第三章 九種題型詳解和真題演練

第一節 找段落小標題

一、找段落小標題的特征

找段落小標題就是要求從選項列表（List of Headings）中給文章的一些段落分別選擇恰當的小標題。在Cambridge IELTS 9的160道A類閱讀題目中，有8道是找段落小標題；在Cambridge IELTS 10的160道A類閱讀題目中，有19道是找段落小標題。這種題型在每次考試中都會出現，是考生應該重點掌握的題型。

這種題型有兩個明顯特征：

（1）有選項列表。該題型有一個標志性特征，那就是在文章前面有一個選項列表（List of Headings），并且選項數目往往比文章中的段落數目多出幾個。例如文章有6段，選項數目則至少會有8個，也就是說，有很多干擾選項。

（2）有例子。通常情況下，選項列表下面會直接給出某一個段落的小標題作為例子，要求考生選出余下段落的小標題。

二、必須掌握的四個關鍵點

（1）劃去例子所對應的選項和段落。每個選項最多只能用一次，將例子對應的選項從列表中劃去，以免被其他段落誤選。同時在文章中把作為例子的段落劃掉，以免對例子段落進行不必要的閱讀。

（2）注意做題順序并找到主題句。為了提高效率，考生要讀一個段落，做一道題。絕大部分此類題目的正確答案可以通過主題句確定，因此讀每個段落時，注意尋找段落主題句，并利用關鍵詞對應法快速確定答案。注意關鍵詞的同義替換，即正確選項往往是主題句的改寫。關于主題句的位置，前面已經詳細講解過，在此，考生注意熟練運用前面講過的內容，快速找到主題句。

（3）如果表達相同含義的詞或短語相繼出現在段落各句中，答案則是含有這些高頻詞匯的選項。

（4）劃去已選選項。某段的答案確定后，將它對應的選項從選項列表中劃去。

下面我們通過例題來具體講解以上答題方法的運用。

三、真題實戰及詳解

【Cambridge IELTS 9 Test 1 READING PASSAGE 2】

You should spend about 7 minutes on Questions 14-17, which are based on Reading Passage 2 on the following pages.

Questions 14-17

Reading Passage 2 has five paragraphs, A-E.

Choose the correct heading for paragraphs B-E from the list of headings below.

Write the correct number, i-vii, in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

14 Paragraph B

15 Paragraph C

16 Paragraph D

17 Paragraph E

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence

The question of whether we are alone in the Universe has haunted humanity for centuries, but we may now stand poised on the brink of the answer to that question, as we search for radio signals from other intelligent civilisations. This search, often known by the acronym SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) is a difficult one. Although groups around the world have been searching intermittently for three decades, it is only now that we have reached the level of technology where we can make a determined attempt to search all nearby stars for any sign of life.

A The primary reason for the search is basic curiosity—the same curiosity about the natural world that drives all pure science. We want to know whether we are alone in the Universe. We want to know whether life evolves naturally if given the right conditions, or whether there is something very special about the Earth to have fostered the variety of life forms that we see around us on the planet. The simple detection of a radio signal will be sufficient to answer this most basic of all questions. In this sense, SETI is another cog in the machinery of pure science which is continually pushing out the horizon of our knowledge. However, there are other reasons for being interested in whether life exists elsewhere. For example, we have had civilisation on Earth for perhaps only a few thousand years, and the threats of nuclear war and pollution over the last few decades have told us that our survival may be tenuous. Will we last another two thousand years or will we wipe ourselves out? Since the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion years, we can expect that, if other civilisations do survive in our galaxy, their ages will range from zero to several billion years. Thus any other civilisation that we hear from is likely to be far older, on average, than ourselves. The mere existence of such a civilisation will tell us that long-term survival is possible, and gives us some cause for optimism. It is even possible that the older civilisation may pass on the benefits of their experience in dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution, and other threats that we haven't yet discovered.

B In discussing whether we are alone, most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules. First, UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are generally ignored since most scientists don't consider the evidence for them to be strong enough to bear serious consideration (although it is also important to keep an open mind in case any really convincing evidence emerges in the future). Second, we make a very conservative assumption that we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us, since if it differs radically from us we may well not recognise it as a life form, quite apart from whether we are able to communicate with it. In other words, the life form we are looking for may well have two green heads and seven fingers, but it will nevertheless resemble us in that it should communicate with its fellows, be interested in the Universe, live on a planet orbiting a star like our Sun, and perhaps most restrictively, have a chemistry, like us, based on carbon and water.

C Even when we make these assumptions, our understanding of other life forms is still severely limited. We do not even know, for example, how many stars have planets, and we certainly do not know how likely it is that life will arise naturally, given the right conditions. However, when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy (the Milky Way), and 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe, it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it: in fact, the best educated guess we can make, using the little that we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life, leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it. That means that our nearest neighbours are perhaps 100 light years away, which is almost next door in astronomical terms.

D An alien civilisation could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy, but many of these either require too much energy, or else are severely attenuated while traversing the vast distances across the galaxy. It turns out that, for a given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the frequency range 1,000 to 300 MHz travel the greatest distance, and so all searches to date have concentrated on looking for radio waves in this frequency range. So far there have been a number of searches by various groups around the world, including Australian searches using the radio telescope at Parkes, New South Wales. Until now there have not been any detections from the few hundred stars which have been searched. The scale of the searches has been increased dramatically since 1992, when the US Congress voted NASA $10 million per year for ten years to conduct a thorough search for extra-terrestrial life. Much of the money in this project is being spent on developing the special hardware needed to search many frequencies at once. The project has two parts. One part is a targeted search using the world's largest radio telescopes, the American-operated telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and the French telescope in Nancy in France. This part of the project is searching the nearest 1,000 likely stars with high sensitivity for signals in the frequency range 1,000 to 300 MHz. The other part of the project is an undirected search which is monitoring all of space with a lower sensitivity, using the smaller antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network.

E There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilisation. Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately. Quite apart from the impracticality of sending a reply over such large distances at short notice, it raises a host of ethical questions that would have to be addressed by the global community before any reply could be sent. Would the human race face the culture shock if faced with a superior and much older civilisation? Luckily, there is no urgency about this. The stars being searched are hundreds of light years away, so it takes hundreds of years for their signal to reach us, and a further few hundred years for our reply to reach them. It's not important, then, if there's a delay of a few years, or decades, while the human race debates the question of whether to reply, and perhaps carefully drafts a reply.

1分鐘掃描主題句

以上畫出的主題句關鍵詞共37個，下面我們根據各個題目和這些主題句關鍵詞來定位答案。

答案詳解

14 Paragraph B

答案：iv

定位：B段主題句：In discussing whether we are alone, most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules.

解析：首先劃去作為例子的選項v，再看其余的6個選項。主題句中的關鍵詞ground, rules分別和選項iv中的關鍵詞underlying, assumptions對應，主題句中的discussing whether…alone和選項iv中的search for extra-terrestrial intelligence對應，答案就是iv。

15 Paragraph C

答案：vii

定位：C段主題句，即However所在的句子：However, when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy (the Milky Way), and 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe,it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it:in fact, the best educated guess we can make, using the little that we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life, leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it.

解析：劃去上一題的答案選項iv，再看其余的5個選項。表達相同含義的詞或短語相繼出現在主題句中，它們分別是inconceivable, guess, estimate, might（難以置信、猜、估計、可能），選項vii中的關鍵詞likelihood（可能，可能性）和這些高頻詞匯對應，另外，該句中的have a life-bearing planet和選項vii中的life on other planets對應，答案就是vii。

16 Paragraph D

答案：i

定位：D段主題句，即It turns out that所在的句子：It turns out that, for a given amount of transmitted power, radio waves in the frequency range 1,000 to 300 MHz travel the greatest distance, and so all searches to date have concentrated on looking for radio waves in this frequency range.

解析：劃去上一題的答案選項vii，再看其余的4個選項。主題句中的關鍵詞searches, looking for和選項i中的seeking對應，該句中的radio waves和選項i中的radio signals對應，答案就是i。

17 Paragraph E

答案：ii

定位：E段主題句：There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilisation.

解析：劃去上一題的答案選項i，再看其余的3個選項。主題句中的關鍵詞react, signal…alien civilisation分別和選項ii中的關鍵詞appropriate responses, signals from other civilisations對應，答案就是ii。

重要總結

上面的4道考題，全部可以根據主題句中的關鍵詞確定答案，大大提高了答題的速度和準確率。