如何掌握主旨(How)：
阅读英语段落的时候，应该是“匀速阅读”还是“变速阅读”呢?当然是“变速阅读”!这样我们才能做到阅读时的详略得当。但是，“变速阅读”是“先快后慢”还是“先慢后快”呢?这就要从英语的思维方式说起。
英语倾向于先说重要的还是先说次要的?我们来看看英语与汉语的思维方式差异。汉语族人的思维方式是“螺旋式”的，喜欢画龙点睛，我们称之为“Save the best for the last”。而英语族人的思维方式是“直线式”的，喜欢直入主题，我们称之为“Say what you want to say, then say why”。
这样一比较，大家应该马上明白了阅读英语段落的要领：变速阅读，先慢后快，精读首句，浏览全段。据统计，70%-80%的英语段落都是首句是主题句。所以，以后阅读英语段落，应该先精读首句(把握首句的“主题”和“方向”)，再浏览全段(把握全段的“关系词”)，才能实现快速阅读。而很多同学以前阅读的时候，要么就是倾向于到段落结尾找主题句(这主要是受了汉语思维方式的影响)，要么就干脆把有限的精力平均分配到一段话内部的每个单词和每个句子，而忽略了主次关系，没有详略得当地阅读。
例如：
Drama is sometimes seen as a branch of literature because plays，like literature, are often printed in book form. However, there is an important difference between the two forms. Unlike a novel，a play is written to be performed, and the script of a play is not a finished work;it is an outline for a performance. The physical production of the play--the scenery, lighting，and costumes--will affect the performance, and so will the actors. How the actors interpret their roles greatly influences the play’s effect on the audience.
精读首句：主题是“drama”和“literature”，方向是“a branch”，主旨是“戏剧与文学的相同点”，而且因果关系词because和类比关系词like都是维持方向的。浏览全段：转折关系词However说明方向发生了改变，说明主旨是“戏剧与文学是不同的”。对比关系词Unlike也证明了比较的是不同点。所以，第二句话是该段的主题句。
当然，“主题+方向+关系词”这三个要素在一个段落里面并非一定同时存在。例如，有些说明性段落里面可能只有主题，没有方向。还有很多段落是没有关系词的。但是，总体上来说，这三个要素是我们理解一个段落主旨所必需的最基本条件，需要我们尽量把握。
第二节 掌握主旨的的第一种方法
常用法——分析段落结构找主题句
小学语文老师让我们概括主旨之前，都要分析一下段落结构。如果是“总分”结构，那么首句就是段落主题句(Topic Sentence)。反之，如果是“分总”结构，则末句是主题句。
我们在学英语的时候，一直缺少这种正确的学习方法，所以我们已经习惯于把每一个单词和每一句话都翻译出来，但是却很少有意识的把握段落主题句。
常见的段落结构有如下六大类：(1)总分;(2)总分总(由总分演变而成);(3)分总;(4)分总分(由分总演变而成);(5)对比;(6)并列。其中，前四种段落结构都存在主题句和支持句之分。而后两种结构中可能不存在主题句，其段落内部会分成若干个势均力敌的部分，只不过对比结构段落的两部分之间方向相反，而并列结构段落的各部分之间方向相同。
之所以叫“常用法”是因为大多数段落的结构都符合上述六种结构中的某一种，所以可以供我们概括出大多数段落的主旨。但是，在这六种结构中，最常见的是总分(总分总)结构段落，因为美国人还是喜欢把最重要的东西放在前面来说。其次是分总(分总分)结构。至于对比和并列结构的段落，由于很罕见，所以在这里就暂时忽略了。
一、总分结构
总分结构的主题句一般为首句(如果首句结束后，第二句话存在转折关系，那么主题句就是第二句)。最常见的总分段落的标志就是第二句话前面出现“for example/instance”等举例关系词。如果总分结构段落最后再加一个总结句，就是总分总结构。这种段落结构约占70%。
THE ART OF THEATER
SECTION A
The means by which an art form presents its message is referred to as the medium. Thus，sound produced by instruments or human voices is the medium of music. Paint on canvas or paper is the medium of painting. For literature，the medium is written language. For theater, it is a story performed by actors on a stage.
SECTION B
Drama is sometimes seen as a branch of literature because plays，like literature, are often printed in book form. However, there is an important difference between the two forms. Unlike a novel，a play is written to be performed, and the script of a play is not a finished work;it is an outline for a performance. The physical production of the play--the scenery, lighting，and costumes--will affect the performance, and so will the actors. How the actors interpret their roles greatly influences the play’s effect on the audience.
SECTION C
The basic encounter in theater is between the performers and the audience. This is a special type of encounter because the performers are playing other people，characters. Moreover, the characters are part of a human story that has been written by a dramatist. This combination of elements distinguishes theater from other art forms.
SECTION D
Theater has several other distinctive characteristics. First，the subject matter of theater is always human beings. Second, theater is universal--there is an impulse toward creating theater in all societies. Third, theater is transitory in nature——a play is an event that occurs through time. Finally, theater is set apart by its basic elements：audience，performers, director, dramatist，purpose，viewpoint，and setting.
SECTION E
Human beings and human concerns are always the subject matter of drama, even when the performers play animals，objcects，or abstract ideas. In the medieval play Everyman, some of the roles are abstract ideas such as Beauty, Knowledge, and Strength. The central character is Everyman，a human character, and the subject is death arriving before we want it to come—a theme that is universal to humans. The focus of drama is on human beings, even though different human concerns have been emphasized in difierent plays.
SECTION F
In view of the human-centered quality of theater, it is not surprising that the impulse toward theater is universal. The urge to create drama has existed wherever human society has developed：in Europe，Asia，Africa，Australia，and the Americas. In every culture recorded in history or studied by anthropologists，we find rituals，ceremonies，and celebrations that include elements of theater. At various times，these ceremonies and stories developed into a separate realm of theater. In Greece，a fully developed theater emerged almost 2,500 years ago. In India，theater became well-established around 2,000 years ago. Wherever theater has become a separate art form，it has had certain essential qualities：a story—tne play—is presented by one group—the performers—to another group—the audience.
SECTION G
One special quality of a theater performance is its immediacy. In the theater we live in the perpetual present tense. Theater is a transitory art. A performance changes from moment to moment，and each moment is a direct，immediate adventure for the audience. The transitory nature of theater is a quality it shares with music and dance, and sets it apart from literature and the visual arts. A novel or a painting is a fixed object;it exists as a finished product. The performing arts，on the other hand, are not objects but events. Theater occurs through time;it is an experience created by a series of sights，sounds，and impressions.
A Theater is a form of literature because we can read plays in books.
D The tendency toward creating theater occurs in all human societies.
B Theater requires a human story, performers，and an audience.
C An actor must change his voice to play certain characters.
E Theater developed as a separate art very early in Greece and India.
F Each theater performance is an immediate yet transitory experience.
这篇文章的正确答案为B/D/F。B选项对应C段，D选项的all human societies对应F段首句的universal，F选项对应G段的immediacy。A选项与文章的方向是矛盾的，因为文章强调的是theater与literature的区别。C选项是无关的。而E选项仅仅是F段的细节。当我们把各段的主题句用下划线标出时，就可以发现大多数段落的主题句都是首句。有两个例外，B段的首句之后有转折关系词however造成第二句是主题句。另外C段末句是主题句，因为末句的this combinations of elements概括了前面的a human story, performers, and an audience。
二、分总结构
分总结构就是末句是主题句。这种段落结构约占20%左右。如果分总结构的总结句之后再加上一点分述，就变成了“传说”中的分总分结构了(不过这种结构很罕见)。例如上一篇文章的C段就是典型的分总结构段落。
THE ATLANTIC COD FISHERY
SECTION A:
Off the northeastern shore of North America，from the island of Newfoundland in Canada south to New England in the United States, there is a series of shallow areas called banks. Several large banks off Newfoundland are together called the Grand Banks，huge shoals on the edge of the North American continental shelf, where the warm waters of the Gulf Stream meet the cold waters of the Labrador Current. As the currents brush each other, they stir up minerals from the ocean floor, providing nutrients for plankton and tiny shrimp—like creatures called krill，which feed on the plankton. Herring and other small fish rise to the surface to eat the krill. Groundfish, such as the Atlantic cod, live in the ocean’s bottom layer, congregating in the shallow waters where they prey on krill and small fish. This rich environment has produced cod by the millions and once had a greater density of cod than anywhere else on Earth.
SECTION B
Beginning in the eleventh century, boats from the ports of northwestern Europe arrived to fish the Grand Banks. For the next eight centuries，the entire Newfoundland economy was based on Europeans arriving, catching fish for a few months in the summer, and then taking fish back to European markets. Cod laid out to dry on wooden“flakes”was a common sight in the fishing villages dotting the coast. Settlers in the region used to think the only sea creature worth talking about was cod, and in the local speech the word “fish” became synonymous with cod. Newfoundland’s national dish was a pudding whose main ingredient was cod.
SECTION C
By the nineteenth century the Newfoundland fishery was largely controlled by merchants based in the capital at St. John’s. They marketed the catch supplied by the fishers working out of more than 600 villages around the long coastline. In return, the merchants provided fishing equipment，clothing, and all the food that could not be grown in the island’s thin, rocky soil. This system kept the fishers in a continuous state of debt and dependence on the merchants
SECTION D
Until the twentieth century, fishers believed in the cod’s ability to replenish itself and thought that overfishing was impossible. However, Newfoundland’s cod fishery began to show signs of trouble during the l930s，when cod failed to support the fishers and thousands were unemployed. The slump lasted for the next few decades. Then, when an international agreement in 1977 established the 200-mile offshore fishing limit，the Canadian government decided to build up the modern Grand Banks fleet and make fishing a viable economic base for Newfoundland again. All of Newfoundland’s seafood companies were merged into one conglomerate. By the l980s，the conglomerate was prospering, and cod were commanding excellent prices in the market. Consequently, there was a significant increase in the number of fishers and fish-processing plant workers.
SECTION E
However, while the offshore fishery was prospering，the inshore fishermen found their catches dropping off. In 1992 the Canadian government responded by closing the Grand Banks to groundfishing. Newfoundland’s cod fishing and processing industries were shut down in a bid to let the vanishing stocks recover. The moratorium was extended in 1994，when all of the Atlantic cod fisheries in Canada were closed, except for one in Nova Scotia，and strict quotas were placed on other species of groundfish. Canada’s cod fishing industry collapsed, and around 40,000 fishers and other industry workers were put out of work..
SECTION F
Atlantic cod stocks had once been so plentiful that early explorers joked about walking on the backs of the teeming fish. Today, cod stocks are at historically low levels and show no signs of imminent recovery, even after drastic conservation measures and severely limited fishing. Fishermen often blame the diminishing stocks on seals，which prey on cod and other species，but scientists believe that decades of overfishing are to blame. Studies on fish populations have shown that cod disappeared from Newfoundland at the same time that stocks started rebuilding in Norway, raising the possibility that the cod had migrated. Still，no one can predict whether and when the cod will return to the Grand Banks.
A Atlantic cod stocks were once plentiful in the rich environment around the Grand Banks.
B The Atlantic cod is a groundfish that preys on herring and small fish that eat krill.
C Cod fishing was so successful that few people considered the possibility of overfishing until fish stocks fell.
D The Canadian government tried to diversify Newfoundland’s economy in the 1980s.
E Despite severe limits on fishing，cod stocks remain at low levels and show few signs of recovery.
F Newfoundland exports millions of dollars worth of crab and other shellfish every year.
正确答案为A/C/E。A选项的once plentiful in the rich environment 对应A段的this rich environment once had a greater density。C选项的overfishing和fish stocks fell对应D段cod failed to support the fishers and thousands were unemployed。E选项的low levels和few signs of recovery对应F段的historically low levels and show no signs of imminent recovery。B选项是A段的细节。D和F选项是无关选项。从文中下划线部分的主题句可以看出，A段和B段都是末句是主题句的段落。A段末句的this rich environment概括了前面的内容。B段末句说“整个纽芬兰的一道菜就是由鳕鱼组成的一个布丁”总结了前面“纽芬兰的经济依赖于捕鱼”的内容。而F段的第二句话与末句形成了一个首尾呼应的总分总结构。
总结：
常用法——分析段落结构找主题句——的最大好处是大部分段落都存在主题句，所以能够广泛应用该方法概括段落主旨。这就是“常用法”的由来。但是，该方法的缺点是，如果段落结构比较复杂，又存在大量生词，可能导致我们难以找到主题句。这时候“简易法——重复出现是主旨”就会帮上大忙了。
第三节 掌握主旨的第二种方法
简易法——重复出现是主旨
上一节讲到，常用法——分析段落结构找主题句——的最大好处是大部分段落都存在主题句，所以能够广泛应用该方法概括段落主旨。这就是“常用法”的由来。但是，该方法的缺点是，如果段落结构比较复杂，又存在大量生词，可能导致我们难以找到主题句。这时候“简易法——重复出现是主旨”就会帮上大忙了。
如果一段话在不断重复某一概念，就说明这段话在围绕这个概念展开，这个概念就是这段话的主旨。其实我们不妨从作者写作的角度来理解：假如我们是作者，那么在某一段话内部要把一件事物具体阐述，就必须不断重复这个事物(例如：现在这个段落里，您会读到好几次“重复”这个词，这说明本段主旨就是“重复”)。这就为我们快速把握主旨提供了极大的方便。因此，这种方法称为“简易法”。
在一段话内部重复出现可以分为三种类型。第一种是“原词”重复，但是这也是作者极力避免的，所以才会出现后面两种：“同类词”重复和“指代”重复。当然，简易法固然快捷，但是并非所有段落都有重复出现的内容，所以这种方法有局限性，最好能与常用法互为补充。
一、原词重复
原词重复就是在一个段落里面一模一样地不断重复某个词语。这是最简单的一种段落，必须保证拿分。
LascauxCave Paintings
SECTION A
In Southwest France in the 1940’s, playing children discovered Lascaux Grotto, a series of narrow cave chambers that contain huge prehistoric paintings of animals. Many of these beasts are as large as 16 feed(almost 5 meters). Some follow each other in solemn parades, but others swirl about，sideways and upside down. The animals are bulls，wild horses，reindeer，bison，and mammoths outlined with charcoal and painted mostly in reds，yellow，and browns. Scientific analysis reveals that the colors were derived from ocher and other iron oxides ground into a fine powder. Methods of applying color varied：some colors were brushed or smeared on rock surfaces and others were brown or sprayed. It is possible that tubes made from animal bones were used for spraying because hollow bones，some stained with pigment，have been found nearby.
SECTION B
One of the most puzzling aspects of the paintings is their location. Other rock paintings -- for example, those of Bushmen in South Africa -- are either located near cave entrances or completely in the open. Cave paintings in France and Spain，however, are in recesses and caverns far removed from original cave entrances. This means that artists were forced to work in cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. It also implies that whoever made them did not want them to be easily found. Since cave dwellers normally lived close to entrances，there must have been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cave dwellers hid their art.
SECTION C
Scholars offer three related but different opinions about the mysterious origin and significance of these paintings. One opinion is that the paintings were a record of seasonal migrations made by herds. Because some paintings were made directly over others，obliterating them，it is probable that a painting’s value ended with the migration it pictured. Unfortunately，this explanation fails to explain the hidden locations, unless the migrations were celebrated with secret ceremonies.
SECTION D
Another opinion is that the paintings were directly related to hunting and were an essential part of a special preparation ceremony. This opinion holds that the pictures and whatever ceremony they accompanied were an ancient method of psychologically motivating hunters. It is conceivable that before going hunting the hunters would draw or study pictures of animals and imagine a successful hunt. Considerable support exists for this opinion because several animals in the pictures are wounded by arrows and spears. This opinion also attempts to solve the overpainting by explaining that an animal’s picture had no further use after the hunt.
SECTION E
A third opinion takes psychological motivation much further into the realm of tribal ceremonies and mystery：the belief that certain animals assumed mythical significance as ancient ancestors or protectors of a given tribe or clan. Two types of images substantiate this theory：the strange，indecipherable geometric shapes that appear near some animals，and the few drawings of men. Wherever men appear they are crudely drawn and their bodies are elongated and rigid. Some men are in a prone position and some have bird or animal heads. Advocates for this opinion point to reports from people who have experienced a trance state，a highly suggestive state of low consciousness between waking and sleeping. Uniformly, these people experienced weightlessness and the sensation that their bodies were being stretched lengthwise. Advocates also point to people who believe that the forces of nature are inhabited by spirits. Particularly shamans who believe that an animal’s spirit and energy is transferred to them while in a trance. One Lascaux narrative picture，which shows a man with a birdlike head and a wounded animal， would seem to lend credence to this third opinion，but there is still much that remains unexplained. For example, where is the proof that the man in the picture is a shaman? He could as easily be a hunter wearing a headmask. Many tribal hunters, including some Native Americans，camouflaged themselves by wearing animal heads and hides.
SECTION F
Perhaps so much time has passed that there will never be satisfactory answers to the cave images, but their mystique only adds to their importance. Certainly a great art exists，and by its existence reveals that ancient human beings were not without intelligence, skill, and sensitivity.
A The paintings may have recorded information about animal migrations，and may only have been useful for one migration at a time.
B The human figures represented in the paintings appear to be less carefully shaped than those of animals.
C It is possible that the animals in the paintings were of mythical significance to the tribe，and the paintings reflected an important spiritual practice.
D Unlike painters of the recently discovered paintings，other Lascaux cave painters usually painted on rocks near cave entrances or in open spaces outside the caves.
E Some scholars believe that the paintings motivated hunters by allowing them to picture a successful hunt.
F Scientific analysis suggests that paintings were sprayed onto the rock walls with tubes made from animal bones.
这篇文章的正确答案为A/C/E。A选项对应C段的migrations。C选项对应E段首句的mystery和mythical significance。E选项对应D段的hunt。B选项说“人不如动物画得细致”属于无关选项。D选项说“画在洞口”与B段主旨矛盾。F选项是A段的细节。从各段主题句的位置可以看出，仍然是总分结构占大多数。但是，B段重复出现了location，C段重复出现了migrations，D段重复出现了hunt，所以这些内容就是各个段落的主旨。尽管这篇文章非常难懂，但是如果善于使用简易法，那么不但题目很容易做，而且通篇文章也都容易理解。
二、同类词重复和指代重复
同类词包括同义词和近义词两种。例如：“job/profession/career”属于同义词，可以概括成“work”。而“dance/ballet/classical music/painting”属于近义词，可以概括为“art”。也就是说，在某一段落中，虽然没有原词重复，但是如果通过一系列属于同一类意群的词使我们的脑海中产生了一个共同的概念，那么这一概念就是该段落的主旨。例如，上一篇文章中的A段，同类词重复了“animals, beasts, bulls，wild horses，reindeer，bison，and mammoths”等等。虽然后面很多表示动物名称的单词不认识，不过通过并列关系能够知道wild horses是动物，其余肯定都是动物。这说明这段话的主旨就是“壁画的对象主要是各种动物”。
指代重复指的是一段话首句结束之后，为了避免用原词重复某一概念，不得不使用诸如“it/he/she/they/one/this/that”等代词。这样的段落很多，就不具体说明了。这两类重复的方法在文章中常见，但是在SUMMARY题型当中应用起来不如原词重复那么顺手。所以，请大家平时阅读的时候留心。
总结：
简易法——重复出现是主题——属于一种“锦上添花”的办法。如果和常用法搭配使用，效果最佳。换句话说，就是既能看出段落结构和主题句，又能识别出重复的词。所以，常用法对于阅读能力有很高的要求，而简易法则是一种能够通过反复训练养成的习惯。当然，毕竟多数段落是没有重复出现的概念的，所以简易法存在明显的局限性。
最后，还有三种句型是明显的主题句句型，可以迅速帮助我们找到主旨所在。