The Brief Strategies of

Reading Comprehension Xin Qiao Middle School

Bi Yongjun

1、 questions of details2、 words in context3、 questions of inference4、main idea

Proposition types of Reading Comprehension

1.questions of details

①Scan the whole passage, grasp the chief idea, and understand the passage structure as well as detail.

②Take advantage of elimination techniques to eliminate some improper choices, and the choice left will be the best answer.

③Make use of the question forms.

• 1.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

• 2.Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

• 3.What happened to sb. in the text?

…

Question forms:

Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A.U2 is good at playing classical music.

B. The new album is available on the Internet.

C. The people who made comments are fans of U2.

D. U2’s upcoming tour may be a great success.

For example

2. Words in context

①Make full use of the familiar information to guess and judge the meaning of a word

②Get the meaning of a word through casual relationship, comparison, definition, explanation, word-form and retelling.

1.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the word…?2.The word … could best be replaced by…3.In the … paragraph, the word… means (refers to )…4.According to the passage,…probably means…5.The author uses the word… to mean…

Question forms:

1.He says I have slandered him; but , on the contrary, I have always spoken well of him. 造谣，诽谤

2.Johnson surprised his fellow students all the time. He isn’t some stuffy guy, though he wears his neat gray beard and conservative （ traditional ） clothes. The word “stuffy” in the paragraph means _______. A. old-fashioned 　 B. respectable C. narrow-minded 　 D. fat

　 3. The house looked quite normal outside, but inside it was very exotic with fascinating objects on display. As he began putting them into his bag, a god came into the room. It stopped when it saw Buster, then wagged its tail madly and went over to him, licking his outstretched hand. “Good boy,” Buster whispered. “What a great guard dog you are --- trying to lick me to death.”

Which of the definitions is closest in meaning to the word “exotic” in the third paragraph?

A. Messy and untidy. B. Rich and expensive.

C. Comfortable and calming D. Foreign and unusual.

①Infer the implication and the article source.

②Infer the author’s intension and attitude.

③Infer the logical relationship.

3.Questions of

inference

1. We can infer from the passage that ___ .

2.The story suggests that _______ .

3.We can conclude from the passage that ____ .

4.Which of the following might / probably happened later ?

5.From the passage we can tell / learn ______ .

6.The writer of the passage considers it ______.

7. Which of the following indicates / implies___?

Question forms:

1. Did you ever hear a strange sound coming from the wall? Did it sound like a clock? If so, it may have been made by a beetle. Long ago people thought the ticking meant that someone was about to die. Thus the beetle is called "the deathwatch beetle." The sound of this beetle ________.A. pleased people. B. surprised people. C. frightened people. D. excited people.

Practice:

2. It is said that people should take a lesson from the clock. The clock passes the time by keeping its hands busy. People who do what the clock does also pass the time by keeping their hands busy and not by sleeping the time away. You can tell that busy people______A. act like clocks. B. sleep the time away. C. don't do what clocks do. D. don't have hands.

3. It is fun to turn over a big rock on the beach. Make sure you turn the rock back to the position it was in after you moved it. If you don’t turn it back over, all the sea animals under it or clinging to the underside will die. You can tell that rocks ________.A. hurt sea animals B. protect sea animalsC. won’t be found on beaches D. can’t be found on beaches

4. How to get the main idea?

Characteristics of this kind of questions: 1.The viewpoint is the author’s own

viewpoint.

2. The viewpoint may be advocated by the author, or it may be others’ which the author will refute.

3.There is only one proper viewpoint of the author.

4.The sentence is of generality, summary and abstract.

5.It has a complex structure.

Question forms:

1.The subject of the passage is ____.

2.The main idea is _____.

5.The title is _____.

3.The passage mainly talks about _____.

4.What topic is treated in this passage?

9.The point of the passage is that _____.

8.What’s the topic of the first paragraph?

6.The best headline for the passage would be ____.

7.Which title best gives the idea of the passage?

10.What’s the main point the writer is trying to make in the last paragraph?

How to get the main idea of a passage?

Details

Paragraph ideas

Passage idea

1 ① Magellan’s men were the first to make the trip around the world. It

took them more than two years to do so by ship. ② Magellan was from Portugal, but he sailed for the King of Spain.

On September 20, 1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men. After passing the trip of South America, they reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed more than one year. Very often they could not see a piece of land for months and they suffered greatly from the lack of food and fresh water. Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April 1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed. His men fled and continued their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men had died.

③ Magellan’s voyage proved that men could sail around the world and that our earth is but a huge ball.

Which of the following do you think is the best title for this passage? A. Magellan’s death B. Going Around The World C. The World Is Round D. Magellan’s Voyage

① Magellan’s men were the first to make the trip around the world. It took them more than two years to do so by ship.

Magellan’s voyage was the first trip around the world .

②Magellan was from Portugal, but he sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20, 1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men. After passing the tip of South America, they reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed more than one year. Very often they could not see a piece of land for months and they suffered greatly from the lack of food and fresh water. Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April 1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed. His men fled and continued their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men had died.

1. time

2. ships and

people3. route

4. Sufferings

and difficultiesa. Lack of

food and

freshwaterb. Hunger

and diseases

c. Deaths

The process of Magellan’s long difficult voyage

5. success

③Magellan’s voyage proved that men could sail around the world and that our earth is but a huge ball.

Magellan’s voyage proved the earth is round.

①Magellan’s men were the first to make the trip around the world. It took them more than two years to do so by ship.

②Magellan was from Portugal, but he sailed for the King of Spain. On September 20, 1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men. After passing the tip of South America, they reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed more than one year. Very often they could not see a piece of land for months and they suffered greatly from the lack of food and fresh water. Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April 1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed. His men fled and continued their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape of Goed Hope. By the time they returned to Spain on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men had died.

③Magellan’s voyage proved that men could sail around the world and that our earth is but a huge ball.

Paragraph 1:

Magellan’s voyage was the first trip around the world .

Paragraph 2: The process of Magellan’s long difficult voyage

Paragraph 3:

Magellan’s voyage proved the earth is round.

Magellan’s

voyage

1 Magellan’s men were the first to make the trip around the world. It

took them more than two years to do so by ship. Magellan was from Portugal, but he sailed for the King of Spain. On

September 20, 1519, he left Spain with five ships and 240 men. After passing the trip of South America, they reached the Pacific Ocean, on which they sailed more than one year. Very often they could not see a piece of land for months and they suffered greatly from the lack of food and fresh water. Many of them died of hunger and diseases. They even had to live on sawdust. Finally in April 1521, Magellan got to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed. His men fled and continued their voyage across the Indian Ocean. It was with the greatest difficulty that they passed the Cape of Good Hope. By the time they returned to Spain on December 21,1521, seven out of every eight men had died.

Magellan’s voyage proved that men could sail around the world and that our earth is but a huge ball.

Which of the following do you think is the best title for this passage? A. Magellan’s death B. Going Around The World C. The World Is Round D. Magellan’s Voyage

(too narrow)

(too narrow)(too broad)

(proper)

SUMMARY

Strategies1. Study the questions and understand them.

2. Find out key words or sentences in the context and analyze them carefully.

3. Delete the impossible choices if necessary.

4. Judge the remaining choices and make a choice that you think is the best.

Practice

A passage from the College Examination

HOMEWORK Finish the passages of reading comprehension in the Model Test paper after class.