How to successfully deal with reading 英语论文

Reading maybe defined as the rapid fusion of word symbols into consecutive units of thought. Through reading the experiences of the reader are extended. His power of thinking is stimulated and he is enabled to interpret life more intelligently and accurately. Ⅱ. About reading

Listening and speaking are the primary activities in learning a foreign Language; close there after come reading. Modern means of communication, like the telephone, radio and television, have given added importance to the spoken word. Since however, the major part of communication is still carried on by means of the printed page, reading remains a basic linguistic skill. Since strong motive and permanent interests that will inspire the students are to be developed, reading in the foreign language must be made an enjoyable activity. The act of reading is the act of taking thought about something. The thought may be simply that you wish to be amused or frighten-ed into comfort. It can be the thought that there is some truth to be found that waits in the printed pages. The reading of the printed page can never be the act of a \"Passive consumer\". In fact it is as much a part of the creative act as the author's writing, where there is a reading man there can be a thinking man, and whenever he exists that part of the world can be better than it is .A distinction has to be made between the different kinds and levels of reading . For mere survival, functional literacy is needed by everyone in our society. High reading efficiency is required of every specialist in his or her own field. Written orders and instructions have to be understood clearly if they are to be carried out. Some people will rarely use reading for anything beyond the simplest source of information. Some may never use it for entertainment.

Ⅲ. How to successfully deal with reading

1. The nature of reading comprehension. Reading is one of the four-macro skills in Language Learning. It is viewed as a process of decoding written symbols, working from smaller units to larger ones. One significant contribution to reading, we are told, has been to show the importance of background knowledge to the reading process. The mental structures which store our knowledge are called schemata, and the theory of comprehension based on schemata is called schema theory. According to the theory reading is

an interactive process between what a reader already know about a given topic or subject and what the writer writes. It's not simply a matter of applying decoding conventions and grammatical knowledge to the text. Good readers are able to relate the text and their own background knowledge efficiently. 2.Reading skills and purpose.

It is important to bear in mind that reading is not an invariant skill, that there are different types of reading skills which correspond to the many different purposes we have for reading.

Here we borrow some foreign scholar's idea. We are suggested that sound language learners will want to read for the following purposes : ----to obtain information for some purpose or become we are curious about some topic. ----to obtain instructions on how to perform some task for our work or daily life. ----To act in a play, play a game, do a puzzle. ----To keep in touch with friends by correspondence or to understand business letter. ----To know when or where something will take place or what is available.----to know what is happening or has happened .----for enjoyment or excitement. In our daily life, we often encounter different reading tasks. We agree that different purposes require different skills. Here are some examples. You are : ----filling in an unfamiliar form.

----operating a machine you have never used.----looking in a newspaper to find something useful for you. ----dealing with your students' written Pieces of work.----interpreting tables on pharmaceutical products.----using a timetable. ----using road signs.----selecting and reading a newspaper article.----reading a short story or novel. As you are carrying out the reading task , you would have been involved in: ----recognizing and understand-ding script and format. ----recognizing and understanding key words and phrases.----skimming for gist.----identifying the main points in text.----reading in detail. Successful reading then involves;----using word attack skills such as identifying sound / symbol codependences.----using grammatical knowledge to recover meaning, for example interpreting non-finite clauses.----using different techniques for different purpose, for example skimming and scanning for key words or information.----relating text content to one's own background knowledge of the subject as hand.----identifying the rhetorical or functional of individual sentences or text segments .

During her lesson, some new words stop the students’ comprehension of passage reading. New words prevent us from reading fast. One way to overcome this problem is to guess. Another problem that affect our reading speed is our reading habit and our reading skill. Some one reads word by word. Some one reads with his finger pointing to the words or with his head shaking. Those are all bad habits. We should read phrase by phrase. Don't blink our eyes so often and don't shake our heads. Just move our eyeballs. That's enough. If we want to get more word information, there must be a proper distance between our eyes and the reading material.I think browsing is an important step while we are doing our reading comprehension. Some students begin to read at once when he get a reading material, even without knowing its title. But after reading for many times, he won't understand what the article says. I think you might read the given questions fast as well, then the material. There is an advantage to do this. When we read the material with the questions, we can save our time.

1. The female mosquito is a vampire and lives on blood. 如不知道vampire的词义, 从上文1ives on blood(靠吸血而生存)则可得知其词义为吸血昆虫。

2.The old man put on his spectacles and began to read. 如不知道spectacles的词义, 从下文\"戴上＇spectacles＇后开始阅读\"可猜得其词义为\"眼镜\"。

3.I’m sorry I’ve been monopolizing you. Your other dinner companion should have the chance to talk to you, too. 根据第二个句子的意思, 可猜出monopolize之意为\"独占\"。

4.If I were a boy again, I would practise perseverance oftener, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient. 根据and never give up a thing ... 可猜测perseverance之意为\"坚韧不拔\" .

5.Pigeons have a natural instinct to return home, even if they are far away and the trip is hard or dangerous. 根据后半句让步状语从句, 可猜测instinct为\"本能\"。

6.14,000 sanitation workers who carry off, yearly, three million tons of refuse and keep 7,500 miles of streets clean and free of snow.从上下文可猜出sanitation workers为\"环卫工人\"。

7.Human beings are a unique species. They have larger brains than any other beings. They have the gift of speech and can communicate their thoughts, ideas, and feelings.从上下文可猜出the gift of speech为“语言天赋”。

8.Our earth is very old. It holds many secrets about life in the past. Archaeologists dig in the ground and bring out these secrets. They discover objects thousands of years old that inform us about how people lived long ago. 不难猜出

Archaeologists 为“考古学家” 。

9.One of the newest American expressions is \"Where is the beef?\" It questions if something is as good or as honest as it claims to be. 根据第二个句子的意思, 可猜测\"Where is the beef?\" 之意为“拿出证据来” 。

10.The girl began to feel homesick because she had been away from her family for years. 状语部分的意思是“她离开家人好几年了”, 对于一个女孩子来说, “想家”的结果是必然的。所以, 我们通过状语从句所提供的信息可以推断出homesick的意思是“想家的”。

11.The teacher did not hear the knocking at the door because he was completely engrossed in his reading. 以因果关系为线索, 可确定engrossed的意思为“被吸引”, “全神贯注”。

12.I am a resolute man. Once I set up a goal, I won＇t give it up easily. 通过第二句, 可推出resolute的意思是\"坚定的\"。

二. 利用文中的举例猜测词义。

常见的举例的提示词有：for example, such as , for instance 等。

(1).Some artists plan their paintings around geometric forms like squares, circles and triangles.如不知道\"geometric forms\"的意思, 可从文中所列举的三角形、正方形、圆形来猜得其意义为“几何图形”。

(2).Today young couples who are just starting their households often spend lots of their money on appliances, for instance, washing-machines, refrigerators and color televisions.如不知道appliances的意思, 从文中的举例washing-machines（洗衣机）, refrigerators（冰箱）, color televisions（电视机）可以猜出该词的意思为“家用电器”。

(3).There were disastrous fires in some cities, such as the great fire of London in 1666. such as 列举出如1666年伦敦大火一类“灾难性”（即disastrous）的火灾。

(4). The government promises to give millions of deprived black the essentials in life -- housing, education, health facilities, and job opportunities. 可猜出essentials是“必需品”。三. 利用文中说明词义的同位语或定语, 猜测词义。

1.The invention of snorkel, a long air tube that reaches up to the surface, has made it possible for submarines to use their diesel engine even when they are submerged. 句中snorkel一词的意思, 可通过其同位语a long air tube that reaches up to the surface来猜得。由此我们可以确定该词的意思为“通气管”。

2.Tom was a roamer, a wanderer who could never stay in one place. roamer是生词, 但wanderer是由我们所熟悉的wander变化而来的名词, 那可以推

出的意思是“流浪汉”。

3.Nearby is the race course, where the town＇s most famous car race is held each year on May 30th. 以where引导的定语从句为依据, course应是汽车赛举行的地点, 所以排除“过程”, “课程”, “航向”, 而要定义为“跑道”。

4.The type of meter is called multimeter, which is used to measure electricity.通过定语从句which is used to measure electricity（用来测量电的）, 我们可以将multimeter的词义确定为“万用表”。

5.They will be on the night shift ---- from midnight to 6 a.m. - next week. 由破折号之间的解释内容, 我们可以了解到night shift意思为“夜班”。

6.To train the students to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words through contextual clues, namely, through the words before or after the words they may not know.namely后面的内容解释说明了contextual clues为“情景线索”。

7.In sports, especially athletics, success is often prevented by psychological obstacles, that is, barriers that exist in the mind only. that is后面的内容解释说明了psychological obstacles为“心理障碍”四. 利用文中的反义词猜测词义。表示对比的词有but, while, however, otherwise 等。

1.American businessmen expect employees to be punctual. They do not expect that the workers will come late. 文中be punctual.的意思, 可理解为not come late, 即\"准时, 不迟到\"。

2.Unlike her gregarious sister, Jane is a shy person, who does not like to go to parties, or to make new friends. 根据文中Unlike的意思, shy person, who does not like to go to parties, or to make new friends.应该表达了\"gregarious\"相反的意思, 所以gregarious的意思为\"好交际的\"。

3.A vegetarian does not want meat, but may rate the utility of banana very highly, while a meat-eater may prefer steak. 句中vegetarian通过while与meat-eater对比, 可猜为“吃素者”。

4.Most of them agreed; however, John dissented. dissented通过however与agreed对比, \"反对\"。

5.I try hard not to make serious mistakes, but inevitably I slip up. slip up通过but与make serious mistakes对比, 可猜为\"犯小错误\"。

6.Jane was talking with others while Bliza remained reticent all the time. 根据while的提示, 前后对照, reticent的含义是\"沉默寡言\"。

7.All of these ideas about the communication of the future are fantasies, to be sure, but many of them are fantasies that are very likely to become realities. fantasies与realities意义相反, 可猜测其词义为\"幻想\"。

8.104 studies, involving 15,000 people is proving that optimism can help you to be happier, healthier and more successful. Pessimism leads, by contrast, to

hopelessness, sickness and failure, and is linked to depression, loneliness and painful shyness. optimism\"乐观主义\"与Pessimism意义相反, 可猜Pessimism之意为\"悲观主义\"。

五. 利用同义词, 近义词或词组。

1.Should the government regulate the cost of resources such as oil and gas? Some people do not believe that government control is the solution to the problem of the rising cost of fuel. 文中regulate的词义可猜测为与government control的意思相近。

2.One of the predominant concerns today is the future of our natural resources. This issue is of greatest importance because it is becoming clear to many people that our present resources will not last forever. 文中predominant的词义可猜测为与of greatest importance的意思相近。

3.Cleaning up waterways is an enormous task. The job is so large, in fact, that the government may not be able to save some of the rivers and lakes which have been polluted.文中enormous 的词义可猜测为与so large 的意思相近。

4.Doctors, scientists, and public health experts often travel to these regions to solve the

mystery of a long healthy life; the experts hope to bring to the modern world the secrets of

longevity. 生词longevity，的意思为“长命的、长寿的”。

5.All the other members are of the same opinion. They are unanimous.unanimous与of the same opinion同义, 可猜为“ 一致同意的”。

6.I see people, old and young alike, are now taking tests of intelligence, education and skill. I wonder why there is not test of one＇s virtue or goodness. 句中or后的goodness解释了virtue, 其意为“善行”。 六. 利用下文定义的句子猜测词义。

1.In some cultures, certain foods are taboo. Taboo is a word from the language of the Fiji Islands, used to describe something forbidden.根据句子内容, 可猜测Taboo为“禁忌”。

2.Instinctive behavior is a pattern of behavior that an animal is born with. 根据句子内容, 可猜测Instinctive behavior为“本性”。

3.An expedition is a long, organized trip or journey, which is made into an unfamiliar area for a particular purpose by a group of people.句中which引导的定语从句进一步解释了expedition之意为“远征队”。

4.Some computer scientists are developing artificial-intelligence machines that they say will think like people. 根据定语从句, 可猜测artificial-intelligence之意为“人工智能”。

5.A gorilla always makes me think of the word aloof-- not friendly, of dista

nce from others. 破折号后的内容是aloof一词\"不友好, 冷漠\"的释意。

6. We all use onomatopoeic words --words that sound like the noise they are describing.不难猜出onomatopoeic words意为\"象声词\"。

7. English speakers use a lot of euphemisms---polite, less direct words for thing or ideas that cause embarrassment. euphemisms意思是\"委婉说法\"。

8. Children also need convictions -- something (and someone)to trust, to hold up as worthy of admiration. convictions意为\"信念\"。

9. Globalization---one world one economy integration, is the buzz word of the 1990s.破折号后one world one economy integration是Globalization一词\"全球经济一体化\"的释义。

七. 利用构词法猜测词义。

1.They overestimate the interviewee’s ability and asked him many difficult questions.在overestimate词中是前缀, 意思是\"过分---\"。因此, overestimate的词义可猜测为\"过高估计\"。

2. We were told that ours was the most spacious room in the hotel. That was why we had to pay so much for it. spacious是由词根 space（空间）和ious（形容词后缀）构成。由此我们可以猜出其意思为\"有空间的, 宽敞的\"。 八. 综合法。

以上几种猜测词义的方法不是互不联系的, 有时可以同时采用几种方法猜测词义。

1.Since the discovery of nuclear energy there has been bitter controversy. In the supporters＇ view, atomic energy offers the only chance of survival for civilization. The opponents, however, think that it is the most direct way to extinction. While extremists on both sides shout slogans, moderates tend to agree that new sources of energy will eventually be developed and that nuclear energy will play its part.

根据上下文, 可以猜出controversy为\"争端\"。在\"争端\"中就会有\"支持者\" supporters和\"反对者\" opponents, 而两派中还会有\"激进派\" extremists和\"温和派\" moderates。

2.Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended family, which may include three or more generations living together. 根据定语从句, 可猜测extended family意思是\"大家庭\与extended family意思相反, 可猜测nuclear family为\"小家庭\"。

总之, 在英语阅读中运用和掌握这些猜词方法, 就会在很大程度上减少生词的数量, 有助于提高阅读速度和培养阅读能力。在阅读理解中要求判断词语意思的问题, 通常有以下形式：

1. According to the author, the word \"....\" Means __________. 2. By \"......\

3. Which of the following is nearest (closest) in meaning to \"......\"? 4. The word \"......\" in the passage means _____________. 5. The word \"........\" most likely means ____________ 如何正确推断?

在阅读中，经常会碰到要进行推测判断的问题，否则就难以理解真正的含义。因此，我们应该学会 read between the lines,读出作者言之未尽、隐含在表层语言符号中的深层意蕴。推断能力在阅读理解中占据很重要的位置，因为一些文章的作者有时并不是明确陈述他们的观点和描写他们想解释的事物，而是通过暗示使读者从字里行间悟出言外之意。因此在阅读过程中，读者需要借助于自己的逻辑思考能力、背景知识对文章的主题、作者意图等做出合乎逻辑的推断.

1.推断作者态度作这种判断时，要注意作者的遣词造句，是褒是贬，是赞成还是反对，语气里隐含的是确定还是模棱两可。比如，certain, no doubt, surely等表示的是确定的语气；

possibly, maybe, it is said that等表示不太肯定的语气。另外，有些词句是客观的陈述，有些带有主观色彩，有些则表示讽刺的口吻。还要注意转折词的使用，有时作者笔法婉转，先对某事物等加以有限的肯定，然后用转折词将笔锋一转，道出自己的真实评价、观点或态度。因此，作这类判断时，要考察全篇，不可只看局部，这样才能推断出作者的真正倾向或意图。

1:The turkey that graces your table today is as different from the bird your grandfather brought home as a Ford compact is from a Model T. The contemporary Thanksgiving turkey is the compact model, an engineered product, streamlined and marketed by giant turkey factories for modern consumers. And while Americans will be eating more turkey this year than ever before, and nine and a half times more than their grandfathers, according to consumer-research groups, todays consumer has less choice in what kind of turkey to buy and will pay 20 percent more for it this year than last. Gradually over the last two decades, the small turkey farms all across the country have disappeared, giving way to large \"integrated\" turkey producers that concentrate their operations in a handful of states.

The fresh-killed turkey, once sold in great flocks at Thanksgiving and Christmas, has also disappeared, replaced by frozen processed turkey and turkey products designed to sell the year round.

Although some feel that the taste has been designed out of the turkey by substituting additives for natural fat, industry and Government spokesmen disagree, asserting that the standardized product has improved quality. Their criteria for quality, however, are volume of meat per pound and volume of turkeys sold.

Which of these statements would the author agree with?

a. Small turkey farms were too inefficient. Our grandfathers ate tastier turkeys. Turkeys should be sold the year rounded. Americans should eat more turkey.正确答案是b。作者讲到今日的火鸡和以前的火鸡的区别---今日的火鸡经过加工和加添加剂后其味不及以前的好。a本文没有提到。c不对。根据第五段，火鸡现在一年四季都可以买到。d文中没有提到。

2: Every afternoon a line of very old women passes down the road outside my home, each carrying a load of firewood. All of them are tiny. It seems to be generally the case in primitive countries that the women, at a certain age, shrink to the size of children. One day a poor old creature who could not have been more than four feet tall crept past me under a vast load of wood. I stopped her and put a five-sou piece (less than a penny) into her hand. She answered with a shrill wail, almost a scream, which was partly gratitude but mainly surprise. I suppose that from her point of view I seemed almost to be violating a law of nature. She accepted her status as an old woman, that is to say, a beast of burden.

1.The paragraph produces in the reader a feeling ofa. sorrow. b. restraint. c. satisfaction. d. curiosity.

2.The author＇s attitude toward his subject is

a. resentful. b. distrustful. c. sympathetic. d. affectionate. 文章大意：每天下午都有一群很老的妇女从我家房门前的路上经过，每人背着一捆柴。这些妇女都长得很瘦小。在落后国家里，妇女到了一定年龄身材就会缩成像孩童一样，这似乎成了一条规律。一天，一位不足四英尺高的可怜的老妇人背着一大捆柴近于匍匐地从我面前经过。我拦住他，把一个五索硬币(不足一便士)放在她的手中，她激动地尖叫起来，一半是感激，更主要地却是惊讶。我想在她眼中，我好像违反了自然规律，她已经接受了作为一个老太婆的地位，即像负重牲口一样的地位。这是一篇反映落后国家老年妇女悲惨生活的段落，作者没有直接阐述他对这些妇女的态度，但文章中的某些措辞和作者的行动却明确表示了他的态度。a poor old creature, put a five-sou piece into her hand,...这些词都流露出作者对这些妇女的深切同情。另外，整个文章的调子、氛围都让人感到一种悲哀的感情。因此，这两道题的正确答案分别为a和c。

3:It is an old joke that Americans are soon going to lose the use of their legs...but it is true that few Americans will walk anywhere if they can help it, either for practical purpose or for pleasure. You can do your banking from your car, without leaving the driving seat. You can mail your letters in postboxes that reach the level of your car window. You can watch a film from your car in a drive-in theater. At many stores you can be served in your car. At countless restaurants wait

resses will hitch trays to the car door, so that you can eat without moving. In Florida there is even a drive-in church. And in California a funeral home has drive-in service for people who wish to purchase grave sites and caskets ahead of time.

The tone of the paragraph is ()

a.positive. b.hopeful c.exciting d.disapproving

这段文字讲的是除非不得已，不管是办事还是娱乐，美国人中几乎没有什么人愿意步行的。文章从第二句开始到最后一句一一列举了人们可以坐在小车里办任何事的具体事例，但从文章的第一句可以看出作者并不赞成过分依赖汽车，因此正确答案应为d。

2.推断结论结论就是对已知事实进行归纳、推理后得到的结果。具体到阅读上，就是根据文章所提供的事实和所反映的态度，按照作者的意图进行推理，从而得出结果的过程。对结论做出正确推断要注意以下两点：首先，要充分理解文章的内容。结论不是凭想象得出，推理必须以文中所述事实为根据。如果理解的事实与作者的原意有偏差，就会得出错误的结论。其次，推理必须合乎逻辑。推理的过程是对已知事实进行思考、分析，进而形成某种意见的过程。推理后所得结论的正确与否取决于推理是否合乎逻辑。

例1:

The attitude of the teacher toward her pupils does much to form the opinion that they have of themselves. If she expresses faith in her pupils, recognizes their strong points, and adjusts the work to their capacities, she is apt to condition them to have desirable attitudes about themselves and their work. On the other hand, if she displays contempt for their abilities, minimizes their efforts, and is inflexible in her requirement, she will help develop associations that may give rise to unhappy emotional states. When these associations come to mind, the emotions surrounding them will be reinstated. The emotions may be either invigorating or depressing.We can conclude from the passage that a student’s attitude toward a subject is most strongly influenced by

a.the student’s likes and dislikes of the subject itself. b.the teacher’s likes or dislikes about the subject. c.the teacher’s reactions to the student.

d.the teacher’s attitude toward her pupils helps form the pupil’s attitudes and emotions.

文章大意：教师对学生的态度很大程度上影响学生自己对自己形成的看法。如果教师表达了对学生的信任，肯定他们的优点，根据能力布置作业，她就可能使学生对自己和自己所做的工作采取一种称心如意的态度。短文主要论述了教师的态度对学生的影响。因此正确答案应是c。

2:There was a message to telephone the police in California. There would be an autopsy; they suspected suicide. In the room where my father died, the police told me on the telephone, were many empty liquor bottles and empty barbiturate pillboxes. Much later, the police told me that the general squalor of the scene---my father lying on his stomach naked, his head under a chair,\" legs and feet together pointing eastward\" in the language of the death report---combined with the awful smell in the dank, tiny room to argue, even to case-hardened cops, hopelessness. This suicide was no mystery. It made sense to me. I thought my father had every reason to welcome death, and I had always assumed he would try to control his history to the every end. \"It’s nothing.\" But the autopsy a few days later revealed a death from congestion of his arteries; probably, when he died, he wanted to live forever.From my in-laws＇ house, I telephoned my mother and told her as much as I knew, and for the first time I heard my mother weep. When I had finished with the telephone about suppertime, Priscilla asked me if I wanted to eat. I didn’tShe said she was sleepy and would go to bed. I followed her to the guest room, expecting her to mourn with me. She wouldnit I grew angry to the point of violence. I didn,t understand her coldness, but I do now.

We can infer from this passage that

a.the writer lives in California.b.the writer hates policemen. c.the writer is a Catholic.d.the writer＇s father was living alone when he died.

如果作者的父亲不是独居，就不是警方发现尸体了，因此正确答案为d。a不对，如果作者住在加利福尼亚，本文就没有必要专门提及加州了。b不对，本文从没有提到作者恨。c不对，如果作者是天主教徒，就会对自杀很反感。

3.推断写作思路

这类推断主要针对与短文有关的上下文提出问题。在做出此类推断时首先要求读者充分理解短文的主题思想，并应该着重分析短文的开头和结尾部分。

例1:

So long as the bulk of the population remains on the land as subsistence farmers, a modern industrial society cannot develop. The farmers do not produce enough extra food to feed the workers needed in nonagricultural pursuits. Nor can workers be released from the farms to the factories while so many hands are needed for traditional methods of cultivation. And farmers who are not producing anything for the market cannot go to the market as purchasers themselves. Local demand for consumer goods does not expand. There is thus no stimulus to loc

al industrial production. Agriculture must, therefore, yield workers and savings to the new industrialized, urbanized sectors if a modern economy is to be achieved.

The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses

a. the creation of a demand for more agricultural products.

b. the difficult transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy. c. guidelines for hiring greater numbers of farm workers. d. the recent revival of the family farm system.

文章大意：只要大部分人口依然作为仅能维持自己生计的农民从事生产，现代化工业就不可能发展。农民没有生产出足够的剩余粮食供养非农业生产所需的工人。传统的耕作方法需要很多人手，这样工人们就不可能摆脱农业生产去从事工业生产。农民自己不能为市场提供任何东西。因此他们也不可能成为市场商品的购买者。地方上对消费品的需求不会增长，因此也不会刺激地方工业生产的发展。要形成现代化经济结构，农业必须要为工业化、城市化的地区提供工人和积累。从短文最后一句可以看出作者强调农业必须作为工业的基础。接下来很可能讨论从农业经济向工业经济过渡所要面临的困难，因此正确答案为c。

例2:

The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of a radical or total change. It was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on. Americas War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third new comer---the United States---based itself squarely on republican principles.

Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

What will the paragraph following the passage most probably discuss?

a.the transport of prisoners to Australia. b.the creation of new state governments.

c.events leading up to the American Revolution.d.How Canada and the Unite

d. States became friends.

此题正确答案为b。由文章的后几句可知，美国赢得了胜利，英国被驱逐了，美国人取而代之。

从sought a local substitute for king and Parliament可知，下一段将要讨论成立新的机构方面的事。

例3:

Another example of the revolution in railway signaling and safety measures which can be attributed to the widespread introduction of electricity in the last decade of the nineteenth century is the track circuit, patented by one William Robinson as long ago as 1872.Its principle is simple. A section of track is insulated at the rail joints from adjoining sections, and an electrically operated switch or relay is maintained in the closed position by a low-voltage current passing continually through the rails. The effect of the entry of a train on the insulated section is to short-circuit this current through its wheels and axles with the result that the switch opens. It will be appreciated that should the current fail or should an accidental short-circuit take place, the device will behave as if a train were on the section. However, it will obey the essential requirement of every safety device that in the event of failure the danger signal is given.

What does the paragraph preceding this one probably discuss? a. another of Robinson＇s inventions. b. a twentieth-century safety device. c. an electrically-operated safety device. d. railroading in the mid-nineteenth century.

此题正确答案为c。由第一句可知，本段讲的是十九世纪末期火车在安全设备方面的诸种革新，“Another example of the revolution”告诉我们，上一段已经描述了某种安全设备，本段写的是另外一种。

文化差异对阅读的影响 要提高学生的阅读能力，训练方法固然不少，但有一点是少不了的：指导学生怎样解读篇章，怎样在语境中更准确地把握篇章意思。篇章是一个语言学上的术语，一般指一段有意思，传达一个完整信息，逻辑连贯，语言连接，具有一定交际目的和功能的语言单位或交际事件。编写篇章时，作者将篇章置于一定的社会、语言和物质世界的制约之中。这种与篇章相互作用的社会、语言和物质世界被称谓语境。篇章依赖于语境，篇章的制作和解读不能脱离语境。语境制约着篇章内的语言单位的选择，意义的表达与理解，词汇的意义必须在篇章中才能精确、

具体。教师要指导学生逐渐增强语境意识，善于发现和利用语境线索去推断和猜测词义，从而能更好地理解篇章。而文化语境，即说话人或作者所在的语言社团的历史、文化和风俗人情，是语境之一，对阅读的影响是非常大的。

例1：

As soon as the wedding ceremony was over, we rushed to the bride and struggled with each other for her pockets. I was the first to put my hand into her right pockets. I was the first to put my hand into her right pocket. I felt the coins and banknotes. A sudden feeling of happiness ran over me. 如果学生不知道在我国一些农村，婚礼结束时孩子们会涌向新娘掏口袋里准备好的零钱以图吉利这种习俗，就不能正确理解“we”指的是大人还是小孩，也不会理解“we” 为什么会争先恐后的掏新娘的口袋。如果知道这一习俗，并进一步知道谁先拿到钱谁先走，就很容易理解“I”我在摸到钱时为什么会产生惊喜感。

例2：

A dialogue: A: Can I help you? B: Yes, I am looking for a pair of white gloves. I think I wear size six. A: The white gloves are on this counter. Let me see...here is size six. These are nice and they wash well, too. B: Oh, I’ll try them on. Hmm...they seem to fit. How much are they? A: Five dollars. B: All right. I’ll take them. A: That’ll be five-twenty with the tax. Question: How much are the gloves? 这原本是极其容易的材料，但却令学生们迷惑：提到两个价钱，究竟选哪个？绝大多数学生回答five dollars.因为他们不知道西方很多国家购物也要交税。 语言的使用离不开语境，任何篇章都是一定语境的产物。阅读是对篇章的解读过程，没有对篇章生产者用以生产篇章的语境的正确理解，就不可能对篇章作出符合作者意图的解读。欲提高学生的阅读能力，教师一定得反复向学生强调这一点。 在英语教学中，应树立文化意识，应在传授语言的同时同步传授文化知识。这样做的好处是：文化知识加深了学生对语言的了解，语言则因赋予了文化内涵而更易于理解和掌握。因而，文化知识丰富了，阅读水平自然会跟着提高。所以，要提高阅读水平，一定要提高文化水平。

Every language is part of a culture. As such, it cannot but serve and reflect culture needs.”(Hu Zhuanglin etc, 250). So, Idioms, as part of language are naturally indispensable to culture. English abounds in idioms which are characterized by their colorful and thought-provoking expressions, involving history, religion, social customs etc. In all, what are idioms? “Idioms consist of set phrases and short sentences” and “idioms are expressions that are not readily understandable from their literal meanings of individual elements.”(Zhang Weiyou, 174)

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines idioms as “ a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meanings of the individual words.”

“Most phrasal lexemes are idioms, especially a sequence of words which is semantically and often syntactically restricted.” (Hu Zhuanglin etc, 106

http://blog.hjenglish.com/windgu/articles/13806.html