一、详读重点
所谓重点,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以上。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:
1.例子
2.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:
1.两个逗号之间的东西
2.两个破折号之间的东西
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,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.
21. The word “homogenizing” (Line 1, Paragraph 1) most probably means
[A] identifying. [B] associating.
[C] assimilating. [D] monopolizing.
22. According to the author, the department stores of the 19th-century
[A] played a role in the spread of popular culture.
[B] became intimate shops for common consumers.
[C] satisfied the needs of a knowledgeable elite.
[D] owed its emergence to the culture of consumption.
23. The text suggests that immigrants now in the U.S.
[A] are resistant to homogenization.
[B] exert a great influence on American culture.
[C] are hardly a threat to the common culture.
[D] constitute the majority of the population.