四级阅读主旨题精解

主要考查对文章进行概括或总结的能力，要求在阅读短文时，能够提炼文章的中心思想，体会作者的主要写作意图，充分运用逻辑概括能力，透过字里行间获取文章最具代表性的观点、论点及作者的情感倾向。

（一）出题形式：主旨大意题命题形式主要有三大类：一类是概括中心思想（main idea）型；一类是确定文章标题或主题（topic/title/headline）型；还有一类是询问文章的写作目的（purpose）。

1）What would be the best title for the text？
2）What is the topic of the text？
3）Which of the following best expresses the main idea？
4）The best title/headline for this passage might be ______.
5）The author’s main purpose in writing the passage is ______.
6）Which of the following statements is best supported by the text？
7）Which of the following best summarizes the passage？
8）The main idea/The general idea/The main theme of this passage is ______.
9）The title that best expresses the main idea of the passage is ______.
（二）答案位置：大部分文章都有主题句（topic sentence），主题句表达了文章的中心思想（main idea），找到了主题句，也就抓住了文章的主旨大意。

因此，“主题句定位法”是解答主旨大意题的一种行之有效的方法。

主题句呈现形式通常有以下几种：1）在开头出现；
2）在结尾出现；
3）在开头和结尾同时出现，首尾呼应；
4）有些文章的中心思想贯穿全文，并没有用一句话明确表达出来，这就要求学生学会归纳概括。

（三）实战演练
1. The easy way out isn’t always easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug, my husband of one month, to a special meal. I glanced through my cookbook and chose a menu which included homemade bread. Knowing the bread would take tine, I started on it as soon as Doug left for work. As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozen would be better, so I doubled everything. As Doug loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl. Soon there was a sticky dough (面团) covered with ugly yellowish marks. Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn’t have to face Doug laughing at my work. I went on preparing the rest if the meal, and, when Doug got home, we sat down to Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed. Twice he got up and went out side, saying he thought he heard a noise. The third time he left, I went to the window to see what he was doing. Looking out, I saw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container. When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in our rubbish bin . Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see. I felt cold. But I stepped close and looked harder. Without doubt it was my work. The hot sun had caused the sough to dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast (酵母) made the surface shake and sigh as thought it were breathing . It looked like some unknown being from outer space.
I could see why Doug was shaken. I had to admit what the “living thing”was and why it was there. I don’t know who was more embarrassed (尴尬) by the whole thing –Doug or me.
The writer’s purpose in writing this story is ___________
a.to tell an interesting experience.
b.To show the easiest way out of a difficulty.
c.To describe the trouble facing a newly married woman
d.To explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books
2 Decision thinking is not unlike poker--- it often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think and what you think they think you think. The mental process is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.
The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular, he showed that all games of “perfect information”, games like chess where the players can’t hide anything or play tricks; they don’t win by chance, but by means of logic and skills. Then there are games of “imperfect information”, like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.
One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quit the reverse. Business, politics, life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors which would even puzzle best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.
The subject discussed in this text is _____
a. the process of reaching decision
b. the difference between poker and chess
c. the secret of making good business plans
d. the value of information in winning games
3 Most people feel lonely sometimes, but it usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. This kind of loneliness is not serious, In fact, it is quite normal. For some people, though, loneliness can last for years. Now researchers say there are three different types of loneliness.
The first kind of loneliness is temporary(暂时的). This is the most common type. It usually disappears quickly and does not require any special attention. The second kind, situational loneliness, is a natural result of a particular situation—for example a family problem, the death of a loves one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can cause physical problems, such as headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year.
The third kind of loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronic(长期的) loneliness usually lasts more than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual loneliness have problems socializing and becoming close to others. Unfortunately, many chronically lonely people think there is little or nothing they can do to improve their condition.
Psychologists agree that one important factor in loneliness is a person’s social contacts, e.g. friends, family members, co-workers, etc. We depend on various people for different reasons. For instance, our families give us emotional support; our parents share similar interests and activities. However, psychologists have found that, though lonely people may have many social contacts, they sometimes feel they should have more. They question their own popularity.
Psychologists are trying to find ways to help habitually lonely people for two reasons: they
are unhappy and unable to socialize and there is a connection between chronic loneliness and serious illness such as heart disease. While temporary and situational loneliness can be a normal, healthy part of life, chronic loneliness can be a very sad, and sometimes dangerous condition.
The topic of the 4th paragraph is that _________.
a. one problem of loneliness is a person’s social contacts
b. we depend on various people for different reasons
c. lonely people don’t have many social problems
d. lonely people don’t have many friends
What is the best title for the passage?
a. Three Kinds of Loneliness.
b. Loneliness and Diseases
c. Loneliness and Social Contacts
d. Chronic Loneliness.
4．Excused from recycling because you live in a high rise with a rubbish chute (垃圾道)? You won’t be for long. Miami’s Mark Shantzis has made it simple for those living in tall buildings to use the chute and cycle, too.
In Shantzis’Hi-Rise Recycling system, a chute leads to a pip-shaped container with six boxes that can turn around when operated. The system, which fits in the same space as the chute and container now in use, enables ,glass, plastics, paper, metal, and other rubbish to go into separate boxes.
The system is controlled from a board foxed next to the chute door. The board has a button for each class of recycling materials. At the press of a button, a microcomputer locks all other floors’chute doors and sets the recycling container turning until the right box comes under the chute. The computer also counts the loads and gives a signal by phone when the box is full. And a particular piece of equipment breaks up the non-recyclables.
Sorting(分类) recyclables before they are collected saves the use of expensive materials recovery equipment which otherwise has to do the sorting. Such equipment often makes recycled materials very expensive, so expensive that tones of recyclables remain wasted. Shantzis believes his system could help recycled materials become more cost-effective.
The purpose in writing this text is _________.
A to encourage people to recycle their rubbish.
B to introduce a recycling system for high rises
C to describe the use of computer technology in recycling
D to explain the need for rubbish collection in high rise
5 Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless methods of production and lack of consumer demand for environment-friendly products have contributed to the pollution problem. One result is that millions of tons of glass, paper, plastics, and these are difficult to get rid of.
However, today, more and more consumers are choosing “green”and demanding that the products they buy should be safe for the environment. Before they buy a product, they ask questions like these, “Will this shampoo damage the environment?”“Can this metal container be reused or can it only be used once?”
A recent study showed that two out of five adults now consider the environmental safety of a product before they buy it, this means that companies must now changed the way they make
and sell their products to make sure that they are “green”, that is, friendly to the environment.
Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products carry labels (标签) to show that the product is green. Some companies have made the manufacturing (生产) of clean and safe products their main selling point and emphasize it in their advertising.
The concern for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink how they do business. No longer will the pubic accept the old attitude of “buy it, use it , throw it away, and forget it.”The public pressure is on , and gradually business is cleaning up its act.
What would be the best title for the text?
a. Business and People
b. Business Goes Green
c. Shopping Habits Are Changing
d. Supermarkets and Green Products
6If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language, you will get answers like “Shakespeare,”“Samuel Johnson,”and “Webster”, but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn’t even speak English ----William the Conqueror.
Before 1066, in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups. In the west-central region lived the Welsh, who spoke a Celtic language, and in the north lived the Scots, whose language, though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic. In the rest of the country lived the Saxons, actually a mixture of Anglos, Saxons, and other Germanic and Nordic peoples, who spoke what we now call Anglo-Saxon (or Old English), a Germanic language. If this state of affairs had lasted, English today would be close to German.
But this state of affairs did not last. In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England. For about a century, French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result, English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German. In some cases, modern English even shows a distinction between upper-class French and lower-class Anglo-Saxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods, meat in particular, depending on whether it is still out in the field or at ready to be cooked, which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming, while the upper-class Normans were doing most of the eating.
When Americans visit Europe for the first time, they usually find Germany more “foreign”than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man’s ambition.
What is the subject discussed in the text?
a. The history of Great Britain.
b. The similarity between English and French.
c. The rule of England by William the conqueror
d. The French influences on the English languag
e.
7Britain’s oldest man made his first visit to London yesterday at the age of 110. Mr. John Evans had never found the time or the money to make the trip from his home near Swansea. But, when British Rail offered him an all-expenses-paid birthday trip to the capital, he just could not refuse.
Until yesterday he had never been far from home, except for one trip to Aberdeen. Mr.Evens, who spent 60 years working as a miner in South Wales, almost made the journey to London once before, at the turn of the century. “There was a trip to the White city but it was ten shillings (1shilling =1/20 pound) return from Swansea-too much I thought. All my money went to the family then,” he said.
During the nest two days Mr. Evens will be taken on a whistle-stop tour of London to see the sights. Top of his list is a visit to the Houses of Parliament.
The only arrangement he does not care for is the wheelchair provided to move him about if he gets tired. “I don’t like the chair business-people will so think I am getting old,”he said.
Hi secret for a long and healthy life has been well publicized—no alcohol, no cigarette and no anger. Before setting off from Swansea with his 76-year-old son, Amwel, he quipped, “I’m glad to see they’ve given me a return ticket.”
What might be the best title for this passage?
a. 100-year-old Tourist
b. Secret for Long and healthy life
c. Free Return Ticket
d. Sightseeing in London
8 BEING –set of by the April 1 Sino-us plane collision(相撞) and US official agreement of the biggest arms sale to Taiwan in decade (ten years) as well as remarks by US president Bush on Defending Taiwan, there have been increasing hacker attacks on websites of the two countries in the past weeks.
An American group of hackers （黑客) which calls itself Poison Box had begun ruining Chinese websites after the April1 spy plane incident, top Chinese portal said.
The Chinese soon attacked back.
On April 2, Chinese hackers invaded two Government websites over the weekend, forcing the Department of labor and the Department of the Health and Human Services to shut down their sites for a short time.
The US Department of labor went off line for a few hours after a page in its website was changed to display a picture of Wang Wei, the Chinese pilot who died in the collision.
The page was titled “China back!”and read, in English, “the whole country is so sorry for losing the best son of China ---Wang Wei forever. We will miss the end of the day.”
On May1, hackers exchanged bad remarks (脏话) in which the official White House website was defaced (毁容) by a huge amount of e-mail garbage. On May5, the White House website fell victim (受害者) to a denial (拒绝) of serviced attack that blocked access (通道) to the site for more than two hours.
The Computer Network and Information Security Management Office told web operators an average of 100 sites a day had seen “some more form of attack.”
The best title of the passage is _____.
a. Sino-US plane collision.
b. Sino-US Hackers Fighting Cyber () war
c. Cyber war continuing
d. Wang wei, our best son
9There were two interesting news items () in the paper a few years ago . One was about
a man who received a bill from the telephone company for £999,999—for three month! The other was about a man who received £2,000 a month ---for doing nothing.
The connection between the two news items is simple: computer –the best invention of the 20th century. The telephone bill came from a computer which made a terrifying mistake that was only £23.36. The other item was not so amusing. A man walked into the unguarded computer room of a large packaged food company (袋装食品生产公司) and expertly programmed the computer (给计算机编程序) to pay him £2,000 a month for raw meat which he “supplied”to the company. Of course he never sent the meat, but he certainly received the money. The computer wrote out a bill, and even “signed”it. It was only a random (随便的) check that uncovered the trick. It could be happening in thousands of other companied all over the world.
Computers are not the magical workers that some people say they are. They make mistakes, they’re sometimes slower than human beings and they’re easily fooled. The US used to conscript (征兵) people with the help of a computer. The army sent out a card, which had to be filled in and sent back. It was easy to avoid being called up simply by spreading candle-waxon on the card. The computer couldn’t read the card and did nothing with it.
It’s in our everyday life that computers cause many problems. Let’s get back to using people instead of computers, before a mistake that we can’t put right.
The writer’s main idea is __________.
A we’d better use people instead of computers in our everyday life.
B we should not use computers because they always make mistakes
C computers are widely used in our everyday life
D if we want to work well, don’t use the computers.
10 During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood of Western Canada. When the crops were good, the economy on city streets watched the yields and the price of wheat with almost as much felling as if they were growers. The marketing of wheat became an increasingly favorite topic of conversation.
War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketing the western crop. For years, farmers mistrusted speculative grain selling as carried on through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn, but farmers could not wait for markets to improve. It had happened too often that they sold their wheat soon after harvest when farm debts were coming due, only to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various occasions, producer groups asked for farmer controls, but governments had no wish to become involved, at least not until wartime wheat prices threatened to run wild.
Anxious to check inflation and rising living costs, the federal government appointed a board of grain supervisors to handle deliveries from the crops of 1917 and 1918. Grain Exchange trading was suspended, and farmers sold at prices fixed by the board. To handle the crop of 1919, the government appointed the first Canadian Wheat Board, with full authority to buy, sell and set prices.
What is the main purpose of the passage?
A To explain how wheat is marketed today
B To justify suspension of trading on the Grain Exchange.
C To describe the origins of the Canadian Wheat Board.
D To argue for further reforms on the Canadian Wheat Board
11.April 27 is Take Our Daughters to Work Day in Britain. Started at first in the United
States and brought to Britain in 1994, Take Our Daughter to Work Day has become a special day for girls between 11 and 15. On that day thousands of girls take a day off school and go together with one of their parents to their work places. The purpose of this day is to broaden girls’horizons(视野) and raise their self-confidence.
For many years people have thought that boy can do better than girls in society. But actually, “Girls can be whatever they want to be just like boys, whether it is a pilot , a nurse or a chief executive (主管),”says the chairman of the Our Sons and Daughters Charitable Trust, an organization which supported the activity of the Day. “Now the girls have a close look at what their parents are doing and this may help them to be more self-confident when they are faced with a choice of work.”
Schools and many companied support the activity, too. Palmers Green High School for girls, in north London, has made the day a necessary of careers education.
Zarina Bart,15, from Palmers Green, went with her mother Gwen to her lawyer’s office on this year’s Take Our Daughters to Work Day. “I learned how to fill in a legal aid form and I read details of a case. Then I went to see the actual trail,”she said.
Zarina found it interesting to see her mother at work. “It’s really strange seeing Mum at work-running around, getting serious and telling people what to do.”She has always liked this idea of going into law and thinks it likely that she will follow in h er mother’s footsteps. Having a chance to see how her mother works has given hr more self-confidence.
Experts believe that girls with higher self-confidence aim higher and are more likely to be successful in life. Parents have more important effect on the confidence of teenage girls. If parents believe in their daughter and show examples both at work as well as at home for them, this will give a lot of help to girls. Take Our Daughters to Work Day is surely a step in the right direction.
The writer’s purpose in writing this text is to _________
A introduce to us a special day for girls
B broaden girls’view and raise their confidence
C show us that girls can do as well as boys
D tell how the special day for girls came into being
12 To swim the English Channel takes at least nine hours. It’s hard work and it makes you short of breath. To fly over the channel takes only twenty minutes as long as you’re not held up at the airport, but it’s an expensive way to travel. You can travel by hovercraft(气垫船) if you don’t mind the noise and that takes forty minutes. Otherwise, you can go by boat, if you remember sea-sickness pills. All these means of transport (运输) have their problems, and the weary (厌烦的) traveler often dreams of being able to drive to France in his own car. “Not possible, you say. Well, wait a minute people are once again considering the idea of a Channel tunnel or bridge.”This time , the great London Council(议会) is looking into the possibility of building a channel link straight to London. A bridge would cost far more a tunnel, but you would be able to go by rail or by car on a bridge, whereas (然而) a tunnel would provide a rail link only.
Why is this idea being discussed again? Is Britain realizing the need for links with Europe as a result of joining EEC(欧共体)? Well, perhaps. The main reason , though, is that a tunnel or bridge would reach the twenty square kilometers of London’s discussed stimulate(刺激) trade and revitalise (使…..具有活力) the port, and would ,make London a main trading center in Europe. With a link over the channel, you could buy your fish and chips in England and be able to
eat them in France while they are still warm!
The main idea of the passage is ______
A how to develop the trade of London
B crossing the Channel is difficult
C how to get to Europe more conveniently
D what to do in the development of traveling
13 Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes(撞毁). Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent strips, called cheverons (人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.
Now the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint cheverons and other patterns of strips on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.
Excessive speed plays a major role in as much a one fifth of all fatal(致命) traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will carry its tests in areas where speed-related hazards(危险) are the greatest –curves(弯), exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars(水平障碍物)painted across roads can initially(最初) cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
Cheverons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are, but also make a lane(车道) appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.
The passage mainly discusses ________.
A a new way of highway speed control
B a new pattern for painting highways
C a new way to training drivers
D a new type of optical illusion
14 Farmer ED Rawlings smiles as he looks at his orange trees. The young oranges are growing well in Florida’s weather. Warm sunshine and gentle rains, along with ED Rawlings expert care, will produce a good crop of oranges this year.
But ED has to fight against Florida’s changeable winter weather. In January and February, temperature can destroy ED’s entire orange crops. Having farmed in Florida for the past 35 years, Ed Rawlings is prepared for the frosts. When temperatures drop below freezing, Ed tries to save his crop by watering his orange trees. The water freezes and forms a thin layer of ice on the trees. Strange as it may sound, this thin layer of ice actually keep the fruit warm..
What happens is simple. When the trees are watered, the water loses heat and becomes ice. The warmth of the heat it loses is sicked in by the fruit and keeps its temperature at a safe level. Ed Rawling has effectively used this method to save many orange crops.
But Ed still faces some difficulties. The trees should be watered at the exact moment the temperature drops to the freezing point. Also, just the right quantity of water must be used. Too much water can form a thick layer of ice that will break the trees branches. Another difficulty is that wind blows away the heat. So Ed has to worry about not only when but also how often his
trees should be watered, and how much water should be used.
Computer technology may help Ed with some of these worries. With equipment, air and soil temperatures and wind speed can be measured. The information is fed into a computer which can tell when temperatures drop to freezing. The computer can correctly decide the quantity of water to be used and how frequently the trees should be watered. Ed will find looking after his orange trees a lot easier with the help of a computer, and we’ll all have the benefits(or advantages) of computerage oranges.
The passage is mainly about_______.
A a farmer’s expert care for his orange trees
B the different uses of computers
C growing oranges in Florida’s changeable weather
D different way of frost protection
15 RALOALTO, California—“Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter—even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise,”US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and forth grades, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds (0.91kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television view and not any other activity,”said Thomas Robison, a pediatrician at Stanford University.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies’annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a pretty smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their took part in any extra exercise.
“One explanation for the weight loss could be the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories,”Robinson said.
“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,”Robison said.
The author tried to tell us in the first two paragraphs that _____
A children will get fatter if they eat too much
B Children will get thinner if they eat less
C children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV
D children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV
参考答案
主旨题实战演练
1. A
2. A
3. A.A
4. B
5. B.
6. D
7. A
8. B 9. A 10. C 11. A 12. C 13. A 14. A.15. D
16During the summer you should be even more careful than usual of the foods you prepare. Foods spoil faster in hot weather than in cold weather. When you are shopping, purchase frozen and refrigerated foods, don’t make long stops on your way ho me because frozen foods could become soft or warm. Using insulated (密封的) bags helps keep food cold until you arrive home.。