主题思想题在考试中出现的频率较高，因为这类题可考查考生抓主要信息的能力，而能够抓住文章的主要信息又是阅读能力的一个极为重要的方面。
这类题在设题时常会用到title, subject, main idea , topic, theme等词。常见的提问形式有以下几种：
What is the main idea of the passage?
Which of the following would be the best title?
What's the best title for the passage?
The main idea of the passage is that _____.
This passage tells us _____.
Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?
What does the passage mainly discuss?
做这类题时常用略读法，把注意力放在抓主要信息上，不去过分注意细节事实，否则会造成“只见树木,不见森林”的结果。通常的办法牵焖僭亩廖恼率弊⒁庹页龈鞫沃魈饩洹Ｓ⑽奈恼赂鞫沃魈饩涑７旁诙问祝惺币卜旁诙挝不蚨温渲屑洌惺辈幻魅沸闯觯ǘ廖恼潞蟀迅鞫沃魈饩淞灯鹄矗话憔湍艿贸鑫恼轮魈狻?/p>
就整篇文章来讲，首段和尾段一般对于解这类题更为重要。我们以97年统考试卷中阅读理解部分的第一篇文章为例：
How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.
Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved ,whatever he may do .It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return .In addition ,life is always presenting new things to the child——things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-know. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things, or being punished for what he has done wrong.
When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.
文章后面第四个问题是：
The main idea of the passage is that _____.
A. life is not enjoyable since each age has some pains
B. young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard
C. childhood is the most enjoyable time in one's life
D. one is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life
文章的第一段讲的是人们常听说孩子们盼着长大成人，老年人则希望返老还童。人生的每个阶段总是欢乐伴着苦恼，而最幸福的人则是那些既享受人生每一阶段所带来的欢乐，又没有因虚度年华而终生后悔的人。第二段讲述了一个人儿童时代的欢乐与苦恼，第三段则告诉读者青年人的责任与义务，机遇和挑战。从以上三段文字来看，第一段中第二句即是主题句，所以我们应选D为正确答案。
阅读理解包括三篇短文，总阅读量不超过900个词。每篇短文后设5个问题，每题2分，共30分。所选短文内容包括人物传记、热门话题、社会、文化、日常知识、科普常识等。阅读理解题要求考生读后能掌握文章的主旨大意，了解说明主旨大意的事实和细节，并根据所读内容进行一定的判断和推论。
阅读理解题是一种综合性的技能测试，它不仅要求考生具有较强的理解能力，还要求考生要有一定的阅读速度。而通常影响阅读理解的主要有三大因素：词汇量、语法知识、背景知识。从前些年三级统考的实际情况看，考生们反映最困难是词汇量太小，其直接后果是感觉时间太紧，答不完试卷。至于后两项也是弱项的考生来说就更困难了。考生要在这一项上取得高分，除了要在词汇量、语法知识、背景知识三个方面多下功夫外，还必须学会掌握一些最基本的阅读技能，了解这部分试题的基本设题思路及解题方法和技巧。下面我分“阅读技巧”和“解题类型及应试技巧”两部分给同学们做详细介绍。
(一)阅读技巧
根据不同的阅读目的，可以采用不同的阅读方法，或称阅读技巧。一般来说，阅读方法有略读、寻读和细读三种。
(1)略读(Skimming)
“略读”又称“浏览”，是指跳过细节，跳过不重要的描述与例子，进行快速阅读以求抓住文章的大意和主题思想的方法。阅读时速度要快，一般来说，250字左右的短文应在二、三分钟之内看完。略读时精力必须十分集中，不要去记忆细节，遇到个别生词或难懂的词句均可略过，以求对全文总体意思的了解。为了更好地抓住全文的中心思想，略读时要特别注意文章的起始段和结束段以及文章中每一段的段首句和结尾句，因为它们往往是对文章内容最好的概括。
(2)寻读(Scanning)
寻读是快速寻找某一特殊信息的阅读方法。它的目的非常明确，即找到所需要的信息。日常生活中我们对这一方法并不陌生。例如从人群中找出你认识的朋友，从货架上找出你想购买的商品，在书架上寻找一本你要找的书，从一本指南中找出某个单位的地址等，都是利用这种方法。在寻读时，目光要自上而下，一目数行地寻视与答题相关的词句，与此无关的内容要很快掠过。当回答who, when, where等有关文章细节时，我们用这种方法很快就能找到答案。
(3)细读(Reading for full understanding)
细读是在找到文章中的有关部分以后，在此范围内逐句阅读，特别要对关键词、句仔细琢磨，以便对其有比较深刻、准确的理解。不仅要理解其字面意思，还要通过推理和判断，弄清文章中字里行间所隐含的意思。在细读的过程中，对没有学过的生词，可根据上下文的背景知识来推测其词义；对难以看懂的长句，可借助语法手段，对其加以分析，以达到正确理解的目的。
总之，在阅读一篇文章的过程中，我们应根据不同的要求，采用不同的阅读方法，对有些阅读理解问题知其大意即可，另一些需要寻读，而少数则需要细心推敲。在三级统考中我们应当充分利用以上三种阅读方法，即用“略读”法浏览全文，以求抓住文章的大意和主题思想。在此基础上根据问题的要求，采用寻读或细读的方法来解答问题。
(二)解题类型及应试技巧
(1) 主题思想常见提问方式及答题技巧
主题思想题在考试中出现的频率较高，因为这类题可考查考生抓主要信息的能力，而能够抓住文章的主要信息又是阅读能力的一个极为重要的方面。
这类题在设题时常会用到title, subject, main idea , topic, theme等词。常见的
提问形式有以下几种：
What is the main idea of the passage?
Which of the following would be the best title?
What's the best title for the passage?
The main idea of the passage is that _____.
This passage tells us _____.
Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?
What does the passage mainly discuss?
做这类题时常用略读法，把注意力放在抓主要信息上，不去过分注意细节事实，否则会造成“只见树木,不见森林”的结果。通常的办法是，快速阅读文章时注意找出各段主题句。英文文章各段主题句常放在段首，有时也放在段尾或段落中间，有时不明确写出，通读文章后把各段主题句联系起来，一般就能得出文章主题。
就整篇文章来讲，首段和尾段一般对于解这类题更为重要。我们以97年统考试卷中阅读理解部分的第一篇文章为例：
How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.
Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved ,whatever he may do .It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return .In addition ,life is always presenting new things to the child——things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-know. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things, or being punished for what he has done wrong.
When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.
文章后面第四个问题是：
The main idea of the passage is that _____.
A. life is not enjoyable since each age has some pains
B. young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard
C. childhood is the most enjoyable time in one's life
D. one is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life
文章的第一段讲的是人们常听说孩子们盼着长大成人，老年人则希望返老还童。人生的每个阶段总是欢乐伴着苦恼，而最幸福的人则是那些既享受人生每一阶段所带来的欢乐，又没有因虚度年华而终生后悔的人。第二段讲述了一个人儿童时代的欢乐与苦恼，第三段则告诉读者青年人的责任与义务，机遇和挑战。从以上三段文字来看，第一段中第二句即是主题句，所以我们应选D为正确答案。
(2) 主要事实和细节题设题思路及答题技巧
主要事实和细节题就是我们平时所说的由who ,what ,where ,when ,why ,which ,how引出的问题。这是极为常见的阅读理解题。这类题主要是针对论证支持主题的事实或例证设题，可能涉及数学计算、概念理解以及是非判断等。
这类题的方法一般是先用寻读法找出与问题相关的词语或句子，再对相关部分进行细读，找出问题答案。
这类题提问的形式多种多样，常见的有以下几种：
Which of the following (statements) is Not mentioned in the passage?
According to the passage，which of the following statements is true?
According to the passage, all of the following are true except _____
How many…？
What…?
Why…?
解这类题时，审题是关键，首先一定得看清问题。比如一句结论性的话后边到底是…is true,还是is not true.另外，由于细节题比较容易，有时为了增加测试难度，命题人员在题干或选项中要增加一些文字或意义上的干扰。所以考生很少能在原文中找到一模一样的现成答案。
我们引用2002年试题为例。
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked , "I have failed again." On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That speech was a flat failure, and the people are disappointed."
Some newspapers at first criticized the speech. But little by little as people read the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
文章的最后一题是：
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.
B. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is simple in style.
C. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American schoolchild.
D. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United States.
答案可以在文章的第三段和第四段找到。“他的演讲含义深刻、风格简朴；如今美国所有的在校的学生都能背诵他的演讲”；文章中他谈到：“现在所有的人都认为他的演讲是美国历史上最好的演讲之一。”而不是美国最好的演讲。所以D是错误的。
(3) 推理性试题常见提问方式及答题技巧
推理性试题大多含有infer ,imply ,suggest ,conclude,(most)probably等关键词。以下是一些常见的提问方式：
It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
The passage implies that _____.
The passage suggests that _____.
What is implied in the passage?
The paragraph following (proceeding) this passage probably will discuss (discusses)_____.
推理性试题不能从文章中直接找到答案。解这类题需要考生在正确理解原文语言字面意义的基础上，运用逻辑推理的方法去理解文章字里行间的意义。对原文中找到的所有相关信息要进行仔细分析，摸清它们相互之间时间、方位、因果、对比等逻辑关系，在此基础上进行综合推理，选定答案。
我们仍以2002年试题中的阅读理解文章为例。
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked , "I have failed again." On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That speech was a flat failure, and the people are disappointed."
Some newspapers at first criticized the speech. But little by little as people read the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln's Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
文章后面的第五题就是一个推理性试题。
It can be inferred from the text that _____.
A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg
B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn't have much time to prepare his speech
C. Lincoln's speech was full of rich words
D. Lincoln's speech was very long
文章的第二段有这样的话：“It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech.”“据说林肯是在去葛底斯堡的火车上准备他的演讲的。那天深夜，在宾馆的房间里，他既孤独又疲倦，只是又简单准备了一下。”所以通过这些句子我们可以判断林肯非常的忙，没有更多的时间准备他的演讲，B是正确答案。A, C, D,均不符合文章的内容。
(4) 词汇题设题形式及答题技巧
词汇题是询问文章中出现的某个词、某个词组甚至某个句子含义的题型。其中所询问的词、词组或句子，往往不为考生所熟悉，但又能在文中找到线索进行推测，所以这类考题是检查考生是否具备根据一个词、词组或句子所处的特定环境来判断其意义的能力。
解答这类试题时，考生应首先明白，任何词或词语都不是孤立的，它或它们所在的上下文往往能提供重要的线索。某个定义、解释、甚至标点符号、关联词都可以帮助考生推测一些词或词语的意义，除此之外，我们还必须注意所测试的词或词语与其前后一些词形成的同义、反义、并列和指代等关系。
这类题常见的提问方式有以下几种：
The word “ … ”in line 5 refers to………
The word “… ”(Line 6. para.2) most probably means _____.
By “… ”,the author means _____.
The word “… ”could best be replaced by which of the following?
which of the following is nearest in meaning to “… ”?
In para.2,the sentence “…… ” probably means “…… ”
我们以2002年阅读第二篇文章为例：
The market investigation is indispensable to sales promotion. They are closely related as the lips and teeth, so to speak. What you produce is for sale on the market. It would be impossible to succeed in selling a product without first investigating the market.
In the international market, goods on sale coming from different countries and suppliers are always facing keen competition. Under such circumstances, they will try everything possible to familiarize themselves with the market conditions. In making investigations, we ought to get information about what similar items the competitors are offering on the market, what prices they are quoting (报价), what features their products have, who are their regular customers, etc. Then, how can we obtain such information? There are many channels that we can make use of in doing this sort of work. The commercial counselor's offices of our embassies stationed abroad can help us in making market investigations. Nowadays, our import and export corporations send their trade groups abroad every now and then. One of their purposes is to make market surveys on the spot.
Certainly, face-to-face talks with foreign businessmen are also important channels to get market information. The Chinese Export Commodities Fairs and some other fairs of similar nature as well as visits of foreign businessmen provide us with such opportunities. Of course , there are some other ways of making market investigations.
文章的第三题是词汇题。
The word "indispensable" in the first line means_____.
A. impossible B. essential C. advisable D. available
“indispensable ”在文章的第一段的第一行。从它后面的句子：“市场调查和促销的关系就像牙齿和嘴唇的关系一样紧密。”接着又说：“生产是为了销售，如果没有事先的市场调查，销售就不可能成功。”又根据所给的四个选项，B：必不可少的，必需的。最合适。
以下介绍几种通过上下文推断词义的行之有效的方法.
1、标点符号是理解词义的一条重要线索,因为有些词的定义是通过标点符号,如破折号，括号,冒号等来完成的.如:
Sometimes we work on night shift—— from 11:30 p . m to 7:30 a.m
从破折号后的说明，我们可以断定“night shift”是“夜班”的意思。
2、有些信号词如：is called, means, that is, is, or, define as, refer to 等通常是针对某一词汇的定义、解释或说明。如：
One sort of crimes which particularly worries people is juvenile delinquency，that is, crimes committed by young people.
从that is的解释来看,我们可以断定“juvenile delinquency”即 “青少年犯罪”。
3、举例可以帮助我们理解词义。对于有些重要的词汇，作者常在词后自带解释或例子。因此，根据例子可猜出词义。如：
You may select any of these periodicals ：Time Magazine, Newsweek, Reader′s Digest or The New Yorker.
从后边列举的时代周刊、新闻周刊等流行期刊，我们可以断定“periodical”即“期刊杂志”。
4、靠形成反差、对照的词或词组猜出词义。常见的这些词或词组有while, whereas, unlike, but, yet, although, however, in contrast, on the other hand, rather than 等。如：
Jane was talking with others while Eliza remained reticent all the time.
文章的while作“而，却”解，由此我们可以断定“reticent”作“沉默寡言的”解。
5、凭借常识和经验猜测词义。如：
The door was so low that I hit my head on the lintel.
只要你知道so that这个结构，凭借常识就应猜出“lintel”的意思是“过梁，上门梁”。
6、根据构词法来猜测词义。熟悉英语词汇的构词法，特别是派生词的构成方法及词义，可以帮助我们在阅读过程中有效地猜测词义，提高阅读速度，准确答题。
考生应特别注意英语词缀的某些特点。如，一般来说前缀只增加或改变一个词的意义，但并不改变其词性。例如：supermarket(超市)，foretell (预言)，dissatisfied(不满意的)uncomfortably(不舒服地)等。而后缀不但可以增加或改变一个词的意义，而且改变其词性。如washable变动词“洗”为形容词“可洗的”，normalize变形容词“正常的”为动词“使……正常化”，beginner变动词“开始”为名词“初学者”，childless则由名词“小孩”变为形容词“无子女的”。只要知道词根的意义，又熟悉前缀和后缀表示的意义，就不难判断这些词的词义。
(5) 询问作者写作目或态度的常见提问方式及答题技巧
作者的语气态度往往不会直接写在文章里，只能通过细读文章，从作者的选词及其修饰手段中体会出来。这种题型常见的提问形式有：
The author seems _____.
The author's tone in this passage is _____.
The purpose of the author in writing this passage is _____.
The author's intention in writing the passage is to _____.
The writer probably feels that _____.
In the author's opinion, _____.
这类考题中，询问语气态度的题，选择项里常出现以下一些重要的词：sympathetic 同情的；critical批评的; doubtful怀疑的；objective客观的；enthusiastic热情的，matter-of-fact实事求是的；hostile 敌对的；satisfied满意的；friendly友好的；indifferent冷淡的；subjective主观的；optimistic乐观的；pessimistic悲观的；disappointed失望的；neutral中立的。
询问写作目的的题，选择项里常出现的词是：
explain解释；persuade劝说；comment评论；
criticize批评；interest引起……的注意或兴趣；
entertain使欢乐；argue辩论；demonstrate举例说明，示范；
tell讲述；prove 证明；urge激动；advise劝告；analyze分析；
praise赞扬，view看待,等等。
例：
One bright spot in the U.S. economy in 1979 was the surprising decline in gasoline use. Rising fuel costs are finally prodding Americans to cut back on consumption, and the need for this becomes more acute all the time.
有关作者态度或观点的问题是：
How does the author view the decline in gas consumption?
A. He is indifferent. B. He thinks it is a good sign.
C. He doesn't see the need for it. D. He is unhappy about it.
作者把“the decline in gas consumption”描述为“one bright spot in the U.S economy”，可见答案应该是B.
除了要掌握基本的阅读方法和前面讲到的应试技巧以外，要想在规定的时间内，既能准确又能快速地回答好所有问题，考生还应注意以下几点：
1、考生应针对文章的不同题材和题型，选择不同的阅读方法。有时需要先浏览文章，后看题目；有时则不然。但通常情况下，应首先确定文章的主旨或主题，然后再审读问题。在绝大多数情况下我们的答题步骤应该是(1)预先快速浏览题干和每段首句，确定哪些是重点和相关因素，知道所设问题的类型，做到心中有数。(2)快速阅读文章，了解文章大意和重点，尽快扫描，读到与刚才所记住的与题干有关的内容，先用铅笔做些记号，快速在答案中选出一个临时答案，然后继续阅读。(3)用最快速度重读问题，找出心中已经有把握的答案位置。再阅读一遍该段有关材料，尽快答完有把握的问题。对那些尚未作答的题目，再用上述方法一口气重读一遍文章，这次应找出更微妙的线索，集中精力解决难题。
2、一般来说，除了主旨及推论型题目以外，题目顺序与文章的情节发展是一致的，因此应按题目顺序解题。
3、文章较难时，不必紧张，根据语言学科的测试规律，如果文章难则问题比较简单。只要能很好地应用阅读技巧，就不难找到正确答案。另外，文章偏长也不一定就难，因为在较长的篇幅中，其词汇，句子结构的复杂程度要相对容易些。
4、阅读过程中，可以在文章或问题旁空白处做些记号，也可以对一些与答题有关的词句划线。还可以标出一些关键词，尤其是文章的论点、论据及一些有关事实，以避免遗忘或回顾时浪费时间。
5、回答问题时不能按照个人的主观臆断，回答问题的根据应该建立在阅读文章的基础上。
减小字体
增大字体