolve the daytoday problems,the critical problems of their business,social and family life,will survive and succeed.“Knowledge is power”may well be the truest saying and access to information may be the most critical requirement of all people.

　　62.We can learn from the last paragraph that .

　　A.it is necessary to obtain as much knowledge as possible

　　B.people should make the best use of the information accessible

　　C.we should realize the importance of accumulating information

　　D.it is of vital importance to acquire needed information efficiently

　　62.D本题提问的是从文章最后一段中得知什么，也就是最后一段的主题是什么。最后一段第一句指出“在这个变化和复杂的世界里，对信息的需求最为重要”。第二句进行了具体说明“那些利用准确可靠最新信息解决日常问题、企业的关键问题及社会与家庭问题的人就能生存下去并获得成功”。第三句再次强调获取信息的重要性。因此D“有效地获得所需信息是非常重要的”总结了最后一段的内容。

　　3.主题句放在段中

　　文章的主题句不放在段首、也不放在段尾，而是放在段中，这种主题句出现之前有一定数量的句子陈述和论述，之后仍有一定数量的句子陈述、论述或引申这个主题句。段中主题句的段落结构基本是“提问——回答——再解释”即“引题——主题句——解释”。

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