英语四级阅读技巧1

二、常用阅读方法

1、略读（skimming）

略读的目的是快速通读和浏览全文，以便获得文章的大意，并对文章的内容有个总体概念和印象。因此，浏览时不要把注意力放在文章的细节上，同时文章中某些不重要的内容可以省略不读。通常根据文章内容和难度可灵活选用如下三种方法：

1）以一般快读的速度阅读文章每段的第一句。文章的大意通常是由各段落中主题句表述出来，多数主题句是段落的第一句。该法适用于主题句位于段首的文章，利于根据题目要求迅速判断、确定文章的中心、主题。

例：选出下题的正确答案：

The best title for this selection is _____.

A) An Ear for Music

B) Music Appreciation

C) How Muscles Participate in Mental Acts

D) A Psychological Definition of the Thinking Process

显然，此题为主题型，可在确立了文章的主题之后做出正确的选择。因此可以先读文章每段的第一句，再将它们综合得出全文的主题。

（1）Some psychologists maintain that mental acts such as thinking are not performed in the brain alone, but that one’s muscles also participate. It may be said that we think with our muscles in somewhat the same way that we listen to music with our bodies.

（2）You surely are not surprised to be told that you usually listen to music not only with your ears but with your whole body. Few people can listen to music that is more or less familiar without moving their body or, more specifically, some part of their body. Often when one listens to a symphonic concert on the radio, he is tempted to direct the orchestra (music band ) even though he knows there is a competent conductor on the job.

（3）Strange as this behavior may be, there is a very good reason for it. One cannot derive all possible enjoyment from music unless he participates, so to speak, in its performance. The listener “feels”himself into the music with more or less pronounce motions of his body.

（4）The muscles of the body actually participate in the mental process of thinking in the same way, but this participation is less obvious because it is less pronounced.

分析：（1）是全文的主题句，要阐述的主题是“心理活动不仅只是由大脑进行的，人的肌肉也参与了这一过程。”（思=脑+心）（2）-（4）是论据，其中（2）用事例法支持（1）的观点。（3）对（2）进行解释，从而得出（4）中的结论。同时（4）紧扣（1），表述了同样的观点。由此可得正确答案是C。用此方法，不仅可准确地找到主题，而且可以有效地提高速度，节约时间。

2）以一般速度阅读文章第一段或最后一段, 以一般快读速度阅读文章每段的第一句。有时作者会在第一段便写出文章将要论述的主题思想或内容梗概，也会在最后一段归纳前几段的内容。此法适用于难度稍大的文章或主题出现在全文两端的文章。

例如：

The modern sailing ship was developed by a man who never went to sea. He was

Prince Henry of Portugal, the younger son of the Portuguese king and an English princess.

Prince Henry lived in the fifteenth century. As a boy he became devoted to the sea, and he dedicated (devoted ) himself to improving the design of ships and the methods of sailing them. In 1416, when he was twenty-two, Henry founded a school for mariners, to which he invited everyone who could help him—Jewish astronomers, Italian and Spanish sailors, and Arab mathematicians and map makers who knew how to use the crude compass of the day and could improve it.

Henry’s goal was to design and equip vessels that would be capable of making long ocean voyages without having to hug ( keep close to ) the shore. The caravel carried more sail and was longer and slimmer than any ship then made, yet was tough enough to withstand gales at sea. He also developed the carrack , which was a slower ship, but one that was capable of carrying more cargo.

To Price Henry the world owes credit for development of craft that made oceanic exploration possible. He lives in history as Henry the Navigator.

Question:

The best title for this selection is _____.

A)The First Modern Sailing Vessels

B) The Mariner Prince

C) Prince Henry’s Role in History

D) The First School for Sailors

分析：文章首尾呼应。作者在第一段写出文章将要论述的内容“Price Henry 发展了现代航船。”。在最后一段对前几段内容进行了归纳“Price Henry改良了船只，从而使远洋探险成为可能”。中间两段分别讲述了他的生平和对船只的改良。因此正确答案是C。

3）遇到主题句不在段首的情况，就要快速往下看，直接寻找主题句，忽略其他内容，主题句有可能在一段的中间或末尾。此法适用于主题句不在段首的文章。

如果用该法也找不到主题句，即段落中没有出现主题句，就需要根据所读内容自行归纳主题了。

例如：

When an art museum wants a new exhibit, it buys things in finished form and hangs them on its walls. When a natural history museum wants an exhibit, it often must build it realistically --- from a mass of material and evidence brought together by careful research.

An animal, for example, must first be skinned. Photographs and measurements are used to determine the animal’s structure in a natural position--- fighting, resting, or feeding. Then muscle forms are built and a plaster shell is made. Finally the skin is pulled over the shell like a wet glove. This completes the animal subject.

Displaying such things as stone heads, giant trees, and meteorites is basically mechanical. Most other natural history exhibits present more difficult problems. For instance, how can a creature be exhibited when it is too small to be seen clearly? In these cases, larger-than –life models are built. The American Museum of Natural History has models of fleas, houseflies, and a myriad other insects enlarged up to seventy-four times. The models show the stages of the insects’development and the

workings of their bodies.

Question:

The best title for this selection is _____.

A)Constructing an Animal Subject

B)Natural History

C)Problems of Exhibiting Natural History

D)Building a Museum Exhibit

分析：文章的第一、二段没有主题句，但根据所读内容可知：第一段是一个对比，目的是说明自然历史博物馆展品得来不易——买不到，全靠造。第二段讲述了动物展品的制作，其步骤之多、之复杂可见一斑。第三段只要往下读就会发现它的第二句话是一个主题句。而其中的“more difficult problems”不仅是这一段的关键词，也提示了上一段的中心。因此，最能概括全文内容的选项是C。

2、查读(scanning)

查读的目的是寻找某个特定的目标信息。因此，在查读时，要记住自己所要找的信息，并考虑它在有关材料中可能出现的形式，略去与要查找的信息无关的内容。

例如：运用查读法阅读下面这段文字，并找出以下两个问题的答案：

Questions:

1.When did the American Civil War break out?

2.What were the main causes of the American Civil War?

American Civil war (1856-1861). A war between the U.S. and 11 Southern states which seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. The war was the result of long-standing social and economic differences between North and South that gradually became apparent after the War of 1812. Sectional conflict over such issues as the tariff and the extension of slavery was temporarily abated by the activities of men such as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, but in the 1850’s the position of each side became progressively more rigid; whether the war could have been averted is still a subject for discussion among historians.

运用查读法，我们立刻就能找到答案分别位于文中的第1和第3句话中，即第一题答案为1861年，第二题为“Long-standing social and economic differences between North and South.”至于其它文字，因它们与题目无关，根本不用去读。

在英语专业四、八级考试的快速阅读部分，查读法充分发挥了它的优势。

例如：根据所附的飞机时刻表，选择下面2题的正确答案：

Question 1: If you want to travel to Shanghai on Air France on a Saturday, which flight would you take?

A) AFl29. B) AFl28. C) AFlll. D) AFll2.

Question 2:Does Lufthansa operate a flight between Beijing and Frankfurt every day?

A) No. C) Yes, except on Saturdays.

B) Yes. D) No, only three days a week.

Flight Schedule

Air France Tel: (010) 6588 1388

(020) 6360 6688

Day From To Flight Departure Arrival

1 – 7 Beijing Paris AF129 09:40 14:15

1 – 7 Paris Beijing AF128 15:55 07:40

2,4,7 Shanghai Paris AF111 10:55 17:05

1,3,6 Paris Shanghai AF112 15:55 09:05

Lufthansa

Day From To Flight Departure Arrival

1 – 7 Beijing Frankfurt LH721 10:30 14:25

1 -- 7 Frankfurt Beijing LH720 17:25 08:30

1,2,3,4,5,7 Shanghai Frankfurt LH729 11:15 16:30

1,2,3,4,5,7 Frankfurt Shanghai LH728 17:10 09:25

分析：此表分两部分，分别是法航和汉沙航空公司的航班时刻表。

问题1需查找可于周六搭乘法航班机飞往上海的航班，只需在表的第一部分（Air France）中找到到达地（To）上海，然后查相应的航班即可，不需看表中的其他内容。正确答案为D。

问题2在于查找汉沙航空公司是否每天都有北京和法兰克弗间的航班。表的第2部分是汉沙航空公司的航班时刻表，查找时首先注意出发地（From）和到达地（To），然后看对应的星期（Day），可知答案为B。这样可在最短时间内完成题目。

3、细读(reading for full understanding)

通过略读和查读找到文章有关范围后，若要找测试题中提出的准确内容，则要细读文章范围内有关的词语和句子，进行分析、判断、归纳和细致推敲。不仅要理解表面意义，还要理解其暗含含义。对于没有学过的生词，应根据上下文、常识经验以及构词规则来推测。对于复杂难句，应借助语法知识，分析句子结构，以便更深刻、更准确地理解句子。

例如：在“How Muscles Participate in Mental Acts”一文中（全文参见略读第一种方法），下面的这个问题即可通过细读完成：

The pronounced body motions are a listener’s way of _____ .

A)“feeling” the music

B) participating in the performance

C) deriving enjoyment from the music

D) all of the above

按题目要求，需找出明显的身体运动是听音乐者的一种什么方式。通过细读文章的第三段可知身体运动是为了通过“participate（参与）”和“feels…into music（融入音乐）”而更好地获得“enjoyment（愉悦）”。因此D为正确答案。