二、主旨大意題
　　主要的命題方式有：
　　What's the subject of the passage?
　　The main idea(point)of the passage is______．
　　The suitable title for the passage might be_______．
　　主旨大意題一般有以下幾種形式：
　　1．段落主旨題。這種段落的中心大意一般出現在這一段的第一句或最后一句，但有時也有幾句話的綜合，并不直接在某一句中體現。
　　2．全篇主旨題。這種題主要考對全文的中心大意的概括能力。有時中心意思在首段用主題句等方式表達出來，有時則在中段或尾段。有主題句的文章的其他各部分通常都緊密圍繞主題句層層展開。一般在閱讀文章的時候就應該對作者的中心大意有一個比較準確的理解，在前面所提到的勾畫主題句可以很好的解決主旨型題型。
　　還有一點必須注意的是，在做完所有的題后，應該再重新考慮主旨題，看是否與其他各題有矛盾之處，如有，那么主旨題應該重新考慮答案。
　　Though they were not trained naturalists, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in their explorations of North American in the early nineteenth century came across enough unfamiliar birds, mammals, and reptiles to fill a zoo. In keeping with president Jefferson's orders, they took careful note of 122 species and subspecies that were unknown to science and in many eases native only to the West. Clark make sketches of any particularly intriguing creature. He and lewis also collected animal hides and horns and skins with such care that a few of them were still intact nearly two centuries later. While Lewis and Clark failed to meet the mythological monsters reputed to well in the West, they did unearth the bones of a 45 - foot dinosaur. Furthermore, some of the living beasts they did come upon, such as the woolly mountain goat and the grizzly bear were every bit as odd or as fearsome as any myth. In their collector's enthusiasm, they even floated aprairie dog out of its burrow by pouring in five barrelfuls of water,then shipped the frisky animal to Jefferson alive and yelping.
　　Q: What does the passage mainly discuss?
　　A) President Jefferson' s pets.
　　B) Collector's techniques for capturing wildlife.
　　C) Jobs for trained naturalists.
　　D) Record newly discovered species of animals.
　　正確答案為C)。原文要講述Mefiwether Lewis和William Clark在19世紀早期在北美探險時發現的一些以前所不熟悉的鳥、哺乳動物及爬行動物等。這在原文開頭提到了，接著具體敘述他們探險時遇到各種動物時的情況。這是典型的中心句在句首的情況。