高中英语阅读技巧：①理解主旨和要义——段落大意和全文大意
一、段落大意题
★常见的设问方式
1. What's the main idea of the first / second / ... paragraph?
2. Paragraph 1 / 2 / ... focuses on / is mainly about _____.
3. What is stressed / does the author stress in Paragraph 1 / 2 / ...?
4. What is the key message of the first / second / ... paragraph?
5. What does the first / second / ... paragraph mainly discuss / talk about?或What is the first / second / ... paragraph mainly about?
★解题技巧
段落大意题主要考查考生对某一段落的理解程度及把握该段落在整个语篇中所起作用的能力，一般针对该段落的主旨或目的设题。做这类题的关键在于抓住该段落的内容要点。常用的技巧有：
1. 寻主题句。有的文章中段落的主题句在段首或段尾。这类文章一般段内层次较为分明，多采用“总——分”或“分——总”结构。但有时主题句会出现在段落的中间，这时段落结构一般是：细节——主题——细节。要把握住段落的逻辑结构，就要特别关注段落内起过渡作用的词汇，如however, but, and, also, for example, in conclusion, on the contrary 等。
2. 通过关键词概括。有些段落没有明确的主题句，需要考生依据已知的细节自己归纳段落大意。这时可通过略读筛选出最能表达作者意图的关键词，进而确定作者要表达的真正意思。
二、全文大意题
★常见的设问方式
1. What is the text mainly about?
2. What's the main idea of the text?
3. What does the author mainly discuss in the text?
4. The text mainly deals with _____.
5. The passage is mainly about _____.
6. The author writes the text mainly to _____.
★解题技巧
全文大意题考查考生能否分辨主题和细节，是否具有提纲挈领的能力。做这类题时，要求考生能理解全文细节，然后运用概括、判断、归纳、推理等逻辑方法对文章进行总结。常用的技巧有：
1. 寻主题句。文章的主题句通常出现在文章第一段或最后一段，而有些文章的主题句需要通过归纳总结每段的段落大意获得。
2. 抓住高频词。选项形式为一两个单词或一个短语时，文中被反复提到的概念或名称多是正确选项。
3. 看选项特点。正确选项通常不含表示绝对意义的词，而且不能只是概括某个细节或表述局部观点，也不能包括文章没有提及的内容。
三、真题分析
以下内容均选编自高考真题，我们将结合上面提到的解题技巧对各题进行分析解答。
[A]
.
..
Meanwhile, things that you might expect to discourage spending —“bad” tables, crowding, high prices — don't necessarily. Diners at bad tables — next to the kitchen door, say —spent nearly as much as others but soon fled. It can be concluded that restaurant keepers need not “be overly concerned about ‘bad’ tables,” given that they're profitable. As for crowds, a Hong Kong study found that they increased a restaurant's reputation, suggesting great food at fair prices. And doubling a buffet's price led customers to say that its pizza was 11 percent tastier.
1.What does the last paragraph talk about?
A. Tips to attract more customers.高中英语文章
B. Problems restaurants are faced with.
C. Ways to improve restaurants' reputation.
D. Common misunderstandings about restaurants.
【分析】
本文是一篇说明文。它主要通过引入现代餐馆的鼻祖马蒂兰•罗兹制定的标准以及学者对于餐馆的研究来介绍现代餐馆在经营中影响食客消费的几个因素：视觉要素（餐具、灯光）、听觉要素（音乐）、嗅觉要素（气味）、其他要素（桌位、拥挤程度和价格）。素材旨在通过现代餐馆的经营理念，让考生了解西方现代餐馆的经营之道。
解答本题需运用“寻主题句”法。根据最后一段首句中的things that you might expect to discourage spending —“bad” tab les, crowding, high prices — don't necessarily可知，你可能认为会打消你消费的念头的东西——位置“不好”的桌位、拥挤和价格高——未必如此（指在某些人看来，这些不利因素未必不会带来利润的增加）。由此可知，作者认为这些对于餐馆的常见的观点是一种误解，故选D项。
[B]
Cities usually have a good reason for being where they are, like a nearby port or river. People settle in these places because they are easy to get to and naturally suited to communications and trade. New York City, for example, is near a large harbour at the mouth of the Hudson River. Over 300 years its population grew gradually from 800 people to 8 million. But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight. In 1896, Dawson, Canada, was unmapped wilderness (荒野). But gold was discovered there in 1897, and two years later, it was one of the largest cities in the West, with a population of 30, 000.
Dawson did not have any of the natural conveniences of cities like London or Paris. People went there for gold. They travelled over snow-covered mountains and sailed hundreds of miles up icy rivers. The path to Dawson was covered with thirty feet of wet snow that could fall without warning. An avalanche (雪崩) once closed the path, killing 63 people. For many who made it to Dawson, however, the rewards were worth the difficult trip. Of the first 20,000 people who dug for gold, 4,000 got rich. About 100 of these stayed rich men for the rest of their lives.
But no matter how rich they were, Dawson was never comfortable. Necessities like food and wood were very expensive. But soon, the gold that Dawson depended on had all been found. The city was crowded with disappointed people with no interest in settling down, and when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as quickly as they had come. Today, people still come and go — to see where the Canadian gold rush happened. Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City — its present population is 762.
2.What is the text mainly about?
A. The rise and fall of a city.
B. The gold rush in Canada.
C. Journeys into the wilderness.
D. Tourism in Dawson.
【分析】
本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了加拿大Dawson City的兴衰及其背后的原因。解答本题可运用“寻主题句”法。根据文章第一段中的“But not all cities develop slowly over a long period of time. Boom towns grow from nothing almost overnight”和最后一段中的“when they heard there were new gold discoveries in Alaska, they left Dawson City as
quickly as they had come”以及最后一句“Tourism is now the chief industry of Dawson City — its present population is 762”可知，文章主要讲述了一座城市（Dawson City）的兴衰，故本题的正确答案为A项。