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1 阅读技巧
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2 课堂训练
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3 轻松一刻
Part 2 Reading Skill Focus
Scanning (2)
The methods of efficient scanning may be briefly summarized as follows:
1. Remember the information. Keep it in your mind that you are after specific information, so begin with a very clear understanding of what you are looking for. Limit your search to one or, at most, two items of information at a time.
2. Decide the form of the information. Decide in advance what form the information is likely to take in order to locate it very quickly, and then move your eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words and phrases related to the information. If it is a person’s name, you will look for initial capital letters. If it is the title of a book, you will be looking for italics. If it is a date, you will look for figures. And if it is the description of an event, the discussion of an idea, the definition of a term, or the like, you should be looking for key words which could be likely to occur in such a description or discussion. For example, if you are reading a biography to find someone’s occupation, you should look for words like occupation, work employment, livelihood, and so forth.
3. Scan the passage. Pass quickly over all material that is not directly related to the information you seek. Do not allow your attention to be diverted from your specific task, for otherwise you will slow down your speed and even forget your original purpose.
Guided Example
Example 1
The following questions are based on the passage below. Read the questions first and then find the answers in the passage.
1. What’s the mean annual temperature in Louisiana?
2. At what time of year does Louisiana have its minimum rainfall?
The entire state of Louisiana is within a damp, subtropical zone. The average annual temperature of the state is 67 degrees Fahrenheit, and monthly means temperatures vary from 52 degrees in January and December to 82 degrees in July and August. The length of the growing season is usually between 220 and 250 days in the northern half of the state, and between 250 and 275 days in the southern half. The annual rainfall of the state averages about fifty-five inches, with a minimum in autumn. In the southern half the maximum is in summer, with frequent heavy thunderstorms, in the northern half the winter and spring rains exceed those of summer. Cane sugar is the principal product of the delta region, and rice is grown in the prairies of southwestern Louisiana, and near the coast such subtropical fruits as oranges, olives, figs and grapefruit are grown. Outside of these areas, cotton is the principal crop.
当我们试图找到某个具体信息时，通常不需要通篇仔细阅读。要做的只是快速找这个信息在文中所处的位置。找到具体位置之后，再集中精力仔细阅读此处。
由于本文一开头便说明了文章讲的是state of Louisiana，因此要回答第1题，我们只要找到mean annual temperature就会找到答案。注意问题中的mean和average同义，都表示“平均的”，因此第1题的答案是67 degrees Fahrenheit。
回答第2题时，应快速查找到关键信息 minimum rainfall 所处的大致位置。仔细阅读这一部分内容后得知答案为in autumn。
Example 2
The following questions are based on the passage below. Read the questions first and then find the answers in the passage.
1. What was the first film made with actors’ voices？
2. What did Walt Disney create？
3. How many people went to the cinema every week in the 1930s？
The Jazz Singer was very successful; but film companies found it difficult to change from silent films to “talkies”. With silent films, they had been able to make several scenes at once in one studio. Now, they had to build soundproof (隔音的) studios and films only one scene at a time. They could not move the cameras freely, as they had to build glass screens round them to quieten the noise they made.
A director called Walt Disney realized that these problems did not affect cartoon films; so many of the first films with sound were cartoons. It was Disney who, in the late 1920s, created Mickey Mouse.
The studios gradually learnt new techniques, and the 1930s became the golden age of Hollywood. At this time, the cinema audience was estimated at 75 million people a week; and the two biggest American companies, Paramount and MGM, were making over 500 films a year between them. Many new kinds of films developed—musicals, Westerns, thrillers—now that sound was possible.
选择题目中具有明显标志或明确意义的词作为关键词有利于定位信息以快速找到 答案。从第1题的问题可得知，答案应该是一个电影的名字，而电影名在文章中应以斜体字形式表示，因此可快速找到答案，即The Jazz Singer。第 2 题关键词是 Walt Disney，可快速定位在倒数第 2 段，即答案为Mickey Mouse。第3题关键词是1930s，可快速定位在最后一段，即答案为75 million。
