最新高考英语阅读理解命题特点与答题指导

                        刘决生

教育部考试中心在对近年的高考英语阅读理解试题进行分析总结时指出：阅读英语文章是我国考生接触英语的最主要途径，因此，阅读理解应该在试卷中占较大的权重。

一、最新高考英语阅读理解命题特点

自2005年6月高考开始，上海市、浙江省高考英语试题均增设了属于阅读理解泛读范围内的六选五的阅读新题型，至此，全国十六份高考英语试题的阅读理解篇幅均为五篇以上，浙江省更是以六篇阅读50分的权重（占总分150分的三分之一）遥遥领先。综观近年各地高考英语阅读试题，它们有以下显著特点：试题难度适中，个别省份略有起伏；文章选材符合《考试大纲》的基本要求，即保证了题材、体裁类型多样；对阅读理解的几种技能考查比较全面；个别省份篇章长度有加长,阅读量略有增加；文章内容积极健康，兼具知识性、思想性与教育性。2007年高考，主观性的阅读新题型也开始出现，如此山东卷的阅读表达，湖南卷的问答题等。

从整体上看，各省市的高考阅读理解试题都基本做到了以下三个方面：1.阅读材料信息含量大，体现在5篇文章（或6篇文章）题材与体裁的多样化方面；2.文章有易有难，搭配适度，命题者注意到合理把握文章及句子的难度；3.恰当控制生词的数量，较好地处理合成词与派生词。每份试题的5篇文章（或6篇文章）20道题（或25道题）都能合理安排好文章细节判断题，词意或句意猜测题、文意理解判断题及根据文章推理判断题的题量与出现的顺序，命题者熔知识性、趣味性、实用性于一炉，全方位多侧面对考生的阅读理解能力进行了比较科学的检测。我们必须承认这样一个事实，在中国这样一个幅员辽阔、人口众多、学习英语最缺语言环境的国度中，人们接触英语的主渠道是阅读英语文章，由此可见，把握好选文的难度、选文的思想性、选文的时代性以及文章实用性的确是一门很深的学问，在这方面教育部考试中心高考英语命题组的高考英语阅读选材早已为树立了一个非常好的榜样。最近几年阅读理解的难度系数都是0.51左右波动，稍具点语言测试常识的人们都会明白这绝对不是某种偶然或巧合，而是命题者经过多年的潜心研究，对高考后的数据进行缜密分析，透彻了解中学教学实际，本着两个“有利于”（“有利于高等学校选拔人才、有利于促进中学教学）的基本原则，站在英语测试学的角度上进行科学命制的，试题具备非常科学的信度、效度与区分度。相比之下，其他单独命题的省份，或者直接按照教育部考试中心的说明要求命题，或者是以其为指导，结合当地的英语教学实际制定了相应的考试说明，并据此命题。

教育部考试中心对高考阅读文章选材有如下要求：

    1. 阅读材料的主题要明确，话题要新，要有时代感，

    2. 语言应地道，条理清晰，结构紧凑，在时间顺序、空间顺序或逻辑推理上要有较大的复杂性。

    3. 材料长短适宜。平均每篇短文300词左右，但每篇文章要有足够的信息量，以供设题之用。其中文章词量约占2/3，试题词量约占1/3。

    4. 语言难易要适度。材料中的生词量应控制在1%以内（由构词法形成的词不计为生词），避免短文中出现太多的汉语释义。每篇注释的词控制在3个以内。

    5. 材料应具有真实性，原汁原味，选材新颖，避免选用广为流传和人所共知的材料，可涉及科普、社会、文化、政治、经济和生活等。

6. 体裁应多样化，应有叙述文、说明文、议论文、应用文等。每套试题最好有一篇考查特定信息能力的广告、公告类材料，也可选用科普、新闻等体裁。

(以上摘自教育部考试中心的试题分析报告)

以很具代表性的2007年的浙江卷阅读试题为例:

从阅读文章的题材角度看：所选文章坚持了多样性和原汁原味相结合的原则。如阅读理解第一篇，描述了Arthur Bonner从一个囚犯到名人的人生蜕变历程，就如同蝴蝶的脱茧而出一样，不失为一篇对考生进行成长教育的阅读素材。第二篇阅读文章则根据科学工作者对失语症患者辨别说话者是否真实地表达出自己情感的研究，阐述了每个人都有自己的长处和不足的人生哲理。第三篇文章更是体现了英语学以致用的特点，选择了“2008北京奥运会”这一学生非常熟悉的话题。而第四篇阅读文章则涉及到不同民族之间的文化差异，第五篇阅读文章介绍了作者八岁时的卖报经历，父母的良苦用心跃然纸上。任务型阅读就像题目要求的那样，选出Cathy, Jason, Kate, Wayne和Frank各自所需的杂志，其语言的应用特点不言而喻。

   2007年高考的阅读理解题应该对我们以后的阅读训练有很大的启示，坚持语言学习为教育、生活服务的方向，真正体现英语作为工具学科的作用。

从阅读文章的体裁角度看：六篇文章覆盖了记叙文、应用文、说明文、议论文多种文体，在体裁上达到了均衡，同时兼顾了应用性，同时多方面地考查了考生的英语阅读能力。

从阅读容量的角度看：近几年高考英语阅读试题容量有较大幅度的增加，其主要表现是阅读语段容量的增加。这一特征从另一侧面显示了高考英语试题突出语篇处理，加大深层信息处理力度的命题趋势。

二、高考英语阅读理解测试能力层次分类答题指导

1.信息搜寻准确到位的能力

这类试题难度不大，属于基础题，考生只需要搜寻到相关信息即可。

以2007年北京卷A篇为例：

EXERCISE IN EXACTLY 4 MINUTES PER DAY!

           $14,615

TIME IS IT. Over 92% of people who own exercise equipment and 88% of people who own health club memberships do not exercise. A 4-minute complete workout is no longer hard to believe for all the people who have bought our excellent Range of Motion machine(ROM) since 1990. Over 97% of people who tent our ROM for 30 days end up buying it, due to the health benefits experienced during that tryout and the ROM performance score that tells the story of health and fitness improvement. At under 20 cents per use, the 4-minute ROM exercise is the least expensive full body complete exercise a person can do. How do we know that it is under 20 cents per use? Over 90%of ROM machines go to private homes, but we have a few that are in commercial use for 12 years and they have endured over 80,000 uses each, without need of repair. The ROM 4-minute workout is for people from 10 to over 100 years old and highly trained athletes as well, The ROM balances blood sugar, and repairs bad backs and shoulders. Too good to be true? Get our free video and see for yourself. The best proof for us is that 97%of rentals become sales. Please visit our website at or call(800)123-6460/

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57.How many people bought ROM after trying it out?

A.92%       B.88%     C.97%     D.90%

答案为C，主要根据Over 97% of people who tent our ROM for 30 days end up buying it一句，考生只要准确搜集这信息就可以答题了。

2.对细节语义转换理解的能力

这类试题往往提供考生以数字，图表和文字描写等特定的情景，常常要求考生换个角度思考,“横看成岭侧成峰”，只不过是叙述的角度与表述的语言不同。这类试题在阅读理解试题中所占比例比较大。

以2007年全国卷Ⅰ的A篇第二段为例：

The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货），saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.

56. Why was the bike so important to the couple?

   A. The man’s job was bike racing.           B. It was their only possession.

   C. It was a nice Kona 18 speed.             D. They used it for work and daily life.

答案为D，根据文章描述，可以看出，自行车在作者家庭中扮演着十分重要的角色，所以D项意思“他们在工作与日常生活中使用它”与问题符合。

3.对词义转换的理解能力

这类试题主要是测试关键词或下划线单词、词组的意思理解。

以2007年上海卷D篇第一段为例：

The traditional tent cities at festivals such as Glastonbury may never be the same again. In a victory of green business that is certain to appeal to environmentally-aware music-lovers, a design student is to receive financial support to produce eco-friendly tents made of cardboard that can be recycled after the bands and the crowds have gone home.

76. “Eco-friendly tents” in paragraph 1 refer to tents _______.

   A. economically desirable                         B. favorable to the environment

   C. for holding music performances           D. designed for disaster relief

答案为B，结合上下文，尤其是environmentally-aware的提示，可见Eco-friendly tents与环境保护有关。单词friendly与favorable意思接近。

4.对文章主旨，作者意图的分析能力

   这属于较高层次的对思维能力测试的试题，包括测试想象思维，逻辑思维以及从局部到整体的概括思维能力等。

   虽然一篇文章的细节内容可能很多，但是其核心意思都可以用简洁的一句或几句话概括，甚至三言两语即可。“归纳”和“概括”考查的重点是在阅读理解文意的基础上对文章进一步分析和整理的能力。“归纳”和“概括”的考查可能要求归纳某一段落的思想内容，也可能要求对文章整篇中心做归纳，如给文章选择合适的标题等。

不妨一看2007年浙江卷阅读D篇：

Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication in a business, or even open people’s mind to another culture or race.

People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them. For example, most American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times. They regard storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own.

“ Most local stories are based on a larger theme,” American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, “ Cinderella(灰姑娘), or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost every culture of the world.”

Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages of the stories. She works with prisoner too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives. If they don’t like the story they are living, they can rewrite the story. Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers. “For every advance in business,” she says, “ there is a greater need for communication.” Storytelling can have a great effect on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says.

Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday life of the people there. The benefits of storytelling are found everywhere, she says.

“I learned how people used stories to spread their culture,” she says, “ What I do is to focus on the value of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs. We are all storytellers. We all have a story to tell. We tell everybody’s story.”

55. What is the main idea of the text?

   A. Storytelling can influence the way people think.

   B. Storytelling is vital to the growth of business.

   C. Storytelling is the best way to educate children in school.

   D. Storytelling helps people understand themselves and others.

答案为D，结合文章意思，讲故事有助于人们了解异域文化，其他选项都与中心意思不符合。

5.推理判断能力

考查推理判断能力是对考生潜在能力的测试，读文章不完全是被动的“读”，而要主动的“思”，探究文章之外的知识。根据文章内容进行推断时要有理有据，有时文章没有现成的结论，要根据文章内容进行合理推断想象。有时试题的题目在设计时对文章中的说法变换了叙述角度或表达方式，是否符合文章不能直接看出，需要在正确把握文章的前提下分析判断，从而推理出符合文章的正确选项。

以2007江苏卷A篇为例

     Su Hua is studying at Cambridge, UK. She has bought a bicycle and is worried about security (安全). Her friend, Kate, found this article and sent it to her.

59. The main purpose of this article is _________.

   A. to tell you what to do if your bicycle is stolen

   B. to suggest ways of keeping your bicycle safe

   C. to give you advice on where to buy a good lock

   D. to say why you shouldn’t keep your bicycle in a quiet place

答案为B，结合全文，我们会推理出文章的写作意图是告诉人们如何防止自行车被盗窃。

由于高考英语阅读测试的内容比较全面，方式也多种多样，这里不再赘述。各地高考英语试题是命题组专家们的智慧结晶，典型性强，很值得考生们逐题推敲、领会，从而悟出常见的高考阅读理解题的答题思路。