怎样做好大学英语三级阅读理解
高职学生在词汇量普遍缺乏、读英语短文如同雾里看花的情况下，怎样才能做好大学英语三级的阅读理解呢？我结合自身教学经验，总结了以下几种诀窍，以供参考。
一、带着问题读原文。这个诀窍的关键在于，要学会找出题干里的关键词。大学英语三级的阅读理解都是传统意义上的选择题，每题由题干和4个选项组成。拿到一篇阅读理解题之后，不妨先看看后面的五个问题，尤其是要找出题干中的关键词（关键词通常是名词，也有动词和形容词的）。然后带着这些关键词去读原文，往往，答案就出现在关键词的前后不远处。
二、千万要注意一些信号词。在原文中定位了题干关键词的出处后，怎样判断正确答案是什么呢？这个时候，就要注意一些信号词了。指示代词如this/that等，关系代词如which/who等，关系副词如where/when等，连词如however/therefore/but等，以及某些常用在句首的副词，如consequently/luckily等，都可能充当着信号词的角色。
三、正确答案是不会把话说“绝”的。这个诀窍最适用于做True/Not true类的题。什么意思呢？就是说，一个选项如果使用了过于绝对的词语，作出的判断毫无商量余地的话，那么，即使不去看原文也可以基本判定它是错误的。比如，only唯一，never从不，all所有，no没有等等，就是非常绝对的表达法。
四、对于论述性的文章，要特别注意第一句和最后一句。三级的阅读文章不长，也谈不上什么“文采”，特别是论述性和说明性的短文，更是可以看做简单的“三股文”：论点、论据、结论。所以文章的第一句和最后一句是很重要的。类似What is the purpose....，The main idea of the passage...，The best title of the passage...这样的问题，基本对照文章的第一句和最后一句就可以迎刃而解了。
五、根据上下文猜测词义。这是个非常考验功力、掌握后将受益终身的技巧。就大学英语三级考试而言，类似“文中第几段的哪个单词是什么意思”这样的选项基本每考必有，也是同学们觉得比较头疼的。其实，这样的生词是可以根据上下文来猜测意思的。常见的猜词方法有：定义型，句中常有is, means, is called, is known as, can be defined as等标志词；举例型，根据句中例举的例子来猜测生词的意思。常见的信号词有：such as, for example等；重述型，常见的信号词有：that is, that's to say, or, in other words等；根据因果关系猜测词义，一定的原因导致一定的结果，只要确认这一逻辑关系，无论生词出现在原因方面，还是出现在结果方面，都可以根据这种因果关系来推测这个词的意思；根据同义词和反义词猜测词义；据句法功能猜测词义。
六、根据生活常识来判断答案。三级英语的阅读理解其实还称不上“理解”，一般都是能直接找到答案的。而文章的内容通常与我们生活的方方面面息息相关。所以，很多时候，我们看了选项之后，就可以凭借着生活常识直接来判断它们的是非了。
如果能在练习阅读理解时，下意识地使用这些诀窍，不但能在短时间内比较迅速地提高阅读理解的成绩，如果持之以恒，使之成为自己的一种习惯，在以后的四级、六级考试中也将受益颇多。
下面试以07年1月真题的Passage Two为例。
Passage Two原文：
Increasingly, over the past ten years, people – especially young people – have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed foods, is not good for the health. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods.
Natural foods, for example, are vegetable, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic (有机的) matter, in simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished (滋养) by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins (维生素) and minerals. This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the quantity – but not the quality – of foods grown in commercial farming areas.
Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy farms. Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: there are battery farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish. Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food; they also produce eggs which lack important vitamins.
There are other aspects of healthy eating which are now receiving increasing attention from experts on diet. Take, for example, the question of sugar. This is actually a non-essential food. Although a natural alternative, such as honey, can be used to sweeten food if this is necessary, we can in fact do without it. It is not that sugar is harmful in itself. But the problem is that the quantity we use has grown steadily over the last two centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! Yet all it does is provide us with energy, in the form of calories. There are no vitamins in it, no minerals, and no fiber.
第66题：
Why do people now prefer natural foods?
A、Because they grow fast and cost less.
B、Because they fit people’s eating habits.
C、Because they are good to people’s health.
D、Because they are simply processed foods.
我们不难把关键词定为动宾词组 prefer natural foods。往往第一个问题的答案就在文章的最开始处。我们带着这个动宾词组在第一段里找到了它的同义句：Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods. Consequently就是一个信号词，是“因此，所以”的意思，答案自然是在它前面了。所以，对前面这一句就需要精读。前一句提到：particularly processed foods, is not good for the health.可以看出，人们喜欢natural foods的原因，就是它们good for the health。因此，答案就可以确定为C了。
第67题：
Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?
A、Fertilizers are important in growing natural foods.
B、Soil for natural foods usually lacks organic matter.
C、Natural foods are grown in commercial farming areas.
D、Chemicals are used to increase the quantity of foods grown.
这一题我们就完全可以根据生活常识来做出选择。选项A中的Fertilizer和natural foods.的种植明显背道而驰，错；选项B中的soil出现在这段的第一句，其后有that引导的定语从句that is rich in organic (有机的) matter，而B与原文的说法正好相反，错；第二段总共两句话，之间有一个关键性的词组，compared with，可见，natural foods和oods grown in commercial farming areas完全是两码事，所以选项C也错，答案就是D了。在这段的最后一句有交代。
第68题：
What is the writer’s attitude towards chickens fed on battery farms?
A、Supportive.
B、Doubtful.
C、Hopeful.
D、Negative.
本题的题干是chickens fed on battery farms，出现在第三段第二行后半部分。先是用where引导的定语从句对battery farms一词作了解释，我们不难猜出是机械化的养鸡场；然后就Chickens kept in this way 做出评价：they are not only tasteless as food; they also produce eggs which lack important vitamins. 可见，答案是D，作者的态度是否定的。
第69题：
What is the most important point the writer wants to make about sugar?
A、People use it to sweeten food.
B、It gives us much-needed energy.
C、People take too much of it.
D、It is actually a kind of honey.
这题题干的关键词更为明显，就是sugar。快速浏览原文，sugar出现在文章最后一段。那么，长长的一段里，到底哪里才是答案所在呢？其实很简单啊，作者特别要强调的地方才会用感叹号的，所以，感叹号就是一种信号嘛！It is not that sugar is harmful in itself. But the problem is that the quantity we use has grown steadily over the last two centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! 可见，答案是C，糖本事无害，而是人们吃得太多了。
第70题：
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “diet” (Paragraph 4)?
A、“food”
B、“rice”
C、“animals”
D、“agriculture”
这是典型的猜测词义的题目。本文从一开始就没离开过"food"，这个单词所在的最后一段话第一句中又有 healthy eating 的字样。根据上下文，不难猜出答案是A，food。
再简单地以2007年6月第二篇阅读为例：
Questions 66 to 70 are based on the following passage:
Every human being has a unique arrangement of the skin on his fingers and this arrangement is unchangeable. Scientists and experts have proved the uniqueness of fingerprints and discovered that no exactly similar pattern is passed on from parents to children, though nobody knows why this is the case.
The structure on a person’s fingers does not change with growth and is not affected by superficial injuries. Burns, cuts and other damage to the outer part of the skin will be replaced in time by new skin which bears a reproduction of the original pattern. It is only when the inner skin is injured that the arrangement will be destroyed. Some criminals make use of this fact to remove their own fingerprints but this is a dangerous and rare step to take.
Fingerprints can be made easily with printer’s ink. They can be recorded easily. With special methods, identification (辨识) can be achieved successfully within a short time. Because of the simplicity and economy of this system, fingerprints have often been used as a method of solving criminal cases. A suspected man denies a charge, but his fingerprints can prove who he is even if his appearance has been changed by age or accidents.
When a suspect leaves fingerprints behind at the scene of crime, they are difficult to detect with the naked eye. Special techniques are used to “develop” them. Some of the marks found are incomplete but identification is possible if a print in the size of a quarter of an inch square can be obtained.
66. Which of the following is NOT true of fingerprints?
A、They vary from person to person.
B、They are easily hidden and removed.（根据生活常识即可判断。要掩盖或者移除指纹是不可能的。）
C、Their uniqueness is beyond explanation.
D、They remain unchanged throughout one’s life.
67. What does “superficial injuries” in the second paragraph mean?
A、“injuries caused by accident”
B、“injuries in inner skin”
C、“severe injuries in the skin”
D、“injuries on the surface of the skin”（根据上下文可以确定，superficial injuries的反义词组是the inner skin is injured。可以猜到，superficial injuries的意思是皮外伤。 ）
68. Why do policemen often use fingerprints in their investigation?
A、Because it is the only way to identity the suspect.（说法绝对，直接排除）
B、Because it is the easiest way to solve a criminal case.（说法绝对，直接排除）
C、Because they can be easily recorded with printer’s ink.（能够方便地提取只是表面原因，排除）
D、Because they can help policemen to identify their owners.（为正确答案，因指纹是独特的且无法掩藏和更改的）
69. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A、It is difficult to see fingerprints with human eyes.（非main idea。理由见下。）
B、There are special ways to recover a suspect’s fingerprints.（为正确答案。因为肉眼看不到，所以要使用特殊的方法来提取；只有在提取了指纹后，它才可以用来识别罪犯）
C、Even a small part of a fingerprint is useful for identification.（非main idea。理由同上 ）
D、Suspects usually try to avoid leaving their fingerprints at the scene.（文中没有提到）
70. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A、Fingerprints and Their Use（文章分成两大块。只有这个标题与文章内容相符）
B、Policemen and Fingerprints
C、Fingerprints Are Useful Evidence
D、Fingerprints Identify Criminals without Mistake
当然，以上提到的六种诀窍是临考前快速提高阅读能力的一种应试方法。在平时学习英语的过程中，仍旧应该脚踏实地，一步一个脚印，从单词的记忆开始，从基础语法开始。语言的学习必须坚持不懈、一步一个脚印，而不能投机取巧，急于求成，这样只能培养出高分学生，却培养不出高能力的人才来。
