補(bǔ)全短文分析 如何巧讀首句？

補(bǔ)全短文分析 如何巧讀首句？

解題思路

該題型的英語(yǔ)短文的特點(diǎn)：

（1）主題句一般出現(xiàn)在句首和句尾。有些短文，通過閱讀文章標(biāo)題、首句以及尾句，就能夠找到文章的主旨。如：

［經(jīng)典范例］

How to Interview People?

Interviewing (采訪) is one of those skills that you can only get better at. You will never again feel so ill at ease as when you try it for the first time, and probably you'll never feel entirely comfortable trying to get from another person answers that he or she may be too shy to reveal. 　1　 The rest is instinct, which can all be learned with experience.

［答案解析］文章的標(biāo)題為疑問短語(yǔ)，可以清楚地提示大家這篇短文的主旨在于解釋“如何進(jìn)行采訪”，故僅從標(biāo)題就可以知道文章論述的主題。

（2）如果空白處緊跟文章開頭，答案很有可能與文章的主題是相關(guān)的。

［經(jīng)典范例］

Development in Newspaper Organization

One of the most important developments in newspaper organization during the first part of the twentieth century 　1　, which are known as wire services. Wire-service companies employed reporters, who covered stories all over the world. Their news reports were sent to papers throughout the country by telegraph.

A. to play an important role in newspaper operations

B. was the growth of telegraph services

C. and they usually enjoy great prestige

D. they are usually operated by a single owner

E. in order to survive under the pressure of rising costs

F. owned by a single person or organization

［答案解析］本文主旨在于陳述報(bào)業(yè)組織的發(fā)展，而文章首段的最后一句（Their news reports were sent to papers throughout the country by telegraph.）已經(jīng)指出在發(fā)展過程中最引人注目的就是電報(bào)。故B選項(xiàng)正確。

除此之外，了解文章的主題，能夠排除與文章不相關(guān)的選項(xiàng)。

接下來我們就通過真題來感受一下巧讀首句的重要性。

真題回放

Rising Tuition in the US

Every Spring, US university administrators gather to discuss the next academic year's budget. They consider faculty salaries, utility costs for dormitories, new building needs and repairs to old ones. They run the numbers and conclude—it seems, inevitably—that, yet again, the cost of tuition must go up.

According to the US's College Board, the price of attending a four-year private university in the US rose 81 percent between 1993 and 2004. 　46　 In 2005 and 2006, the numbers continued to rise.

According to university officials, college cost increases are simply the result of balancing university checkbooks. "Tuition increases at Cedarville University are determined by our revenue needs for each year," said the university's president, Dr. Bill Brown. "Student tuition pays for 78 percent of the university's operating costs." Brown's school is a private university that enrolls about 3,100 undergrads and is consistently recognized by annual college ranking guides like US News and World Report and The Princeton Review. 　47

Tuition at private universities is set by administration officials and then sent for approval to the school's board of trustees (董事).　48　This board oversees (監(jiān)管) all of a state's public institutions.

John Durham, assistant secretary to the board of trustees at East Carolina University (ECU), explains that state law says that public institutions must make their services available whenever possible to the people of the state for free. Durham said that North Carolina residents only pay 22 percent of the cost of their education.　49　State residents attending ECU pay about $10,000 for tuition, room and board before financial aid.

Amid the news about continued increases in college costs, however, there is some good news. Tuition increases have been accompanied by roughly equal increases in financial aid at almost every university. To receive financial aid, US students complete a formal application with the federal government. The federal government then decides whether an applicant is eligible (有資格的) for grants or loans.　50

A. The application is then sent to the student's university, where the school itself will decide whether free money will be given to the student and how much.

B. At public universities, however, tuition increases must also be approved by a State education committee, sometimes called the board of governors.

C. The school currently charges $23,410 a year for tuition.

D. Many American people are simply unable to pay the growing cost of food.

E. That's more than double the rate of inflation.

F. The state government covers the rest.

［答案解析］

46．E。［解析］通讀全文后可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，文章的題目簡(jiǎn)單明了地給出了本文的話題核心，即美國(guó)學(xué)費(fèi)上漲的狀況?？崭袂懊嬉痪湓捴v的是1993年到2004年間四年制私立大學(xué)學(xué)費(fèi)上漲的情況，后面一句講的是2005年和2006年上漲的情況，可以推斷出填入的內(nèi)容很可能是對(duì)學(xué)費(fèi)上漲的一種說明或比較，故答案為E。

47．C。［解析］這一段的后半段講的是一所大學(xué)即Cedarville University的收費(fèi)和支出情況。在六個(gè)選項(xiàng)中只有C以The school開頭，也就是說這句話是針對(duì)某一所大學(xué)的。就其內(nèi)容而言，也符合本段的需要。

48．B。［解析］這一段很簡(jiǎn)短，先講了私立大學(xué)的學(xué)費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是怎么制定的。選項(xiàng)B講的是公立大學(xué)的學(xué)費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是怎么制定的，中間還包含了however這個(gè)詞，表示了轉(zhuǎn)折，即講過私立，下面要講公立了。故答案為B。

49．F。［解析］這段講的是州政府對(duì)大學(xué)的投入。按理，一個(gè)州的公共機(jī)構(gòu)應(yīng)該盡可能為這個(gè)州的居民提供免費(fèi)的服務(wù)。北卡羅萊納州的居民只支付教育費(fèi)用的22％，下面一句話自然就該講州政府出多少錢了。

50．A。［解析］文章的最后一段講的是學(xué)生如何向聯(lián)邦政府申請(qǐng)資助。空格的前一句話說聯(lián)邦政府決定學(xué)生是否有資格申請(qǐng)獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金或貸款，然后將該申請(qǐng)送到學(xué)生所在的學(xué)校，由學(xué)校決定該學(xué)生是否可以得到資助。

Achilles' heel

某些文章首句并非是主旨句，而是簡(jiǎn)單的陳述；同時(shí)要注意首句后面是否出現(xiàn)了轉(zhuǎn)折。

［經(jīng)典范例］

From early times man has used garlic (大蒜). The Bible speaks of it. The Israelites (古以色列人) were once far from home. They cried out to Moses, their leader, for the foods they loved: leeks (韭菜), onions, and garlic. The Romans, like the Israelites, loved to eat garlic. And they hung bags of garlic around their necks.　1　They also thought it would keep them from getting sick.

［答案解析］

從短文的第一句From early times man has used garlic來看，讀者只能大概了解文章與大蒜有關(guān)，并不能正確地判斷出文章的主旨，故需要進(jìn)一步的閱讀。