(一)細節題
　　1.若針對舉例子、名人言論、特殊符號后的內容出題，考生只讀例子、名人言論、特殊符號前后句內容，即可選出正確答案。
　　［真題例解］(2001年1月第15題)
　　Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep.Jerome M.Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half?brain sleep“is just the tip of the iceberg(冰山)”.He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
　　Q:By “just the tip of the iceberg”(Line 2,Para.8),Siegel suggests that.
　　A)half?brain sleep has something to do with icy weather
　　B)the mystery of half?brain sleep is close to being solved
　　C)most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers
　　D)half?brain sleep is a phenomenon that could exist among other species
　　答案為D）。根據引號內容很快找到原文相關部分，其后的內容必是對該問的解釋。第二句中說加州大學洛杉磯分校的Ferome M.Siegel推測鳥類的半腦睡眠現象只是冰山露出來的一角。第三句說如果我們對其他物種作進一步認真仔細的觀察，可能會發現更多的例證，所以D正確。因此考生只要理解第二句、第三句的意思即可選出正確答案。
　　2.如果只是針對某一段的內容提出問題的話，考生只看該段內容即可答題，而不必看完全文才做答。
　　［真題例解］(2002年12月第29題)
　　In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55 percent of the states; average weekly wages in 1972 to 97 percent today.But, as most studies show, every 10 percent increase in compensation benefits results in a 5 percent increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims.And with so much more money floating in the workers’ compensation system, it’s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.
　　Q： After 1972 workers’ compensation insurance in the U.S became more favorable to workers so that .
　　A) the poverty level for a family of four went up drastically
　　B) more money was allocated to their compensation system
　　C) there were fewer legal barriers when they filed for claims
　　D) the number of workers suing for damages increased
　　答案為D）。根據題干中的“after 1972”可馬上判斷出線索在最后一段。這一段的大意是說自1972年后，越來越多的人因工傷索賠而獲益，所以越來越多的人就進行索賠，那么也就有醫生和律師也來分一杯羹。尤其第二句話提到：索賠獲益每增加10個百分點，進行索賠的工人人數就增加了5個百分點，與D）一致。
　　3.選項中同義詞替換的一般是答案，而與原文相同或極其相似的選項一般不是答案項。
　　［真題例解］
　　No woman can be too rich or too thin.This saying often attributed to the late Duchess(公爵夫人) of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times.Being thin is deemed as such a virtue.(2002年6月第26題)
　　Q：In the eyes of the author,an odd phenomenon nowadays is that.
　　A) the Duchess of Windor is regarded as a woman of virtue
　　B) looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune
　　C) being thin is viewed as a much desired quality
　　D) religious people are not necessarily virtuous
　　答案為C)。事實細節題。本段第二句話中的“odd spirit”指的就是下面的一句話“Being thin is deemed as such a virtue”。選項C）中的viewed與句中的deemed均指thought之意；desired quality恰恰就是virtue的解釋。
　　Most systems are basically identical.The differences come in hardware—the way the computer accepts the driver’s request for directions and the way it presents the driving instructions.On most systems, a driver enters a desired address, motorway junction or point of interest via a touch screen or disc.But the Lexus screen goes a step further: you can point to any spot on the map screen and get directions to it.(2000年1月第23題)
　　Q：Despite their varied designs, navigation computers used in cars.
　　A) are more or less the same price
　　B) provide directions in much the same way
　　C) work on more or less the same principles
　　D) receive instructions from the same satellites
　　答案是C)。在四個選項中B)“directions”和D)項“instructions”都與原文有關。但據本段第二句話，計算機接受來自司機方向指示的方式及執行驅動指令等硬件方面是不同的，所以B)項和D)項是對原文的曲解。從本段第1句話可知很多系統基本上是相似的，這與C)項的意思一致。
　　4.選項中有絕對語氣詞的一般不是正確答案。
　　這些語氣詞有：always,the most, never, all, only, no, none, exclusively, hardly等，而選項中含有不十分肯定的語氣詞一般是正確選項。這些語氣詞有：
　　may,often,usually,might,could,more or less, possible, not necessarily等。
　　［真題例解］(2002年12月第31題)
　　When school officials in Kalkaska, Michigan, closed classes last week, the media flocked to the story, portraying the town’s 2,305 students as victims of stingy（吝嗇的）taxpayers.There is some truth to that; the property?tax rate here is one?third lower than the state average.But shutting their schools also allowed Kalkaska’s educators and the state’s largest teachers’ union, the Michigan Education Association, to make a political point.Their aim was to spur Passage of legislation ? Michigan lawmakers are debating to increase the state’s share of school funding.
　　Q： We learn from the Passage that schools in Kalkaska, Michigan, are funded .
　　A) mainly by the state government
　　B) exclusively by the local government
　　C) by the National Education Association
　　D) by both the local and state government
　　快速閱讀本段可知答案在A)、B)、D)選項中，選項A)和選項B)說得過于絕對，D)項用了both…and句型，所以D)為正確答案。但是，如果時間來得及，一定要到原文中驗證答案。由本段第一句話中“students as victims of stingy taxpayers”和第二句話中提到的當地的稅率較低這一點可知，當地的教育經費一部分來自于地方的稅收；再由本段最后一句話中“the state?s share of school funding”可知，州政府也分擔教育經費。故驗證D）為正確答案。
　　5.議論文中，那些符合一般常識的選項，富有深刻哲理，符合一般規律的選項常常是正確答案。
　　［真題例解］(2002年1月第30題)
　　It is where prices and markets do not operate properly that this benign(良性的) trend begins to stumble, and the genuine problems arise.Markets cannot always keep the environment healthy.If no one owns the resource concerned, no one has an interest in conserving it or fostering it: fish is the best example of this.
　　Q： The primary solution to environmental problems is.
　　A) to allow market forces to operate properly
　　B) to curb consumption of natural resources
　　C) to limit the growth of the world population
　　D) to avoid fluctuations in prices
　　答案為A)。本題題干是問解決環境問題的基本方法是什么，四個選項中D)項“避免價格波動”與題干無關，B)項“限制自然資源的消耗”和C)項“控制世界人口的增長”雖然有利于環境問題的解決，但不是基本解決方法。故A)項為正確答案。由文章最后一段話說：在價格和市場手段不能正常運轉的地方便會出現環境、能源等問題，可以推出：環境問題的解決之道便在于讓市場、價格手段正常地發揮作用，從而驗證A)項正確。
　　(二)判斷詞匯和短語題
　　1.通過連接詞關系如and,or等推斷所考詞匯的含義。
一般來說，用and連接的內容在含義上是相近的，而用or連接的內容往往是相反的，但有時or后面的內容，也是對前面內容的進一步解釋和說明。
　　［真題例解］(2002年6月第34題)
　　The other side of a state legal apparatus is a state military apparatus.While the one protects the individual from violence,the other sacrifices the individual to violence in the interests of the state.In war the state affirms its supreme power over the individuals within its own borders.War is not simply a trial by combat to settle disputes between states;it is the moment when the state makes its most powerful demands upon its people for their commitment,allegiance,and supreme sacrifice.Times of war test a community’s deepest religious and ethical commitments.
　　Q：The work“allegiance”(Line 5, Para.3) is closest in meaning to.
　　A) loyaltyB) objectivC) survivalD) motive
　　答案為A)。解本題可用同類詞關系進行判斷。在“allegiance”前后的兩個主詞分別是commitment和 sacrifice，應能判斷出這三個詞相對于國家而言是同一類詞，再利用排除法，不難選出正確答案A）。
　2.通過上下文關系來判斷被考詞匯的意思。
　　［真題例解］(1999年1月第27題)
　　Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists promises to shed some light on the mystery.Using 80 metres of deep sea sediment (沉淀物) core, they have obtained measurements lots of magnetic?field intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years.The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, well?defined rhythm.Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the short term, there seems to be an inevitable long?term decline preceding each polarity reversal.When the poles flip—a process that takes several hundred thousand years—the magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cycle is repeated.
　　Q： The word “flip” (Line 5, Para. 2) most probably means “”.
　　A) declineB. intensifyC. fluctuateD. reverse
　　答案為D)。 這一題目是根據上下文判斷詞意的題。flip的意思是“快速翻轉”，它所在的句子的意思是“當兩極互換——這一過程需要上萬年的時間——磁場會很快重新恢復它的強度，新的一輪循環又開始了。”因此在四個選項中： A.decline的意思是“拒絕；變小、變弱”，B.intensify的意思是“(使某物)變得更強烈、加劇”，C.fluctuate的意思是“(價格、數量等)漲落、波動”;D.reverse的意思是“使(某物)反轉、倒退、顛倒”，例如：Writing is reversed in a mirror.寫出來的字在鏡子里是顛倒的。D的意思與flip最接近。
　　3.選項含義與所考單詞含義表面上相近的一般不是答案。
　　［真題例解］(1999年6月第18題)
　　We must recognize that environmental health issues do not stop at city limits, county lines, state or even federal boundaries.We can no longer afford to be tunnel?visioned in our approach.We must visualize issues from every perspective to make the objective decisions.We must express our views clearly to prevent media distortion and public confusion.
Q： The word “tunnel?visioned” (Line 2, Para. 4) most probably means “”.
A) narrow?mindedB) blind to the facts
C) short?sightedD) able to see only one aspect
　　答案是D)。選項A)“眼界狹窄的”和選項C)“目光短淺的”與“tunnel?visioned”含義相近，所以許多考生都誤選了A)或C)。
　　4.定冠詞the+被考詞匯，則定冠詞所指示的對象已在上文出現過。
The researcher then studied the videotapes to analyse the matches in detail.Surprisingly,he found that errors were more likely when the referees were close to the incident.When the official got it right,they were,on average,17 meters away from the action.
　　Q：The word“officials”(Line 4,Para 4)most probably refers to .
　　A)the researchers involved in the experiment
　　B)the inspectors of the football tournament
　　C)the referees of the football tournament
　　D)the observers at the site of the experiment
　　答案是C)。定冠詞出現處，一般來說，其所指示的對象已在上文出現過。因此the official暗示，其含義相當的某種人已在上文出現。根據上下文知，official是指上文剛提到的my referees。
　　(三)推理判斷題
　　1.如果是對某段內容進行推斷，那么只需看題干要求的段落即可。
　　［真題例解］(2001年1月第29題)
　　You can begin to think of yourself as truly intelligent on the basis of how you choose to feel in the face of trying circumstances.The life struggles are pretty much the same for each of us.Everyone who is involved with other human beings in any social context has similar difficulties.Disagreements,conflicts and compromises are a part of what it means to be human.Similarly, money,growing old,sickness,deaths natural disasters and accidents are all events which present problems to virtually all human beings.But some people are able to make it,to avoid immobilizing depression and unhappiness despite such occurrences,while others collapse or have an N.B.D.Those who recognize problems as a human condition and don’t measure happiness by an absence of problems are the most intelligent kind of humans we know;also,the most rare.
　　Q：In the last paragraph,the author tells us that.
　　A)difficulties are but part of everyone’s life
　　B)depression and unhappiness are unavoidable in life
　　C)everybody should learn to avoid trying circumstances
　　D)good feelings can contribute to eventual academic excellence
　　答案為A)。根據題干要求，我們只用在最后一段尋找答案。根據文章末段第四、五兩句可知A）正確。
　　2.選項詞語過于絕對化，一般不是正確答案。
　　I recently visited a great little college in New York where the campus has doubled its minority population in the last six years.I talked with an African American who has been a professor there for a long time,and she remembers that when she first joined the community,there were fewer than a handful of minorities on campus.Now ,all of us feel the university is better because of the diversity.
　　Q：It can be inferred form the Passage that
　　A)meritocracy can never be realized without diversity
　　B)American political circles will not accept diversity
　　C)it is unlikely that diversity will occur in the U.S media
　　D)minorities can only enter the fields where no debate is heard about diversity
　　答案是A)。文中通過一位美國黑人教授之口，傳達出多樣性的好處的信息，因此可以推斷出是多樣化使不拘一格使用人才成為可能，與A)項意義吻合。若單從選項本身判斷，B)和C)句意過于絕對，因此排除，這樣使判斷范圍縮小，有利于選擇答案。
　　3.合乎常理或符合一般常識的選項大多是答案項，而與原文相同或對原文做字面解釋的則不是答案。
　　［真題例解］(2002年1月第39題)
　　These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference.If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers.Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community’s population size and its social heterogeneity(多樣性).For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc.Large?city urbanites are also more likely than their small?town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan （見多識廣者的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so?called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
　　Q：It can be inferred from the Passage that the bigger a community is,.
　　A) the better its quality of life
　　B) the more similar its interests
　　C) the more tolerant and open?minded it is
　　D) the likelier it is to display psychological symptoms of stress
　　答案是C)。比較四個選項，城市越大，生活質量并不一定越好，興趣并不一定更相似，并不一定更能顯示心理壓力，所以A)、B)、D)項均可排除。而C)項則合乎常理。因此將選項與常識聯系后，很快就會找到正確答案。
　　(四)主旨題
　　1.只讀首尾段，極可能在這些段落中發現答案。
　　［真題例解］(2002年12月第40題)
　　If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough.What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?
　　Q： It can be inferred from the Passage that .
　　A) human spiritual needs should match material affluence
　　B) whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue
　　C) how to keep consumption at a reasonable level remains a problem
　　D) there is never an end to satisfying people’s material needs
　　答案為C）。本文在前六段對過分消費的生活提出了批評，但在第七段同時指出過分消費的反面——貧窮絕不是問題的答案。接著在最后一段提出：太多和太少都會對環境造成破壞。那么要擁有多少才能滿足？地球能承受什么樣的消費水平？什么時候人們才能不再貪得無厭？由此可以得出結論：問題是什么樣的消費水平才是合理的。
　　2.閱讀時，注意高頻率出現的單詞或多次出現的同一類詞，這些詞可能就是蘊含中心思想的關鍵詞。
　　［真題例解］(1999年1月第26題)
　　There are some phenomena you can count on, but the magnetic field, someday is not one of them.It fluctuates in strength, drifts from its axis, and every few 100,000 years undergoes—dramatic polarity reversal—a period when north pole becomes south pole and south pole becomes north pole.But how is the field generated and why is it so unstable?
　　Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists promises to shed some light on the mystery.Using 80 metres of deep sea sediment (沉淀物) core, they have obtained measurements lots of magnetic?field intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years.The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, well?defined rhythm.Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the short term, there seems to be an inevitable long?term decline preceding each polarity reversal.When the poles flip—a process that takes several hundred thousand years—the magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cycle is repeated.
　　The results have caused a stir among geophysicists.The magnetic field is thought to originate from molten (熔化的) iron in the outer core, 3,000 kilometres beneath the earth’s surface.By studying mineral grains found in material ranging from rocks to clay articles, previous researchers have already been able to identify reversals dating back 170 million years, including the most recent switch 730,000 years ago.How and why they occur, however, has been widely debated.Several theories link polarity flips to external disasters such as meteor (隕星) impacts.But Peter Olson, a geophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says this is unlikely if the French researchers are right.In fact, Olson says intensity that predictably declines from one reversal to the next contradicts 90 percent of the models currently under study.If the results prove to be valid geophysicists will have a new theory to guide them in their quest to understand the earth’s inner physics.It certainly points the direction for future research.
　　Q：Which of the following titles is most appropriate to the Passage?
　　A) Polarity Reversal: A Fantastic Phenomenon of Nature
　　B) Measurement of the Earth’s Magnetic?Field Intensity
　　C) Formation of the Two Poles of the Earth
　　D) A New Approach to the Study of Geophysics
　　答案是A)。瀏覽全文發現一些地質方面的詞不斷出現，“polarity reversal”差不多在每段都出現，而B)、C)、D)項只是文章涉及的細節，故選A)。
　　3.單從選項上判斷，那些概括全文，含義深刻的選項一般是正確答案，而內容單一、片面的選項應予以排除。
　　［真題例解］(2001年1月第20題)
　　A nine?year?old schoolgirl single?handedly cooks up a science?fair experiment that ends up debunking (揭穿……的真相) a widely practiced medical treatment.Emily Rosa’s target was a practice known as therapeutic (治療的) touch (TT for short),whose advocates manipulate patients’“energy field”to make them feel better and even,say some,to cure them of various ills.Yet Emily’s test shows that these energy fields can’t be detected,even by trained TT practitioners (行醫者).Obviously mindful of the publicity value of the situation,Journal editor George Lundberg appeared on TV to declare,“Age does’t matter.It’s good science that matters,and this is good science.”
　　Emily’s mother Linda Rosa,a registered nurse,has been campaigning against TT for nearly a decade.Linda first thought about TT in the late ’80s,when she learned it was on the approved list for continuing nursing education in Colorado.Its 100,000 trained practitioners (48,000 in the U.S.) don’t even touch their patients.Instead,they waved their hands a few inches from the patient’s body, pushing energy fields around until they’re in “balance.”TT advocates say these manipulations can help heal wounds, relieve pain and reduce fever.The claims are taken seriously enough that TT therapists are frequently hired by leading hospitals, at up to ?70 an hour，to smooth patients’ energy,sometimes during surgery.
　　Yet Rosa could not find any evidence that it works.To provide such proof,TT therapists would have to sit down for independent testing—something they haven’t been eager to do,even though James Randi has offered more than ? 1 million to anyone who can demonstrate the existence of a human energy field.(He’s had one taker so far.She failed.) A skeptic might conclude that TT practitioners are afraid to lay their beliefs on the line.But who could turn down an innocent fourth?grader? Says Emily:“I think they didn’t take me very seriously because I’m a kid.”
The experiment was straight forward:21 TT therapists stuck their hands,palms up,through a screen.Emily held her own hand over one of theirs—left or right—and the practitioners had to say which hand it was.When the results were recorded,they’d done no better than they would have by simply guessing.If there was an energy field,they couldn’t feel it.
　　Q：What can we learn from the Passage?
　　A)Some widely accepted beliefs can be deceiving.
　　B)Solid evidence weighs more than pure theories.
　　C)Little children can be as clever as trained TT practitioners.
　　D)The principle of TT is too profound to understand.
　　答案是A)。通讀全文，對文章大意進行歸納概括，便知A)是正確選項。若單從選項上看，A)項頗有哲理，而B)、C)、D)三項都有點片面單一，經不起推敲。
　　(五)觀點態度題
　　1.閱讀時，首先要判斷文章的體裁。議論文中，文章的中心句一般都表明作者態度；說明文中，其體裁客觀，作者的態度亦中立；描述性文章中，作者往往不直接提出文章觀點，但常帶有某種傾向，需考生細心揣摩。
　　2.綜合判斷態度題，需要分析文章脈絡，理解文章中心思想才能判斷出作者的情感態度。
　　3.要會區分不同的觀點，尤其要找出作者的觀點。考生要注意文中出現的直接引語和間接引語，這些觀點一般是說話人而非作者的觀點。作者的觀點一般用in my view, in my opinion, personally, I think,I hold等表現。
　　4.對于選項而言，要分清選項中的褒義詞、中性詞和貶義詞。
表示褒義的詞有：positive贊成的，supporting支持的，praising贊揚的，optimistic樂觀的，admiring羨慕的，interesting有趣的，humorous幽默的，serious嚴肅的，polite禮貌的，pleasant愉快的，concerned關切的，sober冷靜的，等。
　　表示中性的詞有：indifferent冷淡的，不關心的；impassive冷淡的，不動感情的；uninterested無興趣的，不感興趣的；ambivalent情緒矛盾的；neutral中立的；impersonal不帶個人感情的；subjective主觀的；objective客觀的；informative提供信息的；impartial不偏袒的；apathetic漠不關心的。
　　表示貶義的詞有：disgusted感到惡心的，厭惡的；critical批評的；negative否定的，反對的；suspicious懷疑的；tolerant容忍的，忍讓的；worried擔憂的；pessimistic悲觀的；depressed沮喪的；disappointed失望的；ironic諷刺的；sarcastic挖苦的；bitter痛苦的；cynical玩世不恭的；sentimental感傷的；emotional激動的；angry氣憤的等。