作者：北京新航道学校 李传伟
发表于《求学·考研》第五期
阅读，是考研英语中的重头戏，几乎占到试卷总分的一半，而且阅读题的词汇量大，题目多，一旦做不好，不但会失分，还会影响后面试题的发挥，阅读就此成了英语考试失分的重灾区，如果能够攻克这一堡垒，既为考试开个好头，又能得分，一举两得。
如何高速有效地阅读原文？许多同学运用“地毯式”阅读法，一字一句地读下去，读到每个词时都若有所思、战战兢兢，惟恐意思稍有偏差，影响对整个文章的理解；或者沉溺于个别句子的繁琐分析，惟恐不清楚句子的构成，不理解句子的含义，从而导致答错题。这种缓慢而谨慎的阅读方法，在心理上给阅读者似乎一种虚假的踏实感，但是无论是从理解原文还是从做题的角度来看，这种方法花费时间长、效率低，不是很好有效的方法。针对这一普遍情况，笔者结合2006年阅读题的第一篇文章介绍阅读原文的一种行之有效的：详读重点、略读细节、跳读修饰——“三读法”。
一、 详读重点
重点：就原文而言，就是文章的基本结构、内容和态度；就答题而言，就是问题所对应的原文的出题句。以这个标准来衡量，需要重点阅读的原文词句就不会很多，因为文章后面只有五道题，它们对应的原文在五句左右，为了回答文章后面的问题，需要重点阅读原文的下列内容：
1． 宏观方面――①文章结构；②文章主题句；③各段首末句；④作者态度。
2． 微观方面――①有转折处；②重要标点；③句子主干。
二、 略读细节
相对于论点而言，论据是细节性的，如果明白论点，论据可以读得较快；相对于段落主题而言，解释段落主题的支持句是细节性的。可以略读的细节包括例子和解释。
三、 跳读修饰
细节性的修饰，只对论点起次要的补充说明作用，第一遍阅读时可以跳过。此外，这些细节性的东西通常也不出题，即使涉及问题，到时候看也来得及。可以跳读的细节包括：
1． 两个逗号之间的问题
2． 两个破折号之间的问题
3． 人物的头衔
4． 并列叙述
下面以2006年考研阅读第一篇为例，具体说明如何运用“三读法”达到最佳效果。
In spite of “endless talk of difference, American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. There is “the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casualness and absence of deference” characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption”, launched by the 19th-entury department stores that offered “vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite” these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act. ” The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization.
Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today’s immigration is neither at unprecedented level nor resistant to assimilation. In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indices of assimilation—language, home ownership and intermarriage.
The 1990 Census revealed that “a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most common countries of origin spoke English ‘well’ or ‘very well’ after ten years of residence. ” The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. “By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.”Hence the description of America as a “graveyard” for languages. By 1996 foreign-born immigrants who had arrived before 1970 had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans.
Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics “have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S-born whites and blacks. ” By the third generation, one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians.
Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation’s assimilative power.”
Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething anger in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against America’s turbulent past, today’s social indices hardly suggest a dark and deteriorating social environment.
