六级英语阅读理解考试技巧

　　(四)主旨题
　　1.只读首尾段，极可能在这些段落中发现答案。
　　〔真题例解〕(2002年12月第40题)
　　If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough.What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?
　　Q： It can be inferred from the Passage that .
　　A) human spiritual needs should match material affluence
　　B) whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue
　　C) how to keep consumption at a reasonable level remains a problem
　　D) there is never an end to satisfying people’s material needs
　　答案为C）。本文在前六段对过分消费的生活提出了批评，但在第七段同时指出过分消费的反面——贫穷绝不是问题的答案。接着在最后一段提出：太多和太少都会对环境造成破坏。那么要拥有多少才能满足？地球能承受什么样的消费水平？什么时候人们才能不再贪得无厌？由此可以得出结论：问题是什么样的消费水平才是合理的。
　　2.阅读时，注意高频率出现的单词或多次出现的同一类词，这些词可能就是蕴含中心思想的关键词。
　　〔真题例解〕(1999年1月第26题)
　　There are some phenomena you can count on, but the magnetic field, someday is not one of them.It fluctuates in strength, drifts from its axis, and every few 100,000 years undergoes—dramatic polarity reversal—a period when north pole becomes south pole and south pole becomes north pole.But how is the field generated and why is it so unstable?
　　Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists promises to shed some light on the mystery.Using 80 metres of deep sea sediment (沉淀物) core, they have obtained measurements lots of magneticfield intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years.The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, welldefined rhythm.Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the short term, there seems to be an inevitable longterm decline preceding each polarity reversal.When the poles flip—a process that takes several hundred thousand years—the magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cycle is repeated.
　　The results have caused a stir among geophysicists.The magnetic field is thought to originate from molten (熔化的) iron in the outer core, 3,000 kilometres beneath the earth’s surface.By studying mineral grains found in material ranging from rocks to clay articles, previous researchers have already been able to identify reversals dating back 170 million years, including the most recent switch 730,000 years ago.How and why they occur, however, has been widely debated.Several theories link polarity flips to external disasters such as meteor (陨星) impacts.But Peter Olson, a geophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says this is unlikely if the French researchers are right.In fact, Olson says intensity that predictably declines from one reversal to the next contradicts 90 percent of the models currently under study.If the results prove to be valid geophysicists will have a new theory to guide them in their quest to understand the earth’s inner physics.It certainly points the direction for future research.
　　Q：Which of the following titles is most appropriate to the Passage?
　　A) Polarity Reversal: A Fantastic Phenomenon of Nature
　　B) Measurement of the Earth’s MagneticField Intensity
　　C) Formation of the Two Poles of the Earth
　　D) A New Approach to the study of Geophysics
　　答案是A)。浏览全文发现一些地质方面的词不断出现，“polarity reversal”差不多在每段都出现，而B)、C)、D)项只是文章涉及的细节，故选A)。
　　3.单从选项上判断，那些概括全文，含义深刻的选项一般是正确答案，而内容单一、片面的选项应予以排除。
　　〔真题例解〕(2001年1月第20题)
　　A nineyearold schoolgirl singlehandedly cooks up a sciencefair experiment that ends up debunking (揭穿……的真相) a widely practiced medical treatment.Emily Rosa’s target was a practice known as therapeutic (治疗的) touch (TT for short),whose advocates manipulate patients’“energy field”to make them feel better and even,say some,to cure them of various ills.Yet Emily’s test shows that these energy fields can’t be detected,even by trained TT practitioners (行医者).Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation,Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare,“Age does’t matter.It’s good science that matters,and this is good science.”
　　Emily’s mother Linda Rosa,a registered nurse,has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade.Linda first thought about TT in the late ’80s,when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado.Its 100,000 trained practitioners (48,000 in the U.S.) don’t even touch their patients.Instead,they waved their hands a few inches from the patient’s body, pushing energy fields around until they’re in “balance.”TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever.The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to 70 an hour，to smooth patients’ energy,sometimes during surgery.
　　Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works.To provide such proof,TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing—something they haven’t been eager to do,even though James Randi has offered more than  1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field.(He’s had one taker so far.She failed.) A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line.But who could turn down an innocent fourthgrader? Says Emily:“I think they didn’t take me very seriously because I’m a kid.”
The experiment was straight forward:21 TT therapists stuck their hands,palms up,through a screen.Emily held her own hand over one of theirs—left or right—and the practitioners had to say which hand it was.When the results were recorded,they’d done no better than they would have by simply guessing.If there was an energy field,they couldn’t feel it.
　　Q：What can we learn from the Passage?
　　A)Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.
　　B)Solid evidence weighs more than pure theories.
　　C)Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.
　　D)The principle of TT is too profound to understand.
　　答案是A)。通读全文，对文章大意进行归纳概括，便知A)是正确选项。若单从选项上看，A)项颇有哲理，而B)、C)、D)三项都有点片面单一，经不起推敲。

　　(五)观点态度题
　　1.阅读时，首先要判断文章的体裁。议论文中，文章的中心句一般都表明作者态度；说明文中，其体裁客观，作者的态度亦中立；描述性文章中，作者往往不直接提出文章观点，但常带有某种倾向，需考生细心揣摩。
　　2.综合判断态度题，需要分析文章脉络，理解文章中心思想才能判断出作者的情感态度。
　　3.要会区分不同的观点，尤其要找出作者的观点。考生要注意文中出现的直接引语和间接引语，这些观点一般是说话人而非作者的观点。作者的观点一般用in my view, in my opinion, personally, I think,I hold等表现。
　　4.对于选项而言，要分清选项中的褒义词、中性词和贬义词。
表示褒义的词有：positive赞成的，supporting支持的，praising赞扬的，optimistic乐观的，admiring羡慕的，interesting有趣的，humorous幽默的，serious严肃的，polite礼貌的，pleasant愉快的，concerned关切的，sober冷静的，等。
　　表示中性的词有：indifferent冷淡的，不关心的；impassive冷淡的，不动感情的；uninterested无兴趣的，不感兴趣的；ambivalent情绪矛盾的；neutral中立的；impersonal不带个人感情的；subjective主观的；objective客观的；informative提供信息的；impartial不偏袒的；apathetic漠不关心的。
　　表示贬义的词有：disgusted感到恶心的，厌恶的；critical批评的；negative否定的，反对的；suspicious怀疑的；tolerant容忍的，忍让的；worried担忧的；pessimistic悲观的；depressed沮丧的；disappointed失望的；ironic讽刺的；sarcastic挖苦的；bitter痛苦的；cynical玩世不恭的；sentimental感伤的；emotional激动的；angry气愤的等。