在英語試卷中，閲讀理解在分數上佔到了40分，所以起到至關重要的作用。可以毫不誇張地説，如果閲讀理解沒有做好，那麼就很難在考試中取得高分。既然閲讀理解如此重要，我們應該如何提高閲讀理解的解題速度和解題正確率就成為一個非常現實的話題了，筆者在常年的教學經驗中總結出了一套行之有效的“四步曲法”，在攻克閲讀理解題這一堡壘上非常有實用價值，下面具體從四個步驟來展開：
第一步：通讀全文，把握文章大意
拿到閲讀篇章，第一步就是要求通讀全文，力爭把握文章體裁和脈絡，做到能夠回答when(故事發生的時間)、where(故事發生的地點)、who(文章的主人公)和what(文章講述了什麼事情)等問題。
如下面一篇文章：
The lottery of the World Cup draw has handed Asia a golden opportunity to make its wonderful performance yet on the global football stage. December last year, the draw of the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals was as kind as it could have been to three out of four of the Asian teams who will do battle in Japan and South Korea in the summer.
China, Japan and South Korea cart all hold realistic hopes of advancing from what are likely to be closely fought first round groups. Only Saudi Arabia has been left with what looks like an impossible task, after being pooled with Germany, Ireland and African champions Cameroon.
China's debut (the first appearance) in the World Cup finals will provide the highlight for the Asian teams, after they were lined up to face Brazil, Turkey and Costa Rica. “We know Brazil will be difficult but that is okay,” said China's Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic. Brazil may have struggled through the South American qualifying competition but few doubt they will be a much more dangerous outfit by the time the action gets underway particularly if star striker Ronaldo completes his comeback from injury. “Brazil are still Brazil,” acknowledged Milutinovic. “You can never write them off. ”
For Milutinovic, the match against Costa Rica will be a special occasion. The central American team is one of the four sides he has previously coached at World Cup finals and the team's current coach, Alexander Guimaraes, is one of his former assistants.
Being joint hosts, South Korea and Japan, “were equally smiled upon by the gods of fortune. South Korea, in particular, will be optimistic about its chances of progressing from a group that includes highly-rated Portugal, the United States and Poland. Japan, likewise, will feel it has a chance against Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. However, both coaches-the Korean's Dutch coach, Gus Hiddink and Japan's French coach, Philippe Troussier-played down the suggestions that a place in the second round is assured because no one can predict what will happen before the matches.
在通讀全篇文章後，應該知道本文主要講述的是2002年韓日世界盃分組情況及東亞球隊--中國、韓國和日本對分組情況的反應。其中涉及到了三支球隊的主教練米盧、希丁克和特魯西埃的態度。
在第一步閲讀文章時，筆者反對字斟句酌，花大量的時間去搞懂生僻單詞、詞組和專有名詞的意思。因為這樣一來影響解題速度，而且實際上有些生僻單詞、詞組及專有名詞與題目毫無關係，所以也沒有必要搞懂它們的意思。如此文中Bora Milutinovic、Gus Hiddink、Philippe Troussier三位教練的名字我們根本沒有必要花時間去搞懂它們的中文翻譯，只要大致上知道他們是中國、韓國和日本隊的主教練就行了。
第二步：細讀題幹，查尋轉換內容
把握文章大意後，我們必須把注意力集中到文章題目上來，對於題幹內容，我們必須要提煉出最能夠説明問題的詞、詞組或者句型，然後再在這個基礎上從文章中找出同義詞、詞組或者句型，這一遍帶着目的讀文章必須是字斟句酌、非常仔細。
就如上面一篇文章，我們看到下面有一個Question:
According to the above passage which team seems to have the greatest difficulty in progressing from the first round?
A. China B. South Korea C. Japan D. Saudi Arabia
解答此題時首先應該認真讀一遍題幹，提煉出最有説服力的詞語或結構，在這裏無疑是have the greatest difficulty, 那麼帶着這個詞組有目的性地再讀文章，不難發現文章第二段第五行an impossible task與這個詞組有同樣的意思，找到了表達同種意思的不同搭配這一步就算大功告成了，答案為D。
在帶着關鍵詞進行閲讀時我們務必要注意這樣一條原則，即一定要轉化，千萬不要希冀在文章中找到與題幹主要內容一模一樣的單詞或詞組。如題幹中是hard，可能在文章中你會發現是no easy job, difficult等單詞、詞組。殊途同歸，其實變化也就暗示你已經找到了正確答案。
第三步：掃讀語塊，搜索有效信息
剛才我們已經在文章中找到了與題幹吻合的單詞、詞組或者句型，然後我們不能沽名學霸王，而應該乘勝追擊，在這個吻合單詞、詞組或者句型周圍掃描，力爭找到能夠説明問題，幫助我們選擇正確答案的信息。
如剛才那一道題目，我們以an impossible task這個詞組為中心進行掃讀，發現在這個有效信息的前面有Only Saudi Arabia這個字樣，那麼這就是能夠説明問題，幫助我們選擇正確答案的信息。完成這點，那麼這一步就順利結束了，我們已經能夠看到勝利的曙光了。
值得一提的是，有些有效信息並不一定在前面，也可能在後面。有些有效信息在不遠處，而有些有效信息遙遙相望，但它肯定在文章中存在着，我們只需要練就發現有效信息的火眼金睛就OK了。
第四步：查讀題項，定位正確答案
在第三步搜索到有效信息的基礎上，我們進入了最後的攻堅階段，即臨門一腳、找出正確答案的階段，在這一階段，我們有時會發現問題解決起來非常簡單，如上面一題，根據有效信息Only Saudi Arabia我們可以輕而易舉地得出正確答案D. Saudi Arabia。但有時我們會發現一波三折，在這裏我們還需要進行轉換，即同種意思的不同表達形式，如我們通過前面幾步得出的有效信息是: have a good time, 而題項中卻沒有，只有enjoy oneself，顯然，這就是正確答案，因為兩者都是“玩得很高興、很快樂”的意思。
下面我們再以一道題目來闡述一下“四步曲法”的運用：
Question: Why did the coaches of both South Korea and Japan play down the suggestions that a place in the second round is assured?
A. Because they know they will meet with some strong teams in the first round.
B. Because they know they will meet with some teams that are rather weak but they want to save their face.
C. Because they know football is football and no one knows the results until the games are played.
D. Because they want to make their opponents confused before the games.
第一步： 通讀全文，明白本文大意講述的是韓日世界盃亞洲隊伍分組情況。
第二步： 細讀題幹，查尋到轉換內容是：play down the suggestions，再在文章中發現最後一段最後一句played down the suggestions that...有同樣意思。
第三步： 掃讀語塊，搜索有效信息是because no one can predict what will happen before the matches。
第四步：查讀題項，定位正確答案為C。因為C項的意思完全與有效信息相同，只不過是表達方式有些變化而已。
當然，“四步曲法”也不是在解答閲讀理解題時百試不爽，遇到考查文章標題和中心大意的題目時，我們還是應該用傳統的立足整體、概括全文的方法。如同樣是考查上面文章的一道題目：
Question: Which is the best title of this passage?
A. Asia has a chance in the World Cup
B. South Korea and Japan will join forces to host the World Cup
C. China is expected to do well in the World Cup
D. Bora's comments on the World Cup finals
此題不能在文章中直接找到對應句，而是從全文看出此篇文章講述在2002年韓日世界盃亞洲隊伍分組形式很有利，所以有機會取得好成績。那麼，選擇答案A也就是順理成章的事情了。
雖然考查文章標題和中心大意的題目很難直接運用“四步曲法”，但也可以幫助我們選出正確答案。
巧用“四步曲法”在英語閲讀理解中，你會發現把複雜的事情弄簡單了，從而輕鬆克服閲讀難關，在英語考試中取得理想成績。
文/朱建煥
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