首先,在学习解题技巧之前,我们先了解什么是主旨大意题.主旨大意题考察的是文章的主旨,所以题干中一般会有“subject”“title”“mainly about”等关键词,最典型的问法是 “which of the following is the best title of this text?”.
解主旨大意题可以通过通读原文去解题,但有时候读其他题的题干也可解题.要做的就是找题干中反复出现的表达.因为题干的信息一般对应原文不同的段落.出现命题则表明考察的这部分为重点.如果多个题干中都提到某个词语,则可以判断文中有多个段落都与之相关.如果文章多个段落都描述这个事物,则可预判其为全文的重点.请看以下例子.
例 1 (2008 年 text 1)
21. Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?
22. Dr. Ychuda’s research suggests that women .
23. According to Para. 4, the stress women confront tends to be .
24. The sentence “I lived from paycheck to paycheck. shows that.
25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
[A] Strain of Stress: No Way Out?
[B] Response to Stress: Gender Difference.
[C] Stress Analysis: What Chemicals Say?
[D] Gender Inequality: Women Under Stress
例1第25出现关键词title,判断为主旨大意题.前四道题目中反复出现的信息有women,我们推断原文至少有两个段落都在说和women相关的事情,因此判断women应为全文的重点,即主旨.四个选项中出现women只有D选项,所以本题答案为D.
我们可以通过原文来验证一下此技巧是否有用.如果通过读懂文章解题我们则需找文章主旨句.西方人的写作思维一般是在第一段给出文章主旨,直接开门见山,也符合西方人直率、开放的思维特征,所以我们也可读第一段来判断文章主旨:
While still catching up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way ahead in at least one undesirable category. “Women are particularly susceptible to developing depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men,” according to Dr. Yehuda, chief psychiatrist at New York’s Veteran’s Administration Hospital.
首段大意是,“尽管在现代生活中某些方面仍然要追赶男性,女性似乎至少在某些不好的方面领先于男性.和男性相比,面对压力时,女性尤其容易患抑郁症和焦虑症.”
通过读文章我们发现本篇文章确实是在说女性面对压力的事情,正好对应D选项.