第五講 怎樣做概括大意題
    一、題型介紹
    概括大意這一題型在 職稱 英語(yǔ)等級(jí)考試中屬于新題型。在我國(guó)其它的大規(guī)模的英語(yǔ)考試均未出現(xiàn)過(guò)。
    這種題型是先給出一篇短文，通常由一段組成，每段說(shuō)明一個(gè)主題。其主題可以用一個(gè)或幾個(gè)單詞概括出來(lái)，該單詞或詞組是不完整的，即有一個(gè)單詞是空出來(lái)的，但其第一個(gè)或前幾個(gè)字母已經(jīng)給出，要求考生在理解每段文字內(nèi)容的基礎(chǔ)上把空缺的字母給補(bǔ)上，使之構(gòu)成一個(gè)完整的單詞。這種題型有點(diǎn)像我們平時(shí)所說(shuō)的“畫(huà)龍點(diǎn)睛”或“高度概括”的意思。實(shí)際上，我們可以把每個(gè)段落看作一篇小短文，內(nèi)容有了，標(biāo)題不完整，考生要做的工作就是來(lái)把這個(gè)標(biāo)題補(bǔ)全或來(lái)“命”這個(gè)標(biāo)題。
    二、測(cè)試點(diǎn)
    顯而易見(jiàn)，這種題型的測(cè)試點(diǎn)就是考查考生抓大意的能力，即大綱規(guī)定的應(yīng)該掌握的閱讀能力的第一條。要概括短文的大意，就要首先讀懂原文。原文讀不懂自然總結(jié)不出來(lái)。把大意概括出來(lái)，還要能找出適當(dāng)?shù)挠⑽膯卧~，還要能寫(xiě)出這個(gè)單詞，所以概括大意這種題型同時(shí)又考了 詞匯 量和拼寫(xiě)。
    由于這種題型也比較新穎，對(duì)考生可能有點(diǎn)不適應(yīng)，不知如何下手。其實(shí)，這種題型相對(duì)來(lái)說(shuō)不算難。上面我們談到，概括大意這種題型的實(shí)質(zhì)是讓考生給每段文字“命”一個(gè)小標(biāo)題。而要“命”出這個(gè)標(biāo)題來(lái)就必須確定每段文字的主題 思想 。如何確定文章和主題思想?考慮一下人們的寫(xiě)作和邏輯思維過(guò)程，這個(gè)問(wèn)題就容易回答了。我們?cè)趯?xiě)一篇短文時(shí)，總要分幾個(gè)段落來(lái)寫(xiě)，而每一個(gè)段落都有自己的一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)、論點(diǎn)或主旨。要闡述它，作者就必須展開(kāi)他的觀點(diǎn)或論點(diǎn)，一定要作補(bǔ)充、說(shuō)明、解釋或舉例，以支持所提出的問(wèn)題。反映作者觀點(diǎn)、論點(diǎn)或主旨的這個(gè)句子通常叫做主題句。主題句往往體現(xiàn)了每一段或整個(gè)文章的主題思想。那么，找到了段落的主題句，就等于抓住了它的主題思想，抓住了它的主題思想，標(biāo)題就容易確定了。看來(lái)，要概括出每段的段落大意，就必須先找到每段的主題句。
    在怎樣做閱讀理解題第一講中，我們?cè)敿?xì)介紹了如何通過(guò)找主題句來(lái)抓文章的大意，即解答主旨類題目。這里就不再重復(fù)了。下面我們通過(guò)一個(gè)具體的實(shí)例來(lái)說(shuō)如何解答概括大意這類題目，并指出解題的步驟。
     singapore
     1. in______________ to singapore .
     singapore is an independent city-state in southeastern asia, consisting of one major island - the singapore island - and more than 50 small islands, located off the southern tip of the malay peninsula. the city of singapore, the capital of the country, is at the southeastern end of the singapore island; it is one of the most important port cities and commercial centers of southeast asia. the total area of the republic is 640 sq.km.
     2. l____________ and climate.
     low-lying singapore island has no outstanding relief (輪廓鮮明的)features. a central area of hills rises to the maximum height of 176 m. the country has a wet tropical climate, with an average annual temperature of 27.20 c. the average annual precipitation is 2,413 mm; the wettest months are november through january.
     3. state sy_________ of singapore .
     singapore is governed under a constitution of 1959, as amended (修改后的). a president, elected to a four-year term is head of state, and a prime minister is head of government. the president used to be elected by parliament, but by a 1991 constitutional amendment (修正), the president is now elected directly by the people. the parliament is the law-making body with its 81 members populary elected.
     4. e_____________.
     in the late 1980s the country had some 290 primary schools with 278,300 pupils and 160 s***ndary schools with 200,200 students. the main institutions of higher education are the national university of singapore (founded in 1980 with the combination of two major universities), several technical colleges, and a teachers college.
     5. e_______________ of singapore .
     singapore has one of the highest standards of living of any country in asia. in the late 1980s the gross domestic product was estimated at $23.7 billion, or $ 8,870 per person. the fishing industry is centered on the port of during, on southwestern singapore island. industry has grown rapidly since the 1960s, and singapore now produces a diversity (多樣化的)of goods, including chemicals, electronic items, clothing, and processed foods, etc. ship building and petroleum refining are also important.
    這是一篇關(guān)于新加坡的文章。我們先看一段。上面我們說(shuō)了，在做概括大意這類題目時(shí)，先找段落的主題句。第一段好像沒(méi)有哪一句話能概括全段的主題思想。這種段落屬于無(wú)主題句段落。敘述的都是細(xì)節(jié)內(nèi)容。這時(shí)要根據(jù)段落論述的中心或焦點(diǎn)進(jìn)行提煉，跳出具體細(xì)節(jié)，從整體上把握段落，概括出全段的大意。本段涉及到新加坡的地理位置、國(guó)土面積，首都等，顯然是對(duì)新加坡的一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單介紹。介紹的英文單詞是introduction，所以該段的小標(biāo)題為introduction to singapore。