例题2：(全国高考— 山东卷A篇）
Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager‘s intended major, one located neat a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.
―The safety issue is a big one,‖ says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn‘t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer ——―That‘s not a problem here,‖ ——Mahoney began to feel uneasy.
―No crime whatsoever?‖ comments Mahoney today. ― I just don‘t buy it.‖ Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. ―Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to college,‖ says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. ―Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.‖
But getting accurate information isn‘t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics(统计数字)by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. ―The truth may not always be serious,‖ warms S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation‘s leading campus safety watchdog group.
To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions. 60. What is the text mainly about?
A. Exact campus crime statistics B. Crimes on or around campuses C. Effective solutions to campus crime D. Concerns about kids‘ campus safety
答案与解析：选D。该篇文章没有明显的主题句，但通过对文章四段的主旨分析，很容易得出全文紧紧围绕 ―关注大学校园安全问题（Concerns about kids‘ campus safety）‖。
●怎样选择或拟定文章的标题
对文章主旨大意的考察，不仅可以直接以理解段落及文章的主旨大意的形式出现，而且也可以用选择或拟定文章标题的形式出现。因此，选择文章标题，首先可以按照主旨大意的确定方式，先弄清文章的主旨大意，再定标题。
标题位于文章之首，用来高度概括文章内容，点明文章主题。它是段落中心思想最精练的表达形式。标题可帮助读者迅速推测出整篇文章的主要内容，抓住文章的中心，把握作者的观点和意图。那么如何选择文章的标题呢？
首先，要考虑标题对文章的概括性或覆盖面如何。一般要求能覆盖全文内容，体
现文章主旨。要避免下列三种情况：①概括不够（多表现为部分代整体，从而导致范围太小）；②过度概括（多表现为脱离本文章内容的发挥）；③以事实、细节替代抽象具体的大意。
其次，要考虑标题的针对性，即标题范围要恰当，针对性强。要在阅读原文的基础上，
仔细考虑所选标题与文章主题是否有密切的关系。既不能太大，也不能太小，太大则中心就不突出，太小也发挥不了应起的作用；精确度高，不能随意改变语言的表意程度及色彩。它可以是单词、短语，也可以是句子。
再次要注意标题的醒目性，标题的选择要简洁、突出、新颖，标题是文章的点睛之笔，是文章的灵魂和门面。标题的好坏往往影响了文章的可读性，读者常常从标题上决定文章的阅读取舍。故标题一般比较醒目，甚至比较离奇，以此来吸引读者对文章的兴趣。
最后要注意，要恰当地选好标题，还需要了解标题的基本拟定方法。一般说来，拟定标题是以话题为核心，与控制性概念的词按一定的语法浓缩为概括主题句或中心思想的词组。比如某一文章的中心句为：CHINA issued the first set of stamps depicting the top 128 Chinese family names on Thursday Nov. 18th 2004 in Beijing.
话题：Stamps
控制性概念：CHINA issued the first set of stamps depicting the top 128 Chinese family names 标题：China issued 1st set of stamps on family names
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例题1：(全国高考—江西卷A篇)
He wishes the holiday season would end already. His back aches, his red suit feels like a spacesuit, his cheeks have gone tight from smiling for 12 hours …
The questions from children these days are harder than ever. Now, with thousands of children expecting a father or mother serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the questions are as heart-breaking as they are unanswerable. For example, ―Can you please bring Daddy home from the war in time for Christmas morning?‖
Santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued (指控)… 59．What would be the best title for the passage? A．Christmas: Not a Good Festival for Santas B．Is Santa Claus Really Alive? C．A Christmas Story
D．What Does Santa Claus Do for Children? 答案与解析：选A。通览全文，由第一段首句―He wishes the holiday season would end already. His back aches‖，第二段首句―The questions from children these days are harder than ever.‖以及第三段首句 ―Santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued (指控).‖，不难看出本文主要讲述圣诞老人的辛苦。A选项最恰当。文中没有谈及B选项内容，C选项标题范围太大,没有针对性，D选项没有概括文中内容。
例题2：（2008年全国卷III A篇）
Every year on my birthday, from the time I turned 12, a white gardenia was delivered to my house. No card came with it Calls to the flower-shop were not helpful at all. After a while I stopped trying to discover the sender‘s name and just delighted in the beautiful white flower in soft pink paper.
But I never stopped imagining who the giver might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender. My mother encouraged these imaginings. She‘d ask me if there was someone for whom I had done special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man across the street whose mail I‘d delivered during the winter. As a girl, though, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy I had run into.
One month before my graduation, my father died. I felt so sad that I became completely uninterested in my upcoming graduation dance, and I didn‘t care if I had a new dress or not. But my mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss any of those things. She wanted her children to feel loved and lovable. In truth, my mother wanted her children to see themselves much like the gardenia lovely, strong and perfect with perhaps a bit of mystery (神秘)
My mother died ten days after I was married. I was 22. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming. 41. Which of the following would be the best title for the text? A. A childhood Dream. B. A Mother‘s Love. C. A Graduation Party. D. A Special Birthday.
答案与解析：选B。本题考察了篇章理解和主旨概括能力。结合整篇，尤其是最后一段不难看出母亲对女儿的一片良苦用心。―母爱‖这一标题简洁、形象又能突出本文主题。
IV. 技能揭秘之四: 词义猜测题解题技能 历年来高考试题中的生词量有增无减。《教学大纲》要求学生―读懂生词率不超过3%的传记、故事、记叙文、科普小品文和有关社会文史知识等不同题材的材料。‖在英语阅读训练和测试中的生词障碍往往会成为学生理解的―绊脚石‖，这些―绊脚石‖的出现大致分五类：1．旧词新义，考查词汇表中未出现的词义；如：Nearby is the Indianapolis race course, where the nation‘s most famous car race is held each year on May 30th.我们学过 course的意思是―过程，课程‖等，在此显然不符句意。根据上下文 course是汽车赛举行的地方，可推断 course在该句是―车道‖或―跑道‖的意思。2．合成词、转化词与派生词，如shoplifting，heartbroken，computer-literate，decision-thinking，imperfect等；3．―灵活‖的常用词增多，这些词必须根据具体的上下文语境才能正确理解；4．―新鲜‖的外国人名、地名、专有名称增多，这些词有些带有一定的文化背景5．超纲生词。如： NMET2002《大纲》之外的和熟词新意的生词达57个，NMET2003年除52个专有名词和15个注汉字的生词外，还有52个生词 (含熟词生义)。
有的学生在阅读训练和测试中存在着―生词恐惧心理‖，一遇到生词就有读不下去的感觉。那么阅读理解时遇
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到大量生词该怎么办? 查词典当然是排除词义障碍的一种方法，当然这只有在平常的阅读训练中才可以使用。但是，频繁的查阅词典既影响阅读速度，又容易破坏学生阅读的思路和兴趣。况且，一词多义是英语词汇的主要特点，词典不一定能为学生提供单词在特定的上下文中的具体或确切的含义。平时的练习中遇到生词不要马上查词典，可以通过一定的方法来猜测理解。猜测词义不仅是一项阅读技巧，也是高考阅读能力考查的一个方面，每年在高考阅读中都有猜测词义的试题。掌握正确方法快速而又准确地猜测出生词的含义，对提高阅读速度和答题效率相当重要。
该类题常见的考查形式有：
A. The phrase ―…‖in the sentence could be replaced by ____. B. The word ―…‖ in the paragraph refers to ____.
C. What is the meaning of the underlined word in the paragraph? / What does the unlined word mean? D. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the phrase ―…‖? E. The word ―…‖ most nearly means ____.
对此类试题，考生应该进行大胆猜测，但这种猜测不是胡乱的，盲目的，而是有一定的方法和技巧。下面介绍十种常见的猜测词义的方法供同学们加以运用。
1．构词法猜词
阅读中常常会遇到一些由熟悉的单词派生或合成的新词。掌握构词法对猜测词义很有帮助。如：unforeseeable.这个词，可以根据构词法把它拆成un, fore, see , able；其中 see 是词根，fore是―先，前，预‖的含义，un是否定，able是―能……的，可……的‖，因此unforeseeable是―未能预见到的‖意思。
例题1：（2008年全国高考—重庆卷D篇） …
The reasons for a visit to a lighthouse are not all so backward-looking in time. It is true that lighthouses were built in out-of-the-way places. But on a pleasant sunny summer day, this very isolation has a natural beauty that many people will love to experience. …
68. The underlined phrase ―out-of-the-way‖ in Paragraph 4 means ____________. A. far-away B. dangerous C. ancient D. secret
分析：选A。由合成词out-of-the-way的原意以及下句中的isolation一词，可知灯塔在一个―孤零零‖的地方。 例题2：（2004年全国高考—重庆卷D篇） …
Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they‘re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, ―I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.‖ 70. The underlined word ―outcome‖ in the last paragraph most probably means .
A. value B. result C. performance D. connection
分析：选B。运用―构词法‖进行猜测。动词词组come out 的意义为―露出、出现、显露出‖。再根据句子的语境，可猜测出其意义是：(实验的)结果。
2．利用同义近义词猜词 在生词所出现的上下文中，有时会出现与之同义或近义的词语或结构，这时可从熟悉的词语中推知生词的含义。统称在词或短语之间有并列连词and或or，这些词语或短语在句中作相同的成分，并且and或or连接的两项内容在含义上是接近的或递进的，由此确定同等关系中的某个生词所属的义域，甚至推出它的大致词义。
例题1：Animals have different living habits. Some like to look for food at daytime and sleep at night, but some like to sleep at daytime and prowl at night. 分析：通过这些并列句可以看出prowl与look for food 是同义近义词，词义也应该是―寻找食物‖。 例题2：(2003全国卷C篇) …Fermat‘s Last Theorem（定理）, first put forward by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the seventeenth century, the theorem had baffled and beaten the finest mathematical minds, including a French woman scientists who made a major advance in working out the problem, and who had to dress like a man in order to be able to study at the Ecole Polytechnique. …
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65. Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word ―baffle‖ as it is used in the text? A. To encourage people to raise questions. B. To cause difficulty in understanding. C. To provide a person with an explanation. D. To limit people‘s imagination. 答案与解析： 由句中不难看出Fermat的定理使得最具数学头脑的科学家绞尽脑汁（beat），并且在句中beaten和baffled处于同等的并列关系，根据这一信息可以推出baffle表示―使困惑、难倒、难以理解‖的意思。
3．利用反义词猜词
对比是描述，说明事物的常用方式。在对比中，对比的事物是互为相反的，因此根据反义或对比关系可从已知推出未知。利用反义词来说明生词的意义，如反义词hot and cold, perfect and imperfect，甚至前、后句为肯定与否定或是与不是等，在句内词与词之间，在段内句与句之间的关系上起着互为线索的作用。
例题1：Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is shy, unsociable person who does not like to go to parties or to make new friends.
分析：此句是把Jane与她姐妹对比。Jane生性腼腆，不爱交际，而她姐姐却与之相反，那就是―爱交际的‖了，这也就猜出gregarious的词义了。
例题2：In many nations there are two financial extremes (极端), from penury to great wealth. 分析：penury: the state of being very poor; poverty (贫穷; 贫困) 例题3：(2002全国高考卷E篇)
A child‘s birthday party doesn‘t have to be a hassle ; it can be a basket of fun, according to Beth Anaclerio, an Evaston mother of two, ages 4 and 18 months.
…
74.What does the underlined word ―hassle‖ probably mean? A. A party designed by specialists. B. A plan requiring careful thought.
C. A situation causing difficulty or trouble. D. A demand made by guests.
答案与解析：根据前句的否定doesn‘t与后句的肯定can be这一对比关系，可以判断出，为了庆祝孩子的生日，又不至于麻烦，可以买一个生日开心包。Hassle的意思应该与fun相反，而与difficulty, trouble相近。答案为C。
4．利用上下文语境猜词
任何一篇文章中的句子在内容上都不是绝对孤立的，都跟句子所在的段落及整整篇文章有关。利用上下文提供的情景和线索，进行合乎逻辑的综合分析进而推测词义，是阅读过程中的一大关键，这也是近年来高考考查的热点。
例题1：（2008年全国高考—湖南卷B篇）
…Charlotte‘s tale was inspired by the girls‘ coin collection. \ since our families went on holiday to Tenerife.\ … 60. The underlined word \A. story B. collection C. inspiration D. foreign coin
答案与解析：选D。由原文中的Euro (欧元，欧洲统一货币)可推知该词是一种在欧元发行前使用的钱币。 例题2：（2008年全国高考—江西卷D篇）
…The plants are about one meter apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimeters high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.
…
68．In the first paragraph ,the word ―pruning‖ means . A．regular cutting of the plants
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B．frequent watering
C．regular use of chemicals
D．growing the plants high in the mountain
答案与解析：选A。由此段中的 ① The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimeters high.②Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. 便可猜出Pruning的词义为―剪枝．修剪‖。
例题3：（2008年全国高考—上海卷B篇） …
―But,‖ said Kim, ―I feel that since you are my superior, it would be presumptuous of me to tell you what to do.‖ …
70. The word ―presumptuous‖ in the middle of the passage is closest in meaning to ―_____‖. A. full of respect B. too confident and rude C. lacking in experience D. too shy and quiet
答案与解析：选B。有时可以通过因果关系的语境来判断，因果关系的语境，通常由
because, so, therefore, so/such…that…等连词来体现。本文中，在Kim看来．因为对方（Williams）是自己的上司，告诉上司去做什么，会显得不礼貌(rude)、自负（too confident）。
例题4：（2008年全国高考—山东卷A篇） …
―No crime whatsoever?‖ comments Mahoney today. ― I just don‘t buy it.‖ Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. … 58. The underlined word ―buy‖ in the third paragraph means _______ A. mind B. admit C. believe D. expect
答案与解析：选C。buy原意为―买，购买‖，在此处根据语境可知意为―相信‖。从本段第一句话可知，Mahoney持怀疑态度。后面列举的。400,000这个数字也表示出他的不相信。
特别提醒：在做英语阅读理解题时，一定要注意熟词生义！这类猜词题也常见于各年高考题当中。熟词生义比生词本身的障碍要大得多。原因有三：其一，高考对生词的数量有数量的规定，不得超过3％；其二，熟词生义很容易引起考生的误解；其三，熟词生义的数量没有限制。如果这种现象在一篇文章中出现得多，那就更难理解了。
5．利用定义和解释猜词
有些文章，特别是科技文章，通常会对一些关键词给予定义，我们可以利用定义来猜测这些词的意思。释义法就是根据文章中的字里行间，对生词以定语（从句）、表语甚至用逗号、破折号等标点符号引出并加以解释说明的方式。
例题1：Wrestling is the game which is played by two strong people; one player tried to get the other down on the floor.
分析：通过后面的定义解释：Wrestling 是―两人进行的，彼此尽力把对方弄倒在地的比赛‖，可以猜出wrestling是―摔跤；摔角‖。
例题2：Scientists grow large quantities of common mould so that they can get penicillin from it in order to make antibiotics, that is, substances that kill germs. 分析：antibiotic: a medical substance, such as penicillin produced by living things and able to stop the growth of, or destroy, harmful bacteria that have entered the body (抗生素; 抗生菌)
例题3：(2002年全国高考卷B篇)
―Organic produce is always better, ‖ Gold said. ―The food is free of pesticides (农药), and you are generally supporting family farms instead of large farms. And more often than not it is locally (本地)grown and seasonal, so it is more tasty.‖ Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying into the organic trend, and supermarkets across Britain are counting on more like him as they grow their organic food business.
62. What is the meaning of ―the organic trend‖ as the words are used in the text? A. Growing interest in organic food. B. Better quality of organic food. C. Rising market for organic food. D. Higher prices of organic food.
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答案与解析：由Gold is one of a growing number of shoppers buying something可以推断出，越来越多的顾客像Gold一样开始购买有机食物，其实也就是对这类食物产生了越来越浓厚的兴趣。答案为A。
6．利用例证猜词 为了说明或证实，文章中经常会举例，往往用来列举说明前面较难理解的词，这些例子可帮助我们猜测生词。举例时，常常会用一些连接性的词，如：such as, like, for example, for instance等。
例题1：I have found Lucy is quite generous, for example, whenever she meets a beggar, she gives some coins to him.
分析：通过例句―每次遇到乞丐，她都会给一些硬币‖可以猜测出―Generous‖的词义应该是―慷慨的‖。
例题2：You can take any of the periodicals：The World Of English, Foreign Language Teaching In School, or English Learning.
分析：通过后面的举例：《英语世界》，《中小学外语教学》，《英语学习》，说明periodicals为―期刊杂志‖。 7．根据复述或同等关系猜测词义
为了强调某个观点或把某事叙述得更明白，作者有时运用不同语句来复述同一概念，这时可以利用这些重复和表达形式的变化来猜测词义。虽然复述不如定义那样严谨、详细，但是提供的信息足以使阅读者猜出生词词义。复述部分可以适当词、短语或是从句。
同等关系是指一个词、一个词组或短语在句中作同一成分，而且他们的词义属于同一范畴。只要我们认出其中一个或几个词或短语，即可以确定同等关系中生词的词性，作用和大概的意思。
例题1：（2008年全国高考—江苏卷E篇）
William Shakespeare said, ―The web of our life is of a mingled yarn (纱线), good and ill together. ‘‘
74.The underlined word \A. simple B. mixed C. sad D. happy
答案与解析：选B。由―a mingled yarn‖后文的―good and ill together‖重复说明可以 知道mingled含义和mixed（混合的）最接近。
例题2：Capacitance, or the ability to store electric charge, is one of the most common characteristics of electronic circuits.
分析：由同位语我们很快猜出生词capacitance词义---电容量。
需要注意的是：同位语前还常有or, similarly, that is to say, in other words, namely等副词或短语出现。
例题3：Semantics, the study of the meaning of words, is necessary if you are to speak and read intelligently. 分析：此例逗号中短语意为―对词意义进行研究的学科‖。该短语与前面生词semantics是同位关系，因此我们不难猜出semantics指―语义学‖。
在复述中构成同位关系的两部分之间多用逗号连接，有时也使用破折号，冒号，分 号，引号，和括号等。 8．利用词义搭配关联猜词
任何一个单词在句子中总是与其他词相关联的，我们可以通过这些前后的关联来猜测生词的词义。 例题：I wish this medicine may really cure my backache.
分析：通过cure前面的―这种药‖和后面的―我的背疼‖，很容易地判断出 cure的词义为―治好‖。 9．根据语义转折猜词
有时文章的作者为了增强表达效果，会用一些含有表示意思转折的连词，副词或短语。如：though, although, still, but, yet, instead, instead of, however, while, on the contrary, on the other hand, unlike, rather than, for one thing, for another等，我们可以根据转折意思猜测词义。 例题（2008年全国高考—广东卷B篇）
…Unlike vitamin C, leadership skills can‘t be easily swallowed down. They must be carefully cultivated.
Different from popular belief, most good leaders are made, not born. They learn their skills in their everyday lives. But which do they develop? How do they (and how can you) get others to follow? … 60. The underlined word \A. encouraged B. compared C. examined D. developed
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