高中英语阅读方法例谈

英语阅读理解是历年高考的“重头戏”，也是许多考生最“怵”的项目。确实，对于严重缺乏良好语言环境的中国学生，阅读理解犹如“大海捞针”，往往不得要领而丢分。上课或复习的时候，老师会说，大家在做阅读题时要注意语段中的细节，题目问的往往就是那些细节。那么，这些“细节”在哪儿呢？如何准确抓住并解决这些“细节”呢？

实际上，关键是阅读方法问题。哪怕是在美国，以英语为母语的学生仍然在阅读中因没有正确有效的阅读方法而成绩偏低。

以下，谨以2006年全国题中的一道阅读小题来初步探索在英语阅读理解中如何运用阅读方法来解题：（讲解部分是英文，相信你能看得懂！）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

A

    Most people think of racing when they see greyhounds (灰狗) and believe they need lots of exercise. They can actually be quite lazy! Greyhounds are good at fast races but not long-distance running. They do need regular exercise but they like to run for a short burst and then get back on the bed or a comfortable seat. Another misunderstanding is that greyhounds must be aggressive(好斗的) because they are big in size. In fact greyhounds love people and are gentle with children.

    Greyhounds can live for 12 – 14 years but usually only race for two or three years, and after that they make great pets. They don’t need a lot of space, don’t make a lot of noise, and don’t eat a lot for their size.

    Normally, greyhounds can be as tall as 90 cm. There is, however, a small-sized greyhound, which stands only 33cm. Greyhounds come in a variety of colors. Grey and yellowish-brown are the most common. Others include black, white, blue, red and brown or a mix of these.

    Greyhounds have smooth body coats, low body fat and are very healthy. Because they’re slim (苗条的) they don’t have the leg problems like other dogs the same height. But they do feel the cold, especially since they would much rather be at home in bed than walking around outside.

56. The text is written mainly______.

A. to tell people how to raise greyhounds

B. to let people know more about greyhounds

C. to explain why greyhounds are aggressive

D. to describe greyhounds of different colors

The KEY point to this question is the word mainly ,from which you will know it’s about the main idea of the passage. So the answer MUST NOT BE one or two things. Now you can see the possible answer to this question will best be B.(to let people know more about greyhounds) Indeed we can learn quite a few new facts about greyhounds after reading. Finding the main idea is a useful reading skill for comprehension.

57. It can be inferred that greyhounds_______.

A. love big doghouses

B. like staying in bed all day

C. make the best guard dogs

D. need some exercise outdoors

The verb infer (to think reasonably)clearly tells you that you have to make some inference so as to get the right answer. Take these possible answers to be sort of result, on which you will make inference. For example, look at A. What leads you to think that greyhounds love big doghouse? Try to find the word doghouse in the passage or where they like to stay. You find no doghouse, but you can find the sentence: They don’t need a lot of space,…There, you get it! You know now the answer IS NOT A. Which could be the right answer? In this way, you look for facts in the passage to make inference from. Then you will find that quite a few facts help you learn that greyhounds are quite lazy, like to get back on the bed or a comfortable seat, and would much rather be at home in bed than walking around outside. These help you infer that greyhounds need some exercise outdoors. That is the right answer! An inference will help you get what is not explicitly told (but might be implied)by the author.

58. Why does the author say that greyhounds make great pets?

A. They are big in size.

B. They live a very long life.

C. They can run races for some time.

D. They are quiet and easy to look after.

To find the right answer, you will only need to look for the right reason to this why. The answer must be  Because….I believe it’s easy for you to do this. The answer is D. Attention: great here is not big in size. It means marvelous or very lovely. You need the similar reading skill as you did in the above question. But here it is more direct. You need to make sure Reason-----Result, then you get it.

59. If you keep a pet greyhound, it is important________.

A. to keep it slim

B. to keep it warm

C. to take special care of its legs

D. to take it to animal doctors regularly

It is not always the same way for the last question to appear as this one, but here you can really find your right answer from the last paragraph! The greyhound IS usually slim as the text tells you, it doesn’t have the leg problems either, and it is healthy enough. But it does feel cold! This is the only important thing you must remember. These are told by the author. So now you can have the right answer.

（答案：BDDB）

In reading a passage, you have to use some kind of skill for better comprehension and right answers as well. To develop good skills in reading comprehension is important for English learning. All the above answers are related to FACT, you use facts to get the main idea, to make inference, to reason, etc. So it’s my suggestion that you pay more attention to FACTS in your reading.

确实，我们在阅读文章时，读到了许许多多、大大小小的“事实”：作者明明白白地告诉我们的一些真实的事物，如Greyhounds are good at fast races but not long-distance running.如果有个问题说Greyhounds are not good at fast races. 或者Greyhounds are good at long-distance running.这与作者告诉我们的事实相反，所以是错误的说法。事实之间的关系是理解文章的关键所在，比如第一个问题，The text is written mainly______.这类问题总是需要从文章中找到很多合理的小事实来“归纳”出备选答案中的“大事实”。让我们仔细看看：A. to tell people how to raise greyhounds 支撑这个大事实的肯定是作者在文中告诉我们许多关于how to raise greyhounds的小事实，但是，情况并非如此，我们只在第二自然段中找到一两个跟“饲养”有关的事实，而文章的其他大多数事实并不是关于饲养的，所以，我们不能“归纳”出这个大事实，即不能选这项答案。备选答案C. to explain why greyhounds are aggressive 和D. to describe greyhounds of different colors，情况类似，也不是合理的答案。只有答案B是合理的选择。因为作者在文中告诉了我们很多关于greyhounds的事实，所以可以用比较“抽象”的说法：let people know more about greyhounds.换个角度说，这个大事实包含了文中全部的小事实。

这类问题的回答，需要读者通读全文，然后看一看，备选答案中哪一项可以包含文中全部的小事实。如果你愿意，可以用数学的“集合”来表达这样的阅读方法：|n个小事实|=大事实(main idea).

这类问题的语言形式可能有：

1.     This passage is mainly about_____________.

2.     The main idea of this passage is _____________.

3.     The author mainly tells you that ____________.

无疑，这是阅读理解中的一个常见问题。可以说是最简单的问题吧。还有更难的问题等着你呢。比如，第二个问题就比较困难了。这里有个单词很重要：infer（推测），查阅字典，对这个单词的释义是：to reach an opinion after thinking about (something),这个something常常是文中作者所说的一些事实（有时也有所暗示），你必须依据作者提供的事实和根据一般的常识来推论，才会更加合理。那么，备选答案是如何让你推测的呢？显然，是需要相应的事实的，要到文中去找。如果你再次阅读我对这个问题的“解答”，你会发现答案是如何根据文章中的事实来推断(猜想)的，比如课文中作者告诉我们greyhounds确实喜欢躺着不好动，但是，They don’t  need a lot of space（=big doghouse），所以这与答案A的意思是相反的。这里，你只需要根据文章提供的事实和你平时了解的常识，发挥你的想象力和观察力，作合情的猜想。如果要做合理的推测，那就是推理了（ reasoning）。这就是你在第三、四个问题要做的事情。

可见，一道阅读题所考察的问题，需要不同的阅读方法才能找到正确的答案。这个例子，主要包含了三种阅读方法：找到事实、学会推测和进行推理。只要平时的阅读中注意运用这些方法，阅读理解能力就会大为提高。当然，还有其他的阅读理解方法。